Los Gatos Creek Trail

This series of pictures is from the Los Gatos Creek Trail in Los Gatos, California. John and I woke up for a hankering to hike. His sister knew of some nearby trails, so we decided to check them out. The trail was beautiful and we got to take Wylee. There were steep hilly parts that helped us get our sweat on and the 80 degree weather was perfect for hiking.

John and I talked today about sending me to Alabama at the end of April. I really would love to go to Alabama as it's my home and I miss my family very much. I would also like to have some update on our situation by then.

I can't read the Japan Bases forums anymore (link on right) as people just speculate on the Japan stop movement situation until they're blue in the face and spread panic among the members there. Some ignorant fool that posts there keeps referring to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant as "the bubble going up." Implying that some atomic bomb mushroom cloud is just waiting to happen. He's only one of many panicked souls on that board. Really it's just fear-mongering with no facts....what is it they say about opinions? They're like butts? They stink and everyone has one?

As for myself, I just wait. Wait until they give us the all clear.

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John's Birthday!

First, my blog has officially reached 1,000 views. I want to thank everyone who has been reading and everyone who has offered compliments on how much they enjoy reading it daily. It means a lot to me that so many people want to follow my journey to Yokosuka. The great thing is this journey has become one of the biggest, most enjoyable, and most frustrating of my life. There's still more journey to go, so I'll be updating regularly. Please keep tuning in and your support and kind words means more than you know.

Today's John's birthday. If you haven't already, just wish him a Happy Birthday :) We woke up today at 7am and bought tickets to the Giants game in San Francisco. Two hours later we were out the door and headed to our second game since we've been here. We had great seats again (day of StubHub buying for these games is super thrifty) and the Giants won. The first picture is John and I smiling big at the game.

We then came back to San Jose where John's sister is cooking John's birthday dinner. He hasn't been in San Jose for his birthday in years and his family is extra excited to see him on his special day. While cooking, John's sister Charity discovered a large family size bottle of cooking oil (second picture) and we all laughed because it's ridiculously big!

So, time to get back to the birthday festivities. I still want to link the article from the Yokosuka base paper about people using the voluntary departures as a free vacation. I need to get to a computer to do that. Other than that, still no updates. Hoping for good news next month...

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Sky High!

Okay, hopefully these videos load. Today we went to Sky High which was a trampoline gym. There were trampolines everywhere! The two videos are of John and his sister Charity playing around. It was $10 for an hour of jumping. After the first five minutes we were all gasping for air! What a workout!

John's birthday is tomorrow, so remember to wish him a Happy Birthday. He hasn't told me what he wants to do yet, so we'll see.

The Japan Bases Forums I'm reading is sure getting ugly. People are getting mad at the people who left Japan in a panic...the people who left are mad at the people who stayed.

Enh. I can't say I care one way or another. When the military announced they were doing voluntary evacuations, I can only assume everyone did what was best for their family.

I would've stuck around in Japan, but I don't have any little kids to worry about...

That is all for today, about to head out for some dinner!

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Lexus Dugout Club

Yesterday afternoon John and I were floating around San Jose relatively bored and looking for something to do.

John suggested going to the San Francisco Giants vs the Oakland Athletics exhibition game in San Francisco. I laughed and told him we can't get within 50 ft of that stadium without paying el primo prices....afterall, the Giants are reigning World Series champs!

John hopped on StubHub and proved me wrong. We found two tickets three rows behind home plate for $50 each in the Lexus Dugout Club. We bought them on the spot and headed out to SF.

The game was a blast and they were collecting donations for the Japanese Tsunami Relief Fund.

Still no word on our situation. The military put out a memo clarifying the stop movement in place. No new information...

The Stars and Stripes (the military paper I link from time to time) ran an article saying families who voluntarily evacuated now want to come back to Japan. I mean I would too...that's their home right now.

Hopefully we get some news at the first of the month...

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This is SPARTA!

John and I are sure enjoying this vacation time. This morning we woke up in a hotel in Santa Clara (planned overnight trip, I assure you). Santa Clara is a town very close to San Jose. One of John's high school buddies was throwing a party so we decided to stay within walking distance of said party. Drinking and driving is never okay.

After waking up we headed to the thrift store to buy clothes for a paintball extravaganza with John's brother. Thrifty shoes and sweats in hand, we met John's brother and headed to the paintball courses. It was my first time and it was SO much fun. It had been raining and the courses were really muddy (note the picture of my muddy shoes). I also got pegged in the knuckle five times in a row and you can see my golfball size knot. Sorry for the dry hands, I've been washing and trying to save my shoes.

At the party last night, people kept asking about our situation. No one seems to be aware that a nuclear plant split in two during the earthquakes and that's why we're being held back.

There's a website I'll have to link soon that updates the status of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant on a daily basis. It's been my go to for information.

Still no word for us, though, but I didn't expect and word this soon. Until then, John and I will continue to enjoy our vacation. Tomorrow we're going to a place that has trampolines for floors and you can jump all day long :)

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Location:Minor Ave,San Jose,United States

Cesar Chavez Day

Today was Cesar Chavez Day. We went to the local community center and watched the children perform traditional Mexican dances. John's little nieces and cousins were some of the dancers and they were fun to watch.

I'm afraid my blog posts will continue to be short and sweet as we are having a problem connecting to the wireless at John's family's house. So, I've been using my phone to update my blog.

