Dirty Dash

Down and Dirty!  Yep.  That's my man.  Chris ran in the Midway Dirty Dash on Saturday; a 10K mud run.  He had a variety of muddy obstacle to overcome including walls, tubes, bails of hay, and...

a wicked-awesome slip'n'slide!

I know it looks like Chris is just running around out in the wilderness by himself, but I'm pretty sure he's still going the right way.

This is where it gets really good.  Contestants had to crawl through the last mud puddle.  Some of the crazier contestants (and there were a lot of them) were cannon balling into this last pool.

The whole event was a ton of fun with the most ridiculous outfits you can imagine.  Nothing really beat the four guys in coordinating fluorescent tiger-striped wrestling singlets, though.

They are doing a 5K version in May and I am totally down with that. Scott and Elisha, you should join us.

Lehi Mascot Bowl

This isn't my photo, I just thought you needed the visual.  We went to the Mascot bowl earlier this week.  Hilarious.  Lehi High School hosts a charity game where the 9th grade football team takes on Mascots from all over.  All the Utah teams were represented (Jazz, Bees, Real, Owlz, Grizzlies) as well as all the Universities (Cougars, Utes, Aggies, Wolverines) and then there were even some from out of state like the Denver Broncos guy. (I can't imagine trying to catch a football with that giant horse head.)
A lot of the time it was like watching a father play football with his kids, teasing them, dancing around them and then slowing down a little so they can tackle him.  Not for Swoop though (the Ute's hawk).  He was not about to let any 9th grader make it through his territory.  He would tackle anyone that came close to him.
The best part was, it was a whole team of mascots.  They really know how to get the crowd going with some ridiculous tackles or false starts.  I'm pretty sure one of those 9th graders will be scarred for life with memories of a giant bumble bee chasing him down and hitting him repeatedly with a first down marker.

Japan (Part 2)

Yokohama City

Yokohama city is gorgeous and this night was by far my favorite.  After work, I told Mitch I was going down to the pier by myself.  He didn't seem to understand that, but I was adamant that I would be fine and would actually enjoy going by myself.  It was wonderful to just take the train down to the ocean front, put my ear buds in and take photos of the incredible view.  It really was breath taking.  The pier itself is beautiful with planks of wood like the deck of a ship mixed with sections of lawn that move in waves along the length of it.  I could have stayed there all night and I just kept wishing you all could see this.

I got stopped by a police officer that night.  He didn’t speak a word of English except I think he asked me for my passport at one point, which I didn’t have.  After a few minutes of his struggling to recall any English words and my sympathetic, confused shrugs, he simply walked away still muttering.  I’m not sure what I dodged by being an ignorant American, but next time it probably would be wise to keep my passport with me at all time.  Duh. 

Above is the largest electronics store I have ever been to.  Mitch was pretty excited to take us here.  Personally, it was a little sensory over-load for me, but I did locate the Nikon section and saw the signs  announcing my new Nikon D7000.  I'm so excited!

I just liked they way their vending machines look.

They mostly drink tea with every meal over here, but they know to bring waters to the table when Americans sit down, the problem is their water glasses are tiny!  No really, Mom, they are small.  The poor waitress has to come over and refill our water glasses 15 times per meal.  I think this whole situation could be alleiviated by giving us water glasses that hold more than two gulps... or I guess I could just drink the tea, in which case, two gulps is more than I would ever want and they wouldn’t have to refill my glass once.

This is the Graphtec Japan building where we had all our meetings.

Mitch taught us how to wash before entering the shrine and the sequence of clapping and bowing performed if you donate any change.  Brian and Mitch also purchased fortunes and were both disappointed.  When your fortune is not desirable, you tie the paper to the strings found all around the shrine.  This is the gate of the gods.  People are not supposed to pass under the center, that is where the gods enter.

 These are barrels of wine.

Next we took a taxi to a Buddhist temple with an enormous Buddha.  (We later saw an enormous Mother of Buddha, but I didn’t get a picture because we passed her on the train).  I’m serious, though.  This was one big Buddha AND we got to go inside him.  He was built 750 years ago.  Once again, I would have loved to be there with no one else around on an early fall morning with all the red Japanese maple trees around.  Oh well, it was still cool just to be there.  I like the Buddhist temples better than the Shinto shrines.  They are more simple and natural looking.

From there we walked through the blistering, humid, sweaty heat to the next shrine nestled quite privately in the mountains (I use the term loosely).  Infact, the entrance to this shrine is a tunnel through the mountainside... hillside?  This is the shrine that people go to to wash their money and become rich.  So here we go, I have a nice clean 20 dollar bill that’s going to change my life!

Mitch wanted to eat lunch next, so he took us to another noodle place.  I guess it’s my fault because I said I didn’t want something hot,  but my first bite of the cold noodles with seaweed on top, just about came right back up.  I could see Brian having the same struggle with his.  Infact, he took two bites and then pretended the heat from the day was making him feel sick.  Right!  I kept plugging away at mine as best I could and Mitch, of course had his down in no time.  When I first got my plate and asked Mitch what those dark shreds were on top, he said seaweed.  “Always with the seaweed!”  I exclaimed.  He just laughs at me now.   That really was the worst meal we’ve had so far.  

