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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
More adventures in the Pacific Northwest
Picking up where I left off last week… Wednesday after work we walked over to the Pacific Science Center. We toured the museum, which is geared more towards children but has enough fun exhibits for people of all ages. We also watched an IMAX movie about the Lewis & Clark expedition. There was a somewhat bizarre temporary exhibit called Animal Grossology – featuring everything you ever want to know about animal & insect excretions. I enjoyed the butterfly garden, the mole rat colony, and the section devoted to Lucy, the fossil hominin discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. Thursday after work we took the bus south to the Museum of Flight, our one remaining ticket in our CityPass booklet. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the nice layout and thorough information provided in the exhibits and by the docents. Greg took a ride in the 4D simulator (I skipped this fearing it would trigger motion sickness). We also got to walk through a British Airways Concorde and retired Air Force One. We caught the bus back to Pioneer Square and had dinner at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant. The food was basic but tasty enough – I had cornmeal-battered fried oysters and Greg had spicy shrimp creole. It was another beautiful evening and we had planned to buy cheap tickets at the box office for the Seattle Sounders match. We totally underestimated how popular soccer is here! The lowest price for a single game ticket is $20, but when we showed up about 15 minutes before the game, the cheapest available seats were $45. We ended up buying ours through a reseller for $35 and were very close to field level with direct line of sight to the goal. Beer was not cheap -- $8.75 for a premium draft. We had a lot of fun – everyone was so into the match that they stood the entire time! The only unfortunate aspect of the week was that I started coming down with a cold on Thursday and by the end of the evening I was definitely sick – sore throat, sinus congestion, etc. That's always the price you pay when you're always on the go and not getting adequate rest. But I wasn't about to let that interfere with our long weekend trip to BC. We got up early Friday morning and walked down to the waterfront to catch the free #99 bus to the downtown Amtrak station. I guess I'm spoiled by all the conveniences associated with taking Amtrak in NYC – Penn Station is massive and has many restaurants, delis, and other stores where you can buy just about anything. But King Street station had none of these; only a couple of vending machines. So our plan to buy breakfast to take on our 7:40AM train fell through. Luckily the train did have a cafe and we purchased breakfast sandwiches to eat at our seats. The scenic four hour ride up the coast passed quickly with the exception of lots of stops & starts once we were in proximity to Vancouver. From Pacific Central Station it was a short walk across the street to catch the SkyTrain into downtown Vancouver, and then a few blocks walk along Granville Street to our hostel. They are doing massive construction in Vancouver in preparation for the winter Olympics beginning 12FEB2010. Walking on the sidewalk involves a bit of an obstacle course, there is a fair amount of jackhammering noise and dust to contend with, and some buses are rerouted to avoid closed roads. Still, Vancouver is very much a walkable city, fairly compact and not terribly hilly. It is also very bicycle friendly, with well-marked street signs and bike lanes. After having soup & sandwiches for lunch at a grocery store café, we stopped at the Tourist Information booth for some additional maps & info and then at a drugstore so I could get sinus medication. It was another beautiful, sunny day so we walked around Chinatown, then along the waterfront facing the shipyard (where I spotted a harbor seal watching us from the water), then around to Gastown, where we stopped for a well-deserved beer. From there we walked to Yaletown (which very much resembles NY's SoHo) and along the waterfront facing Granville Island. We decided to have dinner at Honjin Sushi, where we ordered the special "dinner for two" featuring assorted sushi, sashimi, tempura, dumplings, tofu, miso soup, and more. As we dined, a young couple was seated at the booth adjacent to our table. We didn't take much notice of the two, but soon enough, other diners were stopping by their table asking for photos and autographs. Our dining companions turned out to be Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame. We didn't even know for sure who they were until I was able to double check their photos online. Exhausted from a long day of travel, walking, and my dealing with a head cold, we headed back to the hostel to shower and get some rest, thankfully in a private room (but with shared bath). We got up around 7:30 Saturday morning and took advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the hostel (toast, bagels, muffins, cereal, coffee). We went ahead and packed up our backpacks and checked out, leaving the bags in storage. We had miscalculated the distance/time it would take to walk across the bridge to Granville Island, but we survived the trek and enjoyed browsing around the market. We wisened up and took a bus back into downtown and picked up our rented bikes to ride the loop around Stanley Park. This turned out to be a wonderful way to spend a few hours and we stopped intermittently to look at totem poles, lighthouses, statues, and the rose garden. From there we headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and took the SkyTrain back to Pacific Central where we boarded a coach bus to Tsawassen to catch the ferry to Victoria. The 1½ hour ferry ride was comfortable and scenic. The area we went through reminded me a lot of sections of the Inside Passage that I cruised in Alaska last year. Upon docking at Swartz Bay we hopped on the #70 bus (a double decker – Greg & I sat on the top deck in the very front) for the 40min ride into downtown Victoria. We checked into the hostel, this time in a couples dorm with 4 bunks (8 beds total). After a quick look around, we took a nice walk across the Johnson St Bridge out to Victoria Harbour where we had dinner at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub. By the end of the meal I was truly exhausted from being sick and on the go for two days straight so we called it a night. We got up relatively early again Sunday morning (7am) and packed up and were out the door by 8. We had breakfast at the oldest bakery in BC, Willie's, where I enjoyed a delicious Pacific eggs benedict (with lox & fresh spinach) and Greg had a BLT croissant with scrambled eggs. We walked along Government Street to the Inner Harbour, reading the historic building markers along the way. We were able to take a free tour of Parliament where we learned a bit more about the architect as well as the structure of the current government. From there we walked to Beacon Hill Park, out to mile marker 0 of the Trans-Canada Highway. We walked back into town through the park, past blooming flower beds, duck ponds, a putting green, and over an old stone bridge. Then up to Chinatown and the summer Sunday market, which was really just one block of vendors selling made in Victoria clothes, jewelry, accessories, music, etc. We picked up our bags from the hostel and retraced our walk from earlier in the day as we had spotted a sign at a café advertising the #1 coffee in the world, Panama La Carleida, which they were selling for $10 per 8oz cup or $105 per ½ lb. We were treated to silver service and sipped our coffee slowly, savoring every drop (although Greg drank his as if it were Starbucks!). We then walked back along the waterfront to Inner Harbour where we enjoyed a beer outside overlooking the harbor. Wanting to continue the outdoors theme, we had a late lunch/early dinner at the rooftop beach club of a nearby hotel accompanied by a pitcher of Kokanee beer. Then it was time to check in for our boat ride back to Seattle – not on a ferry but something along the lines of a yacht with capacity for around 300 people and an interior very similar to an airplane. It was a bit choppy in the more open water around the Strait of Juan de Fuca but I fought off motion sickness with some ginger candy and just by sitting quietly and not trying to focus on anything. We docked in Seattle around 9:45PM and cleared customs then walked back "home" to Queen Anne and quickly called it a night. Monday & Tuesday were recovery days for me. Very nice to be able to work from the hotel, do laundry, cook dinner, and just rest & relax. I did make one foray into downtown Seattle to drop off a few books at the central library and also picked up a few things at the ExOfficio store in Belltown. Today Greg & I celebrated our six month anniversary. Actually, celebrated is a bit of an exaggeration considering neither one of us knew in advance that today was different than any other day. I just happened to be going through my work calendar from earlier this year and noticed that today marked six months of our being together. The time has flown by and we have crammed in a lot in those months – Greg came up to NYC to stay with me for the better part of April & June, we took some mini vacations on the beach and in the mountains, we jumped out of an airplane together, we celebrated birthdays and shared meals with family and friends in Nashville, and now we have lived in Seattle for the past month. So what did we do to fete the occasion? Took the bus to Interbay and had lunch at Red Mill, a burger joint featured on Man v Food on the Travel Channel (and the last on our list of restaurants featured in the Seattle episode). We pigged out on supersize bacon cheeseburgers and onion rings and then returned to the hotel to finish working for the day before enjoying a beer on the roof deck with a clear view of Mt Rainier. It's hard to believe we're down to our last week here. We really only have a few more days left in Seattle since we're going to Portland this weekend. So we've been making our final list of top things to see & do before we leave. Of course, it involves food and beer for the most part!!!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
San Juans & more
