Heading home....

Well its Tuesday night. I can`t sleep. I am heading home back to Japan tomorrow. Its been a crazy week. I have had a lot of personal things to take care of and had some hard good byes as well. A girl that has been very special in my life is gone. We were very close and she will always have a special place in my heart. It has been a little difficult on me personally. But life moves on. Now its time to go back and face my own reality again. I don`t want to get too deep here. I just have had a week of doing a lot of reflecting and looking back at some very good memories (some bad memories also). There are only a few people who have touched me so deep as to say I truely love them. Although I will miss her I am thankful for the time we shared. I will stop there.

I did work from Utah this week and it was nice for this also. I forgot how easy it is to work from the US. But like everything its time to go back. I guess I am looking forward to some good food back in Japan.

Well kind of a lame post but I will update when I get back.

Here it is... April 6th and I am sitting in the Portland International Airport waiting for a flight to Salt Lake. This is sudden and I can`t believe I came back here right now. Plus this isn`t the reason I wanted to come back either. I had some things happen that made me quickly find a flight and get back to Utah as soon as possible. I am not sure if I even want to talk about it in this forumn. At any rate I came back so fast I forgot almost everything including money. Thank god for ATM machines and Visa. Its Sunday so I can`t get to a bank until tomorrow. So I will survive today. I will catch the first flight out of here to Salt Lake and go home. I guess I will be here for maybe 2 weeks. The weather is chilly, dark and raining. I guess like my feeling right now... :)

It will be good to be home for a short time though. Its going to be busy and crazy but still good to see the family and friends and sleep in my bed. I miss my king size bed!

Well my notebook battery is going to die any minute so its time to check out. I will update later.

Well I am starting to see less and less of my beloved diet coke and more and more of coke zero. Its almost impossible now to find a diet coke at a convience store these days. They have all switched over to coke zero. I don`t mind coke zero but I am addicted to diet coke now... So the days are getting dull and I start asking myself where is my coke??!!

Its almost impossible to get by these days without a coke. I can`t believe it. But I guess its no different than coffee. But yea not good for you thats for sure. Still..... its my comfort food. I think most people have a food they consider their comfort food. I guess mine is diet coke and chocolate.... hmmm......hehe.

So while I now drink my coke zero at least the weather is warming up and the cherry blossoms are out. I am going back to the United States in 2 weeks for some business. So I will have at least a week of drinking a fountain diet coke...... wow I really miss that.... I know it sounds crazy. So coke and mexican food.... as much as I can get while there!!

Spring is in the air....
It feels like spring is getting closer and closer now. I guess this week it officially starts. The weather in Nagoya has been very nice lately and I have not needed all my heaters on in the house so much. Its been kind of a crazy couple of weeks for me. I got a phone call from my sister telling me one of my good friends died suddenly of at heart attack. I was shocked of coarse. He is my age. He is divorced and leaves behind 3 wonderful boys. So it was really shocking for me. I wanted to go back and support the family but its impossible with my schedule. So I kept in contact by phone and email. He funeral was last week. I was told it was very good and his oldest son who is 13 sang "Danny Boy" which I am sure he did great. He dad was an excellent singer and actually sang at my wedding when I was married. So music is in the family.
So that was some bad news. Another dear friend who is fighting cancer seems to be handing in there. Basically the doctors told her there is nothing they can do for her. So is doing some very aggressive treatments right now that makes her very sick. But she is hanging in there and I hope to get back and see her soon. I fear I may not make it on time. The whole situation is just sad though. Knowing the most likely outcome of the cancer is something that is just difficult to accept for anyone.
So with all that news lately its nice to just walk outside during spring when the weather is warmer and the sky seems brighter. Its refreshing.
Other than that nothing new. Just busy working and really wanting a break. Golden week can`t come soon enough. So I just need to hang in there until then.

Out of it...

I watched the Academy Awards Monday night on TV. It was live on WOWOW Monday morning but I had to work. So no chance. I came home Monday night and found it would be on again. So I was happy to watch it. I can`t believe now how much I have missed as far as the movie scene in the US. I didn`t know any of the movies that were up for an award. It surprised me. Man!! Where have I been?? I guess Japan is really behind when it comes to a lot of movies. I think Japan pretty much gets the large blockbusters but not the average show I guess. Anyway, I was a little disappointed I didn`t know anything about the movies. So I have a lot of catching up to do when I get back to America.

I may go back to the U.S. in a couple weeks so I hope to see some. The problem is I may have to go with a Japanese colleague here. So that sucks because although I would go back to Utah and stay at my house, I would still have to baby sit him and take care of him. He is the type of guy that will just expect me to take care of him over the weekend. I have lots of family and friends and a few people I need to see during that time but I guess I will have to drag him along.... my ball and chain I guess!!

Lately I have been so frustrated at doing business here. I think now more than ever I am really understanding the different approaches Japanese and American`s take in business. It frustrates me to have to have so many long detailed discussions to solve a problem. American`s generally just do something and go from there. But here everything has to be drawn on a white board and discussed then get someone elses approval and discuss and then another persons approval and discuss before any action is taken. A 4 hour discussion would be over in 20 minutes in America. I am not saying thats wrong. I am only saying from my perspective as an American it frustrates me. Still I see a lot of merit in how business is approached here. Still it just frustrates me a little. But I guess when in Rome......

It snowed over the weekend here in Nagoya. I was really surprised to see the snow. Its the first time I have seen it snow here and it snowed all day. It gave me a good chance to just stay home, relax, and get caught up on some things. But wasn`t able to catch up on everything.

While it snowed all day Saturday, Sunday was sunny and by Sunday late afternoon it was almost all melted. So that was a quick winter..... Meanwhile, back home in Utah I hear they are having the winter from hell. I think this is the most snow they have had on record. I heard even some ski resorts had to close because of too much snow... Thats hard to believe but I guess its true. I picked a bad year to be here. I think skiing must be the best its ever been.

Anyway, once Feburary starts I am always getting ready for spring. I don`t really like the spring but like the warmer weather and being able to go outside without a coat. Especially after Valentines day. After Valentines I feel like winter is really over and spring is on its way. In another 4 weeks maybe the weather will be a little warmer and people will be a little brighter as well.... including me! But now its tax time and this year is a pain doing taxes from Japan. So once thats over I will really be ready for spring.

Deathbed...

I have been on my deathbed now for the past few days. I have been so sick. I guess I got the flu. I thought I was doing good but nope..... Anyway... finally today I am feeling a little better. I guess I was so busy last week and this week I never really had time to rest and get better.

Anyway... so I am really far behind on everything. My job, my emails, my work I do from home, my homepage, my life...hehe. Now I guess I get to try and start catching up. Man its been crazy!

So I watched some of the elections today on TV. Its getting interesting. I am kind of an Obama guy. People have been asking who I like. Well so far him. He is fresh and the US really needs some fresh air!! So we will see how it goes. But I like watching the election races. Today is super tuesday. I think someone on the republican side may take it. But the democrates are still up in the air.

I guess I can get up now and start catching up...