La diferencia es que en vez de grupos de musica en directo, como es habitual en este tipo de eventos, en el escenario hay una maqueta escala 1/1 de Gundam.
Madre mia!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Festival de, eh... Gundam!
La diferencia es que en vez de grupos de musica en directo, como es habitual en este tipo de eventos, en el escenario hay una maqueta escala 1/1 de Gundam.
Monday, July 13, 2009
posteando desde el movil
Incluso puedo enviar attachment por 300 yen al mes, unos 2 euros.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Squaw Valley - Billharz Family Reunion
We spent a fantastic week with 50 Billharzes at the Olympic Village at Squaw Valley, celebrating my parents' 50th anniversary. Mom wore her original wedding dress, which you can see in the photos. We hiked to a waterfall, biked along the Truckee River, went rafting, hung out on the beach, toasted marshmallows at the campfire, and - best of all - made lasting memories. Mom and Dad hosted an anniversary banquet and asked each of the 12 kids to share "a favorite memory or experience." I wish I had the whole thing on video - we rarely get to be together and reminisce like that and it was fun to hear what everyone remembered. Mom and Dad's first honeymoon was basically a rainy, cold camping trip so we pitched in for a surprise second honeymoon. As Chip said, it was fun to give them that because at this point it is hard for them to be surprised by anything! They will be going to Banff and surrounding area next month, and we hope for beautiful weather and good times for them. Being married 50 years is great - being married 50 years AND being able to go travel together and enjoy it is awesome!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Un helado de té verde y "cerezo en flor" en Kyoto por lo que pueda pasar
Yo por si acaso, me meto este maravilloso helado entre pecho y espalda por lo que pueda pasar.
Mira al pobre Michael Jackson, se nos ha muerto.
Va por él...
Mira al pobre Michael Jackson, se nos ha muerto.
Va por él...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Osaka, onsens, yakuzas y el más guarro del lugar
Estoy en Osaka, he llegado aquí en un maravilloso tren bala que casi le falta volar, digo casi porque creo que ya vuela...
Como siempre, me las he apañado para ver los lugares más sórdidos y oscuros de Japón, en este caso de Osaka.
Como soy un cutre, me gasto una miseria en dormir y me alojo en un recóndito agujero en un fétido barrio de Osaka lleno de borrachos y vagabundos.
Por no haber no hay ni ducha, sin embargo tenemos un maravilloso onsen, baño de agua caliente con duchas que lo rodean, con sauna. Si será sórdido el lugar que hasta dejan entrar a japoneses tatuados, digo hasta porque en todo Japón no se permite la entrada en lugares públicos a ninguna persona con tatuajes, aunque sea el nombre de la novia yonki de tu hermano en letras minúsculas...
De hecho todas las noches veo a un tipo de aspecto yakuza dale que te pego a la esponja.
La gente en Japón se lava hasta hacerse sangre. Se sientan en su taburete y se empiezan a frotar a quemarropa con una esponja o una toallita y bien de jabón. Esto se hace antes de meterse en el baño de agua caliente que es comunal.
Parece un poco una competición de a ver quién es el último en dejarse de frotar, como si ésto significase que al ser el último eres más limpio que todos los que ya se han dejado de frotar antes, los muy cerdos.
Mira que yo soy relimpio, si hasta tengo la piel que se me cae a tiras de ducharme... Pues ni con esas puedo con esta peña, me siento como el gaijin (extranjero) cerdo. Se deben pensar que voy a dejar una mancha de grasa a la que me meta en el baño.
Y eso que me quedo un poco más de lo acostumbrado dale que dale al fregoteo para que no digan, pero nada, me jarto y ahí siguen, como si nada pasara.
El yakuza es el que más ímpetu pone el pobre, debe ser agotador estar todo el día asustando y extorsionando, que lástima, lo agusto que se le ve ahí con su esponjica.
Que se le va a hacer.
Hasta otra.
Como siempre, me las he apañado para ver los lugares más sórdidos y oscuros de Japón, en este caso de Osaka.
