Hello. It's been a while since I last posted something here, so I thought I'd give a little update. I have been busy this semester with class and work. I've been working at Rosetta Stone, the language learning software company. "The fastest way to learn a language - Guaranteed!" It's a pretty mellow job, but since the economy tanked and Hawaii is getting hit HARD, it's hard to get sales. Luckily, I'm not on commission only. Mayu just took off for the holidays. She went back to Japan to visit. Looks like I'm getting all A's again this semester barring a disaster. My golf game still sucks. My newest hobby is growing tomatoes. We bought three plants. They have their ups and downs. Right now, we have 11 tomatoes and I'm hoping I get to eat one before I go home for the holidays. The weather has been pretty rainy, but still warm. Well, I guess I'll post a few pics.

After a rain, the Ala Wai is nasty. Looks like Wonka's chocolate river. Some guy got beat up and thrown in there and he died from infection. No joke...it's really polluted.


Our plants. Tommy, Cherry and Goldie. We take them to the pool to get sun. It's ridiculous but our apartment only gets 3 to 4 hours of sunlight per day.


First tomato. I can't wait to eat that thing.


Halloween. I went as a Lego Man since I already had the haircut. I ended up looking a little like Lego dark knight though.




Cool time-lapse picture of a bike rack in Waikiki taken by Mayu's brother.


Snorkeling at the Sandbar. The sandbar is pretty cool. It's hundreds of yards off shore and it suddenly gets shallow. About waist deep and it's about the size of a football field. This is the edge.


Don't step on the reef. Oops.


Mayu and me on a jetski.


Well, that's it for now. Thanks for checking if you are!

Jon

Hey everyone,

I'm still in Hawaii, alive and well. I finished out the Spring semester with two A's and a B. That B made me furious because I felt cheated. Worst professor I've ever had and the class was a joke. She had, out of 33 final questions, four questions asking the names of people in case studies. FOUR! That just doesn't seem relevant to the concepts we learn in the class. Mayu has moved out here to live with me and study. She's been here for about 3 months now and things are going very well. I worked at the Governor's Policy Office this summer and it was a great experience. Getting an up-close view of the political process and politics gave me a new perspective. Anyway, I'll just post a few pictures of life.

Check this out! This is me meeting Bryan Clay right after he got back to Hawaii from Beijing with his gold medal. The best athlete in the world. This is actually a freeze frame of the news report I was on. Here's the link: http://www.kitv.com/video/17343112/index.html


Here's a picture of my co-intern Hannes Grassegger (from Austria), Governor Linda Lingle and me.


Mayu and I have been golfing a bunch. We play best ball in teams. Our team, Shinzo Abe, always wins.


Inter-cultural Day at HPU. Tanarka, my Jamaican friend, and I performed a medley of Jamaican folk songs.


This is the sorriest pigeon I've ever seen. So, I took a picture of it. We have dirty pigeons everywhere in Hawaii.


The other side of the island. The mountains here are some of the most dramatic I've ever seen.


With commodities so expensive in Hawaii, we've gotten so poor, we scrounge for food.


When Mike and Matt came to visit we did some golfing. I went with them to Ko'Olau, considered the hardest course in America and one of the hardest in the world. I only lost a dozen balls but shot double par.


Great views from that course. It was very beautiful. Too bad I was in such a lousy mood after. It took me a day to get over my getting killed on that course.


Look at this girl. She's walking now and is keeping everyone over there in shape so that they can live to a ripe old age.


Darcy with Auntie Cecilia.


Well, that is it for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Jon

Hey,

Today I made the best of Spring Break and shot a round of golf with Kelly and a couple German students. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised at this and the fact that I shot a couple bogeys despite not having shot golf for over 15 years. I got to play the military course. The setting was really beautiful. There were airport runways on all sides of the course so it was really weird to see both military and commercial jets taxi and take off while we played. Here are a few pictures.









I'm a golfer! For any real golfers out there, don't make fun of my form.

Jon

Hey everyone! Life in Hawai'i has now settled down. I'm in danger of getting straight A's this semester. If this happens, I apologize to all residents in hell for all the ice. I recently had my first visitor - Mr. Kevin Barisonek, my roomie on PB58. It only took 7 weeks for someone to come out here. Nobody but family came to visit me in China and I was there for a year! Wonder why that is...It's spring break right now and I've got visitors number 2 and 3 coming back to back over the following two weeks.

