On my way

What am I going to do on a plane for 12 hours?

… I got to work at the Press-Telegram again after the system went down where I work.

It was nice to have one day where we could relive what it was like to work in Long Beach again. I really didn’t get to work in the old sports area since a lot has changed.

When we did comeback, many of the reporters came around to talk to us. I guess we both were a distraction to each other.

The one person I did miss in all of this was James. I could just have imagined what he would say, but I’m sure it would be funny.

… I leave for Tokyo in a couple of hours. I can honestly say I’m nervous about not only the flight, but just being a stranger in a strange land. I don’t know how I’m going to take a lot that I see.

Take for example a Japanese commercial I saw. It was an ad for an automatic toilet, with a seat that lifts and flushes when you are done. It had two mascots that look like a knock off of Big Bird and Kermit the Frog. It was so strange. It that is out there, what does that town have in store for me.

… I did discover that on the day I get back, it will be a 40 hour day. I’m flying out at 3 p.m. on Friday. I arrive in Los Angeles at 7 a.m. that same day. So, I’ll spend 15 hours in Tokyo, 15 hours in Southern California and 10 hours on a plane. Then I got to go to work.

I love a challenge.

But I also get the opportunity to see the sunrise twice on the same day.

… I leave you with this piece of advice I got from my six-year old niece about going to Tokyo. “Don’t let a Japanese man kick you in the head and knock you down.”

Make what you want of that.

Lying to Congress

Daylight savings time, fall back: the one day of the year procrastinators get an extra

… It was like any ordinary Saturday. I was home getting ready for work when someone came a knocking on my door. I opened it to see that it was my local Congresswomen, the one I voted against on my absentee ballot.

(On a side note, the Congressional district I live in is right on the boarder of another district. If I lived a block closer to the beach, I wouldn’t be one of her constituents.)

So why did I vote against her? Well she’s had some personal turmoil with foreclosures. It seemed to me that there would be too much going on there to be also working in Congress.

Now you can imagine my shock to see her at my front door. Of course she asked if I voted for her and of course, I lied. Yes folks, there might be a subpoena waiting for me investigating why I lied to Congress.

But the story doesn’t end there. The ironic thing is that it was the day I decided to wear my old School House Rock t-shirt to work. I’ve had this shirt since I was a senior in high school and dug it out recently when I got my suitcase for my upcoming trip (more on that later). It was picture of the bill on Capitol Hill saying “I’m just a bill sitting here on Capitol Hill.”

I had forgotten I put that on until her volunteer with her pointed it out. We all had a laugh about it.

This story has one more twist. As she was leaving I went to pick up the newspaper. On the cover, top strip, was an interview she did with my newspaper, The Press-Telegram, about her problems. I saw her looking at me when I did that, and when I picked it up, I knew why without looking at the entire paper and got somewhat of an uneasy feeling.

So in a moment of truth, I cowered. At the same time, she is pretty much running unopposed and according to cqpolitics.com, it a safe bet she will be elected. If I had to do it again, I’d ask her something meaningful to put her on the spot, not Joe the Plumber like, but get an answer from her.

I have a feeling I’ll see her again in two years, maybe.

… For the first time in my life I’ve donated money to a presidential candidate. It’s should come as no surprise that it was for Barack Obama.

I found a candidate I believed in so much, I willingly gave money.

But why him and now you might ask?

I never saw his “Breakout speech” live at the 2004 DNC, but I read it and I felt inspired by it. At the time I thought, I’d like to vote for him, but he’s just running for his first term in the Senate.

Two years later, he decided to run. I was glad but wondered if he had enough experience to pull it out. If he failed in the primaries, how much would that set him back?

However, in those two years, I’ve seen him do one thing that I admire the most. Despite the politics as usual, he’s tried to become inclusive to everyone.

It’s becoming clear to me that the Republican Party has become what Colin Powell described as becoming narrow. I’ve never been a conservative type but what members have done in trying to portray Obama as something he’s not upsets me. When Powell endorsed Obama he pointed to how some GOP members tried to say that Obama was a Muslim. As Powell said, “What if he is? Is there a problem with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is No, that’s not America.”

Which makes me think, what does the GOP think of me?

With Obama, I get the sense of inclusiveness. And it was at that point, back in 2004 that I felt greatness for this person who was just running for his first term in the U.S. Senate.

You ever get the sense of saying things too much and in time it loses its meaning? It was during his keynote address at the 2004 that reminded me of a meaning again.

It’s when he said “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is just the United States of America.”

The word United I had taken for granted and at that moment I thought here is someone that can remind us what we can become if we work together towards a common goal as opposed to a common enemy which is what the current political landscape had become.

Here I am, two days away hoping everything works out on Tuesday.

… I’m less than two weeks away from my trip to Tokyo. I almost have everything. I need to buy a power converter, but that is it.

My friend and I went to the Japan Travel Bureau in downtown Los Angeles on Halloween to see what information they had, but they seemed to be closed for lunch, we’ll have to try again.

There are certain things I’m worrying about, besides the flight. Am I going to be able to adjust to the time difference? Am I going to like the food and if not, how much weight am I going to lose?

Communication will be another problem. The tour book I’ve bought came with phrases. I just hope it doesn’t turn into a Monty Python skit.