Como soy un cutre, me gasto una miseria en dormir y me alojo en un recóndito agujero en un fétido barrio de Osaka lleno de borrachos y vagabundos.
Por no haber no hay ni ducha, sin embargo tenemos un maravilloso onsen, baño de agua caliente con duchas que lo rodean, con sauna. Si será sórdido el lugar que hasta dejan entrar a japoneses tatuados, digo hasta porque en todo Japón no se permite la entrada en lugares públicos a ninguna persona con tatuajes, aunque sea el nombre de la novia yonki de tu hermano en letras minúsculas...
De hecho todas las noches veo a un tipo de aspecto yakuza dale que te pego a la esponja.
La gente en Japón se lava hasta hacerse sangre. Se sientan en su taburete y se empiezan a frotar a quemarropa con una esponja o una toallita y bien de jabón. Esto se hace antes de meterse en el baño de agua caliente que es comunal.
Parece un poco una competición de a ver quién es el último en dejarse de frotar, como si ésto significase que al ser el último eres más limpio que todos los que ya se han dejado de frotar antes, los muy cerdos.
Mira que yo soy relimpio, si hasta tengo la piel que se me cae a tiras de ducharme... Pues ni con esas puedo con esta peña, me siento como el gaijin (extranjero) cerdo. Se deben pensar que voy a dejar una mancha de grasa a la que me meta en el baño.
Y eso que me quedo un poco más de lo acostumbrado dale que dale al fregoteo para que no digan, pero nada, me jarto y ahí siguen, como si nada pasara.
El yakuza es el que más ímpetu pone el pobre, debe ser agotador estar todo el día asustando y extorsionando, que lástima, lo agusto que se le ve ahí con su esponjica.
Que se le va a hacer.
Hasta otra.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Canal de Isabel II privado
Me mandan este power point al mail:
Id dándole a la diapositiva y pasará a la siguiente.
Id dándole a la diapositiva y pasará a la siguiente.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Acariciando gatos en Tokio
Hay por la ciudad algunos lugares para acariciar gatos, sí, sí, el propósito de dichos lugares es el de que acaricies gatos.
¿Es o no es una maravilla?
¿Es o no es una maravilla?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Tokyo Star Wars Pop Up
Ya estoy en Tokyo.
El caso es que ya llevo unos cuantos días por aquí...
Vovlví a Hong Kong unos días y desde allí pasé a Tokyo.
Casi no recordaba lo bestial que es esto. Y la comida...
Todo está bueno...
De momento solo subo este vídeo que grabamos de un libro “pop up” de Star Wars que vimos en una tienda de juguetes en Tokio.
Genial
El caso es que ya llevo unos cuantos días por aquí...
Vovlví a Hong Kong unos días y desde allí pasé a Tokyo.
Casi no recordaba lo bestial que es esto. Y la comida...
Todo está bueno...
De momento solo subo este vídeo que grabamos de un libro “pop up” de Star Wars que vimos en una tienda de juguetes en Tokio.
Genial
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Moab, continued
More fun in the sun...discovered Sand Dune Arch yesterday. It's a 0.2 mile hike partway between huge vertical slabs of sandstone and ending in an arch over a big hill of very soft sand. Lots of shade, more lizards and one small snake in the rock wall, and very pleasant. We hung out about an hour while the kids played and played in the sand. Like the beach without any water, more shade, less wind and of course the amazing huge slabs of sandstone representing eons of erosion.
Afterward we went out on a limb and did a 0.6 mile hike out to Broken Arch, which is not broken as far as I can tell. The prickly pear cacti were blooming, lots of different colors - yellow, pink, white - and many other flowers graced the trail in bright yellow and purple. There was more greenery than usual, I think because of the recent rains. We carried the kids part of the way but our plot to wear them out worked - again they took a very deep nap after lunch. Ahhh...
The quote of the day was Sam's - he reliably denies any questions about whether his diaper may be poopy. Bryan asked, "Sam, why do you always lie about having a poopy diaper?" and immediately Sam replied, "Becuzzz...I...WUV you!!"
