Just for Fun

Come here to check out the pic? That's just a little test I'm running to see how many hits my site gets just by placing a simple pic named with a popular keyword. I remember placing a pic titled "race car" on my blog and my hits took off! How many more will I get just by all the pervs out there looking for some online smut, I wonder.

So what's the point of this post? Read the title. I usually write as a summary of events or to expand upon one happening in my life. Recently, my theme has been more of a journal than a true 'diatribe spot'. So this time it's all about what I feel like writing. This time I'm writing about whatever random topic comes into my brain as I type. This time, its just for fun.

So I went to Arizona earlier this week for training with Intel... again. It was really quick, though. I was down on late-Monday and back on Wednesday evening. The weather was nice. Warm, but breezy and no rain. Now I'm back into the Oregon liquid-sunshine. But spring is here and I'm glad. Spring is my favorite season. I dont mind the rain, but I can only take it in doses. I definitely cant stand the week-long rainstorms that hit Oregon in the late Autumn and Winter. But Spring and Summer are nice here. The rain has its purpose, and makes the grass green and trees full of shade. Perfect to cool down and relax when the temp gets up into the 80's.

With Spring comes, of course, Spring Break. My Cici and I are going to California to check out Six Flags amusement park sometime next week. It should be fun as I've never been there, but really enjoy thrilling roller coasters. Ah, vacation! Much needed and well-deserved for Cici and I.

So, I'm on permanent chill mode... at least until the end of the break. Then it's back to the grind for one more term before I venture out to find: employment, a house, a new car, and some other stuff I can't think of now.

Random random random... I'm running out of things to say. So, I'll call it good for now and come back strong later on.

And if you came here just for the pic, but ended up reading the blog anyway, then Good for YOU! There's hope for a few pervs out there, at least. J/K!

The Beginning of the End

Winter term is coming to a close in about a week and then, after a week off for Spring Break, I'm back for my sixth and final term of Grad School. And what are my post-graduate plans, you ask? Well, to answer that, here's a little story...

In one course this term, we were given an assignment to identify a e-business problem relating to web design and/or acquiring additional hardware and software support. I called on my contacts at Intel to hook me up with a project. (Side note: Sounds nice, doesn't it? I mean, to have work available upon request. I just sent a couple of emails and before too long I was assigned to a project. Oh, its good to have friends!)

However, since this was to be a team project, I needed to gauge my teammates level of interest in working for Intel. Surprisingly, they were actually opposed to it! So, after discussing my situation with the prof, I agreed to work on some other, less demanding project for class and the Intel thing morphed into an independent course study scheduled for Spring term!

This means that I'll need only three in-classroom courses aside from the indy project to gain the required number of credits to graduate. As well, the indy project is pass/fail, which should represent a relatively easy task.

So, with that all situated, I began contacting my "sponsor" at Intel to get the details on the project. It so happens that I needed an Intel notebook computer and passwords to access the necessary software and have the necessary security clearance to work with confidential material. So, they hired me as a contract employee through their partnered temp-agency. And, yep, I get paid on top of everything else. Niiiice.

I went up to Portland yesterday to receive my Intel badge, notebook computer and so on. It was a decent trip, but made for a really busy day. I was up at the crack of daw-- -well, by 8:00am at least. And traffic wasn't bad on the way up, but was thick coming back to Eugene. Except for a brief hassle in getting past security at the Intel site, it was an overall good day.

So, in a roundabout way, this hints at the answer to my earlier question. I might be able to parlay this indy course thing into a full-time position. But I'm not writing off efforts with other companies. I'd still love to get up to Seattle soon. But I've got some short-term goals to achieve before I can honestly say that I'm back on my own again (on my own but with my xiao meimei, of course!). I need to get my mom into her own place, pay down some student loans and then save up a bit of cash to invest in a nice place in Seattle. It's expensive up there! Not as bad as San Francisco, but still pricey. And ... and and ... en!

I'm happy with the way things are going, but I'll be even happier when I can start to realize some of these goals I've got. Like getting my own place and either sharing with the mom or getting her a condo. I'd rather get her a condo, but initially she'll have to live in my attic or basement or something. ;D Just kidding. No, she'll have her own room. My biggest goal, then, is two-fold: get the mom into a place that I own and then get her OUT. Ah, but enough about that. It will happen. All in God's time.

So now I just keep on keepin' on and get my butt through school and off into the more lucrative working world. Jiayou, yay!

Soaking Up the Weather

Cold rain crashes against my window and the wind sounds a steady, ominous voice through the trees outside. Winter season has never been my favorite as I notice my emotions tend to flow with the weather. When all is dark and cloudy and rain covers the ground in gigantic pools, its as if my world becomes so much smaller and life closes off around me. Its a bit depressing, but I've learned to deal with it. In my days living in Seattle, I would bring my notebook and a pen (yes, a pen...) and hunt down a coffee house with a chill, ambient atmosphere. One of my faves was a place called Cafe Ladro on top of Queen Anne hill. Basically, it offered everything that Starbucks lacks in setting and feel. Or maybe I'd just go sit and do my laundry and watch the people busily slaving over their clothes, lugging them in baskets through the rain out to their cars. I'd sit and write for hours about the goings on around me or perhaps some new philosophical idea that happened into my mind. It was good times and a way for me to vent or get whatever feelings I had out and onto the paper.