Still no word on our Japan situation. Talked to my parents today about staying with them if we still haven't heard anything by April 18th. John and I are so lucky to have family step in and give us a place to stay while we wait this out. I really do miss Alabama and hope to go before I leave for Japan.

For the rest of the day, we're going to hang out with John's high school buddies and maybe his brother. We have WonderCon next weekend and that will be a welcome distraction.

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Just Another Day In San Jose

The above picture is John getting sung the Happy Birthday song at Famous Daves, the BBQ restaurant his sister works at (even though she's vegetarian). Having a great time with John's family. I miss my family terribly and hope I can see them before we leave for Japan.

Still no word on our situation. Hopefully we'll know more soon.

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Good Bye San Diego

On the road now. Headed to San Jose until April 18th. The hold on military people moving to Sasebo and Okinawa, Japan has been lifted. Hope we get the same news from Yokosuka soon. The picture is Wylee sleeping in the car....now back to driving (kidding!)



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Cleaning!!

I am the Mop Princess! Ha! Today we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Our apartment has never looked so sparkly. We had to stop midway because our allergies became so intense our faces started to swell. All the layers of dust we were kicking up was too much. We left the house and aired it out...came back and started cleaning again.

No word on when we'll have new information about our move. Rumors are saying on April 10th the military will release new information after assessing the situation. I guess we're not in the worse predicament as there are families who arrived in Japan, had just enough time to find a house, then the earthquake struck and they were told their goods could not be shipped to them. Wow.

Tomorrow we're off to San Jose for 18 days then....??? The news reports from the damaged nuclear power plant are slowing. The plant has stabilized some but appears to still be in a serious situation. The voluntary evacuations from Yokosuka continue through the end of the month.


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Movers are Here :)

Two pictures below are the before and after pictures (before movers and after movers). The movers are here now. We have no more Internet or cable. We head to San Jose on Thursday. Will try to update more later.






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I dunno...

New word from CNN that the higher ups on Yokosuka Naval Base are considering doing a mandantory evacuation of all military personnel. John thinks this is what has been coming all along. Don't know much more than that yet.....

John's also predicting that in May we'll be allowed to go to Yokosuka....let's see if he's right :)

The movers come tomorrow for sure. I spent today cancelling everything I could think of to cancel (cable, electricty, insurance, etc)....

Busy day. Busier day tomorrow. Thursday we leave for San Jose, California.

Things Keep Improving

Hello all, I took a break from blogging this weekend to monitor the news about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Good news! Things keep stabilizing at the plant and it appears that many think this is a turn for the better. I feel confident that in a few more weeks, things will have stabilized as much as they can.

So, let's jump into this good news and address a few issues:

Voluntary Evacuations at the Military Bases Surrounding the Tokyo Area

According to this article in the LA Times, radiation in Tokyo and the surrounding areas remains relatively low. There have been trace amounts of radiation found in Tokyo's drinking water, but experts are saying the levels are not enough to harm human health.

Before everyone gets all up in arms about radiation (as apparently 90% of the Yokosuka base has), we are exposed to radiation on a daily basis. They call it "background" radiation and the government dictates how much is good for us. On an airplane? Then you're exposed to more radiation than what they're receiving in Tokyo now.

Okay, so now we know two things (and so does the US government) 1) The radiation levels in Tokyo and it's surrounding areas have not been deemed harmful and 2) The situation at the power plant has begun to really show signs of improvement.

At the beginning of last week there was some urgency about the voluntary evacuations. The military was saying they could evacuate 10,000 people in one day. So far, 8,000 people have signed up to be evacuated. They've actually evacuated about 500 people....most of them pregnant women or women with infants. There's even reports of the base schools opening up on Tuesday, so many families are changing their minds about leaving and will return to life as normal.

The sad part is, people still want to evacuate now knowing the danger of anything happening is relatively low. Why? Well...for one you and your family get a free trip back to the US (retail price for one ticket is about $1300). Then once you arrive in the US, in addition to military pay, you and your family will receive a per diem to cover the cost of living while you are displaced....even if you're staying with family, which will be $0 cost to you, but apparently a per diem cost to the government. So, yeah, as a tax payer, I'm a little upset by people seeing this as a free ride.

There's an article here you can read where one woman admits she's doing it for the extra money. She says people are telling her she'd have to be stupid not to cash in.

Poor News Reporting

So, a newspaper in New Zealand has come out saying the foreign media should be ashamed of themselves for the way they reported the nuclear disaster in Japan. Their words, imagery, and lack of knowledge really stoked the fire on this "things are horrible everyone must leave NOW" mentality.

Things WERE hairy there for a few days, but there certainly wasn't going to be a Hiroshima like mushroom cloud devastating half the coast of Japan..okay, I guess that COULD have happened, but it's highly unlikely.

Amongst the list of grievances leveled against foreign media are:

- Showing the image of a popular Tokyo night club and labelling it as "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant"
- Calling the power plant a "nuke plant"
- Sensational Headlines
- Erroneous comparisons to World War II
- interviewing one person and then calling it a day

You can read the article here and I have to agree with the statements it's making. Also, here's a blog (scroll down to the bottom) that lists spreadsheet style the name of the publication and their offense in reporting the Japanese nuclear plant problems, most of it is just outright sensationalising the nuclear plant problems in Japan.

