It was February when my journey began
I eloped with my boyfriend
before the day he departs to Japan
Four months later, I am in the land of the rising sun
Living it off like a rockstar and without a plan…

This is basically what happened when I was 26. It was fun and if I had a chance to alter anything, this is definitely not going to be it.

Sheryl finally in Misawa, Japan

This picture was taken at the tower where David and I lived for almost four years. It is pretty obvious I just came from the Philippines because of that nice and sexy deep tan. Oh, how things have changed!

Today my kid brother turns 30.  Unfortunately, he lives in Misawa, Japan so this year won’t be able to celebrate with him in person.

I can honestly say I’ve loved him fiercely from the very beginning.  This is the day we first met-

My brother is an intense guy, I guess you would have to be to decide at age four that you want to be an F-16 fighter jet pilot and actually make this a reality…and though some of his intensity is hard for me to understand, he is an intensely deep and loving person and I can’t imagine not having this amazing guy in my life.  (Sorry, Andy if this online declaration of sisterly love embarrasses you.  Embarrassment from your sister is nothing new…)

So “cheers” today to my kid brother who has so often experienced the “debuts” in my life.  This is a guy I made at age 14 hold my hand on my very first roller coaster ride and who ordered my first “real” sushi for me!

This summer I had the great opportunity, thanks to Andy to visit him and his wife Sharon in Japan.  Here are some of my favorite “Andy shots” from our trip.

Amy’s first Sushi Adventure near the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan-

Tall man in Tokyo-

Ordering Takoyaki in Kyoto, one of Andy’s favorite foods-

Not too manly to use a fan-

Some things never change-

Posing with the oldest weeping cherry in Kyoto-

Andy eats figs for breakfast-

1. Über die Aufrichtigkeit sagte Shaikh Pir Jangi Dost al al Faqih al Muhaddith al Allamat al Hin as Sayyid alAhlul Tariqat  Abdal Qadir al Jilani al Hasani al Husaini ra :
“Wer Seinem Herrn gegenüber mit Wahrhaftigkeit ( sidq ) & Aufrichtigkeit (ikhlas) praktiziert ,
derjenige fühlt sich  Tag & Nacht abgestossen von allem ausser Ihm “
( 38 .Predigt , Futuh al Ghayb )

2. Bzgl. des Weinens (bukaa ) sagte der Shaikh :
“Weine wegen Ihm( wegen Seine Gnadengaben )  ,
weine vor  Ihm ( damit Er Dich vor dem Höllenfeuer bewahrt ) &
weine über Ihn ( wie barmherzig ist ER!) ” ( Jilani ra )

“Betrachte Dich im Spiegel der Schöpfung & erkenne Dein Spiegelbild ,
welches vergänglich ist & auf ihrer Reise  ist zu ihrem ( alleinigen ) Herrn “
( Muwahhid )

4. “Betrachte das Diesseits , die Schöpfung &
die Namen Allahs in ihr als Manifestationen ,
aber bedenke :”Was ein Anfang hat , hat ein Ende “
(Muwahhid )

5. “Frage Dich :
was ist der Sinn des Lebens &
was geschieht nach dem Tod ?”(Muwahhid )

6. Frage Dich : Wozu wurde dies alles erschaffen &
was ist mein Weg & meine Aufgabe auf dieser Erde ?”( Ibn al Farasa )

7. “Der geistige Gotteskrieger ( al mujahid al manawi ) ist derjenige ,
der die Götzenbilder ,
aber das Götzenbild eines jeden  Menschen ist sein Ego  ”
(Imam Abul Qasim al Qushairi in Ar Risala al Qushairiyya )

8. “Alles , was Du sehnsüchtig benötigst ,
ist um Dich vom Unglauben & Deinem  Ego zu reinigen ,
ist der Islam , vertreten durch Quran & Sunnah “
( Ibn al Mufaddala )

8. “Hüte Dich davor , etwas zu beanspruchen ,
was Du nicht besitzt als Kenntnis , Fähigkeit oder
durch Wissenserwerb noch Titel , all diese sind vergänglich “( Talib al Ilm )

Teil 2 folgt demnächst

10/9/09 UMUC Students: Misawa AB Japan, pt 2

Crystal Jennings, a former Army National Guard member who is at Misawa as a military spouse; and Yuzo Narita, a Japanese student.