But now, in school once more, writing is not for fun and neither do I have time to make it so. Free time is now spent playing computer games to try and distract my attention from my classwork if only for a brief and fleeting moment in time. I keep in mind that it's all coming to an end in a matter of months and that thought gets me through although I am not sure where I'll be or what I'll be doing after this ends. I find that thought both frightening and comforting. Its frightening because I have no stream of income yet bills loom large on the horizon. At the same time, its comforting, or maybe just casually interesting to me, that I will be free once again. I suppose that one primary thing I've sought for in my life is freedom. So school with end and I know I'll be somewhere doing something; no matter where or what that is I know that I'll be free to go after it. With my special someone still in school for awhile longer, I'll have time to find that dream and start down that road and have myself being just where I want to be and doing just what I want to do.

It all lies ahead in my future and it will happen. Just need to endure a few more term papers, essays, midterms and exams before it does. Jiayou! Ganbatte! Do your best! Keep on believin"!

The Daily News

What's on my mind right now? The same thing that I've been thinking about for the past four years is now mere months away. Soon, and before I realize that the time has slipped by, I'll be completing my MBA and off to work in some yet unknown business doing who-knows-what. I've been planning to get an MBA since I first went to Japan. Since then, I've studied for and taken the GMAT; applied and was accepted to a decent school; completed an internship in between years; and am now on the verge of ending up the whole adventure with a greater sense of direction for my life and the means to reach those goals.

One thing I am reasonably sure of is that wherever I end up I'll be in much better financial health. Student life grows tiresome. For example, my car has neverending issues. The front bumper hangs loosely on the right side, looking like it was taken out back and thrashed in an unfair bar fight. As well, I believe the fan-belt mechanism is slightly bent, causing the belt to squeal randomly. It needs an alignment, new tires and new brakes. But other than that, she runs great! Anyone interested in making an offer? ...

Which brings me back to my job search. In about a week I'll attend a Career Fair up in Portland specifically for MBA's and I'm just putting the finishing touches on my resume. I'm looking forward to that as a way to make contacts with people at firms that aren't Intel.

So, as this term plugs along and I find myself spending all my free time either sleeping or being used as a Dawei Pillow, I look out my window and wait for the rain to subside just enough for me to dash out. Places to go and people to see and I'm off and running.

Jack Bauer Style

The following takes place between 9AM and 9AM Wednesday thru Thursday, Jan. 4&5:

I awoke at 9am to head north for a series of meetings along the I-5 corridor, speeding like a brushfire. First stop was to meet the Mom, having lunch at T.G.I. Fridays. I arrived around noon and had a nice, large meal courtesy of a gift card she'd received for Christmas. Then, near 2pm, I rolled on over to an old friends place for a little catching up. We've known each other since undergrad years and somehow managed to keep in touch. Good times. Polance and I hung out and chatted and watched some spy movie, James Bond style, and all that jazz. And then it came time for my largest drive of the morning. Up to South Seattle to meet another old friend before she leaves the States once again for life in Japan. And just as I was leaving, I get a phone call.

It was my special someone. She sounded a little depress-ci, so I needed to make sure she was doing okay before I took off. We talked for awhile and it turns out that she was just a little bored and needed to talk for awhile. No worries. We chatted and by the end of the conversation, she sounded worlds better. Then, I was in the car and on the road again not long after.

I arrived at the coffee shop where I would meet my old friend ahead of schedule. We talked a bit and decided to head to Capital Hill and check out a place called The Baltic Room, a bar and night club I'd visited during my days as a Seattle local. So, I stopped to get some gas when I noticed that my head was bleeding!! I'd gotten a haircut in Portland after meeting the Mom and before meeting Polance. The guy must have nicked my scalp and it had scabbed over in the hours since because I seem to have scratched off the dried cover while heading to the gas station. I felt something wet in my hair and when I checked my hand, it was red with blood. I didn't panic, guessing it was from the haircut (what should I really have expected from a cheap and quick hair place anyway?) and i just continued on to the station. When I arrived, Paula, my pal, called and when the conversation had finished, I noticed a streak of blood running down the phone. Ewww! Like a scene from a horror movie, I'd gotten a paper towel to mop up my head and it turned red as well. The cut was a tiny little thing, but it was just dripping at a rapid pace. I couldn't even feel the cut but for when I washed up in the Arco bathroom it stung just a bit.

