From two weeks ago....

Two weeks ago, Tyler, Laura, Kelly, Glenn, Dave and I all adventured out to find OK Yakitori - in American, we call it Meat-on-a-Stick. Very technical.


The Boys at the train station. After some Chu-Hi's we took a cab from base to the train station.


Taking the Train. I was the only one aware this photo was being taken.



Our collection of sticks.

Luckily, the restaurant had someone who spoke very good english, and he was able to tell us what the menu selections were. As usual in Japan, the menu is full of pictures. But our waiter was able to actually tell us what part of chicken was pictured.

Things we learned:
1. I'm not a fan of chicken neck.
2. Chicken heart isn't so bad, once Glenn stops telling you it's still beating.
3. Anything wrapped in bacon is delish.
4. Dave likes liver. Annie doesn't.



Tyler and Laura



Bollywood and I.

Oh, Technology...

Technology is a wonderful thing. Except when it doesn't work right. Then it's an undwonderful thing. Here's my example.

So Dave and I, in February, decide we will help stimulate the economy by purchasing a semi-high-end camera, the glorious Nikon d80. After being here for about 5 days, it is apparent we will also need some kind of editing software (And filters, and wide angle lens.......!) So I manage to purchase Photoshop Elements 7 off of Amazon (which in and of itself was a feat because apparently most Amazon sellers won't ship to APO/FPO...).

So, now we've got this awesome camera, and awesome software to go with it. Enter technology.

My computer doesn't have enough RAM for the Photoshop. So we've gotta put it on Dave's computer. The problem here is that I've downloaded all the photos we've taken on to my compuer. All the photos are on one computer, and the editing software on the other. Bah. The other issue with Photoshop being on Dave's computer is that his screen is on the way out and has yellow, pink, blue and green lines running down it. Only about 12, but still. When editing photos, trying to gauge the photo is difficult with yellow lines.

Dave's soluition to Technology: System Mechanic Professional. This little program is supposed to make your computer run like new again, in the mystical way that it should. So if we get my computer running like new again, maybe we can ignore the fact my computer is .01RAM short and still put Elements on my computer, with all said photos. We decide to run this program on Dave's computer first. But wait! Dave's computer has decided it no longer wants to connect to the internet! After 2 hours of trying different avenues to make this work, we give up and run the Super System on my computer.

Last night, I went to open Microsoft Word. And now I need that 18 letter-digit code to use Word.

Which is in the pack out.

Which will get here mid-May.

Thank you, Technology, for making my life so much easier.

Badman Week

The best way to describe Badman week is to compare it to Greek Week in college. All the squardons compete against each other in events such as softball, dodgeball, and basketball. Each event has a point value and there will be a overall winner at the end of the week. The week is closed out with the Badman Ball on Saturday. Sound familiar, greeks?

Pictures to follow.

Cherry Blossom Festival

On Saturday, Atsugi hosted a Cherry Blossom Festival - unfortunately, the blossoms were not blossoming. But luckily there were pilots and planes to keep the Japanese entertained. It is the one day each year that the base is open to the public. We had about 30,000 people on base. All of the aircraft and squadrons were set up on the flight line. Our squadron sold about $15,000 of memorabilia. It was cold and blustery day, very un-spring like. The most surprising thing was the line for pizza. The on-base pizza restaurant set up several ovens outside, and had a line 500+ people deep. For the Japanese, it's a luxury, as is Dunkin' Donuts. Japanese were walking around with boxes upon boxes of pizza and doughnuts.

Dave, as he new guy, had the first shift at the plane. He dressed in full flight gear, stood by the plane, was photographed and signed autographs. He was like a movie star It earned him a new call sign: Bollywood. Hollywood would be too cool, and since he his a foreign superstar, he's Bollywood. He's enjoying it, but believes it's an interim call sign.