Another activity-filled weekend has come & gone. The more time I spend in the Pacific Northwest, the more convinced I am that I should live in this general area some time in the future. On Friday afternoon Greg & I took a charter bus service up to Anacortes and then the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We picked up our rental car and dropped off our stuff at Brendan's house (our gracious host for the night whom I found on CouchSurfing.com). Brendan gave us some tips on what to do and where to eat. As it turned out, the San Juan County Fair was in progress so we walked from Brendan's house to the fairgrounds. We spent the evening observing the locals & livestock and checking out all the exhibitors and noted that the weather felt more like October than August. We got up early Saturday morning and had breakfast in town to fuel up for our whale watching trip with Jim Maya's Westside Charters. We drove up the west side of the island to Snug Harbor where Jim's boat was docked. It was a beautiful drive in the morning sunlight and we had nice views of farmland and the coast. Jim proved to be an entertaining host to our group, made up of a couple from Toronto, two women from Florida and Greg & I. Things started out fairly quiet -- there had been no whale sightings at the time we left the dock. But soon enough the calls started coming in and we zipped over to meet up with the orcas of J Pod. We ended up staying with them all morning as they were very active -- spy hopping, jumping, feeding, and generally frolicking in all directions. We also saw a bald eagle, harbor porpoises, and harbor seals. This is my second time to whale watch on a small, private boat (first time was in Icy Strait Point, AK last year) and, compared to the large group tours which I have also done, I highly recommend this more personalized experience. Greg & I spent the early afternoon driving around the north end of the island at Roche Harbor and we stopped at an oyster farm where we shucked and ate fresh European belon and Pacific oysters. Our final island destination was the American Camp, which was established in 1859 when the U.S. and Great Britain jointly occupied the island. It is now a National Park and offers great coastal hiking along with a dose of history. We picked up dinner in Friday Harbor and boarded the ferry back to Anacortes and from there caught the charter bus back to Seattle. All in all it was a great 24 hour getaway! We did not initially have a plan for Sunday other than to sleep in a bit (if you call 8am sleeping in!). But then Greg suggested we check another Man vs. Food restaurant off our list, so we caught a bus up to Green Lake and had breakfast at Beth's Café. If you did not happen to see the episode in question on the Travel Channel, Beth's is famous for being one of the best places in Seattle to nurse a hangover because they offer all you can eat hash browns. But that's in addition to your choice of a 6 egg or 12 egg omelet! Greg & I wisely opted to split a 6 egg omelet but we did get a second order of hash browns. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was very much informal diner, and despite having to wait 30 minutes for a table, we really enjoyed the experience. Not to mention that Beth's is ideally located a block from the north end of Green Lake, which has a great walking path around the entire lake -- perfect for burning some calories after a big meal! We did walk the west side of the lake, but then detoured up to Woodland Park Zoo for an afternoon with the animals. It was definitely one of the better zoos I've been to, as it has a more open plan with plenty of space for the animals to roam. This also means that visitors often won't be able to see all the animals as they may be hanging out in an area that's not visible from the general viewing area. For the most part we got a glimpse of everything we wanted to see with the exception of the tigers, baby snow leopards, and hippos. The weather was absolutely gorgeous -- warm (in the mid-70's) and clear blue skies. For the first time since we landed in Seattle two weeks ago we were able to see Mt Rainier from the roof deck of our hotel. Not wanting to miss what can be a fleeting opportunity to take pics of the mountain, we used the second voucher from our City Pass (the first was the zoo) and went to the top of the Space Needle for 360° views of the city. As an added bonus, we also enjoyed the most colorful sunset we've seen yet. Of course it was back to work at 6am Monday morning, but now that our City Passes are activated (and only good for 9 days), we've been spending the late afternoons doing more touristy things. Monday we visited the Seattle Aquarium, which is small compared to some of the other great aquariums I've been to like Monterey Bay or the Tennessee Aquarium, but it still had some interesting exhibits and we enjoyed watching the octopus feeding and seeing the harbor seals and otters. Afterwards we sought out an authentic Mexican restaurant below Pike Place Market called El Puerco Lloron. You pick what you want off a handwritten menu on the wall, place your order with the counter staff who prep the food in front of you, and then you take your own tray to your table. The food was delicious and the price was right -- all the entrees were under $9. Yesterday we took the one hour harbor cruise on Argosy Tours' Spirit of Seattle. But first we enjoyed happy hour at Elliott's Oyster House, where the price of oysters starts at $0.50 at 3pm and increases by .25 every half hour. And draft beer was only $3! Not to mention we were sitting outside enjoying a view of downtown and the harbor. The cruise was a nice way to see the skyline from the water as well as get an up close look at the shipyard. And Greg was pleased that the boat had a full bar and draft beer was only $5.50. We've only got a couple more attractions left on our CityPass which we should be able to knock out in the next two days. The weather continues to be wonderful and is actually getting into the 80's this week. We're off to Vancouver & Victoria this weekend, so will update again after that side trip.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Summary of Seattle Week 1
It's hard to believe our first full week in Seattle has come & gone. We've been blessed with almost perfect weather since we've been here – sunny with highs in the 70's or even cooler. I rarely leave the apartment without my fleece jacket! It finally rained for the first time Monday and I was actually grateful for it as I don't want Greg to get the idea that the weather is always like this here. We've been enjoying walking along the waterfront to downtown, through or alongside the Olympic Sculpture Park. We've also pretty thoroughly explored our little neighborhood of Lower Queen Anne at this point. One of our favorite things to do is take a break from work and go up to the roof deck for fresh air and beautiful views. Last Saturday we went to Mt Rainier. Since we booked the rental car at the last minute, there were no vehicles available for pickup in the downtown area, so we took the train out to the airport and picked up our car there around 8am. The drive to the mountain was easy and took about two hours. Unfortunately there were clouds surrounding the mountain the entire day, so we never got to see the summit. But it didn't rain, so we hiked through the subalpine meadows, and drove to both Paradise on the southwest side of the mountain & Sunrise on the northeast. It cleared up enough while we were at Sunrise that we were able to see Emmons glacier and a fair amount of the Cascades range. We dropped the car off at the airport after 8pm and took the train and monorail back home. On Sunday we went to a Mariners game at Safeco Field. From the hotel we can walk about 15min down to the waterfront (the northern end of Alaskan Way) and catch the free bus that runs all the way down Alaskan Way and then turns east to Pioneer Square and the International District. From there it's just a few blocks walk to Qwest Stadium and Safeco Field. One thing we noticed as we approached the stadium were all the vendors set up along the street selling typical ballpark snacks (sunflower seeds, peanuts, popcorn, Cracker Jacks, hot dogs, etc). The difference here was that everything except beverages could be taken into the park. You could even buy a whole pizza and take it in with you! We opted instead to go to Pyramid Brewery, which is located across the street from Safeco, and ate lunch and drank beer there before going into the stadium. Speaking of beer, we were hoping stadium prices would be lower than at the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field in New York. But a premium draft beer was still $8.75. It was a fun game and despite only paying $22 apiece for our upper level seats, we had a great view directly behind home plate and weren't straining to see at all. The Mariners won the game 11-2 and Russell Branyan even hit a grand slam. But to Greg's disappointment, there was no appearance by Ken Griffey, Jr. After the game we walked to the massive Asian grocery store, Uwajimaya, and admired the wide variety of foods available there. We then walked uphill to the Danny Woo International District Community Gardens. This is where elderly and low-income neighborhood residents can grow fruit and vegetables. We took the free bus back up Alaskan Way and walked home, noticing the three huge cruise ships at port and the influx of tourists along the piers. On Tuesday after work we took a local bus across town to the REI flagship store. Believe it or not, we didn't buy anything but had fun checking out the latest and greatest outdoor gear. We then walked north to Lake Union and checked out the Center for Wooden Boats. Although rain was in the forecast, it was actually fairly sunny so we walked along the piers and then had happy hour drinks at Duke's. Much to Greg's delight, we also came across the only Hooters in Seattle so that became our dinner destination. After a pitcher of beer and unlimited wings, we decided we'd better walk home to burn some calories. We checked our map and saw that we could just follow Mercer or Republican all the way back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the map did not indicate that we would have to cross some busy streets with no crosswalks and concrete lane dividers. It became a bit of an obstacle course, but we made it back unscathed and went up on the roof deck to take some night shots of the Space Needle and downtown Seattle. Tomorrow afternoon we're on our way to the San Juan Islands. We'll only be gone one night, but are particularly looking forward to whale watching on Saturday.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Greetings from Seattle!