Crystal Jennings

Yuzo Narita

10/2/09 UMUC Students: Misawa AB Japan, pt 1

Charles Artiles, a recent high school graduate in his first UMUC class session; and two military spouses, who are both former military themselves, Hebert Garcia and Waymon Whitley.

Charles Artiles	Hebert Garcia
Waymon Whitley

8/21/09 The Bridge Program

Bridge Program Coordinator Jackie Cillizza explains how UMUC Asia’s Bridge Program is helping local national students in Okinawa and at Misawa AB get started on their degrees. Then, program participants Tomoko Kelley, Kazumi Maekouchi, and Yuko Matsukawa talk about the backgrounds they bring to the program and where they hope to go from here.

This is an article for the website insidepulse.com, where I write for Pulse Wrestling.  I’m simply posting it here as well, so many of you probably won’t care about this.  Come back tomorrow, then.

Today’s Episode: Bad Investments

Before I get off on a rant, I want to say something very, very quick about the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa.  Like Aaron Glazer, another fine writer at this site, I was able to see him live last year for the first, and only, time.  At first, I felt that he was a bit of a shell of his former self, and could see the age wearing down on his body and demeanor.  However, once the tag match with KENTA, Marafuji and Morishima got going, it became very obvious that he really was one of the best at this, and arguably the best of all time.  Honestly, Glazer eulogized him far better than I ever could, and so I’ll just tell you to check out his modest blog, and learn more about the career of one of the all-time greats from one of the most passionate wrestling minds that I’ve ever encountered.

Now, onto some rambling about how the angle with Donald Trump purchasing Raw has the potential to be one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in professional wrestling.

Alright, to be fair, there have been truly horrendous things seen in this silly little pasttime of ours, and maybe it’s just me.  After all, my rage could simply be due to unrealistic expectations that I had pertaining to a new general manager, and that Trump was not something that I anticipated or in fact, wanted.

Still, my mind raced with thoughts of who the GM replacing Vickie Guerrero could be, and I allowed myself to forget the cardinal rules of wrestling surprises: 1) the mystery person is ever as cool as you want them to be, and 2) the simplest answer is almost always the right one.  The possibilities were varied and endless.  There was the old standby of Ric Flair, as well as Ricky Steamboat if they wanted to bust the old legend out again.  In terms of super, super long range, they could have had a one-off appearance by Bret Hart, or an angry Paul Heyman or, as I’ve heard many people suggest as of late, a rambling, nappy-haired Randy Savage.  Admittedly, those last three are essentially impossible, but the mind races when wrestling companies try to do something secretive with a mystery member or something of that nature.

And instead, some video of Donald Trump is thrown out there to explain why Raw won’t have commercials next week.  That’s interesting and all, but I just don’t see the point to this.  It’s not like Trump is any great magnet for mainstream exposure when his show is barely on the air and he’s being seen as even more of a parody of himself than usual.  Additionally, Trump isn’t going to be around long enough to become a full-fledged character, as I doubt he has the desire to commit to anything remotely close to a full-time schedule with the WWE as an on-air character.  How many arguments can a plucky babyface have with a video screen before it gets old?

This is bad business, and breaks one of the most important rules that I hold as a wrestling fan: it insults my intelligence.

Am I supposed to believe that Vince sold only Raw, and not the company?  How do you sell a show that’s so completely connected to the product as a whole?  Does that mean Raw can go to a different network?  Will the decor change to Trump’s typical gold plating for EVERYTHING?  That would give at least the illusion of a true change.