In sum, got a band-aid on the spot and that concluded the issue. Shortly thereafter, we went to that lounge spot I mentioned and chilled for awhile. We reminisced and caught up and all and left around 1:45AM. At that time, I checked my phone and noticed thirteen missed calls. Yet my "received calls" menu only showed one name: The special someone. So, I called her to see if she'd really called that many times. No answer. I left a message, not understanding why my phone only showed one missed call but told me there had been thirteen. Then, dog tired and sleepy as all that I dropped Paula off at her house and proceeded to find a nice place to park my car and crash. I checked the phone a few hours later and noticed four more missed calls. Again, the special someone but this time she left a voicemail as well. Unhappy, apparently with my questioning how many times she'd called, she sounded frustrated and upset. Well, I didn't want her to feel left out or ignored, so I called back but the phone was off. Then I made a tough decision: I would head back to Eugene right then. It was around 4AM when I left and I'd estimated it would be around 8:30AM when I reached my destination.

A long, dark and tiring journey ahead and one energy drink in the cup holder to help me get through. Cruise control and open road; my headlights the only source of light to be found on long stretches of highway. I rolled through the beginnings of rush hour in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR at 6:30AM and thought about stopping. But the light of day had just begun to arise and I felt a bit of energy with it. I made it back to Eugene on schedule and surprised my special someone and told her not to feel guilty. She had been upset, but didn't want me to do something so risky. But I was up for it. Tired as I was, I felt that I had come as far as I could and if there had been any more to go, I would have needed to stop. But, as it were, I ran out of energy just as I reached my destination. It all worked out. And so there I was, back home and greeting my someone and then off to bed and headed for dreamland all within a 24 hour period.

Rollin' like Jack Bauer.

One Evening on the Train from Tokyo

Here's a retro-story about an event that happened about a year and 1/2 ago while I was living in Tokyo. Its worthy of posting, since I'd only ever sent it via e-mail back in the day. Enjoy and you just might learn something as well.
***
It started with my return trip from Tokyo Station at around 11pm on Monday. My friends and I had just spent the day at Disneyland and so I, like most other people at around 11pm on a monday, was dog-tired. The train ride started usually enough, cramped and crowded, with some guy wiping his freshly blown snot on one of the grips people use to balance themselves while standing. Then four or five business men in, what appeared to be second hand, navy blue suits boarded the train. From the bits of Japanese I understood coming from the loud, pushy, obviously drunken businessmen, I gathered that the loudest, most obnoxious among them was their "shacho" -company president. The rest were lackeys of some sort or another who assisted him to an open seat when it opened. His cohorts placed him in a seat next to a set of doors, near the middle of our car, from where he proceeded in his string of drunken babble loud enough to announce himself to those on the opposite end of the car. On a crowded Tokyo train this is not an easy feat, rest assured. Several stops went by before I finally caught an open seat. To my fortune (good or ill, Ill let you decide) the seat was spaced by two others between the shacho and myself. This is the point at which this particular train ride parted with the gross normality of life in Tokyo and became something ... more strange.

The shacho`s ranting became noticably louder, though it seemed impossible at the time given the decibel level of his bellowing before-hand. So, I looked over at the shacho to see what had irritated him so much more. I had been hoping to tune out the scene, as so many Japanese people are masters at doing, but I couldn`t. Not with what I saw when I looked over and saw this large, white-haired man screaming angrily into a lady`s ear that her typing on her cell phone had annoyed him. I just couldn`t believe it! For a few seconds I did nothing. Thinking, "How could she sit there and take this? Why doesn`t she get up and walk away?" But she didnt. She just sat there, typing, obviously disturbed by the belligerent drunk`s wailing. I saw one of the shacho`s lackeys waving at the lady to just ignore it, that the yelling would soon subside. However, a few more seconds passed ... no more than a minute in total since I first noticed but at least three minutes, I guess, since he directed himself at the lady. Well, I had seen just about as much as I could take. Without thinking about what I would say or do, I directed myself at the shacho from my seated position on the bench and spoke to him in English. Rather angrily myself, yet controlled, I ordered, "Stop yelling at her! Leaver her alone. Mind your own business!" And watched his face, in total shock, gape at me for another ten seconds or so before glancing around and saying something about either the lady or myself, I couldn`t tell. And yet the lady remained silent and unmoved. My neighbor, however, did not. Person #2 between the shacho and I also turned toward him and exclaimed, "Urusai!" (noisy!) and some other words I couldnt pick up. The shacho had been double teamed! And his lackeys remained in their respective positions but issued no defence. The shacho came to his own defence, eventually commenting that, "...men should not be sitting on the train, rather. they should stand and be masculine,". I`d have piped in again, but I figured that as he wouldnt have understood anyway, it would have bounced right off him. But that proved to be unnecessary as a man standing in front of me and to my right then replied ... something. Couldn't catch it, but with this new TRIPLE teaming, the shacho must have known he was beaten.