We landed at SEATAC around 8pm Monday night. Seattle has a new light rail system operated by Sound Transit. Although they have not finished the section that connects directly to the airport (due in Dec'09), there is a free bus service to the nearest station in Tukwila, which only takes about 10 minutes. From there it's a direct train to the end of the line at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle, which costs only $2.50 and takes about 30min. It's a quick transfer upstairs to the Monorail for a $2.00/2min ride to Seattle Center (home of the Space Needle, Experience Music Project, and more), which is a few blocks from our hotel. We are staying at The Mediterranean Inn http://www.mediterranean-inn.com/ in Lower Queen Anne. It's a great location as we can walk into downtown Seattle in about 45min via Belltown, or take a 10-15min $2 bus ride or the Monorail. We're just a few blocks inland from Puget Sound and the hotel has a roof deck with Adirondack-style chairs and 360° views. The hotel is set up for extended stays so all rooms have a small kitchenette. We have a studio on the first floor with a ceiling fan but no air conditioning. Yes, they had record-breaking high temps out here last week, but we timed it just right and the days have been mostly sunny & beautiful with highs in the mid 70's and lows in the 50's. There's a nice Safeway grocery store across the street and a wide variety of restaurants within a 2-3 block radius: Mexican, Thai, Greek, Indian, Italian, sushi, Dick's (a late night burger & shake place), an Irish pub, and assorted other fast food or more formal places like The Melting Pot. There's a Starbucks in our building as well as a couple of nice independent coffee shops up the block. There are plenty of banks nearby and the post office is a block away, along with nail/hair salons, independent bookstores, and pretty much anything else you could need or want. On Tuesday after work, we walked downtown and strolled Pike Place Market, stopped for a beer at Pike Brewing, then hiked three blocks uphill (who knew Seattle was like San Francisco?!?!) to the Central Library. After taking in the view from the 9th floor, I applied for a library card and checked out a few books. Then we walked back downhill to the waterfront and along the piers to our dinner destination, The Crab Pot. By coincidence, we were watching the Travel Channel this past weekend and they aired an episode of Man vs Food filmed in Seattle. So, of course, we took notes and fully intend to eat at all three of the restaurants they featured. The first on the list for us was The Crab Pot, where you order a seafood feast for two, tie on a bib, and then eat your steamed halibut/salmon/crab/mussels/oysters/shrimp/andouille sausage/potatoes/corn (which they dump on the table in front of you) with your hands, a mallet, and a small fork. We also ordered a pitcher of Alaskan Amber. It truly was a feast and the quality & quantity of food was amazing!Yesterday we stayed in the hood and had Thai for lunch and Greek for dinner. We also did more extensive grocery shopping as it is not in our budget (nor do I want) to eat out for every meal. We are still formulating our plans for further evening & weekend activities, so stay tuned for the results in future updates.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
I'm overdue for an update, but you haven't missed much. My excellent adventures have had a local flavor for the past couple of weeks. The weekdays are occupied with work during the day and reading in the evening. I can plow through a book pretty quickly and I've managed to read three novels (Rita Golden Gelman's Tales of a Female Nomad; Gayle Forman's You Can't Get There From Here; Phoebe Damrosch's Service Included) along with my magazine subscriptions, The Tennessean, and Rick Steves guidebooks. I did spend a few hours at the DMV on Friday, and I am now an official Tennessee resident once again. With no offense to any of my friends or family, I can't say I'm particularly proud of this! Weekends tend to be a bit more spontaneous or at least a little less predictable. Greg & I spent last weekend at my mom's house in Orlinda, TN. The primary purpose was to help take care of my Grandmother Patterson while Mom & Ronnie were in Terre Haute, IN. But we also got to baby sit my nephews, Grant & Bryce, on Friday night. It was a nice getaway with plenty of time to cook, read, walk, talk, and generally relax. We even took a quick drive up to Franklin, KY past miles and miles of corn and tobacco fields. It really is a beautiful area if you like country living. And we always enjoy feeding Mom & Ronnie's goats! This weekend brought an unexpected but welcome visitor, Greg's brother Doug, from Atlanta. We picked him up at the bus station in downtown Nashville around 9pm Friday night. Of course, he had plenty of stories to tell about his fellow passengers on the Greyhound bus! We had a fun evening walking down 2nd Avenue and drinking beer at Big River Grille. Saturday was a mix of work & play. We borrowed a neighbor's truck and hauled a load of stuff to the dump and then met my Dad & Debbie for lunch. I also sold an unused X10 security system on Craigslist and we delivered it to the buyer's house, which I never would have done if I was alone but we happened to be in that general vicinity for lunch and I had three other people with me. I only bring this up because I now believe the reason the guy bought the security system is his house is being used for dealing drugs. I only saw what I would call the living room of his house and there was nothing livable about it! A new adventure starts on Monday. Greg & I are flying out to Seattle for the month of August. As we both work remotely, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to test out living in another city. I've been to Seattle many times, and even looked at houses in the area a few years ago, but ended up buying in New Hampshire instead. Greg has never been anywhere north of San Francisco so this is a nice way to get a feel for the Pacific Northwest to find out if it's somewhere he might be interested in living. We'll be working during the week, but should have plenty of time to explore the city in the evenings. We also have a total of four weekends to take some overnight trips to places like Portland, Vancouver, and the San Juan Islands. Our home for the month is an extended-stay hotel in the Queen Anne neighborhood, a couple of blocks from the Space Needle. We should be able to walk or take public transportation anywhere we need to go. I am definitely looking forward to not being dependent on a car as is necessary here in Nashville. I'm also ready for some fresh seafood and a multitude of non-chain restaurants to choose from. The food is what I miss the most about New York, besides the public transportation (and my friends of course!). So today (Sunday) will be spent packing and preparing for being away for a month. The nice thing about Greg's and my life at this point is our lack of strings. Meaning there's nothing that ties us to a particular location right now. It remains to be seen to what extent we'll take advantage of that.
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Litigation Release No. 22904 / January 14, 2014
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mack D. Murrell, et al., Civil Action No. 2:13-cv-12856 (E.D. Mich.)
Court Enters Final Judgment Against Officer, Broker and Relief Defendant Broker-Dealer in Settlement of Insider Trading Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that, pursuant to settlement agreements, the Honorable Thomas L. Ludington of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered final judgments on January 13, 2014 against defendants Mack D. Murrell and Charles W. Adams, and relief defendant Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (Raymond James) in the SEC's insider trading case, SEC v. Mack D. Murrell, et al., Civil Action No. 2:13-cv-12856 (E.D. Mich.). The final judgments permanently enjoin Murrell and Adams from violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Murrell was ordered to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $367,250 and is prohibited from acting as an officer or director of a publicly traded company. Adams was ordered to disgorge $64,450, plus prejudgment interest of $13,285, and to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $107,046.Raymo Jndames was ordered to disgorge $373,497 plus prejudgment interest of $8,692. Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Murrell, Adams, and Raymond James consented to the entry of the final judgments.
The SEC charged Murrell, who was the Vice President of Information Systems for The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), with unlawfully tipping material, non-public information to his long-time friend, David A. Teekell, in advance of Dow's July 10, 2008 announcement of its acquisition of Rohm & Haas Co. The SEC also charged Teekell and Adams, Teekell's broker at Raymond James, with trading on the confidential information. Teekell previously settled the SEC's charges.Raymond James was charged as a relief defendant because profits from certain trades by Teekell were held in its firm account.
The SEC's litigation was conducted by John V. Donnelly III and G. Jeffrey Boujoukos of the Philadelphia Regional Office. The SEC's investigation was conducted by enforcement staff Kingdon Kase and Suzanne C. Abt.
For further information, see Litigation Release No. 22738 (July 1, 2013).


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Saturday Chris and his "little brother" from Big Brothers Big Sisters set out to put up the outside Christmas lights like they have together for the last three years. Growing up, watching my father do the same task, I know there are a few key steps in the process. First, you take them out of the box, plug them in, test them, and THEN hang them up.
Chris and Takoda took a different approach this year. Ladder up, lights up, plugged in (it's daytime so it's still a little hard to tell which lights are on and which are off). Then I asked why they didn't test them first - inside. Hmmm. They weren't sure. So they left the ladder up thinking once it was dark they could then replace the bulbs that weren't working. How do you think that went?
The ladder was left out but nobody climbed back up. At bedtime, I suggested the ladder not be left out all night, so it is now safely put away in our garage. I'm guessing our burnt out bulbs will remain through Christmas, but we'll see.


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Farscape's thundering climax unleashed in "Peacekeeper Wars"
Mini-series to air Sunday October 17 and Monday October 18 at 9 EST, 8 CST on Sci Fi
of Reuters
Imaginative, visually impressive and with enough gunfire to satisfy the most diehard space battle aficionados, "Farscape" returns to Sci Fi Channel to present an entertaining adventure, along with the kind of giddy humor that only an ardent fantasy fan can love. But wait -- there's also legitimate drama to which viewers can relate.
Following the story may be tough going for those new to the series, but patient viewers should be able to get the gist of things.
The story centers on a fine ensemble of actors, with Ben Browder playing lost-in-space astronaut John Crichton and Claudia Black as fierce warrior Aeryn Sun. They have finally accepted that they love each other, a very good thing because Aeryn is about to give birth to their child.
To complicate things in "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars," a galactic war has sprung up between the Peacekeepers and the reptilian Scarrans, both of whom are ruthless in combat.
And just about everyone is after Crichton, who is suspected of knowing how to turn wormholes into weapons. (Wormholes are those singular twists in space that can lead to other parts of the universe.)
In a desperate attempt to put an end to the war, Crichton and his allies journey to reunite members of the Eidolon people with their ancestors, who possess legendary powers to broker peace between warmongering races. Among the hero's reluctant allies is his old nemesis, the sadistic Scorpius (Wayne Pygram).
