Islands Soft Tacos

Published on September 16, 2007 in Food and Review by derek. Closed

Got an early start to see the thunderbirds, maybe too early. So Taro and I stopped by Islands Burgers and got some soft tacos

img_1103_sm.jpgI got the “Baja” soft taco, with a Newcastle

img_1104_sm.jpg And Taro got the “Northshore” soft taco with a Widmer

It was okay, but I think I’ll stick to burgers there.

Taro: I’d have to concur. “Spicy” chicken? The spicy chicken at Jack in the Box is way spicier. We’ve done much better at Wayland’s. It was pedestrian. It fit the bill of not wanting something as heavy as a burger, but for the price would have liked something more substantial in the flavor department. Ah well, the heffeweisen was good, almost qualified as a Good Morning Beer for me as I’d woken up only a couple hours earlier. Good for a cheap buzz too as my stomach was pretty empty.

Layover

Published on September 16, 2007 in rant and Travel by risu. Closed

Oh well.  I was hoping to maybe change the kokunai leg of my return flight today, but everything is full – so full that they announced it on the radio.  Today is a National Day (“take care of old people day” or something), so everyone who came up for the long weekend is going back to wherever this afternoon.  My flight out is at 13:00 or so, so I get into NRT at around 14:50.  My flight to HNL isn’t until 21:00!  Maybe I’ll try and catch the 18:00 flight and get in earlier – that one shouldn’t be full.  I’m sure Ckucke will be surprised if I call him before 07:00 for a pick-up!

Oyaji ni Naritakunari

Published on September 16, 2007 in rant and Travel by risu. Closed

Okay, I hope this comes out looking how it’s supposed to, since this is a JIS keyboard and all…  Anyway, I just got back into Sapporo after travelling around the Shiretoko-hantou, Abashiri, and Asahikawa for the past few days.  Since this has been life out of a minimal kit, this has probably been the dirtiest I’ve felt in Japan ever.  I was only able to pack a pair of shorts and some DPM trousers and 2 T-shirts other than the one I was wearing on Wednesday night.  It was fairly hot every day, probably around 25C and sunny, so with all the hiking about, in one day a shirt was ruined with funk. Continue reading ‘Oyaji ni Naritakunari’

TMJ

Published on September 11, 2007 in rant and Travel by risu. Closed

…well, TMD actually (go wikipedia it!)  I ate a Ba-le sandwich for lunch yesterday, and noticed on the drive home that my jaw felt stiff and odd on one side.  Dinner and breakfast were difficult to eat – not really from the chewing, but from not being able to open my mouth wide enough.  It even hurts a little when I try to talk.  Hope this doesn’t cause any great issues on the trip…

I’ll be working half a day today then head to the airport to catch JO 079 HNL-NRT.

Tondeike!

Published on September 10, 2007 in Culture and Travel by risu. Closed

Heading out to Japan tomorrow afternoon.  Yeah, I know – I haven’t posted stuff about the Whistler MTB trip yet!  I got a lot of it done, but I want to put it up all at once so it’s all chronological and not broken up by other posts. 

I’ll be catching an overnight bus to Utoro a couple of hours after my plane arrives in Chitose, so whatever I have when I get off the plane is what I’ll have to deal with lugging around the woods for the next 4 days!  I’ll overnight there then head to Rausu where I’ll overnight.  There will be some onsen along the way, I think some unimproved outdoor ones too!  Not sure if nay of the overnight places will have onsen though.  I’ll head to Abashiri the next day, then head back to Asahikawa for the night.  I will return to Sapporo the following evening and fly back here the evening after.

I have a very minimal kit this time, so everything is packed in a small klettersack.  I’m hoping the weather is cool so I don’t get all sweaty – I have a pair of BDU shorts in case it gets warm.  I won’t have any time to do laundry when I get back to Sapporo, so I will be wearing the least stinky stuff on the plane ride back.   

Ditch

Published on September 10, 2007 in bike, Food and Review by risu. Closed

Rode Maunawili Ditch trail on Saturday morning.  There was a fairly large crew: Jeff, Sara, Root, Ckucke, Danny, Ryan Higa, and myself.  Yes, Ryan is back in town!  He got in sometime around when we were up in Whistler.  I talked to him a bit, but didn’t get to ask him if this was a permanent situation or not. 

We rode up the road and turned right down Ditch.  The climb up was a burner, especially off the start cold, but after Whistler, I couldn’t really complain.  The Ditch trail was dry and fast.  I hadn’t been there in several years, and it hadn’t changed much while I was away.  We turned up a ridge trail that we had been on before that climbed up one of the fingers that the trail snakes around.  The singletrack was a lot more settled in than I remembered, assumedly from use – it was newly-cut way back when. Continue reading ‘Ditch’

Okifest Day 2

Published on September 10, 2007 in Culture by taro. Closed

Well, day two for me, but actually the 4th day of events. Anyway, I’ve finished processing my pile of pics from Sundays events. Some nice stuff, even caught Donna trying to be all incognito kachashi. Another blazingly nice day, probably because I brought my jacket with me after getting sprinkled on during the Rinken Band concert the previous night and the weather forecast in the morning paper calling for chance of heavy showers. Not a hint of rain. It was nice to go and get a dose of culture, I haven’t done anything like that in a while. Great performances, although some of the contemporary performances damaged my ears more than I cared for, some were in my opinion over amplified. As expected, the Naha Daiko wrapped the weekend up with a dynamic performance that never dissapoints.

My additions to gallery are here: gallery

Will try to get my lesser quality pics from previous day/night up soon.

Naoshita!

Published on September 6, 2007 in rant by risu. Closed

Mitch really did fix my back.  One week after he worked on it, there was only a slight residual discomfort – enough to remind me not to do anything stupid over the weekend.  Now it is completely back to normal.

Hope I don’t wreck it in Japan next week!

OkiFest ’07

Published on September 5, 2007 in Culture and Food by derek. Closed

So another year of the Okinawan Festival has come and gone. This year marks its 25th anniversary. Many groups were visiting from Okinawa to help celebrate that milestone. Was running around with the XT and Taro’s 28-135, ended up shooting nearly a whole 2GB Card.

I’ve started posting some in the gallery.

Saw lots of old friends, and met some new ones too. Overall well worth the energy zapping, heat stroke inducing sun for a 1.5 days.

Little Lost Lamb

Published on September 4, 2007 in bike, Food and Review by risu. Closed

Ckucky, Root, Big Poppa (Chris), and I did a slightly-earlier-than-normal St. Louis F/R yesterday so we’d have enough light for some photos.  It was Labor Day, so the earlier time frame was not an issue for anybody.  It was definitely hotter even being just an hour earlier.

We dropped upper Dumps all the way to the log where we all discovered that the rain-soaked rotting bark was like white lithium grease spread all over the log.  Pushing back up the side trail before the log, we went up past the inner loop and mainline to sideline and did the root drop jumps in the clearing.

Continue reading ‘Little Lost Lamb’