When we got ice cream later, there were only three options.  Vanilla, chestnut, and green tea.  Can you blame me for choosing vanilla?  When I get home, I’m going straight over to Bajio to pick up a pork salad!  I can’t wait.  

We left Kamakata and went back to Yokohama where Mitch wanted to show us the China town there.  I’m a little embarassed to say I wasn’t really sure when we actually arrived.  It kind of looked the same to me, but I just kept taking pictures anyway. 

 The day we left, Mitch took us for one last meal in Japan.  I was hesitant because (A) the last Japanese meal I had barely stayed down and I was just fed up with the whole country for nothing that was really their fault and (B) I had just eaten breakfast anyway.  Still, when I tell him I’m not hungry because I just ate he says “Yeah” and then asks me what I want anyway.  I told him I just wanted rice.  We went to a small restaurant and ordered three different fried rice dishes with egg drop soup and some pan fried dumplings.  It was awesome.  Where was this place all week?  I even tried octopus and squid mixed into one of the dishes.  (Rubbery, but otherwise largely tasteless... it’s just a little disconcerting to see tentacles coming out of the pile of rice.) 

When I got to my terminal, they paged me and had me switch to an earlier flight since mine was overbooked.  Fine by me!  They routed me through Portland instead and gave me a new seat assignment.  I was terrified I was going to get one of those seats right in front of the emergency exits that don’t recline.  I noted my seat assignment enough to know it wasn’t going to be one of those, but breezed past the first class cabin before I realized I’d passed my seat.  I even checked with a flight attendant before believing they had put me in first class.  Then I was so giddy, I could hardly contain myself.  First class exceeded my wildest expectations.  They give you slippers and a big comfy blanket.  The meals were incredible and the food just kept coming.  Everything in your chair adjusts to fit you just right and it fully reclines.  I slept soundly for a good four or five hours.  The flight attendants are so nice to you too.  I didn’t even have my seat in the full upright position when we landed and they didn’t even care!  That was the best flight of my life.  Thank you, whoever over-booked Delta flight 634!

(There are a couple more photos on my photography blog.)

Japan (Part 1)

Some observation and thoughts from Japan:

When I got on the plane at 1:45 PM, I sat down and pulled out my book.  The eight Asians that were in my view sat down and went to sleep immediately.  I couldn’t help feeling that they knew something I didn’t.

I’m not sure if this is a cultural thing, but it seemed that the  Asian people would climb over each other to get out into the aisle of the plane.  Most people I have seen will usually stand up and let the person pass and then sit back down.   The lady next to me chose to climb over her two friends to get out on the other side rather than disrupt me to get past.  I wasn’t even sleeping.  I would have happily stood up to let her pass.

I don’t like Japanese food.  There, I said it.  Perhaps I will find something I like this week, but I’m skeptical.  I AM willing to try new things.  That’s why on Mitch’s recommendation, I sprinkled seaweed and dried fish on my omlettey thingy.  (Mitch referred to it as a Japanese pizza).  It was a mistake as I expected, but I downed it anyway.

I DO like the bidets.  They have multiple settings here.

The more I take in the marketing style here, the more I understand where Mr. Arakawa is coming from when he gives me bizarre suggestions for packaging.  Everything is so messy and in your face here.  Any everything has a mascot of some kind.

Their trains are exceptionally clean and very nice... and they make sort of a Mario victory song when they stop at a station.

The beds and pillows are like gently resting your head on a rock... which is maybe why I’m up eating nibs at 4 in the morning.  No, I’m pretty sure it’s because my body thinks it’s actually the middle of the afternoon.

I LOVE heated toilets.  The Japanese are so advanced when it comes to relieving yourself.  When will we ever catch up?

It’s pitch black out by 6PM.  I don’t like it.

On Wednesday night, we went out to dinner with all the engineers.  Mitch tells us Japanese coworkers will usually go out drinking together at least once a week.  We went to a restaurant for Shabu Shabu, basically a fondue situation.  We took off our shoes before we entered this area of the restaurant and sat on the floor.  We selected two broths: a chili broth and a seaweed broth and then passed around extremely thinly sliced meats that you wash back and forth in the broth (the shabu shabu motion) and it cooks in less than a minute.  This was probably my favorite meal.  There are also a lot of other things that they dump into the broth to cook.  Mitch didn’t explain most of what we ate, he just said try this, and we did.

Japanese people don’t really wear sunglasses. (Mitch confirmed this)  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.  They are big on the sun umbrellas though.

It doesn’t appear popular in Japan to air condition a room until it is occupied.  (I can understand the logic in that)  Every time we walk into a room (even a section of a restaurant) it is sweltering.  I’m sweating from the moment we enter, but shivering by the time we leave (which I guess may only indicate a five degree temperature drop).  For the most part, though, it’s just hot everywhere.

