I'm just the translator, so I don't pull a commission on this

A couple of close friends will be headed out this way in a couple of months, and of couse that thrust my mind into tour guide mode.

What are we going to do for fun? Where are we going to eat? Who are we going to hang out with? Day trips?

And then I remembered that a little language ability can go a long way for travelers in these here parts. Then I remembered that I translated a Japanese phrasebook for novices last year called, Konnichiwa, Nihongo! (basically: Hello, Japanese!).

It's mostly aimed at anyone who has just arrived and is planning to stay for a bit (ie. they have a work visa), so it's only available on the Japanese version of Amazon at this point. However, I'd venture to say that it would be very helpful for anyone staying in Japan for more than a couple of days.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone planning a trip to Japan.

*Embarrassing note: they must have run out of space because they forgot the last 'i' on my surname (you can see for yourself if you flip through the pages (virtually) at the Amazon link above).

I'm just the translator, so I don't pull a commission on this

Vermont Folks

Big ole Vermont reunion in Tokyo at a Swallows home game versus their cross-town rivals, the Yomiuri Giants.

We (the Tokyo Swallows) got stomped.

But everyone had a good time anyway. Pizza and beer will do that.

Vermont Folks

Christmas 2008 in Karuizawa: Random Photo

With Scott Lawson's bachelor party set to kick off tomorrow morning, I thought it might be the right time to remind him what he's getting into.

This is a photo taken from the evening gift exchange at our Christmas 2008 getaway to Karuizawa. Just came across it while deleting files from my camera's memory card.

I believe that the sparring set was a gift from Andy (he always gives the most creative/hilarious gifts), and Yuki went straight to work on Scott's jaw.

Definitely a match made in heaven! Wedding date: October 3rd, 2009.

Christmas 2008 in Karuizawa: Random Photo

FitWit Foundation

Some college friends of mine in Atlanta are doing something that I greatly admire. They're trying to improve the community where they live by mentoring and providing healthy lifestyle choices to the youth in the city. They are doing so through a foundation that they created called The FitWit Foundation.

My friends Ben and Josh are spearheading the foundation's efforts, and I know that they also run a separate fitness and tutoring program called FitWit that I believe involves Josh's wife, Erin.

It sounds like things are going well for them in Atlanta, and the best part is that they're truly helping to make a difference.

If you're interested in donating to The FitWit Foundation (registered nonprofit) to help them with their mission to battle childhood obesity rates, please register at Network for Good so that you can do so right now online.

Alternatively, you could write to Ben (ben@fitwit.com) or Josh (josh@fitwit.com) and share your thoughts on what they're doing.

[photo stolen from FitWit's website]

FitWit Foundation

Chuck Baser

From the Burlington Free Press:

BASER, FREDERICK "CHUCK"
FREDERICK "CHUCK" BASER BRISTOL - Frederick "Chuck" Baser, 31, died suddenly of natural causes on Saturday, June 6, 2009, at his home in Bristol. He was born on Sept. 17, 1977, in Middlebury, the son of Frederick and Marian Baser. He graduated from Mt. Abraham High School and Colgate University where he sang with Colgate 13. Chuck was a member of Bristol Conservation Commission and was active in restoration of Sycamore Park. Chuck loved the outdoors and he enjoyed fishing, hunting, jack jumping, and boating. He was a skilled woodworker and nothing pleased him more than a beautiful piece of wood. Chuck touched many lives in small and profound ways. Chuck is survived by his parents; and his brothers, Nicholas Baser and his wife Janel of Phillips, Maine, Gregory Baser and his fiance Nicole of Salt Lake City, Utah; his niece and nephew, Adelaide and Silas Baser, who brought him much joy; grandparents Frederick and Nettie Baser and also Gertrude Burke; many aunts, uncles, cousins, and great friends who loved him and will miss him very much. He was predeceased by his maternal grandfather Gerald Burke and his aunt and uncle, Kathryn and Ned Henderickson. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, in St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Bristol. Interment will be in Mt. St. Joseph Cemetery in Bristol. Friends may call at Brown-McClay Funeral Home in Bristol on Wednesday, June 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Town of Bristol c/o Conservation Commission, P.O. Box 249, Bristol, VT 05443.

_____________________________

Chuck was a good friend from the theater crowd in Bristol, Vermont. I also have fond memories of watching him and Pete Buonincontro pump out adirondack chairs, benches and porch swings for their "Bristol Butt-rests" line several summers ago when we were all in Bristol at the same time.

Please feel free to post any stories you have about Chuck in the comments below.

