Network Neutrality

Ever heard of this term? I hadn't either until a few days ago. It's what keeps the internet from being one-sided and biased towards businesses and large corporations. How you access pages on the internet right now could change soon. As it stands now, you can visit any page, and they will load the same way & just about the same speed. Major corporations want to make it where certain pages will load much faster because they've paid these sites to contain their advertisements. If Congress passes this bill, you will no longer have equal access to all websites. You will suddenly find that websites with certain advertising will be much easier to access. Many people that are aware of the situation are outraged regardless of their party bias/affiliation. This will affect everyone. You can find more information about it here at the Urban Legend Reference Pages. Here is an excerpt of what they have to say at snopes.com (ULRP):

"Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site's traffic has precedence over any other's...Whether a user searches for recipes using Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a friend's MySpace profile, all of that data is treated equally and delivered from the originating web site to the user's web browser with the same priority. In recent months, however, some of the telephone and cable companies that control the telecommunications networks over which Internet data flows have floated the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a paid carpool lane."

Please sign the petition...

Photos Posted

Well, I've posted all of my photos from in port. I'm going to put photos that I've taken since being underway up later. For now there are quite a few albums up on Kodak Easy Share.

You don't have to signin to view the photos...Just click on the link "View Photos Without Signing In" below the signin dialogue.

Pictures

Well, this is going to be slow-going b/c of bandwidth out here, but I am going to be posting my pictures in albums up on Kodak's website for my family & friends who are interested. As of this evening, I have one set uploaded. I'm shooting for a set a night, so I'll keep you posted on my blog when it's all done.

LMAO!!

I have been sitting here laughing so hard I'm crying! You HAVE to check out this website: http://www.missouritrailertrash.com. It's hilarious. The guy's commentary is great.

I guess I've been on a redneck kick lately. Check out http://www.mytrailerpark.com, too.

Willie For President!!

Actually, I think he's doing a good thing -- he's a spokesperson for biodiesel fuel, formed his own company (which sells 'BioWillie'), and was recently recognized by the EPA.
http://www.wnbiodiesel.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/business/30biowillie.html?ex=1293598800&en=3b0ae71846ac300a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

But back to the fun...

One more thing...

So I really gotta get to bed now, but before I go, I hafta relate an article I read in the Stars and Stripes (it's not like we get news delivered out here, so yeah, it's the same newspaper I've been reading for a couple of days now). Anyhow, here it goes:
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"TOURIST ATTRACTION TURKEY NAMED RUFUS GETS SHOT
(ID) JACQUES SPUR -- Telephone calls, letters of condolence and even money for a memorial are arriving at a rural cafe in northern Idaho.

Rufus the wild turkey adopted by Jacques Spur Junction Caffe as his home about six months ago, greeting visitors and becoming a tourist attraction. An anonymous hunter shot Rufus on the opening day of turkey hunting season, tossed the bird into his pickup and quickly drove away."

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Ha! Rednecks - they're everywhere.

Landmark Towers

We actually stayed a day longer than expected so the day before we were set to sail, I decided to go downtown to Yokohama & check out what I heard was the world's fastest elevator. I caught the train & scooted on down to Queen's Towers which is a huge mall area. I finally found an entrance to Landmark Towers, but everything looked so shwank, so I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed to enter. I finally figured if I came all the way down here, I wasn't about to give up, so I sauntered right in, following some businessmen to the elevator. I was sweatin' it. I just knew at some point I'd be asked to leave. Well, the elevator took me up a few flights where I got off & caught another elevator. It took me up to a portion of the hotel, and it really didn't seem that much faster than any other elevator I've ridden. I was disappointed, but I went back down to find a directory or something b/c I felt I might not have been in the right place. Sure enough, after a couple of floors of searching, I found the golden egg. There's a separate entrance, and it's a tourist attraction all in itself. I went to the window & paid my 1000 yen ($10), and waited in line as people began lining up to get on the elevator. A woman dressed in a 50's bell-hop style uniform politely Vanna-ed us into the elevator. It was lit up with stars at the top. As we began our ascent, the guy was just chattering away about the elevator, telling us all the facts. Thankfully, I had been given a brochure in English so I could understand what he was saying. Indeed, it is the fastest elevator in the world. I timed it: 40 seconds to go from the second floor to the 68th floor. The elevator is shaped like an egg for speed. When we got to the top, we stepped out onto a circular observation deck, not unlike the Space Needle in Seattle. At each direction, there were diagrams showing what you were looking at. By the time I got up there, it was night, but it was still beautiful. You could see my ship across the way.