A praiseworthy element in this miniseries is the way the characters have grown from their debut several seasons ago. The always-heroic Crichton, now colored by desperation, makes several decisions that flavor his character with interesting flaws. Having a baby changes Aeryn in interesting ways. Enduring stalwarts Ka D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe) and Chiana (Gigi Edgley) also evolve and mature. Other characters, too, move from selfish absorption to more worthy traits.
As before in the series, the outer space visuals are elegant and compelling. Moya, the living spaceship that serves as transport and host to our heroes, is convincingly under pressure, and you'll find that even a puppet (the Pilot, voiced by Lani Tupu) can express dramatically convincing disappointment.
Best of all, there's a thundering good climax that makes a solid point about unleashing weapons of mass destruction.


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In early solar system, massive planets like Jupiter and Saturn stirred up trouble in their cosmic neighborhood, causing smaller bodies to collide with each other and form meteorite minerals, new research shows.
In the very early solar system, newly formed massive planets like Jupiter and Saturn stirred up trouble in their cosmic neighborhood, causing smaller bodies to collide with each other, new research shows.
In the disk of material surrounding the very newly formed sun — a swirling cloud of dense gas and dust that eventually gave birth to Earth and the other planets — rocky bodies from the inner solar system experienced violent collisions with icy bodies from the outer solar system, according to new research paper published today (July 1) in the journal Science Advances. To reach each other, these clumps of matter would have traveled across billions of miles of space.
This discovery comes from a detailed analysis of two samples of what scientists call chondrite meteorites that fell to Earth from space. Chondrites are among the largest class of meteorites and some of the oldest solid materials found in the solar system. These particular chondrite meteorites have their own names — Vigarano and Kaba — to distinguish them from others that have been collected.
Vigarano and Kaaba also contain chondrules — small, round, glassy pellets embedded in chondrites. Chondrules formed when molten droplets rapidly cooled in outer space, and they constitute up to 80 percent of primitive meteorites, according to Yves Marrocchi, a cosmochemist at the Centre of Petrographic and Geochemical Research (CRPG) in France and lead author of the new study.
Chondrules were a part of the protoplanetary disk, from which Earth and the other planets in our solar system formed.
See Also: 'Forbidden Symmetry' Found in 4.5-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite
Prior research had suggested that magnetite — a primary mineral among meteorite minerals formed during chondrule formation — present in chondrules was the result of cold water circulation, according to Marrocchi. However, the new study found that the chondrules embedded in Vigarano and Kaba contain high-temperature magnetites.
"This implies that these chondrules were formed under oxygen-rich conditions during impacts between planetesimals," Marrocchi told Eureka Sparks.
The composition and shape of the meteorite minerals present in the primitive meteorites revealed to Marrocchi and his colleagues that Vigarano and Kaba formed at high temperatures, he said. Marrocchi explained that, in order for magnetites to form at a high temperature, the environment of the protoplanetary disk needed to be oxygen-rich, which only occurs when there are collisions between planetesimals.
"When you produce a collision between small planets, you will produce what we call a plume of gas, which is just the vapors resonating from the collision," Marrocchi said, adding that the magnetites are then formed from the gases released during the collisions.
The results shed new light on the conditions of the early solar system. The researchers found the composition of these magnetites can only be explained by invoking a collision between rocky planetesimals from the inner solar system and icy bodies from the outer solar system. Using astrophysical models, the researchers then concluded that there was a lot of scattering between the inner and outer parts of the solar system, due to the early formation of giant planets, Marrocchi said.
"This implies that chondrules are not primitive dust formed in the disk but, to the contrary, are byproducts of collisions between planetesimals in the early evolution of the solar system," Marrocchi said.
Next, the researchers hope to better understand the kinetics, composition of gas, and duration of such collisions. If high-temperature magnetites are, in fact, found in other types meteorites, it will indicate that these collisions are the main process that drives chondrule formation, Marrocchi said.
So what do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And be sure to subscribe to our website for more awesome posts like this.


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Photo courtesy of Charlotte Independence
MATTHEWS, N.C. – Jorge Herrera scored the first goal during the grand opening of the Independence's permanent home venue, the Sportsplex at Matthews, on Saturday as the club enjoyed a 2-0 victory against the Harrisburg City Islanders. This is the first of 12 regular-season home matches at Matthews after playing at Winthrop University's Eagle Field. Alex Martinez provided a second tally in the second half. Charlotte improves to 4-3-4 (16 points) overall and 2-1-2 at home (1-0-0 at Matthews). Harrisburg drops to 2-6-4 (10 points) overall and 1-6-1 on the road.
13' – CLT – Jorge Herrera
62' – CLT – Alex Martinez
#CLTvHAR: Full match and Opta box score
Three Things That Mattered:
1. With 2016 USL MVP Finalist Enzo Martinez serving a one-game suspension for his two yellow cards and subsequent sending off against FC Cincinnati, host Charlotte needed some other scoring options to step up. Veteran midfielder Jorge Herrera has enjoyed a strong 2017 campaign and he delivered Saturday night with Charlotte's first tally at the Sportsplex at Matthews. The first goal came off a right-footed free kick in the 13th minute, sneaking his shot inside the far right post.
2. Herrera moves even with Enzo Martinez for the team goal-scoring lead with four this season. Herrera has also pushed his career total to 44. Herrera has certainly made the most of his opportunities this year after playing in a more limited role for the 2016 Independence, when he scored seven goals in 30 matches and 1,109 minutes of play.
3. Independence goalkeeper Cody Mizell and the defense posted the clean sheet, including a late diving save down the stretch. It marked Charlotte's first clean sheet of the season.
USLSoccer.com Man of the Match:
Jorge Herrera, Charlotte Independence – The Charlotte veteran notched the first goal at Matthews to provide a winning result in the grand opening.
Upcoming Games:
Charlotte Independence at Richmond Kickers – June 24, 7 p.m. ET, City Stadium
Harrisburg City Islanders vs. Bethlehem Steel FC – June 20, 7 p.m. ET, FNB Field


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PGE distributes more than $57 million in fee payments to city governments
May 17, 2016
Portland, Ore. — Portland General Electric recently presented more than $57 million in payments to 52 Oregon cities located within the company's service area for 2016. The payments represent money from annual franchise fees and privilege taxes PGE pays city governments for the right to operate within their municipalities.
"Franchise fees and privilege taxes can help play a significant role in assisting city's general funding budgets," said Dave Robertson, PGE's vice president of public policy. "This is an important way for PGE to support the economic growth in the communities where we live and work, and PGE's support of a healthy economy helps to improve city services as we work to provide customers with safe and reliable power."
The amount PGE typically pays a city ranges from 3.5 to 5 percent of the annual gross revenue earned within that city. Individual city results will vary based on a variety factors, such as local changes to population, economic and business conditions, and participation by some non-residential customers in Oregon's electricity direct access program. PGE and the city work closely together to plan work in the right-of-way to minimize inconvenience to the public and keep costs down for both parties.
About Portland General Electric Company
Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) is a fully integrated energy company based in Portland, Oregon, serving approximately 887,000 customers in 51 cities. For more than 130 years, PGE has been delivering safe, affordable and reliable energy to Oregonians. Together with its customers, PGE has the No. 1 voluntary renewable energy program in the U.S. With approximately 3,000 employees across the state, PGE is committed to helping its customers and the communities it serves build a clean energy future. For more information, visit PortlandGeneral.com/CleanVision.
For more information contact: Brianne Hyder, PGE, 503-464-8596, email@example.com


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In this edition of Hawks Headlines, we take a look at one columnist's take on the future of enforcer's in the NHL, what will happen to the team in the post-Nick Leddy era, and how Corey Crawford and Patrick Kane helped the Blackhawks to their first win of the season.
-We start with Steve Rosenbloom, who has been a columnist in Chicago for a very long time. He weighed in with an interesting piece on what Daniel Carcillo brings (and specifically, doesn't bring) to the table for the Hawks, and argued that the Hawks don't need an enforcer in their lineup. [Chicago Tribune]
-Jay Zawaski checks in with a fundamental question that the Hawks need to answer: who is going to replace Nick Leddy as a reliable third-pairing defenseman on this team? Thursday night's game didn't exactly provide much clarity, so we're assuming the jury is still out on this topic. [CBS Chicago]
-There is little doubt on who the best player on the ice was on Thursday for the Hawks, as Corey Crawford made 32 saves in the winning effort. Tracey Myers breaks it down. [CSN Chicago]
-Speaking of players who made a big impact, Patrick Kane seemed to enjoy his reunion with Jonathan Toews and Bryan Bickell in the third period of the game. Mark Lazerus spoke to Kane after the game. [Chicago Sun-Times]
-The Chicago Bulls recently got a new practice facility next to the United Center, and Mike Spellman has a question: where are the Hawks' new digs? [Daily Herald]
-Finally, the NHL saw some interesting developments in its TV coverage on Wednesday as Sportsnet experimented with cameras on the helmets of referees. Talk about a cool experience. [NHL.com]


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Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Beppu / 別府
This was one of my last days off before I start going to school full time and working full time and won't have any days off until summer vacation. So I decided that, my usual laziness aside, I should get out there and get in one more "Better Know a City".
