September 5th, 2010 Scott
Recently, one of my former students at Cashmere High School posted a picture of the Jazz Band on Facebook from 2001 – 2002 (or so). That picture generated a lot of discussion from the members of the band and I reminded them that we recorded a couple of tracks at the end of the 2003 school year. I indicated I would post them online so everyone could listen to them. Here they are:
Abracadabra
Shiny Stockings
Personally, I’ve never cared for how Abracadabra turned out. Shiny Stockings is quite nice though. Right click and ‘save as’ to keep the file for yourself.
Enjoy!
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April 25th, 2010 Scott
I’ve posted a first draft of images from the trip. Check ‘em out.
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January 25th, 2010 Scott
A few weeks ago, a training buddy of mine invited me to come do my long runs with a group he was forming. They were training for the Okinawa Marathon on March 7, 2010 and were up to 8 – 10 miles at that time. I had been doing 6 – 7 miles on Sundays and thought I’d go try a couple with them. The first one I hit was 10 miles and I had a blast. Primarily because I had no idea how painful the run was since I was busy talking to the other guys the whole time. The entire experience was very much like my Saturday bike rides in that you don’t get bored and focus on the pain when there are other folks around to talk to.
The next week I ran 12 miles and still enjoyed it as well. The next day I signed up to do the marathon with them and a few days after that I had a coach draw up a training plan for me based on my personal best times in the 5k and 10k over the last year and all the triathlon training volume I’ve had.
I now do a 6 mile run at a medium pace, speed work on Thursdays, and the long easy run on Sundays. I fit in the swimming and cycling when I have time and energy. The last few long runs have been 12, 16, 16, and 18 miles respectively. I’ve also started doing a 20 minute ice bath on my legs after each long run. The first dip in is painful, but it really helps the recovery process go more quickly.
Fortunately, I’ve not really had any major injury issues come up. I tightened my laces too tight a few weeks ago in my right shoe and now I have some major tendon irritation on the top of my foot. That was solved with some creative re lacing of the shoe to release the pressure on that zone. The shoe looks funny, but it’s working just fine.
Bottom line is that I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to complete the marathon, but I know that I prefer to ride my bike, and I know I’m better at riding my bike as well.
Maybe an IM tri is the works someday…depending on how this marathon feels when I finish.
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October 30th, 2009 Scott
Wow. Has it really been a month since my last entry? I’ve been neglecting this blog too much lately. Part of the problem is that I’ve been working many hours with marching band this year. My kids voted to do evening practices twice a week so I spent 3 hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights with marching band rehearsals and 2 more hours on Wednesday nights with the drumline. This year, two percussionists from the Marine Corps Third MEF Band volunteered to help us out and it made a big difference. My band isn’t ready to win any major competitions, but they learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Perhaps we can actually do more than one song next year. My drillwriting was simpler for them to learn, but it wasn’t very visually appealing. I’ll do better next year.
The homecoming game was on Oct 3 and since then I’ve not been as busy, but still neglected the blog. This week Gina and I moved into a house from our apartment. We no longer living within spitting distance of the ocean, but it’s still in the same neighborhood and we can still see the ocean from our dining room window. The cool part is that it is a real HOUSE with a garage. The space feels huge to us after leaving a 1300 square foot apartment and moving into a 2200 square foot house. I no longer hit my elbows on the shower walls.
Triathlon training has been going well. I’m down to 161 pounds and the weight lifting routine is starting to pay off with faster swims at the pool. I don’t get fatigued as quickly and am able to maintain a much better pace through 1000 – 1500 meters. I have my favorite (and first) triathlon coming in a couple of weeks: the Torii Triathlon. This one is a 1000 meter swim, 30k bike, and 5k run. Those distances suit my strengths so I hope to do well. Gina’s roommate from college will be visiting us during that time so she’s going to enter it as well so she can be known as an international triathlete (I suppose a trip to Canada would be easier, but we don’t live there so it wouldn’t be as much fun!).
