TripAdvisor Review: Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusive

It's been quite a while since we got back from our "babymoon" in Aruba, and writing a review of our resort has been on my to-do list ever since. So, before I forget what a great time we had on the last tropical vacation we'll likely enjoy for years, here's my take:

My husband and I stayed six nights at the Tamarijn back in May, and we loved just about every minute. We'd stayed at a posh all-inclusive elsewhere in the Caribbean the previous year, with marble tile and beach drink service and food available 24 hours. The Tamarijn had none of those things, but we certainly didn't mind.

We had been concerned that, since this wasn't specifically an adults-only resort, we might be swarmed with kids. Truth was, we weren't swarmed with anybody. We ended up in the very farthest building (25) in the very last room (2516), which made for a very quiet time. That was the main pro of having a room so far out, with the con being that we had to either hoof it quite a ways to get back to the restaurants or wait for the golf cart shuttles (which can be sporadic at times). The beaches never got particularly busy, though, no matter how close we got to the main buildings of the resort. There were always palapas available for shade and chairs available for sunning, all down the length of the resort.

We weren't disappointed in any of the restaurants we tried: Pizza Per Tutti had fresh and tasty bar food and snacks; Ginger, the Asian restaurant, had good Asian fusion (though not overly exotic for anyone who eats Asian food back home); Paparazzi featured delicious Italian-American fare, including tasty lasagna and desserts; even Cunucu Terrace (the buffet) was more than passable, if predictable. I also highly suggest heading over to the Divi Divi to eat at the Red Parrot: the coconut shrimp with curry sauce was absolutely exquisite, and was one of my favorite meals of the week. The downside of dining at either the Tamarijn or the Divi is that they require reservations two days in advance, and you can't book out any further than that.

At the same place where you request dinner reservations, you can also book tours elsewhere on the island. We chose to book a bus tour (we tend to do that everywhere we travel) and a snorkeling tour (which we try to do everywhere we can). They do accept US currency, so no worries there.

There were only a few aspects of our stay that we found disappointing, and they were all minor. Our room was, as I mentioned, very far away from any food or drink, and required a half-mile walk to get to the main restaurants. The room was relatively small, compared to other, fancier hotels and resorts (but was still big enough, especially with the balcony). The tap water doesn't come out cold. The shampoo and body wash are in dispensers on the shower wall (no complimentary Aruba Aloe souvenirs for you!). Once Pizza Per Tutti closes for the night, there's no more food to be had until morning (although each room does have a refrigerator, so plan ahead).

A few related tips:

Buy a large bottled water (or two) from the gift shop early in your stay, then refill it as needed and keep it in your fridge.

If you go downtown, take the bus. Don't try to walk it. The trip isn't picturesque enough to justify the walk in the sun and the heat; it seems nice enough on the beach with the breeze, but it's entirely too easy to get sunburnt and uncomfortable during the walk there and back. That said, there are some interesting abandoned resorts around, and some local grocery stores and other shops en route, and Oranjestad is definitely worth an afternoon of souvenir shopping and eating off-resort.

Unless you don't mind a half-mile walk to get back to the main part of the resort (multiple times a day), request a building closer than 25. Be forewarned that (during our stay, at least) there was a large outlet of nasty-looking sludge that smelled like sulfur between buildings 21 and 22, I believe it was. If you do choose a faraway building, do take advantage of the golf carts that will take you back to your room.

Make sure you're outside, either eating dinner or relaxing on the beach or by the pool, around 7pm every night for the most spectacular sunsets you may ever see.

If anyone I know is planning to vacation in Aruba, I'll definitely recommend they stay at the Tamarijn.

Aruba Slideshow

I had been hoping to incorporate Aaron's photos into my vacation slideshow, but he's not the biggest fan of taking the time to upload and title and tag all his photos. So, it's just mine here, until I get a hair up my ass to upload his pictures to my Flickr stream (properly tagged "taken by Aaron," of course).

Hopefully I'll get some TripAdvisor reviews written before I forget what a good time we had on our babymoon... and before I run out of free time to write reviews!

Lingering Sunset

[Taken 5 May 2011 | 1/25sec @ f/3.5 | ISO 800 | 18mm]

During our vacation at the Tamarijn, Aruba.

Snorkeling Self-Portrait

[Taken 5 May 2011 | 1/90sec @ f/2.8 | ISO 50]

Another photo taken with the point-and-shoot in a marine case. I'm going to keep this little camera around as long as I can, just because the case I got for it is so handy around water!

Floating

[Taken 7 May 2011 | 1/250sec @ f/6.7 | ISO 50]

On a relaxing afternoon, enjoying a dip in the Caribbean. Taken using my point-and-shoot in a marine case (with a desiccant pack!).

Tamarijn Patios

[Taken 1 May 2011 | 1/60sec @ f/13 | ISO 200 | 40mm]

View of the first-floor patios of Building 25, and beyond to Building 24.

Caribbean Apple Pie

[Taken 2 May 2011 | 1/40sec @ f/3.5 | ISO 200 | 18mm]

Dessert enjoyed beachside at The Red Parrot, located at the Divi (adjacent to the Tamarijn, and owned by the same parent company).

Cleveland with the Cousins

It might seem a little odd to write about a daytrip to Cleveland from back in March, when I still haven't really written about our awesome trip to Aruba earlier this month, but I've been meaning to get this out there for a while now.

See, we rarely get to hang out with Aaron's now-adult cousins outside of the standard family gatherings (Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes Easter, and sometimes Independence Day), so after literally YEARS of "we should really get together and hang out sometime" and one snow delay, we managed to spend a day together in Cleveland. The plan was to start out in Ohio City, hit the West Side Market, drive to Tremont and walk around, then wrap up with dinner in Asiatown.

And, despite the cold, that's just what we did. Read on for details and photos...

read more...

Aruban Sunset at Poolside

[Taken 5 May 2011 | 1/100sec @ f/4.8 | ISO 800 | 34mm]

One of my favorite photos to come out of last week's vacation to Aruba.

View of Manhattan

[Taken 15 July 2010 | modified Holga 120N]

Another shot with the modified Holga, this time from our trip to New York City.

First National Bldg, Ann Arbor

[Taken 16 October 2010 | modified Holga 120N | f/cloudy (~f/8)]

Finally mastered the Holgamod light leaks with gaffer's tape! See more on Flickr.

(Note: I scanned these while still in their nifty negative storage sleeve, so I picked up a lot of dust and cat hair and other indignities, of which I only removed the most offensive. If I ever decide to print them, I'll rescan, but not until.)

Tomukun Pork Buns, Ann Arbor

[Taken 7 Aug 2010 | Pentax Auto 110 SLR | ISO 400 | 24mm ]

The test roll for my new Pentax Auto 110 was a rousing success!

(The pork buns were delicious, too.)

More test photos after the jump...

read more...

Love ME

[Taken 15 July 2010 | 1/1000 sec at f/8 | ISO 400 | 30mm]

Seen in SoHo, New York City.

Across the East River

[Taken 14 July 2010 | 1/200 sec at f/8 | ISO 400 | 34mm]

As seen from the sheltered upper deck of the bus, during the second part of our Downtown Tour in New York City. Luckily, the pre-Chinatown part of the tour wasn't as rainy and dismal.

Manhattan

As seen from the 72nd floor of the Empire State Building.

TripAdvisor Review: Mayan Adventure

As the third (and likely, the final) TripAdvisor review of our Mexico vacation, I offer my recap of our day on the Mayan Adventure Snorkeling Tour with Aventuras Mayas.

My husband and I booked the Mayan Adventure Snorkeling Tour via the travel rep at our hotel during our April 2010 vacation -- we'd known we wanted to go snorkeling, but didn't know where. I'm so glad that we ended up with this tour!

Our guide, Julio, drove our tour group from Playa del Carmen out to Akumal, our first of three snorkeling locations. There, he distributed life vests (manually inflatable), masks, and individually-wrapped breathing tubes. After renting some slightly suspicious-looking snorkel gear on a previous vacation, I was glad to see the focus on hygiene.

There was also a focus on environmental awareness, mainly centered around sunscreen. My husband and I had been told by our travel rep that only biodegradable sunscreen was allowed; truth be told, though, the guides would prefer that snorkelers not wear sunscreen at all, since even the biodegradable versions need sunlight to biodegrade. We'd already slathered it on in our hotel room previously, though, and I can attest that most of it had washed off by the time we got to the underground cenote at the end of the tour. Julio suggested that those who are highly susceptible to sunburn simply keep their t-shirt on, although he didn't force us to shower off any previously-applied sunblock.

We snorkeled in three locations: an ocean inlet, an open cenote, and an underground cenote. Julio made sure to point out all the potential dangers and wonders of each spot. We were especially glad that he showed us a map of the ocean inlet, as my husband and I got separated from the group and had to find our way back on our own! (Both of us wear glasses, and there were several red-shirted tour guides for various groups, so one red guy started to look like another...) Apart from that minor scare, the snorkeling at Yal-Ku Lagoon was beautiful.

The open cenote that was next on the agenda included a diving platform and a zipline, for the adventurous types. I passed on both, but my husband did the zipline and loved it! Several people jumped off of the diving platform multiple times. Not as many fish as in the lagoon, but the water was crisp and cool and refreshing.

The underground cenote was even colder, but was completely breathtaking. A few beams of natural light filtered from above us down into the deep, and the crevasses below us seemed to go down forever. The beauty was amazing (and was, unfortunately, too dark for my underwater camera to capture).

Lunch is included in this tour, which we hadn't realized at the time of booking. The food was delicious yet basic: chicken, tortillas, rice, beans, all fresh and very welcome after a morning of snorkeling.

I brought a camera with an underwater case, but there were some staff photographers at certain locations -- at the zipline and diving platform, and in the underground cenote. They took some candid shots at the open cenote, and some posed shots of couples and family groups at the underground cenote. The price of the photos was extremely reasonable: about $20 for a CD-R of the candid and posed shots, plus some stock photos of the cenotes and wildlife.

Overall, this was a fabulous experience. Highly recommend!

Sun Protection

[Taken 25 April 2010 | 1/1600 sec at f/6.3 | ISO 200 | 200mm]

During our final afternoon on the beach in Playa del Carmen.

TripAdvisor Review: Alltournative Mayan Encounter

This week's review, posted to TripAdvisor, details the fun we had going on a Mayan Encounter with our tour guide, Rodolfo:

My husband and I went on the Mayan Encounter in April 2010, and had a fabulous time! Our guide, Rodolfo, had a great sense of humor. He also made sure to keep the youngest member of our tour (about age 9) safe and engaged.

The day started with a trip to the ruins at Coba. We were the only two people in our group who opted not to rent a bicycle or take a "Mayan Limousine" (bicycle taxi) out to Nohoch Muul. If I had it to do over, I would have gone ahead and spent the extra money for the taxi. While the walk wasn't difficult, it took up valuable time -- we had just enough time to walk out, climb the stairs, take a few pictures, and come back, and we were the last ones back to the van.

After the ruins, we headed to the Mayan village, where we stowed our gear and went for a walk in the jungle....

I also brought a waterproof camera with me, and was discreet about photographing, as there are Mayan photographers with Alltournative that take photos during the activities. Rodolfo asked us, in his own dry and amusing way, not to interfere with the photographers on-site. He also made it clear that he wouldn't be climbing down into any ravines to fetch lost cameras. I believe his quotable on the subject was, "Too bad, so sad." Cameras ARE allowed, but you bring them at your own risk.

The activities aren't necessarily done in the order they're listed on the Alltournative website: we rappelled into the cenote first (after being purified, of course), then went down the zipline, then went canoeing. The rappelling was the most nerve-wracking for myself and my husband, but also very high on the fun factor (for me, anyway). The most dangerous, though, could well have been just walking in the jungle! It had just rained, so the ground was slick, and there were rocks and roots everywhere. My husband and I were glad to have worn our hiking sandals, and I would encourage anyone going on this tour to consider a pair. I would have been uncomfortable in closed shoes, especially with either damp socks or no socks at all after swimming.

The rappelling could have been disastrous, but wasn't: at the very bottom, as I was settling into the inner tube that was waiting for me in the cenote, my hair got caught in the hooks and ropes of the rappelling harness. The native guide in the cenote called up to the people back at the top of the rope, and they hauled up on the rope just enough to free my hair. An incident that could have ruined my entire vacation in a very major way ended up being just a 30-second blip in the fun.

The zipline was brief but enjoyable. We each got a helmet and a wooden stick to be used as a brake. For those of us larger types, the brake didn't seem to do much, and the photos of us at the end of the zipline were basically us with expressions of abject horror that we WEREN'T STOPPING -- but there was a foam sleeve around the zipline at the end that finished the braking process, thankfully.

The canoeing seemed to be just a timesink -- something to allow the staff to finish up the meal preparation and photo transfers -- but it was relaxing and enjoyable nonetheless. It had been years since either I or my husband went canoeing, so just tooling around a lake was fun and relaxing.

The Mayan meal was simple and delicious: chicken, beans, empanadas, tortillas, rice, and flavored waters (I'm a big fan of the tamarind water).

After lunch, we got to view the photos taken by the staff. There were a few that were well-composed and better than your average snapshot, but a single printed photo cost $20, and even the package deals (digital photos on CD) were entirely too expensive. I'm glad I brought my own camera, but disappointed that the staff photos were so overpriced.

On our way back, Rodolfo took us past the Alltournative shop for a "technical stop" and a round of tequila shots (for those of us of age). Unfortunately, he didn't mention that he wanted to do a toast, so one person grabbed her shot, and the rest of us followed suit while Rodolfo was away from the table for a moment. When he came back and saw that we'd already finished our shots, he seemed very disappointed that we hadn't gotten to toast our day together, "but this time we do it the American way, no?"

Overall, this was a great way to try some new things, see some amazing and beautiful sights, and learn about the Mayan culture. To Rodolfo -- I had a great time, and I hope you weren't too intimidated by my TripAdvisor hat. I wasn't really a "secret shopper." :-)

Our Waiter, Jorge

[Taken 22 April 2010 | 1/13 sec at f/3.5 | ISO 1600 | 18mm]

At Maria Marie, the French-Mexican fusion restaurant at the Royal Playa del Carmen.

TripAdvisor Review: The Royal Playa del Carmen

As the first of several reviews I'll be writing about our experiences with the businesses and services in and around Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico, I chose to review our resort, the Royal Playa del Carmen.

Despite a few negative experiences I felt necessary to point out, I gave the resort a rating of five out of five. My review reads, in part:

In a nutshell: The Royal has spacious rooms, a beautiful beach, delicious food, and impeccable service. There were negative points, of course, but the positives far outweighed those.

We stayed at the Royal for six nights, and ate at every restaurant at least once. Maria Marie, the French-Mexican fusion restaurant, quickly became our favorite; we'd had little to no prior experience with pricey French cuisine, and discovered that we love the selections at Maria Marie. Second on our list was the 24-Hour All-Inclusive Snack Bar, oddly enough. They had hors d'oeuvres that were appropriate for the time of day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, late-night), plus beverages both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, so it was a great place to stop in at off-times: for an early breakfast before a tour, or in the afternoon if we were planning a late dinner.

Regarding our room (Junior Suite): It was easily the largest and most posh room we've ever stayed in. The ceilings were amazingly tall; the bed large and comfortable, with plenty of pillows to choose from; the AC worked splendidly, as did the ceiling fan; and the double jacuzzi was much appreciated.

...

[The] negative points really were far outweighed by the fabulous experience we had at the Royal. There were beach chairs both in the sun and the shade (which we, as pasty white Midwesterners, highly appreciated), with servers who brought us beverages as we read books and surfed the internet on our smartphones using the resort's free wi-fi. The service at all of the restaurants was nearly impeccable: never before have I had my chair pulled out for me AND my napkin laid on my lap. The food was delicious and attractive, and the desserts (especially anything involving chocolate) were absolutely amazing. And whenever we were at a loss as to where to go or what to do, we'd simply stop into the Lobby Bar and enjoy the comfy chairs, the breeze, and a few drinks. (And the wi-fi.)

As far as relaxing, resort-style beach vacations go, this was an amazing experience. I would definitely recommend the Royal to anyone who is considering a vacation in Playa.

For my full review, along with photos of The Royal, visit my list of reviews on TripAdvisor. They take a few days to approve reviews, so it should be posted by early next week was posted on Wednesday.

Nightly Candle

Each night, while we were out at dinner, housekeeping would come by and turn down our bedding, light a candle under the scented oil burner, and leave Bon-Bons on our bed.

Vacation Slideshow

Finally! All the vacation photos are processed and posted!

Yes, I know they were all digital. And, yes, they still needed "processing." Deciding which ones to post. Tweaking the color and contrast until the images are just like the ones in my memory. Cloning out pimples and other indignities. Stuff like that.

If you watch the whole slideshow from start to end (199 photos and two very short videos), it should take about a half hour of your time. We did take about a half hour of video on our MiniDV camcorder, so I'll probably be editing that down and posting it to YouTube later, too.

