The Boat Mobile.

Did I mention that Man Boo got to meet with Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday??  He did!  While he was shaking her hand and introducing himself to the Speaker of the House, I was probably doing something along the lines of erasing stray pencil marks on a Scantron or creating some spreadsheet.  But it's all for the children!

On to trivia!

3) Which of the following was not a bumper sticker on Jamie’s high school Buick?

a)            Winnie the Pooh

b)           Ecology Now!

c)            Dave Matthews Band

d)           Clinton/Gore ’96  

After our bus riding days were over, the era of Man Boo's big honkin' Buick began.  He saved his dollars from years of summer employment as a camp counselor, and he bought himself what we lovingly referred to as his boat.  It was a big, brown, ugly, boat.  It looked something like this:

I should note, that that is not Man Boo's car. But it did not look very unlike that car.  So picture that car, but with bumper stickers.  In fact, he had all of the bumper stickers listed in the question, except for a Clinton/Gore bumper sticker.

Gotta love a man who can have a Winnie the Pooh decal on his car in high school.  Mind you, I went to a school where the parking lot was sprinkled with yellow Range Rovers and sleek BMWs and where Ashton Kutcher could coach the JV football team.  I loved that Winnie the Pooh decal and what it meant about my boyfriend.

While the Ecology Now sticker probably looked ironic on the back of that gas-guzzler, Man Boo tried his best to make up for it by planting hundreds of trees all over Los Angeles as a citizen forester.  To this day, when I go home, I like to wave at the tree that we planted together on Ventura Blvd on one of his tree-planting events that I volunteered at just to get to know him.

And the Dave Matthews sticker...those of you who know Jamie will probably find this hard to believe, but when Jamie and I first started dating, he did not have a very big music collection.  In fact, it consisted of mostly Dave Matthews and a few other albums of the time.  Needless to say, he outgrew that once he got to college...(those of you who started his music addiction...you know who you are...)

We had to put thumbtacks in the ceiling of the car to keep the fabric from coming down!  It had the squooshiest seats!  I could put the armrest up in the passenger seat and scoot all the way over next to Man Boo as he drove!  I miss that car!  So many memories...

The Longest Time.

This week is just dragging along.  At work, our 3rd graders have been hard at work taking the DC-CAS (which is the standardized test that determines whether or not our school makes AYP.)  It's a big deal.  Even though I'm not the one taking it, I am exhausted from it.  I think when the test booklets are around you just have a higher baseline of stress.

You know what's good for stress?  Trivia!


2) What was Melissa and Jamie’s first interaction?

a)            riding on the bus together in Junior High

b)           attending the same Elementary School

c)            playing in the same soccer league

d)           sitting together in High School art history 

So, Man Boo and I went to the same middle and high school.  While I can't remember the first time I saw him, or the first words ever exchanged, I do remember seeing his blond head of hair bouncing around in the front of the bus.  I was in the back of the bus with all of the other miscreants.  Actually, I was in the back because I was among the first to get on that bus..........at 5:20am every morning.  Man Boo, on the other hand, boarded the bus at the very last stop.  We never spoke.

My first Jamie-specific memory comes from ninth grade when I attended some singing concert and he and three other boys sang The Longest Time.  The quickest way to my heart is through Billy Joel.  I remember thinking that he was the cutest of the bunch.  Then we started dating two years later.  Okay, so maybe it wasn't the quickest way to my heart, but it made an impression.

Now that I think back on it, I also remember thinking that he could snap really loudly -- it was distracting me from the song.  This is funny to me now because he likes to make fun of the fact that I am unable to snap.  He enjoys emphasizing how pathetic that is by doing one of his "sonic snaps" whenever I make my feeble attempt.

Next time you're with him, ask him to snap -- it's uncanny how loudly he can do it.

Trivia.

All this talk of anniversary had me reminiscing about my wedding with one of my dear friends recently.  Chances are, if you are reading this blog and you weren't there, than my wedding was pre-our friendship.  Really, the only person I can think of who fits that description (i.e. who is a new friend and who actually reads this blog) is Kayla.  (Hi Kayla!)

Anyway, Kayla, at my wedding (which was awesome -- although I'm very biased) we had some Melissa-Jamie trivia.  My one regret about my wedding -- and I don't regret the giant thunderstorm -- was the fact that we never went over the answers to the Melissa-Jamie trivia.  As is usually the case, the stories behind the answers are funnier (or more cutesy) than the actual answer.  So, when I was talking to my friend about the trivia the other day, she suggested that I actually blog about the answers.  So in the spirit of "It's the month before our anniversary so let's celebrate!" I will.  Of course, I will do this in Zakisauce fashion and just post one a day...it makes it easier for me to think about things to say.  Also, I'm meeting up with a Williams friend tonight for dinner and I gotta be quick!

