Withoutsails Blog

Well, here I am back in the US for a bit. I am spending a few days in Utah with some old friends for a while and then will go back home to Oregon.

Last night Matt and Amber came to visit and Calvin and Faye had a good time handing me rocks (you really had to be there. It was cute.)

Other than that, it has been a fun time just getting to see everyone at the headquarters office again. The weather has been great and it has been so nice to get away from the humidity for a little while.

Cheers!
Captain Adam

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So it’s been a while!

I went to Hokkaido with my volleyball team to participate in a tournament and had a great time!
We didn’t do all that well in the competition but the good food and great friends made it all worth it.
Here are some pictures that I took with my cell phone.

A flower at the restaurant that we had lunch at the first day. Best curry soup I have every had!

A boat ride out into the ocean. Lots of fun!

A little more of the cliffs of Otaru. This is called the “Window Rock” for good reason!

And finally me bouncing on the waves!

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昨日、ひたすら掃除してたら、長年集まってきたパソコンのパーツが入った箱（複数）が出てきました。ケーブル、ビデオカード、メモリー・・・こんなに買いかえってるかぁみたいな気持ちになります。とにかく、量が多い！

それで、俺のブログを読んでいる人でパソコンパーツが丁度欲しい人がいたら、連絡してね。リストアップすると時間がかかるから、まずは「これはありますか？」方式でお願いします。使ってくれる代わりにただであげる。

話は変わるけど、今週末いよいよバレーボールの北海道大会です！すごい楽しみにしてます。この3日だけ仕事を完全に忘れて、Vacationしたいですね。涼しい北海道、俺は行くぞぉ！！！

よほほぉ～
Captain Adam

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Well summer is here in Japan and it is really muggy. I don’t think that the temperature will get over 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) but the super high humidity makes it feel like you are baking in a wet sauna pretty much where ever you go. One word- bleh.

The diet/gym is going really good. I have lost a total of… drum roll please…
10 kg! (that’s 22.05 pounds for you yanks)

So I suppose that things in that department are right on track. Only 8 more kilos to go to reach my goal! Hopefully I’ll be almost there by the time I go home for a visit in the early Autumn.

Here’s a recent picture of Yokohama at night that I took on my way home from the gym the other night. I know, I need to take more pictures… and I’ll try. I am traveling up to Hokkaido in a couple weeks so I’ll definitely get some good photos there.

Cheers!
Captain Adam

Tags: Japan // 3 Comments »

Ahoy!

Man time goes by fast! I have been really amazed at how fast this year is going. It seems like yesterday I was on an airplane flying back to Japan for the New Years festivities and now the year is more than half over… So many resolutions, so little time!

Japan is in the midst of the rainy season but today was uncomfortably hot, sunny, and humid… with emphasis on the humid part. I’m looking forward to the fall already! I believe that we have a typhoon coming in this weekend as well so I’ll probably need to find some tame indoor activity to tide me over. Oh, and for those of you on the other side of the international date line, typhoons are the same thing as hurricanes.

Translation work continues to plug ever onward. I spent time in central Japan today at a well-known automobile manufacturer (think everything that is not Ford/GMC… lol). It’s kind of fun to be riding the wave of the cutting edge of technology.  I highly recommend it to all. At any rate, we are growing slowly, but steadily and will undergo our first move of offices (albeit upstairs) next in early August. I’m filled with mixed emotions about it of course.

As a business administrator, making a company profitable and keeping it there is a difficult task. Finding the right people is probably the deciding factor in the entire equation and for all those who are considering starting something up, make sure that you have the right people. It is a sad but true fact that people are generally lazy and prone to cut corners whenever they think they can get away with it. Finding people who are truly dedicated to excellence, both on a personal and company level, are few and far between. Most people just want to sit back and never take responsibility, simply letting others make the decisions for their lives. I affectionately refer to these people as “slugs” because they really serve no real purpose and recoil at the smallest bit of salt (difficulty). But I digress…

Japan is good. The diet is good. Volleyball is good. I’m excited about a trip to the US in mid-September (first vacation of the year).

Cheers!
Captain Adam

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Yesterday I had my first scrimmage with the volleyball team I am playing with. It was a lot of fun and the other team was really good so that made for a good set. We played about 5 sets and were able to win twice. I played in a couple of the sets, but still am having some problems adjusting to the way they play over here. I’ve only been to 2 practices so that’s not surprising.

We had a “nomi-kai” after the game with the other team and it was a lot of fun. It’s always good to meet new people and make new friends. Next Saturday we are having another scrimmage and the same team is going to be there as well.

Other than that, things are pretty tame here in the land of the rising sun. Everyone is talking about the US presidential elections. With the primaries wrapping up, the candidates should step their campaigning up a notch. That’s all fine with me, as long as they don’t drive around with megaphones attached to their vans, blasting their slogans and rhetoric (that’s how it works in Japan).

Cheers,
Captain Adam

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