JamesG’s Friends and Family

Good luck Andy!

2008-08-24T15:14:54Z

http://www.kwansei.ac.jp/english/index.jsp

Tuesday, at 2:30 A.M. I will drive Andy to Detroit Metropolitan Airport for a flight to Japan at 6:00 A.M. I'm tired already. On the plus side, I should miss most of the Detroit rush hour traffic! Andy will study a semester at Kwansei Gakuin University in Osaka, Japan. His trip should be interesting because he has never been on a jet, never been in a large airport (he will be at Detroit, Chicago, and San Francisco before reaching Osaka), and only speaks a bit of Japanese. Quite the adventure. He will live with Mr. and Mrs. Hidetoshi Yoshitake and commute to University from their home.

I hope he appreciates my sacrifice of sleep. I'm going to try to work the full day when I get back. Not sure I'll make it the whole day, but I'm going to give it a go.

Read more about where he will be here.
And about the School of Humanities here.

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This is where I work:

2008-08-14T20:27:44Z

Library2

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Furniture

2008-08-14T13:08:11Z

Just remembered I said we got some new furniture. Well, here is some of it:

My chair.

It's black leather and has a matching ottoman. I like it a lot! Dennis got a black leather Lazy Boy. It isn't pictured because it isn't nearly as cool as my chair!

Glass and metal table

We got a set of three glass tables. Two end tables and this coffee table. Apparently The Evil Fred has laid claim to this one. He seems to enjoy the feeling of "hovering" above the floor and George Bofur. I also have seen Bofur bump his furry head on the underside of the table. He is sort of dim.

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Whining and dining on a Sunday evening.

2008-08-11T13:35:01Z

Redwine

Yesterday for dinner we had antipasti. We often have that for Sunday dinner; bread, olives, mushrooms, bruschetta, sliced apples, goat cheese, and wine. We opened a sort of moderately priced, aged, red last night. We poured it in our glasses and it was nearly brown! Very strong as well. We decided it was too much for our delicately flavored antipasti. We will try it again with pasta con salsa a base di carne. It should be better with the heavy meat sauce. Of course the strong flavor didn’t stop either of us from drinking an entire glass! Cheers!

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County Fair

2008-08-08T15:20:19Z

Work title: "County Fair" by Peter Jones

The local County Fair began today. My personal feeling is County Fairs are only good for 4H Club members, and eating delicious yet horrible food. I never go.

During the Fair, Library is deluged with carnival workers from all over the world, wanting to use our public Internet computers. I had a question asked of me I’ve never had before. A very attractive, very dark complected young woman approached the Circulation Desk and asked me:

“Are there any Africans here?”

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Look at that mug!

2008-08-08T14:04:23Z

Got this mug whilst driving through Toledo, Ohio, USA.

The odd looking bit around the hot dog is a crown. The back of the mug reads:

“Rudy’s Hot Dog….. Wearing the Crown Since 1920 and Thanking You for Making it Happen.”

The food was only alright. The mug is true, inspired, brilliance!

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Our Weekend... Part 2

2008-08-07T14:52:05Z

The four of us, (it was us and our good friends who live near Dublin) started our Sunday at City Barbeque. Truly delicious barbeque which I believe is regional in the mid-Ohio area. They also have sodas called NEHI. If you ever watched “M*A*S*H” , Radar O’Reily always drank Grape NEHI. I had orange. (I hate grape.) Dennis and I got a combo “sampler” plattar with 3 so-called mini sandwiches. Each one had about 1/4# of meat on it!! We didn’t eat all the bread. The meats were: beef brisket, pulled pork, and turkey. Yum!

Then it was off to the Irish Fest.Walked around looking at the vendor’s items and bought a couple of odd bits. Most of the souvenir vendors were Irish and it was fun just listening to them speak. But, we were there for the music.

Gaelic Storm was the first group we saw and definitely the most fun. They had a packed house (tent) and had everybody on their feet. Really fun.

Bad Haggis could win any contest for “best name.” Their self titled song was a real treat.

Brother is now down to 3 band members but can still rock the house. They were last on the billing and had a disappointing audience turn out. They were fantastic but the energy was diminished by the slim crowd. The didgeridoo player played the keyboard at the same time. Impressive. The lead singer also played guitar and bagpipe with equal skill.

We had a brilliant time and got home very late because Dublin is nearly 3 hours from home. It was well worth our time and we had an awesome weekend. Good food. Good friends. Good music. What more could we ask?

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Our Weekend, Part 1

2008-08-04T15:27:20Z

Big_face

Our weekend in Columbus, OH, USA began with a trip to the Short North area, a.k.a. “The Art and Soul of Columbus.” All up and down the street, which is only a few blocks and borders on the campus of Ohio State University, were small art galleries, unique shoppes, fab restaurants, and even a Segway showroom! I, personally, had never seen a Segway showroom. It was awesome! (lol) There was even a Posh Pets Boutique! Yes, dogs were EVERYWHERE in the Short North area, as well as every ethnic group, gays/lesbians, college students, and a lot of sort of strange people who may have been pledging with fraternities/sororities, but may have been just weird. Ah well, different strokes I say! The first weekend of each month is “Gallery Hop” when all the little galleries and shops stay open extra late. We eventually ate at a place called “Union Cafe“ The food was excellent and we ate outside on their deck which overlooked the street. All along the street is valet parking only. The cars parked there were mostly high-end cars like Ferrari, Lotus, Porsche, and a lot I can’t even remember. It was brilliant fun to look at them, the dogs, the odd activities meant to amaze and fascinate, and mostly the people themselves. Our friend, who drove us there got a parking ticket for $30 but I believe it was worth it!

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Más é do thoil é

2008-08-01T15:18:34Z

Rocksm

We’re toddling off to an Irish Music Festival this weekend. The main attraction, for us is “Brother” . They are an Aussie band what play Celtic rock and incorporate tribal instruments like the Didgeridoo with Bagpipes and guitar! Awesome stuff! This will be my third trip to the Fest. Last time I got to see the great Richard Thompson live. When he plays the guitar you could swear there are three guitars playing. The man is amazing!

So, I’ll see you next week with new songs buzzing through my already buzzing brain.

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Fashion Statement? What a crime!

2008-08-01T14:54:29Z

Baggy_pants_trio

Yeah, there was a real article about this. So far nobody has been arrested but many have been warned. Personally I don’t think the first look is that bad but the other two are just wrong in so many ways.

“But officer!”

“No Butts!”

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