You will be missed, Chuck. You will definitely be missed.

Chuck Baser

Ricky Roma Wins!

I'm very happy to report that Ricky Roma (Justin Berti) won a very tight contest in the Mr. Latin category of the Harlequin modeling contest!

He has already commenced his duties as "Mr. Latin", and I know that he's already been to a couple of events to help promote the Harlequin brand.

I'd like to thank everyone who voted on his behalf, and I'm sure that Ricky will second the "thanks" if he ever happens upon this post.

Ricky Roma Wins!

Robert Glasper Trio

If you don't listen to much jazz, you need to start doing so now. The Robert Glasper Trio is in Tokyo at the moment, and as you probably won't have a chance to see them perform at the Cotton Club this time around, you should make it a point to get your hands on In My Element.

Yong-nam and I went to watch the trio (Glasper on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, and Damion Reid on drums) tonight along with our good friends Dave and Hisae. It was a playful, euphoric experience that, without a doubt, won me over as a lifelong fan. I've just now downloaded Glasper's first album, Canvas, from iTunes and plan to pipe it through the living room system for the next several weeks to come.

Can't wait for the third album which Robert mentioned will drop in July 2009!

Check here for Glasper's MySpace page.

By the way, Robert Glasper was very gracious and signed autographs and took photos with anyone who asked. That definitely ain't normal.

Robert Glasper Trio

BBQ in the park under the cherry trees (hanami 2009)

We had our annual bbq hanami party at Koganei Park yesterday afternoon. The weather was beautiful, if a bit chilly, and the flowers were just starting to bloom on the cherry trees. We were a bit early this year, so the trees still need about a week to reach full bloom. However, I prefer the park when it's not quite as crowded. There's more space to pass out drunk (a la the guy in the photo on the left).

We played some Bristol Horseshoes and cooked up several kilos of quality meat. Adam and Sachi brought Ryuma out for what I believe was his first hanami party. Our friends Hiroshi and Kazue brought a magnum of Moet which, I must admit, was a first for me sitting in the middle of the park!

There may be more parties to attend this coming weekend, but we will have to wait and see. If, however, yesterday was my only chance at hanami this spring, then I can live with that. Everyone had a good time yesterday.

BBQ in the park under the cherry trees (hanami 2009)

Mr. Harlequin Contest: Vote for Ricky Roma!

A close friend of mine, Justin Berti (aka Ricky Roma), is competing in the Mr. Harlequin Contest.

You remember him, right? Remember "Glengarry Glen Ross" from last year (here, here, and here)? Ricky Roma?

Well Justin/Ricky is currently in second place in the "Mr. Latin" category, and making a good showing every week. He has a few more weeks to catch the leader, and if you're interested in helping a good friend of mine, please keep reading.

Go to this link and follow the voting instructions.

You need to register one of your e-mail addresses in order to vote, but don't worry, they won't spam you. They will, however, send you a confirmation e-mail (which you should delete, rather than open, lest you cancel your vote) and a couple of other messages informing you how the contest is going. The most important thing is that you go to the link listed above and vote! If you have a hard time accessing the link, cut and paste http://www.iammrlatin.wordpress.com into your browser.

You can also check out Justin's personal website for a closer look.

Mr. Harlequin Contest: Vote for Ricky Roma!

Shaky Face Photos

I've been sitting on these photos for a while, and I have a couple minutes, so I thought I'd get them out there for others to enjoy.

These are from a night on the town back in August with a bunch of the good people from the greater Burlington area.

This was Matt's idea. The rules are simple. Relax the skin and muscles that hold your face in place, and when the camera is ready, shake your head back and forth very quickly like you just got out of the shower and you're trying to get the excess water out of your hair. Snap photo.

Shaky face!

Believe it or not, Matt and Travis's significant others (Kate and Devon, respectively) were present for this. Ryan's missus was smart and stayed home with their adorable daughter.

The above pic was not the best example of shaky face that we saw that night. It is, without a doubt, difficult to get three guys to contort their facial matter in the same hilarious way when the shutter clicks.

There's also the fact that shaking one's face fast enough to induce a slapping sound when your cheek hits your ear can hurt a little bit. A minor detail, really. Two or three minutes and half a pint are recommended between shakes.

Rest assured, this all makes a lot more sense when you've reached your third drinking establishment of the evening.

But the individual efforts were impressive. This one of Kate's brother, Ben, is an eye-opener.



And not to be outdone, Ryan got one wobbling for the crowd.

I've been telling people that this was taken just after I smacked him for a comment he made about the Chicago Bears, but alas that is not the case.

