I Once Caught A Fish That Was This BIG........

This past Friday I had the opportunity to go fishing off the coast of Oregon. I had never been fishing in the open ocean so I was looking forward to the adventure. The last time I was on a boat.....and it wasn't really a boat...it was a Nimitz Class Aircraft carrier....I got sea sick so bad......I was a little stressed out about the thought of going out fishing on such a small boat. So I loaded up on Dramamine, got up at 3:00AM and made our way to the coast. It was about a 2 hour drive from Portland but we got to see some beautiful sites. We passed through the town of Tilamook, they are famous for their cheese...shortly after, we pulled into the town of Girabaldi. Girabaldi is one of those small coastal towns that you think about when you think of Hemingway and Steinbeck. They have little places that are open at the break of dawn for the fishermen to grab a cup of coffee before they head out to sea for their daily catch, everybody knows everybody and people don't lock their doors at night.

When we arrived into town, we were greeted by the Captain's wife, a kind old lady that once taught kids at the local school. She gave us all a cup of coffee and told us good luck! We made our way down the docks, the sun was breaking through the fog here and there warming our faces, the seagulls danced in the sky looking for a handout and the air smelled of the sea. It reminded me that I was alive and there was more to life than my Blackberry, voicemail and commuting. I wanted that brief moment in time to last, I wished I could bottle it up and take it home to remind me of what is what.....

A loud gruff voice woke me up from my dream...." Dammit, get on the boat before the fish decide to go somewhere else!". Captain Ed was yelling at all us, it was 5 minutes past 6:00AM and we were supposed to be gone by 6:00AM.....I guess deadlines exist for everybody.

Capt. Ed told us if we fall off the boat, don't panic and crap your pants, too messy once you get back on boat.....if you need to barf, do it over the side and for God's sake, don't clog up the "head" with too much toilet paper....you can always wash your ass when you get back to shore but it takes him hours to unplug the damn toilet.

With those words of wisdom, we were off......we passed rows and rows of boats and made our way to open sea. First Mate, John...who is Capt. Ed's son, told us to hold on when we get past the rocks, this is the area that the sea is trying to come in and the sea is trying to go out so it gets a little bumpy....and bumpy it was! It put my dramamine to the test...rocking and rolling that we could just hold on and pray we didn't fall over. Thoughts of the movie, The Perfect Storm, flashed through my head......but after a few minutes, we made it through and the ocean calmed a little....now on to fishing....we set up our rods and did our thing....I caught the first Salmon...a nice sized Coho Salmon that we are eating tonight. After all was said and done, after 6 hours, we caught about 9 Coho's and about a 100 Dungeness Crabs......it was time well spent. So as we feast on my catch, I'll think about the sweet smell of the ocean and feel the rocking of the boat beneath my feet....and thank God that I didn't chum the ocean or plug the toilet....

Dawn breaking....

The fishing boats of Girabaldi

Homes along the Girabaldi Coast

The point where the oceans collide

Crab pots

The dock

My work buddy Dennis

More rough water

Cool Coast of Girabaldi

Seagull following us looking for some scraps

Happy I didn't barf

Coho Salmon

Got crabs?

Coming back home

Taking Care Of Those That Came Before Us....

This past weekend Scott and Cori helped perform the most important Scout function that is done is San Jose.....they participated in the cemetery clean up at Oak Hill Cemetery. Each year, ALL the scouts (Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and Explorers) from the San Jose Betsuin gather in the early morning to clean, trim, water and lay out fresh flowers for all the Japanese ancestors that are buried at Oak Hill. Many of the kids have relatives that are buried here, such as Scott and Cori.....their Great Grandparents are buried there as well as many Aunts and Uncles. I always treasure doing this job because it gives us the chance to clean many headstones that become buried by dirt and grass over the year.....each year, we need to poke at the grass to uncover these flat headstones and clean them out to bring them out to the sunshine again. It's very touching and a very good lesson for the kids...many of these headstones belong to children, some of which only lived for a few days. Most of these kids passed around the turn of the century when medicine was often not available in the remote area that was San Jose at that time....disease and infant mortality ran very high. This year, I noticed a row of 5 or 6 flat headstones....all kids and all had died on the same day of the same year....I can only guess what had happened.....an accident, fire? We'll never know....the relatives of these kids have long gone. But I always remind my kids that they need to take extra special care when cleaning these headstones, these were kids who once laughed, played and had dreams of growing big.....just like them. It is a sad lesson to learn but it stresses our need to return on that one Saturday every summer to once again clean, trim, water and lay fresh flowers by these graves so the children that rest there will always know that no matter how much time passes, they are still remembered and are still loved.....