When she and her husband get here, we are all taking some time to be tourists. We are spending a couple of days in Kyoto which I’ve since found out is THE place in Japan to go for fall colors. I am excited to get the camera gear back out and take some photos. I recently updated my camera (to a Canon 7D) and my printer (to an Epson 3880) so I’m anxious to see what the prints look like from this trip.
First quarter of school ends next week. Even though I say this every year, it still amazes me: first quarter is already over? That went by way too fast. I feel like I’m just starting to get into a groove. It’ll be summer before I know it.
It’s late and I’m tired. I’m off for now, but I promise to get some more interesting stories about Okinawa and Triathlons posted soon. I have to share my experiences with my Garmin 310xt as a traithlon (here’s a hint: it’s good).
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September 28th, 2009 Scott
Hey, I cut two minutes off my time from last year, but I had trained for a 5k run. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a 10k run again this year. I still did better, but maybe I’ll focus on the right distance next time.
Futenma 2009 Triathlon
10k run + 18k bike + 175m swim
September 27, 2009
— ROAD BIKE —
Place Name Age Gender Time
1 Joseph Galvin 37 M 1:04:58
2 Yoshiyuki Mikami 33 M 1:13:18
3 Kevin Inca 24 M 1:13:42
4 Koji Tokumine 39 M 1:13:46
5 Shingo Toume 31 M 1:14:22
6 Trevor Teeselink 37 M 1:14:27
7 Hiroki Zamami 42 M 1:14:36
8 Hideaki Nakayama 43 M 1:16:05
9 Paul Wilkinson 43 M 1:16:24
10 Trevor Lennard 43 M 1:16:30
11 Rie Tatsumi 40 F 1:17:33
12 Satoshi Nagaoka 51 M 1:17:38
13 Masaru Nakajima 32 M 1:17:38
14 Scott McGlynn 40 M 1:17:48
15 Kevin Avila 37 M 1:18:04
16 Kazumasa Teruya 50 M 1:18:23
17 Tomoki Nakatsuru 36 M 1:18:36
18 Jon Peralta 20 M 1:18:44
19 Darien Pedota 37 M 1:19:05
20 Rachel Anderson 29 F 1:19:06
21 Jon Wolfe 47 M 1:20:31
22 Forrest Poole 38 M 1:20:50
23 Kyoko Toyota 34 F 1:20:54
24 Nozomu Miyagi 34 M 1:20:58
25 Derek Gillette 39 M 1:21:02
26 Matt Mayer 26 M 1:21:09
27 Akira Mezashi 42 M 1:21:15
28 Goji Toyohira 38 M 1:21:55
29 Chris Bateman 33 M 1:22:18
30 Andrew Kingsbury 36 M 1:22:26
31 Tatsuji Wakita 33 M 1:23:13
32 Michael Kerschbaum 27 M 1:23:19
33 Yuki Funakoshi 38 M 1:23:47
34 Tadakatsu Yamada 33 M 1:23:51
35 Preston Gabaldon 20 M 1:24:09
36 Rico Quispe 40 M 1:24:19
37 John LaBanc 54 M 1:24:31
38 Koichi Nakamura 33 M 1:24:49