Aside from becoming a decent student, I have recently been nominated and chosen as a President's Host. My roomie, Jiang, is pretty well connected and through him I met the president of the university. Because of this, I was nominated for the position. Not straying from the university-wide policy of "if you apply, we'll take you" I was delighted to find out they had also accepted me into this exclusive society after a rigorous 5 minute chat, er, interview. Anyway, along with this position has come vague responsibility, a nice induction ceremony with free food and a sweatshirt that says "HPU President's Host." That way, if someone doesn't believe me I'll have proof.

I have made some nice friends. I mostly hang out with Tanarka (or just "T"). She's from Jamaica and I am helping her with the Jamaica table at international day. It feels like Peace Boat all over. I'm the closest thing she can find to Jamaican. Sigh...I also hang out with a dude named Kelly and his wife, Amanda. They are from Phoenix and good people. They are even putting Mayu up for a week when she visits next month. That is way too nice.

Anyway, I have some pictures of this beautiful paradise.


Diamond Head.


Diamond Head with football. This was at the Pro Bowl day in Kapiolani Park. Nice day.


Hanging out at Hanauma Bay with T, Kevin, Kelly and Amanda. We did some snorkeling.


Kevin and I rented a convertible mustang and drove up to North Shore making a bunch of stops on the way to check out the beautiful scenery.


President's host induction ceremony. These are the two other people from my college that were inducted. Something I've yet to embrace of Hawaiian culture are leis. They are wasteful and annoying to wear.


Roomie Jiang and me with President Wright and Mrs. Wright after the ceremony.


Went on a hike the other day with some friends. We hiked for over 5 hours and definitely over 5 miles. That is quite a feat for me, but the payoff was worth it. Check out the views!


Steph, Ida, Tina, me looking like a Cingular 'more bars' commercial. Truth be told, my reception was lousy up there.


More from the top of Makiki Ridge.


And then a rainbow appeared and the ghost of Bruddah Israel Kamakawa'ole could be heard echoing within and around the mist of Makiki Valley. And whales jumped.


That's it for now! I'll have more later.

Sincerely yours,

Jon

A very chipper !ALOHA!,

It's been a week and a half since I arrived in Hawaii. Today I went to Diamond Head. It had a pretty nice view and it was nice to get out in the nice weather and do something active. I went with a few people who live in my building. I've been fairly busy recently hanging out with my new friends and a few days ago there was a graduate student orientation. It was very informative and certainly got me in the mindset for school. I'm ready and looking forward to it. I've also taken up cooking. So far, I've made chicken and rice. I think I got an upset stomach the other day from my cooking, but I will not be deterred! Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures up at Diamond Head and wanted to post them.

This was at some tourist shop. My buddy, Richard, and I went on a bus hopping adventure one day with our bus passes. We just wanted to explore different areas around Honolulu. On the way, we arrived at a tourist shop with a huge Hawaiian shirt. I remember my Hawaiian shirt phase. I imagine if I ran for some office I'd have to pay off people who knew me when I wore Hawaiian shirts for fear that they'd come out with evidence.


From the top of Diamond Head. It's about an hour hike up to the top. Very scenic. I actually live only a 15 minute bus ride from here.


A view of Waikiki. I live there! Hot damn!


Look at the ocean behind me...it makes you want to swim.


And then we saw a rainbow...


We stopped by a little celebration/parade for the local heros...The University of Hawaii Rainbow Warrior Football team! Coming off a 13-1 season in which they played one decent opponent and lost in embarassing fashion. I was hoping to see June Jones, but I only saw the players. I'm not sure if people around here should hate or love him nowadays. They had a band playing some live music on the beach while they showed highlights from the season game by game. I didn't stick around to see if they had any from the Sugar Bowl (probably not), but there sure were lots from the Northern Colorado game.
</a That's it for now! I'll try to post more later. Love, Jon