After the third man`s comments, the shacho occasionally made some side remarks to his cronies, but all yelling had subsided. During this time, I really wished I could just get off at the next stop ... run and hide in a sense. I could not and did not. Instead I prayed for a sense of calm on the train, and a calmness did come. But what amazed me most was that lady`s quiet resillience. When I disembarked a number of stops later she and the shacho were the only two left on our bench and she had not moved. She sat there, quiet and resolute, next to this man -though his lackeys had each disembarked by then.

As I write this, still in some sense looking for an explanation of what went on tonight, my tired mind trying to understand it. Only now do I begin to see the answer. In the end, I think it took my initial comment to break through the barrier that people in Japan put up all too frequently. One that bars others, or "outsiders", from daily life. I used to think that such building such a barrier was an inevitable part of living in a city the cize of Tokyo. Something needed to keep one sane. But, as tonight`s events have revealed, those barriers nearly let a self-important, pompous, drunkard abuse a young lady beyond any stretch of reason.

The moral? Well, I dont know if there really is one here. Nobody is perfect, so noone can judge or condemn another. So, I cant really say much more that I already have. Here are the facts. Draw your own conclusions.

Peace and goodnight.
Dave

Holi-daze Rush By

The trip to Vancouver and Victoria marks the highlight of this year's vacation season. As promised, Winter Vacation Photos are viewable online.

Christmas went well, with Cici and I visiting my family up in Portland. It was good to see the fam again, and exchange the kind of talk that families do. The only downside being that it made my special someone homesick. She won't be able to spend Chinese New Year's with her fam, and that's tough. If there were something we could do here instead... but I guess nothing can really take the place of being with family during this season. I remember how it felt to be alone in Japan over the Christmas season not so long ago. Email, cards and phonecalls helped, but they're not the same as being there and conversing face to face. But, we do what we can and sometimes there's just nothing else for it but to grin and go on.

So, here's a happy story from Canada:
After taking the ferry over to Victoria from Vancouver, Cici and I stopped at a Red Robin for a late dinner before trying to catch the last ferry for the States. As it were, we missed that last ferry by some five hours. Ha ha! So, we found a hotel and crashed for the night. But we went out before getting to sleep right off and found a kewl little bar at the Strathcona Hotel. We had a couple of drinks there and just relaxed a bit from our hectic schedule and upcoming long drive back to Eugene the next day. It was a good time and not too expensive, as far as bars go, and was a great chance to simply lean back and enjoy being in Victoria.

Simple story, but its often the times that at first seem simple that mean the most. Check out those pics and enjoy!

Viva la Vacacion

My someone and I just returned from our tour of the Great Northwest, rolling back in at around midnight.


Tour stops included:

• Visiting Family in Portland, OR
• Acquiring a Canadian VISA in Seattle, WA
• Chillin' with Yutaka in Vancouver, BC
• Ferrying out to the Buchart Gardens in Victoria, BC
• and Ferrying back to the States again thru Port Angeles, WA

I'll be posting our photo album online shortly, with links to follow. In the meantime, I'll amuse you with this little story about how Intel made a wee-little mistake...

In my last post I had mentioned that I'd been offered a job. This was true, up until Thursday afternoon, that is. Their HR department called to tell me that they had meant to offer the job to another individual who happened to have the same name as I do... right down to my middle initial. I was none too pleased, but there was not much I could do. I just told the HR people that I was still quite interested in working with their company (as dense as they appear to be) and they responded by telling my how strong my resume looked and that they would work to "get me in front of managers right away." From my business law course I know that if I had made any purchases on the basis of the employment offer that was ultimately and unjustly rescinded, they would be legally bound to pay me some compensation. But, as it were, I did not buy a house or a car or anything at all really. Ah, well. Maybe they will help me get into the company; maybe they won't. But either way, I'm back to where I was before. Still glad that I had a great vacation and enjoying my time before delving once more into the books that own my mind until it gets rented out to whichever company wins the auction. I've considered starting my own business, but I really need to get a more rapid return on my educational investment than entrepreneurship usually offers. I'll probably go into business for myself one day, but not right away.

So, that's that and there ya go. Stay tuned for pics online and stories from our vacation into the Great White North.

The Road Ahead

This posting comes with the completion of my week-long adversities and random stresses. It's as if new life has come in with the morning breeze that I could even feel it as I dreamt of kudos and accolades last night. Beginning with the final event first, the Intel HR representative called today to formally record my acceptance of their offer of employment post-graduation. The call came as I had, as things like this often go, just settled my place in the bathroom. I'm slated to work in Santa Clara, but may be able to negotiate the deal if my internship group comes around, as I expect they might, and offers me a post sometime in early spring. In the meantime, I can shop around other businesses knowing that I've got this solid job-plan in place.

