Hakkaisan 八海山

So, apparently the husband of our Japanese friend family is a sommelier. His knowledge of wine is quite beyond my level.

But our wives seems not as passion of these wines as we are... Well, that is fine and normal... anyway then my wife mentioned we do have some Japanese sake..

Aha, ya, we did have some. From several Japanese trips some time back, I managed to carry back some special edition sake, since my wife was quite a sake lover, before she had children.

So, apparently the husband is very keen and nifty... He immediately recognized this Hakkaisan (eight seas and mountains). It was probably the best one in my collection.
http://www.sakebar.net/

I had Hakkaisan various times when in Japan. Normally can find it in some upper class Isakaya (drinking bar). It is very smooth, only slightly sweet. Our friends (particularly the wife) was quite excited since they think this is really a good sake to represent Japanese sake quality, and it is brewed quite close to their residence.

We enjoyed this sake a lot. It is really a good switch from beer and wines. Well, not sure when will be the next chance I can get a bottle though...

American Greeting

Turbo was at ATL security point and ready to take out ID and boarding pass for security checking.

TSA agent: How are you?
Turbo: Doing good. How about you?
TSA agent: Excellent, excellent. I have health insurance coverage.
Turbo: ......

Something apparently went wrong here.

Toyota Yaris

Damn, I was just about to grab that Nissan Versa but someone just took it couple minutes earlier... so, I was forced to take this Yaris, otherwise I will have a BT cruiser. That will be miserable....

Well... again, pay attention to that strange "central" console... I always need extra effort to ensure I am within speed limit. I was not sure what was the "engineering intend for this design.

1. reduce design cost by standarize left/right side steering?

Don't think it helps any manufacturing cost... and design is really one time cost.

2. improve the straigh front vision?

damn, block my right forward corner view... and force me the lean my head to the right ALL THE TIME!

3. cool?

ya... sure.. next time, have a car with steering in the middle and then we can talk.

The steer is ok. But the sitting position no matter how I tried, is awkward... I am not a tall guy but the distance between me and the steer wheel is farer than I want... It ends up I have my arms stretched and tired.. and the position is high for a car at this size....feel I am sitting on the toy car or something :)

Different than last time... this Yaris seems has slightly more power.... however, its noise level is beyond my expectation for a Toyota. With 20K on the odormeter, I am assuming this car has received enough "training" thus the engine probably runs with pull power but less calm :D

Some of my friends and relatives are actually driving Yaris. So, I better shut up now.

Crianza 2000 from Montecillo

This is the second time I had this exact same wine..

Unfortunately, we had the wrong sequence. We should have the Carmenere first, since it is heavier. Tempranillo definitely is lighter and slightly more acid... but still less than Shiraz.

We did not finish it over the dinner so we preserved it. Then less than a week we took it out and finish it up. It turns out excellent. The acid is actually reduced and taste more fruity and smoothy...

Still, I have to say the cost to value ratio is excellent

Carmenere 2007 from Anakena Chile

Our Japanese friends brought this wine to the dinner. This is the first time for me to try Carmenere and learnt quite some history about it.

It is relatively heavier, compare to Merlot. Quite close to Cabernet Sauvignon (they supposed to be similiar from originality). And it is less acid, comparing to Shiraz.... Eve I am not a fan of Cabernet, I still can tell this is quite a quality wine...

It was a wonderful event, turned a simple drinking to be educational and emotional. We really enjoyed the drinking and kept going on and on and on....

Chimay - Cing Cents

We hosted our Japanese family for a BBQ dinner. We started with this Chimay beer since we know Japanese mostly starts with beer, and then switch to wines or liquors


I had it before when travelled in Belgium. So I knew the quality is outstanding and definitely won't go wrong.

Well, my family seems not impressed. But my friend turned out to be a big fan of Chimay and said this is his most favorable beer.. Urrr.... so We ran out it very quickly and this happened to be the only bottle I have in house. Aaaaaa!!!! a huge embarrassment....

Next time I should keep two or three in my refrigerator all the time.

Standing next to a JAL 777

Woow.... The blast is stunning. Boeing 777 has the most powerful engine in the world... its two engines has more power than the 4 engines 747 has combined. Our CRJ on the left corner is just a toy....

About Rick Steves

Well... I recently encountered some of his videos... pretty appealing for me as there has been a lacking of nice European travel video in US for a while.

Samatha Brown has quite traveling Europe. Michael Paulin's Britan arrogance made me puke (not in Europe though). And global trekker is really not my style (sorry, no backpacking!)

One thing I like Rick is he is not making too much comments other than introduction. That is something for an American (and European). Can see quite some his video clips on youtube.

But interestingly, he recently start promoting his book "travel as a politic act" http://www.travelasapoliticalact.com/ which is full of "I think..." , "I feel..."

