Honshu and Okinawa

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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 ...
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I am still having problems with the server, so I have no photos posted. I have some really nice photos of llamas, fish from my pond, muzzleloader shooting and others. I have a real server fix in process.

I am in Wisconsin most of this week for work. I was up in Brantford and Missisauga Ontario Canada a couple weeks back.

I have been skidding trees out of the woods for firewood. I learned just how big of a log I can drag. I had to cut one in half to make it around a corner in the woods. The tractor easily pulls these things from anywhere almost. I broke a chain yesterday on a log. The new Stihl Model 290 is a huge difference. That saw blasts through these logs. I have a new spliting maul as well. I am getting wood put away. Although we don't heat primarily with wood it is nice for the spring and fall for evening fires and you have to get coal burning somehow.

The jeep has a new lease on life. We were thinking that we may have to put it down because the 4 wd wasn't working. It turned out to be an easy fix. The vacuum line was pulled off the front axle. I love easy fixes... once I knew what to look for.

The masonry and paint is done for the most part on the south side of the barn. Bonnie sprayed a lot of paint. I painted the flail mower orange. It looks much better.

It always gets busy this time of year getting ready for Winter. I still have a lot to do.

My new class is going well (Valuation of Investments). I am not all stressed out like last class. This professor is a human being, a smart one at that. The class is challenging and I am learning bunches. There is a considerable amount of review/reinforcement from the last class which is good. One of the quotes in one of the texts is something like; "You cannot learn finance until you have learned finance." I agree. There is a ladder approach taken. There is a lot to learn. There has been enormous progress in the last 20 years or so in the field of finance. Now anyone with a desktop computer can do complex analysis in the privacy of their home.

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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 ...
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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.
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