39 Morihide Ota 41 M 1:24:55
40 Yasunori Kobori 34 M 1:25:01
41 Naoki Yamada 27 M 1:25:38
42 Hideto Nakandakari 33 M 1:25:40
43 Takeshi Shingaki 37 M 1:26:11
44 Yukiko Delatte 46 F 1:26:14
45 Lie Seiko 38 M 1:26:16
46 April Noke 33 F 1:26:25
47 Hayato Nakazato 30 M 1:26:45
48 Mike Grubbs 42 M 1:26:53
49 Sophie Knight 34 F 1:26:59
50 Masafumi Ishigaki 31 M 1:27:04
51 Daniel McKernan 37 M 1:27:08
52 Jeffrey Norris 19 M 1:27:49
53 Robert Shafer 43 M 1:28:08
54 Seiji Matayoshi 44 M 1:28:13
55 Kevin Craig 36 M 1:29:20
56 Marc Austin 26 M 1:29:27
57 Kazumoto Nakama 42 M 1:29:36
58 Giff Bloom 26 M 1:29:54
59 Reuben Jones 28 M 1:29:58
60 Skyler Altenburg 14 M 1:30:03
61 Shinji Kinjo 46 M 1:30:19
62 Tsukasa Kinjo 33 M 1:31:28
63 Kiyotomo Toyama 35 M 1:31:32
64 Sean Hulsey 31 M 1:32:03
65 Kimberly Julka 23 F 1:32:28
66 Ben Pangborn 41 M 1:32:33
67 Anthony Owens 37 M 1:32:47
68 Yoshiyasu Toyama 44 M 1:33:03
69 Aya Enatsu 29 F 1:33:37
70 Toru Nakajima 46 M 1:34:06
71 Todd Marable 29 M 1:34:11
72 Tsukasa Miyazato 40 M 1:34:17
73 Ritsuko Maejima 44 F 1:34:59
74 Takahiro Namizato 37 M 1:35:03
75 Jed Soberal 19 M 1:35:28
76 Nobuyuki Kawagishi 29 M 1:35:41
77 Shinyu Iha 50 M 1:35:41
78 Greg Cummings 23 M 1:36:26
79 Greg Gaudet 26 M 1:36:46
80 Dennis Rice 35 M 1:37:28
81 Lorri Phipps 43 F 1:37:47
82 Holly Gillette 38 F 1:37:56
83 Masato Yonaha 38 M 1:38:05
84 Motomaru Iha 34 M 1:39:14
85 Chinatsu Uezuka 34 F 1:39:52
86 Mitchell Krauss 46 M 1:40:03
87 Satoshi Shimoji 43 M 1:41:26
88 Steve Everett 38 M 1:41:50
89 Kenji Ishikawa 28 M 1:42:02
90 Yasushi Kaneshiro 30 M 1:42:38
91 Fumito Takagi 33 M 1:42:44
92 Tsuyoshi Yamada 35 M 1:43:20
93 Mitsuru Ushiroyama 39 M 1:43:39
94 Michihito Yamauchi 33 M 1:43:54
95 Robert Pellosma 43 M 1:44:39
96 Susie Koza 33 F 1:44:54
97 Naoki Moriyama 42 M 1:46:20
98 Ana Aschenbrenner 36 F 1:46:37
99 Yuichi Tamayama 35 M 1:46:56
100 Sadao Nakamura 59 M 1:47:03
101 Tiffany Powell 40 F 1:48:32
102 Satoshi Miyagi 41 M 1:49:31
103 Donald Delatte 41 M 1:49:46
104 Jeff Brewer 31 M 1:50:54
105 Hitoshi Kume 54 M 1:51:27
106 Masahiro Shimabukuro 39 M 1:51:32
107 Yoshimasa Kikuyama 44 M 1:52:30
108 Kerri Quispe 39 F 1:52:38
109 Jonathan Delle 40 M 1:52:45
110 Henry Dockins 45 M 1:53:23
111 Osamu Wakinaguni 50 M 1:54:25
112 Joseph Bobb 27 M 1:56:07
113 Minoru Oshiro 42 M 2:02:06
114 Taku Sakugawa 32 M 2:07:54
115 Jeff Norman 41 M 2:11:04
116 Fukuei Teruya 51 M 2:11:32
117 Jamie Walsh 28 F 2:11:37
— MOUNTAIN BIKE —