The pool was not very warm our first couple days here, but they must have fixed it because last night it was very comfortable - MUCH warmer. We brought all our pool toys. Alex is really very independent in the water now - as long as she has her life vest - she likes to zoom all around on her own and jump in all by herself. The first time I saw her head go all the way under I thought, "Well, this should be interesting," but she came up grinning from ear to ear. She is ready for swimming lessons - wish I could teach her but I'd really like her to learn to swim. :-)
Sam is just getting used to floating on his own, but isn't as adept as Alex yet - he rolls in the life vest and his face goes right in the water. He does love holding on to his inflatable ring though, and gets mad if we try to hold on to him. Every day the pool is a highlight. There is sand in the bottom of it but I guess this is Moab, where people come off the trails and bring it in with them.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
fun in Moab
Vacation in Moab. FUN!
Will need to post pictures later - currently they are trapped in the camera in the same room as 2 sleeping kids.
I don't think we've been here since before Alex. We've enjoyed surprisingly mild temperatures (50's to 80's) and some equally surprising afternoon rain showers. Refreshing. This morning we took the kids on their first hike in Arches, exploring the Courthouse Wash. It's a soft sandy creekbed next to a canyon wall - shade and trees much of the way - and we really had a great time. Alex loved it, loved squishing the red mud between her toes, walking in her bare feet, chasing lizards and tadpoles and water striders, and playing in the mud and sand while telling me long, involved imaginary stories. She did not like the live crawdad Bryan picked up, though. Sam, suprisingly, was pretty squeamish about the mud and wanted to be carried a lot of the way. WTH? Since when does Sam care about getting his feet a little wet? Go figure.
Anyway, we also explored the Ranger Station where we got to imprint Play-Doh with animal tracks and play with various types of rubber animal poop. We even brought the plasma cars and ranger station has a nice patio perfect for zooming around on them. After all that sun and fun, Sam actually stayed in his seat during most of lunch. :-) We got pineapple sorbet and browsed the used bookstore, where, incredibly, I found a used hardback illustrated (animated comic-book style) story of the "Robin Hood of Korea." It's over the kids' heads now, but they will probably like it when they're older. The author grew up in Korea as the daughter of medical missionaries and studied Korean painting...what a find for Moab. We bought some other books and went back to the hotel room and both kids drifted away looking at their new books.
The pool here was advertised as "heated" but if it is, it's not very warm. Well, other than that we can't complain. The hotel serves us fresh baked cookies every afternoon and a continental breakfast every morning. So far, fabulous.
Will need to post pictures later - currently they are trapped in the camera in the same room as 2 sleeping kids.
I don't think we've been here since before Alex. We've enjoyed surprisingly mild temperatures (50's to 80's) and some equally surprising afternoon rain showers. Refreshing. This morning we took the kids on their first hike in Arches, exploring the Courthouse Wash. It's a soft sandy creekbed next to a canyon wall - shade and trees much of the way - and we really had a great time. Alex loved it, loved squishing the red mud between her toes, walking in her bare feet, chasing lizards and tadpoles and water striders, and playing in the mud and sand while telling me long, involved imaginary stories. She did not like the live crawdad Bryan picked up, though. Sam, suprisingly, was pretty squeamish about the mud and wanted to be carried a lot of the way. WTH? Since when does Sam care about getting his feet a little wet? Go figure.
Anyway, we also explored the Ranger Station where we got to imprint Play-Doh with animal tracks and play with various types of rubber animal poop. We even brought the plasma cars and ranger station has a nice patio perfect for zooming around on them. After all that sun and fun, Sam actually stayed in his seat during most of lunch. :-) We got pineapple sorbet and browsed the used bookstore, where, incredibly, I found a used hardback illustrated (animated comic-book style) story of the "Robin Hood of Korea." It's over the kids' heads now, but they will probably like it when they're older. The author grew up in Korea as the daughter of medical missionaries and studied Korean painting...what a find for Moab. We bought some other books and went back to the hotel room and both kids drifted away looking at their new books.