Question #1 was:

1. What is the name of the restaurant where Melissa and Jamie went on their first date?

a)       Paul’s Pizza Parlor

b)      AB Seafood

c)       Kung Pao Palace

d)      Noodles n’ Pancakes 

Gah.  I kind of wish the first question was more interesting or funny.  Otherwise you all might not buy into this latest project.  Oh well.

The answer is AB Seafood -- which was an awesome Chinese restaurant next to a gas station by our house.  I seriously have no idea how our family discovered it.  But it was GOOD.

Man Boo and I had planned on going to dinner and then seeing You've Got Mail afterwards, but we ended up just talking and talking and talking at our dinner until we missed our movie.  In retrospect, I'm glad I missed You've Got Mail -- because, c'mon.  Really?

It's the sad cousin of Sleepless in Seattle.

Maybe if we had seen that movie, we would never have fallen in love because of the bad memories.  As it was,  Man Boo and I went back to my house and popped in a Sarah McLachlan CD (it was the 90s, after all) and continued to talk (and talk).  Eventually, somewhere in that talking, Man Boo officially asked me to be his Lady Boo -- he is very gentlemanly that way.

To this day, we have not yet seen You've Got Mail.

Oy.

I was looking back at some of my old posts a couple weeks back and I realized that I hadn't been referring to Jamie as my Man Boo as I should have been.  For that, I apologize.

So, come April, Man Boo has a habit of taking advantage of any fun activity that we do and labeling it "an anniversary gift."  Despite the fact that our actual anniversary isn't for another almost five weeks away, Jamie (I mean, Man Boo) treated me to an early anniversary gift on Sunday.  We went to see Fiddler on the Roof!  As someone who has been able to sing the entire play since the age of 9 or 10 -- and who probably breaks out into some rendition of the "Do You Love Me" song on a near-weekly basis (I'm not kidding) -- this is a huge treat.  Especially because we splurged and got excellent seats.

I don't remember who played Tevye when I first saw Fiddler all those years ago (I think it may have been Topol), but this time around Tevye was played by Harvey Fierstein.  Harvey Fierstein as Tevye makes for a completely different Fiddler.  Not necessarily in a bad way...just different.

You have to skip to 1:52 to see Harvey -- but it's kinda entertaining to see Matthew Morrison bouncing around playing Link before then.  

Needless to say, if we were going to sit so close to the stage for any musical, I'm glad it was for this one because Harvey Fierstein has a pretty expressive face.  But, boy howdy, does that man have a raspy voice.  Man Boo and I have been doing our best Harvey-Fierstein-as-Tevye impressions ever since.

Of Trapos.

I always joke about how as a third child, I always got the hand-me-downs from my brothers.  So, I was left to play with GI Joes and Star Wars action figures since I did not get toys of my own.  (Of course, this is a joke, because I know I was doted upon by my family.)  Still, when prompted to talk about toys I had as a kid, I usually say something along the lines of "I played with a rag."

This "rag" of course was my trapo -- or as you gringos might call it, my blankie.

I was attached to my trapo for an embarrassingly long time.  I would hide it from my mom so that it wouldn't get washed.  I would suck my thumb and take it with me on trips.  My trapo and I were inseparable.  Except when it came to bathtime.  Then I had a special trapo that would play with me in the tub.  I had very vivid memories of playing with that rag in the tub -- imagining it was some kind of fish or something.  When I think of playing with toys from my youth, that rag is one of the first things I think of...

I'm happy to see that I am not the only one who understood the joy of bathtime trapo.  Maybe it runs in the family.

Glee Returns!

At the homefront, we have been having troubles...with the Tivo.  Comcast (who I like to picture in my head as a mustachioed villain tying helpless damsels to the train tracks) has changed everything over to digital cable.  The switch happened a few weeks back and rendered our Tivo useless.  After hours spent on the phone with customer service, in line at the repair shop, on the phone with customer service, sticking coaxial cables in different holes, and on the phone with customer service I was ready to maim someone.

Between Jamie and I, someone has to come out as the mean one that complains at restaurants and whatnot.  I'm sure you can figure out which of the two of us that tends to be.  So, I complained.  I argued.  I may have said something along the lines of "Comcast has devalued my property" and "Comcast needs to buy me equipment and provide the installation since I did not elect to have my service 'upgraded'", etc.  Eventually, the guy agreed to send over a guy to look at our Tivo box for free.