1 Takashi Yoneyama 32 M 1:17:47
2 James Dollard 35 M 1:27:32
3 Benny Volkmann 29 M 1:28:36
4 David Silva 37 M 1:28:58
5 James Calbough 37 M 1:29:40
6 Darrel Nevells 32 M 1:29:49
7 Masahige Yamauchi 54 M 1:31:46
8 Yoshihiro Sata 36 M 1:34:37
9 Brendan Bogan 36 M 1:36:03
10 Brian Phipps 32 M 1:37:29
11 Keita Sunakawa 29 M 1:38:15
12 Jesse Burkleo 22 M 1:38:55
13 Andrew Barron 26 M 1:39:50
14 Yukiyasu Uezato 33 M 1:41:09
15 Nathan Rohn 27 M 1:41:17
16 Ryusuke Kyan 27 M 1:44:29
17 Dylan Pash 34 M 1:46:00
18 Megan Diaz-Freed 28 F 1:46:20
19 Mamoru Unten 44 M 1:57:33
20 Tsutomu Machida 39 M 2:00:10
21 Angela Viers-Costello 36 F 2:01:38
22 Katsunori Taira 40 M 2:03:00
23 Christopher Marsh 24 M 2:03:06
24 Tomohira Sugama 34 M 2:03:24
25 Hiroki Fujihao 26 M 2:03:53
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August 17th, 2009 Scott
I like this one…finally an age group win!
4th Annual Kinser Triathlon
Overall Finish List
August 16, 2009
5k run + 15k bike + 400m swim
Road Bike
1 Joseph Galvin 37 M 0:50:11.2
2 Shingo Toume 31 M 0:54:15.2
3 Ura Takeshi 26 M 0:54:15.9
4 Koji Tokumine 39 M 0:55:58.0
5 Scott McGlynn 40 M 0:56:05.6
6 Jason Self 34 M 0:56:26.1
7 Shuhei Odoriba 27 M 0:56:35.2
8 Trevor Teeselink 37 M 0:57:20.8
9 Hirokazu Shimoji 28 M 0:57:29.5
10 David Wright 26 M 0:57:51.0
11 Kevin Inca 24 M 0:58:00.0
12 Seth Lewis 30 M 0:58:06.5
13 Rico Quispe 40 M 0:58:11.4
14 Kazuki Nakamine 20 M 0:58:35.5
15 Rui Moriya 21 M 0:59:10.5
16 Paul Wilkinson 43 M 0:59:26.8
17 Kevin Avila 37 M 0:59:31.5
18 Hatsue Yokoya 31 F 0:59:34.5
19 Mat Luebbers 49 M 1:00:10.1
20 Michael McKenzie 31 M 1:00:36.4
21 William Schrader 39 M 1:00:58.7
22 John Labanc 54 M 1:01:16.5
23 Nozom Miyagi 35 M 1:01:17.2
24 Yuto Oshiro 29 M 1:01:34.9
25 Yuichiro Tamaki 39 M 1:01:35.6
26 Derek Gillette 39 M 1:01:40.9
27 Jon Wolfe 47 M 1:01:52.8
28 Rachel Anderson 29 F 1:02:04.8
29 Sakura Kawabata 23 F 1:02:05.3
30 Takashi Yoneyama 32 M 1:02:07.6
31 Goji Toyohira 38 M 1:02:10.2
32 Adam Leggio 33 M 1:02:14.7
33 Yoshinao Koshida 35 M 1:02:21.7
34 Tadashi Kiyokawa 28 M 1:02:28.4
35 Eric Williams 28 M 1:02:37.3
36 Yuuki Funakoshi 38 M 1:02:37.9
37 Kyoko Toyota 34 F 1:02:43.3
38 Tomori Tadashi 36 M 1:02:43.7
39 Toshiaki Fukishima 46 M 1:02:50.2
40 Ermond Dila 28 M 1:03:07.6
41 Skyler Altenburg 14 M 1:03:27.8
42 Sasaki Nobuhiko 34 M 1:03:43.9
43 Hiroki Iha 21 M 1:03:51.7
44 Hiroshi Sato 51 M 1:03:54.5
45 Nakazato Hayato 29 M 1:04:26.0
46 Shunsuke Okamura 24 M 1:04:29.5