FYI, you'll need to either watch our vacation media online or contact us for a private screening at the Schnuth abode, because we're not planning to host a Post-Vacation Mexican Fiesta this year. We'll be happy to join individuals and couples for dinner, possibly drinks, and a screening of our vacation video (once it's finished), though. In fact, we encourage that.

Now That We're Back

I have several ideas for relatively short, Wil-Wheaton-esque vignettes from our recent vacation. The only thing that's stopping me from writing them is my desire to get all my photos posted first. After that, I'm sure I'll want to edit together the small amount (less than an hour) of video we shot, and hopefully integrate the snippets of video from our iPhones and my point-and-shoot digital into the DV footage.

It's all about priorities.

So, in the meantime, enjoy this short snippet of how we spent much of our vacation.

When We Arrived

[Taken 20 April 2010 | ¼ sec at f/4 | ISO 200 | 18mm]

There was a cake made out of towels on our king size hotel bed, sprinkled with real rose petals.

Last Day in Playa

Enjoying our final afternoon of vacation by lounging on the beach -- again, under a shaded cabana.

Beach Cabanas

Spent the afternoon safely enjoying the beach beneath a shaded canopy.

Nohoch Muul, Coba

[Taken 22 April 2010 | Apple iPhone 3G | processed with PS Mobile]

Seen during the Maya Encounter tour with Alltournative.

Bienvenidos a Playa

Our first evening in Playa is a rainy one, but we don't mind. The staff at the Royal are bending over backwards to make sure we enjoy ourselves.

T-minus 20 Days and Counting

YouTube user alexkelowna1963 has uploaded several videos of the Royal Playa del Carmen, including this one of the resort's beach. They're only serving to make me even more excited about our trip.

We're really not beach people. I swear. We spent one afternoon sunning and swimming at Waikiki back in 2008 before we got bored of it. Granted, this was after we'd already experienced things like parasailing and snorkeling, and had walked up and down the beach both by day and by night.

As for this trip, we have one tour already booked — on my birthday, no less — and are planning to do some other excursions on the fly: snorkeling, maybe parasailing, and definitely exploring Playa. And exploring the menu options at the Royal — it's all-inclusive, after all.

As for now, though, we're focusing on the little things. Making sure our shorts still fit, and buying new ones if necessary. Procuring swimsuits. Making sure the sunscreen we bought for Hawaii is still good. For me, getting a haircut (and getting my nails done). Finding cute sundresses at the thrift. Getting new glasses (and prescription sunglasses). Checking to see if any exit-row seats have opened up on our flight. Refreshing our rudimentary knowledge of Spanish.

The build-up is half the fun of vacation! So, while I might seem like I'm wishing the days away, it's really kind of like Christmas — the waiting is what makes it exciting.

Starbucks Memories

I wanted to save it forever; alas, it's printed on thermal paper. My order of an iced caramel macchiato is now partially illegible. Aaron's dark mocha frappuccino and my cell phone strap are only slightly more legible. So, best if I immortalize our receipt in bits and bytes while I still can.

I was so proud of myself for learning how to order my favorite drink: aisu kyarameru makiato. Turns out that, as does nearly every other food service establishment in Japan, Starbucks has an English menu (which the barista at the Metro Hat Starbucks in Roppongi graciously brought out for us without us even asking). Aaron just pointed at the picture of the HIGHLY AWESOME Dark Mocha Frappuccino, said "grande," and he was good to go.

Sometimes I just try too hard.

Schnuth Vacation 2010

What's the cure (or at least a palliative) for the early onset of winter blues?

Why, booking a summer vacation, of course!

(originally uploaded by wine me up on Flickr)

For a combination of beach and adventure, we're planning a late-April trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Six beautiful nights at an all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen, just south of Cancún.

Those who have been following our vacation adventures may recall that we had toyed with the thought of going to Cancún last year. We opted for a second trip to Japan, instead — and that certainly turned out for the best, since the H1N1 swine flu epidemic hit Mexico at the EXACT time we would have been heading there for fun in the sun.

Plus, there was the fact that, whenever we told anyone we were planning to go to Cancún, their first response was, "Oh, you like to party?"

Actually, no. But thanks for the heads-up.

Playa del Carmen is a small fishing town that's blossomed into a tourism alternative to Cancún. The community has apparently made a concerted effort to keep the town small and quaint, as opposed to the touristy insanity just a few miles north.

Also, the resort we've booked is an adults-only establishment (the family-friendly resort is just across the street). No spring-breakers allowed. It sounds like, if we want a party vibe, we could easily get our party on in one of the bars; if not, we could chillax either in the hammock on the balcony or in the suite's double jacuzzi.

(I have to credit Tn Pham, a complete stranger, for influencing our decision on where to stay. I'd been looking at the sister resort, not realizing that it was intended for families. When I Googled the hotel name, I came across Tn's travelogue and realized that the adults-only resort was the way to go. Just check out his pictures!)

We're not very good at being beach bums, though — we only managed a short afternoon sunning and swimming in Waikiki before we grew bored with the beach. We have plans to do plenty of other activities: touring the Mayan ruins, snorkeling, ziplining, parasailing, and checking out the town of Playa del Carmen. Our hotel is within easy walking distance of the shopping district, and I'm sure we'll come up with a list of restaurants and shops to check out (on top of our all-inclusive dining options).

We just have to make it through four months of winter. Just four more months! When the last snow falls in Ohio, we'll be booking it to sunnier skies.

The Old General Store

My first major project since getting my new scanner has been to digitize the photos from our honeymoon, back in May 2003. (The process went surprisingly smoothly, which bodes well for future scanning projects.)

This is where we stayed for a good part of our trip: Aaron's grandmother's house in Cummington, Massachusetts. The house had long since been parceled out into apartments, and Grammie kept one in reserve for herself, in case she had need to go visit her rental property. She graciously let us stay in her apartment for the week, using it as a home base of sorts.

As far as the honeymoon photos go, I still need to properly date and geotag them all... but that's a follow-up project for another day.

Navy Pier Park

As seen during our Labor Day Weekend in Chicago, 5 September 2009.

On The River, Chicago

Taken from the upper deck of a double-decker tour bus in Chicago, Illinois: 5 September 2009.

Chicago Slideshow

I finally uploaded all of my Chicago photos to Flickr! I also finally figured out how to embed slideshows in my blog posts, so enjoy!

Final Night in Chicago

Yesterday was a laid-back day, after a packed Saturday. The morning involved us forgetting that it was Sunday freaking morning, so nothing was open for breakfast. We ended up back in Chinatown, where we enjoyed a twist on our traditional dim sum Sunday brunch, then wandered around some local shops.

A good part of our afternoon was spent relaxing and people-watching in various locations, including Hancock Tower and Navy Pier. We did pay the $15 each to go up the Tower, and another $30 each to take the Architectural Boat Tour, both of which were totally worth the time and money.

Dinner was at an Asian fusion joint near our hotel; the food was good, but my dining experience was marred by our close dining neighbors and the one song that played on repeat the ENTIRE TIME.

After dinner, we took a stroll up and down S. Michigan Avenue, had a drink at Kitty O'Shea's, and called it a night.

Today, the plan is to check out, head NW to Mitsuwa Marketplace for lunch and Japanese shopping, then head back home to our lives of boring normalcy once more. Laundry and shopping!

View From Hancock Tower

Second Night in Chicago

After a morning at Ann Sather's for breakfast and a stroll around Navy Pier, we spent the afternoon atop a double-decker tour bus, seeing the sights of downtown. We then took the West Neighboorhood tour (included in the price!) and stopped off for a walk through Chinatown.

By the time we hitched the next tour bus back to Millennium Park and walked back to the hotel, it was dinnertime. Our first attempt was the Dearborn Street Oyster Bar; alas, when we arrived, it seemed to have been closed for some time.

Our second choice was the Ethiopian Diamond, which we didn't realize was 18 stops up the Red Line. Despite the drunks on the way out and the panhandler on the way back, it was definitely worth the trip. Delicious food, helpful waitstaff, and upscale ambiance that still didn't make us feel underdressed. This was our first experience with Ethiopian food, but it certainly won't be our last.

When we returned to the hotel, we enjoyed some Guinness chocolate cake, some adult beverages, and some live Irish music before turning in for the night.

What a fantastic first day in Chicago!

We still need to eat Chicago hot dogs and Italian beef, check out the Skydeck at Willis Tower (or maybe the John Hancock building instead), and hit Mitsuwa tomorrow on our way out. Not sure what's on today's agenda, but we'll figure it out.

Ann Sather's Cinnamon Rolls

This was only part of our fantastic breakfast. Would never have known about this place if not for the Food Network!

First Night in Chicago

Showing up at Giordano's in our shorts and t-shirts with my camera bag in tow must have stamped us as tourists. I certainly felt much less urban-chic than the woman in 3-inch heels and a short cocktail dress, balancing a kid on one hip.

At any rate, when we asked for a box for the last half of our medium pizza, she asked if we were in a hotel and would need plates, forks, Parmesan. Even though our room in the Hilton has no refrigerator (but does have a minibar we won't be using), we accepted all the accoutrements and brought our leftovers back to the hotel.

Our trip is pretty freeform; we don't have a strict agenda. Our immediate plans include getting a 3-day pass for the local rail/bus system, then heading north to Ann Sathers to get some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Thanks, Food Network!

Expect more tweets, posts, and pics as the weekend progresses...

In line for the Firehawk, King's Island

Chicago Illinois Is Like A Shiny Toy

So, Aaron and I are planning a quick getaway to Chicago over Labor Day Weekend. We decided that there's enough interesting and fun things to do within a day's drive of Toledo that there's no excuse for us not to get out and experience them. Right?

We have a few ideas of things to do: check out the view from the Sears Tower, eat some pizza, walk around Millennium Park and enjoy sounds of the jazz festival, and hit Mitsuwa Marketplace, the giant Japanese market northwest of town. One friend suggested the planetarium, which sounds totally cool. Another friend is trying to convince us to go see Blue Man Group, too, but we're not totally sold on it yet.

In order to generate ideas for things to do and places to visit, I decided to Google the phrase, "in Chicago, you have to..."

Here's what I came up with, vacation-appropriate or not:

• In order to brave the elements in Chicago, you have to dress yourself accordingly—three fleeces layered on top of each other and a ski mask.
• If you are in Chicago, you have to go here [Giordano's Pizza] for dinner at least one night.
• You're in Chicago- you have to pay a visit to River North.
• When running in Chicago you have to run along the lake.
• But [Sears Tower]'s the third tallest building in the world and once you are in Chicago you have to go!
• I still don't understand why in Chicago you have to pay for parking at the hotel you are paying to stay at.
• Are you still in Chicago? You have to make a pilgrimage to Hot Doug's! Gourmet hot dogs.
• (In Chicago, you have to ask for ketchup on your hot dog.)
• Also, when you're in Chicago you have to try chicago style hot dogs and Italian Beef.
• In Chicago, you have to pay double tolls if you don't use the automated system, and it's a lot slower.
• If you are in Chicago, you have to go and see a concert to get the real summer in Chicago experience.
• In Chicago, you have to get the deep dish.
• If you're in Chicago, you have to visit Michigan Avenue, and since you're seeing Michigan Avenue, you have to amble down Oak Street.
• I started out in Chicago. You have to learn the business.
• If you are in Chicago, you have to try Goose Island and it's even better if you drink it at one of their fine establishments.
• If you're in Chicago, you have to have a potbelly [sandwich].
• Now, since you're in Chicago, you have to get a flame broiled steak at the Weber Grill (yeah, sounds touristy, but the quality is excellent) and a stuffed pizza at Giordano's - just don't have the pizza for lunch before a game.

Well, then. That should keep us busy.

To wrap up, I'll leave you with this little number from the 1982 movie Victor/Victoria:

Ann Arbor Art Fairs 2009

Amy, Aaron and I enjoyed an afternoon at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs this past Saturday. I'm still recovering from the fun, but wanted to briefly share what I bought at the fairs.

Several years back, I saw some hanging plant rooters at the Crosby Art Festival here in town. For whatever reason, I didn't buy one, assuming that (like most other booths) I'd see them at another fair in the near future. Turns out that the artisans aren't exactly local; they're from Vermont. So, this weekend, thanks to Aaron's sharp eye in seeing their booth, I finally picked myself up one of the more popular copper rooters from Vermont Nature Creations. I'm planning to head outside sometime this week and cut some catnip to try rooting in my new piece of art. If I like it, perhaps I'll buy myself another for a spider or two.

One of my favorite parts of going to an art show is watching the people who will actually show you their craft and how they create their wares. Linda Tong was one of those people this year. She creates Asian laquerware, and showed us the delicate handpainting she does for each creation. Knowing this, the Maneki Neko I got for $15 was quite a steal.

During our turn around the Liberty Street Courtyard, I found a booth of jewelry and earrings created from bottle caps and coins and other bits of found items. I bought a pair of earrings made from small Asian coins — only $10 for the pair. She also had earrings made from typewriter keys, but I couldn't find appropriate initials (except maybe I.T., for my occupation). Which is really too bad, because I absolutely adored those earrings. The Fun Company has some of their wares posted online, but nothing quite like the Asian coin earrings I bought, unfortunately, and no typewriter key earrings.

One booth I quite admired, but didn't have the coin (or the real estate) to purchase and properly display, was John Chumack's Galactic Images. His astronomical photos have been featured in National Geographic and Time Magazine, among others, and he has an impressive backyard observatory in Dayton, Ohio. Seeing his photos almost made me want to go out and buy myself a telescope (preferably one I could connect to a camera body). Some of my favorite photos of his, though, were ones where both the stars and the landscape were amazingly sharp; those intrigued me from both a technical and an artistic perspective.

I'm glad that, this year, I actually bought some useful and easily-displayed items that won't still be leaning up against a wall a year later, unmatted and unframed.

In addition to the booths, the food, and the company, I also enjoyed taking photos with my Lomo LC-A. But that's another post for another day...

Quick Nap

Seen from the window of Okonomi Yukari, in Akiba Ichi.

Religious Denominations of the World

Aaron and I spent yesterday afternoon in Ann Arbor. Ate some delicious food of various ethnic origins, stopped into some interesting stores, and generally had a good time hanging out in a different town.

One of our standard stops in Ann Arbor is the Dawn Treader Book Shop. We've picked up some interesting books there in the past, and it's always fun to just look around. This time, I came across this 1872 publication, Religious Denominations of the World, compiled by a Vincent L. Milner. The title page states that it is "a general view of the origin, history, and condition of the various sects of Christians, the Jews, and Mahometans, as well as the Pagan forms of religion existing in the different countries of the earth: with Sketches of the Founders of Various Religious Sects."

This looks like a fascinating read. The Table of Contents includes dozens of religions I've never heard of before, and some I've only heard of in passing. It should be interesting to read about these religions from the point of view of a Christian from the year 1871 who is attempting to be as impartial as possible (per the Preface).

The only disappointing thing about this book, from a research standpoint, is that it claims to have been "carefully compiled from the best authorities on the subject," but it never references who those authorities are. What I've read so far seems to be factually correct, though, if a bit more biased than Mr. Milner might have thought.

Expect to hear more on my blog about Mr. Milner (if I can find anything) and his take on Mormons, Atheists, and obscure religions of the 1800s.

Tokyo Tower Sunset

As seen from Room 950, Tokyo Prince Hotel, in that brief moment between sunset and the illumination of the Tower (6:15 PM).

In other news, all of my Japan 2009 photos are finally uploaded to my Flickr account, so feel free to peruse, if you haven't already.

Video: Trip to Nikko

While I didn't get our entire vacation video edited in time for last night's party, I did manage to get our Nikko video edited down to a brisk four minutes. Expect more shorts from our Japan vacation in the coming weeks!

Jizo and Pebbles

Seen in Nikko, west of the Annex Turtle Inn Hotori-An, where we had stayed the previous night.

From Wikipedia:

In Japan, Jizō, or Ojizō-sama as he is respectfully known, is one of the most loved of all Japanese divinities. His statues are a common sight, especially by roadsides and in graveyards. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children, particularly children who died before their parents. Since the 1980s, the tendency developed in which he was worshipped as the guardian of the souls of mizuko, the souls of stillborn, miscarried or aborted fetuses. In Japanese mythology, it is said that the souls of children who die before their parents are unable to cross the mythical Sanzu River on their way to the afterlife because they have not had the chance to accumulate enough good deeds and because they have made the parents suffer. It is believed that Jizō saves these souls from having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river as penance, by hiding them from demons in his robe, and letting them hear mantras.

Jizō statues are sometimes accompanied by a little pile of stones and pebbles, put there by people in the hope that it would shorten the time children have to suffer in the underworld (the act is derived from the tradition of building stupas as an act of merit-making). The statues can sometimes be seen wearing tiny children's clothing or bibs, or with toys, put there by grieving parents to help their lost ones and hoping that Jizō would specially protect them. Sometimes the offerings are put there by parents to thank Jizō for saving their children from a serious illness. Jizō's features are also commonly made more babylike in order to resemble the children he protects.