Oh, and by the way, people in Japan wear those face masks NOT to prevent inhaling radiation (yeah right, what are those going to do?) but because pollen is SO bad.....and it helps keep your allergies in check.

Our situation

So, with all that said, where does that leave John and I? Well, we're still playing the waiting game. The moving office on base was supposed to confirm the date of our move on Friday and as of today we still have no confirmation. I called this morning and they said we should receive word this afternoon. Our stuff was supposed to be picked up tomorrow, but now I don't know...

Today we have to sell our car (and pick up the rental) and John is going to try to start his leave of absence this week as well. So, yes, our situation still remains very frustrating.

Final Thoughts

Sorry for the long blog post, if you made it this far, congratulations :) The situation in Japan remains very serious. While the nuclear plant problems have likely been blown WAY out of proportion, there are still people there fighting a slow fight to stabilize them. I continue to monitor the news almost hourly to see if there have been any updates.

The earthquake and tsunami victims still remain homeless and the death count keeps rising. I read somewhere last night that at this point rescue workers are not allowing family members to see the bodies of their loved ones because the bodies are so far gone. This is really sad.

Even though Japan is one of the greatest economies in the world, even they are struggling to provide food and supplies to those who have been left homeless by the tsunami and earthquake. Food shortages continue as do power shortages as they restore conventional power to many areas.

If you can, please think about helping in some way. I have some ways here that you can peruse....even a small donation can help:

You can click the "Give Now" button to donate through Global Giving

This Etsy site is a lady who is making I heart Japan buttons.

Or you can text a donation and the donation will appear on your phone bill:

In the U.S.:

—Text “JAPAN” or “TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 (Save the Children Federation, Inc.)

—Text “4JAPAN” or “4TSUNAMI” to 20222 to donate $10 (World Vision, Inc.)

—Text “MERCY” to 25383 to donate $10 (Mercy Corps)

—Text “SUPPORT” to 85944 to donate $10 (ADRA Relief for Japan tsunami victims)

—Text “MED” to 80888 to donate $10 (Assist International Medical Corps)

—Text “JAPAN” to 80888 to donate $10 (Salvation Army)

—Text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 (American Red Cross)

—Text “TSUNAMI” to 50555 to donate $10 (Convoy for Hope)

—Text “JAPAN” to 50555 to donate $10 (GlobalGiving)

—Text WAVE to 50555 to donate $10 (World ReliefCorp of National Association of Evangelicals)

In Canada:

—Text “ASIA” or “ASIE“ to 30333 to donate $5 (The Canadian Red Cross Society)
—Text “QUAKE” to 45678 to donate $10 (The Salvation Army in Canada)
—Text “GIVE” to 45678 to donate $5 (UNICEF)

Sigh

Unfortunately, the situation in Japan is very sad and very slow moving. They have restored power to the damaged nuclear plant, and are very slowly testing all the systems to try to contain further damage.

Also unfortunately, John and I are in the worst possible situation. We were at the cusp of our move...as a matter of fact, four days from it before being told to hold off....so as you can imagine, we have nothing in our house and are being told that now they can not pick up our household goods....this is unfortunate because we're already moving out of our apartment in four days.

Today we went to household goods and pleaded with them to take our stuff as we will be losing the apartment at the end of the month. They agreed to take our household goods and place it in storage in San Diego until further word is received about our situation. Household goods said they have received orders to make no further shipments to Japan until further notice.

So, what's going to happen?

Sadly, there isn't an easy answer to this question. It all depends on what happens at the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan. Since the power is restored to the facility, the best we can hope for is that they successfully contain the situation and avoid a complete meltdown. However, if it gets worse, then who knows how long we will be barred from Japan. I have read SO MANY blogs and articles and speculation on this whole thing and the long and short of it is NO ONE KNOWS. It's all 'someone heard that someone said...'

What do I think will happen? Honestly, I think in 30 days John will be returning to San Diego and Wylee and I will be headed to Alabama. I think John will be given the okay to enter Japan months before I'm allowed to arrive there.

Again though, this is only my speculation. I'm so frustrated and sad and just all around really tired.

The Update to Trump All Updates

So, in case you haven't been following the news, northern Japan was devastated by a 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The earthquake rocked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant about 150 miles north of Tokyo and about 250 miles north of Yokosuka. The nuclear power plant took heavy damage from the earthquake and has been sending questionable amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. There have been two explosions from the power plant already. The last two of their reactor towers remain unstable. This morning, the news reported they were pouring sea water from helicopters over the reactors in a final attempt to cool them down.

This is a dangerous situation as nuclear power is....well....dangerous as Hiroshima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island have all proven to us in the past. Being exposed to high levels of radiation can cause health problems and even death. Radiation particles float in the air and can travel miles from ground zero. The US has begun a voluntary evacuation of all personnel in Japan. There are no reports of any mandatory evacuations.

This morning, word came that all Navy personnel who were planning to move to Japan have now been put on hold. Shortly after I read this information, John's detailer (the person in charge of telling you where you are moving) called him to let him know he has been placed on hold indefinitely. John asked if his orders had been cancelled (which means we would not go to Japan at all). The detailer was adamant that this was not the case. The detailer instructed John to remain at his current command until further notice.

We are so close to moving. We have sold both of our cars, have our household goods ready to be picked up on Tuesday and are all but out the door. So of course, we went into crisis mode....

