Only a Sumo could wear these

I forgot to include a picture of one of best-intentioned yet worst-executed gifts I received in my previous Christmas post. One of the LakeStars fans gave myself and Bobby a pair of underwear for Christmas. A nice gesture, but the underwear were a little oversized. I received a 6XL pair, Bobby a 5XL pair. I certainly can't wear mine, and I don't believe he can wear his either.

Here is my pair of underwear next to a pair of underwear (clean) that I actually do wear. You can see that they are slightly longer than my current underwear. But where the problem really presents itself is in the waistband. The waistband of the gift-underwear is twice that of my normal underwear!

Christmas

A lot of people have been asking me how my Christmas was, and instead of repeating the same story over and over, I figure I'll just make a short post here. Christmas day wasn't really special, I mean, we had weights at 9 am, film session at 12:30 and then practice after film until 4:30. But for me Christmas is mostly just another day. Almost a third of my life now (7 years out of 24) I've spent away from home for Christmas.

This year was a little different for me though. Clearly I'm not talking about spending it alone. It's not about having to do basketball stuff on Christmas, in college I once had to travel on Christmas day (Rainbow Classic '03). I'm not talking about spending Christmas in a foreign country. I was in a club in Vienna for Christmas last year. The major difference for me this year was that finally I had my own Christmas tree. I feel like having your own Christmas tree is like crossing another boundary into adulthood. Like learning how to tie a tie or that health insurance really is a good idea. So this Christmas I checked off another thing on my list of portals into adulthood, and I really only have one person to thank. Katie McGough. Thank you Katie, for sending me my first Christmas tree that I can truly call my own.

Here is a picture of my Christmas presents, beneath the tree. In true Christmas fashion my tree even has a star on top, even if it is missing some ornaments.

I would also like to thank Katie for her incredibly thoughtful gift of a clown bicycle horn. Since I've been in two crashes with Japanese motorists, I expect this horn will be nothing short of a lifesaver.

Well we're still in 4th place

Had a long road trip down to Oita this weekend. Oita is, basically, the bottom of Japan. The bus ride was about 10 hours, including time to stop and eat. Bus rides don't bother me too much. I bring a couple books (Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins), my new portable DVD player (Thanks Nic!) and my Rubik's cube. The cube had been a constant source of frustration for me for the last five weeks. But I finally figured out the last algorithm at breakfast on Sunday. I was so excited I slammed the cube down on the table and strutted around the hotel restaurant. I drew quite a few incredulous stares from the more....reserved...Japanese patrons. But eff it, I just finished a Rubik's Cube without cheating!

We went 1-1 this weekend, losing Saturday and winning Sunday. The Saturday loss was tough, we lost in overtime. Sunday was a good win. We were down five at halftime and had, to that point, not been playing inspired basketball. But we came out strong in the 3rd quarter, and were able to pull away and win by 15 or so.

My non-basketball and non-Rubik's cube highlight of the trip was driving past Hiroshima on the way home. Although it was dark, the city is nestled in between some beautiful mountains. Staring out the window, I was filled with unbelievable sadness thinking about what had happened here over 60 years ago.

Now we have practices the next two days, and then a four day break! I don't have any big plans, there isn't much to do really. Japan pretty much shuts down January 1-3. Most stores are closed because, from what I've gathered, it's a significant traditional Japanese holiday.

The pictures are from our drive down to Oita. The above picture is a Torii, a Japanese gate. You see these at Shinto Shrines and some Buddhist Temples. The gate marks where you step from the normal world into the sacred, and vice-versa.

The other picture is the bridge that connects Honshu Island and Kyushu Island.

Strange things in Japan part 1

How the Japanese treat their dogs. I understand why most people here have small dogs. Small country, small people, not a lot of space for a dog. Perfectly understandable. What I can't understand is why the Japanese people feel the need to carry their dogs all the time. Anytime I'm riding through a park I ride through to get to practice, I always see people carrying their dogs. Why take your dog for a walk and then carry him everywhere?

