DON'T PANIC!

So I was experiencing my typical "Kanto Krud" as it is called after returning from my most recent trip to the east coast. But it just kept going and going, Energizer Bunny style, so I went to the base hospital. Come to find out my particular brand of Kanto Krud was actually walking pneumonia. As I said, don't panic; Doc gave me a Z-pack and sent me home where I've stayed for the past four days and am now feeling almost 100%.

So besides flirting with gooey phlegm what else has been going on... there was that road trip to the airport and back that I mentioned. It actually went rather well with only two turnarounds the entire trip--both of them occurring at departure (once here, once there). My buddy came in and did his interview with SRF. He should be hearing within the month, but the good news is that he's coming to Japan one way or another because his soon to be wife is getting stationed here. Because I knew him I wasn't on his interview board, but I think he's got a real good chance of getting the position.

Not much else of noteworthiness. My Vonage account is up and running. I'm not going to post the number here of course, but if you want it, email me and I'll send it to you.

I did find a good local supermarket to shop for fish and produce, both of which are much better than at the Commissary (sp?). In fact, I would go so far as to call the fish selection at the Exchange all but pathetic. What is there is severely freezer burned and the overall selection is limited at best. I'm a bit surprised by this; when I was in Hawaii a couple of years back I happened to be in the exchange and there was a large variety of locally harvested fish and Poke (raw fish slathered in herbs and sauces). Yet here in Japan, with some of the worlds most famous fish markets and we're picking through three month frozen catfish and East coast farmed salmon. What gives?

The meat department is adequate and there's a good selection of frozen poultry--though none fresh what-so-ever. As for eggs, these do come from the local market and they're pretty good. I'm not sure where the produce is coming from, but I tend to shop out in town because what I buy tends to not only taste better, but last longer.

In other big news, Lilah is coming to visit me here in Japan at the very end of June through the holiday and then into the start of the next month. Yeah me! After she leaves in July, I'll see her again about a month later when I head to Washington to pack up the household goods, immediately followed by a trip to Dallas Texas for Charity's wedding. Shortly there after I'm heading back to Washington to catch a flight to Japan and Lilah will be following me within 5 to 10 days.
This is a bit of a change from previous plans where we would fly to Japan together; the change is a result of how we're going to get the dogs here and it turns out that the MAC , or military, flights are the better choice. At least that's what we've been told. However, in order to get a MAC flight we have to be flexible on our schedule and unfortunately I can not delay in my return because of work items. So, Lilah will solo with the pups and I'll be there to pick her up and bring her home.

So on to these pictures; by the way, these are all full rez 5MP shots taken with my new camera phone. Click on any one of the photos to get a full size view. Anyway, I've started playing with a collage feature in Picasa. It's not perfect, as you don't really get to place where the photos will lie in the frame and manipulating the background picture is a bit tedious, but it does offer a bit of creativity without too much trouble. The first shot is a collage of the money process to get into the house here in Japan. I had to have Lilah wire me money from our US account to my on base account here in Japan; the next step is to withdrawal that money in Cash and walk across the street where the cost of travellers checks is much cheaper. I don't wire into that bank, Navy Federal Credit, one because it is a much much busier bank and two because they don't disperse yen. Go figure: you're in Japan and you don't disperse the nations currency. Arrogance, through and through. Anyway, after I buy the travellers checks I take them into town to the Bank of Yokohama and buy Yen. Why travellers checks? Typically, the exchange rate is about 5 Yen more than a cash transaction, and when you're buying a million and a half yen, that adds up to a three to four hundred dollar savings.

The second picture is a street shot from Yokosuka, right near the base. The third shot is from a theme clothing shop in Akiabara. The fourth shot is of my favorite Japanese "Junk food" called TakoYaki. It's a ball of cabbage and egg and some sort of dough rolled together in that cast iron egg crate griddle with a chunk of octopus (that's the "Tako" part) in the center. They serve it steaming hot and cover it with mayonnaise and a teriyaki sauce. It's delish!

The next four pictures are: a collage of the house here in Japan, an emergency stop button located right next to the train tracks in Yokohama (it struck me as something we wouldn't trust in the states to be within just any body's reach), the third picture is in front of the mess hall on base on the day they were having lobster, crab, shrimp, and oysters--as you can tell it was a popular day; the fourth picture is taken from a sky bridge over the train tracks at one of the larger stations.

The last four pictures are more randomness: the first is a giant stuffed tortoise for sale at a thrift shop in Yokosuka--I'm almost positive this would be highly illegal in the USA. The second is a twilight shot taken from my Navy Lodge Hotel room. The third is a picture of the 1996 Twin Turbo Subaru Legacy Wagon that I bought for our family vehicle, "with pep". The last photo is of a baby shower cake that I thought was an ingenous idea: it's made from layers of rolled diapers for the baby-to-be and topped with various infant items and toys.

Well, that's all for now.

:j