Maybe he has been suppressed too much and too long in his show :)

But anyway, I like some of his point of view through his introduction clips:

Chapter 4 - "Get connected or be dumped out" is commenting on the way people are traveling. I enjoyed some of his comments for Americans traveling oversea.Don't tak me wrong here. It is not only for American. In fact, always some "red neck" tourists from any country do the sane things.

Chapter 8 - "How others see us" is pretty cool too. He made a lot of points echoing the feeling from people like me, who travelled around the world and see how people think American...

One comment of my American friends in my Japanese lesson when back in Tokyo said "don't tell people you are from US, or they will just fxxk whatever you say".

Chapter 9 - "Terrorism, fear and sense" made some comments regarding American's mindset regarding terriorism and some own "internal affairs" They are quite some wisdoms and something american refused to hear from a long time. . For me, it is at least nice to hear it from an American saying that.

Well.... found something interesting and enjoyed.

Travel by rental car? have a Diners with you

I was a happy Diners Card member for a long time (well... 10 year is not long for many heritage card holder, but anyway). I had numerous debated with family and friends regarding paying its not so friendly membership fee. But a recent event made me feel my loyalty worth. So I am a happier customer now.

Back to March, I traveled to Belgium and rented a car just for commuting between client and hotel (earlier blog post). I used AutoEurpoe (http://www.autoeurope.com/) to book the rental, It is buying car rental in batch and resale them at cheaper price, wholesales kind of business. It was new for me so I was kind of cautious. The rate was excellent. And the process to use the coupon went smoothly. It earned its credit. I will use it again if possible. The rental was actually provided by National Car Rental at Belgium Brussels Airport. This sounded all fine, right??

The problem started from return. 9AM return flight in the morning, so I went back to airport and tried to return the car roughly at 7AM. The rental office down at parking garage supposed to be opened at 6 as I believed. However, there was nobody there. I phoned the upstairs office asked how to return the car. They said the guys supposed to be there was late bhah bhah ... and just drop the key in the return box and go. But then I asked whether there will be a receipt of returning. They said no because nobody there... hum??? fishy??

After couple weeks, I checked the credit card charge and noticed there was a charge, five day after the return from this national car rental at Belgium. The amount was even higher than the whole rental !!! hum??

I phoned this national car rental at Belgium, nobody ever picked up the phone... So, I start contacting national car rental here at US... The US customer service was not bad... they tried to help... but they told me that the Belgium operation was a franchiser. So everything is on different system. They have no access at all, except their are hanging a brand which is identical to national care rental. urr..... I knew running this kind of business is screwy.

So, about a week later... the national car rental came back with some info, finally. They said it was a vehicle damage charge ..?? hum? that does not sound right... firstly, I should have received the damage report from this vendor, it was almost a month after the return. Second, I was using Diners, the charge should not come to me as a normal practice... So I asked whether national car rental US had a copy of damage report... funny, they said: no, the vendor said it will take a while to retrieve it..... hmmmm, the sky is darkening and seems storm is coming.

So, I told national car rental US to get a report anyway, which they did (again, they earned their credit). Ok, so eventually I got a piece of crappy hand writing and some mark on the car diagram saying there was a ding on windshield and cost $300 to repair it (what? a ding on windshield which I did not see? and $300 for a ding? I almost replace half of the windshield already).

So I told national car rental US: " go check to your franchiser, this seem not right... first the damage report and charge were not reasonable, second, please deal with the insurance company directly rather than charge to my card" At meanwhile, I already contacted Diners car service to be ready for this. The reply from national rental car was shocking but funny: "sorry, the vendor just filed bankruptcy and no long can be contacted!!!" hahaha........ we finally see the last episode.

I asked to Diners to follow it up.... this apparently to be a fraud. That company must be overcharging whole bunch of victims at the last minutes before it closed it business. And I am guessing the faciliate at Belgium airport must be hanging another brand and run their business as usual now. (not sure this is normal in Belgium or not... may it is. But aleast seems an awkward way of running business :D)


serviced by Eurocar??? anyway... does not matter anymore. If you are in Beligum, check the car rental in airport, which company it is now next to Sixt... May be Alamo??? hehehe..

5 months later, Diners finally closed the investigation. I don't know how eventually they are going to resolve it. But I was informed that I am not obligated for that stupid windshield charge..

Travel by rental car? get a Diners. In a case like this it will dip into your personal car insurance firstly before any other credit card's car insurance kick in. I am happy that I was really in worry-free for such a long period. And I got at least 3 years memebership fee even out.

Lexington, NC - BBQ in North Carolina style

Made a short stop at Lexington, North Carolina to have a BBQ lunch.
Lexington, the capital of NC BBQ, has numerious BBQ shops. However, mostly are closed on Sunday thus left us not many options to choose.