This Jizo must have been part Wicked Witch, or made of sugar, as it seems to have melted...

Not (Quite) Indispensable

Don't get me wrong: I love my iPhone. It's awesome to have the internet at my fingertips almost anywhere. But, for me, it's still a toy. It's not an indispensable tool. Not yet.

I regularly use my iPhone to Twitter, track my daily weight, look things up on Wikipedia, read USA Today, check my Gmail, track my to-do list, and check the weather. I rarely use it as the phone it is, as my friends are mostly e-mail or Facebook types, and I don't have a kid to track down multiple times a day. I do text with Aaron every now and again, when one of us is at work.

Very few of these things actually require a mobile handheld device. I could check the weather from my computer at work or at home. Same with my e-mail and Twitter (although Twitter wouldn't be quite as much fun that way). I have an Excel spreadsheet with my daily weight. And so on.

That said, the iPhone was the closest thing to an indispensable tool when we were in Japan.

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Tokyo Tower, Thursday Morning

As seen from the Tokyo Prince Hotel, room 950, on 18 May 2009 at 7:45am JST.

Playing Field, Tokyo

Seen from the Main Observation Deck of the Tokyo Tower, 13 May 2009 at 6:55pm.

Tokyo City View

As seen from the 52nd floor of Mori Tower in Roppongi.

Gate Guardian

Seen in Nikko, while touring the shrines and temples.

Shibuya Crossing

As seen from the 2nd floor of Starbucks in Shibuya Tsutaya.

Fuji-san

Photos really can't effectively capture the immensity of Mt. Fuji; she's massive and majestic, and we were lucky to have a clear view of her today.

View From Room 950

Much like the view we had last time, which is awesome.

'Twas The Night Before Tokyo...

The luggage and carry-ons are packed and ready to go, tomorrow's clothes are laid out, the boarding passes and travel documents are printed, and we're just about ready to settle down for a near-sleepless night.

Our checked luggage is still upstairs on the bed, and one inner pocket of one of our suitcases is completely full of chargers and cords for our electronics. Nikon DSLR, Minolta point-and-shoot digital, MiniDV camcorder, Nintendo DS, PSP, iPhones and iPods. (The laptop power supply stays with the laptop in the carry-on.) It's almost ridiculous how "wired" we are for this trip.

I have to wonder whether being more connected this time around is going to change our experience. And it's not just the fact of being able to upload photos of our trip while we're still ON our trip; it's being able to access our Google Map from our iPhones, instead of marking places in our Tokyo Atlas; it's having directions via the Tokyo Metro subway at our fingertips, instead of using our 8.5 x 11" printed map; it's the allure of Twittering (or even all-out blogging) about our vacation at any given moment. It's having access to the internet via the laptop in our hotel room, instead of using the free internet at the Apple Store in Ginza to find a kaiten-zushi restaurant in Asakusa.

Honestly, I think our gadgetry will only enhance our trip, instead of taking away from it. As long as we don't let ourselves get pulled out of the awesomeness that is our vacation in order to document our awesome vacation, I think we'll be just fine.

Our friend Kris is graciously picking us up tomorrow morning around 8:30am to drive us to the Detroit airport. Our flight starts boarding at 11:30am, and we take off at noon-thirty for Tokyo.

And the adventure begins...

Early Birthday Weekend

It's been a tradition since the early years of our courtship for Aaron and I to celebrate our respective birthdays on the weekend nearest to the date. Aaron's worked nights/evenings for the last 15 years or so, which makes birthday dinner problematic. Since my birthday is on a Wednesday this year (hint, hint), we opted to celebrate this past Saturday.

Our plans initially revolved around going to see the Star Trek exhibit at the Detroit Science Center, but later expanded to include dinner in Ann Arbor. The short version of the day: The weather was positively BEAUTIFUL; the Star Trek exhibit was fairly detailed and involved, and it definitely catered to the Trekkie/Trekker; dinner was at the Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant on S. University, and was delicious; we continued to be Starbucks whores, even in another town; and we topped off the evening by sharing some mochi ice cream.

The long version of the day (with photos) is after the jump...

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Sanja Matsuri, Asakusa 2007

Seen in Asakusa during the Sanja Festival, 19 May 2007.

We never did find out what mythology was being played out here, and were slightly disappointed that the main characters never actually enacted the swordfight that kept being alluded to.

Vacation '09

After our ill-fated attempt at procreation back in '07, Aaron and I found ourselves sitting in Red Lobster, facing a second chance at DINKness (dual income, no kids). Eventually, after some discussion, we decided to do something crazy, something we never thought we'd be able to swing: a week-long vacation to Japan.

It was the best vacation EVER.

It beat the crap out of our previous vacation to Amish Country, or the mix-n-match week of daytrips from the year before that. Despite the ass-long plane trip, our week in Tokyo was everything we'd hoped it would be. Culturally fascinating, with fantastic food and geeky shopping like you wouldn't believe.

How to follow that up? How about the other vacation destination we never thought we'd be able to afford: Hawaii. Beautiful weather, outdoor activities like parasailing and snorkeling, bus tours, a Polynesian theme park, and Japanese food. Again, long-ass plane ride, but ultimately worth it.

So.

Now we've done the two trips we really, really wanted to take in our lifetimes. We have another year to take another potentially over-the-top trip... but neither of us are wowed solely by breathtaking landscapes or fantastic weather. There needs to be places to go, things to do, and preferably some sort of nearby walkable civilized / metropolitan area. Since Aaron had to put in for his vacations so early this year, we're locked into traveling in either May or August.

Our two awesome vacations were awesome for completely different reasons. Hawaii was more of an outdoor adventure, while Tokyo was a geeky paradise for lovers of the Japanese culture. Maybe it's just because we're at the beginning of winter, but I'm recalling how much I really enjoyed being in the tropics. Warm breezes, perfect temps, sunshine, beaches... not that Tokyo in May was unpleasant by any means. So, while there are plenty of places I'd like to check out in Europe (especially England and Ireland), I think they're going to be pushed to the back burner, in favor of some fun in the sun.

I think I'm just jonesing for a getaway, and that's putting me in vacation-planning mode. I'm trying to balance price and flight length with potential vacation awesomeness, and am coming up with either the Caribbean or Mexico / Central America. I mean, Hong Kong would be great, but that's a loooong trip for more money than it cost to go to Tokyo. Fiji might be neat, too, but is it 20 hours and $3000 worth of neat? I highly doubt it.

San Jose, Costa Rica seems kind of far from the beach, although it looks like there's some awesome white water rafting. Belize is a possibility, as English is the official language, and there's interesting things to do like cave tubing and snorkeling. Puerto Vallarta might be fun — whale watching, swimming with dolphins, hot air ballooning, and jungle boogie-ing. One of the islands of the Caribbean might even be do-able: Aruba, or Jamaica, or St. Lucia.

I'm not entirely opposed to doing the touristy thing; in fact, I've enjoyed most of the touristy things we've done. I just like to have the option to just walk out of my hotel and find out where the locals go, or have an adventure I hadn't planned.

I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed. We've done the top two trips, right out of the gate. Now the rest of the world is waiting.

Twitter Update (#1072611623)

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Apple Butter Festival 2008

I realized that I was getting some weird looks this afternoon in Grand Rapids, Ohio, at the Apple Butter Festival. Of course, I *was* wearing my Pump Up The Jam t-shirt from Hot Topic, prominently displaying a piece of toast with jam on each boob.

After discussing this unexpected attention with Aaron, he pointed out to me that I was "That Guy." You know. Don't be the guy who wears a condiment t-shirt to the condiment festival. Don't be that guy.

Not only that, but we purchased condiments at the condiment festival: three pints of apple butter (handmade in Grand Rapids, before an audience of onlookers), a jar of habañero pickles, and one small squeeze-bottle of peanut butter spread (made in Holmes County, Ohio, and which we had previously enjoyed on our 2005 vacation to Amish Country).

Three cheers for a diet which allows apple butter! We've never purchased apple butter in Grand Rapids before, since sugary goodness was taboo. Now, though, three or four tablespoons of apple butter is only one WW Point. Spread that on a toasty whole-grain English muffin, and you've got one tasty breakfast. Nom nom nom.

TSA Geeks

At the Providence Airport, after you check in and get your boarding pass, you have to take your own luggage to the x-ray machine and stand there as it's scanned and inspected. Aaron and I only had one large bag for the two of us, so we both took it down to the x-ray machine and handed it to two TSA gentlemen, who fed it through. We walked to the end, where our bag emerged and was tagged, then we turned and went back the way we came, bidding adieu to our luggage.

As we passed the first two TSA agents on our way out — young men, probably in their mid to late 20's — one of them called out to us.

"I was telling him," one guard said, pointing to his partner, "that he needs to watch Serial Experiments Lain. He hasn't seen it."

After a moment, we realized that they had seen Aaron's Serial Experiments Lain shoulder bag. We cordially agreed that, yes, this guy really needed to watch Lain. It's a great show.

Then the guy who hadn't yet watched Lain saw my Mr. Spork shirt. "Great shirt!" he called out, grinning. "Is that from Woot?" I answered that, yeah, I got it from Woot.

At that point, we excused ourselves with the normal pleasantries — "Have a good weekend!" — and made our way to Security. But we found it pleasantly strange to discover fellow geeks as TSA guys in an unfamiliar airport.

Prayer... Warriros?

Thus saith the Lord: When thou makest thy signs in the manner of Microsoft Word, surely shalt thou heed the line of red, which marketh thy misspellings.

Seen at the Fulton County Fair, 31 August 2008.

Little Bit of Everything

I don't do these massive update posts much anymore — I prefer to keep my blog entries on one topic at a time — but I figured I'd do one catch-up post, then maybe expound on parts of it later. So, working backwards from today...

Weighed in today at 196.5 lbs on my home scale — that's one and a half pounds away from my recent all-time low of 195 from May 2007. (Yep, I gained 15 pounds in six months, and it took me longer than that to lose it again.) It was a bit of a disappointment, then, to weigh in at my Weight Watchers meeting at 200.4 lbs, even after I had an ultra-light breakfast and didn't drink much water before the weigh-in. My mini-goal had been to weigh in under 200 pounds at the meeting. Oh, well — I guess I'll wait until next weigh-in to hit my mini-goal, and to reward myself with some shorts and dress pants and blouses that fit.

My supervisor asked me this morning if I'd like to attend a User Group meeting in Lansing (two hours away) this Thursday. Then she asked me if I could drive, since her car doesn't have air conditioning. D'oh! So, I'll be getting up at the buttcrack of dawn on Thursday, driving with my supervisor for two hours, attending four hours of Business Intelligence lectures and panels, then having lunch and driving two hours back. At least we don't have to work for the last couple hours of the day; basically, my day gets shifted forward by two hours.

I landed a freelance web design gig yesterday. Actually, I pretty much "landed" it last Wednesday, when he asked me if I do web design, but yesterday's client meeting was the first official sealing of our new business relationship. He's the resident conductor of a local orchestra, so I'm basically making him a PR tool, which is perfect work for me. I underpriced myself, as per usual, but I made sure to leave myself an out: a flat fee for the first 20 hours, then an hourly fee for the next 20, topping out at 40 hours. So, I won't have totally hosed myself.

This past weekend, Aaron and I went up to the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. Great time, as always. I took a few pictures (with the Holga, too, although I'll have to wait until those are developed to post them), and I bought one expensive thing and one not-so-expensive thing.

Oh, and I still need to get this blog moved to its new home on another web host, and not just because something's borked with my MT installation/upgrade (as you will have noticed if you tried to comment on a post lately — your comments ARE going through, I promise). I have until the end of August to get my stuff moved — which, incidentally, is also the deadline for getting my freelance site done. I'm going to be looking at some mighty busy evenings here. I'll need to carefully ration out my time.

And now I should get to bed, because I need to ready myself for my epic early-morning wakey-wakey in another day or so. I haven't gotten up at 5:30am since... um... well, it's been a while. Not counting jet lag in another timezone, of course.

Schnuth Summer Luau 2008

Time to post something besides Twitter updates, cool as they might be.

In my own inimitable tradition, I planned a luau in honor of a.) the onset of the first day of summer and b.) our Hawaii vacation last month. Parties are a great excuse to get everyone together and drink and play video games, and I've hosted a couple successful ones since we've lived here. (Aaron hosted a few successful New Year's Eve parties at his apartments before that, too, but that was quite some time ago.) Our circle of friends hasn't been as socially close as we were, say, eight years ago, and a formal invitation to come over and see everyone all at once seems to have appeal.

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Hawaii Report #3

Saturday was our day to take the Grand Circle Island Tour, taking us all around the island of O'ahu. We mainly saw beautiful views of cliffs and beaches, although Cousin Greg was quite the snarky comedian and told us some local history we hadn't heard yet. After the tour, we went to the mall for conveyor belt (kaiten) sushi, and had an early night.

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Hawaii Report #2

Friday was our day to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. When we'd bought our airfare and hotel package, the PCC was listed as one of the possible touristy things we could tack on for an additional price. Since we tend to gravitate toward cultural sorts of things anyway (like Behalt in Amish Country, for instance), we decided to go for it. It wasn't until after everything was bought and paid for that we read online that the PCC is owned and operated by the LDS church, and that the center is more of a theme park than an actual cultural experience.

Even without booze at the luau, though, we still had a great time:

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Flickr'd!

The photos we took in Hawaii are now posted in a set on Flickr. If you go through the slideshow, it'll take you about 25 minutes, assuming you don't pause the slideshow and don't skip through.

Next on the agenda: scanning the two photos we bought — one before the Orientation Breakfast (OMG cheesy!) and one before Germaine's Luau (not really cheesy at all). Also, I plan to post some short videos ("moving pictures") to Flickr, as I think some video we took will adhere nicely to that concept. I'm also going to edit together the 100 minutes of video we took into something a little more watchable.

For those of you who have asked if we're planning a party to show off our pictures, here's your Save The Date notice: June 21st, the first day of summer. Start scouring the local Goodwill for your aloha attire!

Hawaii Report #1

So, you're probably wondering how Hawaii was.

Hawaii was fantastic. Gorgeous weather, beautiful scenery, fun things to do, good food, and Japanese restaurants and tourists out the yin-yang. There's a lot to talk about.

This time, though, I'm going to do things a little differently, in the hopes that I'll a.) get through my travelogue before summer's over, and b.) not bore you silly with exacting details that you don't need. As with last year's trip to Tokyo, I wrote in my notebook every night all the notable things that happened that day. I think I'm going to just scan those in and comment on them as necessary, and add links to my flickr pictures for that day.

I'm going to try to put enough commentary on my flickr photos that the best way to find out about the trip would be to just do watch the slideshow. I don't have all the photos up quite yet, though.

So, let's go briefly through Days #1 and #2, shall we?

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Back From Oahu

We arrived back in Toledo around 7:30pm today, with a little sunburn and a lot of good times under our belts. Rest assured that I'll be sharing all the fun details and photos in the days (or weeks) to come. For now, I'll just say that the highlights of our trip included two luaus, snorkeling, parasailing, and taking several tours. That's only touching on the very basics, though.

Believe it or not, Aaron's already in bed asleep, since I managed to sleep better on the plane ride home than he did. I still have a bit of juice left in me before I crash out myself.

A hui hou (until we meet again)!

Into The Wild Blue Yonder

Bright and early tomorrow morning, Aaron and I will be driving up to the Detroit airport and flying out to Hawaii. Don't expect to hear much from me for the next week or so (not like I've exactly been the prolific blogger of late). I may post occasional updates to my Twitter from Aaron's Nintendo DS (since our phone is incompatible with Twitter — damn Tracfone), so keep an eye on my Twitter page.

Expect us back in a little over a week (factoring in recovery from jet-lag) with photos and stories and video and a great tan.

Aloha!

Japan Trip, Day 3, Part 2: Meguro, continued

I seriously doubt I'm going to get through blogging the remainder of our Japan trip in the next few days. We'll see, though.

When we last left off, we had just finished walking through the Meguro Parasitological Museum. Considering that it was free, and that we got to see elephantitis of the nuts, we felt it had been worth our time.

As we made our way back to the subway station, we saw that the city was finally awake and alive, unlike when we'd first arrived. Sure, salarymen and women had been crowding the crosswalks on their way to work, but no restaurants or retail stores had been open yet...

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Japan Trip, Day 3, Part 1: Meguro Parasitological Museum

Don't laugh. I know it's been almost six months since I blogged about last year's Japan trip, and nearly a year since we took said trip. I just feel like I should really finish documenting the last awesome vacation before we go on another one.

When we last left off, we had just finished Day Two of Seven. So far, we'd gotten to Japan, gone on a day tour, and took our first trip on the subway to Akihabara. On Day Three, we visit the Meguro Parasitological Museum, peruse the awesome otaku-centric stores at Nakano Broadway, and eat dinner at the Curry Lab...

