Memorial Day Weekend

Friday ~ Given the holiday on Monday the army was nice enough to give us an extra day off. My roommate just moved out so I used the extra day off to move in the rest of my stuff that I had stashed away in storage. I got some grocery shopping done and since it was raining again, all our softball games got cancelled.



Saturday ~ We had a visiting Aircraft carrier, the USS Lincoln in port this weekend so we tried to have a softball tournament. But history has a way of repeating itself and like all other tournaments we have had scheduled on a weekend this one was rained out. The team had breakfast together and then went our separate ways. I went back to the rooma and watched the NBA Semi-Finals and took a well needed nap. This was the last day to turn in my Business Managment Final so I figured I would get started. Procrastination has become something of a habit for me. It works because i got an A on it and a B+ for the final grade. The night was capped off with a nice BBQ outside the barracks.



Sunday ~ The rain held off late Saturday and we only had scarce cloud cover so the sporting events were still held. My friends form one of the ships played a couple soccer games and at 2 we gathered about 14 guys from 4 different teams and created a flag football team to play a team from the Lincoln. All of us hadn't ever played together so we were a little worried. But we all knew the job we had to do and suprisingly we played well together and won 26-18. The Linclon even had their own rugby team and was scheduled to play a local japanese team after our game. Never seeing a game before me and a couple friends stayed to watch. Let me tell you I haven't had more fun watching a game in any sport than this. The local Sasebo team was out sized completely but those little guys were relentless and quick. Kamikaze would be a word I would use to describe them, they were going straight in for the tackles against guys at least 100 pounds heavier than them.



Monday ~ I finished season 5 of the TV series '24' in the morning and by the time my friends all woke up the sun was out and the weather was great.. Six of us grabbed our towels and drove down to the local beach about 15 minutes away and spent a few hours on it just enjoying one of the rare nice sunny days. It was a nice day just to be lazy out by the water and enjoy even more time off. It was a good weekend.

Softball (24MAy06)

Sorry it as Finals week and I'm just now getting to writing....

After almost two weeks of not playing we were anxious to getting back on the field. The Japanese Fire Department started off their night with a 22-9 win over the USS Guardian. Fortunately for us they got all their hits out of the way for when they played us. They only had one run in the first 5 innings and that was good because our sticks were cold and it was obvious we hadnt played in a while. We got through the first game 7-3.
The next game was against the vastly improved security team. They got in a whole squad of sailors out of boot camp and they have brought this team around 180 degrees. They stayed with us for the first 6 innings and at one point even had the lead. Their offense and our slow night made this game go into 7 innings where we finally opened up and finished the game with a walk off grand slam. Hopefully the rain-rain-good day pattern keeps up so we can at least play once a week.


Season Record: 25-4

Miyazaki Ocean Dome

This weekend I got invited along for a weekend trip to Miyazaki and visit its World Famous Ocean Dome. My friends and their co-workers packed up and left on Friday and had a nice 5 hour road trip over to the other side of Kyushu. The first day was beautiful as we were closer to the equator and closer to the beach. We got to the dome as soon as it opened and were one of the first few people in. As soon as I stepped in I was in awe. It was almost the size of an indoor football stadium with a massive 'beach' right in the middle of it. On the two sides were slides and miscellaneous pools to play in. It was easy to spend the whole day there. The time flew by playing in the pools with everybody including the kids of Chris's secretary who came along for Japanese-English translations. During mandatory breaks they cleared out the main pool and entertained everybody with surfing and water fountain demonstrations. The last half hour of the day were open for those of us who wanted to boogy board. They turned they waves on and gave us the oppurtunity to ride them in the short distance to the coast. We were beat by the time we left.

That night a few of us went out to the real beach and just sat under the stars and listened to the waves. The beach closer to Sasebo isn't near as big or clean. We welcomed the oppurtunity to go and sit out on a good beach.

The next day we packed up and headed back up towards Sasebo. Kiko (our translator) wanted to stop at the Aso Milk Farm. It was intended for the kids but we all ended having a good time. The area is basically a farmers market with a bunch of stuff to keep you occupied in your stay. Under the looming of Mt. Aso (the inactive volcano I climbed last year) is where this place was. We spent a couple hours doing the obstacle course and walking around looking at all the crafts and food. After that we all agreed it was time to head home.
Click the pictures to see them bigger:


The thrill seekers: Ham, Michelle, Chris, and Me
















The Miyazaki Ocean Dome
















A view from our Hotel
















Me doing my best trying not to fall over on the boogy board:

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This Rain Has to Stop.....Right?

