Ueno

No much to report. Work is work. Life is life. Pizza Hut can't find my apartment no matter how many times they have come.

Vacation starts tomorrow. I have no real plans to go anywhere other than around Tokyo. Everyone in the country has off so any touristy place will be packed.

I went to a baseball game with a Japanese girl who weighs 85 pounds! She is tallish as well at 5'7". Unfortunately the game got rained out, but maybe it added a few ounces to the girl. Hopefully I will make it to another game this week (this time with a British guy) and get some pictures or video of the crowds chanting. They are all very polite and only chant and sing while their team is up so as to not disturb the other team's chants when their teams are batting.

Below are some pictures and a video (don't worry, it is not 10 minutes like the previous ones).

I wish I had some good stories to tell, unfortunately there are no hookers roaming the streets for me to dance with and the trains move too fast to jump out of.

An umbrella locker

I LIKE THIS PRODUCT!!!!!!

I think I am in Paris.

Sushi guy

Cake hat

In the video, there is a scene of lots of bushes. I was trying to show all of the broken umbrellas that people toss. It is the only garbage that I see in here. Also, at the end is a conveyor belt sushi place.

Last weekend I met up with some friends and headed out to Harajuku. There is a huge park there bu it was pretty empty due to the poor weather. I took some video of th things I saw. It is a bit long but much more entertaining than my train video. Unfortunately is was cold and wet so the Japanese are hiding their fashion. I will get more videos up when the weather cooperates more.

It's final

The votes are in and we have a winner! I tried not to have any nepotism, but it was my brother that won. I didn't vote so don't blame me.

The "Turkey" picture was done by Tomas Zednik of Brno, Czech Republic. He is an engineer and teacher at Brno Technical University. Tomas is also one of my very first students whom I taught while he was /is(?) working at Timkin.

Marcus Hensel, of Oregon, created the fabulous "Rabbi". While Marcus isn't fighting pancreatic problems he likes to read crap ye olde English manuscripts and cosplay as Leia dressed in her slave outfit.

Though he didn't follow the rules of a holiday submission, I allowed Steve Gabel to enter. Steve lives in Chicago (hence the Cubs entry) studying teaching English. We spent some time together in Czech and Korea where Steve liked to get massages and be a burberry man (바바리맨).

The winning entry was done by my oldest brother Brian Smith (Boobily). Though he did seem to copy one of my example pictures, you, the people, chose his as the winner. I have known Brian for 31 years and he was always praised for his artistic abilities while my middle brother and I received "meh" as encouragement for our works of art. When Brian isn't drawing heds on doll bodies, he is walking around with doll bodies hanging round his neck. A photo below shows the family resemblance (this is an unphotoshopped picture of my brother...sadly.


Thanks for all who participated! And Boobily, I will send your prize out soon!

Well, all the entries are in I suppose. They are all very good, but this is not some lame American youth sports club where everyone gets a trophy [I am still bitter that my dad's political rival (who was my hockey coach) gave me the "Most Improved" award as a slap in the face as opposed to the "Best Defense-man", which he gave to Scott Z. who didn't even play defense!!]

Anyway, there is a poll to the right with the pictures below. Please only vote once! This is an international contest, so please do not discount on improper prepositions. Voting will be open for 1 week!

Turkey

Rabbi

Cubs

Santa

My video editing software doesn't have what I was looking for (had it before I updated). So this movie is long and slow as apposed to my time lapse plan. Enjoy it if you want. Boob, you can send me that other program if you want (I want).

Oh, and I will still be accepting entries for one more week.