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Anime Punch 2008: Armageddicon III

This weekend, Aaron and I took a trip down to Columbus for our first anime convention in over a year. Honestly, it was nice just to get out of town for a weekend. The convention, however, was a great time, as always.

Anime Punch has been one of our favorite conventions the couple of times we've attended, just because they a.) stick to actual anime themes, instead of being an all-encompassing anime / gaming / J-rock convention; b.) insert their collective sense of humor into everything; and c.) include intellectual and intriguing academic panels alongside the typical fan panels. This year was no exception.

But let me begin at the beginning: with bologna sandwiches in Waldo...

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Animarathon and Asimov's

I skipped out on the Saturday afternoon session of this weekend's Aikido seminar to go to Bowling Green with Aaron. We checked out the Animarathon for a short while, walked around campus, then got a coffee at Grounds.

But first, an aside. BGSU alumni: take a look at this landscape and tell me what's missing:

I'll give you a hint: I'm standing in the parking lot by Jerome Library and Anderson Arena. On the left is Kreischer. On the right is the art building.

If you said the Saddlemire Student Services Building, give yourself a point! The old bookstore building was torn down late last year in preparation for a new Fine Arts building. It was unsettling to see a big empty dirt plot where the bookstore once stood. Almost as unsettling as walking around an anime convention inside Olscamp Hall, where I attended so many classes nearly a decade ago.

Grounds for Thought, however, is a more comfortable sort of familiar, as is the taste and smell of a single mocha and the feel of the heavy, tall glass mug in my hands. It feels like home, somehow.

A good part of the joy of Grounds — for me and mine, anyway — is perusing the used books. In particular, I like looking for new-to-me science fiction. And we hit the jackpot this time, when we saw an entire shelf of Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog magazines. Aaron and I sat Indian-style on the floor in the middle of the aisle and scanned the table of contents for each one, looking for authors whose names we recognized. Our resultant haul:

• Asimov's, January 1985
  Including stories by Frederick Pohl, Connie Willis, et al.
• Asimov's, August 1986
  Including stories by Orson Scott Card, Harry Turtledove, et al.
• Asimov's, August 1989
  Including stories by Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, et al.
• Asimov's, Mid-December 1989
  Including stories by Isaac Asimov, Connie Willis, Harry Turtledove, et al.
• Asimov's, February 1990
  Including stories by Bruce Sterling, et al.
• Asimov's, June 1990
  Including stories by James Patrick Kelly, Larry Niven, et al.
• Asimov's, November 1991 (double issue)
  Including stories by Isaac Asimov, Mike Resnick, Robert Silverberg, et al.
• Asimov's, November 1993
  Including stories by Frederick Pohl, Connie Willis, et al.
• The Black Hole: The Illustrated Adaptation of the Exciting Film.
• I, Jedi - A Star Wars novel by Michael A. Stackpole

After we got our coffee buzz and our sci-fi books, we went to Goodwill and found the Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture 2 DVD game (with questions we can answer! Yay!), then headed to the Woodland Small Mall to Steve and Barry's, where Aaron and I got some geeky T-shirts.

I'm going to have plenty of short fiction to read for a while, and hopefully will discover some new sci-fi authors to follow. I'm looking forward to this...

Hooray For Tax Returns

Funny, isn't it, how something really spectacular — a vacation, or a great meal, or even just a fleeting feeling — can hang so heavily over the rest of your life? Nothing else will quite measure up to that moment of wondrousness, and it would be easy to spend the rest of one's life searching for that elusive something that would match or exceed that one golden moment.

That's the trap. When Shakyamuni Buddha postulated that life is suffering (dukkha), he also explained that part of this suffering is being stuck on the happy moments that fail to last. It's not healthy to keep chasing after the next big thing.

That doesn't stop us from trying, though. It doesn't stop me from going to Red Lobster and ordering some expensive lobster tail, knowing full well that it won't hold a candle to the whole steamed and stuffed lobster I had in Boston during our honeymoon in 2003. It doesn't stop me from looking fondly at the memorabilia I bought and the photos I took during our week in Tokyo last year (note to self: still need to finish blogging that trip).

And it doesn't stop us from planning new vacations with our tax return money.

Let's segue now, shall we, from the realm of the spiritual to the realm of the worldly, and talk about things like TurboTax and NWAWorldVacations...

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Business Trip #2, Wrap-up

The short version: Hotel was what I expected. Training was what I expected, and exactly what I needed. Time spent with co-worker was what I expected, yet not quite, in many ways. Chicago was as cool as I expected, and I expect to go back someday soon.

The detailed version follows....

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Business Trip #2

I'm carpooling with a co-worker to Chicago tomorrow for more software training. We're taking off in the early afternoon to battle the inclement weather, and so we don't have to drive too far in the dark. I haven't spent much quality time with this co-worker, so this will be a good opportunity for us to get to know each other. Hopefully, we'll still like each other by the time the week is over...

I'm really looking forward to the content of these classes, as my job really hinges on the subject: creating dashboards for business intelligence applications. Once I learn some of the finer points of creating dashboards with this software, I hope I'll be able to hit the ground running when I return to work next week. We'll see how that works out.

The Best Western where we're staying claims to have a 24-hour fitness center with treadmills and stationary bikes; I have every intention of taking advantage of that fitness center, especially since I didn't get to do so on my last trip (and in light of my underwhelming weight loss of late). Apart from that, I'm expecting less of the Best Western than I did of the Hampton Inn, just by virtue of the difference between franchises. I hope I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I'm not counting on it.

My travel buddy will be checking out a laptop from work, plus there's supposedly a Business Center at the hotel, so I may or may not end up blogging while I'm away. I'm honestly hoping to spend a good part of my evening free time on a treadmill, when I'm not eating or reading or (hopefully) hanging out with Timmay.

We're going to be staying one extra night so we won't have to drive four hours home on a Friday night after class. Saturday morning will be spent seeing the sights of Chicago, and we'll head home after lunch, arriving back in town around dinnertime.

This is shaping up to be a much different business trip than my last. Whether that's good, bad, or indifferent remains to be seen...

Business Trip #1, Wrap-up

The short version: Driving from Toledo to Columbus was snowy / windy / rainy (in that order). The class was moderately helpful to my job, and was more of a foundation for what I'll be learning in later classes. The highlight of the trip, however, was visiting with friends every evening.

The more detailed version follows...

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Business Trip #1

There may be few or no updates for the remainder of the week, as I will be in Columbus (Dublin) for MicroStrategy training. I'm sure the Hampton has a business center where I can check my e-mail and whatnot, but I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spend on e-mail and keeping up with my RSS feeds, much less actually blogging.

Even though I'll be missing out on a grand total of 45 minutes (that's three days' worth) of Aaron time, I'll be hanging out with some old friends in the evenings, which is awesome. I know there are some people in the area that I'm not getting to meet up with, and I do apologize for that. Maybe next time... (And there probably WILL be a next time, with all the training I could potentially sign up for.)

I'm looking forward to learning more about the Business Intelligence software I've been using at work; I'm also looking forward to seeing old friends, and having a change of scenery. I'm not looking forward to being away from my Honey-Muffin on the Hallmark Holiday Valentine's Day, or really being away from him at all; and I'm not sure about making the 2½ hour drive to Columbus alone for the first time.

I'm a big girl. I can go on a big bad business trip by myself.

Right?

Girlie Day With Sheryl!

Yesterday morning, I headed up to Michigan to hang out with Sheryl for the day. We had a great time shopping, eating, hanging out, and talking girl talk.

At my request, our first shopping stop was the Clinique counter at Macy's. I really don't know much about choosing cosmetics for myself, and I figured I deserved to treat myself to some nice makeup for once. The nice Clinique lady — Jill from Jersey — matched me up with a foundation color and put it on for me, then selected some powder and blush for a natural look. I already had eye shadow and lipstick at home, but I did let her sucker me into buying some brushes and some foaming face cleanser. I was splurging anyway, so what the hell.

The final total was an embarrassingly, staggeringly high amount for anyone to spend on makeup in one shot. But I now have oil-free foundation, powder, blush, three brushes, face cleanser, and some moisturizer samples.

As a side note, I put on all of my makeup when I got up this morning, just to see how long it would take me. Total time: 25 minutes. This is a major change from the two minutes it usually takes me to line my eyes and run out the door. I'm doubt I'll be putting on my entire face every day for work; I'm sure I'll get quicker at it as time goes on, though.

Our next stop was lunch at Baja Fresh. It's a Mexican fast-food place that apparently has no franchises in the Toledo area. According to their website, there are a bunch in the Detroit and Columbus areas, but none in Toledo. Anyway, I got a steak quesadilla with peppers and onions, and it was quite yummy. Like Sheryl said while we were there: it wasn't the nicest place we could have gone to eat, but after spending so much money already, cheaper was better.

After lunch, we headed off to Canton to shop at IKEA. We both went in with an agenda: Sheryl needed a file cabinet. I wanted to get kitchen organization stuff (as mentioned earlier), a Billy bookcase to replace the plastic shelving unit in the basement, and a couple of Japanese-inspired lamps for the bedroom. In addition to those things, I ended up getting a Lack endtable to use as my meditation altar.

All in all, I spent only $20 more on my IKEA haul than I did on my Clinique purchases.

Sheryl and I managed to Tetris everything into her SUV, although we were doubtful whether the bookcase would fit in the Kia for my trip home. Surprisingly enough, when we got back to her place and put down the back seats in the Kia, the bookshelf fit perfectly. Granted, we had to put the front seat all the way forward, too, but it worked!

After IKEA, we decided that we'd spent enough money for one day, so we hung out at her place and watched Princess Mononoke and snacked on some Sun Chips. Then we went to dinner at Claddagh; I ordered fish and chips, and she ordered shepherd's pie, and we split our entrees between the two of us. I should totally do that more often.

After dinner, Sheryl and I swung past Best Buy and met up with Santa so he could give me one of Aaron's Christmas gifts. Then it was time to go.

Once I got home, around 9pm, Mark and Rocky were here, playing Killer Bunnies with Aaron. They started their game over so I could join in (after Mark helped me bring in my loot from the car). So, the fun social day continued with a game of Killer Bunnies, then a game of Apples to Apples.

It's not so much the shopping that I like about my Sheryl trips, although that is a big part of it. I really like just hanging out and talking and feeling comfortable and just being with Sheryl. Sometimes I forget how awesome it is to have girlfriends.

The only thing that's weird is that I sometimes feel self-conscious about my weight when I'm with Sheryl. She's lost a lot of weight and gotten a lot more fit over the years, and even though I lost fifty pounds myself (though I keep regaining and relosing that last ten), I'm still very aware of the fact that I'm teetering on obese, BMI-wise. I guess it's just the fact that the Sheryl in my head is the post-Atkins Sheryl, and when I'm reminded that the current Sheryl is actually the post-everything Sheryl, I'm all, 'Wow. She looks good.' Which inadvertently reminds me that I don't? I don't know exactly what my brain's doing, but I wish it would stop.

Again, I digress. I had an AWESOME day with my Sheryls, and I look forward to doing it again soon. Yay for girlfriends!

Japan Trip, Day 2, Part 5: Asakusa, Ginza, and Akiba

When we last left the Dynamic Tokyo Tour, we had just arrived by boat in Asakusa.

Along with the rest of the tour group, we walked to the Kaminarimon Gate ("Thunder Gate"), the entrance to the Nakamise Dori, the shopping avenue which runs from the gate up to the Sensoji Temple. Historically, shopkeepers would sell their wares to pilgrims traveling to the temple. In modern times, they're mainly selling to tourists, pilgrims of a different type.

A Japanese couple who wasn't part of our tour group approached us and asked us to take a photo of them in front of the gate — a standard tourist picture. Then, as appears to be polite among tourists, they asked if they could take our photo for us. It hadn't been a photo I would have sought out or asked a stranger to take, but I'm glad they offered, because this is now one of my favorite "Us in Japan" photos, just because it's so obvious where we are.

For more Japan travelogue, read on...

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Calm, Cool and Collected

Attended Eric's wedding reception in Columbus (photos to come) on Saturday. 2+ hour drive each way, but worth it for the multiple-course meal at Brio. Not to mention the adult contemporary pre-dinner musician. Hearing live covers of massive amounts of Jim Croce, Barry Manilow, Elton John and others was totally classic. Tells you how much of a goober I am that I could name title and artist for most of his repertoire, though.

Seriously, though, the food was the highlight of the evening. That, plus seeing Eric (whom I hadn't seen since we moved into our house in spring 2004) and meeting his wife (whom I'd only ever talked to via blog comments). Even though we were the only people representing BG, and we didn't know anyone there except Eric, we still enjoyed ourselves. And we enjoyed the yummy spice cake. Major kudos for having a cake that was neither white nor chocolate.

Sunday afternoon was a seminar on the basics of Zen meditation. We discussed our respective reasons for attending the seminar, learned about proper posture and options for sitting positions, and did a few brief sessions of zazen (seated meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation).

After both of these weekend events, I'm feeling refreshed and revived. Calm and alert. I think that, if I can maintain a daily zazen practice (and remember that I really do have friends, and keep in touch with them in a meaningful way), I'll be able to keep this stillness in reserve for when I need it.

Japan Trip, Day 2, Part 4: Imperial Palace and Sumida River Cruise

I know it's been a while, and you'd probably given up on me actually finishing the narrative of our trip to Tokyo in May. Even though some of the freshness of the moment has faded, I do want to document the rest of what happened in Japan. You might want to review the previous entries to get yourself back up to speed on our trip so far.

Day 2 in Japan was the Dynamic Tokyo Tour; so far, we'd visited the Tokyo Tower, participated in a group tea ceremony, seen 500-year-old bonsai trees, and had a Japanese BBQ lunch. Next on the agenda was a visit to the Imperial Palace grounds...

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Japan Trip Travelogue Interruptus

You may have noticed that it's been a while since I documented anything about the Japan trip back in May. You may also have noticed that I haven't even managed to document our entire first full day in Japan yet. Daunting, yes.

But, you can listen to Aaron and myself talk about the Japan trip on his Weekly Anime Review Podcast. What we've covered so far is:

• Part 1: Our arrival, our bus tour, and our impromptu trip to Akihabara.
• Part 2: The Meguro Parasitological Museum and Nakano Broadway.
• Part 3: Ginza and the Sanja Festival in Asakusa.

I have photos up through Day 4 on my Flickr, if you choose to peruse. I still have a couple days' worth of photos to upload, and I'll get on that soon.

We really need to go back to Japan someday.

Camping at Harrison Lake

Sunday night's camping trip almost didn't happen, even after booking the campsite two months in advance.

Eight o'clock Sunday morning, Aaron and I were awakened by the most amazing thunderstorm. By 10am, the rain was still going strong. By noon, the rain had abated to a drizzle, but still wasn't letting up.

We'd already assembled everything we'd need for outdoors cooking and sleeping the night before, and had been planning to head out to Harrison Lake around 2:30pm to get there after the check-in time of 3:00. By 3:30, though, we were playing Wii Baseball and had resigned ourselves to an evening indoors, and to making our preplanned foil dinners on the grill instead of a campfire.

At 4pm, though, the rain let up and the sky started to clear. Just a little. Enough to permit camping, at least, if not swimming. So, we packed up the car, and off we went.

We arrived at Harrison Lake an hour later, after a minor detour on County Road M (props to Aaron for knowing how Fulton County roads work, and getting us past the roadblock with no problem). Located our general camping area, then headed up to the main office to check in. Bought some firewood at the camp office, and headed back to our campsite to set up.

I had been very deliberate about which campsite to reserve online; I wanted as few close neighbors as possible, plus a view of the lake. Seeing the site in person, I felt I had chosen well.

The sky was overcast, so we started pitching the tent as soon as we got situated, anticipating an early dusk. Luckily, our dome tent didn't hold too many mysteries, and we got our shelter going on without too much fuss. It took us a little while to figure out how to assemble the fly (aka the cool tent cover thingie), but it all worked out eventually.

Shelter, check. Next order of business: fire.

We assembled the smaller pieces of firewood in the teepee formation, got out some newspaper to light the fire, and went for it. Tried log-cabin-style when the teepee didn't work. Flopped everything in a pile when log-cabin didn't work. Doused the logs with lighter fluid. Repeatedly. Bemoaned our lack of tinder. Felt generally inept.

Little did we know that the camp office was selling "green lumber." One well-meaning passerby let us in on that little tidbit. "Look at that," he said. "That ain't even cracked. Good luck getting that to burn."

Hmm.

We pilfered some more likely-looking wood from abandoned campsites -- people leave it, after all, since transportation of firewood across county lines is illegal due to the spread of the emerald ash borer beetle. The additional firewood was a little help, but not much, as it was still damp from the rains. Aaron even left briefly to try to buy some better firewood elsewhere, but the local minimart had already closed.

