Triathlon

Yesterday I got my April Disney half marathon newsletter, and it was once again full of information totally useless to someone who can drive to Disneyland the morning of the race. Yes, I know it's time to start training. No, I don't need a hotel or plane tickets to get there.

But there was this interesting little Danskin sidebar that caught my eye, only because I've been a fan of Danskin stuff since gymnastics in grade school. And, they sell some good workout clothes at Wal Mart now.

And I thought, "Self, you couldn't do a triathlon. You can't even spell triathlon. {I can now though.} Sure, you could probably bike 12 miles. And yes, you can definately run 2 miles. But you can't swim. And you can't do it all in one day. Drop it in the calendar, and do it next year."

I clicked on the link. Class was pretty slow, anyway.

And the more I sat there, the more I thought, "maybe I could swim that far." And how many people can say they jumped in the California Adventure lagoon and swam across it?? Much less the number of people who have completed a triathlon, albeit a sprint. And they made it sound so friendly - it's for women only, if you get tired or scared, you can hang out on a buoy or kayak, they even mentioned not worrying about being a "Glamour don't."

So, here I am, signed up for my very first triathlon in only 2 months. I really, really need to be stopped.

Ladeez

Hey girls...

Having been playing in the good old boy's club for so long, this was kind of an interesting article. It's over-simplified, obviously, but I think it's a more fair assessment of the battle of the sexes. I mean, I like pink - that shouldn't mean I'm less professional. No one would ever say a man was unprofessional for wearing light blue (unless in leisure-suit form, then ... all bets off). Someone even asked if it was OK to wear a dress to work, because their female manager told them only secretaries wore dresses.

There's plenty of examples of women who have done it all, as well as stay at home moms and women who don't want kids at all. And, despite all the evidence, women are less compensated, promoted less, and, albeit subconsciously, thought of as less dependable and more volatile.

Sigh. I know I'm probably overly sensitive, as I tend to want to work in male-dominated fields. But that doesn't mean I don't like dresses, or wearing makeup, or have a general scorn for babies. Is it really so wrong, and punishable, to do both?

TraffICK

Traffic has been just mad today.

This morning I was on my way to work, and even a little on the early side. But when I got off the highway, all three lanes going my direction were stopped. Now, just a few months ago, there was a fatal accident just across the street from work, and the whole street was closed for the investigation. I couldn't believe that happened again so soon, but not far down the street I saw police lights. It ended up that three lanes going each way were funneling down to one (on a super busy street, during morning rush hour no less) and police from Westminster, Irvine, and even Anaheim were pulling over trucks and inspecting them. One officer was on a dolly underneath a truck, another was looking under the hood of another truck. They didn't appear to be looking inside the trucks, and they didn't pull over two FedEx trucks that went by. The only trucks that were pulled over were semis, and the smaller sized trucks like the ones landscapers use. I have no idea what they were looking for, but I still got to work on time.

On the way up to class, on the same street, the traffic was all backed up again! I thought there might be an accident, or an accident closing the highway on-ramp, or something else. It ended up one of the traffic lights was out, and wreaking havoc from past the highway almost to work! The rest of the drive was uneventful up until I got on campus, and a huge black Expedition tried to t-bone me because they were, apparently, tired of waiting to pull out from the parking garage. Never mind I had the right of way, and the last one through the traffic light with no one behind me.

Yikes, people. The rules of the road are pretty simple. Let's be kind.

Japan IV

Tuesday

Luckily, Tuesday wasn't as hectic changing cities, and we were scheduled to stay in Tokyo for the rest of the trip. We tried the Japanese/American breakfast buffet, since we had vouchers for breakfast every day. It just wasn't as astounding as the Hotel Granvia, but still good. I mean, I really dig miso soup every day.

The day started off with a government economist (who was actually an American expatriate). I'd like to tell you how interesting and fascinating his speech was, or what it was even about, but ... I'm just not in to economics. Weird for a business student, right?? OK, some of his lecture was about rising prices, and where he thought the Japanese economy was going, but that's it. Afterward, everyone raved about how wonderful he was. I'm suspicious no one really understood what he was talking about, but wanted to sound smart themselves.