I decided that since I would be commuting into Beppu everyday for school, it would be a neat idea to do some exploring around Beppu, get to know it a bit better, do my usual write up, and knock it off my list before I start classes there.
Shoko, who's never really understood the point of this whole project, took a somewhat opposite view. "If you're going to be driving in there everyday from now on, wouldn't you rather go somewhere else on your last day off?" she asked. But as she had the day off of work as well, she agreed to go with me. Partly because it would be one of our last days off together, and partly because, when I asked her what she wanted to do, she couldn't think of any alternatives.
Beppu is of course a city that I've been to many times in the past. It shares a boarder with Ajimu (where I lived as a JET for 3 years), although there is a set of mountains dividing the two towns so that it is not quite as quick and easy to get from one to the other as it may look on the map. Nevertheless back in the day I used to commute into Beppu city at least once a week for Japanese lessons, which I took with a couple other JETs on Tuesday nights near Beppu University).
Beppu is the second largest city in Oita prefecture after Oita city. And it's a tourist town famous for its hotsprings. According to wikipedia, it is the hot spring capital of Japan, and has the largest volume of hot water in the world aside from Yellowstone in the USA and the largest number of hot spring sources in Japan.
However the past few years most of the tourists have been heading into the quaint little mountain village in Yufuin instead, and Beppu has been on the decline. A few years ago a friend who lived in Beppu told me that it was a dying tourist town, and as such was a very depressing place to live. I've never felt particularly depressed in Beppu, but I guess living there you might get a different feel for the place than just driving through.
Beppu also has a very large foreign population. In fact it's rumored to have either the largest foreign population in Japan outside of Tokyo, or the most foreigners per capita outside of Tokyo. (Statistics seem to vary depending on who you talk to. I'm having a hard time nailing down hard facts). At any rate, it's pretty surprising given that Beppu is way out in the boondocks in the unremarkable place of Oita prefecture, but it is largely because of the international universities here like Asian Pacific University and Beppu school of languages (where I'll be attending from next week).
Last, but not least, Beppu was the site of the JET orientation. We would have some workshops in the day, everyone would retire to the hotel, and then at night we would go out to hot sand baths and the infamous "Hit Parade" a Japanese club that features a rather bizarre, but fun 1950s cover group.
[Or at least that was the case back in my day. A couple years later the JET organization was banned from the hotels in Beppu because of loud drunken behavior late into the night. This is a depressingly common occurrence. In my first couple months on the JET program back in 2001 we were banned as an organization from two different camping grounds in Oita prefecture after raucous parties. The JET program participants, mostly young people fresh out of college, don't always mesh well with the conservative aging Japanese population in the countryside prefectures. (I was, by the way, present at both of these parties, but I like to think that my personal behavior wasn't excessively wild. I was just barely getting to know these people at the time, and I have a reserved personality among people I don't know well).]
Anyway, back to my Beppu tour...
I originally wanted to take the train into downtown Beppu, and do Beppu entirely as a walking tour, thus:
A) giving me some much needed exercise and
B) saving me the headache of trying to find parking in Beppu.
Unfortunately the day's forecast called for rain, so in the end I decided it would be nice to keep a car near me if I got caught in a downpour.
I considered postponing the whole outing because of the bad weather forecast, but this was one of my last free days to go out and do this. And plus I thought about all the times in the past I had stayed in because my cell phone weather forecast predicted bad weather, only to be mocked by a gloriously sunny day.
It was supposed to rain from about noon, so I wanted to get an early start on the day. I've been trying to get in the habit lately of waking up at 6:30 in the morning to prepare for the start of school so that it doesn't come as too much of a shock to my system when classes start. It's a bit difficult for me given that up until now I slept till noon most days, but I dragged myself out of bed bright and early anyway.
Shoko wanted to sleep a bit longer, so I agreed to delay our departure until 8. At 7:15, I woke her up so she could start getting ready, but she begged for another half hour of sleep. But at 7:45, she was still reluctant to get up.
"Come on, lets wake up now," I said gently. "It's always tough waking up at first, but once you get out of bed and walk around a little bit the worst part is over."
"I'm going to sleep for one more hour," Shoko said.
"An hour!" My voice immediately changed from a soft gentle whisper to a loud exclamation. "An hour? You're kidding."
"Actually, let's only go in the afternoon," Shoko said. "We don't really need to go for the whole day, and it will just tire me out."
Add to my list of reasons #53 why I've been making such poor progress on this "Better know a city" project. Trying to coordinate outings with Shoko, and then losing first the morning, and then the rest of the day, as our combined laziness pushes things further and further back.
Not today though, I decided. "Okay, I'm going by myself. Can I use your car?" (Her car is much nicer and faster than mine, you see.) She rolled over and let out a sigh, which I chose to interpret as a yes. I jumped in her car and sped off.
On the normal roads it's about an hour from Nakatsu to Beppu. So as soon as I crossed over the city line, I pulled my car over to the first parking zone along the ocean and got out to stretch my legs and walk around a bit.
As someone born and raised in the Midwest, I share every Midwesterner's fascination with the Ocean, and even after all these years in Japan still view it as something exotic. I walked along the ocean shore a bit and up and down the streets of the neighborhoods nearby.
Unfortunately in Japan, the ocean view is not always as scenic as you might hope for...
It's almost impossible to find an access to the ocean that's not concreted over. Which is why, despite being surrounded by ocean, people around here have to drive down 6 hours south to Miyazaki just to get a decent beach.
In some places these concrete tetrapods are necessary to act as wave breakers. In other parts its rumored they are just an unfortunate result of Japan's addiction to pork barrel public works projects, the concrete lobby, and government corruption. As a layman I don't claim to know which ones are necessary and which ones aren't, but I can say with complete confidence that it makes for absolutely terrible scenery.
A little ways further down there was a nice ocean front park. The concrete was still there, but at least there was some green grass here, plus palm trees and a nice little brick path that you could follow up along the coast for half a kilometer or so.
Shortly after I took this picture a group of pre-school children on a field trip arrived, and the park became a whole lot livelier with small children running all over and chasing the pigeons.
Around this time I was starting to get pretty hungry. (In my impatience to leave the house I had neglected breakfast). Fortunately in Beppu there are plenty of eating options open to me, and I decided to dine at one of the many Joyfulls.
Joyfull [sic] is an interesting place. It's a Japanese restaurant which serves Japanese food as if an American was making it (lots of deep fried vegetables, and grilled pork served over rice) and American fast food in a Japanese style (hamburger patties served up like steaks, and omelets filled with rice). These restaurants are all over Oita prefecture. In Ajimu it was one of the only restaurants in the whole town, and absolutely the only restaurant that served food that was in anyway recognizable to me, so I practically lived out of the Joyfull for the 3 years I was there. (I shudder to think what the long term health effects of that will be).
I thought Joyfull would be an especially appropriate choice in Beppu, because rumor has it the restaurant chain originated in Beppu. There's no doubt it's based somewhere in Kyushu. There everywhere down here, and when you get up to mainland Japan like say in Gifu there's nary a Joyfull to be seen. But I was never sure if it had started specifically in Beppu, or if that was just one of these urban legends that gets passed around among JETs.
And then it occurred to me I could just ask the waitress and find out. "This company Joyfull," I asked once I had sat down, "where did it begin?"
"Right here in Oita," she said.
"Do you mean Oita prefecture, or Oita city?"
"Oita city."
"Some people say it was Beppu,"
"No, it was Oita."
And so with that question definitively answered, I set about ordering some food. I got the rice omelet with hamburger steak, plus a side of fried mashed potatoes. And I ordered the all you can drink coffee and soda bar.
It's an odd thing. I know from years of repeated experience that the Joyfull coffee is absolute crap, and will often do weird things to my insides, and yet I can't seem to resist ordering it every time I come in. Something about the concept of "all you can drink" is just very hard for me to resist.
Anyway, I had the meal, and it was delicious (and the coffee was even acceptable). One the way up for a coffee refill, I accidentally made eye contact with another foreigner in the restaurant. And instinctively I gave her the old awkward foreign nod. The old, "I don't know you, and you don't know me, but we're both foreigners here in Japan, so, hey."
And in return I got the ever popular foreign glare. The old, "We have absolutely no relationship to each other so don't waste my time."
It's always awkward running into another foreigner in Japan. Some people think it is only common courtesy to give a friendly nod to your other ex-patriots. Other people think it is the height of arrogance to assume a relationship where there is none just because you might share a common country of origin. I've talked to people with strong feelings on both side of the divide, and as a result I'm never quite sure what to do when I pass another foreigner on the street.