As for the other items on my mind, my grades came back all that I'd hoped for. Three A-'s and one B (hey, it was Adv. Fin. Mgmt. and w/ a tough professor). So, I'm pleased with that end of things. As well, my car is back in good condition and running reasonably well. Actually, as I was about to tow it to an auto shop, a guy from AAA came out to assist with the towing. Turned out that my car's gear shifter was not fully in the "park" position. All the AAA guy did was push the shifter a bit until it "clicked" and was fully "engaged" in park and then she started right up. Made me feel bad for not finding the problem, but sometimes its the obvious things that escape us, i think.

Then, just as I was writing this blog, I received an email from JAL stating that my refund "request" had been "approved" and that the money was being credited back to my card. Niiiice. Five problems up and five problems down and me standing on top of it all. However: I need to say here that I strongly believe that these successes are not due to my own abilities or anything I may have said or done whatsoever; except, that is, to pray about it all. The manner in which all of it occurred, processed and was resolved all compels me to see God's plan in action, for whatever that may be or wherever He takes me. I thank Him and praise Him for his guidance.

Now, with school out, my employment situation settled, my car in working order and money in my account, Cici and I are off to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver B.C. from tomorrow morning. We'll be off to do some shopping, see some family & friends, and generally just chill for awhile. A break well-earned and well-deserved. Of course, this means and an early night for bedtime and to recharge the ol' batteries for the next adventure.

Here's Savvy, signing off for now. More later, with tales of the road unfolding ahead.

Unbelievable Week

It's way too tough to begin explaining how crazy this past week has been. It's a story even I wouldn't have believed if someone had relayed it to me before. But its not a work of fiction, nor a nightmare or even a crazy daydream. It's happening to me right effing now.

It breaks down like this:
Two weekends ago, I took a trip to Seattle to hang out with a few old friends and relax my mind just a bit before handing in final deliverables and running headlong into Finals. Last week was "dead week", though it didn't seem all that "dead" to me. Papers and essays and projects and presentations... one for every day of the week! And then at last, the weekend. But it was not your typical weekend. Rather than catch up on sleep and whatnot, I was up at nearly the first light of dawn and in the library or school computer lab studying and cramming and working the last bits of information on my three papers due during, and in addition to, FINAL EXAMS. So the weekend pretty much flew by with my nose either pressed against a computer screen or buried in some book.

Then came Monday, and the all to real nightmare grew towards its climax. An exam in Advanced Corporate Finance and more work on projects & papers sped the clock 'round on its axis. Then evening, and my stomach craved something other than the sandwiches I'd been living on for who knows how long. I ran out to my car and... and... NOTHING. The battery was dead, or so I thought at the time. So, back to the fridge for another sandwich and more study and off to bed figuring I'd take care of the damn thing after my exam on Tuesday.

So Tuesday morning hits and I'm off for a final exam in Mangement Negotiations. That, I must say, went extremely well. I actually chuckled very quietly when I read the exam questions. Everything I'd studied and nothing I hadn't. Niiiice. And I was feeling pretty confident that I'd just jumpstart the car and head off to the auto store and grab a new battery. But no help! No one was available to jump the car. Everyone I knew was busy either taking or studying for an exam. So, I figured I'd have to just put it off until wednesday. And then I noticed a missed call...

It was Intel, calling to make sure that I had submitted all of my documentation to be considered for future interviews and such. I scrambled to make sure that I had done all that jazz and sent it in and whatnot and tried to see the bright side. "At least they're interested and haven't tossed my app on the discard pile," I told myself. My g/f is an architecture student and is even more busy than I am this week, but in a different way. She's got to create building models and draw appropriate representations of those and then present the full deal to a panel of professors. Multiply that process by three and you get her week. Even now she's off working on some masterpiece, during which she sliced open her finger and caused a panic in the architecture studio. It's probably not serious, just startling was all.

Since I'd no exams today, Wednesday, so I stayed up with Cici until about 6am as she pulled an all-nighter working on a bldg. model. I awoke to hear my phone ringing at around 10:30 this morning. It was Intel again. But this time it was with a job offer! Whoa! Now that really came out of leftfield because I hadn't even interviewed with that particular department yet! Of course, I did have a weird impromptu telephone interview with the HR rep about a week ago, but I had no idea that that conversation was the first and last interview I'd have or need with the firm. I did intern with them last summer, and perhaps I just did such a great job that I was a sort of "first round draft pick", so to speak. Anyway, there is a problem with the offer. The money's good and benefits as well, but they want me to move to Santa Clara, CA. Now, my family is up in Portland and I'd like to stay up in the Pac NW. It's just my home and that's it. So, I haven't accepted the offer yet. The HR rep said that I could call her back tomorrow and discuss this further. So, I'll call her tomorrow and negotiate for a homebase office in Hillsboro. I'll keep y'all posted.

So, that minor situation handled for the time being, I went to check my email. Brief story: I'd missed my flight to Japan a few months ago and subsequently bought another ticket. I'm trying to get a refund for the unused portion of my first tickets but have been given the run-around. And that saga continues. They had requested some documents as well, and are now claiming that those documents I had sent were incorrect. B/S! So, it looks like this will drag on for awhile longer. But what a time to get this message, on top of all else I'm under this week. So, I replied to their message appropriately and headed off to try and fix my car.

