Chicago Style Cookout

After church on Sunday Marlana had us over to her house to celebrate Father's Day and my birthday. Her birthday is the day after mine but she was playing that down this year. She had just picked up a nice grill at a neighbor's moving sale and a patio set for her yard. Unfortunatly it started to rain just as we were getting started, so we opened up the garage and had a nice Chicago style cookout. Here we are sitting in her garage, enjoying the great meal of roasted corn and shish-ka-bob. It was really good food and I got to show her how to fire up the coals and make a backyard meal. The food was real good and I enjoyed the family time, showing how to work her new grill. And I had to explain to Marlana that a Chicagoan's idea of a vacation in paradise is a case of Old Style and grilling meat in the garage.

Later; when the son came out and we moved out the garage; Jon, Amanda and Jeremy came by and we eat cake for dessert and exchanged cards and gifts (see below). All in all it was a great day. The cards and gifts and love brought a tear to my eye.

Happy Father's Day Happy Birthday

Most of you know I am a lifelong White Sox fan. I love the fact that the all the games are on TV, though sometimes you have to search the dial for them. I like to listen to the games on the radio as well. But mostly I love to go to a game, have a couple of beers and yell my brains out.

Going to a Sox game is different than it was a couple of years ago. Many games are sold out, the good seats are all taken by season ticket holders, they offer plans from thirteen games to the full eighty two. And the prices for those seats reflect the salaries that the players are getting these days.

Last year I got to go to only one game. I sat in the upper deck real high, by myself on half-price-for-teachers night. They lost but it was still fun to go and shout and get excited. Being broke this year I figgured that I would have to be content watching the games on TV or listening to Farmer and Singleton on the radio.

It is hard to score tickets this year, especially good ones. Unless you have step-daughters who love you and have the right connections. For my birthday and Father's Day Marlana was able to get these season tickets from a lawyer she knows, along with Premier Parking and access to the Statdium Club, the fancy resturant that looks over the field. These are great seats near first base. The parking pass means not only do I not have to pay to park, but I get to prk right up front, with the rich folks. Amanda and Jon provided the money for the meal at the Stadium club, so we will have a great night. The plan is to get there early, watch batting practice, have a great meal and a couple of drinks, then watch the Sox trounce the Texas Rangers.

Texas was in first place last week in the AL West till the Sox got there and beat them two out of three to bounce them down to second place. They are a good team so this should be a real good game. It is a Friday night, July 21st, so it will be a lot of fun. That night is Mullet Night, celebrating the classic 80's haircut: business in front and party in the back. There will be 80's tribute bands before the game and fireworks after. They must have known I was going to be there.

As you can tell from the picture above, I am really thrilled to be able to go to a game, especially to be able to sit in the good seats, have a parking pass and eat at the Stadium club (never been there!). And I am honored and humbled to have such a fine gift from such wonderful girls. Much more than I deserve, but I sure will take it.

Alex called from his vacation in Wisconsin to wish me a happy Father's Day. When I told him about the tickets he asked if I was going to take him. I told him that I had better take Valerie or I would be in big trouble around here.

Catching up #2...From Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend found me in Korea again. A couple of friends were going and I had declined, but then one had to have surgery and needed someone to take her room. Always one to help a friend, I decided to go. So Friday evening Caroline Valenzuela and I took off from Narita and made our way to Seoul.

This time we stayed in the hotel on the base in Seoul and it was REALLY nice! There are some really good American restaurants in the hotel and we took full advantage of that…and the salon. On Saturday morning we signed up for manicures and pedicures. Since we couldn’t get in until noon, we decided to go shopping for a while. Stephanie had been stationed in Seoul before so she knew all of the good places to go. When se wend back to the hotel we were surprised to find that they did the manicures and pedicures at the same time! It was heavenly and cheap – only $21! After that, we did some more shopping and sight seeing. There was a tour bus that you could hop on and off of so we did that and had a good time. The only down side was that it rained all day on Saturday. The rain didn’t stop us from traipsing all over town. Evelyn and Stephanie were even brave enough to try some of the local cuisine, but I stood by the “No Seoul Food” policy that Josh and I established when we visited.

By the time we were finished touring, the bus service had ended, so we jumped on the train. It only cost $.90 to cross the city! You can’t get on a train in Japan and go a block for under $1.50! While on the subway, however, we were stuck by the difference between Japanese trains and Korean trains. In Korea, people are pushy…literally just bump right into you if you are in their way. I was even bumped by a monk! Also, people were talking and laughing and making noise in Korea, while in Japan people are generally silent and playing with their cell phones or sleeping.

