Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a stuck like that in Japan before. After landing at CTS last night, the plane stopped on a taxiway to wait, as the gate we were supposed to come in at still had the previous flight at the jetway. There was a lingering thunderstorm over the airport, so the tower wasn’t letting anyone take off, even though our flight and several after it had landed without incident. After nearly half-an-hour, and with other planes stacking up behind us (that’s a guess, since I really couldn’t see what was going on, other than what I could see out the left side windows), they had us taxi over to the ramp for us to wait for a gate to clear around the same time the rain subsided. The pilot shut down the main engines so we wouldn’t suck in anything. Another half-hour passed, then without warning, the tractor that had ninja-ed in and attached itself to the nosegear towed us into our newly assigned gate. Of course all this happened without me seeing any planes backing out of their gates or moving away from the terminal. We had actually landed early, but deplaned over an hour late. Continue reading ‘Stuck’
Archive for the 'rant' Category
Page 9 of 54
I heard the rumor that the Mayor of Obama-shi, Fukui-ken was going to have a statue of Uncle Barry made, but I was hoping that it would be a professionally-made full-sized bronze. This is what we got instead. Sort-of looks more like Tanaka Kunie with a suntan than the C-in-C. It’s painted concrete, and I hope it’s something the art club of a local school did and not something the city paid for.
The only “I (heart) Obama” goods I could find were some phone straps, neck lanyards, manju, and senbei. I really wanted a shirt or stickers, but since we’re into the second term and Barry can’t run again, the whole connection between the city and the man will fade, and the production of goods will cease. That probably goes for a bronze statue too: This probably isn’t a temporary solution until the bronze arrives with only a few years left of the administration. I think I missed the boat on stickers or a shirt. The senbei were funny, since it had the image of the face on the front, and the back of the head on the reverse. Those definitely wouldn’t have made the trip from Obama to Osaka, no less the bustling around Osaka and the various flights to Sapporo and Honolulu.
More pictures after the break…
Though I was in Matsue, I didn’t get over to Yaegaki-jinja. I don’t think I’ll ever make it back to this part of Japan again, but I won’t regret missing the opportunity to walk through the shrine precincts muttering “Kushinada“. I did see Matsue castle from the bus, but I didn’t get to go inside or take pictures. I guess I’m a little bummed about that.
I went all the way to Uji, but the weather hadn’t been cold enough for the majority of the momiji to turn to red, and Byodo-in was covered in scaffolding and plastic sheeting for a 3-year renovation project. I guess Byodo-in is more interesting to Hawaii folk than the average American, because of the 3/4 scale concrete replica at Temple Valley. They supposedly have a really nice garden, but I’ve been to some other famous gardens and was underwhelmed, so I passed on the 500-yen entry fee. The throngs of shouting schoolkids queued up made my decision to pass easier.
You can spot me easily here in Fukuoka. I’m the one guy in a MulitCam jacket and green pants in a sea of black and grey-suited businessmen. …oh, and I have a beard. It’s probably more glaring since I’m in an area with a lot of business hotels. I should blend in better when I get into the sticks this evening.
My most recent Mann oil filter was labelled “Made in Bosnia-Herzegovina” I guess some mystery Eastern European republic is better than the PRC? My Bosch wiper refills were from Belgium.
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There is a traditional myth that the slimy juice from awapuhi ginger flowers can be used as a shampoo, cleanser, and conditioner. Since the flowers were in bloom on the last ride, I harvested a selection of various levels of maturity for an empirical test. Both small, young flowers and large, older flowers produced a slime of equivalent quality. Regardless of age or size, all the gel produced performed the same as a shampoo – poorly. It didn’t remove any of the oily filth of a several hour mountain bike ride, but it did leave a smooth feeling similar to a commercial conditioner. The lingering dirt smell the fluid left unfortunately diminished the possible conditioning benefit. Fail. I guess it might be possible to use it as a conditioner after first shampooing, but it doesn’t appear to have any cleansing properties. It would be nice if it smelled like ginger instead of dirt.
So for the past weeks we’ve been having hot water issues. Thought it was the heater so I was mucking around with first calling the heater company since its less than two years old. Ended up then on my own changing out the thermostat and heating elements. The electric bill came with notice about the huge spike in electricity usage! What is going on? Was about to get a new heater, then the water guy came by and told us there’s been a spike in our water usage!
Damn, there’s a hidden leak in our hot water line. That explains it now. But the house is built direct on the slab, so the piping goes into the slab. So this is not looking pretty. I did some Dr. Plumbing myself with a stethoscope, could hear water running at the heater and kitchen pipes, but not much at the bathrooms, so hopefully the leak was near the heater. Time to call in the pros.
So is it sad that I see a stunning woman at Don Quixotes, and can’t help but wonder how much of her is a product of modern science? Although if so, I’d like to shake the hand of the surgeon because it was a perfect job.
“Seiro-mushi – only the taste and flavor is preserved.” What, at the expense of appearance, form, and texture?
(0)Saturn Ion going about 75 up Ka’ahumanu weaving in and out of traffic, running the red at Moanalua. This can’t end well.
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