A friend of mine took me out to a battery store where they tested my battery and told me it was low, but that it should be able to start my car with a jump. Not again! So, the problem must be something else. The starter perhaps? The alternator? The connector cables? Or maybe the damn thing just doesn't like me. Whatever it is, I'll need to get it towed out to the shop, probably on Saturday. Good news is that a friend of mine offered to help me tow it out there on Saturday. Nice. Now all I need are some chains/cables to attach it to his truck. But I'll think about that part later, most likely when I call the shop tomorrow.

After the battery ordeal, I went back to the computer lab to finish my part of a marketing team assignment. That was about the time I heard from Cici that she'd cut her finger. Awesome, I mean, just spec-effin-tacular. So, we went out for a bite to eat, eventually heading back to work. 11pm rolled by just as I was wrapping up my paper. Exhausted, I shuffled home and sit before you all now, staring blankly at my computer screen with its flashes and blips and bleeps and things that move upon which I can no longer focus my eyes or attention.

That has been my week, and it is not yet half-way over.

Goodnight.

You Talkin' to Me?

I'm sitting at my desk wondering what to write. I've got a class presentation in Marketing in about half an hour and I'm as ready as I'm going to be for it. Afterwards, I'll prepare for another presentation tomorrow, this time its for a course in Negotiations. And after that, I'll be set to study for final exams next week. All in all, its not a bad schedule. I mean, even though I have a fair amount of work on my plate, I really don't mind it since I know that the end of the term is seven business days away. Then comes winter break and a break up to Canada to chill with Yutaka, a friend and former English student of mine from Morioka, Japan.

The big question is: what will I do with my time over the three weeks I've got on vacation? I wont spend more than a couple of days up in Vancouver B.C., so that leaves two and a half weeks for which I can do whatever. Its not a bad problem to have, though, eh?

But for now, I'm off to give my kick-butt presentation and revolutionize the marketing world. I'll write some more cool stories soon. So, stay tuned and hold on for the next edition of: The Chronicles of Dave.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I'm minutes away from heading up to Portland with my CCTX to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It will be a good time and a great chance to get away from Eugene for a couple of days. Unfortunately, CCTX has quite a load of work to finish over the weekend so, instead of joining me up in Seattle for a day or so, she'll have to come back early to get a jump-start on her Architecture project. It's not fun, but at least she's committed to her studies, and is learning a lot of interesting stuff. I wish I could draw even half as well as she. Whew! Anyways, I'll head up north for a day or so and head back early Sunday morning to finish up some school-work of my own. The real break will come in early December, after final exams. After that, CCTX and DWTX will be able to take a nice road trip somewhere yet undecided. Some friends of mine are heading to Las Vegas in mid-December, but we're not sure if we'll join up.

So, with the road ahead and dinner waiting for me, I'll keep this one short and just say:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Crazy Rain and the Dangerous Drive

Yesterday, Friday, November 11th:

I left home around 9am for the Intel site in Hillsboro to meet my classmates at a 'site-visit' sponsored by the U of O Career Svcs Center. Events like these are just opportunities to get in front of company execs and/or middle managers to help determine our respective desired career paths. So, even though I had a successful internship there this past summer I decided to join the crew pretty much just-in-case of whatever. Also, a friend from Seattle was in town on business. We'd planned on meeting up and either getting dinner or hitting a couple of bars -both of which we did.

So, as I said, the day began fairly early with a drive up the I-5 corridor to Hillsboro. I am recovering from a head-cold and so was just dreading the length of day ahead. The site-visit went well enough, though it was long and fairly boring. I mean, its not like they were handing out jobs or anything. The best I got was some lunch, a cookie and a cup of coffee.

And then the fun really began. I left the campus at 4:30-ish and steered towards my mother's place in West Linn. Normally, it would take about 30 min to get there but this was no normal time: it was the start of rush hour on a rainy Friday evening. An hour rolled by and I realized that the growing discomfort in my gut was an overwhelming need to (how shall I put it?) unload my bladder. And that thought stayed with me for the next half hour as freeway traffic crawled, inch by inch, to my exit. So, when I arrived at the McDonalds to meet my mom, five minutes must have passed while I stood planted in front of the urinal. But it was five minutes of pure bliss.

From there, I saw my mom off back home. Then, through the rain and blazing headlights I drove into downtown Portland to meet up with my friend and his co-worker. Parking went reasonably well, for trying to find a spot downtown on Friday night, and I ended up only a block away from their hotel.