Scottie representing Troop 50.....hanging with his Troop 611 buddies....

A Sailing Kinda Day....

What a way to spend a day.....we were lucky enough to get to spend the afternoon sailing with our friends the Uenaka's. They brought out their Hobie Cat catamaran and we headed to Lake Del Valle for some fun.....and fun is what we had! The winds were just right and the temps were hot....103 degrees but it made for a perfect day on the water!

You can see Scott and Cori hanging off the side as they zip along the water.....

Scottie is home!

So Scott finally got home late last night from Scout camp....thanks to Uncle Denis and Uncle Marty for picking up the kids....Scott was tired but glad to be home. I know that Renee and I were glad to see him! He stayed awake a little telling us stories about his week long adventure. He slept in open walled cabins....ate great food....swam.....worked on merit badges....but didn't get to go shooting like he really wanted to.....but he got to hang out with his bud Brian the entire week because they had the same classes....they shared a pizza on Tues night and talked to each other about being home sick. Out of all the classes and merit badge activities, I think that was the biggest lesson.....hang with your buddies, share what you have and help each other when you're down....now that Scott is back home, the daily grind of life continues on.....this weekend we are headed to San Jose to assist in the cemetery clean up, Scott will represent Troop 50 there....and then we are headed for some sailing with our friends the Uenaka's. I'm sure I'll have some great pics to blog after the weekend. One last thing.....I asked Scott if anything bad happened this past week and he told me....."we got banned from our outhouse...". Apparently, each Troop has an outhouse close by their camp site. I guess somebody decided to take a dump on the floor of the outhouse...nobody confessed to the crime so the entire Troop was banned from the outhouse and they had to hike down the hill if they wanted to use the bathroom. I had to laugh at that one....Boy Scouts or not......boys will be boys.....

Scottie.....Day 3...........

So I'm man enough to admit....I really miss Scottie. Funny....I've spent the last 5 years of Scouts preparing him to have the skills and confidence to go off on his own. I've taught him how to be self sufficient and skilled....from pitching a tent to starting a fire.....but the thing is....and it's something I never realized until now....I've always been there with him and now that I'm not...I feel a bit helpless. But I know I'm being silly about it all because I know he is doing fine....a few more days and he'll be home!

San Jose Obon Festival - 2009.....Been there...Done that!

This past weekend we had our San Jose Obon....Obon is one of those things that no matter where you live, you always come back to your childhood church to help out and attend the festivities. Now that I live in Elk Grove, it seems that I will always find myself in San Jose at this time of year...I've come to accept my fate....but that is one of the things that is neat about Obon....not only are we there to celebrate those that have passed before us but it is a time to gather with family and friends...no matter where they call home...for that weekend, we all find ourselves at "home" in San Jose. My Mom tells me stories of the Obon festival when she was a kid growing up in San Jose and watching the dancers from the window above the store where she used to live. Growing up in the streets of Japantown and hanging out in my family store, it is somewhat sad to see the "old" timers getting up in age. Japantown has changed and grown since I was a kid....Hanks Coffee Shop is now a ramen place....Uncle Bo is no longer dry cleaning clothes and Dobashi's is now replaced by a fancy, expensive grocery store. But some of the old guard is still there...my families store is still owned and run by my Uncle James (warning: Do not touch anything, you will get scolded...), Santos is still owned by a "Santo" and you can still find Mr. and Mrs. Santo working in the back and I can still walk behind the counter and into the back area of the manju shop to say hi to Tom and Judy. It's things like these that make J-town a special place to me. I don't know what it will be like when my kids are grown up but one thing will be for sure....a part of them will always call San Jose "home" and for that weekend in July, they will find themselves there celebrating those that have passed before them.....

Auntie Linda, Auntie Leslie, Uncle Todd, Uncle Steve and Justin getting ready to dance.

Cori in her Bando yukata

Simply beautiful.....

Bando girls...Kiana, Jenny and Cori

Justin in action

Mitchell T., Mitchell K., and Scottie

Kiana, Jenny and Cori

The Boyz

Auntie Leslie and Justin

The Bando group leads the line of dancers...all 1,200 of them....