Then, we walked down the block from the hotel to Pfizer. I can't say I was too enthused about this visit either. Fine, I wasn't real enthused about any of the company visits. I'm a terrible business school student! But, it was actually really interesting. Note: everyone else didn't like this visit; it was too long and boring. They taught us about the Japanese health care system, and that was fascinating. It seems like they have a good handle on the universal healthcare system, although they're recognizing that there's going to be some problems as their population ages, like in the US. What can I say? I was raised with it.

Lunch was at the hotel, and we were given $25 vouchers. $25 for lunch?? We went for shabu shabu, but it was more than $25, and really not any different than I've had in the US. I got a tuna bowl that was fabulous. Seriously, I've had tuna before, and sushi, but this was amazing!! There was some kind of scary jiggly spiny thing in it, and seaweed and rice, so I just ate around the jiggly thing. And honestly, I was probably the bravest eater at lunch. I guess at this point, some people were getting a little homesick.

After lunch, we met with an American who became an entrepreneur in Japan. He started a company called Newport, but I never fully got a handle on what they do. It sounded like wholesaling, but the talk was more about starting a company in Japan. We're used to people getting a business idea and starting up a company here. In fact, it's a pretty respectful career. But in Japan, it's very unusual. Lifetime employment isn't official, but they definitely have a different outlook on employment there. That, and if your company fails - they don't give you too many options to re-enter the workforce. He was unusually guarded about his private life, although nobody pried. I couldn't help but be curious what effect moving to a new country must have had, though.

Dinner was at Gonpachi, and everyone went. Gonpachi was in Kill Bill I (I like that movie a lot), where the bride fights off with Lucy Liu. It was much, much smaller than I expected, and our group took over the whole first floor. I feel really bad for the restaurant, because they obviously didn't know that unlimited drinks are just not a good idea with a big group of business students. There were constant pitchers of beer on the table, and a somehow neverending supply of plum wine. The food was based on a set menu, and I didn't get to try everything because I was too busy socializing. It was kind of hit or miss anyway. My favorites were the grilled tuna and lime ice for dessert. Dessert my favorite? Big surprise there!

We went back to the hotel with the faculty and professors. I'm bummed we didn't stay out later, but the professors were super cool. We got back to the hotel safe and sound, and that was kind of it for my night.

Numaaaaaa

Soooo... we've been watching FMA, and so far I'd say I like it more than Andy. And, I'm taking the night off (so to speak), and thought ... hm, you know, sometimes people get totally obsessed and come up with these crazy videos.

Numa numa? I LOVE NUMA NUMA!!

Yes!

April 3, 2008:

Oh yes, it did.


Almost there...


Happy birthday, car!

{OK, this is kind of to make up for sort of missing the 100,000 mark. That happened on the way home from Illinois to Missouri some time ago. I even got a video this time.}

Japan II

This was the post I lost ... boo ...

Sunday

I spent a little extra money to sign up for a full, charter bused tour of Kyoto, mostly because I thought it would be the most efficient and easiest way to see as much as I could all at once (I was really, really excited!). Turns out the walking tour would have been good too, but the people who went on the bus tour were cool and it was really easy.

My roommate and I were up at 5:30 a.m. I had no intention of getting up that early, but jet lag works in mysterious ways. We were on the 12th floor, overlooking the adjacent train station (which was not loud at all), and we got to see the view in daylight. Modern buildings everywhere, with an odd pagoda sticking up. Since we were both up, we decided to try out the buffet breakfast.

They had some American-style breakfast things - and I stayed away from every single one, except for the blueberry danish. Rice, salmon (uncooked), noodles, miso soup, pickled vegetables; I came to the sad realization that I wasn't going to lose weight on this trip at all. After breakfast, I met up with my group and we walked to the neighboring hotel to get picked up by the tour.