Hello everyone,

I am in Honolulu now preparing to start grad school. I arrived about 4 days ago and I am very excited to be here. My apartment is located in Waikiki, which is the touristy part of the city. I am a block from the beach and am surrounded by tourist shops, restaurants and people. It's exciting and annoying at the same time. Nonetheless, I think Hawaii will be a good place for me to tackle the books. As you might know, I was never much of a student, so a dedicated effort will be necessary for me to pull this off. So far I have not been assigned a roommate. I'm a little bummed that I don't have a roomie, especially right now. I don't know anyone here. I can't wait until school starts so I can make some friends. I've tried out the bus system and went down to the beach. Other than that, I'm just trying to get settled. The local Round Table Pizza has all NBA games, so I've been going down there to watch the Warrior games. There are a lot of Japanese restaurants and people here. Japanese is to Hawaii like Spanish is to California, so hopefully I can improve my language abilities. I checked out the main campus yesterday. It's really nice and located right downtown. From my apartment it took about 30 minutes by bus. I've taken a few pictures...

This is the pedestrian walkway with lots of little places to eat on campus.


My half of the room. I'm keeping the other half clear until I know for sure I will not be getting a roommate. The room is like a hotel room.


The other half. Closed curtains because I've got a building right across the way that looks right in. It's kind of weird.


The view from my balcony. As you can see there are heaps of hotels in the immediate area.
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That's it for now. I'll walk around with my camera and get some more pictures.

Love,

Jon

Hey,

I went down to LA last weekend to see my good friend, Mike Traut, tie the knot. It was a very nice day. Anyway, we drove down and back with the baby, so I have some pictures of that too.

Rainbow outside our house. Not quite 58 of them in the sky, but one is very nice.


An early morning sunrise. I've seen a few of these now that I have a job!




Ansevin and me at the wedding. I haven't seen this guy for years, and it was great catching up with him.


My mother with some of the old neighbors, Jack and Sue. 'Old' of course meaning 'former'.


The bride, groom and tipsy guest.


Baby sleeping calmly. She actually was pretty good most of the way with only a couple short crying sessions. She did this most of the time.


But when she's awake...


She's friggin' cute as a...baby.


That one's my neice.


And this one's my goddaughter.


Coming over the Pacheco Pass into beautiful Gilroy!


We're having a little 54 reunion this weekend, so I'll probably take a few pics and post them next week.

Adios,

Jon

Hey everyone,

I'm back at work and it's got me on schedule and out of the house, so that is good. I'm not going to lie, it hasn't been easy transitioning back despite having done all of it before. Anyway, as promised, some pics from Tokyo after Peace Boat and some pics of the baby since I got back. She's really cute now. Before she looked a little goofy, but now she is just cute. Here we go.

See what I'm saying?


Trying to eat My neice/goddaughter. She's so cute you could just about have her for a pre-dinner snack.


Grandmother feeding her. I call that lady, Mom, but things change I suppose. She looks better with me, but truth be told, she gets really squirmy with me and is usually crying within 2 minutes of me holding her. I'm getting good at the 'hand-off', a useful maneuver when you are a scary looking guy. She poops herself? Hand-off! She starts to cry? Hand-off! She'll eventually like me...I hope.


3029 in Yoyogi Park. Our final moments.


My classes.
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My crazy student, Basashi, won the staring contest on the boat. He and some girl had a 10 minute final match. Grandmaster Blink.


The Ooooh-E-Ooooh Band performing at the final music festival. We were a huge group We had drums, two guitars, a trumpet, a saxophone, two backup singers, two rappers and I played bass and sang.


Pagi from Tokyo Gangstars came out for the departure ceremony in Yokohama. Look at me...no tears!


I got to see Jezza at the handover...he's on 59.


Aaaah...Tokyo rush hour. I love it. It's so crowded.


Mayu and me decked out in our yukatta at Oedo Onsen. It's like the Disneyland of hotsprings.


We went with Taichi and Tomo. Onsens are the ultimate in relaxation.


Later that evening, I went to Tsudanuma to meet up with my former students. The Wednesday Party is alive and well even though we had it on a Sunday. Yasu and me representing.


And then, I had to leave and go home. Leaving is easier on me now with experience, but this one was hard. The adventure was over again. Of course, we're hamming it up but, only time will tell what will happen with us. I am hoping for a happy ending.