John went into work today and all of his senior supervisors had also heard the news. Knowing how close we were to moving they were all very sympathetic and helpful. They could have instructed him to get to work right away since he was sticking around, but no one said anything about that. Once we get word that military families are once again going to Japan, we have to go, so he can't be held up being on a ship that's out to sea.

Right now, there's hundreds of families in our situation. It's frustrating, it's inconvenient, and it basically sucks. They can't put us all on hold forever, so all we can do is wait this out. Who knows when it will be safe to go there? I think the US is waiting to see what's going to happen with these last two reactors before sending people back to their homes.

So, what's our plan? Here it is:

- Everything is on schedule as normal. We leave San Diego next week, John takes 30 days of leave and we wait out the situation with John's family. Hopefully before the leave is finished or right after we'll have the okay to enter Japan. Remember folks, we were not reporting there until April 25th anyway....so that's a pretty long time from now.

- IF (and huge IF) we're still not cleared to go by the time John's leave is finished, he'll return to San Diego and stay in Bachelor housing (basically dorm rooms) until we get the okay. Wylee and I will go to Alabama to stay with my family and wait out the situation.

John's detailer assured us the orders were not cancelled, "everything has just shifted to the right" were his exact words.

Stop Orders -- Yokosuka

A couple of things have transpired overnight: 1) They are beginning the voluntary evacuation of dependents from the bases surrounding the Tokyo area (yes, Yokosuka is one) and 2) The Navy announced that people with orders to Yokosuka will likely be delayed at this time.

I'm not sure yet what this means for us as our orders take affect April 25, which is over a month away.

I will tell John of these developments when he wakes up and see if he want to reach out to his detailer (the person who assigns the orders) to see what is going on.

A few things to note:

- Please don't freak out. The evacuation is mainly for peace of mind right now. It dosen't help that the American media is being very sensational about media coverage of the nuclear reactors. So far there is no documented health threat to Yokosuka or Tokyo.

- This voluntary evacuation DOES NOT mean a free trip back to the US. The evacuees will likely be routed to Seoul, South Korea or other military bases further south in Japan (like Okinawa)

- Since this is a voluntary evacuation, servicemembers are paying for their families to be evacuated (buying the plane tickets, paying for lodging, etc).

- The military does not care about John and I right now. We're not scheduled to arrive in Japan for over a month and who knows what the situation may be at that time. I'm sure we'll have more news the closer it gets for us to arrive.

- There is a possibility they could make John go and order me to stay in the US. If this happens I would likely return to Alabama to stay with my family until further notice.

Reflecting Back...

First, no update on the situation in Japan. We continue to monitor it, but so far everything is going as planned. There is still very little radiation threat to Yokosuka.

Second, we leave San Diego on Wednesday. We will be heading to San Jose, CA (near San Fransisco) to be with John's family for about a month until we head to Japan. Today I was reflecting back on advice I would give myself regarding this move if I could go back in time....

1. Don't plan a calendar of events in your head. Nothing will go according to this calendar and it will only serve to stress you out. Plan only day by day.

2. Get Wylee's stuff done as soon as you are even thinking about moving to Japan. This delay on your part cost him 3 months in quarantine.

3. Don't buy a car you can't afford (okay, okay, this one applies to my life in general, not Japan).

4. The month between quitting work and leaving San Diego is not going to be a cake walk. Quit acting like it's a huge vacation.

Alright, that's all I can think of for now :) See that picture of me...because it's like I'm talking to myself? Haha?

I'm really tired. Today we sold John's truck, ran a 5k, and got my car appraised at CarMax. A really full day of running around and not resting. Tomorrow we sleep in, run another fitness challenge thing, take our surf gear to a surf consignment shop, and then meet friends for St. Paddy's Day drinks......

Good night for now, all :)

Still watching the situation carefully...

"At approximately 0700 local (Japan) time, 15 March 2011, sensitive instrumentation on USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) pier-side in Yokosuka, detected low levels of radioactivity from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. While there is no danger to the public, Commander, Naval Forces Japan is recommending limited precautionary measures for personnel on Fleet Activities Yokosuka and Naval Air Facility Atsugi, including: A. Limiting outdoor activities. B. Securing external ventilation systems as much as practical. These measures are strictly precautionary in nature. We do not expect that any United States Federal radiation exposure limits will be exceeded even if no precautionary measures are taken. We are continuing to analyze the situation and will update you as we learn more."

The above is an update directly from the Yokosuka Naval Base Website. We are watching the situation closely here and know that countries across the world are evacuating citizens from Tokyo. The US has yet to take such action. John highly doubts that his orders will be cancelled since we are so close to moving, but there may be a chance that his orders could be postponed. If that's the case he would work at the nearest Naval Facility in San Jose while we waited to be given the okay.

That's all I know for now and will keep updating as I have more information. The movers have confirmed they will be here on March 22 with our household items arriving in Yokosuka on May 6.

Rumors abound

So, in the picture to the left, I have circled the region devastated by the earthquake and tsunami (the top circle). The bottom circle is where we will be living. You can see they're quiet a distance away from each other.

I've been asked over and over if we're still going to Japan. The answer is yes. We will still be going there unless we hear otherwise (which has not happened). Another rumor is that military families are being evacuated back to the US. Again, unless we hear otherwise, I will be accompanying John to Japan.