After brunch I got back in the car and headed up the road. I stopped at the first big parking lot tourist attraction I saw, which was one of Beppu's 9 hells. In Beppu city there are several steaming hot bubbling springs called hell along which different themed tourist attractions have been built. There is, for example, the blood hell, in which the hot spring water naturally assumes a deep red color. Or the crocodile hell, in which the hot spring water is used to keep imported crocodiles, even though they are not native to the area.
I had been to these hells before. I went once when my family came up to visit me, and another time when Brett came over to visit. They may be tourist traps, but they are after all part of the Beppu experience.
The hot springs also contain a very strong sulfur smell, which is very noticeable driving through many parts of Beppu. It's not always a pleasant smell either. It's the kind of smell where you think to yourself "Whoa, maybe I shouldn't have had that egg and steak breakfast after all. Oh wait, that's not me, it's just Beppu."
I went up to the ticket booth to ask about admission. There were several hells adjoining the same parking lot, but unfortunately they all had separate admission prices, at 400 yen each ($4, roughly). Or, I could get a ticket for all the hells at 2000 yen.
I looked in my wallet and noticed I was a bit low on funds so I thought I'd walk along the street a bit and see if I could find an ATM machine. I got about halfway through the block, and then thought, "What am I doing?" These Beppu hells were tourist traps, and I knew they were tourist traps because I've been there before. Sure, they may be part of the Beppu experience, but that doesn't mean I need to go to all of them. A couple will be more than fine.
I returned and bought a ticket to the "sea hell". It was a bubbling hot spring naturally colored blue, with a garden, a temple, and a pond built around it. I wandered around and took some pictures. There was a small green house included in the price of admission, so I wandered through there as well.
Although there was not a full hot spring bath, there was a small pool where you could stick your feet in. I did this just for the hell of it, although it is somewhat of a limited excitement just swishing your feet around in hot water. There were towels you could buy for 200 yen afterwards to dry your feet, but being cheap I chose to walk around a bit to let most of the water drip off, and then put my socks back on over still semi damp feet.
(The foot pool was labelled in English, "Hot Spring of a leg", which I thought was cute. But having said that, I'm going to have to stop there. If I get started on all the Japanese English I found in Beppu, I'll be writing here all day.)
After that I went across the parking lot where I paid yet another 400 yen to enter the "mountain hell" which was kind of like a miniature zoo. Lots of exotic animals from warm places were being kept here, with the justification that the hot spring keeps the air around them warm enough to keep them comfortable.
I'm not sure if this comes through on the video tape or not, but what really struck me was how huge the hippopotamus was. When you see them on nature shows in TV, I guess you don't always realize how big they actually are. It wasn't quite as big as the elephant, but it wasn't that far off.
After that, I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was already parked (and reasonably sure I wouldn't get a ticket) to do some walking around the streets of Beppu.
Beppu is one of those Japanese cities where the mountain goes right up to the ocean, and so all the whole city is built on the side of the mountain slope. It's so crowded and covered with tourist tack that it can be pretty cluttered when you're driving through the middle of it, but when ever you get to any sort of an overlook point it's really beautiful to see the big picture of the city running down the mountain towards the sea.
Many of the buildings in Beppu seem like they were built in the 1950s, which is another reason why it's fun to walk through the city. It kind of makes you feel like you're in a time warp. (Plain white washed walls, with the paint flaking away. block style apartment buildings and hospitals. Windows that have a plain rectangle shape, and then a small arch at the top. And other various things that are hard for me to put my finger on, but all give the impression of architecture that went out of style a long time ago).
There was a huge white castle on top of a hill off in the distance, so I headed vaguely in that direction, taking time to go down any side streets that looked interesting. I figured the castle was as good a destination as any.
When I finally reached the castle, I wanted to look around first. I had been in enough Japanese castles to know that they are pretty much all the same, and that almost none of them are authentic (they were all burned down during the saturation bombing in the war, and then later rebuilt in the 1950s and 60s). So I fully intended to scout out the place before deciding if I wanted to spend money on an entrance ticket.
This plan was foiled when the told lady behind the ticket counter flagged me down energetically, shouting, "Over here, over here, you need to come over here to buy your ticket first."
Somewhat annoyed at being accosted before I had a chance to check the place out, I went over to the ticket booth to ask a few questions "What is this place?" I asked.
"A castle," she answered, as if I were stupid.
"But what castle? Is this very famous?"
"It gathers artifacts from all over Japan."
"Do you have any pamphlets or explanations in English?"
"When was it built?"
"Showa 30" (1955).
I was fully expecting her to say that it had been rebuilt around this time, but built for the first time in 1955?
"That recently?" I asked.
"It was over 50 years ago," she added sniffily.
There was an air of impatience from the old woman and her colleagues in the ticket booth. I got the impression they were not used to having people ask a lot of questions. In fact I even thought I overheard someone in the back of the ticket booth say, "He should either pay the money, or go away." But it could have just been my bad Japanese.
"Why was it built?"
"For the tourists," she answered. And then, perhaps sensing my reluctance to buy a ticket, perhaps eager to get ride of me, she added, "But if you want to just walk around the outside of the castle, you're welcome to do that for free."
And so I did. At 350 yen, the ticket to the castle was reasonably priced, but I didn't feel like spending the money or the time. Besides it was starting to rain now, so I thought I should start heading back to the car before I got caught in a downpour.
I don't usually mind getting a bit wet. (In fact, under the right circumstances, I've been known to quite enjoy the feeling of the spring rain on my face.) However just then I had with me all the electronic equipment that comes with modern day sight seeing (video camera, digital camera, and cell phone) and I wasn't sure how well they would hold up to being out in the rain, and I didn't particularly want to find out.
Fortunately, having seen the weather forecast, I had come prepared for this possibility. I had all my electronic equipment wrapped in plastic bags, inside another plastic bag. And now, as an added precaution, I took off my coat and wrapped that around the bag as well. (I had worked up a sweat walking up to the castle anyway.)
I headed back for the car. This time I took a direct route back instead of doing all the wandering down side streets I had done on the way here. But it still took me about 40 minutes to get back.
And as soon as I got back, got in the car, and shut the door, wouldn't you know it--the rain stopped.
Actually being a firm believer in Murphy's law, I had imagined the whole time that this would be how it would happen. So at least I saved myself the shock and the cursing at the sky that usually accompanies these moments. I just got in my car and calmly drove off.
I wanted to turn right out of the parking lot, but there didn't appear to be a right turn. (Japan drives on the other side of the road, so here right turns are where you are turning against traffic). So instead I went left, and then turned around in the first opposite parking lot I could find.
This turned out to be the botanical research center. They had some gardens open to the public, so as I was already in their parking lot anyway, and as there didn't appear to be any sort of charge, I got out of the car and walked around and took a few pictures.
Next I got back in the car and head over to Beppu park (largely because I knew there was cheap parking nearby.
Usually you have to drive in by the little ticket booth and get a receipt for the time you come in. Today, however, when one of the other closer entrances was open, I just drove in there without thinking. I noticed all the police cars around, and wondered if they were having a meeting.
The ticket booth man ran out to flag me down. "You can't go in over there," he said. "That's the police man's entrance."
"What?" I said.
"There out there flagging down drivers that don't have seat belts or are using cell phones and giving them traffic tickets."
I was briefly worried about whether driving in the ticketing entrance would be a ticketable offence, but the old man told me it was no problem and next time just use the main entrance.
Once I had been assured of this, I began to enjoy watching the cops in action. They had one man down the road with a pen, clipboard, and walky-talky. He would give the information about the offending cars, and down the road his colleagues would jump out into the street with a red stop sign and a whistle, and then direct the car into the parking lot where they could be ticketed and processed. I had a little bit of a chuckle to myself as I watched all those poor saps get flagged down by the police and ticketed.
(Shoko always gets caught by these things. Just last week she got another ticket. She initially tried to keep it from me, but she got found out when I recieved a letter from the police department telling me it was time to renew my license. I asked her what it was about, and she blurted out her whole confession before realizing the letter was addressed to me.)
Beppu park was closer to the station, so I thought I would tour some of central Beppu. But before I did that, I got out my cell phone and decided to make a few phone calls.
I have several friends in Beppu (what with the high foreign population and all) and I had been trying to get ahold of a couple of them all day without success. Before setting out again I decided now would be a good time to call some of them again and see if they awake now.
I got a hold of Justin. He and Steph were eating Sushi at a sushi bar, and preparing to go in a hot spring. They were all the way back in the part of town I had just left, but I got into my car and set off to meet up with them.
Justin and Steph are both former JETs. They're both great guys who I know a little, but don't know as well as I'd like to because they were starting the JET program when I was already heading off to Gifu, so I would only see them briefly when I was back in the area for Summer break or something.
And now they've both moved on. Justin has a new job in Beppu, and Steph has gone back home to England, and is only back to visit this week for Spring break. (You know you've been in Japan too long when not only your colleagues from the JET program have finished and gone on, but all the people who came after you are now finished and gone.)
