We changed our plans a bit, and spent one day at Universal Studios in Osaka. Although some of the shows were in Japanese, the kids still really enjoyed themselves.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Hanging Out With Spider Man in Osaka
We had planned on spending the second half of our Japan trip in Kyoto, seeing all the of the wonderful sites and temples. While we were in Tokyo, it became apparent that the kids were not enjoying the historic and natural beauty as much as we did. In fact, they were grumpy, complained and fought with each other.
We changed our plans a bit, and spent one day at Universal Studios in Osaka. Although some of the shows were in Japanese, the kids still really enjoyed themselves.
We changed our plans a bit, and spent one day at Universal Studios in Osaka. Although some of the shows were in Japanese, the kids still really enjoyed themselves.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Our Japan Trip
A silver lining to going through and tagging my photos is that it gives me a chance to look at some of the photos that I've taken throughout the year. I realized that got about halfway through blogging about our Japan trip in the spring before I stopped.
One night we visited the TMG building to get a view of the lights of Tokyo. Perhaps the most striking thing about the night was not the view at all (although I very much enjoyed it), but what we saw on the way. We passed by an area occupied by Japanese homeless people. What was amazing was how neat and orderly everything was. There sleeping bags were lined up in straight lines, and there was no clutter or garbage around.
I decided not to take photos of the homeless people. Even though I could have taken some shots without displaying their faces, I decided against it. If I were to walk through there again, I might go ahead and take the photos.
The TMG certainly does provide a great view of the city. In order to avoid having a reflection when shooting through the windows, I placed my camera flush against the window, and used my body to block the light from inside the building. The family was very patient, giving me plenty of time to take photos. After we took the elevator all the way back down to the ground floor, one of the girls remembered that she had left her purse up at the top. Tim went back up with her, while the rest of us waited.
One night we visited the TMG building to get a view of the lights of Tokyo. Perhaps the most striking thing about the night was not the view at all (although I very much enjoyed it), but what we saw on the way. We passed by an area occupied by Japanese homeless people. What was amazing was how neat and orderly everything was. There sleeping bags were lined up in straight lines, and there was no clutter or garbage around.
I decided not to take photos of the homeless people. Even though I could have taken some shots without displaying their faces, I decided against it. If I were to walk through there again, I might go ahead and take the photos.
The TMG certainly does provide a great view of the city. In order to avoid having a reflection when shooting through the windows, I placed my camera flush against the window, and used my body to block the light from inside the building. The family was very patient, giving me plenty of time to take photos. After we took the elevator all the way back down to the ground floor, one of the girls remembered that she had left her purse up at the top. Tim went back up with her, while the rest of us waited.
Tagging
I'm going through the photos that I've taken this year and making sure that I added keywords for Tim and the kids, and for a few friends. It is such a time consuming process, but it allows me to find photos of them very easily.
Rescue Dogs
Last week, my neighbor Kuhn Ohm asked me to take photos for a group here in Thailand that trains their dogs to help in rescue efforts. The group trains every week in the upper levels of a parking structure of an underutilized mall about twenty minutes from here.
This was a special occasion, because an assessor (I was corrected when I said judge) from Europe had traveled to test the dogs. The group dynamic was interesting, only two of the five volunteers with dogs were actually Thai, while two were from New Zealand and one from America. Interestingly, the American lived in Cincinnati for a long time. My neighbor lived in Cincinnati three years as well, so of the nine people, three had lived in the Queen City. An American veterinarian also volunteers with the group, although he doesn't have a dog to train.
The people were great, and really went out of their way to make me feel at home. I learned a good deal about the rescue dog certification process. Apparently there are three levels; one of the volunteers was testing for the middle level (B), while the others were testing for first level. Overall the testing went pretty well, although my neighbor's dog did meet the standard this time. This is understandable, because she has only been training her dog for six months, while the others have been involved for as many as two years.