But that’s all it would be, anyway: an illusion.  Frankly, that’s all we’re really asking for anyway, but the insistence that every week will bring some great major change to programming is silly, and yet we still buy it, and are often happy to.  The problem with Trump is that its an outsider coming in.  Trump is not an active wrestler, or a manager, or a legend, or anyone that fans have any real connection to.  Why else would people in the audience be chanting “We want Flair!” aside from having someone the fans love come to rescue them from the jealous, vicious, and incredibly over Vickie Guerrero?

(Side note: give the lady some credit, as she became an incredible character over time when essentially nothing was expected of her.)

Trump’s reveal was met with an almost palpable sense of apathy and disappointment.  Still, I believe that most fans, like myself, believe that Trump’s place in the WWE Universe is going to be pretty short term, and that Vince will find himself unable to fully make the sale to someone that he despises so much.  And we will all be happy.

But what Vince should do is invest in our nostalgia and love for the business.  Flair would have been fitting, if predictable, as would a sale to Shane McMahon, who, now in a wheelchair, full of bitterness and jaded beyond belief, is the young buck kept on the sidelines and taking it out on everyone else.  Couldn’t you picture the storylines with Shane a) starting out as a beloved face that tortures Orton, and then b) the frustration at his condition leads him to become more and more jealous of the superstars who he still believes he could beat if his ankle were in any decent condition, and c) the dark turn of Shane McMahon, becoming more like his father, obsessed with destroying careers and turning his position into something similar to that of a powermad owner, again like dear old Dad.

That’s just a theory.  Right now, the use of Trump just adds a quality of surrealism, and not much more.

Still…commercial-free is good.  Too bad we’ll be spending the last half hour watching HHH and Randy Orton have another snoozefest.

Yesterday, Japanese professional wrestler 三沢光春 (Mitsuharu Misawa) died.

I’m not a wrestling fan, but 三沢光春 (Mitsuharu Misawa) is famous and he was considered one of the best wrestlers in the world.

What makes this story unusual is that 三沢光春 (Mitsuharu Misawa) died yesterday in the wrestling ring during a main-event tag-team match in 広島 (Hiroshima, Japan).

After receiving a “back drop” during the match, he had a heart attack and became unconscious. The ring announcer asked if any of the spectators were a doctor. There was a doctor in the audience who came into the ring to try to save him…and of course an ambulance was called.

He died in the hospital at about 10:00 PM last night. It happened to be only six days before his 47th birthday.

三沢光春 (Mitsuharu Misawa), R.I.P.
1962 June 18 – 2009 June 13.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go onto Misawa Air Base for some good ol’ American food shopping. Of course, the base boasts more than just a grocery store – bowling alley, climbing wall, movie theater, golf course, and some planes to name a few – but my primary goal was finding crunchy peanut butter. Once I passed through the automatic sliding doors, though, I found something else entirely: reverse culture shock. Now, I’ve gotten lost in a town full of incomprehensible kanji signs, contorted my body into ridiculous shapes to handle squat toilets, and had tiny fingers poked up my butt; in other words, I know culture shock. But I was unprepared and completely taken aback by its reversal. Here are a few things that may seem normal to you, but put me in a daze:

Bacon

Rude (or maybe just not ridiculously nice) Store Clerks

Shopping Carts (have they always been that big?)

ESPN College Basketball

ESPN

Ambient conversation I can understand

TacoBellDominosPopeyesBurgerKingSubway

Cereal…Aisle

Not being a giant (or being in the proximity of other giants)

I knew it was bad when someone asked if I was in line, only to realize I had been staring at those grocery conveyer belts at the check out counters. And that was only a grocery store, just a taste of reverse culture shock (get it?). What’s going to happen when I’m back in the States and go into a sports bar…or Walmart…or an SUV?!