Justin, as a former Ajimu JET, has a post comparing Ajimu and Beppu, if anyone is interested.
The boys were just finishing up their sushi lunch as I arrived, and they wanted to go to a special hot spring. I didn't know where the place was, so they gave me basic directions and then I just followed their car as we drove up.
Once we got there, I realized I actually had been to this particular hot spring once several years ago.
It was I think the winter of 2003. Me and a bunch of other guys and girls had spent the afternoon skiing at a Ski resort in the mountains of Oita. (Which was an unbelievably crappy ski resort, but that's another story). On the way back, we stopped at this hot spring. It was highly anticipated by many in our group because it was one of the few hot springs in the area that featured mixed naked bathing.
I've written a couple times on this blog before about the Japanese phenomon of onsen (public baths) and the big culture shock it was to me at first. But that was just among other men. Mixed bathing is a whole different can of worms all together.
Tourist guide books will occassionally mention mixed bathing, and usually say something like this: "Although we in the West have grown up with a puritanical tradition and are ashamed of nakedness, the hot spring bathing is an important part of Japanese culture. Even though men and woman occassionally bath together in co-ed baths, it is for them a cleanliness ritual, and they do not see anything sexual about it."
LIES lies and more lies. The mixed bath, it turned out, was cholked full of horny Japanese men.
There were two different changing rooms for men and women. Then there was a seperate bathing area on each side, and a common bathing area outside. On the women's side, there was a tunnel made of bamboo and straw that led out into the common bathing area, where they were greeted by a whole bunch of naked men standing right next to the end of the tunnel and eagerly awaiting any women who dared to come out.
Not surprisingly, no women were coming out. Almost all of them took one look at the welcoming committee, and rushed back to the safety of the women's side. The only women who were brave enough to come out into the common area were a couple octogenarians who were clearly passed the point where being ogled by men was a worry to them.
Really, putting aside for the moment how disgusting this whole spectacle was, you've got to wonder just how stupid these guys are! Doesn't it occur to anyone of them that they are scaring all the girls off? Does the idea to play it cool ever pass through their head?
Anyway, once I realized where we were, I began to tell my stories to the others. Steph had also been to this particular hot spring before, and had a similar experience. Justin and Ollie (Steph's friend) were coming here for the first time, although once I mentioned that it was filled with male perverts, Ollie commented, "I've never been to a mixed bath that wasn't." (Tour guide books be damned!)
We paid 1050 yen at the front desk. (Since I had come into Beppu without a hot spring kit, I paid another 200 yen for a small modesty towel. The big drying off towels didn't seem to be available, so I had to drip dry again). We walked through a long hallway to another room, and right before we entered the hotspring an old man behind the desk yelled at us in broken English. "heyheyheyhey hey HEY HEY. Watch, wallet, put in locker. Now!" It appeared you weren't supposed to take your valuables into the changing room, but rent out a coin locker in the lobby. Added to my experience at the castle earlier though it was interesting though how the traditional Japanese customer service politeness seemed to disappear around the tourist areas in Beppu.
The facilities at the hot spring were very spartan. None of the usual soaps and shampoos were laid out. In fact there weren't even any showers to wash off with before hand, just a spiget in the wall that let out a dribble of cold water. These primitive facilities were probably more in line with the traditional old fashioned Japanese hot spring, although given how much we had paid for admission I did comment that never have I paid so much for a hot spring and gotten so little in return.
When we got to the outside pool there were, surprisingly, some women already there. In fact the number of women outnumbered the number of men. This was probably due to the fact that it was a week day, and all the Japanese business men were at the office. But there were also some changes made to the pool since Steph or I had last been here. After the women emerged out of their tunnel into the main pool, there was a small women's area corodoned off where they could be in the main pool, but still keep their breathing space from all the guys.
The hot spring itself was known as a mud hot spring. Not to say the whole thing was thick mud but there was a layer of very squishy mud at the bottom. (As a result all of the water was a murky grey color, which is no doubt one of the reasons it was a co-ed facility, as this obscured the view of anything underwater).
The mud was so soft and squishy your whole foot practically sank into it. The water was shallow enough to sit down, in which case all of your legs became covered in it. After a while we all started spreading the mud around on our arms and chest. We weren't sure if we were supposed to do this or not, but after sitting in the mud for a while it's one of those things you just naturally start to do out of boredom.
We were reasonably sure however that we weren't supposed to put mud on our head, because there was a sign reading, "Don't put mud on the head." This seemed to me to be an odd prohibition. I had no intention of putting mud on my head you understand, but wouldn't this ultimately be a matter of personal choice? We idly wondered what the punishment would be for putting mud on the head. Would someone blow a whistle, a guard run out, and you would be asked to leave the hot spring?
The other thing we thought was funny was all the signs informing us to make sure and wash all the mud off before we left the hot spring. As if we were idiots. We toyed with the idea of trying to walk casually out of the lobby and back to our cars still covered in mud to see what the reaction of the staff would be. But needless to say we never put this into action.
Since I hadn't seen Justin for a couple months, hadn't seen Steph for a couple years, and didn't know Ollie at all, the conversation had the usual disjointed flow when you're trying to catch up with people on large segments of their life in a short time, mixed in with other inane facts and observations. (Among the interesting facts I gleaned, Justin told me that most of Beppu's tourism boom was in the 1950s, which explains the architecture).
It began raining when we were in the hot spring as well, causing us to shiver and feel cold on our upper body, while at the same time feeling too warm from the water in our body. We continued to cover our upper body with mud to stay warm.
On leaving, there was once again no soap to wash off with, but there was a shower that at least got the mud off. The smell of sulfer stuck with us though. The shower water smelled as much of sulfer as the hot spring did. I spent the rest of the day smelling strongly of sulfer, which I guess was okay because I was by myself for the rest of the afternoon.
(What irritated me somewhat more was that the rest of the week, despite several showers and vigirous scrubbing, I still smelled faintly of sulfer. And then my clothes began to take on the smell. Shoko told me that the Japanese people don't consider hot springs to be a bad smell, but her confidence in this assertion waned as the week progressed and I continued to sleep next to her smelling like a rotten egg).
Justin wrote his own description of the outing on his blog here. If you read his account, you'll note he was also plagued by a lingering smell for many days after.
I said good-bye to Steph, Justin, and Ollie, and continued onto my original plan, which was Beppu park. I returned to the parking lot (the police and their sting operation had moved on by this time, which was slightly disappointing).
I thought I remembered someone saying that if you use the parking lot for Beppu Park, you're supposed to go to the park. Otherwise there's some sort of a fine or something. Or maybe I was just imagining that and had dreamed up the whole conversation. At any rate, once I parked my car I faked going to the park just in case, and then once I was out of view of the parking attendant I moved on.
Beppu park is nice enough, but I had spent more than enough time there in the past. The fall of 2003 I had joined the DreamBall dance competition with the Earthmen group from Oita City. (Just for the social experience and not because of my dancing skills). The competition was held at Beppu park, and we used to practice there for weeks ahead of time. (All those weeks of practice paid off because we didn't do too badly that year. We even got some prize money out of the whole thing).
Once out of Beppu park (through a side entrance) I saw signs for Beppu central sports park a few blocks North East. I couldn't remember ever having gone there before, but it seemed as good a destination as any, so I set off.
In the end I never made it to the park, but I had a lovely walk through the streets of Beppu.
To start with, as I was walking down the road I came across a large cemetary off to my left. It's a bit morbid to spend a lot of time in a cemetary, but this one had a real lovely lay out. The flowers and cherry trees were beginning to blossom. And besides, I wasn't the only one walking through. It was shortly before 5 now, so lots of people were cutting through here on their way back from work. Although they all walked with a purposeful stride that was a lot different than my slow wandering.
Getting out of the cemetery, I ended up in a small canal following a little river. It was a city river, and so completely encased in concrete, but when you're in a Japanese city you can't be purist about nature and expect to have a good time. You just take what you get, and it was nice enough to follow the river along. Every meters there would be a small wooden bridge to cross form one part of the river to another.
This small canal ending up feeding into a much larger river that cut right through Beppu city. And this really was very beautiful. And also had a path that went alongside it.
Before coming across this river, I had vague plans of exploring down town Beppu and looking in at shops or getting a cup of coffee at Starbucks or something. But once I realized I could follow the river all the way along the path, I was hooked.
I'm a complete sucker for a walk along a river. Really. Give me a river, and a nice path alongside it, and that's all I ask out of life. I'm happy for the rest of the day.
And it was absolutely gorgeous. Sure it was a Japanese river, and the banks on both sides had been cruelly concreted over. But there was plenty of green alongside the path. And the spring wild flowers were in bloom, so yellow and purple flowers were every direction you looked.
And best of all was the fact that all of Beppu is on the mountainside, so as you look up the river you see the mountain top, and as you look down the river you see the ocean.