The boat I am now on, the Loyal, is to the left & the Effective is on the right.

Geocaching In Japan

I met 2 other gals who are into geocaching, so 2 days before we left, we took off to find some boxes. We drove out to an old sandstone quarry, where I promptly slipped in the mud and busted my elbow. I was tromping through the wet grass where I shouldn't have been when I fell. It didn't look real bad at first; just kinda bloody. So we kept on looking for the box until we ran upon a group of climbers out on the rock. It was an ideal place for climbing, and I really wished I had my gear with me at that moment. We finally found the box after getting misled a bit.

I wanted to go back and chat with the climbers, so we went back to the climbing spot and found out that they were a class from the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) department from the Yokosuka base. I ended up getting the guy's number that's in charge of the outdoor groups, so hopefully when I have some time in port again, I can go climbing.


After we left here, we were headed on to find more boxes when I noticed that my elbow was beginning to look like it was growing a golf ball. The other girls convinced me to go to the hospital to have someone look at it. The doc ended up telling me that I hadn't broke anything, but that I had busted a sack & it had filled with fluid. I wearily went home to get some rest. It looks much better now, although my elbow has turned just about every shade of yellow and purple. Yuck!

I'm really glad I met everyone that I did while we were in port. I had such a great time.

Tokyo

A day or two after this, I took the train to Tokyo. I brought my scooter which helped me to see much more of the town than I had seen previously. As soon as I left the station, I walked around the surrounding district where I saw expensive shops, such as Coach, Armani, and the like. Most of the stores I didn't even want to step into b/c their wares were such high dollar, but it was fun to look around. I next went to the Imperial Palace, but I stayed outside the walls and headed for a park I had been to last time.

I also visited a large temple on the outer limits of the palace walls. After I walked around there for a bit, I went to a couple of more shopping districts before heading back home.

Hiking Through Kamakura

A day or two later, Jen invited me to go hiking with her & some of her friends. MC came along too, so we met Jen at the train station in Kamakura. She has a friend who works at the Stars & Stripes as a reporter who brought a friend, who in turn invited 2 other friends. Somehow another gal showed up too, so there we were - all 8 of us! I was really excited to meet so many new people. They were civilians who live in Japan, which was really intriguing. I wanted to know how they all ended up in a foreign country. So we took off for our walk led by one gal who knew the area & had a hiking guide. Our first stop was an out-of-the-way temple.



There was a guy chanting on a shrine next to a rack that held candles. The ritual is that you light your candles, place them on the rack, and then turn around to the incense urn & you cleanse yourself by wafting the smoke towards you.


The most important part is the final step, in which you place your money in a basket and then cleanse it with the water inside the cave. I have never seen this at any other shrine, but here it is considered good fortune. I placed my yen, my American money, and my credit cards in there. I hope it worked.


A few temples ago I had purchased a book which you can get signed at each temple (for a fee, of course). It's really neat, though, because the writing is beautiful & unique to each place. I'll try to get a pic of it up here at some point.

We continued on our excursion over a hill and through the woods. Our 'hike' ended up being more of a nature walk, but I enjoyed it immensely.


A little while later, we ran across another temple area.

This one was unique in that there was a tunnel near the back of the cemetery with no lighting that went in about 35 yards. Three of us went in to see how far back it went, and we couldn't see a thing.

It was outside of this temple that I managed to get a picture of everyone.