Finally, two hours after we'd first started trying to build our campfire -- yep, that's TWO HOURS of fighting with Mother Nature -- our camping neighbors presented us with a starter log. They were using a camp stove, they said, and had never used a starter log, but kept one with them just in case. They must have been watching us fight with our campfire (or lack thereof) for a couple of hours, and finally took pity on us.

The starter log did the trick. Loads of fantastic fiery chemicals made both our green lumber and our damp pilfered firewood stay lit. By this point, it was reaching dusk, and we had to wait for the fire to burn down enough to present us with sufficiently hot coals for foil packet cooking. We roasted a couple of hot dogs in the meantime; we hadn't eaten since lunch.



Just after dark, our chicken and veggie foil meals were ready to eat: chicken breasts, mushrooms, onions, asparagus, summer squash, and green peppers cooked in a foil packet. We ate in the dark at our picnic table, wishing for a lantern. Afterward, we made some s'mores (with Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bars) and sat around the campfire, talking and drinking bottled water (no alcohol allowed in state parks).

I'm not sure what time it was when we finally let the fire burn itself out and went to bed -- sometime around midnight, I think. Aaron had bought a new air mattress and battery-powered pump for the trip; I'd ended up underinflating the bed due to my unfamiliarity with the airbed/pump combination, so whenever one of us got up, the other person's ass touched the ground until they came back. That was the only real downside of sleeping in the tent -- that, and the massive amounts of dirt we tracked in on our sandals. All night, Aaron kept waking up at unfamiliar nature sounds, and I kept waking up just wondering what time it was.

Finally, just before 8am, we heard the very loud sounds of a tanker truck pulling up and emptying the port-a-johns across the way. I couldn't get back to sleep after that, and was up and around at 9am to try to stoke the fire. No luck, and we weren't about to spend two hours trying to get a fire started again. We skipped breakfast and opted not to trek down to the shower house. Instead, we packed up, took a leisurely walk around part of the lake, and left around 10:30am.



On the way back through the country, we saw a billboard for The Barn Restaurant at Sauder Village, which wasn't far from the campground. Since we hadn't eaten breakfast, we decided to take a little side trip to The Barn for an early lunch. They opened at 11am -- only a couple minutes after we pulled into their parking lot -- at which point we went in and proceeded to have the best lunch buffet I'd had in quite a long time. Roasted and broasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad bar, taco bar, baked beans, rolls with apple butter, and quite possibly the best peach cobbler I've ever had. Ever.



And that was our first camping trip together. No swimming, very little walking or hiking, but there was s'mores and campfire cooking and sleeping in a tent. I think we're going to try this again sometime... hopefully, when the weather will be a little more agreeable. And when we'll be armed with a starter log.

Samurai Statue, Imperial Palace

I'm overdue for another Japan Trip installment, I know...

In lieu of that, for now, I present this photo of the statue of Kusunoki Masashige, just outside the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo.

Japan Trip, Day 2, Part 3: Japanese BBQ

When we last left our travelers (myself and my husband Aaron, that is), the Dynamic Tokyo Tour was leaving Happo-en Garden and heading toward Chinzanso Gardens for a Japanese BBQ lunch at Mokushun-do Restaurant.

You may recall that, at the very beginning of the tour, our tour guide had asked us if both beef and pork were OK for lunch. We're crazy omnivorous Americans, so we agreed that both were fine. En route to Chinzanso, Junko asked again for a show of hands of who didn't want beef, and who didn't want pork. After a quick count, she seemed perplexed, and told us that some people had apparently changed their minds, because the counts were different than earlier. After two more shows of hands, Junko finally went through the entire bus one more time, asking everyone individually whether they wanted only beef or only pork, and making it clear that it would *not* be OK for us to change our minds after this point. Being that this didn't really affect us directly, the whole scene was more amusing than anything else.

Japanese BBQ, as with other styles of Asian BBQ, involves a server cooking the food at your table. At Mokushun-do, we were served pork, beef, sweet onion, asparagus, and Japanese sweet potato, all grilled at the table and dipped in a light BBQ sauce before serving. Each table at the restaurant was equipped with a large square griddle in the center; we could feel the heat put off by the griddle at our table before we even sat down. All of the tour participants sat six to a table, two on a side, with one side of the table reserved for the chef/server. Aaron and I ended up sitting with a younger couple and an older couple, who both turned out to be from Sweden.

That was one interesting aspect of our English-speaking tour: most of the tour participants were not native English speakers. There were Swedish people, Japanese people, and I'm sure there were other nationalities and languages being represented, as well. English just seemed to be a common second (or third) language for most of these people. It made the tour more interesting, I think — especially during the earlier tea ceremony, when Junko-san had to repeatedly tell the Japanese-speakers to please be quiet until the end of the ceremony.

Back to lunch. Our server came around and tied apron-bibs onto all of us who were seated at her table. The photo ops that ensued became yet another way for us to meet our fellow tourists and get photos of ourselves:

It was at this point when we learned that our table-mates were all Swedish — and, no, the two couples were not together. They were visibly excited to learn that they were compatriots, which was fun to see. It was also fun to see other people use up all the conversational English they knew. ^_^

As our server put the meat and vegetables on the griddle, she would tell one person in the group what it was. There was one item that Aaron and I didn't catch, though, and that eventually offered me an opportunity to use my Japanese again. We were served one piece of meat and one vegetable at a time: pork and asparagus, beef and onion, etc. When the mystery item was served, I got our server's attention and asked, "Kore wa nan desu ka?"

"Japanese sweet potato," she said in highly accented Japanese — so it came out "Japanesu suweetu potehto." Then she told us that it was very different from normal sweet potato, and we agreed and thanked her. After she told us, we could totally tell that's what it was. The insides were white and the skin looked purple, but the texture and taste became immediately more recognizable, once we knew what it was.

A moment later, our server gestured to my chopstick hand and said, "Good chopstick!" I thanked her, once her meaning sank in (I forget whether I did so in English or Japanese), and Aaron and I briefly compared chopstick styles. Aaron uses kind of his own style, while I do it the way that the disposable chopstick wrappers describe, with their pictures and their great Engrish. Our server saw the way Aaron and I were silently comparing notes, and how Aaron was realizing that he was doing his chopsticking some kind of effed-up way, and she giggled. It was a cute moment.

After four or five mini-courses, we had a dessert of vanilla bean ice cream (with cute little spoons!) and a different kind of tea than the standard green tea served with lunch. After dessert, we were given 30 minutes to walk the grounds and make our way back to the bus. Aaron went to untie his apron-bib, and our server jumped into action and apologized, helping him remove his bib. The level of service in Japan is really an experience in itself.

We made a quick restroom break at the restaurant, then headed out to see the grounds — in the rain. Luckily, Chinzanso was kind enough to provide umbrellas for their guests, so we each borrowed an umbrella and struck out into the rain. I would have liked to have spent more time in the gardens, as there was so much to see: a 500-year-old sacred tree, with branches held up by crutches; Shiratama Inari Shrine, a three-story pagoda, and various gods/idols and water features and bridges and such. Alas, we barely had time to check out the few things we did, and the rain really started to come down as we were walking. We made it back to the main building on time, dropped off our umbrellas in the waiting rack, and headed out to the bus. Next stop: the Imperial Palace.

Previous: Day 2, Part 2: Tokyo Tower and Happo-en Garden | Next: Day 2, Part 4: Imperial Palace and Sumida River Cruise

Japan Trip, Day 2, Part 2: Tokyo Tower and Happo-en Garden

When we last left off the trip narrative, Aaron and I had just finished an overpriced breakfast buffet and were preparing to embark on the Dynamic Tokyo Tour: a nine-hour whirlwind bus tour of Tokyo, taking us to lunch, a tea ceremony, gardens, the Imperial Palace, and more.

As we sat in the hotel lobby with both of our jackets, my camera, and Aaron's shoulder bag, waiting for the bus, we noticed that other gaijin were joining us at a distance. Two couples were talking about their impending day-tour of Mt. Fuji, so we knew they'd be on some tour, but not ours.

Eventually, we went outside to wait for the bus — once it arrived, a Sunrise Tours representative got off the bus, asked if we were waiting for the tour, and presented us with a colored slip of paper bearing our names and the tour we were going on. Then all of the tour-awaiting gaijin boarded the bus with us, and it was explained to us that we would trade in our colored slip of paper at Hamamatsucho Bus Station for a printed ticket. Once we arrived at Hamamatsucho, that's exactly what happened. We presented our blue piece of paper and received a large printout in return. The nice lady behind the counter explained our tickets to us, told us at which gate our bus would be arriving, and pointed us in the right direction.

As we waited for our tour bus to arrive, we not only saw our first glimpse of vending machine goodness (which another gaijin was also photographing, so I was less shy about it myself), but we also got talking to a nice seemingly-Japanese man who said he was visiting from Australia. Small talk, but it was the first real conversation we'd had with someone other than each other since our arrival. Funny guy.

We traded in part of our giant-ass ticket printouts for bright yellow stickers, which were to act as tickets to particular places, in addition to keeping us all wrangled together. As we did this, the woman who took our tickets (who turned out to be our tour guide) informed us that we would be eating beef and pork at our Japanese barbecue lunch, and confirmed that this was OK with us. (It was, of course — we'll eat just about anything. Although we did hear that sea urchin is pretty vile... we didn't try any while we were there, nor did we try natto.)

After that, no problem. Bus arrived, we boarded, and we were off to the Tokyo Tower.

The Tokyo Tower (in case you haven't figured it out from previous photos) is a replica of the Eiffel Tower. It was built in the 1950s, and it stands 333 meters tall. Our magic yellow stickers got us up to the mid-level observation deck; it was trying to rain, though, so we couldn't see much. We opted to go in front of our tour guide, Junko ("Just remember 'junk' with an 'o' on the end!") and do our own sightseeing. Usually, Fuji-san is visible from the Tokyo Tower, but not that day. We did see our hotel, which was right across the street, and a couple pretty neat views of the city.

There's also a crapload of souvenir shops, eateries, and general touristy stuff at the Tower. We walked by the Sanrio shop, but didn't get the opportunity to really buy much at the Tokyo Tower until later on in our vacation. (It was right next door, after all, so no big loss there.)

Next on the tour: Happo-en Garden.

At Happo-en, we broke into two groups: one group watched a tea ceremony, then got time to visit the grounds, while the other group got to see the grounds first, before their tea ceremony. Aaron and I were the last two to make it into the first group. As such, we ended up sitting not on the bench surrounding the table in the tea house, but on small wooden and canvas stools, instead. Turns out that I got the best seat in the house for photographing the tea ceremony.

The tea, it was explained, is actually dried and powdered green tea. It's much stronger and more bitter than brewed tea, and is served with small sweets beforehand. The sweets we received were sugary confections in the shape of a green maple leaf and a purple hydrangea. I'm ill-suited to explain the entire ceremony and the significance of everything therein, but the Tea Master basically checks all the bowls and utensils for purity and quality, ritualistically cleans and wipes them, then prepares the tea with a combination of boiling water and cooler water, so as not to destroy all the nutrients and flavor in the tea.

At this point in the ceremony, an assistant came out of the back of the tea house, carrying two trays of prepared bowls of tea. They were passed out to each of us, set carefully on the table in front of us with the decorative pattern on the bowl facing us. This was so we could contemplate and admire the loveliness of the artwork, which was truly very classic and simple. Then we held the bowl in our left hand and turned the bowl with our right (yes, just like the tea ceremony in Karate Kid II), because you don't want to sully the side of the bowl that has the design on it. We all took one small sip, and the Tea Master (the woman who prepared the tea) asked us something in Japanese.

We'd been primed for this en route by Junko. She told us that the Tea Master would ask us how the tea was. Even if we didn't like it, we were required to say kekko desu, which I'd learned from my Pimsleur lessons means "it's fine," or "all right." (What Pimsleur didn't tell me, though, is that kekko desu is apparently an older phrase, not often used in normal society these days. I wonder what kinds of looks I would have gotten, had I used it...)

As a learning aid, Junko had a notebook in which she had written the words in giant letters: KEKKO DESU. Then, on the next page, she wrote: KATE CALL THIS. If we couldn't remember kekko desu, we were to remember "Kate call this," or just say "Kate" and mumble the rest. As for some other helpful Japanese, she had written out arigato gozaimasu, or "thank you," then on the next page GO THY MUST. She also drew a nice picture of an alligator and told us to remember "alligator" without the "r". Priceless. Simply priceless.

Back to the ceremony. When the Tea Master asked how we liked the tea, we all obediently chorused, "Kekko desu." We were then directed to drain our bowls of tea, and to make an appreciative slurping noise at the end. We then each took our thumb and forefinger and wiped off the place on the bowl where our lips had touched, then wiped our fingers on the paper on which the sweets had been served. Then we turned the bowl back around to admire the pattern again before setting the bowl back down on the table. The ceremony was over, and we all left the tea house to admire the scenery.

Happo-en Garden has a collection of bonsai trees ranging from a few decades to a few hundred years old. They also have a pond with multicolored carp, and some beautiful flower gardens. We definitely could have spent a longer time here just enjoying the views and walking the grounds, but we had a date to keep at Chinzanso Gardens for a Japanese barbecue lunch at Mokushun-do Restaurant.

Previous - Day 2, Part 1: Breakfast | Next - Day 2, Part 3: Japanese BBQ

Japan Trip, Day 2, Part 1: Breakfast

We learned something about Japan on Thursday morning. Something important, but something that no one happened to mention to us in preparation for our trip.

Sunrise is around 4:30am.

Since we'd crashed out at 7pm local time, and the sun beamed in through the shears at 4:30am, we ended up being wide awake at 5am after a long and healthy ten hours of sleep. Since the hotel restaurant downstairs didn't open until 7am, we decided to take a walk around the block, to familiarize ourselves with the new neighborhood.

I got to compare the mental image of my Google Maps exploration of our new 'hood with the reality of where everything was and how to get there. We walked past the Tokyo Tower, past the Tokyo Prince Park Tower Hotel, and past Shiba Koen, where a group of adults appeared to be doing some early-morning Tai Chi (or some similar Japanese internal martial art). It was peaceful and smelled like spring.

Then it started raining.

We hoofed it back to the hotel (which, luckily, wasn't far), went up to our room and dried off, then went down to breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants.

The restaurant cashier didn't speak as much English as the front desk staff had, and we had a little communication problem as we came in to breakfast. I got to use the first of many useful Japanese words and phrases: Wakarimasen, meaning (in this context) "I don't understand." Eventually he simply told us, in English, "two people," and the price for each of us, which was roughly 2000 yen apiece (a little less than US$20). Yep, the hotel breakfast buffet was a little pricey. In retrospect, we figured out that he was asking us our room number, so we could charge the meal to our room.

Breakfast was good, if expensive, and we had a fantastic view of the private hotel gardens. There was rice, miso soup, tamago (sweet omelettes), some sort of roe, various fish, some sort of stew, and lots of other good food that we didn't have the balls to ask what it was. :-)

After breakfast, we paid the confused cashier, went back up to the room and gathered our things for the all-day bus tour...

...which I will blog about tomorrow. In the meantime, you can view the flickr photos of Day 2, if you want some spoilers.

Previously - Japan Trip, Day 1 | Next - Day 2, Part 2: Tokyo Tower and Happo-en Garden

Japan Trip, Day 1

All righty... Time to recap the Most Awesome Trip that was our Japan Vacation 2007.

On Monday night, Aaron and I drove up to Sheryl and John's house in Wixom for some hot Wii Sports action (and so we could stay there overnight and forego an early morning haul to DTW and a prohibitively expensive parking bill). Tuesday morning, Sheryl was kind enough to drive us and our luggage to Detroit International and drop us off for our Big Adventure.

Getting our boarding passes and going through the security checkpoints was no big deal, even for us Toledo bumpkins who do little to no airline travelling. We checked our luggage, located our gate, chilled for a while, then had some lunch at Max & Erma's in the airport. Mmm, tortilla soup.

When the time came, we boarded our flight and located seats 60-A and 60-B. However, we failed to pack a bag other than our large overhead-compartment storage carry-on (an error we rectified in our later return flight). The flight out was long and turbulent, and neither of us got much sleep. The airline meals were yummy and cute, although that didn't really make up for the fact that the airplane ride WAS NEVER GOING TO END. Never.

After thirteen hours, the hell that was the initial flight to Japan finally came to an end, and we disembarked at Narita Airport. We successfully located our luggage, dealt with some nice customs agents who basically waved us through and welcomed us to Japan... and were met by a Tonichi Travel Representative holding a sign that read, "Mr. and Mrs. Schnuth."

O.o

Talk about personalized service.

Our travel rep got our limousine bus tickets for us, helped us out with our luggage, gave us our itinerary and vouchers, and stayed with us until the limo bus arrived. Excellent service.

It took over an hour to get from Narita to our hotel, during which time we got to see Tokyo and the surrounding area, and get used to driving on the left side of the road. When we arrived at our hotel, a cute little bellhop girl in a mauve outfit singlehandedly manhandled our luggage up to our room for us.