That's all the information I know about our situation right now. Everything is still on as planned. I was reading some interviews of the people currently living in Tokyo and they said the main thing they want people to understand is the devastation was limited to a few regions, not the entire coast of Japan. The problems with the nuclear power plant has also been limited to a few regions. Tokyo took some minor damage, but it otherwise unscathed. Yokosuka only had the quake with no follow up tsunami. So, if you think in terms of the US, just because Katrina devastated New Orleans did not also mean that Washington DC was leveled.

I continue to pray for the people in Japan. I hope when we get there there's something I can do to help with the recovery efforts. If our plans change, I'll blog about it right here on this blog.

Some websites discussing Yokosuka in the wake of the quake, tsunamis, and nuclear scare:

http://www.stripes.com/news/some-normalcy-returns-to-bases-relief-for-japanese-rolls-in-1.137612

http://www.stripes.com/news/no-base-evacuation-imminent-despite-japan-s-nuclear-crisis-1.137697

Movers - The Process

So I know my parents (especially my Dad) finds the entire process of this move fascinating. I thought I'd take a second to explain the process I call: Getting the Movers Into Your House.

Keep in mind, we box nothing up. At all. A professional moving company comes in here and does it all in one day. They custom build boxes around your large appliances (like TVs). Wrap up your shot glass collection (whilst judging you, I assume) and pack everything into the truck and take it to....well, I'm getting ahead of myself...let's start with step one:

#1 - The military operates two official household move websites. With two seperate sets of rules. You can use either website to initate your household goods move request. Why two websites? I have no idea. I think someone got fired in the middle of the consolodation.

#2 - You log onto your website of choice (really they provide no guidance on which one, you just pick one) and spend 2 hours or more typing the details of your household goods. They want to know EVERYTHING. Will you be bringing a stove? A washer and dryer? A plasma TV? A large TV? Professional items? After you finish this lengthy survey, they want to know...how much do you think all the items in your house weigh? So, you enter all of your weight guesses into a spreadsheet they provide (weight of computer desk, weight of kitchen table, etc) and it spits out an esitmate of how much your household good items weigh. You're only allowed to bring a certain amount of pounds with you. I believe for us it's around 5,000 pounds and we have about 3,500 pounds according to the estimator. You also select your top three dates you would like the movers to come.

#3 - After completing the form, they ask you to submit a copy of your orders and any other forms. In our case. we had to submit the form saying I was allowed to enter Japan. When they have all of the forms they submit all of your information to a network of contractors. The contractors submit bids and the military choses your moving company.

#4 - The moving company then contacts you with their rules and when they will be coming to get your items. Usually the rules are simple - take everything off the walls - no food or drink will be packed - no medicines will be packed - etc. The day before the move, the movers arrive to build the custom boxes for the big items. Early the next day, the movers show up and box up all of your goods (usually takes about an hour, they're fast). Later in the day the actual movers show up and take your goods to a truck. Inside the truck there are several crates (it's a HUGE truck). Your goods are assigned to one large crate.

#5 - The crate is then shipped to Japan. If you're not ready to receive your goods, your crate will go to a military storage facility for 30 days (free of charge) and you call them with your address when you have one.

So there it is....the most simple version of how a military move works. There are other aspects (such as the option to insure your goods or store goods stateside during the duration of your stay in Japan)....

Whew! Now time for ONE relaxing day since the yard sale was very tiring. May go see a movie today! :)

Yard sale success!!

The yard sale was fun AND successful! By 8am John and I were awake along with two of his buddies. We hauled everything out onto the lawn and the yard sale frenzy started.

We did good. We got rid of a lot of big items (like the grill and firepit) and we had to end up throwing out junk that people didn't buy (such as an old coffee maker).

Myself, John, and his friends sat outside sipping our drinks and eating junk food. We started a rousing game of Mad Libs and laughed until we cried. If you've never played it, it's a fun quick game...very worth the $2 we were selling it for and his friends ended up buying the game from us because we were all laughing so hard.

So from the yard sale, selling the couch, and selling our Nintendo Wii, we made $450. Not bad at all.

Next week we start to clean our apartment, try to get rid of the items that didn't sell at the yard sale, and schedule our move out walk through with our apartment staff.


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Yard Sale is Tomorrow

Yard sale is tomorrow. One of the things we did today was remove this lovely wall graphic (photos below). These wall graphics can be purchased from whatisblik.com. They're beautiful, cheap, add a little style to any room, and best of all they can be removed from the wall without damaging the paint (great for renters!). So this wall graphic sat behind our couch giving a little class to our living room, but alas it was time for it to go.....

** Side note: The guy from last night did not come pick up our couch (suprise! craigslist is so unreliable!) however, we tried again today and a nice gentleman and his son came by and picked it up saying what a great deal it was! Yay! Couch is gone! **

Wall graphic in it's entiety.

Going...

Going....

Gone...

A multitude of yard sale items now fills the space.

Devastating Earthquake

Thanks to everyone who texted me worried about my new home. We do have several friends living in Japan right now, so I was worried about them. They all seem to be fine.

If you haven't been following the news an 8.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the coast of Japan last night. The earthquake, which was centered in the ocean and to the east of the Japanese coast (see map), caused devastating tsunamis to flood the northern coast. The earthquake was about 300-400 miles northeast from Yokosuka (on the map if you find Tokyo, Yokohama is across the bay. Yokohama is the biggest city closest to Yokosuka).