Sunday morning we had signed up to go on a tour of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. We were happy to find that it was a beautiful day, and we walked off base to meet up with our tour. It took about an hour and a half to get from Seoul to the DMZ. Along the way, we noticed that the road was fenced off on one side every few seconds we would pass a guard station with an armed guard watching…some watched the road and some watched the river on the other side of the fence. Not exactly sure what they were watching for, but we sure felt safe!

When we actually got into the DMZ area, our first stop was at the freedom bridge. “12,773 Korean War prisoners returned home to freedom over this bridge. It is said that the prisoners were transported by car up to the Gyeongui-seon Line Iron Bridge and crossed over the Bridge of Freedom by foot. The bridge is the only remaining legacy of peace in the Korean War as it holds the symbolic significance of the "Return to Freedom”.

After that they put us back on the bus to take us to the site of the third infiltration tunnel. Along the way, I noticed several signs that said, “mine.” They also told us not to go off the beaten path because they estimate that more than a million mines are still in the ground. No problem! Back to the tunnel… “The 3rd tunnel was discovered on October 17, 1978. It is located 52km from Seoul. Approximately 10,000 soldiers can move through this tunnel in 1 hour. When this tunnel was discovered, North Koreans insisted steadfastly that it was made by South Koreans to invade North Korea, but this proved to be false.” The hike down and back up was hard, but it was interesting to see the tunnel.

When we came back up we went to the Mt. Dora Observation platform. From there we could see the actual line dividing North and South Korea and the two villages in the DMZ. So now I have seen North Korea…but not been there!

Next was the stop at Dorasan Station. It was kind of freaky because it was built to make it possible to get from South Korea to North Korea…but the tracks don’t connect. “If North and South Korea decide to dissolve the DMZ, it would not take long for the two republics to physically reconnect. Dorasan Station is a new but empty highway and train transportation hub that awaits reunification accords. It is less than 800 yards from the DMZ.”

After that we headed back towards Seoul. We stopped at an amethyst factory. The stones were pretty and the prices were pretty good…don’t know what it had to do with the DMZ, but I’m sure somebody made some money off the stop! After the tour we went shopping and sightseeing. All in all, we had a great time!

Catching up...From May 29, 2006

Well, I didn’t get all caught up last weekend as I had hoped, but now I am on the bus back to the airport and then a plane back to Japan, so I should have plenty of time! Where did I go you say? Korea, but that will be the subject of a future post.

In searching for flower pictures, I found Kurihama Flower World. I actually went there for the first time about a month ago. The flowers at the time were in beautiful bloom and I spent hours wandering around. Unfortunately, most of the pictures are useless now because of printing issues, so last Saturday I decided to go back and take some more. Because it was so close, I decided to drive. On my way out the door, Kitty gave me that pitiful look and I realized that I could just take her along. She was so excited! So we drove to Kurihama Flower World and hopped out. Many of the flowers were past their prime, but we kept going and eventually found that some new ones were in bloom. Kitty didn’t care either way, she was just happy to be out and about.

After Kurihama, I decided to go to Jogashima. Shima mean island in Japanese, but Jogashima is connected by a big bridge near my house. I had heard that it was pretty over there but I didn’t know what to expect. Someone told me that it was formed by an erupting volcano. That made sense to me because of the way the “shores” looked and were shaped. I found one spot where you could walk out over the rocks and most of it was fenced off, and there was only a little stairway entrance. I walked Kitty out there and let her off the chain. She was so excited to just run! I don’t think she has really been able to do that since we got here! She ran away and back and leapt over the ridges and scared herself by jumping in puddles. It was hilarious! We are definitely going to have to go back there!

When Kitty was sufficiently tired out, I got her some water and then we walked up a hill to towards the lighthouse. It was a pretty view from up there because there were a lot of waves and they were splashing up against the rocks. When I had my fill of that, we kept walking and ended up at some slotted steps. Kitty would not go down them. After several minutes of coaxing and much laughing by the Japanese, I lifted her up and set her on the step. She was so eager to get off that she ran down. Whew…I didn’t want to climb back the way we had come! Next, we found a really pretty park, but by then weather was changing and it started to rain. No matter…there were no flowers there anyway!