(BTW? No tipping in Japan. Otherwise, we would never have let someone take our luggage if we could have helped it.)

I don't remember even eating dinner. We familiarized ourselves with our cute little room with its awesome view of the Tokyo Tower, then totally crashed out at 7pm.

View photos of Day 1 on flickr | Next - Day 2, Part 1: Breakfast

Back From Japan

Slept 14 hours last night. Spent today unpacking and downloading pics from the memory cards and generally chilling out. Currently saving jpegs to take to work and to post on flickr. Also trying to recover some photos that seem to be lost due to a corrupt memory card. Will post a detailed vacation entry soon.

For now... damn that corrupt SD card, anyway.

Live from the Apple Store, Ginza

So, here we are, using the free internet access on the fourth floor of the Apple Store in Ginza. I already checked my e-mail, and ended up deleting all but three messages, and marking one as spam. I don't appear to be missing much in the way of internet communication, so that's cool.

As a side note, the apostrophe on Japanese keyboards is Shift-7. The colon is where the apostrophe should be. How disconcerting.

Quick rundown so far:
Tuesday/Wednesday: Long-ass plane ride. That sucked balls. We were personally met at the airport by a super-polite and super-helpful travel rep. A nice bellhop at the hotel single-handedly moved all of our luggage into our room. Holy crap!
Thursday: Dynamic Tokyo tour. Best tour evar. Got to see gardens and a tea ceremony (got great photos of that), and impressed the server at the barbecue restaurant by asking, "Kore wa nan desu ka?" when I didn't know what the Japanese sweet potato was. Also got complimented on my chopstick skillz by the same server. Spent a little while in Akihabara afterward, and figured out meal ticket usage at a ramen restaurant. Freaked out the server there by asking, "Kore wa eigo de nanto iimasu ka?" when I didn't know what the ginger was.
Friday: Parasitological museum. Swear to God. Again, I've got pictures. Some of them might not go on flickr because, well... you'll see. Found a great toy / anime store and got an Anpanman plushie for me and a gift for a little someone back home. Ate a great melon glacé bread thingy from a street vendor. Shopped at Nakano Broadway and got some gifts and other cuteness. Got tired early, though. We plan to go back later in our trip.
Today: We're heading up to Asakusa later to check into our ryokan before hitting the Sanja Matsuri and shopping the Nakamise Dori, but wanted to hit the Apple Store on the way (mainly for the free internet). And here we are. We're currently finding where the conveyor belt sushi place is.

OK. I need to go get back to my super-cool vacation. Catch ya later.

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

Blog entries may be scarce over the next week, as Aaron and I are leaving for Japan tomorrow. I'll try to blog a little while we're there, if I happen across any free internet access. In either case, I'll be bringing back craploads of pictures.

This evening, we drive up to Sheryl's house in Michigan, to stay the night and leave our car. Tomorrow morning, Sheryl will drive us out to the airport and see us off, and we'll be on our way to Tokyo.

See you on the flip side... Mata ne!

Japan Update

Aaron's passport arrived on Monday, at which point we faxed in our order for Ghibli Museum tickets to the JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) office in Manhattan. According to Maiko-san, they were overnighted to us today, so we should have them in hand tomorrow. And that's the last piece of the pre-planning puzzle to fall into place.

Aaron and I still need to figure out a more detailed itinerary, but we do have our trip roughly sketched out:

Tuesday:
Leave Detroit Airport 2pm local time

Wednesday:
Arrive Narita Airport 4pm local time
Two-hour limo bus to hotel
Dinner (in hotel?)
Commence jet-lag

Thursday:
Dynamic Tokyo Tour
- Tokyo Tower: check out the observatory and the kitchy souvenir shops
- Tea Ceremony at Happo-en Garden
- Lunch at Chinzanzo Restaurant
- Driveby of the National Diet Building
- Photo-op at the Imperial Palace Plaza
- 40-minute cruise up the Sumida River to Asakusa
- Asakusa Kannon Temple
- Nakamise Dori (Avenue) shopping area
- Drive through Ginza shopping district

After tour: dinner somewhere, then watch Japanese TV in the hotel?

Friday:*
Akihabara!
- Super Potato (collectibles)
- Maid Cafe (lunch or snackies?)
- Kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi - lunch or dinner?)
- Hell, we'll probably visit just about every store there...

Saturday:
Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa - the third largest festival in Japan!
Check out the shops and the festival/parade
Overnight stay in the Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu

Sunday:*
Nakano Broadway - a giant otaku mall in Nakano
Maybe check out the Harajuku girls?

Monday:
Ghibli Museum in Mitaka

Tuesday:
Breakfast, check-out
Limo-bus back to Narita Airport
Depart Tokyo around 4pm local time
Arrive in Detroit around 2pm local time, same day

We still have to fit in a few more definite things, like the Ramen Museum south of Tokyo, and we still need to be sure we have everything marked in our handy-dandy bi-lingual Tokyo atlas. We obviously have some more time to fill in, and the asterisks on Friday and Sunday mean that we might swap our Akiba and Nakano days around, since we'll be closer to Akiba after spending the night in Asakusa, anyway.

Oh, and as a cute illustration, allow me to show you our neighborhood-for-a-week:

Distance from Tokyo Prince Hotel to the nearest 7-11: one-third of a mile.

Let me know if you don't know WTF I'm talking about with some of our itinerary... it's getting late, and I'm getting lazy with the linkage. :-)

OMFG Japan! *head asplodes*

Life Is Good.

Furniture was delivered Saturday afternoon. Only major downside was that the old couch didn't fit through the basement door, so the entire point of buying a new couch (so we could put the old one in the basement) was nullified. On the upside: we have a giant, nine-foot pillow-back sofa on which to lounge; a new, smaller dining room table with non-80's chairs and a bench; and after our return from Nihon, we will have a new massagey recliner.

In other news, Aaron has determined the status of his passport. Due to our change in departure date, it hasn't yet been processed, even though he applied for it back in February. It has now been expedited, and should be on its way by week's end. Which is still calling it close, and may mean that we'll need to obtain our Ghibli Museum vouchers after we arrive in Nihon instead of in advance.

Weight has stabilized at 198 pounds. I'm OK with that for now. Slow and steady weight loss means it's more likely to stay off. I won't make my goal of 190 by Japan, but so be it. I still intend to eat heartily while we're on vacation.

I am SO almost done with my freelance project. I'm hitting some snags with programming the content management system, and I'm going to just have to set some strictures on what it can and can't do. I can't make it account for every possible instance of weirdness. Hopefully, the client will be accepting of that. Honestly, though, I'm really just glad to have it done. I don't know if I'll get the remainder of my pay by the time we leave for Japan, which is unfortunate... but, again, I'm OK with that. Between Aaron and myself, we have enough money saved up to have a sufficiently good time.

Yes, indeed... life is good.

T-minus 28 days and counting

We bought luggage at TJ Maxx this past weekend: two large 29" Dockers suitcases for about $60 apiece. We're still contemplating whether to purchase a new carry-on or two, or just use our backpacks and shoulder bags as carry-on.

Since I expedited my passport, it arrived a couple of weeks ago. Aaron's still waiting for his to show up, even though he applied for his much sooner than I did mine. As soon as his passport arrives, we'll reserve our Ghibli Museum vouchers, since we need passport info to get those.

Due to an incredible stroke of luck, we managed to book a room at the Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu during the Sanja Festival. The Shigetsu is practically across the street from the Sensoji Temple and Asakusa Shrine... well, OK, maybe a couple streets and a park away. At any rate, we'll be in Asakusa, in the thick of things, during the Sanja Matsuri. Could be crazy. Will definitely be a new and fun experience.

I've completed the Pimsleur Japanese Short Course, all eight lessons, and am going to continue with Japanese I tomorrow. (From what I understand, the Short Course is basically the first eight lessons of Japanese I, so I'm starting with Lesson 8 tomorrow.) Vocab from JPod101 is starting to dovetail with Pimsleur, which tends to make my Pimsleur lessons feel less difficult... or less meaningful. When I already know all the new vocab except the word "lunch," I tend to feel a little jipped, I guess.

I have the feeling I'm still going to either have to consult Aaron's phrasebook or look up some words online before our departure. After I'm done here, I may take a few minutes to look up "water," "menu," and other daily vocabulary I might need. Honestly, though, I'm fully expecting not to need my meager Japanese skillz in Tokyo. I expect that the person at the front desk of the Tokyo Prince Hotel is going to greet us in English, rather than saying, "Tokyo Purinsu Hoteru e youkoso irashaimase!" So, I'm probably not going to have to remember about nimei being the honorific term for "two people," or roppaku being the word for "six nights." It might be polite of me to give it a shot, though, and I'm still not convinced that we won't need my fantastic *scoff-scoff* Japanese skillz somewhere along the line.

I'm afraid I might try to get too fancy if I try to speak too much Japanese, as I'm basically doing the language version of learning to play piano from that crazy infomercial guy. I don't know all the underlying grammar and structure; I'm learning phrases on the fly and picking up some structure along the way. The particles are still eluding me a bit, and there are words with similar meanings that confuse me. I'm afraid that if I try to put together new sentences with words I know, I'm going to fuck the grammar all up and end up sounding like... well, like a foreigner, I suppose. Go figure.

[Hmm. I'm a big word nerd. I just cleared up some of my confusion by reading the Wikipedia article on Japanese particles that I just linked to. Just tell me that "o" indicates a direct object, and it clears things right up. Wikipedia makes everything clearer...]

OK, off of the Japanese language rant.

At any rate, things are starting to come together. We'll start being a little more methodical about planning the things we definitely don't want to miss, and listing things in the same vicinity that we could squeeze in around the biggies. Like, Nakano Broadway is a must. The Ghibli Museum is a must. The Ramen Museum... OK, that's really high up on the list. The Parasitological Museum is a free oddity that would be fun to check out, but is not necessarily a must-do. ;-)

What's the Japanese word for OMGEXCITED!!!111 ?

Passports: On Their Way

From: Diana Schnuth
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 2:46 PM
To: 'Aaron R. Schnuth'
Subject: passport

That took my entire lunch hour.

There were nine people in front of me, not including the dude who cut. The actual process didn't take overly long, though. I had to have my picture taken twice, because the first time there was too much glare on my glasses. The second time, my hair didn't look as good, though. ;-) My clerk reminded me that even expedited, my passport will take four weeks to arrive, but that I should be able to start checking online after two weeks. Oh, and she loves the forms from the computer -- they're just so nice and neat! Total price? $191.18. Yikes.

So, both of our passports are on their way. Everything will arrive in time. :-)

Love!
Diana

T-minus 10 Weeks and Counting

The plane tickets have been purchased. The hotel reservations have been confirmed. The Dynamic Tokyo Tour is a go.

OMFG, we're going to Japan!!

Wednesday, May 16: Arrive in Tokyo. Limo-bus to hotel. Check in, get our culture shock going on. Locate dinner.
Thursday: Guided tour. Begins at 9am. Ends late afternoon in Ginza. First major task: getting "home" from Ginza.
Friday: Still open. Maybe Akihabara? Maybe Ghibli Museum?
Saturday: Also still open. Perhaps book Saturday night at the Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu.
Sunday: Visit Harajuku and the Meguro Parasitological Museum?
Monday: Possibly a day trip to Nikko, or just catching up on whatever we haven't done yet.
Tuesday: Check out, have lunch, and catch the limo-bus back to Narita Airport for our flight home at 4pm.

As Sheryl would say... ::flail::

...

WTF am I going to do with the 2500 WorldPerks Bonus Miles I'm going to earn from this trip?

Planning the Ultimate Schnuth Vacation

Former travellers to Japan, please complete the following sentence:

"I can't believe you're planning a trip to Japan and you're not planning to go to                !"

That's right, fellow readers, we're taking the plunge and heading off to Japan, most likely in May. My lowest APR credit card just so happens to be able to swing airfare and hotel for a week in the Land of the Rising Sun. It's not the best financial decision we could make, but it's one of those things that I think we'd regret not having done when we had the chance.

We're going to sit down soon (probably this weekend) and think about things we really MUST do while we're in Japan, particularly Tokyo. We may have to forego our tour of southern Japan, just due to funding issues. We'll see. At any rate, we already have some destinations on the potential to-do-in-Japan list:

• Akihabara (Electric Town)
• The Ghibli Museum
• Eat at a kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi-ya
• The Tokyo Tower (conveniently located adjacent to our current hotel of choice)

I'm sure there's a lot more we'd like to do, including visiting a shrine and just walking around the city, but that's all I can come up with right this moment. Anyone have any additions, especially within a decent subway-ride of Tokyo?

I've also heard that it won't matter that we're not fluent in Japanese. Actually, only Sheryl has told me that, and she's one of about three people I know (other than friends of friends) who have been to Japan. Who else wants to chime in on this one? Will I be OK asking how much this costs, how do I get to [insert place here], knowing my right from my left, counting to ten (and higher if I think really hard), and basic shit like that? Has everyone else had Sheryl's same experience of dealing with English-speakers in all the important places? What words do I need to be able to *read*, if any?

(Aaron's not too good with languages, and I'm cool with that. If one of us has to go take a crash course on Japanese, I'm it. Bring on the vidcasts and websites and CDs.)

I am SO stoked for this. I haven't been this excited about a trip in a long, long time.

Ohayocon7 Retrospective, Part I: Fried Bologna Sandwiches

[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].

I haven't blogged about the last few cons Aaron and I have attended, mainly because I prefer to save my opinions and narratives for Aaron's podcast. This time, though, there are enough other random, un-anime things that deserve mention that I think I'll go ahead and blog about the weekend. And I will begin at the beginning, with fried bologna sandwiches in Waldo, Ohio...

read more...

Ann Arbor Art Fairs

In lieu of a full rundown of the day, I present to you: The Dancing Man.

This guy was dancing in an alley, and attracting quite the crowd. It took me a moment of gawking in amusement before it occurred to me that my digital camera can record video. So, here is a little slice of fun for you, direct from the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.

Home Again, Home Again: Conclusion

Part Two of my vacation narrative detailed our trip through Amish Country, eating good food and browsing antiques. Today's final installment covers our exodus from Amish Country and our visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center.

read more...

Home Again, Home Again: Part Two

When I last left off the story of this week's vacation, Aaron and I had spent a relaxing/boring evening in the quiet town of Millersburg: walking the Rails-to-Trails, checking out the Amish people at Wal-Mart, and watching cable TV in our hotel room.

Next comes the meat of our vacation: travelling about Amish Country.

read more...

Home Again, Home Again

I'm back.

I have several corps-related e-mails to answer and some general stuff to take care of (including watering my poor, thirsty plants, both indoors and out), but first I'm going to relax and take some time to document my vacation.

If you're interested in reading about antiquing in Amish Country and other vacation highlights, read on.

read more...

My Step-Philip's Graduation Weekend

On Friday evening before he went to work, Aaron asked me if I'd heard anything from my Mom or step-Gary about Philip's high school graduation. When did we need to be where, did we have tickets to the actual graduation, et cetera. I didn't know yet, as Mom hadn't called me to confirm the final plans, and I told him so. His parting shot was, "If I come home tonight and find out I have to get up at 10am," followed by some sort of consequence I can't exactly recall. Something like, "I'll be pissed," or "I won't be happy," or something along those lines.

Guess when we had to get up Saturday morning.

read more...

Ohayocon5

I'm still working on a weekend review, but I did manage to finish my Ohayocon5 photo gallery. (I've gotta come up with a new way to make slideshows for my site—besides Flickr.)

There is also a great collection of photos at fansview.com, in addition to an informative narrative on the weekend.

Edit:
OK, here's the overview I promised. Now, it's kind of cold in this room, so my fingers are a little stiff; plus, I didn't take notes during the weekend like I'd planned. So, I don't promise literary greatness here. But, hopefully, between my photos and my narrative, you'll get the general idea.

read more...

Home From Ohayocon

Ohayocon was a great time! Almost like a mini-vacation. Very cool.

I'm currently working on adjusting and resizing the 30+ digital pics we took over the weekend. Until then, here's a pic I just took of Aaron displaying his two prized purchases: his moogle hat and his Mr. Sparkle t-shirt.

Con pics and a review/narrative soon to come!

My Best Friend's Baby

...Well, my best friend from Middle School, anyway.

It occured to me that I have a backlog of lomographs that I haven't posted, including my visit to Carolyn's baby shower back in October (mouse over thumbnails for descriptions):

Carolyn's mom took the pic of me and Carrie, and had a little trouble with the lomo's shutter. It took me a while to master myself, when I first got the camera. Of course, I got some flak from Carrie for being a super web-goddess and bringing a cheap plastic camera. It was at this point that I made the fatal error of telling them how much I paid for my kitschy Lomo LC-A.

Then I got made fun of even more.