Justin danced for the first time.....all two hours of it....

Bando girls...Marissa, Carly, Aly, Trisha, Auntie Lynne and Cori

Bando girls...beautiful and elegant.

A note to one of our dear Bando family members who missed Obon because she was not feeling well....we hope she gets well soon!!

A picture of the simple yet beautiful obi

Scottie....cutting the cord......

Scottie left today for a week long Boy Scout camp....the first time he has been away from home for so long. I didn't think I would miss him being away but I have to admit that I do.....I always tell Scottie...."dude, it's you and me against the world....you're my wing man.....". I know he's going to have a blast at summer camp with his buddies so that makes things easier. Scottie is one of those kids that is always doing things around the house...without me having to tell him....now that he is away....I have to pick up the slack....now I have to wake up Cori in the morning for school.....make breakfast.....feed the fish....and feed the dog. I'm sure Scottie is missing home but I also know that a part of him is glad to have a break from the daily grind of an 11 year old big brother with a little sister and a baby brother.

Scott's buddy Brian...Auntie Barb and Scottie getting ready to leave for Camp Royaneh

Troop 50 in action and Scottie with his 50lb backpack.....

The Boyz....

Michael Jackson....

We all know how weird of a dude Michael Jackson was....and we all know the controversy that surrounded him....but you cannot deny the global impact that he had on people around the world. His music talent and his monetary contributions reached across the globe and for that, he can never be denied. I always liked his music and his ability as an entertainer. I've found a few clips from around the globe that show just how much his music reached the masses.....


This is a great clip...some Chinese dude who sings his own lyrics to MJ tunes...for a fat dude, he's got the dancing down!




This next Chinese dude should either be doing my taxes or working on my computer....




This is just straight up wrong...anyway you look at it....




My personal favorite MJ video.....

Another 4th of July has come and gone....

When I was a little boy growing up in San Jose...the area was much like Sacramento is today....some houses and lots of farms. Some of my fondest memories were of helping my Dad sell fireworks in the VFW booth and my old Man would always buy a big box of fireworks and we would all go to my Uncles farm to light them off. All the cousins would line up their fireworks and I would always look around to see if I had the biggest box....most times I did :-)

So when fireworks were banned from Santa Clara County....the fireworks booths went the way of the farm fields....now just business parks and overpriced homes dot the landscape. It was depressing to say the least.....

So when we moved to Sacramento, I was excited at the prospect of buying fireworks once again and sharing my experiences with my kids much as my Dad did with me. Now that I'm older, I've gone full circle...I've worked in my kids fireworks booth and I still find myself staring at the brochure wondering which box I should buy.

Our dear friends, the Kitazumi's, were able to join us this year from the Bay Area and they were excited to partake in the fun! Brad went and purchased the same box as I did at $55 less than I paid?! What's up with that?!?! I told Marissa, their daughter, to go light some sparklers....she said, "what's a sparkler?".......oh, poor child...you know not what you miss.......

So another 4th of July has come and gone....it was full of fun....food....family and tons and tons of fireworks. Everytime the 4th comes along....I think of my old man and his buddies working the booth and I still find myself looking around to see if I have the biggest box......

Fireworks by the lake....

Jason and Marissa

Lighting snakes....

Cousin Andy prepping the fuses

WOW!

Boys and Their Toys......

This year we were invited to an annual shooting day with some friends here in Sacramento. A few times a year, a group of guys go out to a private farm and let loose with all their toys. When Marty Sakata invited me this year, we planned the day around a time when my brother in law George would be in town. He's a Santa Clara Sheriff so he has all the super cool toys. All the big boys got some good hand gun safety training and had the opportunity to fire some heavy metal...from a couple of M-16's, to tactical shotguns and even a .203 sniper rifle. Of course, we had the traditional shotguns for trap shooting and a large assortment of hand guns....from .22 to .45 Cal. All the boys....both big and small had a great day and we all look forward to the next outing!

Scottie taking aim with the .203 Remington Sniper Rifle

The damage that is done with a .223 round from the M-16

Various shotguns for trap shooting


More toys.....

Scottie firing a .22 Cal revolver

Scottie and me working the clay shooter

Scottie taking aim

Me shooting clay targets with a tactical shotgun....not easy on the shoulders..

The M-16 is much easier to shoot...

Scottie taking aim with the M-16

Got Guns?

Still having fun.....

Scottie with the .22 Cal rifle