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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Upstate NY Trip

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We are back from another trip up north and back to GA. Over 2k miles in 5 days. We took a canoe north as well as picked up an unregistered camper trailer in Tennesee.

As usual, the trip was multi-faceted. I am doing some property line swaps with my neighbor. I am putting in a new driveway for a planned underground house. We met with some precast concrete folks and we are making plans. The surprise was that the surveyor found one of the property lines was about 200 feet from where we thought it was (in our mutual favor). The other neighbor hasn't got the news yet. After the property lines are worked out mathematically and iron pins set is when we will have that discussion. It hasn't been surveyed in 150 years. Surveying technology improvements is part of it, but generally over time people forget exactly where the property line is/was.

We did some driving on hunting and logging roads. I really enjoy my truck. It now has over 20k miles on it (4 out of our 5 cars have less than 50k miles). A panoramic photo of the building site. A pic of a rusty Upstate NY pickup truck. The salt does wonders breeding tin worms. I had to expain to a local the reason I took the pic is because people down south (and elsewhere) do not believe how bad it gets. Angie is showing off her favorite (mismatched) gloves she bought at Greggs in Whitney point. The gloves have travelled around the world.

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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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California, Berkshire NY, Baltimore Maryland and Washington DC

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I am back from a speaking engagement at a familiar conference (CIDM) in San Jose California. Afterwards, I met Angie at the ATL airport and headed to the farm and to see my cousins, Aunt and Sister (and my newest relative) in Baltimore and Washington DC. It was a densely scheduled trip, but nothing compared to our typical overseas vacation trips. I have been having educational fun with my recent birthday gift. It is a Radiacode 103. It is a very sensitive scintillation radiation detector. Loads of fun. The 1k µS/hr spike shown is what the carry on baggage x-ray machine doses out. I am glad I wasn't inside the x-ray equipment. Stopping at some antique stores along the way, I found a number of uranium glass pieces. Yes, they are radioactive. Yes, the dose is comparable to that you get from riding in a commercial airplane. I took a couple of pics of property in Upstate NY. Unbelievable. It will beat out images of the best trailer trash anywhere. And yes, the vehicles are systemica...
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Priorities

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One of the strangest processes I go through is setting priorities of what I need to work on. I can't say I finish one project and start on another. I often take a project to "a stable place" and then start on another "comprehensive" project that ends up as many smaller projects with their own lifecycle. The good news (and what allows me to be proud) is that I finish projects. Finishing is a big deal to me. I enjoy that part. A lot of folks get joy out of starting projects, but then get beaten down by setbacks and reality. Real progress (and growth) comes in steps. The stair rise is seeing and knowing progress. The stair step is when you dont see progress. You have to have faith you will get to the next rise. It will happen. In my latest "comprehensive" project "zoom room improvements" includes deep cleaning (inside and out), new electric, ethernet, and flooring. In addition, some foundation repairs. The original posts were set poorly and th...
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Veterinary Report Vol. 24 No. 3: Features - Some Clients Opt for Acupuncture Fawna is not up. She shows signs of improvement but she just plain does not have fine motor control of those back legs. She has reflexes back there. She has plenty of strength when I exercise the legs. We are looking around for a vet that does acupuncture. It is unquestionable a neuro disorder. Today we added a spinal massage to her regimen. There is one spot down near her back legs that she had a reaction to the deep massage. We are hoping that the stimulation of extra blood flow in that area may help regenerate some nerves. There are only a few choices. 1.) Cornell Vet clinic.. Get her there and spend thousands. 2.) Put her down... Don't know how we would do that.. The body? 3.) Keep trying weird stuff and exercise. My arms ache today... Bad. I feel like I have been working with stone.
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