We are home! So... tired... cats... so... angry...

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Well, we're back, and a little better rested. What a trip home, yikes. We left Japan on Monday with a flight at 7pm. Uneventful 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Dallas/Ft. Worth, where we had only an hour and a half to pass through immigration, cstoms, baggage claim, baggage re-check, security, and boarding. We got to the gate at 4:45 for a 5pm flight, only to learn they moved the gate across the concourse. Back on the tram, out of breath, arriving at the right gate and feeling pretty good. Plane delayed until 5:45? Okay, fine - now I can use the bathroom on terra firma.

Now we're on the plane, and we push back from the gate, listening to the concerned flight attendant thankful for the lack of sleet (which would ground the flights) as it is raining and cold in Texas. Apparently Chicago is shut down, and delays are cascading everywhere. Suddenly the pilot announces that there is a "problem" with the right engine, and the oil light is acting up, so we're "gonna sit here while we get a maintenance crew to check things out - shouldn't be more than 20 minutes".

An hour later, they still don't know what's going on.

An hour later, they decide to change our plane, but luckily we only have to walk two gates down the concourse. Plane is there, but we apparently need a flight crew? What the hell was wrong with the one we just had, we wonder?! They tell us that we will re-board at 8:15 and take off at 8:45. Things go roughly as planned, and by the time we're filing into our seats, there is a full blown blizzard in Texas. So now, we have to "de-ice" before taking off, which the pilot says shoudl only add "20 minutes" more to the schedule. Also, the right nacelle is "full of snow" so we're gonna "need a maintenance crew to fix that for us first..."

An hour later, we start the endless taxiing to the deicing area on the tarmac. "Ahhh ladies and gentlemen, there are four planes ahead of us on the runway, so it looks like we're going to be another hour".

An hour later? "Ahhhhhhhhhh ladiesandgentlemennn, we made an error earlier, and there appear to be EIGHT planes ahead of us and it'sgonnabeanotherhour*click*".

An hour later? We take the fuck off into the most turbulent weather I have ever flown in. I'm talking three hours of weightless thousand foot drops, engines screaming to gain altitude, slamming from left to right in violent yaws, women in the back screaming, and a general unpleasantness.

So we left Tokyo at 8am Monday, crossed the international date line losing 14 hours on the calendar, and we got settled in our bed at 5am Tues (or 7pm Tuesday, Tokyo time), having showered the filth off of a 35 hour travel. Woke up at noon for a fraction of a second, and again at 3pm. Got up, showered again, unpacked a little, and had dinner with the Wynns! Went to bed at 1:30 am, woke up at 4:30 and we decided to just watch tv and eat something. Of course there was no food in the house yet, so I had chips and salsa and Lisa had soup. We went to work at 8, and were both zombies. Went to bed at 8, woke up today at 6, and are both at work again today, feeling much more normal. I anticipate feeling much steadier tomorrow too. Whew!

Many heartfelt thanks to Andrea and Kevin for braving the evening's many delays. They were supposed to pick us up at 9pm, not 3-something am the next day.We owe you guys, big time.

Bags were packed.

All of these were filled with models.

Bye bye Shinagawa Prince!

Make it up!

American Airlines can suck it! Next time we fly JAL.

De-icer jerks.

Coming in at a very steep angle to BWI Airport.

Stricted and restricted.

I fit all of this into the black suitcase.

I fit all of this into the green suitcase.

These too.

Hey and these!

Simon is coming around to loving us again. He loved computer, first.

Both computer corners - top and bottom.

Getting my wits back, slowly.

Song in iTunes "A Forest (live 8.17.1981)" by The Cure

Woah, where did March go?

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Heya gang! The past month has flown by! It's a bummer to think that exactly one month ago we were in Japan, living it up. Since we've been back, we've paid bills, cleaned the house, made the house messy, cleaned the house, gone to work, and done some hobby-related stuff. Lisa made a wonderful cake for Easter (where the Wynns joined us at my grandma's house), and I worked on stuff in the basement. I also mailed out a ton of stuff to people all over the world, and am looking forward to getting caught up on emails and getting the TAX stuff taken care of. We see our tax guy on the 8th, which is later than I've ever done this stuff. Hopefully we won't owe a lot!

I made a bean salad last night that we're going to have tonight with dinner. I'm getting ready to enjoy Spring, and do some cooking on the grill! The beans and red peppers were so colorful that I had to take a couple photos!

I can smell the vinegar from here.

Filled to the grills.

Monday, March 31st, 2008

So I thought I'd better take photos of the last few eggs we had in the fridge, lingering since Easter. Egg babies!

Last night, I decided to make dinner and bust out the grill, which is my way of bringing some deliciousness into the house, and let Lisa kick back a little.

I grilled some chicken last summer, and we used this AMAZING marinade that neither of us took note of. Earlier in the day, we were grocery shopping and I found it again! So I cut up some chicken, marinated it, and made kebabs. The pineapple was a nod to teriyake, which I love.

I dragged the grill out and surveyed the disaster area that is the back yard. There used to be a tree and a pool... we planned to regrade the whole thing and add some topsoil, but ran out of money. Well, technically we chose to go back to Japan instead. We'll see what happens this year. I'd also like to get a new fence... one day.

Looks like we have dinner for two nights! Wooo!

The pineapple was a good idea - all of the flavors blended together and it really was delicious. Mission accomplished! Lisa and I will enjoy the leftovers tonight, and we'll watch a little more of the John Adams miniseries that we have DVR'ed.

I spent the evening in the basement, working on two commissions.

All of my projects wait paitently in their Sterilite containers, organized and happy.