But the Smileys's we went, was not bad at all. We ordered the classic pull pork sandwich...
It came with stunning volume and very reasonable price.... definitely enjoyed.
The vinegar based north caroline style, which is lighter and more refresh comparing to other style, is one of my favor, for sure.

Honda Civic

Woow! come to me with surprise... got a brand new Honda Civic! The odometer is just 160!! and just has a temporary license plate... Need to give credit to Hertz and Costco...Used Hertz for 5+ years and enjoyed its service and overall quality, but gave up laterly due to its notorious rates. But with Costco travel discount, this became a very appealing deal and pleasant experience.


Interior and steering are solid. To dual console made me take some time to adjust it... something rather fancy than useful. Cabin noise isolation is not bad... somehow just feel the view angel is a little bit awkward.. maybe just because of the sitting angle... used to drive bigger car already. How about powerplant and and transmission?? urrr.... I would suggest Accord if want to drive in a hilly place (like Atlanta) or catch up highway traffic more easily. I can bump up rpm to 6k easily with a simple kick down.... feel I am going to stress out the engine quickly if I keep doing so.

Busch Garden Williamsburg

Second time in a month we came to Busch Garden Williamsburg. For those who don't know it, it is a Europian theme amusement park. Sounds odd, right? US east coast is so close to Europe already. Why need a theme park? But I guess it is serving as a cheaper option by driving instead of flying.

The other thing awkward for me is this: They have shows like - October festival. It is done in a artificial beer house as big as the real one in Munich. And the show has dancing and singing in every two hours...

So if you missed the experience (like me) of octorber festival... you can come here and have it year round... the music and dancing are not bad .. But having it year round? I guess those Bavarian will feel awkward :-D

It is the bottomline, stupid!

I could not find the original source of this new clips, but I saw it on my USA Today firstly
'Red coats' to boost Delta's customer service
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090701/BIZ01/907020329/1076/BIZ/+Red+coats++to+boost+Delta+s+service
I wasn't pay much attention on it when I skimmed through the newspaper, my wife then thought this is a interesting new and ask me to look into it.

So, it is cutting back the outsourcing practice and adding "face to face" agents to handle growing complains.... I cannot understand Delta wants this becomes a PR and how a intelligent people will think this is something positive. Any people has IQ more than 90 should realize this is a stupid story: showing how stupid a company is run.
Firstly, so growing complains definitely is not a good thing for a company. And this story is specific for Delta (well.. that is a well-known fact even without this story)
Funny and secondly, is any of these managers or journalists spending a piece of their brain to realize where these mounting complains come from? Sounds like they are saying:
"oh! because we are outsourcing too much, complains increase"??? hum!!!
"and we are taking actions to remedy it" ???haaaa!!!
Mouth-wide-opened. Don't see any rationality.

It is the bottom-line of your operation, stupid !

Who wants to talk to a agent if the plant leave on schedule, arrive on time with all my personal belongings in tact? A lot of people already PAID to reduce their time facing TSA agent, needless these airline agents. ONLY when I am not reaching my destination ON TIME, or arriving with PROBLEM... then I need to grab an agent and to be angry....
People are planning to be a place ON TIME... no one want to pay to get somewhere but late...
People will buy a cheaper ticket in exchange for a longer/more connections/no service flight... but does not mean people will accept the trip get delayed, or lugguge go nowhere... no matter how bad the ambience of the transportation vehicle is, or how non-fringe the service is.

So, bottomline is ... don't screw up flight schedule and lugguge handling.... get people there safely and ON TIME with their luggage... nothing more fundamental than that. Rather than spend money having people wearing red coats at airport, or pajama in India call center.

Do people realize that all these airlines have a group of PHD just sitting there, evaluating traffic data and thinking how to put a premium on the ticket to rip customer off??? But seems lack of minimum attention on bottomline operation. Have these PHD to expedite the lugguage loading and unloading!!!!

Norfolk, VA

Naval Station bus tour is sort of boring... it was informative, but arm-length from what you see and all in a glimpse

Ice cream in Dourmar is ok, but food is disappointing. Even it claims to be the inventor of ice cream waffle cup. The owner should take a look how they run their business...

The only thing better than disappointing is Wisconsin. It is still a gorgeous battleship and in a nice location to visit. Even through you barely can see any interior, it is still ok to have a visit, for free.

Outer Bank, NC

So, summer travel frenzy started.
The first stop - Outer Bank, North Carolina. The famous OBX in east coast

Wright Brother Memorial
So, Wright brothers came here on 1900 started some aerodynamic experiements.
on 1903, they finally can effectively control the airplane and did four flights.
The first flight is only 100 feets and 12 sec... slow than human being spring, haha..
But feel it is really a nice spot to visit, actually seeing the place human history changed.