During the rescue test, I had the chance to participate by walking around. The dogs are trained to ignore humans who are standing or walking around. This gave me the chance to take some photos during the test, otherwise I would have had to stand too far back. The lighting conditions in the garage weren't ideal, so I had to shoot at a higher ISO in order to be able to hand hold the camera.
Overall I had a really great time. Thailand is lucky to have these folks volunteer their time to train their dogs so that some day they might save lives.
This was a special occasion, because an assessor (I was corrected when I said judge) from Europe had traveled to test the dogs. The group dynamic was interesting, only two of the five volunteers with dogs were actually Thai, while two were from New Zealand and one from America. Interestingly, the American lived in Cincinnati for a long time. My neighbor lived in Cincinnati three years as well, so of the nine people, three had lived in the Queen City. An American veterinarian also volunteers with the group, although he doesn't have a dog to train.
The people were great, and really went out of their way to make me feel at home. I learned a good deal about the rescue dog certification process. Apparently there are three levels; one of the volunteers was testing for the middle level (B), while the others were testing for first level. Overall the testing went pretty well, although my neighbor's dog did meet the standard this time. This is understandable, because she has only been training her dog for six months, while the others have been involved for as many as two years.
During the rescue test, I had the chance to participate by walking around. The dogs are trained to ignore humans who are standing or walking around. This gave me the chance to take some photos during the test, otherwise I would have had to stand too far back. The lighting conditions in the garage weren't ideal, so I had to shoot at a higher ISO in order to be able to hand hold the camera.
Overall I had a really great time. Thailand is lucky to have these folks volunteer their time to train their dogs so that some day they might save lives.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Opening Day
This past weekend was the opening day for the Bangkok Baseball Softball Association. The festivities were guests of honor this year were Ambassador Kinney and major league baseball star Johnny Damon.
More Austin Photos
The door hinges at the capitol were pretty cool.
During Segway tour, we had time to explore the Capitol Building.
Austin - Summer 2012
Back in the summer, Tim and I visited Austin to check it out as a possible place to relocate when we move back to the states. Austin ranks high on many lists of the best places to live in the U.S. We enjoyed our trip, but we are not sure if those hot summer months are what we want.
Who knew that tacos were for breakfast? We ate at Torchy's two mornings in a row, and even brought back a couple of bottles of their hot sauce.
We enjoyed the bbq at Rudy's and The County Line, but didn't make it to Salt Lick BBQ.
Lest one thinks that all we did was eat, the Segway tour of the capital was a lot of fun. We went on a Saturday morning, so neither the streets nor the capitol were crowded.
It was plenty hot at Zilker Park in July.
Who knew that tacos were for breakfast? We ate at Torchy's two mornings in a row, and even brought back a couple of bottles of their hot sauce.
We enjoyed the bbq at Rudy's and The County Line, but didn't make it to Salt Lick BBQ.
Lest one thinks that all we did was eat, the Segway tour of the capital was a lot of fun. We went on a Saturday morning, so neither the streets nor the capitol were crowded.
It was plenty hot at Zilker Park in July.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
California, Here We Come (At Least for Christmas)
One of the places that we are seriously considering making our new home is California. I'll have to admit, the weather is a big factor in this. After spending almost six years in very hot weather, I know that I would prefer to avoid hot and humid. Our visits to cold weather climates have made me realize that I don't want to live in the cold either.
We have targeted Southern California; specifically Irvine, San Diego and Ventura County. Although I have done a lot of research (schools, housing, economies, weather, crime, quality of life) for the area, the fact is that neither Tim nor I have spent a lot of time there. So we decided that we would spend this Christmas in California to at least experience it as a family before making a decision to move. In addition to vacationing, we are going to do some house shopping.
I looked a little bit at the San Francisco area, but it is so expensive to live there. To get a four bedroom home with ~3,000 square feet in a great school district, you can easily end up in the two million dollar price range.
My big concern with California is the state of its economy and spending. Things are a mess there, and I'm not sure how quickly they will get better.
