Elmo-mobile

It's not unusual to see cars in Japan "decorated" on the inside with cartoon characters, such as Hello Kitty or Mickey Mouse. You'll also see faux fur draped across the dashboard, lacy car seat covers, and marijuana leis draped over the rear view mirror (they love reggae out here and this is the ultimate I-Love-Reggae symbol).

Today, Teresa and I encountered another on of these vehicles that was so funny - I just had to capture it on film. I apologize ahead a time for the bad photos. We were in a parking garage and trying to be discreet.

This is what got our attention: an Elmo tissue dispenser!

Notice that it's settled on the dashboard.

You might also notice that there's an Elmo head hanging from the driver's side visor. Also, there are all sorts of other decorations hanging from the ceiling of the car. And, you gotta love that leopard print material.

There's another Elmo hanging down on the passenger side (where I'm standing - you can see my reflection). If you look carefully, the red thing that's near the car stereo is an Elmo ash tray. Also, notice the coordinating leopard print steering wheel cover.

Okay, so this picture is terrible, but notice that the driver's seat has something attached to it. It's a big Elmo head that faces the back seats. He's watching you, kids!!

Finally, here is the driver's seat, complete with an Elmo pillow to sit on!

A Week in Review

I know, I know...I haven't been around much. So, here are some of the highlights (and some lower points) of the week:

• Not only did I happen to catch a head cold, but I also had viral conjunctivitis this week
• Noa went to Tokyo for the weekend and hung out with his pal, Herman
• We had Pumpkin Day in Kindergarten - a whole day dedicated to pumpkins!
• I had a major "Lost in Translation" moment at the beauty salon. Somehow the hairdresser interpreted "side-sweeping bangs" to "Hi-I'm-7-and-I-have-a-forehead-full-of-blunt-cut-bangs". I'm off to go hat shopping now.

Baseball

Suddenly, I am beginning to turn into the sports fan that Noa's always dreamed of.

Teresa's son (pictured above) plays on a little league team, the Devil Dogs, who played in the championship game on Saturday. Also, her husband is the coach. Although I haven't been following the team all season, I did begin going to the playoff games to get some photos for Teresa. Suddenly, I found myself really excited the games, paying more attention to the sportscasts on the radio, and listening in to Noa and friends discuss their favorite teams. Now, not only am I thrilled that the Red Sox are going into the 7th game of the AL Championship, but I was really excited to attend the little league championship game on Saturday! The game was great, although there were moments when I was sweating it and it looked like the end of the game would bring defeat. But, the Devil Dogs ended up beating their rival, the Kings, 11-10 (I think) in a close game.

Congrats Devil Dogs!

Go Red Sox!

Back!

Look who's back from Iraq!

Welcome home, Joe! We missed you!

Alternative

Gunnar really hates wearing the cone. So, I got creative and made a different kind of contraption to keep him from licking his hiney.

I emptied out a cream cheese tub and cut out the bottom. Then I sliced it down the side and put athletic socks over it. Then I place this around his neck and used a belly band to keep it in place. He seems to tolerate this a little better than the cone, however, he's still not too happy with me right now.

Not Again!

Gunnar is back in the lovely cone collar. It seems he has another swollen anal gland, so we're headed to the vet's today for some treatment and antibiotics. I feel bad for him. I know it's quite painful.

When we get home, I'm making him some special doggy bran muffins. Hopefully that will help him in the future.

In case you've never seen an abscessed anal gland before, I'm posting a pic. Beware: it's kinda graphic.

Simpsons

We went out and saw the Simpsons Movie a couple of nights ago. In honor of the movie, I went to this site and turned us into Simpsons characters. It took me a few days to actually post this because our computer was acting screwy, but I finally got it to work. I don't really think they look like us, but it was fun!

The Big 3-0

Noa celebrated his 30th birthday this past weekend and being in Japan and having a typhoon in the area didn't hinder the celebration at all. We started the night with dinner at Tony Romas.

Thirty candles on his cake*!

Then we moved the party to Big Echo - our favorite karaoke place.
Here's our reservation sign.

Noa gets the party started. Can you tell he loves to karaoke?

Noa and Tom belt it out.

Here's Mia dancing up a storm.

The karaoke machine would rate us after every song. I think our highest rating was an 89 or something like that. Interesting set of judges....

Me with the birthday boy. Happy Birthday, Noa!

Coming soon: photos of his birthday gifts; his "new" bike and gear!

*I say "his" cake, although it's actually a wedding cake. We were supposed to go to an outdoor wedding this past weekend on a nearby island, but due to the typhoon, it was cancelled. So, Noa got the cake. He was wondering about the pink flowers for a little while.

Quarter Reference

Thanks for the idea, Tara.

Here's a comparison of the Japanese carrot to an American quarter.

Veggies!

Although our produce selection is somewhat limited at the local commissary, they do offer locally grown vegetables. I like to buy them - especially because they are the same vegetables I'd normally buy, except different in size.

For example, here are the Japanese cucumbers. I like to think of them as "bite sized."

The carrots, on the other hand, are huge!! I need a bigger knife to cut them. The widest part is probably comparable to the lens on my SLR.

And, I know I've blogged about this before, but other items are just packaged so nicely - like the sprouts in the little foam square.

It's fun to eat veggies in Japan!