Dan's trip across America

Yesterday at Ishiki Beach

Yesterday at Ishiki Beach
Originally uploaded by annmerry.

Mia and I went to Ishiki Beach yesterday in what turned out to be a near-perfect day. [ I guess the only thing that would have made it more perfect would be to have gotten help with my suntan lotion from a certain good-looking "honey bee" ]. It was our last minute attempt to enjoy some summer in Hayama before we both fly out to Switzerland and then home to the States in a couple of weeks. We took the bus down from Sokendai around 1:30, hired a beach umbrella from one of the beach huts, and hung out at the beach until about 5:30. At dusk, we ran into Mike, who introduced us to the owner of a beach hut/club called "Umigoya" where we had supper and listened to a band called Boots Boys play live music.
The band was so good I bought their CD. Mia taught me how to play a card game called King's Corner - and just when I thought I was gonna kick her butt, she swooped in and obliterated me.

Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality

Thanks Mia for sharing this one with me. Pretty funny.

It's TIME to get Excited, YO yo:Going to Lausanne, Switzerland

Okay, it's starting to happen. I'm starting to get kind of totally excited about my trip to Switzerland. Soooo, in honor of my upcoming travels, I have decided to post the current weather, an up-to-date clock with the current time, and some pictures of Lausanne:

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

And here are two nice pictures of Lausanne that I lifted off the web:

three bees and a nest: my scooter story

the highlight of my week-end was getting my scooter - which, after a four week trip to the philippines with my folks, had stopped working - fixed. noone could figure out what was wrong, and i was having a hell of a time finding someone to come out and fix it. so may people had theories about what was wrong though. one person was sure it was my battery; my dad was lecturing me about engines, another guy at the university told me that given the low low price i had paid for it, it was probably just time for me to junk it (i.e. i had probably bought an old lemon); and someone else just thought i should let the scooter sit with the motor running for 10 minutes to "warm" it back up (didn't work)...

so, finally i found a mechanic that lived about 3 km away. he couldn't come get it, but i realized that it was almost entirely down hill to get to his shop. so i coasted my bike down for about 2 km, down the hill on some back roads. then right when i had to start pushing (and it was HEAVY!!!! and it was SO HOT outside), i was passing this junk yard in the woods, and there were three lone peasant guys who were just sitting next to it chewing the fat.

they called out to me "oi" and asked me what was wrong with my bike. so i told them that it had stopped working and that i was pushing it to the mechanic. i was about to leave them in the dust, when one of them told me to bring it over to them. so i did. then, they were all talking, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. one guy started the engine up, but saw that the accelerator was failing to get the wheels moving. he thought that something might be wrong with the muffler, so he searched in his junk pile and got a long steel rod out, and he started digging around the muffler pipe with it.

then about 30 seconds later, he pulled out... ... three dead bees and a bunch of grass!!! he said that the bees had been making a nest in the muffler! i couldn't believe it! then i asked him if i could pay him and he said no. so i reached in my backpack and pulled out a crisp, cold fuji apple that i was going to take to the beach with me today. instead, i told him to take it. he was bowing to me, and i was telling him how happy i was. the other guys were all smiling and waving to me, saying good bye...