We headed to the Pearl district and had some Japanese food, then to a club called MeFadden's and then to Kells Irish Pub. The scene was laid-back, as is the style in Portland overall, and I had a good time hanging and not concerning with school work for a while. Only one quick story: At Kells, my friend's co-worker decided to arm wrestle me, my friend and a couple of other guys at the bar. I lost one, won one and ended up with a really sore arm this morning, while my friend lost one, tied one and then refereed the other matches. It was a fun, but exhausting day and night.

1:30am rolled around and I headed back for Eugene, dog tired. Got home, crashed and slept well. Now, here I am, getting stuff in order and relaxing on this fine, but rainy, Saturday afternoon.

And the end of the term is only a few short weeks away!!! Yeah!

Random Bloggings

It's been far too long since I worte a blog purely for fun. Yeah, I know that blogs are meant for just that but Ive been using it as more of a sounding board instead. A place to just vent my feelings or thoughts on whatever topic. During the summer, I usually blogged about fun stuff I did over the weekend or even some random occurrence at work. Recently, though, its been about school or job hunting and most recently my reflectionson getting older but feeling the same/younger. And while there have been some fun times putting these together, its taken more effort to find that sensation and get myself up and writing.

School is school, the job hunt goes the same, and Savvy is tired from working out in between. The days roll by and I am getting more nervous about finding a job. I know I shouldn't, in fact I recently got a reply from an HR rep at the company for which I interned this summer stating as much. So I go back to my computer, check my email, register for next term's classes and fret over my score on the latest Finance 671 quiz (which was ABYSMAL, by the way). Though the professor said, "You'd actually have to try to fail this class. Most of you will get between a 3.00 and 4.00." Does the term "an A for effort" come to mind? Well, whatever. I'll just need to kick butt next time. Anyway, I know what you're thinking, if you even bothered to read this far, that is. "But, Savvy... I thought you said this would be a 'fun' blog entry?" True dat, my friend. Time to get on with the show.

Next up: My upcoming trip to Portland. This friday I and about 25 classmates will visit the Intel site to meet with leaders (project managers?, not sure) from a few different business groups. It should be interesting. I've made a few contacts there, but it never hurts to keep going after it. So, yeah, I'm still concerned about the post-graduate job picture but I'm just going to use that "nervous-energy", as my undergrad Theater Arts Acting professor termed it, to keep myself focused, relaxed and ready. Like a jungle cat ready to pounce! Hah!!! Now the fun begins.
Cool thing is, I'll meet a friend of mine who will be in Portland on business that day. He's coming down from Seattle and so he, his co-worker and I will hook it up for drinks out that night. Then I'll cruise back to Eugene and crash. Should be a fun time.

Beyond that, I'm looking forward to a road trip up to Seattle and then Vancouver BC over the thanksgiving weekend. I'll meet friends, see cool places and generally chill out enough to come back and prepare for final exams soon after. Then the winter break will come and before you know it the year is gone. Getting ready for the big 0-6.

I'll end with one of my favorite quotes. This is from Earl "Bud" Powell, Jazz pianist, at a live show. He was responding to an audience member who was trying to sing scat
through their entire set. When the show was over, he looked out at the crowd and replied to the club regular,
"That what'chu wanted, Alfred?"

29° ｏｆ Ｆｒｅｅｄｏｍ

Alternate titles for this post are: Twentynine Reasons to Stay in Bed; Twenty-nine Hours a Day; and simply, Looking Back & Moving On.
Do you get the overall theme here? Yup, today is my twentyninth birthday and I don't feel any different than I did yesterday. I suppose that birthday's are rather arbitrary demarkations in a person's life. So that, we feel older only if we believe we have grown old. Really, its not age but the experiences we have along the way that makes us more wise. Some have many life experiences in their earlier years and some are more sheltered. Either way, I'm still a year older as of about 8am this morning and now I have to write "29" instead of "28" when I fill out forms, documents, papers and such. Whatever. That's about the only difference. Oh, and that next year I'll move from the fun-filled, youthful twenties and become "thirtysomething". Although it doesn't mean anything (aside from whatever meaning I put to it), I'm all geared up to enjoy the final few Acts and Scenes of my twenties in big-daddy-party-style.

Life drums on and we're all just marching to the beat.

Updates and Travel Plans

All my Seattle-ite peopleses, what's ups? I'm just chillin' in school for the remainder of Fall term, looking forward to the nice, long, nearly month-long Winter break. Oh, what a vacation it will be. I honestly and truly appreciate this last best chance to do nothing as I know that post-M.B.A. life will likely find me with more than enough work to fill my days. Although, if I am hired on at Intel, I'll enjoy a three-month sabbatical if I manage to last seven years there. My co-worker during this summer's internship is about one year away from enjoying three months free time and I got the impression that he's just counting down the days even that far out.