The pool here was advertised as "heated" but if it is, it's not very warm. Well, other than that we can't complain. The hotel serves us fresh baked cookies every afternoon and a continental breakfast every morning. So far, fabulous.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
busy week, Sam's trip to the ER
This week and next are really busy because I'm working full time and am on call for 16 days straight, plus we have Buzz's medical school graduation this Saturday. Bryan's mom is here helping with the kids, my parents are here too (helping Buzz pack and move), and Pete and Grace are also visiting. Last night we had dinner with Pete and Grace, without kids - SO nice to see them and catch up. Peter and I found we have independently each developed similar interests in food, nutrition, and Macs :-) (we each bought our first one about 6 weeks ago) , despite not communicating regularly. I felt like I'd found my long-lost twin. :-) That has happened before with other siblings. We don't live in the same state and don't keep up as well as we would like, but when we visit we find we have been doing the same things, unknowingly. Once I visited Laura and saw we had bought the same coat - she in LA and I in SLC.
As if things weren't hectic enough, Wednesday Sam got into Mom's suitcase and took an estimated 600 mg of Tegretol and some adult multivitamins. We spent 6 hours in the ER under observation, and he surprisingly drank up all his activated charcoal with the promise of a popsicle reward. He got a little sleepy but did not slow down much. The nurse said his blood pressure was a little low for a while but it normalized over several hours. Thank goodness that was all there was to it. As I was driving him home from the ER, Cameo called and reminded me (thank goodness!) that I was supposed to take Alex to a birthday party that I had completely forgotten about. I dropped off Sam, put Alex in the car (in her pajamas, since that is what she was wearing), grabbed a gift bag after discovering that we had used all our birthday wrap and had only Christmas wrap, and made it to the party. After that we all had a picnic in the park.
Tomorrow morning, Buzz graduates and I will be the honored one to do the "hooding." I need to iron my old gown, figure out a way to attach the too-large cap to my head long enough to last through the ceremony, and find an outfit that can double for VA neurology rounds and graduation. I'm just hoping there will be no neurologic emergencies between 10 a.m. and noon tomorrow.
As if things weren't hectic enough, Wednesday Sam got into Mom's suitcase and took an estimated 600 mg of Tegretol and some adult multivitamins. We spent 6 hours in the ER under observation, and he surprisingly drank up all his activated charcoal with the promise of a popsicle reward. He got a little sleepy but did not slow down much. The nurse said his blood pressure was a little low for a while but it normalized over several hours. Thank goodness that was all there was to it. As I was driving him home from the ER, Cameo called and reminded me (thank goodness!) that I was supposed to take Alex to a birthday party that I had completely forgotten about. I dropped off Sam, put Alex in the car (in her pajamas, since that is what she was wearing), grabbed a gift bag after discovering that we had used all our birthday wrap and had only Christmas wrap, and made it to the party. After that we all had a picnic in the park.
Tomorrow morning, Buzz graduates and I will be the honored one to do the "hooding." I need to iron my old gown, figure out a way to attach the too-large cap to my head long enough to last through the ceremony, and find an outfit that can double for VA neurology rounds and graduation. I'm just hoping there will be no neurologic emergencies between 10 a.m. and noon tomorrow.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mother's Day thoughts
Mother's Day ramble - thinking about all the significant moms in my life...
For my own mom, especially for all the ways she taught me how to love.
For my mother-in-law, who has "adopted" me and mothered me for nearly 18 years (!)
For each of my children's birth mothers, who gave them life and had to let them go. Without them, I wouldn't be a mother. Tears, when I think about that.
For their foster mothers, who gave from their hearts and asked nothing in return.
Finally, to Alex and Sam:
Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone
Yet nevertheless
Still my own.
Never forget for a single minute
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.
-Author Unknown
For my own mom, especially for all the ways she taught me how to love.
For my mother-in-law, who has "adopted" me and mothered me for nearly 18 years (!)
For each of my children's birth mothers, who gave them life and had to let them go. Without them, I wouldn't be a mother. Tears, when I think about that.
For their foster mothers, who gave from their hearts and asked nothing in return.
Finally, to Alex and Sam:
Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone
Yet nevertheless
Still my own.
Never forget for a single minute
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.
