It's been a while, sorry. Work has been really busy, and I've had the opportunity to do some travelling on the weekends, so it's been hard to get to the blog. A long overdue post chronicling the past month is in the works! I promise!

Melody is still at sea, but returns sometime soon...it better be before Christmas.

They're building the house behind us and unfortunately, it looks like our "Fuji View" will be ruined because the new house is taller than the one there previously. I went over and asked them if they could just not add that roof part on, but my Japanese is still not quite up to the task, so they just looked at me like I was some "baca gaijin" (crazy foreign guy).

Anyhow, here's a quick rundown on the travels...

Tsukiji Fish Market...according to National Geographic, it's a fish market the same way that the Grand Canyon is a ditch. It's a big, big, place...lots of fish and other things that I had no idea what or where they came from. There's some wierd looking stuff down there, and apparently, people eat most all of it.

Fuji area: I went to the 5th Station (or one of them, anyhow), Sengen Shrine, Lake Kawaguchi, and a little village...lots of pics, and a lot of fun. It was pretty darn cold up on the Fuji (about 2300m up).

Hong Kong/Macau: Over the Thanksgiving long weekend, I met Melody in Hong Kong. As always, it was a great reunion, and we stayed at the Kowloon Shangri La. Since we were celebrating our anniversary a little early, we splurged a bit. We also got to take a trip to Macau, another of the Special Administrative Regions of China, and a big gambling mecca. It felt totally different than Hong Kong...more Latin, I guess, due to the Portuguese influence. In any case, it was a really interesting trip, and very enjoyable. On Saturday, we took Nicole and Lok out to see the ship...it was a great tour of most of the important things (flight deck, hangar bay, medical, and the wardroom for lunch). They were thrilled to get to visit, and it was a lot of fun showing it off.

Thanksgiving Dinner: With our expat friends in Hong Kong. We held it at Tom's flat (he was back home in NJ), a relatively nice place (understatement alert) at the top of one of the high rise apartment buildings. It has lots of windows, a great view of the Peak and the harbor below. Also, it has 3 floors, 2 balconies...and all for a measly $75,000 (Hong Kong dollars). Amazing. Anyway, it was a lot of fun...at one point, I just looked around and thought about the scene...17 different people from no fewer than 6 different countries. As one of the only Amrikees that has had experience cutting a big bird, I was pressed into service carving the turkey. It was an honor to represent my country and the Thanksgiving tradition in that manner.

Stay tuned...I promise that I'll be posting some pictures from all the different trips soon.