First stop was Nijo castle. When Kyoto was the capital of Japan, the shogun would stay at Nijo castle when he visited the emperor. The grounds are expansive, right in the middle of the city. Inside, there are no shoes allowed, and the tour guide warned us that the floors would be very squeaky. They were designed that way, so that ninjas (for real) couldn't sneak in at night and attack. It turns out that the "nightingale" floors make a really pretty tweeting noise, that isn't like the creaky old floorboards they kept telling us about. It was a cool morning, and inside was pretty chilly and drafty, especially with no shoes on! All of the walls were covered with beautiful silk-screened tapestries, and wood panels between rooms close to the ceiling were carved 3-d reliefs with different carvings on each side in each room, out of a block of wood 1' deep. Most of the rooms we saw had a step in the middle, and two levels - the shogun was always higher than whoever came to see him, except the emperor's messenger. Also, next to the shogun's raised platform, were very small doors where his bodyguards would hang out all the time. Not a cool job, if you ask me. After we picked up our shoes, we got to see the gardens a little. They weren't quite as green and pretty as I would expect gardens to be, but then again it's not like there were flowers everywhere. Then, back on the bus to Kitano Tenmugu shrine.

Kitano Tenmugu is a Shinto shrine that's popular with students, because the patron was said to be very smart. Exams were over when we went, but there were still plenty of wooden tiles with students' wishes hanging. We were also too early for cherry blossoms, but the plum blossoms at the shrine were just starting to bloom. On the walkway up to the shrine were tons of stone lanterns and street vendors selling food that smelled fantastic! I had a pancake in the shape of a fish that was filled with bean curd for about $1 - I wish they sold food like that in the US!

The last stop before lunch was the Golden Pavilion. Literally, a building made of gold that sits in a small pond. Unfortunately you can't go inside, but the grounds were much like Nijo castle. Our tour guide was sort of obsessed with a 400 year old banzai tree; not that it's not incredible, it was just a little odd. The tree is groomed into the shape of a sailboat, because the shogun wanted to sail to the promised land after death in a sailboat. The tree is groomed only once a year. I wish we didn't have to rush through, because there was so much to explore in the forest and the little shrines set up all over. There are a few shops on the way out from the shrine, and I bought good health and long life good luck charms for souvenirs. But we got back on the bus to head over to the Kyoto Handicraft Center for lunch and the rest of the tour to Nara.

The Kyoto Handicraft Center, apparently, is a Japanese-style, five story, tourist trap. Our tour included a buffet lunch (where once again the Japanese food was fantastic, and the American food... not so much). The other four floors are dedicated to independent vendor stalls where you can buy souvenirs. I ended up falling in to the mother of all tourist traps: I bought a cherry blossom printed "kimono." In actuality, real kimonos are made of silk and cost thousands of dollars. But, in most tourist places, they sell much cheaper polyester "happy coats." And, it really was pretty.

After lunch we got back on the bus for the hour drive to Nara. The drive was long not so much for the distance but the traffic, since it was Sunday and the weather was nice. Deer Park is just outside the Todaiji temple, and you can buy food and pet the deer in the park. Since it was mid-afternoon by the time we got there, the deer were pretty full and laying down, but very docile and sweet. Here, again, the walkway to the temple was lined with vendors (and deer!). There were huge gates to go through to get to the temple, which is the largest wooden structure in the world, housing the largest bronze Buddha statue. Inside, I expected a big statue. But I couldn't see it right away - I realized I was looking at only one petal on the lotus that the Buddha statue sits in. To its left and right are smaller statues, but by smaller, I mean smaller than the middle! Altogether, they were really beautiful. I've never been in a Buddhist temple before. I'm sure they're not all like that, but what a first impression.

The last stop on the tour was Kasuga shrine, only minutes away. It has hundreds upon hundreds of stone lanterns lining the walkways, and inside the shrine are tons of hanging lanterns, paid for by donations from patrons. The deer here were much friendlier and hungrier! I gave in and got my fortune read, although I was really worried it would come out badly. To read your fortune, you shake a wooden tube until a thin stick with a number comes out, and the number corresponds to your fortune (they offered fortunes written in English). If you get a bad fortune, you tie it to a tree at the shrine and pray for the gods to lift the bad fortune. Mine came out to be "good fortune in the end," and the details didn't seem like it was that bad of a fortune... so far, things have been OK!

On the bus ride back a couple of people suggested we to go a geisha show, but most of us were too pooped to venture out into the city. We got back to the hotel almost an hour and a half later than expected, so a small group of us ventured to the sushi restaurant next to the hotel. Although you could order off the menu, each table was seated around a covered conveyor belt. When you saw a plate that you liked, usually with just a couple of rolls on it, you could lift the cover and pull it off. The plates had different patters, and the price of each plate corresponded to the patterns. Probably the best