47 Forrest Poole 38 M 1:04:35.6
48 Naoki Yamada 26 M 1:04:39.4
49 April Noke 33 F 1:05:04.4
50 Ryan Lathrop 42 M 1:05:41.8
51 Akira Mezashi 42 M 1:05:42.2
52 Aya Enatsu 29 F 1:05:43.1
53 Michael Kerschbaum 27 M 1:05:44.7
54 Mike Conover 39 M 1:05:48.8
55 Osamu Ogimi 30 M 1:05:51.1
56 Brian Vanhoose 31 M 1:05:53.6
57 Tadashi Shingaki 36 M 1:06:08.5
58 Tatsuji Wakita 33 M 1:06:12.2
59 Kiyotaka Hayashi 38 M 1:06:20.8
60 Hidato Nakandakari 33 M 1:06:29.7
61 George Crowley 32 M 1:06:37.9
62 Sophie Knight 34 F 1:06:41.1
63 Takahiro Namizato 37 M 1:07:10.4
64 Jessica Powell 14 F 1:07:27.8
65 Junichi Kinjo 38 M 1:07:31.7
66 Yukiko Delatte 45 F 1:07:59.6
67 Yoshiyasu Toyama 44 M 1:08:25.0
68 Nagayuki Saino 37 M 1:08:41.8
69 Greg Cummings 23 M 1:08:45.5
70 Anthony Owens 37 M 1:08:52.2
71 Manabu Saito 35 M 1:09:03.7
72 Moritaka Nakata 31 M 1:09:14.0
73 Rick Yamashita 53 M 1:09:17.9
74 James Baker 25 M 1:09:31.2
75 Takumi Sato 13 M 1:09:34.7
76 Kazutomo Nakama 42 M 1:09:46.7
77 Jennifer Tucker 25 F 1:09:54.5
78 Jeffrey Norris 19 M 1:10:32.3
79 Chinatsu Uezuka 34 F 1:10:50.3
80 Kevin Craig 36 M 1:10:51.5
81 Mike Wimmer 28 M 1:11:03.2
82 Kiyotomo Toyama 35 M 1:11:04.4
83 Kimberly Julka 23 F 1:11:09.0
84 Brandon Bert 26 M 1:11:10.1
85 Nakao Yoshinori 25 M 1:11:20.4
86 Jed Soberal 19 M 1:11:43.1
87 Dai Yamashiro 20 M 1:11:46.0
88 Haruki Kakazu 19 M 1:12:02.8
89 Yasunori Tokuda 37 M 1:12:11.7
90 Nobuyuki Kawagishi 29 M 1:12:33.1
91 Sean McPherson 40 M 1:12:43.7
92 Jusen Garcia 27 M 1:12:55.8
93 Brian Kline 23 M 1:13:20.7
94 Shinji Kinjo 46 M 1:13:29.1
95 Brandon Lauret 26 M 1:13:36.9
96 George Crosson 25 M 1:13:42.0
97 Yasunori Kobori 34 M 1:13:52.0
98 Mike Short 37 M 1:14:00.9
99 Gabriel Powell 12 M 1:14:08.8
100 Yutaka Higa 44 M 1:14:14.7
101 Douglas Peterson 42 M 1:14:19.7
102 Kentaro Yokota 18 M 1:14:26.7
103 Sadao Nakamura 59 M 1:14:56.0
104 Michihito Yamauchi 33 M 1:15:06.0
105 Tetsuo Oyama 37 M 1:15:09.5
106 Iha Motomaru 34 M 1:15:24.8
107 Yuko Yamada 37 F 1:15:34.7
108 Tetsu Oshiro 43 M 1:15:57.0
109 Shannon Kimminau 31 F 1:15:58.1
110 John Fugate 39 M 1:16:01.5
111 Makoto Yamanishi 32 M 1:16:10.1
112 Okamura Emi 36 F 1:16:14.8
113 Lorri Phipps 43 F 1:17:06.9
114 Jenny Sokol 37 F 1:17:07.4
115 Ikuko Oishi 37 F 1:17:16.3
116 Carrie McKenzie 28 F 1:17:22.8
117 Meagan Quispe 10 F 1:17:38.4
118 Yukino Nagai 15 F 1:17:56.8
119 Mitchell Krauss 46 M 1:18:08.8
120 Kory Aschenbrenner 38 M 1:18:16.3
121 Tsukasa Kinjo 31 M 1:18:19.9