On Sunday, as I wrote before, I decided to go to Tokyo. After sitting in the Emperor’s garden, I did some more wandering around. The grounds were beautiful, but there were no flowers at all! I still took pictures because it was pretty, but I didn’t stay too long after that. On the way back, I realized that I was in Shinjuku. Having just watched the Amazing Race finale the night before, I had to get off and go visit Hachiko, the famous dog. After asking around a bit for the dog statue (I couldn’t remember the dog’s name and couldn’t find it in my travel book) one lady finally informed me that I was talking about Hachiko and that staute is at Shibuya station. Duh! I knew it started with an “s”. Luckily that was just one stop away and didn’t take long to locate. After taking some pictures of the busiest intersection in the world and of Hachioko, I headed home.

All in all, it was a great weekend, but by the end of it, my arms were totally sunburned. I know you are all shocked. J

Gram is a Stick in the Mud

Gram L writes: Things are changing almost daily in my village. Instead of being a retirement village, younger folks are moving in. They have jobs which keep them away all day. This situation was brought home to me rather forcibly yesterday afternoon.

I had ridden my scooter to retrieve mail from the box out front. I noticed a lot of weeds growing in front of the house, so I drove the scooter off the path to pull weeds. Wrong move! The scooter got stuck. The more I tried to free it, the deeper it got stuck. I do not walk well, and am barefoot there. There is no one within hollering distance. The more I ran the scooter, the deeper it dug. After an hour or so of this struggling, I dismounted the vehicle, and tho in danger of falling, turned on the motor, got in front and tugged on the handle bars. This is a dangerous move because in a previous similar situation the scooter knocked me down and I suffered a sore tailbone. After a good many tries of yanking on the scooter, it freed up and I was able to ride it around to the front of the house. Moral of the story: don't ride your scooter on new sod while barefoot and alone in Maralago Cay. There is no one home to find you!

Today, I am waiting at Carolyn's for the family to arrive so we can celebrate Father's Day. Please blog because I am always anxious to read the exploits of my children and grands. Gram L

Edit your template

No problem Jennell. Here are the steps to do what you want on that template. I have to replace the HTML tags delimiters (the greater-than / less-than) with curly braces or blogger will not let me publish, but you know what you are looking for.
1.Sign into Blogger
2.Click on [Change Settings] for your blog
3.Select the {Template} tab
4.Scroll about 60% of the way down till you see a line that says:
{p class=”post-footer”}
5.Cut the “posted by” stuff and as much of it as you want to move but leave the
{p class=”post-footer”} and the {/p} at least
6.Scroll back up a few lines to the {/BlogItemTitle} and paste your cut stuff after that but before the {div class=”post-body”} line
7.Click the [Preview] button.
8.Modify things as needed.
9.Click the [Save Template Changes] button when you are sure everything is right.
10.It will tell you that you need to republish, do this and be happy.

For everyone else: this is geek stuff you can ignore it. I will put a link to the Two Weeks in Japan blog over in the links area.

Help!!!

Hey Uncle Bill...thanks for the picture kudos...it was fun taking them and I can't wait to hang them up in my tatami room.

I have 5 people staying with me from SRCS and they are doing a blog for family and friends at home. It is getting confusing though because it only says who posted on the bottom of the post. I know you changed that on ours...how did you do that?

FYI - the site is http://2weeksinjapan.blogspot.com/ and there will be more updates there than here. :)

See ya all soon!

Lovely Pictures

Jennell, I just wanted to say: "How very nice are the flower pictures on your Flicker site." They are well done and brighten any day.

Progress Report

Today marks two weeks since I had my surgery. I am coming along according to plan. I can get around with the walker pretty well, I have even been able to drive a couple of times for short distances. There still is significant bruising on the outside of my leg which makes me somewhat uncomfortable especially when I am in the machine which exercises my leg; and I am supposed to do that six hours a day. I still get some sweling in the leg when I am up for a while.

Tomorrow I go to the doctor's office to have the staples removed. I think there are 37 of them. I hope that then my skin will stop feeling so tight.

Now that I have quit taking the Tylenol 3 pills my system has returned to normal and I am sleeping better. Last night was the best night sleep I have had in over two weeks. My appetite is still not what is used to be but that is a good thing.

I want to thank you all for your prayers, I am healing well. Now please pray for Valerie as she looks toward her surgery next week.