While the earthquake was definitely felt in Yokosuka and seemed to scare the mess out of everyone, all military living there are accounted for and fine. There appears to be no tsunami threatening that area. Tokyo took damage as well and the Tokyo Narita airport is closed indefinitely.

Below are three articles detailing the earthquake from Yokosuka. No damage has been reported everyone just seems shaken. The US 7th Fleet is preparing to go in as humanitarian aide once Japan gives the word. This may mean the base will be abuzz assisting in disaster recovery efforts when we arrive.

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/quake-moves-u-s-aircraft-carrier-from-yokosuka-pier-1.137338

http://www.dailypress.com/news/military/dp-nws-tsunami-military-20110311,0,5048701.story

http://www.c7f.navy.mil/news/2011/03-march/018.htm

My thoughts and prayers are with all those dead and missing and their families in the wake of this devastating natural disaster. Earthquakes are definitely one of the most horrifying natural disasters because they strike without warning on sunny gorgeous days, as was this day in Japan.

Productivity AWAY!

The above picture is our sweet couch I posted on craigslist today. Within minutes of posting, I got five e-mails. There should be a guy coming to pick it up at 5 today....but if anyone reading has experience with craigslist, you know people can sometimes be unreliable. So, I'm not holding my breath....on the other hand, I hope he comes so we can get rid of it and earn a little extra cash.

John and I also tackled the task of cleaning our under the stairs storage closet. We pulled out all our winter coats and took them to the dry cleaner. When we arrived in San Diego from Virginia, we hung up our winter coats in the storage closet.....and that's where they've stayed. For three years. So, yeah, they're pretty dusty and I wouldn't wear any of them right now. In total there were six coats and three military winter uniforms we dropped off.

With our closet almost empty, I decided to try to contact the military moving office again (you know, the office in charge of actually packing up our household goods and shipping them to Japan). Once again I got the frustrating run around. I asked when we would know a firm date for the movers to come pick up our household goods....the lady had no firm answer.

Out of sheer frustration, John and I decided to combine our trip to the dry cleaners with stopping by the military base and going to the move office in person. I guess everyone that goes in that office in person is frustrated because BOY there a lot of angry people there. Many of them disgruntled and one even asking if he needed to get his lawyer involved....to do what, sir? To do what?

Luckily though, we were polite and they got things taken care of for us quickly. We should have the movers in our house on March 22 (which is....not even two weeks away! Yikes!) and that's the day our house should be completely devoid of EVERYTHING except for the items we will be travelling with.

I will be bringing two suitcases, Wylee, and a huge over the shoulder bag. John will be bringing two suitcases, a garment bag (as you have to arrive with your uniforms at your disposal and ready), his sea bag, and a carry on. That's it. Those are the items we have to live from until May or June.

I did find out today that we will be given an allowance for the entire period we are required to stay in a hotel. The allowance should be enough to offset the cost of the lodge until we find a permanent place.

Productive day! Now, let's all cross our fingers and hope that this guy comes around 5 to pick up our couch.

This moment brought to you by the US military

Yesterday I sent the last of our forms to the household moving office via e-mail. We've been assigned a move counselor, but his e-mail address is a general address that (as far as I can figure) gets forwarded to him from the general inbox.

So, after not hearing from him for 24 hours I gave a call to the main moving office to see if they had received my form (they have customer service people who answer the phone):


Me: Yes, I'm calling to see if my DEA form was received. It was the last form needed to confirm our household goods move date.

Her: (takes my information and puts me on hold) Yes, I do see your e-mail in the general inbox, but the lady who checks and forwards messages from that box is not in today. She'll be in tomorrow.

Me: So that's a one person job?

Her: Yes. If we need anything further, we'll contact you.

Jobs. Who needs 'em?

When I told people I'd not be working for a month before moving, one of the common responses I got was, "Wow. Are you going to be bored?"

This always made me sad. Can your life be so devoid of personal enjoyment that your job is the only thing that brings you deep gratification on all levels?? I mean I understand if your job is something you LOVE and you're accomplishing your dream....but when your job is to be cooped inside behind a desk, staring at a computer, stress levels rising, paycheck never rising....well, it just makes me sad. And in answer to that question: No, I will not be bored. Not one bit.

It's been the truth. If I ever have a boring day, I'd have to blog about it because that's how rare they are. Every morning I've been waking up at 6:30 to go running. John took me to a new gym on a small military base near our house and the runs have been fantastic. The picture above is the view from the running trail that runs around the base parking lot. The gym there is small and empty, perfect for working out without having to worry about being surrounded by a crowd of people also working out.

John and I have also signed up for a 5k run on the day before St. Paddy's Day to take place on the larger base in the San Diego area. The on St. Paddy's Day we will be doing a hill run challenge. There's a huge hill on the small base. I will be running or walking up and down it 20 times and John will be running up and down it 20 times doing 5 push ups at the bottom of the hill each time. I think both events will be a lot of fun and a great change up to our workouts.

On top of running everyday, we are still working on the move. John's new command called him on Sunday night (which was Monday morning for them) and gave him a lot of good information. It looks like the people who will be assisting us in the move to Japan will also be John's co-workers. That's pretty cool because it means we get efficient treatment without asking. For example, the guy was kind enough to make reservations for Wylee at the on base kennel. That was something I was dreading as the ladies at the kennel don't speak English....language barriers on a phone call are dreadful.