122 Kimberly McDonough 36 F 1:18:43.3
123 Eizo Hanashiro 48 M 1:19:13.9
124 Tomonari Shibata 18 M 1:19:34.6
125 Quetzolcont Jimenez 52 M 1:19:38.6
126 Mark Bonicillo 28 M 1:19:43.7
127 Robert Pellosma 42 M 1:19:47.6
128 Hitoshi Kume 54 M 1:19:59.4
129 Ana Aschenbrenner 36 F 1:20:09.2
130 Yoshimasa Kikuyama 44 M 1:20:14.4
131 Shimabukuro Hiroshi 35 M 1:20:28.6
132 Christine Sheehey 19 F 1:20:44.7
133 Masahiro Shimabukuro 39 M 1:21:04.5
134 Kalo Tovar 23 M 1:21:26.0
135 Christina Butler 26 F 1:21:30.3
136 Michael Butler 25 M 1:21:47.4
137 Tetsuya Kurane 54 M 1:21:57.6
138 Satoshi Shimoji 41 M 1:22:22.3
139 Tomoe Gima 24 F 1:22:40.5
140 Andrew Otero 39 M 1:22:42.7
141 Oshiro Minoru 42 M 1:22:57.8
142 Kenko Yagi 41 M 1:23:06.4
143 Tammy Dockins 47 F 1:23:29.9
144 Tsuyoshi Yomada 34 M 1:23:37.7
145 Henry Dockins 45 M 1:25:22.8
146 Kenji Ishikawa 28 M 1:26:20.9
147 Kerri Quispe 39 F 1:26:25.6
148 Kazuhisa Date 34 M 1:27:01.3
149 Donald Delatte 41 M 1:27:06.0
150 Chosho Teruya 58 M 1:27:33.6
151 Jonathan Delle 40 M 1:28:26.9
152 Yoshisuke Kumasawa 32 M 1:28:35.2
153 Yuichi Tamayama 34 M 1:28:37.6
154 Masayoshi Kikugawa 34 M 1:28:44.1
155 Makoto Higa 37 M 1:29:31.1
156 Misako Shimoji 47 F 1:31:13.5
157 Kazuyuki Nakaema 58 M 1:31:13.8
158 Kazumune Namizato 43 M 1:31:46.8
159 Akihito Kuninaka 29 M 1:33:24.3
160 Justin Hauffe 25 M 1:37:51.5
161 Sofya Galich 24 F 1:40:37.8
162 Tomohira Sugama 34 M 1:43:42.2
163 Christopher Marsh 24 M 1:45:12.7
164 Ryoji Nakazato 29 M 1:59:31.2
Mountain Bike
1 Yoshi Awa 35 M 0:57:56.1
2 Mouze Terazawa 39 M 1:00:45.1
3 Ashley Yaggi 23 F 1:02:56.6
4 Masaru Nakajima 32 M 1:04:47.8
5 Kaname Arakaki 29 M 1:06:26.3
6 Jesse Burkleo 22 M 1:09:36.0
7 Hideki Saito 34 M 1:10:13.2
8 James Calbough 37 M 1:11:37.9
9 Masahige Yamauchi 54 M 1:11:47.0
10 Dillon Garretson 22 M 1:11:51.7
11 George Baker 51 M 1:12:08.1
12 Satoru Tamaki 55 M 1:13:01.9
13 Stuart Mountcastle 27 M 1:13:10.4
14 Andrew Barrow 25 M 1:13:44.7
15 Masafumi Mukayama 49 M 1:14:32.4
16 Michael Skarzynske 20 M 1:15:03.4
17 Mathew Burns 28 M 1:15:20.8
18 Brian Phipps 32 M 1:15:29.0
19 Noriaki Tsubota 50 M 1:15:52.6
20 Yoshihiro Sata 37 M 1:16:03.8
21 Edsel Whitesinger 33 M 1:17:44.9
22 Derek Shea 19 M 1:19:10.5
23 Keita Sunakawa 28 M 1:19:27.4
24 Ian Brady 33 M 1:20:12.2
25 Alex Otero 11 M 1:20:14.0
26 Tomoya Nohara 31 M 1:21:13.0
27 Mathew Pitcher 26 M 1:23:23.8
28 Peter Hutson 39 M 1:23:25.9
29 Jose Mendez 29 M 1:23:46.4
30 Kazunori Komine 54 M 1:23:58.5