I followed the river up for a couple hours until it became dark, and then I reluctantly turned and went back down. (I wonder how long the path would have gone on for?) Every time I turned the bend I would see a view that I thought I absolutely had to get a picture of, only to find (like you always do) that what looked so magnificent in person looked so tiny and cramped on the viewscreen.
Take for example this video clip. I had a hard time even being able to get the mountain and the ocean into focus, but you'll have to take my word for it that in person it was perfectly in focus and very easy to see clearly.
The path along the river took many different forms. At sometimes it was asphalt, at times it was concrete, at times tile, and sometimes only a dirt trail. But it was always there and always clearly marked. At times it would end on one side, and I would have to cross the river on concrete steps.
The surrounding city also went through phases, sometimes keeping a respectful distance from the river, sometimes closing right in next to it. Once, when a drug store parking lot was visible from the river, I decided to break off and get something to eat. It had been several hours since my brunch at Joyfull and I was beginning to get peckish again.
Given my atrocious nutrition habits, I started for the drug store firmly telling myself I was only going to get healthy food. And then I thought, "Who am I kidding?" It was a drug store. Did I expect to find a salad and freshly squeezed orange juice?
And so, predictably, I loaded up on candy bars and quick energy drinks for my 5 o'clock meal. But I promised myself this was absolutely the last time I would do this.
Once it got dark, and I went back to my car, I realized I still had a couple of hours before the Beppu Park parking lot closed, so I decided I might as well walk on down to Beppu train station. Just to say I did. I got a cup of coffee at a restaurant by the station, and then headed back to my car.
And then I headed out of Beppu city. But the day wasn't over quite yet. On the way back, on the road through the mountains, there was still a scenic view parking lot where you can get a good view of the city lights of Beppu.
And it was a great view. Unfortunately this was yet another view I had difficulty capturing on film though. This picture turned out terrible and the video not much better. I guess you'll just have to trust me.
Bonus video from when Brett visited Japan
This is a video of our drive to Takasakiyama Monkey Park. The actually park itself is inside of Oita City's borders, but just barely outside of Beppu, so it is often considered part of Beppu's tourist attractions. The drive takes place mostly going through the city of Beppu
Link of the Day
From the Washington Post
When the Bush administration decided recently to terminate federal protection for wolves throughout the northern Rocky Mountains by the end of this month, one Interior Department official said it was because the animals have become so numerous that they no longer need Uncle Sam to watch over them. In fact, the decision had nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with politics. Transferring the responsibility for managing wolves to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming now is a farewell gift from the outgoing president to his staunch supporters in a part of the country where hating wolves is the code of the hills.
Together, the three states are determined to whack back the 1,500 wolves currently occupying the Rocky Mountain region by as much as 80 percent, to a barely sustainable minimum of 300, even though dozens of distinguished scientists believe that assuring the future of this still-recovering species would require a population of somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000.
Sigh. If I wasn't convinced before that George Bush was pure evil, I am now. Is there anything the man won't screw up?
2 comments:
- paul bowman said...
Curious about how your typical occasional conversation with a Japanese speaker goes say, w/ the waitress in the Joyfull. Mostly in Japanese, mostly in English, all one or the other, or a more random/even mix? In a city like Beppu with a high foreign population, do Japanese try speaking to you first in English or first in Japanese, on average?
- April 4, 2008 at 12:58 PM
- ジョエル said...
It's a common complaint of foreigners in Japan that Japanese people never speak Japanese to them. That said, when I think over the day in Beppu, with the exception of the old man at the hot spring all of these conversations occured in Japanese.
Beppu has a large foreign population, but they're mostly exchange students so they can speak Japanese pretty well. So the assumption is usually that you can speak Japanese.
- April 4, 2008 at 5:41 PM


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CHICAGO--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has refused to allow physicists at its national laboratories to travel to a major particle physics conference in India this week, in apparent retaliation for that country's series of nuclear tests last May. At least seven physicists from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, both outside Chicago, were denied requests for travel to the 13th Topical Conference on Hadron Collider Physics, which will begin tomorrow at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research in Mumbai (formerly Bombay).
The decision, which does not affect U.S. university researchers, has sown confusion among physicists and lab officials, who fear they have become pawns in a political chess match. The conference "has nothing to do with weapons," says Daniel Green, a Fermilab physicist who was scheduled to give a talk at the conference. "We never even did this with the Russians at the worst part of the Cold War," adds John Peoples, Fermilab's director. "This is a precedent."
Last summer, DOE decided not to allow Indian physicists from the Tata Institute to continue their collaboration on Fermilab's D0 project, which aims to detect new subatomic particles--even though the Indian government has already contributed half a million dollars' worth of hardware to D0's particle detectors. As a Kafkaesque touch, Peoples says that DOE also ordered him--in writing--to remove the Indian flag from the United Nations-like display in front of Fermilab's main building.
Tata, one of the country's most prestigious scientific institutes, was placed on a list of restricted sites because it conducts joint research with the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, "which is at the heart of India's nuclear weapons program," says an official at the State Department, which made the final decision. "For this reason, we concluded that participation by [DOE] lab scientists in a conference sponsored by the Tata Institute was not appropriate."
"This will alienate the Indian scientific community, which is largely pro-U.S.," says Rajendran Raja, an Indian-born U.S. citizen at Fermilab. "And it'll strengthen the hard-liners in India."


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Everyone is getting in on the action during All-Star Weekend.
The 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend is right around the corner, and there are a ton of companies getting in on the action by releasing NBA-themed apparel. PUMA is the latest company to release All-Star sneakers in the form of two PUMA Clyde shoes – one for the East and one for the West.
Compared to some other All-Star Weekend sneakers, these are quite conservative. Both are on a mostly white leather base, with the stripe in alternate colors for each conference. The red ones represent the western conference while the blue ones represent the east. The silhouette selection itself is fitting, as their moniker is taken from NBA great Walt "Clyde" Frazier.
The PUMA Clyde East vs. West pack releases tomorrow at Footlocker, Champs Sports and City Gear for $75 a pair.
They recently got Big Seanon board, which is a huge win. Have PUMA's recent signings and fashion moves improved the brand's cultural clout enough for these to fly off the shelves?


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JEFFERSON CITY – Legislation sponsored by Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Rogersville, to require the Division of Workers' Compensation to maintain a claims database was today approved by the Missouri Senate and sent to the House for consideration.
Senate Bill 34 would, specifically, require a workers' compensation claims database that would be accessible to potential employers through the Division of Workers' Compensation website. Claims records are only retrievable by an employer, who, during a pre-hire period, provides a potential employee's name and Social Security number. In addition, that potential employer would need to, upon retrieval, identify the date of any claim made by a prospective employee and whether the claim is open or closed. A person who fraudulently accesses the database would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
"Workers' compensation is one of our state's most important issues, as it affects almost every employer and employee in Missouri," Sen. Cunningham said. "Currently, if a potential employer wants a job applicant's workers' compensation claims from the division, it takes a couple weeks, as a written request is needed. This often takes a long time and isn't fair to the person applying for the job, as I'm sure he or she would like to get hired as soon as possible, nor is it convenient for the potential employer. We need make this system less cumbersome and allow more Missourians to get into work as soon as possible."
Senate Bill 34 was voted out of the Senate Small Business, Insurance and Industry Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 12. For more information about the legislation, visit the Missouri Senate website at www.senate.mo.gov


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Lehman Box Score (3-0 Win)
Montclair St. Box Score (3-0 Loss)
MONTCLAIR, N.J. (Oct. 1, 2016) – The USMMA women's volleyball team split a pair of non-conference matches at a tri-match hosted by Montclair State University on Saturday. The Mariners swept the Lehman Lightning in their first match before being defeated by the host Red Hawks in the second match. Coincidentally, the scores of both matches were 25-15, 25-19 and 25-18. With the split, Merchant Marine moves to 8-5 overall on the season.
Against the Lightning, sophomore Nicole Ibinson (Fredericksburg, Va.) led all players in the match with 11 kills, while junior Dominique Pope (Silver Spring, Md.) and sophomore Kate Lefler (Norman, Okla.) both had nine kills apiece. Pope just missed a double-double, as she picked up a match-best 12 digs and Lefler hit at a 72.7-percent clip, which was the best of any player in the match. Freshman setter Kyleigh Kappas (Parker, Colo.) dished out 35 assists over the three sets and senior Jordy Macbeth (Orlando, Fla.) put down three blocks.
In the loss to Montclair State, junior Kayla Gleason (Sound Beach, N.Y.) led the way for the Mariners with eight kills, Kappas recorded 19 assists and senior Gabby Marionakis (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) tied for the match-high with 14 digs.
The Mariners return to the court this Monday night, Oct. 3, when they host non-conference opponent Brooklyn College. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Liebertz Gymnasium. Live stats and a live video feed of the match will be available with links on the USMMA Women's Volleyball Schedule Page.
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