Of course, the guy comes today, turns on the t.v., and lo, it works.  Judging from what has actually been recorded over the past couple of weeks, our Tivo started working yesterday at noon.

At least we didn't have to pay for the guy's visit.

Of course, we did pay for the brand-new Tivo box that's coming (it's an HD one!) because the customer service guy had assured us that the digital cable wouldn't work with our model of Tivo.  I've been bugging Jamie about getting HD for a while now...he thinks this was all an elaborate plot.  I can assure you, any elaborate plot of mine will not include the personal hell that is Comcast customer service.  We just got a discounted upgrade is all.  We'll see if I have the guts to try and monkey around with the adapter now that's working in order to install a new Tivo.

At this point, I will not touch the thing until after Glee tomorrow!  Glee is back!  To be honest, it kind of snuck up on me.  But, I will watch.  I'm hoping it's not like all those other shows that starts out strong and then kind of falls apart.  I think it actually may get better because they tied up all the stupid story arcs at the end of last season and just left room for the fun ones.  We'll see though...I've been disappointed by t.v. before.

Still, I have another reason to watch!  A teacher from my school is auditioning to be on Glee.

Glee monologue

Glee | MySpace Video

Don't know what, exactly, this means -- will she still be able to teach?  They are doing this big "if you're a normal person and not an actor, but like to sing...audition!" push, so I think it would actually be more of a one time part as a competitor choir.  Or maybe it falls conveniently within our summer break.  With that in mind I say, go vote for Ms. Grinneby!!!  Wahoo for a DC Prep shout out!  Wanna hear her singing chops?  (I think her talents may be wasted on the "Good Morning Song" and "It's Clean-Up Time")

Glee song

Glee | MySpace Video

Vote lots!  I actually don't have a MySpace account -- nor am I tempted to get one -- so someone needs to put in an extra vote or three for me...

This Looks Familiar...

Apparently, someone was videotaping our attempt to navigate the Japanese subway system in Tokyo...

So this little guy was somewhat of a celebrity in Japan.  While we were there we saw a bunch of posters of him.

I personally like his reaction to the spilled milk (around 0:54) and the glass (around 5:04).  As Jamie put it, Japan is the land of "cute" (among other things of course.)

Two More Favorite Things...

Seriously.  There is nothing better than my nieces in their new little kimonos.

Japan Day 5: Kyoto-o-o

I'm getting close to the end of our journey to Japan.  During the week, I couldn't believe how fast everything was going.  In retrospect, it seemed even faster.

So, my next favorite thing about Japan is similar to the waving, but I will still say it -- it was the bowing and just how polite everyone is.  Granted, there are some mannerisms that are part of Japanese culture that may be considered rude here -- like the pushing.  (I say it's all part of the efficiency that I liked yesterday.  People just want to get there fast.)  I'm still bowing to people just out of habit.

And, even though there was a Day 6 to our trip -- I'm going to cut out of the recaps a little early since Day 6 consisted of one long plane ride home.  So, I will give you a bonus favorite thing about Japan.  The street names.  they were amazing.

So our last day, we got to visit my favorite destination of the trip. The Kiyomizu Temple.  A gorgeous temple on a hillside overlooking Kyoto.  I'm telling you, gorgeous.

We have a ton of other pictures -- see Flickr -- because that temple is so photogenic.  So many Cherryblossoms!

I'm realizing that we probably went to the Ryoanji Temple the day before, but I'm going to pretend we went to it the last day.  The Ryoanji Temple is known for its rock garden.  While I did take pictures of the rock garden, the shadows were not cooperating with my camera.  As a result, the pictures of the rock garden were not as exciting as they could be because you couldn't see the detail of the patterns in the rock.  

Instead, I'll give you pictures of what I like to call the "Lorax Tree Grove" from the Ryoanji gardens.

We also visit the Kinkakuji, which aside from sounding like a Pokemon, is also known as the Golden Pavillion...because it's covered in gold leaf.

We also visited a Sake Museum and tasted some Sake.  It was really interesting to see the process that used to bring about Sake back in the "old days".  It was also really interesting to drive through the narrow streets and see some of the old buildings in this part of Kyoto.

For the last part of our trip, we were dropped off on a main street in Kyoto and just wandered around for a couple of hours.  Jamie expertly led us back to a street that we had seen while in the bus that was very old-fashioned and also was the hub of the Geisha scene in Kyoto.  It was fun to wander around and see Geisha shuffling about or texting on their phones.