[Taylor]

Sunday’s original plan was to go skiing if the weather was decent.  It ended up snowing in Noheji that day but it in the early afternoon it was too warm to stick to the ground.  Since warmer temperatures earlier in the week had already dwindled an already below-average accumulation of snow, we decided to head to the city of Misawa for entertainment with two of our friends.

After a refreshing and delicious lunch buffet at an Indian restaurant, we went ice skating.

Against all odds, none of us fell.

Once we felt we had taken enough laps around the rink we went out in search of an aviation and science museum.  The science wing of the museum was the highlight of the visit.  We spent a good two hours playing around with enormous toys that also teach you a thing or two about electromagnetism, helicopter physics, and thermodynamics.

My personal favorite was the moonwalk simulator where one of the employees straps you in a chair connected to a complicated rigging of pipes.  As you jump and walk around, the contraption simulates the moon’s gravity.  It was fantastic.

They also had a full-scale flight simulator.  My friend Bryan and I managed to successfully land a small plane at Narita International Airport in Tokyo.    No passengers were injured in the bumpy landing.

The museum also houses a replica of an airplane that made the first nonstop trans-oceanic flight across the Pacific.  The plane, the Lady Veedol, took off from Misawa with two men aboard and landed in Wenatchee, Washington.  Today the two cities continue to embrace a warm, friendly connection based around the historic flight as well as an admiration for the cultivation and consumption of apples.

This is Part I of a multi-part series chronicling my motorcycle adventure from Tokyo to Sapporo and back again.

Background:  In 2007, I had finally gotten my Japanese driver’s license and a motorcycle.  I had been an avid motorcycle rider in Canada before I came to Japan, so after 2 years of no riding, I finally bought a motorcycle and decided to go on a big adventure.  I went from Tokyo to Sapporo by motorcycle and ferry.  It was an adventure to say the least.

Leg 1:  (Tokyo to Mutsu)

Ready to depart

On a crisp June morning, I left Tokyo and headed for the Tohoku Expressway.  I would head north as far as I could go in a day.  I started by racing to the Tohoku Expressway which was about 30 minutes away in the city.  In Japan, each expressway is owned by a different company, rather than the government, so taking the regular roads in the city is cheaper and sometimes faster.  Within Tokyo, it can be faster to take the regular roads, but often it’s faster to take the Shuto Expressway (the only expressway in central Tokyo).  I saved a little money, but in general, once I got close to the Tohoku Expressway, traffic was backed up and my plan to save money and time went out the window.  I only saved money.

Tsurusu PA. Unagi is very popular.

Once I was on the highway, it would be a short 9 hour trip to Hachinohe, about 700km.  I took many stops along the way.  Along the expressways in Japan, every 50 km or so, there is a Service Area or Parking/Pit Area (SA or PA).  These are very convenient.  They often have local foods during the day, gas stations, and sometimes kid parks and dog parks.  It’s a great way to stretch your legs and relax on long road trips.  Making use of these SAs and PAs are essential.  All expressways in Japan are private roads, and thus, you have to pay to use them.  Because of this, you cannot enter and exit any expressway without paying.  You can also save money if you travel farther in a day, or if you travel at certain times.  Because of this, I decided to go all the way from Tokyo to Hachinohe.  Hachinohe is actually one of two end points for the Tohoku Expressway.  The main branch goes to Aomori, the biggest city in the Northern region of Honshu, while a Hachinohe branch expressway runs to Hachinohe.  The Tohoku Expressway itself is not a very interesting expressway.  It’s pretty straight and boring. Once you are on the Hachinohe branch, things look nicer and more natural.  Being on a motorcycle, you will also experience the changes of traveling 700 km North of Tokyo.  Every 100 km felt like I lost about 2C.

Another PA. They usually have dedicated Motorcycle parking.

Hahinohe was a nice little town, the first time I passed through.  It’s relatively small, but unfortunately, all of the roads are curved.  This made me disoriented and I always got lost.  It took about 20 minutes before I found a police station and got directions.  I wanted to head north to a small city called Mutsu, and the highway was impossible to find.  Once the police pointed me in the right direction, everything went smoothly.