31 Amanda Brady 32 F 1:24:29.1
32 Masato Yonaha 38 M 1:28:04.8
33 Miki Arakaki 17 F 1:29:14.8
34 Yasushi Kaneshiro 30 M 1:30:22.3
35 Mamoru Unten 44 M 1:31:50.5
36 Rachael Hensen 15 F 1:32:36.3
37 Tsutomu MacHida 38 M 1:32:47.9
38 Yoshitaka Nakama 50 M 1:33:15.1
39 Katsunori Taira 39 M 1:34:18.8
40 Hiroshi Ueno 40 M 1:34:27.8
41 Isao Higa 40 M 1:38:31.3
42 Rachel Giacobozzi 23 F 2:12:39.5
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June 30th, 2009 Scott
I’m sitting in the San Francisco Airport waiting for my flight to Seattle to start the next leg of our brief two week visit to the USA this summer. We flew into San Francisco Thursday morning around 11:00 AM and after visiting Gina’s grandma we spent the rest of the day recovering from 22 hours of travel from Okinawa. Our flight left Okinawa at 11:00 AM Thursday and we arrived in S.F. at 11:00 AM on Thursday. Too bad it didn’t really happen that fast.
We jammed a full day of sightseeing in on Friday for San Francisco and had a genuinely good time. We don’t normally go for the typical tourist fare much, but it was done so well here that we really enjoyed it. Here’s the schedule we hit for the day:
8:00 AM
We departed our hotel in the theater district and grabbed a cable car over to fisherman’s wharf. If you’ve never ridden a cable car, it’s an amazing adventure to watch 1880′s technology at work. The job of operating such a car is manual and primitive. Using three levers and a pedal, he had to manipulate two different types of brakes as well as grip or release the cable to operate the car through the city. Very cool adventure. I’ll post video later.
9:00 AM
Breakfast at O’Sheas where they are famous for their Irish Coffee (for good reason…it rocked) and Crab Cake Benedict. Very good breakfast indeed. We shared a table with folks from Pennsylvania and had a great visit.
10:00 AM
Ghiradelli Square; lot’s of little shops and lots of food with chocolate.
11:00 AM
Fisherman’s Wharf culminating with Pier 39. There all types of shops in this area enough that any interest could be covered. I even found a landscape photographer’s gallery there that feature huge prints from his 8 x 10 view camera. Excellent stuff.
12:15 PM
Tour of the bay on the Blue & Gold boat; we had 60 minutes and went under the Golden Gate Bridge as well as around Alcatraz while getting narration from a cheesy Captain Nemo voice. Very nice views and good stories from the narration.