Maybe it’s a sign

It is official, I’m voting for “That One.” Actually, I’ve been thinking about it when I saw him speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

… I had always known I grew up in a conservative area. The central valley is filled with farming republicans. But I never knew how republican it was until I went to the paper of record of San Joaquin County, The Record’s website.

For the first time since 1936, it is endorsing a democrat for president. Now think about that. I’ll give you a moment.

This means that it did not endorse FDR for his final two terms. It did not endorse Kennedy against Nixon. In fact, it endorsed Nixon three times. It was for Ford over Carter. It was also supported Bush Jr. against Kerry.

But it has not always supported a republican. In 1992, it did not support Bush Sr. as it did not support any candidate.

Of course, I don’t think it is going to go over well with the people on the farm. But Stockton isn’t like I remember.

Since this article ran, three major metro newspapers: The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post have endorsed Barack Obama. For the Tribune, it is the first time it has endorsed a democrat.

Do these newspapers endorsements mean anything; probably not. However, if strongholds break tradition, that has to mean something.

… Recently a friend asked me about my blogspot address – unionisland-longbeach.blogspot.com – and asked where the island in comparison to the picture. I gave her the latitude and longitude coordinates and told her to zoom out.

However, before I sent those to her I checked it out myself on Google maps. I discovered that Google had its street view camera down to the farm I grew up on.

I find this strange. Google has street viewed – to my knowledge – ever member of my siblings’ homes and my parents. They are all online, except my place. Is there really a need and demand on Google to street view my parents’ house on the farm?

However, do I really want this to happen? One of my sisters didn’t like it since in one of the images, you could see in her backyard. Then again, I don’t have a backyard living in an apartment.

… In my effort to try and prepare about my upcoming trip to Tokyo I’ve been reading my tour book about what to do, where and what to eat and what to expect.

I have a feeling that I might lose some weight on the trip. I hardly try any new foods and don’t like fish. But I do love rice.

I’ve also been told to try this place: Mister Donut. As you can guess, they sell donuts. And there are always McDonald’s too. We might just try that once. But why do something in a foreign country that you can do in the U.S. It’s sort of like ordering plain vanilla ice cream at Cold Stone with nothing added. You can go to Ride-Aid for that.

I am excited about see what Tokyo has to offer. My friend who invited me along said one of the reasons why he wanted me to go was because I’m so easily amused.

I just saw the movie “Lost in Translation” about a week ago. I wonder how much of it I’ll experience. I’m still worried about how me and my friend going to communicate. It is the one part of the movie that I know I’m going to relate to.

The death of new landline accounts

Remember kids: “Carne Asada is not a crime,” says Phil Greenwald, an attorney for taco truck vendors in Los Angeles County.

… I admit, there is hardly a reason in this day and age to have a home phone – apartment complexes with phone enabled door opening is one example where you need it. And if it wasn’t for me having an MSN e-mail account, I would dump it.

So when I signed up with Verizon for the Internet last year, I had to sign up for the phone. I got the cheapest account I could and went on with my life.

But more often than not, when my home phone rings it’s not for me. It’s not even for my roommate either. I found out soon enough that a lot of people have been trying to run from their credit life.

For a while, we’d been receiving calls from and we just ignored it. That was until for I was woken up early in the morning for nearly two weeks with calls for one guy. As many of you know, waking up early is not a hobby of mine (read the last blog.)

Each time the phone rang I told them that person doesn’t live here. Each time they said they would take him off the list. Each day they would call. I finally had to write down the case number and call them back and say this person doesn’t live here, and I did that twice.

I thought I was clearing a hurdle when I forgot it was voting season. The first call was about a local measure. The second followed about 35 minutes later in Spanish wanting me to vote for Obama. That call made me wonder why since California is such a lock for him.

Anyway, the point is I really have no use for this phone line other than it gives me the Internet. I got the cheapest plan and can only make outgoing calls in a five mile radius from where I live.

Maybe one day I’ll kill the MSN account and be free of the landline.

… I unknowingly started a stretch where I am two days into working at least eight of nine straight days. However, I have a feeling it will be more like 12 of 13.

With co-workers schedules the way they are, someone had to bite the bullet. And, of course with me being single without a family, why not?

I say unknowingly because when I left work last Tuesday, I had two days off the following week. Then when I got back, I noticed the change.

So, I’ll be tired but I’ll have overtime. I can always use some extra money.

… So in a bold step, I’ve booked a flight to Tokyo. Yes I spent $1,067 dollars to fly more than 5,000 miles away to experience what it’s like leaving one day in the morning and arriving the next day. Or, to look at it another way, leave in the afternoon and arriving that same morning.

Why would I do such a thing? Well a friend gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He had five free hotel nights with Marriot and said all I had to do was pay for my flight and expenses and I could go. He also wanted to go with someone who also didn’t speak the language, because as he put it, “It’d be more fun.”

What a guy that guy is.

So I’ve started to plan for a trip that is less than six weeks away. I’ve bought a book that actually contained a second on how to spend four days in the city. It doesn’t get more perfect than that.

I guess the first thing to figure out is learning how we are going to communicate in a way that doesn’t get us arrested and/or beat up.

As I said before, this is a bold step for me. I’ve only been to three other states and never another country. I’m looking forward to this with excitement and a little fear. After all I hate to fly.