Geihoku Ski Trip

We went skiing/snowboarding last weekend to the Geihoku Kokusai with the Outdoor Recreation group. What a great day to go snowboarding! There was so much new snow and powder that it made for great conditions to snowboard. Unfortunately, that made it a little more difficult for the fellow skiers. Kirk had a rough day on the slopes, especially since her bindings were being difficult and were letting go of her boots in the middle of a run! Apparently you are supposed to have your skis serviced once in a while - lesson learned :). After a few hours of major struggling to stay in her bindings and finally having to walk down part of a mountain, it was time for her to throw in the towel, but she got to enjoy the comforts of the good food in the lodge.

Our view of the slopes after getting off of the bus.

Jeff and Joel getting ready to go hit the slopes.

The main lift going up to the beginner slope and intermediate slope.

Obama snowboard.

On the lift.

View of the mountain from the lift.

So much snow!

Ignore Jeff's smiling face and look in the background - proof we were actually there!

Comedy Night

This past Thursday evening, our friends convinced us to stay out late and attend a free night of comedy at the club ballroom on base (we're fuddy duddies that like to go to bed early on work nights, so this was definitely out of the norm for us!).

The show featured DL Hughley!!! It was definitely for adults only and the place was PACKED with wild and crazy half drunk Marines! Thankfully I didn't catch any of my clients doing something they weren't supposed to, LOL. Throughout the show, we laughed so very hard and flinched a few times too.... non-PC comments get to me, haha.

Anyhoo, the highlight of the show was when DL stepped down into the audience and interviewed random people. He made fun of their MOS (job) with the military, how they were dressed, how they were acting, talking, etc. It was HILARIOUS. And he stopped at our row... yikes! (Thank you Neda for taking the pics!) :)

DL: So young man, what do you do here?       Joel: I'm a house husband!

 

 

 

 

DL: Oh my, my, my... do you cook and s@#* then?       Joel: Yup!!       Kirk: rolling eyes

DL: So you make the money, what do you do?      Kirk: I'm a ... substance abuse counselor...? (DL had already spoken about how he loves weed, LOL) Um, we should probably talk.

DL:  Well you know, I should probably go to AA because I love alcohol... but I'm not anonymous.      Audience: Bwa ha ha ha ha!!! :-p

 Good times for sure!!!!!

Our New Dinning Room Table

So we wanted to share with you two of our experiences so far that do not involve traveling or eating food. The first story involves our purchase of a Japanese dinning room table (not the low ones where you sit on the floor, but one that is normal sized). We think it fits in perfectly in our traditional Tatami mat room.

We got a great deal on this table and six chairs thanks to our friends Ted Roberts and his wife. They were out furniture browsing when they came across a high-end furniture store that re-sells the old furniture from their customer's homes after they deliver their new furniture. The store was asking 5000 Yen (@ $65) plus 1000 Yen for delivery for the set. To add to the great deal, Ted ended up talking them into giving us free delivery! The table is in great shape and has already served us well over the weekend during our afternoon of board game playing with the Northams. The chairs might be a future project as they could be re-finished to more closely match the table and be re-upholstered as we're not totally in love with the blue-green vinyl.

The next story kind of freaked me out a little bit when it happened, but is an example of excellent customer service that is not all that uncommon here in Japan. Our Auto Insurance was due to expire the end of this year, so back around the first of December I stopped by the AIU office to renew our policy. As I walked in the front door the insurance agent already had my policy folder laid out on the table and greeted me by saying "Hello Mr. Diller, thank you for coming in to re-new your policy with us. Here is how much you need to pay for 9 more months of coverage." The sequence there after included me saying something like "Wow, you're really good", paying the full amount, getting a receipt and walking out the door. It blew my mind that they would look up my license plate # while I was still in the parking lot to keep me from waiting a few extra minutes, but thought that I would share this story with you all to show that a little extra effort does go a long way.