After we walked back to the train station, 4 of us continued on to another rather large temple.


After touring this temple, we hopped back on the train for the ferris wheel area of Yokohama. I think it's called Moto-machi. There was supposed to be a street-performer's festival throughout the city, so we went to check it out. MC & I ended up getting separated from the other girls, but it was a lot of fun to be out & about with all those people. There were performances going on all around, but they were geared more for children. In one area, there were groups of people trying out the new toys they had bought. I got a picture of this little girl with her father - they both look really happy.

China Town

To pick up where I left off, I believe it was a few days later that Jen, Shane & I were led through China Town by Jen's Japanese friend 'Hiroko.' China Town is within the city of Yokohama, and it is the largest one in Japan (also one of the largest in the world). http://gojapan.about.com/cs/kantoregion1/a/yokohama_china.htm In the center of the shopping district sits an elaborate temple called Kantei-byo, dedicated to the god Kanwu. I read on a website that this is the god of business, but you can gather that it has something to do with money from just seeing it. This temple is so much different than all of the other temples I've seen. The Japanese shrines tend to be simple, with clean lines and colors, whereas this Chinese temple was, well, gaudy. I guess it has a sense of beauty to it, but it's rather loud.


After doing a bit of perusing, Hiroko led us to a park by the water where there was a statue of a Spanish woman surrounded by a fountain. This park was dedicated to Yokohama's sister city, which is San Diego, CA (I love that town!). I took this picture of a bike b/c wherever you go, there are always people using non-motorized transportation. I think this is why you don't hardly ever see any obesity in the Japanese. They walk or ride their bikes everywhere.

Beach at Kamakura

The next day I took off for Kamakura with my trusty scooter. I looked around, did some shopping, grabbed some coffee and a bite to eat. As I was passing by a church, I noticed a hawk up on the steeple.


After a bit, I made my way down to the beach area, where I rolled up my pants, laid my backpack down, and took a nap.

Ha Se Temple & Engrish

The next day, my roomate 'Jen,' another guy 'Shane,' and I took off to do some touring of temples in the area. Jen was such a great person to meet - not only was she really nice, she knew the area well & didn't mind acting as part tour guide. It was right up my alley. Here's a picture of her:


She also introduced me to some fabulous folks out here, but I'll get to that in another post.

So this day we went to several temples in and around Kamakura. I had previously toured a large temple in the center of the city the last time I was here, but Jen knew some others we could hit too. One of them was the temple at Ha Se, which was surrounded by beautiful gardens. The thing about 'temples' here in Japan is that they're everywhere. I mean everywhere you turn, you're bound to run into one. Another thing is that they are known as individual temples -- for example, the temple at Ha Se -- but there is usually more than one temple located in a complex. Here was no different.

While we were touring the grounds, I noticed a place where you could get your fortune. It was a box that contained pieces of paper folded up & you could take one if you donated 100 yen (about a buck). So we all got one. They were hilarious!

First I need to explain & define the term 'ENGRISH.' I didn't know there was a word to describe how Japanese use English, but there you go. I find the word itself funny. It references the way Japanese people do not use the letter 'L' in their pronounciation of English words. Well, for varied reasons, Japanese have bastardized English words & phrases to use on their advertising & products. Sometimes it's because they don't completely translate. Other times, I've been told, it's because they just like the way certain English words look together in a sentence. So all over Japan you see funny phrases in English that hardly make any sense. Anyway, we pull out these 'fortunes,' and here is what mine said (verbatim):

"Praying to God of rice and Believing in the Divine. ILLNESS: You will recover. PREASURE: Good. THE PERSON YOU AWAIT: He will comes. LAW SUITS: You will win. Hardly. QUARREL: You will win. LOST ITEM: You will find it late. BUYING/SELLING: Changeing of your mind. Good. BUILDING/MOVING: Good. LOVE: Go well. LIFE AND DEATH: You will be alive.If you are not honest person, you will not be alive. TOOL: Books, clothes, sword are good items."