We submitted the last bit of information to the movers. Hopefully we can have a firm confirmation of the date our stuff will be out of our house soon.

There's Just SO Much

Wow, fantastic! Yet another post where I don't have a super fun picture to share! My house is a wreck though and it's a little too embarrassing to show pictures of what it actually looks like. I'm sure if you've ever moved, you have an idea of how things start to look right before the move. Boxes everywhere, old junk pulled out of the depths of random closets, no cleaning has been done (besides dishes and basic cleaning) as the deep cleaning will be done soon. Basically, our house is a mess! But that's okay, only a week or so more and we won't have anything remaining in the house at all.

So, here's what's been going on in my life in the past couple of days...

Things We Bought
Desktop computer - It's a fairly nice one with an HDMI output. We bought it so we could watch American TV from the Internet on on our big screen TV. While I understand Japanese programming is fantastically fun, imagine days....no years...of not being able to follow shows you totally and completely understand. While I plan to integrate as much as possible in the local culture, I'm still from the USA and there's things I will miss about home. American TV is one of those things.

Japanese Language Software - Kohi wo kudasai. Jezu desu. (Coffee please! Great job!). We bought the generic Rosetta Stone (the box claims that the only difference between them and Rosetta Stone is $500!) and we bought a software that repeats Japanese phrases along with their English translation to a music beat, making recall a little easier. I must say, it works!

Clothes - I think I have enough clothes to wear for the month we will be without our household goods. Target had a sale on V-neck t-shirts for $6, so I stocked up on those. V-necks are a little more dressy than a t-shirt and a little more versatile, so hopefully I can wear these out and about

Things that are coming up
Yard sale - Saturday is the slated date for our yard sale. Hopefully we can get rid of a lot of the stuff we don't want to take with us. John's friends are coming over to help us move everything out to the lawn and to help us move things around inside the house to get ready for the sale. I think they're just in it for the booze (haha) but we can take all the helping hands we can get.

Plane tickets/Dependant Entry Approval Form - Hoping to have both these items in our hands this week so we can schedule a day for the movers to come take our items. This is pretty important as we will finally have a day we can move out of San Diego

** As a side note, a lot of my San Diego friends are having parties/gatherings this week as it's spring break week for the colleges and a lot of friends come into town. I've had to decline a lot and I feel bad, but planning an international move saves little time for much else. **

So, that's where we are with everything. Right now we're just waiting on those plane tickets. It's not like we get to sit down on a Travelocity site and pick and chose our tickets. Nope. John turned in a form with our preferences (evening flight, day we want to fly out, place we want to fly out) to the military administrative office. They'll let us know when our plane tickets are ready.

Psssssst...wanna look at rentals with me?

So I know in the last post I stated that I wouldn't start looking at rentals properties until we got to Yokosuka, which is true (as we are required to attend a course on how to rent in Japan before we are allowed to rent). However, it dosen't stop me from checking out websites that have samples of rental properties.



To me, the funnest part of moving is looking at places to live. In San Diego we wanted to get out of our expensive hotel fast, so we snatched up the first decent place we found close to John's work. Turns out, it's been a fabulous place. We have 950 sqft, 2 bedrooms, split level apartment (which means the bedrooms are out of the way completely of the living room and kitchen) all in our price range and 10 minutes from John's work and right next to the beach and city. Really great. I hope for the same in Yokosuka.



So, here are some websites with some sample rental properties. Check them out with me and see how much fun it is to click through pictures of empty houses. PS - One of the houses looks like the house in the horror film "The Grudge".....Japanese are very superstitious people. So if I even get the hint that my house is inhabited by Japanese spirit....well, I guess that's reason enough for me to start learning Japanese :)



http://www.usui-home.com/navyus/

http://re-aoyama.com/rent/rent.html

http://nmyokosukahousing.com/index.php?p=1_3_Town-Houses-For-Rent



Also today John and I bought some Japanese language software. Time to get started preparing ourselves to integrate with the culture. I am so excitied I can barely stand it!

Magic Jack and Mail Forwarding

Two products, I believe are instrumental to living overseas are the Magic Jack and Mail Forwarding.

First the Magic Jack is a way to make calls to the US from overseas without paying for international long distance. The Magic Jack is a phone jack that connects to the USB port on your computer. One end is a USB connector and the other end is a phone jack. Once plugged into your computer you can connect a phone and voila! A phone line! A US number you can take anywhere with you!

How does this work? Well, Magic Jack registers itself internally, so once you connect it to a computer in the US and register a US number, that particular device will think it's always in the US no matter what computer you connect it to after that.

What does this mean? This means that John and I will have a US phone number and family and friends can call us (or we can call them) without paying international rates. It will be just like making a long distance phone call in the US.

Cost to me: $19 a year with a $40 fee for the device. I went ahead and prepaid for two years.

Why not use Skype? Because not everyone I know has Skype or is willing to download it.

Second, we found a mail service that will help us maintain a US address. One of the processes of moving is changing your address. There will be about two months between leaving San Diego and arriving in Japan that we will have no permanent address. I could send all the mail to my parent's house (which is what I did for my last move) but two problems...it will be a long time before we will be able to collect it from them and we still may not be able to have some mail shipped to Japan as some places only ship to the US.

I have switched as much as I can to e-statements, but some places just don't allow it and sometimes there's that surprise piece of important mail that shows up an you need it right away.