So, that's my update. Other than that, not much else is going on. Classes are hectic and I'm studying madly. However, I'm thinking of taking some time around Thanksgiving to get around and get out of town for awhile. It would be nice to take just a day or so and hit the road. Since I'm living so close to campus this year, I almost never get out for drives. I'm hiking and working out quite a bit, though, and it's good to get the exercise. Anyway, let me know if you will be in town during the week or that weekend. I know I'll see the family for Thanksgiving dinner (more like a late lunch. They always start around 2pm...hmm.) but afterwards, I don't plan on hanging out there. Lemme know what your schedules look like and I might just swing up for a beer 'n whatnot.

I haven't blogged or mass-communicated in a while, so I figured I was overdue. I've updated my photo albums online and added and reorganized all my photos. My photo website now views as one cohesive and chronology of my life since 2001. I think makes for rather interesting viewing, and is really the best way I can express my life in and out of Japan and returning to America again.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dbsavoy/my_photos

Check it, and dig it if you will...

Moving Day

Moving is never a fun task. It is especially unenjoyable when one has an ass-load of class work due right after. But here I go again.

Juggling stuffed boxes and the myriad loose odds and ends that cluttered my desk, shelf and floor, I set off across the parking lot for an apartment less noisy where some studying could be done. Now that I'm here, I remember just what it is that I hate about moving: settling in. Getting used to a new environment has never been easy.

While I've travelled extensively through Japan, it never bothered me to be on the go so often because even while roaming the Kanto area as a regional assistant I had a homebase apartment in Saitama-ken. What I've come to realize is that even though I move, even when I was overseas, those few true friends in my life have moved with me, if only in spirit. It seemed as though no matter where I found myself one day or the next, these individuals always maintained contact and remained very much a part of my life across the miles and years.

So while its been tough this time, as graduation approaches and I don't know where God will direct me afterward, I find myself more at ease with my situation facing the unknown ahead. I know that I will never be alone, as one is never truly alone who has friends.

Journeys To Places Unknown

My recent trip out across the pacific took me on a journey to meet friends and see places I hadn't seen even in my final year of living in Japan. My first home in Japan was a town in the northern part of Honshu, the main island, called Morioka. In this small yet lively town I met my closest friends in Japan and had a number of adventures touring all across the countryside. I ran into old abandoned shrines and statues long forgotten in the wilderness around my adopted second home. Its amazing to think that I had perhaps been places where few if any people, much less a westerner, had been in perhaps a hundred years.

Brief story: Morioka is surrounded by rice fields and undeveloped hillsides covered in forest growth. This forest growth is not impassable to hiking, however. The trees are spread apart and are themselves thin enough to allow a good level of visibility. In fact, there is a forest near Mt. Fuji called Aokigahara where hundreds of people go each year to commit suicide. They do the deed in various methods, but each year the authorities go through and sweep out the dead bodies. I once saw a television special on the subject while I was living in Tokyo. And, yes, I have hiked around that forest as well when some Japanese friends and I went to climb Mt. Fuji. Muhahahaha! But that is another story. Back to Morioka.

One day, while I was well off the beaten path (or any path, for that matter) I stumbled upon a stone pillar with names engraved on it. My first thought was that it was an abandoned shrine of some sort. Whether it marked a family grave or something similar, I still do not know. I do know that I sensed that I was the first person in a very long while to be looking at it. Oddly, when I tried to photograph the thing with my digital camera, all my pictures came out rounded as if I had tried to take the picture in a convex mirror. Weird. When I showed the photos to some Japanese friends of mine, they had no idea what it was. Even weirder.

On my most recent trip to Morioka just one week ago, I walked not too far from the hill on which that monument probably still rests. And I got some kind of freaked out because for no reason the hair on my neck stood out and my body reacted as if I were deathly cold, though it was a fairly warm evening. Then the freaky part happened. I felt the presence of a Japanese girl whom I'd never met beside me and I remember thinking that she was telling me that I should be afraid. "Kowai! Kowai, desho?" I could not hear her or even see her, but I got the feeling as if she were beside me, looking up at that hill.

Could've been my imagination, but why? I had not even remembered that monument until a good ten minutes or so after that recent freaky experience. I had a cassette recorder with me at the time, and began recording the story right after my brush near that hill. So I have documented my recollection of all that occurred both that night and my recollection of what happened three years ago when I found that monument forgotten in the middle of nowhere.

Kaeru Toki Ni

A flight from home
Nishi kara higashi made ni
Crossing over
Mae no seikatsu kara
To where it began
Boku wo mitsukeru no ni
Back home again.

Update!!!

The trip is back on! I've worked out the details with
JAL through a local travel agency (very helpful, they
were) to leave Portland tomorrow at 7:55am. My return
date and time is the same.

This means that I'll arrive in Tokyo at 3pm on
Wednesday 9/21. SUGOI NE! YATTA!

Anyway, my plans for Morioka are UNAFFECTED and I'll
even be able to meet my peeps in Tokyo Wednesday night
as planned.

So, TOKYO PEOPLE: Send me a message and lets figure
out where to meet and when. Give me your phone
numbers so I can call you when I arrive.

Ja, mata ne!