Park near Misawa

Along the way, I stopped at a park near the town of Misawa.  Misawa is a very small town with absolutely nothing.  It’s mainly a town for the Japanese Self Defense Force and American military.  The park I visited was very little small, but I was able to see and enjoy the Pacific Ocean a little.  The park was completely devoid of life.  I took this opportunity to relax a little and to start enjoying my trip.  This was also my first encounter with Japan’s infamous “tetrapod”.  They are 4-8 legged concrete “jacks” that are placed in the water to absorb the force of the waves.  The purpose of them is to save the coast from eroding and protect any wharfs from typhoons and such.  While I feel this is necessary in some places, Japan seems to go overboard with them.  They are placed in the oddest places and excessively so.  Once I was finished with the park, I continued north in the Shimokita Peninsula.  It’s a very beautiful place.  There are many windmills collecting energy for the area.  It provides a very unique look at technology and nature trying to interact with each other.

Some windmills between Misawa and Mutsu

By nightfall, I had reached the town of Mutsu.  It is a small city that few Japanese people even know of.  It’s a quaint little town, but in reality, there is nothing special about it.  The area is known for its sciences, but little else.  While I don’t really recommend this place, if you need a base to get out and about in the area, it’s a nice central place.  This was also the destination of leg one.  It took me one full day, and I was completely exhausted.

このblogは英語のblog。もし私の英語は難しい、日本語のquestionは大丈夫。

マンツーマン英会話が1時間2000円! 格安 英会話レッスンはIHCWAYで決まり!