But, then again, a visit with Carolyn wouldn't be complete with a little humor at my expense, right? ;-)

Black Swamp Lomographs

Here they are, the photos of the Black Swamp Art Festival. Taken with my almost-trusty Lomo LC-A on Saturday, September 11, 2004 in Bowling Green OH.

Launch slideshow

Black Swamp 2004

This weekend, Amy came up to visit for the annual Black Swamp Arts Festival in Bowling Green. It's actually a good thing that Amy got hung up at home and showed up later than planned, because we easily scanned the art booths in an hour. Honestly, we weren't impressed this year. There was plenty of good art, but not as much that was so intriguingly different that we had to stop and look. Amy didn't even make any purchases this year, which is really saying something. In years past, we've easily burned through $100 apiece.

After the booths closed at 7pm, we (that is, Aaron, Amy, Mark, and myself) had dinner at Easystreet, then indulged on fair food (mmm, funnel cakes) and hung around to see Southern Culture on the Skids. We ended up leaving after about half their set, mainly because it was so damned loud. We didn't even stay to hear their one hit 90's song, Camel Walk. (They probably played it as their encore.)

So, all said, the festival was a disappointment, but hanging with Amy was cool, as always. I'm kind of embarrassed that I told my co-workers that the festival was cool enough to warrant driving down from Toledo to check out. *shrug*

Weekend In Dayton

Not really in the mood to write too much, but I figured I'd post a short update about my trip to Dayton this weekend.

Mom arrived Friday evening, shortly before I got home from work. We ended up going to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner after Aaron left for work, then getting some low-carb munchies at Wal-Mart before heading back home. —What did we do all evening? Hmm. Talked, pumped up the air mattress, played a little online. Crashed out around 11-ish, I think. Turns out Aaron came home from work early at 12:30am. (Damn... I hate it when I just miss seeing him by an hour or so.)

Left for Dayton around 9am on Saturday. Ate breakfast at a diner along the way. Arrived at Grandpa and Grandma Cook's house in Centerville (south side of Dayton) around noon-thirty. Talked, looked at photos, copied photos with the digital (which actually seems to have worked out well), went through some genealogy with Grandpa, ate dinner, played Scrabble, called Amy and Aaron, talked on the back porch, went to bed around 10:15pm.

Got up around 7:30am on Sunday. Had a small breakfast, relaxed and talked, and left for Union around 10:15—Grandpa and Grandma had to be at church by 11am, anyway. Arrived at Amy's house in Union (after a few missed turns) a little after 11am, to discover that Mom's allergies go absolutely haywire in a home with two dogs and two cats. Heh. Amy was the naviguesser as we headed for a hotel to check in, then on to the Air Force Museum. Saw lots and lots of planes, some of them pretty cool, and watched an IMAX movie (narrated by Tom Cruise) about the International Space Station. Pretty friggin' cool. Headed back to the hotel after a few hours and left Mom there to fend for herself while I went back to Amy's house. Grilled hamburgers and bratwursts, talked with her and her grandmother, left just before dark to make my way back to the hotel. Watched the olympics with Mom. Called Aaron on the cell. Went to bed a little after 11:00.

Got up around 8:00 and packed up our stuff. Mom checked out the continental breakfast and snagged herself a small piece of danish, bringing me a small apple. Headed out toward Toledo around 9:00am or so. Arrived home at 11am. Once Aaron woke up, we went to lunch—first attempt was Quizno's, which was insanely packed; next, we tried to get into the parking lot of the Garden Cafe on Reynolds, but the left turn just wouldn't happen during the lunch rush; finally, we ended up at Nick's Cafe, where Aaron and I hadn't eaten in years. The Nickburger is immense, even without a bun; I had to ask for a box for the last third of mine. Then we visited Low Carb Solutions, where Mom bought us a crapload of low-carb goodies, and some for herself. After that, we came back to the house, relaxed for a few minutes, and Mom left for Parma around 2:00pm so Aaron and I would have some quality time together before he had to leave for work.

Overall, this was a relaxing mini-vacation weekend. Pleasant, slow-moving, and generally non-stressful, even with the driving. I snapped at Mom a couple of times, but I think she knew I didn't really mean it. It was nice to have some real quality time with Mom, especially since she'll be moving to Texas in a month or so, and goodness knows when we'll make it down there for a holiday or a vacation. This could be the last quality time I get with my mother for a long, long time.

The Vacation Thus Far

So far, you already know about the Art Fair and the Zoo trip. Next, on Tuesday, we visited COSI in Toledo, and were particularly disappointed to find that it was nothing like the Cleveland Science Center. At COSI, there are a zillion hands-on exhibits for the younger kids, but very little for big kids like us. The highlight of the day was the Distorted Gravity Room, where the room is built with the floor at probably a 45° angle, if not greater, and with no right angles in the doors or windows. Makes it very funky to try to walk from the entrance door to the exit. Weird, wild stuff.

But that was the highlight of our visit. Overall, I think we spent an hour and a half or so at COSI.

Today we drove out to Sauder Village to see how the settlers and old folks lived. I brought my 35mm camera, but ended up not taking very many photos at all, since most of the interesting stuff was indoors. Aaron and I both had a great time, even so. In each one-room building is a Sauder worker or volunteer, dressed in period clothing, who explains the building and the history behind it. We ended up looking into one original home, a replica of the first home in the Black Swamp, a one-room schoolhouse, a farmhouse, a community jailhouse, a mill, a printing press (including two linotype machines, for the VCT-minded—very cool), and various other buildings, in addition to walking around the grounds and checking out the museum building. Fun time, definitely worth the price of admission.

So, that pretty much concludes the major trips we'd planned for this week. Sometime tomorrow we plan to go see Fahrenheit 911 and maybe hit some earlybird garage sales. Friday we had considered going to a Clutch show in Flint, but I think we've opted against it at this point. We may go to the Art Museum for free. Saturday, there's the community garage sale on Clymena, then we're going to the Full Moon Walk with Kris and Jamie. We've still got some stuff left to keep us occupied, but no more major road trips.

In other news, we happened upon the Concert for George Harrison on PBS tonight. Not something I would have thought to rent on my own, just to watch, but seeing it on PBS was actually pretty cool. It featured a bunch of people we didn't know, plus Clapton, Petty, George Harrison's son, Ravi Shankar, Ringo, and McCartney, and Monty Python. Good concert, well-produced.

And I'm out. Word.

Vacation *insert Go-Gos tune here*

Eleven AM on a Tuesday, and here I am, chillin' at my computer downstairs. Good times.

So, to catch everyone up on what's been happening at the Schnuth abode: we're both on vacation. I return to work one week from today, and Aaron doesn't go back until the following Monday. Our original plan, way back when we requested our vacation time, had been to attend the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, but we had to choose between buying a house and going to our very first Star Trek Convention.

Then, I had thought that maybe we could use our new tent this week. However, Aaron brought up the fact that it's the middle of summer, and it has the potential to get damned oppressively hot lately. With that in mind, we opted to wait until Labor Day to go camping.

So, what are we doing this week? All the shit in Toledo and the surrounding area that we haven't done yet (or haven't done for a while).

On Saturday, we went to the Ann Arbor Art Fair. In years past, we've always missed when it was, so we were thankful to have gotten a flyer from one of the artists at this year's Crosby Festival.

Anyway, Aaron and I went with Kris and Jamie, leaving Toledo around 9:30am or so. We arrived in Ann Arbor at the mall shuttle pick-up around 10:30am, paid our $3 per person round trip, and off we went. When we got to the fair, Aaron and I discovered that not eating breakfast had its disadvantages, and that we were starving. So, around 11am, we headed into Amer's and were delighted to find that they have some pretty decent salads there. Yum.

The rest of the day was spent looking at art (obviously), sitting on the grass in the diag and talking, browsing various stores (including, of course, Wizzywig), taking pictures, and just generally enjoying ourselves. I think we left around 4:00pm, and by then we were completely drained from walking all day. Great time, though.

As for the rest of our mutual vacation... Sunday was our normal errands / groceries / laundry day, and yesterday we went to the Toledo Zoo. Today we're planning to go to COSI, tomorrow we may go to Sauder Village, sometime this week we're going to see Fahrenheit 911 (since I haven't seen it yet), and we're contemplating going to Cleveland to check out the Rock Hall in its entirety. (We browsed the first floor during last year's Gravity Games, but we didn't get beyond that.) We may also visit Aaron's grandparents while we're in Cleveland, but I think the jury's still out on that. Although we would be allowed to sleep in the same bed now, if there's one big enough for the both of us...

On Saturday, it sounds like Frieser's neighborhood is having their 'hood-wide garage sale, so we'll be checking that out, then on Saturday evening we're joining Kris and Jamie again for the Full Moon Walk at Oak Openings Metropark.

So, even though we're not really going out of town this week, we're still having a pleasant vacation. Oh, yeah... I was so ready for a break.

This Weekend

Yesterday: Aaron and I went to BG to meet up with Timmay for lunch at Campus Pollyeyes. Their salads are friggin' gigantic, so we weren't too sad about watching Tim eat his yummy breadsticks. It occurred to us that they always kinda sit funny in your stomach, anyway—not in any sort of "sour grapes" sort of way, but in thinking of how Aaron and I would react to so much bread right now.

We spent two hours there at Pollyeyes, talking and catching up. Tim told the best drunk story ever, including him passing out on the train and being awakened at the end of the line and having to walk five miles home while calling his passed-out roommate who's locked Tim out without his keys and then Tim eating breakfast at a local diner and finally breaking into his own apartment to find his roommate passed out in the bathroom. Classic story, and better than anything that ever happened at BGSU. I miss Tim. Heh.

After hanging out with Tim, we hit Goodwill and the Woodville Small, then went back up to Best Buy to purchase a scanner. Scanners these days are so cool. We got one that scans transparencies (most do now) and comes with this spiffy-assed scanning software that automatically detects where the pictures are on a strip of film and brings them up as thumbnails. Holy crap! Soooo cool. (Or maybe I've been away from cutting-edge technology for a while, having graduated college and all, and am just out of the loop.)

So, that was Saturday in a nutshell. Today involved me getting up and leaving the house around 9:20, getting ass-raped by the National City ATM (since the Sky ATM isn't exactly close to home), getting half a tank of gas, and driving up to Clawson. There I met Barb and Russ, and they drove the rest of the way to the first official LakeShoremen full-corps rehearsal in Montrose, Michigan. Basically, a three-and-a-half hour trip one way for me. Rehearsal was from 1:00 to about 4:00, and was quite productive and very cool. We got to rehearse in an Ensemble setting with the percussion, then put the colorguard with the group as we figured out a parade formation. It'll be interesting to see how the parade goes in two weeks—we didn't get to actually move the parade block outside of the gym, as outdoor practicing was noise-prohibitive. (The drumline tried it and got called by the superintendent within five minutes.) In other related news, I started getting that old familiar twinge in my middle back, below my shoulder blades—the one I get when I stand at attention with my horn up for extended periods of time. It's not an "ouch I hurt something" feeling; more of a "hmm I don't use that muscle much and it's really starting to feel hot and cold at the same time and it'll be sore later" kind of feeling. And, yes, it's sore right now.

Anyway, I finally got home around 7:15pm. Long day. Aaron had dinner just about done when I got home: barbecued chicken and grilled yellow squash. Mmm. He's off doing food shopping now. He did my job of laundry earlier in the day. He's so cool. I'm so lucky. *contented sigh*

Rollins in Ann Arbor

Need to get my shower and get to sleep, but I just felt the need to update. It's been a few days.

Went to see Henry Rollins do his spoken word thing in Ann Arbor on Sunday. I was worried that the drunk bastard sitting behind us would ruin the entire show instead of just the first 20 minutes, but he mercifully passed out and didn't wake up until the show was almost over, nearly three hours later. I swear, we can't get away from the drunken fucks even when we pay for reserved seats. —But drunken debauchery aside, Rollins was on top of his game, as always, with tales of his recent USO tour in Afghanistan and of a would-be burglar "running like a scared bitch," as one Abe-lover I know would say. :-) Gotta get a Rollins fix every couple of years, just like Clutch.

While we were in Ann Arbor, we stopped by the anime store (of course), a couple record stores, and a couple of book stores. I ended up buying Nichelle Nichols' autobiography, Beyond Uhura, a book on the making of Star Trek entitled Star Trek Lives!, and a trade-paperback edition of an Asimov-universe book that Aaron had already bought for me in small paperback form for Christmas. I felt kind of bad buying that one, but the size and artwork matched the two hardbacks I have for the other books of the set, and I just couldn't resist. I may eBay the other paperback, but I may not. It was a present, after all.

Incidentally, I am absolutely hooked on Nichelle Nichols' book. I can't put it down.

I ordered some new candle scents that should be arriving soon: ginger, chamomile, green tea... and marshmallow. I also ordered tealight tins and wicks, so now I can pour a bunch of little candles and burn them together to test-mix fragrances. I still need to get some additives and a couple more dyes before I get going full-steam again, but I'm looking forward to it.

OK, my 20-minute session of Pilates kind of whipped my butt again tonight, so I'm hitting the shower and going to bed. Of course, once I'm there, I'll probably read for a good half-hour before I actually go to sleep...

Ohayocon4

...was a lot of fun. Arrived at the Hyatt Regency Columbus at noon, got registered (after standing in line for a half hour), and ate lunch at the Subway in the hotel's food court. (FYI, the Atkins-friendly Chicken Bacon Ranch wraps are yummy, and the actual wheat/soy wrap itself is really quite good, but the portion size leaves a little to be desired.)

After lunch, we hit the Dealer Room to spend our respective wads of cash. Two circuits around the Dealer Room yielded:

• a Chibi Totoro plushie (the white one)
  
• a Chu Totoro keychain (the blue one)
  
• a deck of giant Totoro playing cards
  
• Warcry: a book of Berserk postcards / art
  
• a Berserk Dreamcast poster
  
• a Gamera toy
  
• an Aruru capsule toy (with Puyos—from the Puyo Puyo video game)
  

...and left us enough money for dinner later.

read more...

Gravity Games

Hey, remember this from the front page?

Week #1
9/7 - 9-13
No Dew Week

Week #2
9/14 - 9/20
No Pasta Week

Week #3
9/21 - 9/27
No Candy Week

Well, nix that. I'm joining Aaron on his full-on foray into Atkins, starting Monday. (That's tomorrow.) I've got my Atkins profile up on their website, and checked out some recipes. Aaron's gone full-force and bought the carb-counter book and the Atkins cookbook, and borrowed another low-carb cookbook from the library. He likes to eat more meat than I usually do, anyway, so I think the hardest thing for him is going to be cataloguing the carb content of everything that goes into his mouth.

Me, I've already broken myself of my Mountain Dew addiction, and I've pretty much cut out pasta. Those were the hard parts. Now I just have to get up early enough to eat breakfast, and remember to make myself a lunch before I go to bed the previous day (since I won't just be grabbing a frozen meal from the freezer on my way out).

So, we'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to it myself.

Yesterday, Aaron and I headed out to Cleveland for the Gravity Games. For those of you who aren't big "Extreme Sports" freaks, the Gravity Games includes skateboard vert (ramp) and street (men's and women's), freestyle motocross, wakeboarding, inline skating street and vert, and bike dirt, street, and vert. We watch it on NBC every year, and it's been in Cleveland for the past couple of years, but we haven't gotten out to watch it live. This year, though, since we got the heads-up at the Taste of Cleveland, we went out and got tickets for this bad boy.

We left around noon, and got there around two-ish. Found parking for five bucks, walked the couple blocks to the Games, brandished our tickets, received loose-fitting wristbands, opened my camera case (for no one to actually search it), and we were in. We walked around the Festival Village, which was basically the marketing and merch fairway, and got some stickers and a sampler CD of some kind. Could have gotten more stuff, had we actually been able to approach some of the booths, but the stuff we got was pretty much shoved at us by booth attendants out in the middle of the fairway.

We wandered over and found a bike dirt venue, where kids were allowed to go down a ramp and do their best trick on a five-foot dirt hill. I finished up the roll of film that was in my camera by snapping photos of the kids, and of the one guy who was running the show, who would go down the ramp occasionally, to keep it interesting. He turned a backflip almost as soon as we got there to watch, so I didn't get that on film. :-(

One of the great things about the Gravity Games being in Cleveland (besides the fact that it's close enough to drive) is that your ticket gets you into the Rock Hall for half-price. So, we spent about an hour and a half, I think, wandering around the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. And we didn't even get upstairs! We decided that our little taste of the Rock Hall was just enough to make us want to go make a day of it sometime in the future.

Around 4:00, we headed out and tried to find a spot in the bleachers by the vert ramp. It took some patience, and several seat relocations, but we ended up on the top row of bleachers, right by the WKYC Channel 3 sign. (So, if you happen to watch the Gravity Games on some Sunday afternoon in the next two months, and watch the Men's Skateboard Vert Finals, look for us.) We ended up watching the Women's Skateboard Vert Practice and Demo, so we could have our good seats for the Men's Finals later that evening. I spent one roll of film on the Vert ramp, so we'll see how that comes out.