Well, that's it for now. I will try to update it every once in a while while I'm home, but I will definitely post some pictures when I move out to Honolulu in January.

Love,

Jon

Hey everyone, don't know if you are still reading or not, but I'm home home now, meaning San Francisco. It's great to be home and finally meet Darcy Lin Winters. She is really cute. She took a nap on me the first day back. Playing my ukulele to her seems to calm her down when she's crying, but it's a little hit or miss. Anyway, things are going okay so far. Wanted to post more pics from 58 as I sort through all of them. Thanks for following my travels!

Cheers,

Jon

Beating Clare in Mexicali, a game the GETs both embraced and hated. One of my sweetest moments as you can see on my face. Sorry Clare, but not really.


More KSB. KSB is Kokusaibu, which is Japanese for International Division.


More Haka...this old guy, Samu-san, was always into it 100%.


Chihiro, one of the CCs, wearing a Birka. Great eyes.


DaNang, Vietnam.


Mayu and me in Mykonos. The place is very beautiful.


Small car in Sicily.


Sports Day. Tug-o-war. We won! But my arms and back hurt like hell the next day.


Visiting Andy Z in NYC. We had a great dinner with him and his lady.


This picture cracks me up. The day we had a 'different' type of meeting and put Nat in the cage. Come to think of it, I think we caged Nat a few times on this voyage. You've got to keep her under control.


Room 3029...minus Hernan, but this was the core in non-stop ridiculous fashion.


This is after my class surprised me on my birthday by coming to class five minutes late singing. And then we took pictures for ten more minutes. Screwed the whole timing of my lesson up.


Barbie in Yemen.


An evening in Namihei.


Beer in teapots in India? British influence prevails I guess.


Cairo, Egypt. Nice artsy view.


Saw this at Petra and I laughed out loud. Poor donkey.


More Mykonos. Despite how nice it looks, the water was pretty cold.


Aden, Yemen.


A dude playing the Bouzouki. Cool Greek instrument.


Green flash sunset.


This guy, Shige, singing at the karaoke contest. He worked for the Peace Boat office for seven years, putting up posters in Kansai, to earn a free trip on the boat. I like this picture of him.


A nice night view of a cathedral in Antigua's main square.


Myself with a variety of people while at the Alaskan glaciers. Nat, Kevin and a seal (Mika).
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Pulling away from Hubbard Glacier. The weather was perfect.


India night drumming...because we're all masters of Indian drumming.


Packing people into 3029 for Lauren's birthday. It got hot in there what with Will and Luke doing a lapdance for her. Yuck!


One day we swapped personas in the meeting. Clothes too. It was interesting and pretty funny. When you live together in close quarters like we had been doing for 3 months, observations of little quirks exposed make for good entertainment. Anyway, here are the guys.
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I wasn't even there, but these guys deserve their pics posted. In Alaska, they found a stream where salmon were going up it to spawn. The waters were thick with large salmon. They decided to be like bears and catch them with their bare hands. Looks like fun. Wish I could have joined you guys! Your smiles tell it all.
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So, despite Aden being very desolate and poor, there was this very big, very modern mall. It was the only thing modern about the whole city. We went there to cool off in the AC.


...and take undercover pictures of women in birkas, since it is rude to take pictures directly.


Then, we went to play soccer with some people. We were quite an attraction as there are next to no tourists in Yemen. I happened to lose my footing on one kick and I fell on my ass...hence bridging cultural gaps via insane laughter (at my expense).


Sunset between two buildings in NYC.


More ladies in head to toe black coverings...this time at the Sphinx.


I like this pic taken in downtown Montego Bay, Jamaica.


This older lady and her husband had matching beanies. Nice.


Another great sunset.


More Jamaica.


Guatemala skies and man on roof.


Bryan and me on top deck in Alaska.


Nerys bundled up. Fuzzy.


There is a term we use on the boat, Fune Magic. Fune is simply boat in Japanese. It refers to the frequency of people falling in love during the voyage. I cannot deny this phenomenon. This pic sums it up nicely.


Guatemala hillsides. Look at the reach Coca Cola has.


Check these Panamanian burgers out. Beef in between fried plantains.


Icy Straits, Alaska. Lots of whales around here. It is also not short on natural beauty.