HAHAHA Well, I HOPE I will be alive! What a trip. And 'preasure?' I can't stop giggling about that one!

There's a great website a guy put together & people send him examples of Engrish that he posts online. Check it out & get another good laugh: http://www.engrish.com.

Okay, so back to the temple...Let me wipe the tears away...So there are these little statuetes that represent prayers for people who have died. There seems to be a strong tie with buying stuff & being able to send prayers up...Hmmm...Sounds like quite a lot of religions, huh. Anyway, so you can buy these statuetes & put them around a shrine for dead people. Here's a pic:


And the big urn with the ashes? That's all ashes from incense that has burned.

Another thing you can do is buy prayer cards that can be hung up on a big posting board. You write your prayer on the back. Here is one that moved me:

No more war and sadness. If only...

Later on that day, we went to see the Great Buddha. I have seen it before, but Shane had not & it's not something one should miss. These women stopped & asked us to take their picture with their camera, so I got one off to the side. They are laughing b/c Shane was having trouble taking the picture:

Enospa

(It's the brown building in the background)
So the next day back in port (from being out to sea for only two days!), I took off for Enoshima with my roomate & some guys for the boat to relax at a spa she knew about since she is stationed here. This place is located on an island connected to the mainland by a short bridge. I was sort of prepared for what was coming because she had been describing it as phenomenal, but it's so much better when you get there. For 3000 yen (which is about $25), we stayed all day lounging in and out of various hot baths, sea salt baths, milk baths, and everything in between. For another 4000 yen, we got a full-bodied massage. Something like this back in the states would be outrageously expensive. If we pull back in & have time before we fly back, I want to visit the spa again.

Here's the view from the dining room at the spa. You can see down to some of the outdoor baths.

Here's another view...Ahhh...

Ferris Wheel in Yokohama

The Japanese are crazy about Ferris Wheels. The one in Yokohama is one of the largest in the world, according to tourism websites. I didn't really have the guts to ride it the last time I was here, so I vowed I would give it a whirl this time. I went up with 2 of my buddies from this trip. It was pretty neat to be that high up, even though I'm scared of heights. You can see out for quite a distance. It takes 15 minutes to ride all the way around, and the total height is 369 feet.

All around the ferris wheel is a huge shopping area in Yokohama with restaurants and several-storied luxury malls. Great place for just browsing around.

You can find out more info on Yokohama at: http://www.city.yokohama.jp/en/, which is mostly in English.

Japan

Well, I'm well overdue for an update. I'm out in the middle of the ocean, sailing onboard the USNS Loyal. We finally got underway a few days ago. Here's the story: we flew out on the 9th of April for a deployment on the USNS Effective. We left soon after arriving, but our ship broke down only 2 days into the mission. So we limped back into port where we sat for nearly a month. In short, they switched us to another boat that was operational, and sent us on our way to perform our mission.

I've had a few people ask me exactly what it is that I do while I'm underway. I can say that I am a Sonar Technician working as part of a military detachment for SURTASS (Surveillance Towed Array Sonar System). It's a fancy acronym that means we track submarines using sensors that are towed behind our boat (If you know anything about the military, you know they just adore those acronyms).

But let me get to the important stuff -- it was fantastic being in port!! Where else can you get paid to tour a foreign country!?! I had a blast. So yeah, to say I took advantage of our free time is an understatement. I went out so much that there were a couple of days in between my sight-seeing that I had to just rest on the boat.

We port out of Yokohama, Japan which is the second largest city next to Tokyo, of course. Three million people! I think I saw nearly every one of them on the train system, which I took everywhere. When I wasn't riding the train, I was zooming around on my foot-pedaled scooter I got while I was here. It cut my travel time down to a third of walking, which gave me more time to explore.

I'm not quite sure where to begin with my travels. I was definitely limited to where I could get by train b/c I had to be back on the boat every evening, but there's still plenty to see. I took some pictures which I am going to begin posting tonight.