Throughout the trip, Jamie had been very open and adventurous when it came to trying new things.  He happily ate a traditional Japanese breakfast every morning (usually rice with dried fish, tamago, natto, pickled radish) and was excited to try out the street food.  On the way back to the bus -- in order to spend the last of our yen, Jamie made the best purchase of the trip.

Incidentally, this is my favorite picture from the whole trip.  So happy!

Grilled mochi.  (That links to some random guy's personal blog where he photo-documented his own personal adventure with grilled mochi.  Thanks, random guy who takes nice pictures of grilled mochi!)  So good.  Mochi, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is a sticky rice cake -- imagine what it would be like if you took a lot of rice and kept squishing it between your fingers until it was gummy.  They then took this mochi and grilled it with soy sauce, sugar, honey and maybe a little sake?  We got the last skewer to the chagrin of many of the Japanese people behind us.  

Which brings us to the last picture of the trip.  We ended up walking alongside the river enjoying the sunset.  It really was a perfect way to end our visit to Japan...

We got up super-early the next morning, made our way to the Osaka airport, and made the long journey back to the States.  While we were sad to be leaving, it was nice to have a day to "recover" from the time difference...although, to be honest, I don't think I've finished "recovering".  That's what weekends are for...

A big thank you, of course, goes to my parents for making this trip possible for Jamie and I.  We quickly learned that the most expensive things to purchase in Japan are 1) Houses, 2) Hotels, 3) Highway Tolls and 4) Gas.  As tourists wanting to see everything we could, we needed to partake of three of the most expensive things...we truly appreciate being able to experience Japan without having to sell an organ...Thanks mom and dad!

Japan Day 4: Kyoto and Nara

Another favorite thing of mine about Japan is that it is very clean.  I rarely saw any trash on the sidewalks despite the fact that there were also very few trash cans.  Our guide informed us that this was because Japanese people rarely eat while they are walking or traveling.  This made sense to me, except for the fact that there were an incredible number of vending machines everywhere.

Not just any vending machines, but vending machines that sold everything under the sun: sodas, green tea (hot or cold), cigarettes, energy drinks, cameras, beer, sake, Haagen Daas ice cream...

According to our guide, if we ever got lost or needed the help of the police, we should give them the serial number of the nearest vending machine as the best way to find us.

We started our next day with a trip to Nara to see the Todaiki Temple which is the largest wooden building in the world.  It also houses Japan's largest Buddha statue.

The city of Nara (where the Todaiji Temple is located) also is home to a ridiculous number of deer.  Which are everywhere.  And the deer are polite enough to bow when bowed to...although this was not caught in pictures...

After a tea ceremony, we visited the Heian Shrine, participated in a traditional tea ceremony, and caught part of a show at the Gion Corner.  

It was exciting to visit Kyoto because of how different it is from Tokyo.  As an "ancient" city, the architecture there is so different -- many traditional buildings, lots of wood rather than the tall glass and steel buildings of Tokyo.

This was also around the time that I finally got over the jet lag -- unfortunately, it was also our 2nd to last day in Japan.  Funny how that works...

Japan Day 3: On Top of Mt. Fuji

It goes without saying that any American tourist that goes to Japan needs to come back with stories about the toilets in Japan.  I am no exception, and I can say that the fancy toilets in Japan are a third favorite thing of mine. Sure, it wasn't so much that they were incredible toilets -- nor did I really take advantage of all of the services they could provide -- it was more the novelty of them.


For some reason, Jamie was determined to take a picture of our toilet in every hotel.  Apparently, this is the only one that came out...unfortunately, it was one of our less complicated toilets.  And for the record, neither I nor Jamie were the ones who turned the "Spray Strength" all the way to the maximum.

The stories of the toilets that had heated seats, would make the sound of running water while you relieved yourself, or that would clean your bottom for you are all true.  In fact, every hotel that we visited had these fanciful toilets.  As did most of the public toilets that we went to.  In addition, most of the public restrooms I visited also had a nice little toilet seat sanitizer dispenser that you could put on some toilet paper and wipe on the seat.  Those were some spotless public toilets.

That being said, I think it's funny that in the same bathrooms where they had these fancy "western" toilets, they would have twice as many "Japanese" toilets that were little more than holes in the ground (although many did have a button you could press to make the running water sound.)  Another example of Japanese hospitality?  Or do they think all us "westerners" are wussies that need a throne to use the restroom (slight pun intended.)

Enough about toilets!  Our third full day in Japan started with an early morning trip to the Tsukiji Fish Market.  Unfortunately, foreigners aren't allowed in the fish auction, but we got to go through the vendor stalls and eat some pretty fresh sushi and snap pictures of all sorts of crazy food items.