1:15 PM
Lunch at Boudin’s Bakery which was clam chowder in a sour dough bowl. It seemed like at least 100 restaruants featured this menu item but our guide book recommended Boudins. Good stuff.
1:45 PM
Walked to Lombard Street, then hiked UP Lombard Street and then back down Hyde street to catch the F Train street car. Lot’s of HILLS!
3:00 PM
Street Car ride around the Embarcadero to the theater district and back to our hotel.
5:30 PM
Dinner at a great Yucatan restaurant near our hotel.
8:00 PM
Spamalot! at the Golden Gate Theater. It was pure silliness, but it was done so professionally you didn’t even consider how goofy the material was.
11:00 PM
Taxi back to the hotel and bed!
Overall, it was an amazing day. Staying right downtown and utilizing all the different forms of mass transit was great. We also had a Bart station close by so getting in and out from the airport was a snap. We didn’t even have any transfers on Bart.
I’ll post links and video later when I have time. I’ve got University of Phoenix homework to work on right now.
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June 13th, 2009 Scott
I leave for Nagoya in two hours to do my first ITU triathlon in Gamagori tomorrow. It should be interesting testing out my Japanese skills. I’m pretty sure English will be in limited supply. I’ll post updates as I work through the weekend.
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March 8th, 2009 Scott
Japanese lessons, musical rehearsals, curriculum development, triathlon training, assignment grading, etc, etc….it’s turning out to a busy month. The best part is that Gina has a new job! She found an ad in the paper for the local Internet Service Provider for all on base residences on the island. They needed a controller, and being a controller in the telecom business is exactly what she is very good at doing. She started last Thursday and is just getting settled in, but is looking forward to getting their accounting systems all set up.
The downside of all this is that she’s a lot less likely to experiment with new recipes on a nightly basis. I was getting quite comfortable with her regular foray into a new dinner recipe from the Cooking Light magazine. All those recipes are very healthy and mostly very good tasting as well. Makes for calorie counting and training much easier to do. I suppose I can learn where things are in the kitchen again…it’s just been a while.
We haven’t done anything terribly cultural (other than japanese lessons) for a while, but we have some ideas for things to blog about. I just need to get at it. We’ve both gotten quite comfortable with a variety of unique aspects of life here we need to share with you all. I’ll get to it sometime soon.
My triathlon training is going very, very well. I did a 18:26 3 mile run last week. That’s a huge improvement for me and I’m looking forward to the first anniversary of my first triathlon on March 28th at Torii Station. I think I’ll do much better this time around.
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February 21st, 2009 Scott
Today is Gina’s birthday and we booked a whale watching tour for the day. The humpback whales from Alaska come here to mate and spawn and can be seen from January – March. Booking a tour is risky though because the weather can cause cancellations. Almost worse though, is bad swell and good weather. We had a beautiful sunny, low wind day. However, the swell was at 10 -15 feet high (the other whale watching boats would completely disappear from sight in the swell), which made for about 15 or so of our 60 passenger on our boat abruptly review their breakfasts as they got seasick from the waves. I’m glad I took my Dramamine and picked a safe stable spot low in the back of the boat to sit. Many people were up on the flying bridge which I know is a bad spot to be if you are susceptible to seasickness.
We motored out of Naha due West toward the Karema Islands and found the pod shortly there after. We watched them surface once every 10 minutes or so with about 6 other boats of people at very close range. Once in a great while, a whale would suface enough to get the classic look of the tail fin coming completely clear of the water. These animals are massive! To be this close to them was a fairly cool experience.
We stayed about an hour longer then necessary and came back in after about 3 hours on the boat. It costs us about $50 each which included a bus ride to the marina from the base where we booked the tour. A good day was had, but I doubt I’ll do it again soon.
"Pirate III" or "Pilot III" depending on the translation
Posted in Okinawa, Uncategorized | No Comments »