Let the real vacation begin!

After all the family obligations, Dawn and I were finally on our way to Atlanta for our vacation. We spent 3 nights at Crowne Plaza Hotel, a nice hotel where I got a hell of a deal. We were somewhat unprepared and underplanned for what we wanted to do there, though: we didn't bring a street map for Atlanta; the Georgia Aquarium was so crowded that they were only accepting reserved ticket visitors, and we couldn't get in; we had to decide where to eat minutes before dinner. Considering all that, we still did pretty well enjoying ourselves.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History. Very interesting display of evolutions of different species in Georgia regions.

CNN Global Headquarters. We took the "Inside CNN" tour. Very neat. Highly recommended.

World of Coca-Cola Museum. Coke was invented in Atlanta! Even if you are not interested in history of Coke, you would most-likely find this place fascinating. Of course, we are very easily amused...

'Tis the season of Presents

I am not a Christian, but I do enjoy the customary gift exchange of Christmas season... Mostly, the receiving part of it. For the past several years, I had not had to do much with shopping for others except for my own parents, but this time, things were a bit different now that Dawn is in the picture.

I didn't have time to shop so I had asked Dawn to do the shopping for me using my credit card. The arrangement worked out pretty well... at least for me.

We spent Christmas Eve at Dawn's parents', Christmas Day at Dawn's sister's and 26th at Dawn's sister's ex-husband's (father of Dawn's nephew's). It was probably the busiest holiday season that I have experienced in the recent years. Here are a few pix:

Dawn's mom gets a Dyson vacuum cleaner!

Dawn was very excited to have received a toaster oven from her parents.

The boys got the Basketball Goal for their new house!

A bit of sightseeing...

After the closure meeting, we had a little time to do sightseeing in Nagoya. I was raised in Nagoya, but after 9 years, I'm no different from the first timers:

Nagoya City Hall. Nagoya is a city of 2.17 million people. I guess you need 2 skyscrapers to govern a city that big...

Nagoya Castle. Although rebuilt 46 years ago after burnt to the ground during WWII 60 years ago, it is still an impressive structure. The golden dolphines on the top of the roof make this castle distinguished from the others.

Jay on the golden dolphin... I think he looks like Will Sasso from Mad TV...

What do you think?

Toilets in Japan

Just a couple of pix of TOILETS in Japan:

"Hole on the floor" This always sparks conversations.

"Washlet" Shower toilet in my hotel room. Heated seat and butt shower ro bidet. It's strangely addictive.

Land of Rising Sun...

I've been in Japan for 2 full days now for business. The flight was long (13 hours) and it felt longer in my coach seat... I didn't move from the seat for the entire duration of the flight. Somehow, I didn't have to go to bathroom... Well, the damn flight attendant didn't come around often and left us all thirsty so I didn't have enough fluid in my system. I was so dehydrated by the time I got off the plane at Centrair Airport in Nagoya.

I am accompany my boss and 2 other Americans (Jay and Debbie) to interpret. It has been more exhausting than I had expected. All day long, there is not much private time that allow us to sightsee except for what we could see during the transit.

Jetlag has taken the toll on me and I keep waking up at 4:30am and getting tired around 8pm. The tight schedule during the day isn't helping either.

This morning, we went to Denny's for breakfast. The menu is nothing like you would see in American Denny's: eggs, salad, toast, coffee and juice... or rice, miso soup, salmon and natto... I hadn't expected that, but they were pretty good. I told Jay that I had not met any American who liked natto (fermented soy beans). Jay naturally ordered it to try it. I braced myself for the scene he was gonna cause when he gets grossed out. Jay actually finished it claiming that "it was OK". wow... what a weirdo...