another day of fun...

Well its Thursday morning... I had some tough meetings yesterday with members of my own company here in our Japanese office. Some of the toughest negotiations are within your own company. Yesterday was tough and it was interesting to see cultures, ideas, and even values clash yesterday in my meetings with members from our Japanese offices. It wasn't very fun BUT very needed. Face to face meetings are truely the only way to get an understanding of what the other person is thinking.

So we met, we argued and then we went drinking and now life is good again...hehe. Today may be a little more of the same. But not as bad.

Its foggy here in Tsukuba this morning. It rained cats and dogs yesterday almost all day. Being the American that I am of coarse I don't have an umbrella...hehe.

Well here is a picture I just took of me here in my hotel.. I am now leaving for another day of fun.

jet lag...

Its 4:00am... I am wide awake and can't sleep. I got to Hokkaido on Sunday night. This is my second night here but I still have jet lag... This time seems worse than other times... So I guess I will start my day early now since I can't sleep. I am sure later today around 4:00 in the afternoon I will get sleepy again..hehe.

I came to Hokkaido for just a day and a half. But its been good. I just with I had more time here. I just love Hokkaido... I went to Otaru yesterday back to my school to visit my professors. It was really good and the weather was perfect! Today I will fly to Tokyo and go to Tsukuba. I have some meetings there the rest of the week... so it will get busy from now.... yuck!

what a day...what a week... what a life...

I am not sure how personal I should get in my blogs. I try to keep it conservative because of the different people who read this. But I have decided maybe I should just let go and let people learn a little more about me. I guess I have always been kind of private and not liked to talk about personal feelings so much in this blog. But it doesn't feel natural... so anyway... Maybe I should just open up... at least some of my friends think I should...

Today and this week have been hell... I am burned out on just about everything...hehe. I am positive of coarse but just kind of burned out... My secretary pretty much keeps me alive everyday. She is Japanese and from Japan. Much older than me but really works hard for me and makes sure I am ok everyday. She keeps the fridge in the office full of diet coke for me and knows when I am stressed. She always brings me a coke and some chocolate or something and makes me smile. I have never had anyone take care of me the way she does at work. So basically many times she is the bright spot of the day. I learned I have to indeed go to Japan next week for some urgent meetings. I am going to be dead. Between these meetings and drinking I think I will completely breakdown when I get back. I will leave a couple days early and go to Hokkaido. Hokkaido is another story but not a good one...but it will be good to just eat some good food and relax for a day before I go to hell again. But I am glad I can have these face to face meetings eventhough they are tough and stressful sometimes... life is good.... it could always be worse for everyone... thats for sure!

it snowed....

It snowed in the mountains just above my house last night. I woke up to see the snow and was surprised. But it is really cold today. So winter feels like its around the corner. I hope we have a nice fall season but today it looks and feels like late fall. Still, this is my favorite time of year.

So this morning I woke up early and went and bought a new pair of skis. Then came back home and now just sitting in my living room watching football next to my nice warm fire place... I guess I am strange... its cold but I am wearing shorts and a sweatshirt still next to my fire feeling cold with a blanket wrapped around me.... It's a nice day to let down. Especially since I have a lot of studying to do today...hehe.

Well,,, the weather in Utah is strange. Today it feels like winter but I am sure next week it will feel like mid-summer again...

September 10th

Well its the night before September 11th. This year is the 5th year or anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington by the terrorists. Tonight on TV many stations are showing documentaries and news from that day. Basically its a little depressing and so I am not watching it. I am kind of sick of hearing about all that. But I still find myself very frustrated at our government (in particular our president) for the actions they took after 9/11. Instead of focusing on the terrorists who did this, he decided to have a war with Iraq. In doing so a lot of false information was given to the American people to convince them to support this war. Looking back now I am really troubled with what our country has done. Do I feel any safer since 9/11?? NO! Traveling in different countries I get many questions about how I feel about our government. I have also felt the hatred that many counties now have against the United States. Its too bad... So I don't feel safer and sometimes very embarrassed by the actions of our administration. Anyway, enough bitching about that. I can't believe its been 5 years. Time really flies!!! I guess tomorrow morning the news will tell us the country is on high alert. It's happened every year at this time since the attacks... I guess everything on TV tomorrow will be related to this terrible incident also... but we shouldn't forget what happened. We should look back and learn from this. But I wonder if our government really has..... who knows....
maybe we did learn something.

Here are a few other pictures from my trip to the US Open and New York below.

Last night I started school again.... can't believe it. I decided to get my OET and EMT certification. So I am hitting the medical books.... wow it seems like a long time since I have studied. But it feels good again to open some books and study. When I am finished I will possibly work on an ambulance part time or something. I have been interested in doing this for a while and decided to get it finished. But it won't take over my job. Its just an interest I have so more of a hobby to get these certifications... I guess I must be crazy.... but its kind of fun again to have homework...hehe

Andy Roddick

Strawberry Fields (John Lennon Memorial)

Ai Sugiyama

I got back from NY yesterday morning. I was a little tired but happy to be home. My trip was busy. I had a lot of things planned and it was fun. Basically I went to watch professional tennis at the US Open. But I did go to a New York Yankees game and did a lot of shopping too.

The weather in New York wasn't perfect. It was very cold compared to Utah. Now being back in Utah I feel like I am still in the middle of summer. Its still very hot and dry. New York was cool and humid. Actually it felt good there....

Below are some pictures of some players I saw. If you are a tennis fan I think you will know who they are. I watched Ai Sugiyama play also. She lost but hung in there. She did win her doubles match.

One of my all time favorite tennis players lost today and retired. Andre Agassi has been my favorite tennis player since I was in high school. I was sad to see him loose. His match today was the last of his career. He retired and no longer can keep the pace of the younger stronger players. But he has been the most exciting player to watch in my opinion. I guess time is flying and I am getting old too... he is my age.... so it makes me feel a little old as well.... but thats ok.. life goes on and we will all just keep getting older...hehe.

Nadal

Andy Roddick

Martina Hingis

Martina Navratilova