La base USAF di San Vito dei Normanni (San Vito Air Station), situata circa dieci chilometri a nord-ovest di Brindisi, in una posizione intermedia fra il porto della città pugliese ed il paese di San Vito dei Normanni, fu attivata l’1 novembre 1960, nel pieno della Guerra Fredda, grazie ad uno dei tanti accordi segreti siglati tra l’Italia e gli Stati Uniti. Inizialmente operò come installazione esterna della base di Aviano, con il personale e le attrezzature di sostegno forniti dal 6.900° stormo di sicurezza, arrivato a San Vito già nel 1959. Esso diede il via alla costruzione delle infrastrutture che permisero poi al 6.917° Electronics Security Group, 700 uomini dell’aviazione a cui se ne aggiungevano alcuni della US Navy, di entrare in attività.
Nel 1964, venne eretta quella mastodontica e misteriosa struttura che prese il nome di “gabbia dell’elefante” [vedi foto]. Si trattava di un’antenna radiogoniometrica ad alta frequenza FLR-9, costituita da una grande struttura circolare a cerchi concentrici (Wullenweber), mentre nei bunker sottostanti lavoravano centinaia di specialisti dell’intercettazione, traduttori e crittografi che, grazie a quelle antenne ed a potentissime apparecchiature radio con un raggio utile di intercettazione di circa 1.500 miglia, ascoltavano ogni comunicazione – telefonica, radio, telex, telegrafica, video… – proveniente non solo dal blocco comunista e dal Vicino e Medio Oriente, ma anche dai cosiddetti Paesi amici occidentali, Italia compresa.
La base di San Vito e quella di Chicksands, in Gran Bretagna, furono le prime ad essere equipaggiate con il sistema di intercettazione FLR-9, nell’ambito della nuova rete spionistica col nome in codice di “Cavallo di Ferro”. Le altre tre installazioni della rete erano collocate presso la base di Misawa in Giappone, la Clark Air Base nelle Filippine ed a Elmendorf, in Alaska.
Già dal 1967 l ‘attività di intelligence di San Vito passò alle dipendenze operative della NSA (National Security Agency), il servizio segreto militare che di fatto gestisce il famigerato sistema Echelon e le sue derivazioni.
All’inizio degli anni Ottanta, si avviò il ridimensionamento degli organici, per una serie di tagli al bilancio militare statunitense, ma anche con l’affermazione della tecnologia satellitare che ha reso superflue ed antiquate le grandi installazioni fisse come quella di San Vito. La Guerra del Golfo del 1991 fu l’ultima operazione convenzionale alla quale partecipò la base, che dall’aprile 1993 cessò di operare.
Alla fine di quell’anno, San Vito accolse uomini e mezzi assegnati alle missione umanitaria “Deny Flight” in Bosnia Erzegovina, poi riconvertiti nell’operazione di peacekeeping “Provide Promise” condotta negli stessi territori, con gli elicotteri Black Stallion ed i cacciabombardieri AC-130 Spectre stazionanti presso le piste dell’aeroporto militare Pierozzi di Brindisi. Nel 1997, i 1.300 uomini della Joint Operation Task Force-2 – avieri statunitensi del 352° Special Operations Group e del 16° Special Operations Wing – operavano a San Vito a sostegno del dispiegamento delle truppe NATO in Bosnia e del controllo dello spazio aereo sul Paese balcanico. Affiancati da una manciata di fanti e marinai USA, e dalle truppe speciali francesi dell’Armée de l’Air, impegnate in operazioni di commandos.
Terminata l’aggressione della NATO alla Serbia del 1999, a San Vito è rimasto soltanto un reparto addetto alla sorveglianza del perimetro esterno ed alla efficienza della stazione di osservazione solare del Solar Electro-Optical Network. La struttura è gestita da un contractor privato ed è inserita in una rete di sei installazioni sparse nel mondo per assicurare un monitoraggio 24 ore su 24. Organizzativamente fa capo al 55° Space Weather Support Squadron, insediato alla Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
Il 26 febbraio 2000, il senatore Stefano Semenzato, vicepresidente del gruppo parlamentare dei Verdi, presentò un’interrogazione nella quale – alla luce delle risultanze dello studio preparato per il Parlamento Europeo da Duncan Campbell e denominato “Interception Capabilities 2000″, sull’esistenza e le modalità di funzionamento del sistema Echelon – chiedeva delucidazioni in merito alle attività ed alla dotazione tecnologica della base di San Vito dei Normanni. Domandava inoltre se il governo italiano avesse una qualche forma di controllo sull’attività della base e se, in caso contrario, non intendesse porre agli Stati Uniti una richiesta in tal senso.
A seguito di una gara bandita nel dicembre 2001, sono stati rimossi tutti i materiali che componevano l’antenna e le imboccature al bunker sottostante sono state sigillate con due impenetrabili porte d’acciaio, atte ad evitare qualsiasi ingresso non autorizzato. Non sono stati effettuati lavori al di sotto del suolo mentre al di sopra di esso oggi il terreno appare completamente sgombro.
Il 24 luglio 2003, con una cerimonia ufficiale tenutasi nella base di Ramstein, in Germania, alla presenza del colonnello Casertano per lo Stato Maggiore dell’Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) e del comandante dell’aeroporto di Brindisi, Rolando Tempesta, è avvenuto il passaggio di San Vito dall’USAF all’AMI. L’accordo parlava di un periodo transitorio di due anni in cui San Vito avrebbe dovuto rimanere in carico all’aeronautica italiana, per poi transitare all’amministrazione civile scelta dallo Stato. Resta però in possesso degli Stati Uniti una piccola ma importante porzione della base, quella della stazione di osservazione solare con sofisticate apparecchiature e radar. Gli addetti non indossano divise e la loro presenza nel territorio è quindi “invisibile”.
Negli ultimi anni, si è assistito ad un balletto di posizioni in cui si ritrova coinvolta anche l’ONU, la quale ha ottenuto l’uso di parte delle aree della ex base per scopi logistici (un nuovo enorme deposito che va ad aggiungersi a quello già presente presso l’aeroporto del capoluogo brindisino) ed operativi (una erigenda scuola di addestramento al peacekeeping con corsi di “polizia internazionale”).