Two older gentleman stopped to chat with me and ask what I was taking pictures of (because a couple of taxis is hardly noteworthy).  Their English was pretty good, so we chatted for a while about where I should go sightseeing on my one day off.  They told me about a few places and then said they would check their schedules, but they were pretty sure they would be able to take me around on Saturday.  Obviously, I would never do that, but I was impressed because I really think they were that nice.  Everyone we’ve met in Japan is so kind and gracious to their guests.

I’m getting used to the bowing... and the presenting and receiving my credit card with two hands.

The Yokohama area was the birthplace of Ramen, and given that Ramen noodles are like my favorite comfort food, I had to try the real thing, so Mitch took us to the most popular ramen restaurant.  Like all restaurants, they gave me way too much food.  This was easily too much ramen for me to handle, but it was so good... I could do away with the seaweed, though.  The noodles are cooked just the way you like them and then everyone just hovers over their bowl slurping up noodles.  

Jet lag got the best of me, but I was actually pretty pleased with the effects.  I got up at 4 or 5 every day and read scriptures, wrote in my journal, pondered, edited photos, wandered around in the busy Yokohama city taking pictures and getting really funny looks from the millions of people headed to work... all before we hopped on the train at 8:30.  Of course, around 5 PM, I would say, “Man, I’m getting really sleepy.”  To which Brian would say, “That’s because your body thinks is 2 AM.”  That is such a huge time difference!  I wonder what going back is going to do to me.

Our backyard

Bryan and Dave have spent many summer days exploring the rugged trails in the mountains behind our houses.  This weekend, they loaded everything into their four wheel drive vehicles and four wheeler and brought all their friends up to their favorite camping spot.  It was gorgeous but freezing.  We hadn't expected the temperature to drop to 40 in the valley.  We huddled around the campfire rotating when our backs got too cold. When we finally went to bed, we made hotties (boiled water and put it in our Nalgenes) to sleep with and hunkered down for the night.  I was mostly warm enough, but uncomfortable and just not sleeping at all.  At 4:30, I heard someone get up and start building a fire.  At 5:00 (when the fire was roaring and I decided I would probably be more comfortable beside it) I got up and joined him.  Bryan and I had a good little whispered heart to heart as we watched for any signs that the sky was lightening.  Finally, dawn came and we sipped our hot chocolate as we watched the sun come over the mountains.  Amazing.

At sunrise, Amy and I wandered into a grove of aspens to take some photos.  I didn't really get any I liked except maybe Amy's little seduction pose. We had fun anyway.

We tried to do some trundling, but most of the big rocks we found were too flat to roll, so we played caveman skeet shooting.  Someone would toss a rock in the air and everyone would try to hit it with smaller rocks.

While we were there just hanging out and talking, I had my hands in my jeans pockets fiddling with some lint or grass or something and rolling it around in my fingers.  When I pulled it out to throw it away, I discovered it was a spider!  I dropped it and did the heebie jeebie dance and then checked out my pocket to find spider guts smeared all over the inside.  Gross!  Now I can saw I squished a spider in my bare fingers.  That will make me sound tough... until I break into the heebie jeebie dance all over again just thinking about it.

Seattle

I love this little storm drain planter.  Seattle is such an artistic city.


































This tornado of musical instruments is inside the Experience Music Project.  Several of the guitars in this tower are rigged to play themselves and you can put on the head phones and listen to the music of the whole collection.  Kind of awesome.

Vancouver

Chris and I spent the long weekend up in Vancouver with my parents.  It was so fun.  I love that city.  In fact, we may have been a little too excited to show Chris how awesome it is.  We just have a lot of Canadian pride.  He did comment several times on how much vegitation there is how many Indian people there are. Both very true. 

On Saturday, we decided to go check out the Capilano Suspension bridge.  You heard me right, Capilano, not our regular show-off-Vancouver sight seeing tour of Lynn Canyon.  We decided it was time to go see what Capilano was really all about.  It's pretty expensive and touristy and in the long run, not really better than Lynn Canyon... at all.  But we did have a lot of fun taking pictures in all the "photo op" spots (ie, giant grizzly bear in a mounty costume, totem poles with spots missing for your face...)  Honestly, who can pass that up? Capliano also has a section of suspension bridges high up in the trees called the "Tree Top adventure".  It was pretty cool, but the kind of thing that would have been more fun with some nieces and nephews running around.

From there we went to Stanley Park and then Canada Place to stare enviously at the two cruise ships about to depart for Alaska.  (sigh) Some day...  We strolled down gas town and found a car show going on.  Dad was in heaven, of course and we had to keep a close eye on him, since he immediately forgot he had even come here with anyone else.  He was just too engrossed.

We stopped near Kits beach next for some intense games of bocci.  Chris and I finally took Mom and Dad in the sixth game.

On Sunday we went to the branch with Mom and Dad.  Their branch is so cool.  There is an amazing spirit.  SO MANY new converts.  We just don't get that experience very often.  Chris and I even stayed for the baptism of a new member.  It's been ages since I have been to a baptism.  Very cool.

On Sunday we took a sabbath stroll through Watershed.  Here we are marveling at God's creations.