Honshu and Okinawa

-
Image
I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
Post a Comment
-
Home

This is a pretty good x-prize contestant. They seem to have fun anyway. Watch the videos. The X-prize should go to the chinese for launching their astronaut this week. (I know they are not eligble). You wouldn't see me getting into one of these things.

I have winterization work to do today. It is quite foggy, I hope it clears a little. I am worried about the clearances on my stove.. one thing says one thing another piece of paper says another. I can't move the chimney now... It is in. We plan on moving the wall in a few years but I am at the minimal clearances now.

I won the area 9 speech contest yesterday only because no one else showed up to compete. That is not the way to win. So now I have to practice for the southern division contest in Ithaca on November 8th.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Honshu and Okinawa

-
Image
I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
Read more
-
Image
I ran into this bug this morning in the parking lot in Duluth. I was thinking I had to go to central America to see a land insect this size. That's my shoe there. I almost tripped over this guy. Yes, he was alive. I kicked him to make sure.
Read more

LavaCon 2025

-
Image
I spoke at the LavaCon this week. My presentation was very well received. There were well over 100 folks who chose to attend my presentation. Afterwards we had a supplier meeting in Cartersville and a hike up Pine Mountain. https://www.lavacon.org/ It was good to enjoy some brief moments with a llama as part of the conference. And it was good to meet up with lots of folks I have got to know over the years.
Read more

Back on the Farm Again.

-
Image
I was up on the farm finalizing some new tenants and a new building. I specifically made some time to hike the forest. I definitely have a real regret of not doing exactly that more often. Woods are magical. There is such order in the absolute randomness of nature. I also managed to get some nice sunrise pics from 17,000 Feet. One is over Susquehanna, PA. The other as we are about to cross the Hudson River.
Read more

Southern Africa!

-
Image
I was successful getting to all 8 countries I planned. South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia. The trip was 14 days with 13 flight segments. The shortest flight was 15 minutes in an ultralight and the longest flight 16+ hours. I rented a 4x4 in Lesotho and another in Namibia. Among many other things in my travels, I walked across the Victoria Falls bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and took an ultralight aircraft ride over the same bridge and falls. Namib Desert from the air. Look for my 4x4. Skeleton Coast Heart of Namid desert near uranium mine Maputo, Mozambique-- City Hall and Samora Machel statue Maseru, Lesotho-- I was delayed at the airport leaving Lethoto by about three hours. I had to find a nother hotel in Namibia since I wasn't going to drive after dark. The delay was caused by the Airport being shut down because of an expired battery in the airport fire truck. We had to wait to get a n...
Read more