Some other places that we are considering are Seattle and Austin. The big concern about Seattle is the rain, and Austin's very hot summer months give us pause when thinking about moving there.
I'll actually spend five weeks in California, while Tim and the kids will be there just over two weeks. By arriving early, I can start our housing search early, so that we can use our time with the kids more efficiently. Even if we decide not to move to California, it should be a fun trip.
We have targeted Southern California; specifically Irvine, San Diego and Ventura County. Although I have done a lot of research (schools, housing, economies, weather, crime, quality of life) for the area, the fact is that neither Tim nor I have spent a lot of time there. So we decided that we would spend this Christmas in California to at least experience it as a family before making a decision to move. In addition to vacationing, we are going to do some house shopping.
I looked a little bit at the San Francisco area, but it is so expensive to live there. To get a four bedroom home with ~3,000 square feet in a great school district, you can easily end up in the two million dollar price range.
My big concern with California is the state of its economy and spending. Things are a mess there, and I'm not sure how quickly they will get better.
Some other places that we are considering are Seattle and Austin. The big concern about Seattle is the rain, and Austin's very hot summer months give us pause when thinking about moving there.
I'll actually spend five weeks in California, while Tim and the kids will be there just over two weeks. By arriving early, I can start our housing search early, so that we can use our time with the kids more efficiently. Even if we decide not to move to California, it should be a fun trip.
Uploading Woes
Uploading high resolution photos to Flickr is much more of a challenge here in Thailand than it is in the U.S. A set that might take fifteen minutes back home can take more than eight hours here, and often it fails in the middle. It is not fun to start a large upload, come back a few hours later and find that it failed after the first five minutes.
This challenge is frustrating when I upload photos of the sporting events that I take. Most of the time I don't upload the maximum resolution because it just takes too long, particularly when I'm trying to upload five hundred plus photos.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Beginning of the End
Over five years ago, my wife and I packed up and moved the family from our home in Cincinnati to Bangkok, Thailand. I gave up a great and lucrative job as an IT consultant with BMW Finance so that she could help run the family business.
Our original plan was to stay here for only two years, so we didn't sell our house. Unlike a lot of expat families, we didn't ship our belongings here; we brought what would fit in ten suitcases. The things that we didn't bring we borrowed from Tim's brother Top.
Two years turned to three, and then again to four. At the end of the fourth year, I was all but certain that we would move after year five, but again we had to delay for another year. Now our timeline is certain, all the pieces are in place so that we can go at the end of this school year (June 2013).
We would have definitely done some things differently had we planned on staying as long as we did. When we moved in 2007, the housing market had not descended into crisis, and we could probably have sold our house fairly easily. It might also have made more sense to ship more of our things from the U.S., if we knew that we could get five or six years of use from them here instead of only two. That is always the way of it though. All of us would change some decisions if we knew how things would play out.
Now that we have decided to move back, we were faced with a new challenge. Should we move back to Cincinnati, where we own a home and my family lives, or should we take the opportunity to start over?
Our original plan was to stay here for only two years, so we didn't sell our house. Unlike a lot of expat families, we didn't ship our belongings here; we brought what would fit in ten suitcases. The things that we didn't bring we borrowed from Tim's brother Top.
Two years turned to three, and then again to four. At the end of the fourth year, I was all but certain that we would move after year five, but again we had to delay for another year. Now our timeline is certain, all the pieces are in place so that we can go at the end of this school year (June 2013).
We would have definitely done some things differently had we planned on staying as long as we did. When we moved in 2007, the housing market had not descended into crisis, and we could probably have sold our house fairly easily. It might also have made more sense to ship more of our things from the U.S., if we knew that we could get five or six years of use from them here instead of only two. That is always the way of it though. All of us would change some decisions if we knew how things would play out.
Now that we have decided to move back, we were faced with a new challenge. Should we move back to Cincinnati, where we own a home and my family lives, or should we take the opportunity to start over?
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