My Summer Vacation (2008 Edition)

As I mentioned in my last entry, I actually did have a large number of half-assed half-done posts from this summer, that hadn't progressed enough to be posted. Instead of trying to finish them, here they are in their half-baked glory:

• I bid farewell to my goat neighbors. This made me sad, as the goats were much more lively than the horses. And they used to continuously screw with their owners whenever they weren't promptly fed (which is often with my slackass neighbors). As a tribute to my goat friends (of which I nicknamed mama, runt and rowdy), I present to you my favorite video of rowdy the goat:
  
  



• I became a professional photographer:

  Hi /k,
  
  I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released second edition of our Schmap California Guide:
  
  Arco Arena
  
  Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

  Sadly, this photo sucks. And it came from my old Treo mobile phone.



• We endured high winds and epic wildfires. For a few weeks in June/July, it literally looked/smelled/felt like the entire state of California was on fire. And being near a large body of water, we got to see a lot of the firefighting preparations first hand:
  
  



• The summer was not completely without travel. I had to make a quick swing through Asia to present at our fiscal year kickoffs, which basically meant that I flew for about 10 hours every other day for one week to present for 1 hour total. However, this did leave some free time which I was able to fill. Below is a picture of the Sapporo Beer Station, which is on the Sapporo Beer Headquarters grounds in Ebisu-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
  
  
  

I am sure there were a few others things along the way, but this should bring you up to date.

Shibuya Dawn

Shibuya Dawn, originally uploaded by /k.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's certainly not because I've been busy -- in fact, just the opposite: I didn't travel much over the summer at all. And because of that, I got lazy and have about 7 half-baked blog posts in my editor. So I am going to try a different tack and just post quick ones for a while.

Here is today's bit of Zen. It's a stop-motion video from my hotel room window of the sun rising over the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo. I made it with iStopMotion and my MacBook's isight.

Busy. Sick. Tired. Busy.

So many of you have probably been wondering "where is k?" (okay, this may be few, or even one). Though I have link to my current location on the left hand column, I haven't really updated my blog in a month or so. Well, I've been busy. And sick. And sick of being busy:

• I went to Vegas in early October for too long (>24 hours) and got sick. I did get to visit the Ghost Bar, but didn't get sick there.
  
  
  
  
• Still sick, I went to Tokyo and got stuck in Narita Airport for 40 hours after they cancelled my flight. Yes, there is a DFA letter in mail to United for that one (United believes that $350 travel voucher squares us, me not so much). On the plus side, I did get well acquainted with their awesome beer machines:
  
• I cooled my heels in Australia for a week. I say cooled my heels because I was in Australia (Brisbane then Sydney) eight days for the total of 2 hours of customer meetings and 6 hours of internal meetings. Basically, one day of work for 6 days of boredom and 36 hours of travel.
  
  
• I was home for about a week and was still sick.
• I finished off the month with a quick trip to Bangkok for 48 hours.

Now, I am on vacation until early January. Maybe I will actually post something interesting between then and now.

FFF: Akasaka

Japan, japan, japan. I am disappointed. Such a great idea (it's pig! it's a burger! it's got strange toppings!) but with such a unimaginative name.

How awesome would this have been if it was called "McPig" ?

Japan (Condensed Version)

Since I couldn't post effectively from Tokyo last week, I bundled up my thoughts from the four days in this one post:

1. I awaken after my first night in Tokyo at the obscene hour of 4:30 AM. I had forgotten to close my blinds and by some bizarre custom, the Japanese find it neat to have sunrise before 5 AM. However, as much as the sun in my eyes was annoying, I think it was actually the sounds of dogs barking that woke me up. Although it seemed normal at the time (since I have loud dogs at home), after actually getting up I was somewhat puzzled. Especially since I was 27 stories up in the middle of downtown Tokyo. A quick look out the window solved my mystery:
   Yeah, the Japanese have a dog park on the top of a building near mine. Of course.


2. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to get out of Tokyo, so I got dressed.
   This view is west away from Shibuya.


3. We took the train two hours out to see Mount Fuji (Fujiyoshida, Japan). It was incredible. A tour bus drove us around the lakes (there are five lakes around the mountain) and we got some good pictures.
   


4. Stopped by MOS burger. MOS burger is the In-N-Out Burger of Japan. Their teryaki burger is quite good.
   


5. After getting back from Mount Fuji, we got a few drinks up in the bar. This is the same view as earlier.
   

Mistral Blue

Mistral Blue
Originally uploaded by /k.

Still posting via Flickr due to the before mentioned Blogger weirdness.

Finished up my trip to Japan last night with a group meeting in Rappongi. Our Japanese director is a keen 1950's rock and roll fan, so he took us to his favorite theme bar where they played Elvis covers. I wish I had taken some video for YouTube -- there were some priceless moments. Having said that, they did play "Pipeline" by the Ventures, which makes them alright in my book. After the 1950's rock and roll bar, a few us headed up the street to my old haunt, Mistral Blue. Mistral Blue is a converted train car and possibly the smallest bar in the world (I was standing 3 feet inside the doorway when I took this picture). It is a stop on every true rock stars visit to Tokyo -- pictures and autographs from Iron Maiden to Guns N Roses to Fall Out Boy "adorn" the walls. I hadn't been there in 3 years but it hasn't changed at all -- even the same bartender was there.

I am back in the US tomorrow for a well deserved week of R&R.