How does this work? We are given an US address where our mail will be sent. The company will then scan the envelopes of our mail and we have the option to shred it or have it packaged and shipped to us in Japan. Or we can ask them to open it and scan the whole image for our viewing online.

What does this mean? It means we will have a US address where family and friends can send mail so they don't have to worry about international postage. Just remember, it will put about a 2-3 week delay on getting mail to us.

Cost to me: $19/month. It includes receiving 100 pieces of mail a month and I have the option to have them scan up to 25 pieces of mail a month for free.

Is it safe? I did a lot of research on this and signs point to yes. There are no complaints on file for them at the BBB. The site is great and easy to use. There is a background check process for their employees and people using the service now seem satisfied (checked blogs not affiliated with their site).

So, there it is....two ways to make the lives of our friends and family easier while we're in Japan. This also means there's no reason to not say hello to us every now and then. My only piece of advice? Check Google to see what time is in Japan before you call.

For example, right now it's 8:45am on Friday morning in San Diego (10:45 in Huntsville, Alabama or 11:45 on the east coast)....it's 1:45am on Saturday morning in Yokosuka. To find the time in Yokosuka simply Google: "time in Yokosuka" and the Google Machine will bring the information right up!

Time is Flying By...

And it begins...items for the yard sale pile up

Today was another busy day. My passport came in to the military travel office and we had to go pick it up. The last page of this new passport says that I'm entitled to stay abroad as long as John is on business. The passport is good for five years. They also returned my tourist passport (thank goodness).

Side bar: A tourist passport is the one most people are issued when they apply for a passport. It's usually good for ten years. The other passport is only good for five years and I didn't have to pay for it. I'm glad they returned my tourist passport because I plan to do a lot of traveling while I'm in Japan and I'd rather use my tourist passport for that.

Now that we have the passport, John can order our plane tickets. This means very soon, I will know 1) The exact day we leave the US, 2) The exact day we arrive in Japan, and 3) The airport we will be flying into in Japan. This makes me very excited because once we know our flight dates we can move backwards and figure out when we can move out of San Diego and visit my family. I can submit the 40 day entry notice for Wylee AND make reservations for Wylee's quarantine.

We also cleaned our second bedroom. We're having a yard sale next weekend. The plan is to work on a different room everyday, clearing out items we don't use and sorting things into piles for the sale.

Those two things, grocery shopping, and working out in the morning took up the whole day. When all was said and done, I looked at the clock, 4pm....the exact time I used to get off work. I'm actually pleased I'm as productive as I have been. I've been waking up at 6:30 every morning and accompanying John to the gym. Just because I'm no longer employed doesn't mean I get to laze around and be a bump.

I also want to take a moment and address the most asked question (aside from: Can I visit?)....have you started looking for places yet?

The answer is no. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in Japan like it does in the US (or Canada or maybe Mexico)...there is no craigslist or apartment websites. If there are, they often aren't meant for people like me....no not because of the language barrier, but because I'm a foreigner and there are certain rules for renting I have to abide by.....there's a process. Firstly, I have to go through an approved realty company and be shown around by a realtor. This is invaluable as they usually introduce you to the neighborhood and show you the highlights and transportation stations. Then you have to double-check the place is approved by the military, then there's a month long paperwork process (during which they hold the property for you).

The realtor websites often have samples of the types of houses they have available, but usually not the actual houses they have available at the exact moment. So, no, we haven't started looking for a place. We will get to that when we get there. In the meantime, we have a month long reservation at the Navy Lodge on base.

No more job, but lots of work

Surprisingly, my first day of unemployment was fuller than any day of employment I've had in San Diego. I wish I had some fun pictures to preface this blog post, but fact is I was just too busy to take any pictures.

0630 - Awake and getting ready for the gym.

0700 - At gym - run 2.5 miles/weights

0900 - Go pick up some multi vitamins

1000 - Breakfast/head to base for uniform shopping

1100 - Uniform shopping with Johnny

1300 - Lunch/home

1500 - Doctor's appointment

1600 - pick up my glasses

Whew! Lots of running around. John had to buy jackets for his uniform as we are moving from a place where jackets are never needed to a place they will be much needed. I also forgot that along with my unemployment, my insurance would cease to exist, so I shelled out $200 for my final doctor's appointment. Ouch. After this, I use military doctor's...as a matter of fact I have an appointment with one on Thursday. February and March have traditionally been the time of year I get all of my physicals done, so in addition to the move, I'm trying to keep my yearly doctor's appointments.

Also, I'm starting to realize that moving to Japan is like having a baby (well, sort of) in that you don't know what to expect and everyone has advice. I sincerely don't mind the advice. I know it all comes from a good place, but can you really tell someone how it's going to be? I just can't wait to get to Japan and experience it for myself.....but I need to slow down for a minute and really enjoy these last few weeks in San Diego, because who knows, I may never live here again.

Hopefully, if I have time tomorrow, I will tell you all about Magic Jack and Mail Forwarding. Two places that I feel will be a life saver in Japan, mainly because we will be able to have a US phone number for friends and family to call without making an international call AND we will have a US address for everyone to send us mail to so they don't have to send it international.

Tomorrow I have to clean my car to get it ready to sell, clean the second bedroom (sort stuff into throw away, keep, and yard sale piles), get my allergy subscription filled, oh...and run 2 miles at 7 in the morning.