Lisa Mean and myself taking in the view while approaching Manhattan.


Thanks for taking care of me, Lauren. You make a fine barstool.


This is what happens when you fall asleep during a party. People draw all over your face and then when you wake up they parade you all over the boat taking pictures with people.


Here's the worst part. Here I am mocking Karen after drawing on her. Look at me with this sleeping idiot! DOH!


Yokohama departure.


The hip-hop workshop.
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Camels at Petra caught doing weird stuff.
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Singapore at my aunt's place. It was a lot of fun since a lot of the teachers came over for a little BBQ and swim. My mom came from San Francisco too!
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This punk kid wouldn't pay me after I took a picture of him...unbelievable! I said, "Hey, my friend, c'mon...you can't let me take a picture of you and not pay." Look at that mocking smile. Oooh...the gaul.


This guy has the right idea. No, Mom, that's not me despite the resemblance of our bellies.


More borderless love on the Peace Boat...as in Will was constantly infringing on my borders.


We saw our cabin steward, Mohammed in Jamaica. Here he is trying to forget the mess that was 3029.


Ah...my roomies, Kevin and Will. I loved living with you guys! Laughs everyday.
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More Jamaica.


The first week in Tokyo. Orientation and karaoke.
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Graduating my classes.


We passed this huge boat in the Panama Canal. Yup, the name sums it up.


Not really boat related, but a funny picture of Greer in NYC enjoying(?) some contemporary art.


Lauren and me looking tropical at the GET Party. My John Stockton jersey was the most tropical thing I had with me, so I put it on and bought a fruity cocktail. At this party our students learned who would be their teacher.


Sports Bar...I'll miss you. There is nothing in the bar that has anything to do with sports, but it was a haven for GETs at night.


I took a similar picture in Guatemala last time, so this is NOT Bryan's idea, but he did a much better one than me. Not to mention...look how grumpy he looks. Man, you are in Guatemala! The walls in Antigua are really beautifully colored.


Palestinian refugees at the refugee camp. Thank god that gun isn't real after my experience with the kids there! I like how he's got very mixed messages of peace AND violence.


Crab gets no fresher than this. This guy is ripping them apart for me as I devour the delicious meat. This took place in Colombia and I was with Maria, my favorite Colombian, Nat and Kiyoko (a passenger). What I don't know at this time is that he has misled us about price and is going to charge us 20 bucks each. A twenty minute argument ensued.


Cool pic of everyone at the safety orientation. We had to go in our lifejackets with the reflective pieces on them.


Ah...America! It might have felt a different in Alaska, but it was undoubtedly the lnad of the free and the home of the brave. I could finally breathe again...FREEDOM!


Beautiful fjords again.


I promised whale pics and here's the only one. I didn't even take it. Simon gave it to me. I was there though. And I did see a few, but my camera was too crap to pick it up. I saw one doing a Pacific Life commercial, but it was far away.


Playing frisbee in Panama...seconds before Erin threw my second frizbo of the trip over a barbedwire fence. Esko...you owe me a frisbee!


Nat and Yuuka. Thanks! You guys were the best coordinators ever.


Well, that is it for now. I think I still have some pics of Darcy and from Tokyo to post. I'm sure I'm really just doing this for me now. Thanks for reading though if anyone still is!

Jon

Hello, all,

I've made it safely back to Japan. The end of the cruise was busy and full of emotion, but like much of the rest of my voyage, doing it the second time was easier. I managed to not cry, which is quite a feat for me. Anyway, I picked out a few pics from the voyage. Enjoy.

Team America manning our American booth. We had a great time.


Teaching the Pledge of Allegiance.


Lined up with a bunch of colorful ladies in Alaska.


Staying warm on top deck.


The last Peace Haka performance.


Getting back to America! A Seward Bar...
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Will post more from the voyage later. So, last night, I had a little adventure. I woke up at around 2am and my uvula, the little punching bag that hangs in the back of your mouth, was approximately 5 times it's normal size. So, I was gagging and it was scary. Anyway, I ended up in the hospital at 4am here in Tokyo. Another one to cross off the life experience list. Anyway, they gave me some meds and I'm all fixed up I think. I will post again soon.

Love,

Jon