Rain, rain go away
come again some other day
all the world is waiting for the sun
~~~Breaking Benjamin

The asperity of our rainy season is not for another two months. And yet, here we have seven of the last eight days have been complete sunless. Any outdoor plans have been extinguished. Our stagnant softball season has seen 4 cancelled tournaments all on account of the plethora of rain. Even when there's sun, the inundated fields are unplayable. Tonight we had to cancel another game. Blah! On the good side (if there is one) the local rice economy is doing well. Gotta love that rice!! Last year there were rumors of a water shortage that led to a base wide 'water restriction' plan. I'm thinking it won't be a shortage will be a problem this year. Watching the news, I guess it's worse in Massachusets and the deluge that's going on there. We haven't had that problem here yet as the locals have their irrigation/sewage systems in line here; run downhill into the ocean. I just hope that doesn't well over...... :(

Plunge

Coming back from the gym I noticed a flyer advertising a free show with a band from back in the states. After wrapping up the latest season of '24' on DVD the night prior, I found myself with nothing to do and nothing on TV. So I went to check it out and it wasn't that bad. I kind of got used to live shows when in DC, and since being here I've seen less than a handful. It was good to hear live music from a somewhat professional band. They had quite a variety from AC/DC to sublime, and a few of their own songs as well. Overall it was a great show for the price of it.

'Bomb Cache turns out bigger than expected'

The Front page of the Stars and Stripes read on Tuesday. The day prior had our McDonalds and the newly built gym in the front picture with the caption: Bomb Cache Found at Sasebo. An interesting couple of days to say the least. I look out the clinic door on Tuesday afternoon and they have the back section of the base closed off due to the discovery. It has happened a couple of times, construction crews unearthed some artillery bunkers dating back to the days of the Japanese Imperials Navy, so no one took great alarm. Inconvenience was more a factor as that part of the base was near the only bank and the before mentioned fastfood establishment. Not to mention several areas of employment.

What was found was originally a bunker with what was estimated a dozen or so shells. After exploring a little more they found a new bunker with a alot more shells in them. About 100 more, along with boosters and mortars. Of these only two had explosive capability. This extended the inaccessibility to the area for another day. People that worked in the vicinity got an unscheduled day off. Those two that had explosives, had no fuses and were taken out by JGSDF bomb crews. Debris cluttered the rest of the bunkers which had to be cleaned out. The area was reopened late Tuesday.

This is about the third time this has happened. The last time was right around where they are building the new shopping center. They found one shell there and had to close the base down due to its proximity to the main gate. With as much construction that goes on here I would be suprised if that was the last discovery.

More Friendship Softball

The rain was unable to damper a set round robin like tournament with a couple of local teams from Saikai city. We brought our team and the team from the USS Guardian to play the Saikai City Western Yokose team and the Saikai City Eastern Yokose teams. The day day started with a homerun derby. Their field so their rules, in which we had to use rubber balls which were harder to hit, and crazier to field. It didn't really effect our power hitters as our 5 hitters ousted theirs 7-0. And thats about how the rest of the day went. Most of their players are pretty old and I'm sure they do well in their leagues, but when they play us it just seems like kids and adults. We beat the Nishi (East team) 21-5 in 6 innings. The Guardian beat the Higashi (West team) by almost the same score. After the first two games was lunch. All the food was home grown and was cooked on about 10 grills at the park. They were all very generous with the food as you couldn't walk by one of the grills with out the chefs putting more grilled meat on your plate. Finally I just left the area so that they couldn't put any more on my plate. After the BBQ, we had to play another game. We just switched teams and once again the results were the same. The Guardian beat the Nishi 8-5, while we kept up the heavy hitting and beat the Higashi 25-3. All in all we had a great time in the community relations event, one I'm glad that I was able to take part in. The pictures below are from the day, just click on them and a bigger version will appear. The first is one of my at bats, as you can see I still have that tongue-sticking-out habit I got from daddy. The next is all the players who played in the event, look close my head is partially hidden in the back row by the guy with the red hat, the right part of my sunglasses is showing. The third is a view from a local observation deck that overlooks the area. Finally one of the Nishi players doubled as a cook for our BBQ.

Suddenly We Are A Real Clinic

Since I've been here I've always heard rumors of getting a full time Japanese veterinarian. And as of May 1st that became a reality as we hired a local vet to come work in our clinic. His english is so-so and our newly acquired secretary can help out with the translations (her english is pretty good). Japanese vets get trained completely different, as they barely lay their hands on an animal during their vet school. The choice of drugs used is somewhat similar to ours but not all the way. Unsure about his capabilities under the knife, our Vet has just opened up the clinic to vacciantions and small medical problems until he can train Mr. Tanaka in the way we do things in the surgery room. All in all it will help the clinic out significantly now that there is a doctor always within driving distance. Our patient list has grown to just under 500 animals and will probably rise much more this year which looks good to the community and to our supervisors, hopefully we can get a new building built, or at least some better equipment!!

Softball (3MAY06)

Well after a disappointing loss to the Essex team on Monday night, we had to come out and play the fire department. They came out early as they always do, leaving us to play from behind. Each game we have played them this year we have had to come from behind so this was no change. Not bragging or anything but this was probably my best night at the plate. Going 4-4 with three runs scored and 3 RBIs. We slowly chipped away at the lead until the 6th inning when we took the lead and tacked on some insurance runs to boot. Our defense held enough to keep the lead and thankfully win the game 14-11.


The night continued with another game against the struggling security team. They managed three runs in the first and that was about it. As a team we struggled hitting but managed 1 run in the first two innings, giving our opponent false hope that they were still in it. The third came around and we woke up and scored 12 runs (the limit per inning) and never looked back winning 15-3. As all the ships have left for training excerices there's only 4 teams left on base to play, so the amount we play in the next couple of weeks will diminish. Too bad though.



Season Record 23-4

This is alarming...

I guess things are done differnt in the civilian sector:


Vet faked euthanasia