It was great being able to see some of the skaters live: Bob Burnquist, Andy MacDonald, Bucky Lasek, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Rune Glifberg... Too bad there was no Tony Hawk, but I guess you'll have that when you retire. *shrug*
We headed out around 9:15pm — after the Finals were over, but before the scores were announced. Made it to the car, found I-90 West, and stopped for dinner at a TGIFridays in Westlake on our way home. Got home around 12:30am or so, which is early for coming in from an out-of-town excursion. Usually it's 3am. :-)

So, good weekend. Yeah. And Aaron's got the next four weeks off of work, so he'll be home when I get home from work every day. w00t! That makes things a little better, too.

Yay, Computer!

Thank you, Sheryl! Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou! *big sloppy kiss*

My computer works! It runs Windows ME at 1.8 GHz and with 256 megs of RAM. Oh, yes. Aaron says he may start downloading some of the videos that his computer won't play properly, and watch them on mine. And I'm OK with that. :-)

I only have had to reinstall Photoshop and Dreamweaver — and this gave me the opportunity to get off my sorry ass and upgrade to Photoshop 7 and Dreamweaver MX, supplied months ago by Kris. Thankfully, I did figure out how to save all my messages from Outlook Express before I wiped the HD the first time, and I found how to re-import them, so I didn't lose any important messages. I think I might have lost my address book, though, but no biggie. Anything I really needed is saved in my various messages, I think.

So, I bid a fond adieu to my Mac, as I'm sure it will sit and once again gather dust until I need to do some genealogy or print something on the laser printer.

In other news, I have to work tomorrow at 8am. Yep, Aaron's got the day off and I have to work a full fucking 8-hour day. WTF. But back to general happiness...

Yesterday, Aaron and I headed out to The Taste Of Cleveland festival to eat lots of food and watch P-Funk. Such a great day. Beautiful weather, fresh breeze off the river (this isn't the fiery Cuyahoga of yesteryear), festive atmosphere, all made for a perfect day trip.

Traffic on the turnpike was smooth on the way, and we found our way to the venue parking with little incident. Parking was six bucks, but that was an expected expense, and the traffic flow there was carefully managed. Parked in the Tower City garage, walked across the street to the venue (with the assistance of traffic cops), and found ourselves at the top of a hill overlooking the entire festival. Tents, booths, games, food, and a large tented ampitheatre area. Oh, yes. This looked promising.

We headed down the hill to the ticket booth: five bucks apiece to get in, with the $2 coupons Aaron found online. That done, we went in and bought our initial batch of food tickets for $20. (That's where they get ya.) After wandering around agape at all the food — ribs, Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, BBQ chicken, burgers, sausages, almost anything you could want in festival food. We opted for the gyro booth, and the Seafood Delight, which was indeed delightful. Shrimp and imitation crab chunks were sauteed with sweet onions and squash in a delicious saucy juicy liquid, then slopped onto a flatbread pita with some shredded lettuce, wrapped with foil, and served to us with a plastic fork and napkin. Oh, so good. Those cost six tickets apiece, so there went most of our food stash. The rest was gone with two Mountain Dews from the booth next door.

We wandered over toward the ampitheatre to find a neutral place to eat our Delights, and found one of the tall tables for standing and eating at. I managed to dump the delicious sauce down my front during the course of the meal. :-) After dinner, we decided to take a closer look at the displays and booths, since we had been so hungry when we arrived that we'd beelined for the food. Overall, the most interesting thing we found was the booth for the Gravity Games that we'd already visited on our way in, and the setting sun was totally beaming us right in the eyes. Gah. So, we bought some more tickets and went to enjoy some frozen custard. Mmm... custard. If you've never had it, get some whenever you have the chance. Oh, so good.

(Damn, I should be getting to bed... It's 1:00am and not even really today anymore...)

All right, I'm going to stop here and continue tomorrow. I don't want to be totally dragging when I finally get home to Aaron after work on everyone else's day off. Sigh. I'll tell all about the show (that quite possibly could be the best show I've ever attended) later.

One Month Without A Blog (Oh The Horror)

I'm glad to know that my blog has been sorely missed by some (and moderately by others). I was being optimistic when I made an offline entry two and a half weeks ago, thinking that ecom meant it when they said my credit card would be reprocessed in 24 hours...

Where to start... Jeez. I never thought I'd actually use my website to communicate with people, no matter how small an audience. You seven people are important to me, dammit! :-)

OK... here's the narrative of what you missed.

Week After The Wedding: Honeymoon, duh! Monday was a travel day — got to Cummington, Massachusetts in roundabout 12 hours, give or take eating and fueling. Aaron drove the whole dang thing. Tuesday we drove up to Mt. Greylock, the tallest peak in the state. Wednesday we drove out to Boston and spent the evening and night there; Thursday evening we drove back. Friday we left Cummington and headed west to Niagara Falls, where we spent Friday night. Saturday afternoon we completed the drive home, only to get the message that Memaw had just died that day (shortly after we had driven through Cleveland, in fact. How weird). What a downer. Called work on Sunday, left a message that I'd be out for three more days.

Week Before Last: Didn't really need to take all three available days of bereavement pay, but I did. The funeral was on Tuesday in Parma, and I drove there because Aaron had to drag his ass out of bed much earlier than he would have liked. He slept a good deal of the way there. Got there, ate lunch at Mom and Gary's, and steeled ourselves for the funeral. The "viewing" was the first hour, although Mom had opted to have the service be closed-casket. I provided a nicely matted and framed Olan Mills portrait of Memaw back in the early 80's, before she even went gray — the way I remember her best. The viewing was a little strange, because I saw people I hadn't seen in years and was glad to see, despite the circumstances. Also, Aaron and I received many congratulations on our recent marriage, in the shadow of Memaw's death, which confused my brain. I wasn't all that mournful to begin with, but I was downright happy after a while, seeing my Aunt Connie and Brother Squire from church and all. The service was small, relatively brief, but appropriate — come to think of it, the drive to the cemetery was longer than the service, I think. :-) We ate dinner afterward at a local restaurant where my step-brother Philip works as a cook (he's 16 and just got a car, fyi). I guess the best part about the whole affair was that Mom got back together with her best friend Connie.

Last Week: Full week of work? Wow. Same old shit, finally. Oh, yeah, and we picked up our wedding proofs.

This Week So Far: Flew to Fort Worth, Texas on Saturday (and boy are my... oh, nevermind). First airplane ride since I was less than a year old. Fun. I want to do it again, despite having to remove my shoes for the nice metal detector. Texas was actually OK; we visited the Water Gardens (featured in the 1970's sci-fi flick Logan's Run), Cowtown (the original Fort Worth downtown, complete with fake gunfights on the hour and more cowboy hat stores than you can shake a shotgun at), and a water park (with a wave pool and enough innertube rides to keep me happy and my face out of the water). The Smoke clan is actually much cooler than you would think, given only Gary as an example. Mom and Gary stayed until today, but I bailed on Tuesday. Got home around 10pm, went to work the next morning. Since then, things have been pretty normal again.

Don't worry, I'll supply a better, longer, and illustrated version of the honeymoon soon. I've just been disinterested in updating lately, since, well, no one was going to see it.

Since I Last Updated...

...the wedding and reception happened with only minor issues, we got lots of wedding presents (and money), my domain name expired, my credit card went overlimit, we drove to Massachusetts for our honeymoon (and back via Niagara Falls) totaling over 1700 miles on the Kia, my grandmother died, we put away all our gifts, I paid on my credit card and renewed my domain, and we're preparing for the funeral in Cleveland on Tuesday.

Oh, yeah, and I go on "vacation" with my family to Texas in less than two weeks.

I think I'm going to put the honeymoon and wedding entry separate from the "normal" blog entries, so as not to overload the June blog page. 'Cause this is going to be loooong. Like Sheryl's Japan narrative, but not quite.

I called Amy last night to see how she was doing. I guess she's doing a little better — she'd been planning to try to go back to work today. She's been home all this past week, tired and weak and kind of in pain. Good thing she didn't try to make the wedding, cause she would have been miserable.

Well, I guess I'll go start on the wedding and honeymoon entries, and maybe scan some pics. I don't have the professional proofs from the wedding yet, but a friend of Aaron's brought a digital camera to the wedding, so I have some wedding and reception pics, too.

Oh, and don't feel too bad about Memaw. I've already done my mourning, and I will continue to do so tomorrow, but it was expected. Honestly, I'm glad it's finally over.

Sunday Easter Sunday

So, who's morbidly curious about what I did for Easter?

...Thought so. But I'm going to tell you, anyway.

Headed out at 9:45am. Made it to Lakewood (about 5 miles west of downtown Cleveland) in less than two hours. Lakewood Hospital, where Memaw's staying, is on the same street as Aaron's grandparents' house, so we drove past their place first, thinking maybe we could just walk from there. Alas, it was closer to five blocks than the two Aaron had originally thought, so we drove down and found a parking spot on the street (to avoid paying for parking in the parking garage).

Walked into the hospital, asked the receptionist what room Jessie Lowe was in, and followed her directions (hitting the restrooms that were conveniently located on the way). Since Mom had asked me to get hearing aid batteries for Memaw, we stopped by the nurses' station on the way to her room to drop them off, and ended up conversing with Memaw's personal nurse. She gave us a run-down on how Memaw was doing: her hearing aid had just plain died, she wasn't eating, and she was generally groggy and in "what she perceives as pain." The nurse said that if Memaw doesn't start eating, she won't have enough strength to make it much longer. I thanked the nurse, then mentally steeled myself and led Aaron into the hospital room.

The greeting was much different than the warm welcome of Tuesday. This time, I got, "Oh, it's you." She was much more confused this time around, and I only managed to converse with her at all by hovering two inches from her ear. We only stayed for about 15 minutes, because I saw no point in being there. Maybe it sounds callous. I don't know. I'd just rather minimize the Memaw-as-a-confounded-invalid memories and stick with the Memaw-as-a-good-cook-and-strong-woman memories. I'm glad I came up on Tuesday, because if this had been my only "last visit" with Memaw, I would have been much more upset. I didn't cry when we left this time, but I know I'll be haunted by my (assumedly) final image of her watching me go and dazedly repeating, "I love you, too. I love you, too. I love you, too..."

With the depressing part of the day behind us (I know, I know, I'm being crass and callous in the face of family tragedy), we drove back down the street to Grammie and Poppa's house. We were the first to arrive, and sat and talked with Poppa for a while, since Grammie was still at church. Five minutes after we got there, Aaron's dad showed up in his new SUV (who'd have thunk Bob would buy an SUV?). We talked about the wedding and Aaron's job and everyone's various medications and unions and on and on... Grammie came home from church and joined the conversaion. it was pleasant. Then Pete's clan showed up.

If I haven't explained Uncle Pete's clan, let me clarify for you. We've got Pete, who is Aaron's uncle — his mother's brother. (Poppa and Grammie are his mother's parents.) Pete's first wife, Peggy, the mother of his children, died some time ago. I want to say about 9 or 10 years, but I'm not sure, since I never met her. The oldest child is Megan, who is 17-almost-18. Then comes Alex (15?), Natalie (13?), and Joey (10). (I'm sure Aaron will tell me if I got any ages totally wrong.) That had been interesting enough, but there's a recent twist: Pete just got remarried. His new wife is Deanna (yes, our names were confusing to the grandparents at first), and she has two children from her previous marriage: Sophie (16?) and Gabe (14). Most of the kids are old enough that they're "real people" and aren't too annoying anymore, but Joey still likes to watch Spongebob and those bizarro Dexter-type cartoons on Nick and the Cartoon Network that make me stare in confusion.

So, this should provide a better idea of the immediate insanity involved as soon as the Bura Clan arrived. ...Not that I would have it any other way. A holiday at Grammie and Poppa's wouldn't be the same without Pete's family.

After Aaron and I talked with Megan and Alex for a while, food was ready. We had ham and twice-baked potatoes and kielbasa and paska (polish raisin bread) and green bean casserole (a Bura family staple) and Poppa's famous salad and there was horseradish and we had a lamb-shaped cake for dessert. Grammie forgot to put out the sweet potatoes, so we all divvied them up and took them home afterward, along with all the other leftovers.

We stayed until 8:00pm, just talking and watching TV (and being bored while Joey monopolized the television with weird cartoons). Aaron and I ended up being the last to leave. Overall, it was a good time, as usual.

I guess maybe I always took my family for granted, since we were always together, anyway. We had big meals on special occasions, but never had any other family over. Mom, Memaw, Aunt Sammie, my cousin Michael, and I all lived together, and rarely lived close to other family, so that was it. No cousins or other grandparents or other aunts or uncles to visit or invite over. Now I'm finding that I enjoy this "visiting family" thing. Even going to visit Mom and Gary for a day is enjoyable (to an extent — the less Gary, the better, I'm afraid).

Now, just to be sure to end the entry on a down note... when we got home at 10:20pm, Mom had left a message on the answering machine not 15 minutes earlier. She was upset that, when she went to go visit Memaw, "the lights were on, but no one was home." She asked me to e-mail her, which I did, pretty much detailing what I detailed here about my visit. I told her it made it a little easier for me, seeing Memaw like that. That way, when she goes, I won't feel like she could have had a few more good years left in her. I'll know she was ready to go.

When Mom e-mailed me back today, she had this to say:

"You look into the eyes of the first person you remember, the friend you had before you had friends, the one who taught you all the basics from how to go to the bathroom, get dressed, eat, talk even, and the body's there but she isn't. When I worked in the nursing home, I used to think the families of those folks were so cruel to not visit more often; now I understand, it wasn't that they didn't love them, it was that they loved them too much to see them that way."

The Obligatory Thanksgiving Narrative

9:00am: The Schnuth/almost-Schnuth one-car caravan headed to Lakewood (the northwest side of Cleveland, that is). Arrived at Aaron's grandparents' place in roughly two hours.

11:15am: First to arrive on-location. Chatted with Poppa and Grammie. Had quality time talking about plants and wedding plans and the Thanksgiving schedule. Also had quality time with the cat, Sid.

12:00pm: Aaron's dad arrived, sans Aaron's brother. (sans means without, for all you non-Latin-speaking types.) Seems Matt stayed home, puking and feeling generally ungood. Had more quality time talking about wedding plans and rib restaurants and the Thanksgiving schedule.

1:00pm: The Eschbach minivan arrives, bearing Aunt Elaine, cousin Nathan, and Nathan's 21-month-old daughter Caitlin. Cute as a proverbial button — she started chasing the cat as soon as she saw it. Had even more quality time talking about Caitie, antiques, jobs, wedding plans, and the Thanksgiving schedule.

1:30pm: The slated time for dinner. Uncle Pete called to let everyone know that he and his clan would be a little late (surprise). The turkey came out of the oven right on time, despite dripping juices and much smoke. The table was set, and 15 chairs were somehow located and brought to the dining room. All that was left was for Pete and the clan to arrive and bring the green bean casserole.

2:15pm: Pete and his new wife Deanna finally arrived, with Pete's four kids and one of Dee's two kids. (The other of Dee's kids was at his dad's place for the holiday.) About half a dozen people crammed into the kitchen to finish preparing food. Had yet more quality time talking about choir, Lord of the Rings, Caitie, and wedding plans. Studiously avoided mentioning the Thanksgiving schedule.

3:00pm: Food was ready. Aaron and I sat down promptly, while the rest of the clan milled about wondering where to sit.

3:15pm: Dinner started. Finally.

4:00pm: We excused ourselves to go visit my family, as mentioned to his family multiple times while discussing the Thanksgiving schedule. Drove about two miles to the nursing home where my grandmother has recently been admitted.

4:10pm: Located my Memaw in the Aristocrat nursing home in Lakewood. The chemo thinned her hair, and she looked ten or fifteen years older than her actual age of 70, and she went off on bizarre, almost-senile tangents a few times, but she's still my Memaw, and it was still good to see her. Shocking, but good. Gave her the birthday presents I forgot to send three weeks prior, and showed her a picture of her grandfather that I found online. Lots of hugs. Promised to write more often.

4:30pm: Left Lakewood for Parma. Ended up combining Mom's set of directions with my step-Gary's set, and got there just fine.

4:45pm: Arrived at my folks' place. Ate another dinner. Watched the Cowboys play the Redskins. Ate sweet-potato pie. Had quality time with my cat. Talked about how big my step-brother Philip has grown, about wedding plans, about weird commercials on TV, about my long-ass hours at work, and about crap in general.

9:00pm: Gary walked Philip back to his mother's house down the street. Mom packed us a bag full of Thanksgiving leftovers (especially appreciated since we had to bail from Aaron's family so fast we didn't get any there). Once Gary got back, Aaron and I got our stuff together, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Bowling Green.

11:15pm: Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. Off to bed for Diana — I had to be at work by 9:00am the next day. No four-day weekend for me. Overall: a fun day, a good day, but a busy day.