wake.eat.sleep

Day 6: A quick update

Has it really been 6 days already? Since I'm forcing myself to slow down a little bit, I'll take this chance to catch up anyone that may be reading things sequentially.

Here's where I've been so far: (I've included links to wikitravel, which have been quite handy to get a general lay of the land.)

Day 0/1: Tokyo (Ikekuburo)

Day 2: Kyoto

Day 3/4: Nagasaki

Day 5/6: Osaka (Minami/Namba)

The next 3 days (Day 7, Day 8 and Day 9) will be in Tokyo.

I had a really fun event planned for Day 6, so I'll try to catch up to today as best I can.

(This wasn't really part of the event, but a fun unrelated surprise. I'll explain when we get there.)

As always, thanks for reading!

-- wake.eat.sleep

Day 1/2: A New Beginning

Is this really Day 1 or Day 2? I didn't make it into the Tokyo area until after midnight, and wasn't in my hotel in Ikebukuro until after 1 am.

Additionally, once I thought about it, it made sense to try to go to mass at 8 am in Roppongi. This would make it possible to get to Kyoto in the early afternoon, to be able to see more of daytime Kyoto. Working backwards, that meant...not a lot of sleep.

But, I made it! Got to Roppongi, and stashed my belongings in a coin locker. I got to sing with the 8 am choir, who mostly sang music out of the WLP Breaking Bread book. We were accompanied by an electric guitar.

Then, off to Shinagawa Station to pick up my JR Pass and head over to Kyoto. Pretty smooth pickup, and they even booked my Shinkansen to Kyoto for me, a short ride that will get me there under 3 hours on the Hikari.

I also picked up a very belated breakfast (bread plus milk coffee) and my ekiben. Not a lot of different choices at Shinagawa Station that I could find.

Well, I'll be in Kyoto soon for a reprise of one of my favorite unplanned portions of my first trip. More on that soon.

-- wake.eat.sleep

Day 0: 行ってきます!!

From 1:25 pm to 6:30 pm to 7:15 pm, to being on the plane at 7:17 pm for a scheduled departure by around 7:30 pm. We're finally going to head off and get this third version of my travels to Japan started.

I feel blessed to have the chance and opportunity to go, and I look forward to sharing the experience with you all.

行ってきます!!

-- wake.eat.sleep

Day 0: Logistical Implications

With our flight scheduled to get in 5 hours after its original time, the people who got affected the most were people that were trying to make connecting flights. They'll be set up with hotels and shuttled to and from the airport.

In my case, the original plan was to clear customs, pick up my wireless hot spot, pick up my JR Pass, get some local currency and head into Tokyo to check into my hotel by around 7 pm.

All of these plans will look different. I can only pick up the hot spot, if the post office is open. I'm trying to find out from the company what they've done in cases like mine. The JR office will also be closed so I won't be able to get my pass until Sunday. Local trains will be running, but they might be offering shuttle service into Tokyo, so I'll likely or hopefully be able to check in before midnight.

Whew.

Thankfully the airport terminal has a number of "powered" seats that have AC and USB plugs and ports respectively. Otherwise I would have ran down my phone during the flight.

Only 2 more hours until check in.

-- wake .eat.sleep

Day 0: A Five Hour Delay

Well, it looks like this trip is off to a slow start. I took longer than normal to pack (and re-pack). I got to the airport later than expected (but breezed through security), only to be greeted by the sounds of someone explaining a lengthy delay in Japanese.

Yup. A short five hour delay. In the grand scheme of things, I'll only be slightly inconvenienced: less time on Saturday night to go around, and I might not get my internet hot spot due to the post office being closed. (will I have to go all the way back to the airport just to pick it up?) A lot of other people are on tighter schedules and are missing connecting flights. Hopefully they make it to where they're going and get some type of compensation for it.

More later.

--Wes

A Safe Haven for Posts?

Everything has imported over safely and everything looks great.

Features will gradually come back over time, but we'll be a little bit in the dark as to what's on the roadmap. I would guess that post by email would be next.

Until then, it will be a little scary and a little exciting as we make our way into the unknown.

Don't worry, you can hold my hand.

-- wake.eat.sleep

A Post-Posterous Blog

The writing was on the wall as soon the big news was announced. And finally a date was given to when things would finally turn off.

What does that mean for us? Well, where there are endings, there are beginnings, and our journey will now begin here.

There will surely be some growing pains, and hopefully we'll be able to start editing posts and adding media by the end of next week. It's been fun, but we'll try to stay a little longer at our new home.

-- wake.eat.sleep

Game 45: Miami 102, Chicago 106 - It's not unusual

It's not unusual to see LeBron James put up the following stat line:

35 points on 14-25 shooting, 4 steals

It's not unusual to see Dwyane Wade do the following in the same game:

36 points on 16-26 shooting, 7 rebounds

But in a game where reigning MVP Derrick Rose would need to sit due to minor injuries suffered during a fender bender, it's not unusual to expect the Bulls to struggle even if they were playing at home.

Really, we should have learned our lesson and realized that it's not unusual in this circumstances for a formerly unlikely hero to step up and dance on the Heat.

Luol Deng, All-Star

It's been a long journey for Bulls fans and Luol Deng.

7 years in the NBA, and finally, his first as an All-Star.

Sam Smith, of course wrote up his journey in far better detail than I ever could here.

As many long time readers know, I've been a long time Bulls fan. My interest in basketball developing alongside those mid-80's Bulls teams. I never really got a chance to see any of the championship era Bulls teams live, but I was a huge fan. When the Baby Bull teams led by Hinrich, Gordon and Deng were in ascension. I was hooked. I was proud and happy to own and wear my Deng jersey:

In 2006-2007, he played 82 games, averaging 18.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and shot a blistering 51.7% from the field on the strength of a mid-range jumper that looked so sweet. Between Hinrich, Gordon and Deng, it seemed certain Chicago would have an All-Star.

Instead, it never was. Trade talks, contract talks, and injuries took their toll. By the end of the 2009-2010 season, it looked like we knew what we were going to get out of Luol: a 3rd or 4th option on a team that would continue to have injury concerns throughout his career.

Fortunately, Coach Thibs came on board, and instead of lowering expectations, he raised the bar and issued a challenge, a challenge Deng was all too happy to embrace. Instead of playing him less minutes, he played him more, eventually being the anchor, and the ongoing joke that Coach Thibs would play Deng more than 48 minutes in a regular basketball game if he could. I talked about it briefly back in 2010 as well.

His raw statistics may not leap out of the stat sheet, but the effect that he has on both ends of the court makes a huge difference for this Bulls team.

Congrats Lu! Can't wait to see you on the court in Orlando!

Game 4: Chicago 114, Los Angeles 101 - "I remember everything....I hold grudges, man."

Now, there were many ways to look at this game between the Bulls and Clippers.

Many people saw it as a trip for the Bulls to Lob City. The Clippers getting instant notoriety, after this clip of Blake Griffin proclaiming what would be known as Lob City:

Others saw it as the match up between two elite point guards, Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.

(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

But some us, some of us remember that game last season. Some of us remember that like many competitors, DRose doesn't forget. And he remembers that game against the Clippers where he would miss crucial late game free throws that would lose the game for the Bulls. As he would say afterwards:

"I remember everything. When I play I'm a quiet guy, so I think of anything to get me going. I hold grudges, man."