People also love to put little jackets on their dogs here too. But I'll let that one go cause the dogs here are generally very small and the winter here is very cold. So I can see putting a tiny jacket on a dog, as hideous as I may think it is.

Carrying and dressing dogs is bad enough, but the Japanese have taken it a step further. Dogs in diapers! A dog. In a diaper. I'm speechless.

Wow.

The homoeroticism radiating from this picture mandated its posting. Just....wow.

You can call me Superman

So I got in a bike crash about a week ago. Long story short, I was racing a car (I was on the sidewalk) when a Post Office delivery guy (they ride motorcycles) pulled out of a sidestreet without looking in my direction. I swerved to avoid t-boning him, smashing the curb and hurtling my body over the handlebars. I guess I closed my eyes because I can't remember landing. When I opened my eyes my first thought was "Don't run me over!" Luckily the guy stopped 8 inches from running over my torso. Something about being nearly seven feet, white and flipping through the air finally made him look to his left. I guess it didn't make him feel responsible though, because he asked if I was ok and then got the hell out of dodge. At least the Post Office offered to pay for a new bike.

Fortunately for me I was mostly unhurt, just cuts and bruises. It was extremely fortunate actually, I don't know how I managed that feat. So that makes one bike stolen and one bike destroyed in four months so far. That doesn't count the time I got hit by an old lady. Luckily she didn't irreparably damage my bike.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I had borrowed Ray's bike, so I actually wrecked his bike. More good luck....for me. Ha.

The coolest thing about this whole charade has to be the fact that I hit the curb with such force that I bent the front fork of the bike. The seat was messed up too, but I bent steel!

My sister is coming to Japan

Hello everyone,

As Brayden said in the previous Blog we had a rough weekend in Osaka, loosing both games to a very good, strong and physical team. We played extremely hard and we came up short. The most important thing coach mentioned was we never quit. We continued to scratch and claw our way back into the game but, we were out played by the three time B.J. league defending champs.

On a more spirited note my sister (Erika) is coming to Japan tomorrow and it has been so long since I have seen her. I'm super anxious because she came up here especially for me because she did not want me to spend Christmas alone. She is the greatest!

Well, viewers I hope you have a safe, Blessed holiday season and a wonderful New Year.

ALOHA

Weekend in Review

That sucked.

We traveled to Osaka (bus time: 1 hour) to play the three-time defending champs, the Osaka Evessa. Their star player is two-time BJ League MVP Lynn Washington. Unfortunately they got the best of us this weekend, we lost both games.

Not a whole lot to say, we just got beat.

On the positive side, Christmas is coming up and I am set to open my first wrapped present on Christmas day in quite a while! That's the price of living so far away from your family I suppose.

Our Favorite Cheerleader

Meet Chika. Chika please meet Brayden. Ha.

Chika is both mine and Bobby's favorite LakeStars cheerleader. As you can see, she was on the cover of some fashion magazine. I'd tell you more, if the magazine was in English. Kudos Chika.

I don't really have anything else to say, I just wanted to put this up cause she seems like a wholesome, respectable girl. Or maybe it's because pictures of beautiful women will probably increase our readership....

Top Ten Best Friends List

#10 Nicole and Paris

#9 The South Park Children

#8 Siegfried and Roy

#7 The Gym Class Heros


#6 "Shake and Bake" Cal Norton Jr. and Ricky Bobby

#5 The Channel 4 News Team

#4 Calvin and Hobbes


#3 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

#2 Rob and Big

#1 "Big" and Bob

Nicknames

Welcome

Although our readership will probably consist of only our immediate family members, I'd like to thank everyone for stopping by. Bobby and I decided to create this blog to share stories, interesting facts, and hopefully create a blog our friends and family enjoy reading, if only to waste time at work.

We plan on updating the blog regularly, but of course I also planned on becoming an astronaut. Hopefully we'll stick with this and you'll stick with us and.....damn that's cheesy.

If you want us to do a write-up on anything specific or if you want us to address certain questions you have please feel free to let us know in the comments. We'll try to answer any ideas, questions, comments or concerns. Until our blog's popularity spirals out of control. At which point we'll start big-timing our readers and speaking in the third person.