Corolla
nice beach and scenery... very relax and enjoyed. But the trip to take kids to climb Currituck light house was a scaring experience...

Verizon Data Plan

I have been with T-mobile for 5+ years. Be frank, the reason is not because I like it... Other than it is cheap, it is also I hate these "proprietary" or "regional" technologies,like the PCS by earlier AT&T, CDMA by sprint and/or whatever... Why? feel stupid to carry a different phone at different place, particularly out of united state... Does mobile phone means it should be able to mobile around the globe? So, it works pretty much as I want, moderm GSM phone could travel mostly around the world except Japan... just swap a local SIM card and then you are back on line, without roaming... but for VOICE only.

I don't know how many people realize this... It is fairly easy to get a local monthly or prepaid voice plan. But the DATA plan available for traveler, are rare and STINK. Most countries are basically have no short term, flexible or prepaid data plan on the menu. Even have a GSM phone, most of time have to drop the hope to have data coverage. (Note: GSM has a slow data connection GPRS. But hey, still better than no connection since you could be in the middle of somewhere that you know nothing around including their language. Internet is the real saver. Have you ever use a google map to identify where you are? So most of time I have to roam or just give up)

Was hoping 3G will make the world better. But it does not!!! US still is implementing strange frequencies.(so be aware, even you have a 3G phone, it does not guarantee it works in US on particular network unless the phone is fully supporting its frequencies). So, I give up the hope for a device that could work globally with local data connection. Human being are just not going to make their lives easier with new technologies.

Funny, my wife start asking mobile data connection recently. So, I started looking around what might be the acceptable "local data connection" option, since US has all these networks with funky technologies 3G UMTS, PCS, CDMA, EVDO etc...

Anyway... T-mobile is not grown up yet. Its 3G coverage is rare. AT&T is stinky since it mandates 2 year contract. I was thinking the "cell swap" thing. Then it turned out Verizon gave me quite a sweet option. And that is why I am writing this.

Verizon allows you to start with Monthly connection if you have their equipment handy. And they don't care how you get the equipment. So, I got a Verizon PC5750 (PCMCIA type wireless modem) just around 10 bucks including shipping (you can easily guess where I got it) and then stopped by one of their shops to activate the data package... whoopy!!!! It works like breeze. Even the EVDO technology is not that cutting edge (funny, my wife used EV-DO in Japan back to 2003 already! could not believe we again back on it in US after 6 years!!!). But this is definitely a much better option than that nonsense 2 year contract and no worry for the ridiculous early-termination fee. Can pay a little bit more for a newer hardware, like USB type modem. But the bottom-line is the initial cost and long term obligation are both lower. And in fact this is greener, I can reuse the equipment unwanted by someone and that is what I really like.

In contrast, thinking about AT&T's package, it makes me throw out... it pretty much forces you to buy a new equipment every two years since they make no sense to "reuse" or keep exisitng hardware. Definitely not qualified from environmental aspect and (I guess they don't care)

Ok, so all these are FYI....

Today's Dilbert

as having two MBA under this roof… this made us laugh…. LOL…

Rose Brut from Cristalino

My Japanese friend bought this one for the gathering. The dinner went well. Both family enjoyed the dished and kids seems had a lot of fun.

A sparkling wine from Spain. Relatively sweet and have a nice fruity aroma... But not strong...

Sort of between dissert wine and table wine... if taking a light dish...

Finnish Herring

At Salve, a traditional bar in Helsinki.. converted from fishman tavern. The grill herring is yammy..but just too much.. 12 herrings with lots mash potato on one dish....urrr....

go search on TripAdvisor...

Helsinki, Finland

Got stumbled last time when tried to come to Helsinki, Finland. The reality show of "Airport" almost happened on me... good that I managed it without becoming a true disaster. This time, still some hump, but managed and get here relatively smoothy...

Helsinki itself, is not that impressive. It got strongly influenced by Sweden. City itself, relatively industrial, not that clean or neat comparing to some of the best cities in Europe. Culture wise, don't see any excitement either (maybe because I had been to Sweden?).
However, sort of in my surrpise, the people are nice, should say nicer than Sweden and definitely inch better some other major Western Europe countries. I had a horrible experience dealing with Finnair. But try to be neutral thinking "airline" does not represent people. If you consider how bad the airlines in America is, then you pretty much can conclude that human being definitely won't go that bad... only corporation...

I did some city tour around. It was nice and clean, but not much though... there is a monument and the sort of famous rock church.... and it happened to be May 1, one of their biggest festival. Told will be crowded... hmm... with a city size about 2M (1/10 of just Tokyo city district, excluding suburbs) and a national population only about 5.6M, I think crowdness should never be a problem.

Now, I safety got out of that city and that country without more incident. Cannot complain... :D