Ryan did this to himself.

Anyway, go ahead and give shaky face a try. It helps if you have a digital camera with relatively high specs, say six megs or more. The camera used for these shots is a 10 meg unit.

Shaky Face Photos

J-League Game

Stephen took me to the national stadium in Tokyo to see my first J-League game last night. It was actually quite good, to be honest with you.

He said that the crowd was a bit odd because the game wasn't being played at their home stadium (Ajinomoto Stadium), but I was impressed with how rambunctious they were.

Even though the defense was a bit shocking, the footy was mostly alright.

I would definitely be happy to go and see another game.

FC Tokyo and Gamba Osaka drew 1-1. FC Tokyo's goal came by way of Waseda University alum, Tokunaga, and was one of the best goals I've ever seen live.

J-League Game

Erwin and Pellegrini (Tokyo Edition)

Emily Erwin and I (Hye-young in the background) in Tokyo. Welcome to the sauna, Emmy!

Erwin and Pellegrini (Tokyo Edition)

Vermonters in Tokyo

My good, good friend from Bristol is coming to Tokyo for a month to study Japanese!

Emily Erwin (not the one from the Dixie Chicks) is going to be here for the month of July! She lives in Kanazawa where she teaches at a university, but she's on summer break now.

Last buddy from home that came to visit was Dan Eling (2004?).

Vermonters in Tokyo

Season Opener vs. Yomiuri at Meiji Jingu Stadium

It was kind of a wet weekend, that Friday, Saturday and Sunday when the 2008 season began for the teams of NPB's central league. The Tokyo derby was hosted at Jingu stadium and we were there for all three games.

The rain was particularly bad for the Sunday game after Tokyo had already beat Yomiuri easily in the first two games of the series. I had publicly stated before the series that Yomiuri was the team to beat this season, but they sure didn't look like it during that first series. Tokyo won all three games: 6-2 (Fri); 6-3 (Sat); 10-2 (Sun) leading to a central league table that looked very different from last year's.

Luke and Sally were back in town that weekend, so they were able to make it to the game on Sunday when the clouds emptied. Stephen, Miyoko and Reina were there as well (Stephen and Miyoko only like to come to games when it's raining), and we were able to have a bit of fun once it became obvious that the game was out of reach and the mighty Giants had all but given up.

The Swallows pitching is still a little shaky, but the upshot is that there are a lot of young arms in the rotation, so that can only mean good things for the future. Additionally, it looks like we may finally have a reliable closer in the bullpen. Chang-yong Im (last name sometimes romanized as Lim) throws really hard (94-95 mph) for a sidearm pitcher, and he has been fantastic thus far. I'm guardedly optimistic about him at this point. It's still early, so we'll see what happens when opposing teams have seen him a few times.

Season Opener vs. Yomiuri at Meiji Jingu Stadium

Thanksgiving 2007

Garrett's contribution to the discussion.

The damage.

Post-dinner eyebrow-raising competition.

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving 2007: it got a little wacky

The tiara on Adam.

Dave's rendition.

Kel's version.

Thanksgiving 2007: it got a little wacky

Thai Kickboxing

This is a clip of my buddy, Christophe Mertens, fighting in Cambodia earlier this year.

His next fight is scheduled for next month in Thailand.

Thai Kickboxing

Dave's Dance

Dave and his swallow do a little dance while Scott and Sarah provide relief and song.

PS. Yes, the quality is still crappy. Feel free to buy me a new phone anytime.

Dave's Dance

Milford Gordon

Sachi and Adam's pet bunny, Milford.

In this photo he's just doing his thing, I guess.

We looked after him for about a week while his parents were on holiday.

Milford Gordon

First Shot at Video-Blogging

Update 2: The first video was removed because the quality was crap. Please have a look at the video down below.

This is kind of a test. I want to see what kind of sound and video quality are possible here. I also would like to test the potential of my phone's video camera when at it's lowest quality setting.

Anyway, I went to visit Ken and Miyuki at their beautiful place near Yoga station, and then we all headed down to the river for the fireworks show. It was my third one this summer, and I think it was probably the best of the three.

This video was taken toward the end of the show.

How did it look on your computer? Sound?

Update 1:

OK, if you haven't watched that first one, then you're lucky. It didn't go well. The video below was taken at a higher quality setting (on my phone). It looks OK in Quicktime, but (again) it might not work that well when Blogger messes with it.

This is a clip from the Awaodori Festival in Koenji this past weekend.

Please let me know how it looks on your computer.

Hint: Turn the volume (lower right corner) way down!

First Shot at Video-Blogging