-Author Unknown
Times they are a changin'
Major changes have recently occured in my life, both personally and professionally. We're approaching five years since the inception of this blog, and going back to read the posts from May '04 is quite the experience. I suppose its what diaries and journals are for, the chance to go back and read out your thoughts and ideas from another time. Kind of like mental time travel.
One thing is for sure, I am not who I was then. In fact, I am not who I was last year or the year before that. I may have some (we shed and create a lot of cells frequently) of the bodily composition of that person but we are definitely on different wavelengths.
This whole blogging business started off as a documentation of odd and quirky ideas I might have. I had a lot of time on my hands back then, hence the frequency of the posts. With time, the posts have decreased in number but have also slightly sharpened in focus. They may still be random and don't generally adhere to one unified theme, but this thing was meant to be disjointed and arbitrary anyway.
I know blogging has pretty much gone out of style these days, but I never meant for this to be stylish. The more I read my old posts, the more I believe that continuing to write here if only to be able to re-read it later is worthwhile. These next few lines (in no particular order) are for future perusing:
- United are in the Champions league final against Barcelona for a shot at retaining the cup. I believe we are going to win. Did we? I hope it was a good game.
- You've just moved out of home and are currently adjusting to having your own family. Its terrifying and exciting all at once. Having more or less settled now, you have found that through all of this you've discovered that you have an affinity for furniture shopping. Who would've thunk it.
- You're starting studying for your MRCS part B soon. The plan is to pass it first time. I hope that reading this in the future, you remember how it felt to be looking ahead to that. I also hope that you passed.
- You have accumulated a bit of debt, but are confident of repaying it all very soon. I hope that when you re-read this, it will have been replaced by a good amount of savings.
- You are still basking in the glory of having had the best wedding of all time.
- One and a half years in your current job and counting. Still on track with the initial estimate of two to three years in Bahrain followed by training abroad. So, how did that work out then?
- 1st on call, sleepless nights at the hospital working a 1 in 4 rota. Not so bad, considering what you've been through. I hope that when you read this you have had a hell of a lot more experience in operating and are no longer at junior level.
A few more personal things I could've documented here, but I'd rather leave them out of the public arena. Have to run now, but I hope that list makes for interesting reading at some point down the line.
One thing is for sure, I am not who I was then. In fact, I am not who I was last year or the year before that. I may have some (we shed and create a lot of cells frequently) of the bodily composition of that person but we are definitely on different wavelengths.
This whole blogging business started off as a documentation of odd and quirky ideas I might have. I had a lot of time on my hands back then, hence the frequency of the posts. With time, the posts have decreased in number but have also slightly sharpened in focus. They may still be random and don't generally adhere to one unified theme, but this thing was meant to be disjointed and arbitrary anyway.
I know blogging has pretty much gone out of style these days, but I never meant for this to be stylish. The more I read my old posts, the more I believe that continuing to write here if only to be able to re-read it later is worthwhile. These next few lines (in no particular order) are for future perusing:
- United are in the Champions league final against Barcelona for a shot at retaining the cup. I believe we are going to win. Did we? I hope it was a good game.
- You've just moved out of home and are currently adjusting to having your own family. Its terrifying and exciting all at once. Having more or less settled now, you have found that through all of this you've discovered that you have an affinity for furniture shopping. Who would've thunk it.
- You're starting studying for your MRCS part B soon. The plan is to pass it first time. I hope that reading this in the future, you remember how it felt to be looking ahead to that. I also hope that you passed.
- You have accumulated a bit of debt, but are confident of repaying it all very soon. I hope that when you re-read this, it will have been replaced by a good amount of savings.
- You are still basking in the glory of having had the best wedding of all time.
- One and a half years in your current job and counting. Still on track with the initial estimate of two to three years in Bahrain followed by training abroad. So, how did that work out then?
- 1st on call, sleepless nights at the hospital working a 1 in 4 rota. Not so bad, considering what you've been through. I hope that when you read this you have had a hell of a lot more experience in operating and are no longer at junior level.
A few more personal things I could've documented here, but I'd rather leave them out of the public arena. Have to run now, but I hope that list makes for interesting reading at some point down the line.