Sick of snow!

Well March has been the cold and snowy month! I can't believe it. I think we have had about a total of 5 days of sunshine this month. I am happy its almost over!
I talked to some friends in Hokkaido and they said they got a lot of snow recently also. But then some other friends in Tokyo tell me the cherry blossoms are out. So it really makes me jealous! But I know once spring is here then I have hayfever so I guess its not too bad. I wish I could skip spring and go to summer. This year it might happen because winter is really late.
The video above reminded me of ME! Its one of the same jeeps I have and there is still snow all over here!! So I posted it this week. I will replace it now and then with some others.
Well... its Wednesday night and I am tired. Tomorrow is another busy day... I have to take some customers snowboarding... I guess thats not too bad...hehe.. But I hope the sun shines....

Sweet Revenge ....

The headlines of the sports section today in our newspaper reads "Sweet Revenge for Japan". I think this is absolutely true. To think that Japan came back from the bad calls in the game against the United States and the tough loss to Korea to win the whole series is incredible!! I was surprised and happy for Japan.

So this is a great story and yes sweet revenge for a team that had to overcome some tough losses. But they played solid in the last two games against Korea and Cuba. I watched the game last night with my parents who generally don't care about baseball. But they were also caught up in the drama of the game and circumstance of Japan. So it was a great game. Congratulations Japan!!

Well the real season starts now. Somehow I am not so excited. It has been exciting and I really like the World Classic. So I guess I have to wait until October to get really excited about baseball again. But at least its spring so my tennis starts now!!

GOOD Game .... BAD Call

OK OK …. I was excited to watch Japan vs. USA in the World Baseball Series. This was an exciting game to see some of Japan’s stars play against the American stars.

First of all, let me say again this was a good game. Of coarse being from the United States I was cheering for my home team. So I was happy to see them win. BUT….. I agree there was a mistake made in the 8th inning. I thought the umpire made a terrible call and the Japanese player should have been able to score. This would have made the game 4 – 3 for Japan. BUT…. In my opinion, that doesn’t mean Japan would have automatically won the game. In fact, I believe they still would have lost. Especially after watching how strong the US was in the 9th inning.

I have been listening to news from Japan and hearing all the complaints. I agree. Japanese fans should be upset. I would be very upset. But I think some fans and even politicians have taken the game too far. I have actually heard comments like “America is not honest” or “America is not fair”…. Just recently in the news a comment from the Environment Minister Yuriko Koike which said, “I thought the United States was a country of baseball and fairness, but it seems that this is not so.”

So I guess its all of the United States fault that there was a bad call and Japan lost the game… I think comments like these are completely stupid! In fact immature! But I know the frustration… Still umpires make bad calls. They do it in the United States and they do it in Japan. It was a bad call. But would it have changed the game???? I don’t know. But I don’t think so.

Both the United States and Japan have very good teams. The level of play is very close. I think if they play again it will be very close. Who will win I don’t know. Either team could win on any day I think. Its just fun to watch… I know the teams represent our countries and some people feel very strongly about this… but remember… it’s just a game. Games are supposed to be fun and exciting… this one was even with a bad call. Good luck to Japan and the United States.

DAMN WIND!

Living in Utah is very interesting. Besides the different culture here, the weather also is interesting. Salt Lake City sits in the mountains about 1650 meters high. On the West side of the city is the Great Salt Lake. A large lake that is more salty than the ocean. Sometimes, the lake even looks like an ocean from the beach. But there are no fish in this lake because of the high salt content. However, there are small shrimp that do live in the lake.
On the West side of the city are the mountains. These mountains are filled with snow and ski resorts. There are about 10 ski resorts that are less then a 40 minute drive from downtown Salt Lake. The mountains are beautiful all year round. But one thing I hate about Salt Lake and the surrounding areas is the DAMN WIND.
Many times a year we have the “East Wind”. This is the wind that comes out of the East from the Mountains. These winds are very very strong. They sometimes cause a lot of damage to homes and other things. But one thing the East Winds almost always do is knock out our electric power to our homes. It’s very frustrating. This happened again the other night. I have never lived in a place where the power is out so much. It’s crazy. Sometimes I feel I am camping in my own home. So one thing I really hate about living in Utah is that the power goes out so often. But I guess it can’t be helped so much because of the climate and wind conditions here. Still, I wonder if other cities have so much trouble with power.
I lived in Hokkaido for many years with blizzards and the power never went out. But the East Winds in Utah are much stronger than any blizzard in Hokkaido. I had a very good friend who worked at Hokkaido Electric (Hokuden). She told me once that when the power goes out it is usually only out for a few minutes. The problem is quickly found and power is restored. Here… not quick. The power is usually out for hours. Last year it was even out for a couple days….. Not fun.

OSCARS BABY!!!

Well the Oscars are over. It was interesting to watch as usual. This year there was a lot of news about “Brokeback Mountain” possibly winning for best picture. But most people were surprised to hear that the movie “Crash” won. I was happy to see “Crash” win. I haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain. But I think the only reason why the movie got so much press was because of the content and story in the movie. Personally I wasn’t interested in the story. But I heard from some friends that the story was actually very good. So I may see it. However, I am not interested in a story about two gay cowboys….
But Crash was a good movie and I thought very deserving of the Oscar Award.

Now on to another award for the best Actress….. YES!!! Reese Witherspoon who is one of my favorite actresses won an Oscar for Best Actress. I thought that was great. I have liked just about every movie I have seen her in. So I was happy about that.

Anyway, the Oscars are always interesting to watch. I thought this year was not as exciting as other years. But fun to see all those people who seen to live in a completely different world than we do. I still haven’t seen any movie previews for this summer that excite me. I think it may be a dull year for movies. But we will see……

(I don’t have much time to see movies these days anyway……)