Not a leg to stand on

Bill here! Monday 5:00PM. First time I have had to sit at a computer and enjoy it. I had to do two hours work on it at noon to finish the last of the grades for the quarter but that really wiped me out. I finished up at 1:30, off to bed, and just now got up.

Will not be able to write clever, interesting post here, pain is the main focus.

Last Tuesday I went to hospital for pre-op. They poked, prodded, drew blood, filled out forms, gave directions, informed, consented, and scheduled for several hours. The result was that I should be at St. Margaret Hospital North (in Hammond) at 7:00AM for a 9:00AM surgery. Later in the day Valerie got a phone call saying the same thing. Just as we were about to leave at 6:15AM the hospital calls wanting to know where we were. ANS: About to leave. What about the 5:45AM arrival for a 7:45AM surgery? ANS: Not what you told us. Off we go to Hammond. Arrived 6:58AM at the surg-center. More prodding, signing, questions, assuring, letting of blood, but there will be no surgery till 1:00PM. Waiting, NPO since 11:00 PM last night. 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, about 3:30 activity starts, can't seem to get a good place to put IV, too dehydrated (duh!) Anastetespellingerrorist has to do do the work. Off to get bones sawed on. Minor awakeness and confusion about 7:00PM as get to room. Daughter Amanda joking, then daughter Marlana looking concerned. Sleep, pain shot, "Hi, I am ____ your nurse for the next four hours, poke, prod, assign, etc. till, dunno, nine? when Valerie takes off, done all she can, let the pros do their job.

Morning, wake early more meds, medical people, medical forms, phone calls, pass out often. Not much happening, Valerie midday, try to watch TV, read paper, anything. By late afternoon Dr. Murphy arrives: "everything looks good, how was thereby?" No therapy, nurses asked but no one came for him. "Maybe I forgot to order it. I usually like a visit the first day and active the second, but you were late in the day anyway the first. We will do three (3!) tomorrow."

Friday awake at 3:30. Docs. Nurses, soon PT. Move, stretch, raise, lower, double session. "Wasn't that fun?" Lunch, sleep, more PT: Walker, stretch, move, lift, push down, push against, pain pills, more bad food, sleep.

Saturday, More PT: stairs, get in car, get out of car, walk 50 feet; gotta get ready to leave, instructions, sign papers. Valerie can't get car started. Battery, starter, karma, who knows!. Why not get a jump from security? Okay, that worked long enough to get out of the parking spot and lower the power windows. Then dead again. Call Lynette wait. Short time later she is at door. Final sign papers, escort to door, no Lynette. Bet she went to St. Margaret SOUTH, near our house. Yup, that's it, nice day anyway, we will wait here. She arrives, we use her car to jump ours, no good, but we can get windows up, lock it, tell security. Head home, stop at Walgreen, they will get it done by 6:00 when they close. Head on home. WOW need pain pills, everything hurts, what a job to get in the front door. Collapse, soon Lynette comes by with pills, take, Joanne calls. I try to describe story, but too tired. Gotta go to bed, all I can do to make it. Asleep by 7:00PM wake when Valerie comes in at 12:00, another pill back to sleep till bladder ready to explode at 4:00, deal with that back to sleep.

Sunday, try to enjoy nice day outside. Nurse comes by, guy with CPM (Constant Passive Motion) machine comes by. CPM moves knee up and down slowly, sounds easy, but after an hour or so joint hurts, skin gets irritated, thing sucks. Awake, asleep, teeter between. No BM since Wed morn, nurse has home remedy, Cup of warm prune juice followed by cup of STRONG black coffee. I'll try anything. Lynette gets prune juice grunt, push, poop an ebony log. Back to bed. Lie there reading book for two hours, NOW the stuff really starts to work. I make it to bathroom with much work just as Lynette comes in the house to check up on Valerie, B L A M!. Three inches above toilet is close enough. Sit there doing crossword puzzle but ladies are busy, gotta get it together, go to bed. "Hi, bye Lynette, thanks for prune juice, see you tomorrow. Say 'Hey" to Aaron on his graduation tomorrow." Sleep, stomach rested. Hard work, this going to bathroom thing.

Got a full day on Monday, too tired now to describe. Maybe in the morning. Prayer works, God loves us and like to hear from us. Just like us he want to give stuff to his children but wait for the children to ask. Pray for me, pray for Valerie, pray for you, pray for peace.

b