Sadly, I did not have my good camera for this portion of the trip (or the following day) because somebody did not pack the battery to my camera which was charging in the last hotel room we had been staying in.  I may have been a little grumpy at my husband since he insisted that he had packed it when I asked, and the Tsukiji Fish Market was the thing I was looking most forward to in our trip.  I mean, it provides fish and produce to 90+% of Tokyo!  Millions of people!  It was pretty spectacular.  And, as my dad says, a photographer is only as good as their camera so my pictures were pretty lackluster until the next to last day of our trip.  Sad times.

Fortunately, we did bring an extra camera on the trip so I used that one until the hotel people could ship our charger and battery to our hotel in Kyoto.

I still don't know what those noodle-looking things are -- maybe noodles?  But at 150 yen it seemed like a bargain!

From there, we hopped on the Tokaido Shinkansen (the Bullet Train) and went a couple stops -- just for the experience.  We were cheesy tourists demonstrating the basic American Tourist-in-Japan pose.

Then we got back on our bus to head up to Mt. Fuji.  Which, by the way, was absolutely freezing.  Being overwhelmed with work before leaving for the trip, neither Jamie nor I took the time to actually looking at what the weather was like in Japan before leaving.  As a result, neither of us really packed for very cold weather.  Not smart.  When we got to the Fifth Station (which is a little more than halfway up Mt. Fuji) the temperature was -10 degrees Celsius, which Google tells me is about 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mt. Fuji in a brief moment when her "hat" (what our guide called the clouds that usually cover her peak) came off.

Jamie at the Fifth Station pulling off my favorite cheesy (and more advanced) American-in-Japan pose.

Yes, the fountain was frozen solid.  I didn't have sleeves.  Brrrrr.

From there, we went to Owakudani which are volcanic thermal springs.  Most of the people on the bus were frozen solid and did not want to spend too much time there -- it was also pretty stinky -- so we only had about 30 minutes there.  Jamie and I were the only ones who decided to brave it up the mountain in order to snap some photos and breathe in some nice, big lungfuls of hydrogen sulfide.  Our reward?  Some eggs that had been hard-boiled in the bubbling mud and springs.  Their shells turn black from the hydrogen sulfide, but they are perfectly normal after they are peeled.  Except that they supposedly add 7 years to your life when you eat them.

Gases from the thermal seeps coming out of the mountain.

We took the trip to our hotel which was in the middle of nowhere.  However, it had access to the thermal springs and provided the opportunity for us to go into the Onsen (Japanese Baths).  Jamie was the only one awake and brave enough to venture out and enjoy some public nudity.  I'll let him tell you all about that adventure...

Japan Day 2: OK Tokyo

I have decided to start each post about our trip with one thing that I really liked about Japan.  I guess yesterday's could be the Sakura that were everywhere.  Incidentally, it's nice to get a double-dose of Sakura since they were blooming when we got back into D.C. too.

Today's thing has to be the waving.  In Japan, tourists are welcomed and sent off with waving.  Lots of waving.  I'm not talking about a curt flip of the hand, I mean full-out arm-flapping waving.  Also, the people doing the waving are not just shopkeepers or bell hops, but also random people in the street waving at your tourist bus.  We had a line of hotel people wave at our tour bus until we were completely out of sight.  Even the baggage handlers working on the airport runway stopped what they were doing to wave at our plane as it departed.  To me, that is true generosity: to wave knowing that you will not be able to see the return wave (or planting trees in whose shade you do not expect to sit as the saying goes.)

So.  Tokyo.

The second day was jam-packed.  We hopped out of bed bright and early and snapped a picture of the Tokyo Tower from our hotel room as the sun was rising.

Then we jumped onto a boat that cruised along the river towards Asakusa.  We got to see the many bridges that connect the different parts of Tokyo.

  

Of course, Asakusa was jam-packed with people -- everywhere in Tokyo is jam-packed with people.  We made our way through the crowds, to the Sensoji Temple.

From there we walked to lunch before hopping on our bus again to make our way to the Hama Rikyu Gardens.  Which were absolutely lovely and I would have loved going...except for the fact that I had already been the day before when Jamie insisted that we walk a few extra miles in the rain to get there after we got back from Ueno Park.  So I was a little bitter.  But it was still beautiful...

We then head to Ginza (which is sort of like the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo).  It's Rodeo Drive on steroids.

Incidentally, if you would like to just see a bunch of our Japan pictures at once check out my Flickr account.  Oh!  And comment on the pictures -- I like knowing that there may be someone out there who actually is looking at my blog/pictures!