Cicada


While waiting outside in Japan I heard a noise and happened to look up to see this cicada in a tree. Luckily I had my camera and was able to snap a couple photos of it. If you haven’t ever seen a cicada before they are a pretty wicked look insect.

Spinning Coaster


Have you ever had the urge to ride a roller coaster on the 2nd story of a building that spins? If you have, then I have the ride just for you. In Yokohama, Japan there is a roller coaster called the spinning coaster which does exactly that. It is on the roof of a building, the car where everybody sits is round and it spins as passengers ride the ride.

Cosmo Clock 21 Giant Ferris Wheel in Yokohama

The Cosmo Clock 21 is a giant ferris wheel in Yokohama, Japan. It was built in 1992 and stands 354 feet tall. It is a short walk from the Sakuragicho train station and it is part of the Cosmo World Amusement park. I decided to go for a ride on it and see what kinds of interesting things are to be seen while riding it. First off there are some special seats on the ferris wheel that have a glass bottom that you can look out as you’re slowly going around. There are many other interesting things to be seen. You can see a putt putt golf course and a gazebo on different rooftops. You can see the bridges spanning across Yokohama bay. You can also see landmark tower. No matter what it is you may find interesting the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel gives you spectacular views around Yokohama.

Vanish Roller Coaster in Japan


If you ever find yourself in Tokyo, Japan and are looking for something to do, you should take the subway train over to the Sakuragicho train station in Yokohama. A short walk from the train station you will see a big ferris wheel and at the base of that ferris wheel is a roller coaster named “Vanish.” It is rightly named because the roller coaster actually goes down into a tunnel, but it gives the illusion that is in vanishing into water. It’s a fun ride and is pretty unique.

The Kumachan Available in Apple News

The Kumachan is now available in Apple News and can be read an previewed through the Apple News application.  Above is the icon for the channel and below is the link to the news feed:

https://apple.news/TTo-7AcJhRTKnvEfK52oNgw

Be sure to add us to your favorites.

Orion Beer Towel


I received an Orion Beer towel as a gift. The towel is awesome because, not only does it have a cool design with beer and a whale shark, but it is also a reminder of the time I spent in Okinawa. I don’t exactly remember the whole story from when I went and visited the Orion beer company in Nago, Okinawa. The main part of the story of how Okinawa became popular was back when mainland Japan took over Okinawa the mainland Japanese told the Okinawan’s that they were to buy and drink the Japanese beer. The Okinawan’s made their own beer and boycotted the mainland beer and thus was the Orion beer story. Every year they celebrate and host eisa festivals with singing, dancing, food tents, and also Orion beer tents. Orion beer was the first beer that I actually enjoyed drinking and I really enjoyed the festivals. Kampai!

Life Reminders

Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Building


While walking over to the White House I passed by the Dwight D. Eisenhower executive building. I really liked the architectural detail in building. It certainly was worth snapping a couple photos.

Impeach Trump Sticker


While walking down the street in Washington D.C. I happened to see a sticker stuck to a lamp post that said,
“tRUMP is an ASS
IMPEACH
THE PUTIN PUPPET”

D.C. is a pretty liberal city, however I’m curious as if these liberals actually think things through. In the event of Donald J. Trump being impeached, Mike Pence will be the next President of the United States. It’s not like a Democrat will suddenly become the next POTUS. What grounds are they using to define Donald Trump as being an ass? Is it because they don’t like his personality? Is it because they don’t like the way he conducts business? Is it because he defeated Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election? Only time will tell on how great of a job Trump is doing for the United States.

George Washington Statue


Walked through the George Washington University Campus in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington D.C. and passed by this statue. I felt it wouldn’t be right to pass by a statue of one of the greatest leaders in American history and not capture a photo of the moment I had.

Scenery Along the California Pacific Coast Highway


Since I will probably never make the drive again in my lifetime, here are photos I took of different sights, scenery, signs, and other miscellaneous things along the California Pacific Coast Highway 1 between Los Angeles and Monterey. I was told that the views are just absolutely gorgeous and I guess for California standards they are pretty nice, but I have seen much better. California scenery hasn’t really impressed me because it seems the majority of it is just desert and coast. Things don’t really start to get interesting until you are either around San Francisco or north or if you are more inland towards Yosemite national forest.

Hearst Castle


Driving north on California Pacific Coast Highway 1 I saw a sign for the Hearst Castle so I decided to stop and check it out. I took some photos as I walked around, but once I saw the price of the tickets to look at some dead, rich, people’s house, I quickly knew this was not my cup of tea. So I used it as a much needed rest stop and kept driving north.

Bubble Gum Alley in San Louis Obispo


I heard about this alley in San Louis Obispo called the bubble gum alley because people go there and stick pieces of gum to the wall. For whatever reason that I cannot explain now, I knew that I had to see this. When I got there it was about mid day and unfortunately for me the smell was rather ripe, so I quickly snapped some photos and went on my way.

Retro Revolution in Fremantle, Australia


Are you ready for the party of all parties? Well here it is, 5 old school DJ’s from the 90’s & beyond for one night of fun.

SONICSSS GLOBAL NETWORK has rounded up Metro Freo’s original 90’s resident DJ’s Steve Spinner & Steve Barrington along with DJ Birdie, Dean Charles & Dave ‘3D’ Ward for a trip into clublands coming of age.

Featuring OG Club Dancers, cash prize for best dressed 90’s style, special lighting and fx, playing all the original 90’s Hits & Club Classics, RnB, Hip Hop, House, Dance, Acid, Trance, Hip House, Techno, Happy Hardcore & Rave Favourites.

So whether you were a regular at Metropolis Fremantle in the 90’s or just want to experience what it was like, Retro Revolution : Metropolis Fremantle Reunion 90’s Edition is a night not to be missed.

Friday August 18th 2017 Metropolis Fremantle, Western Australia 9pm – late.

Tickets on sale now https://tickets.oztix.com.au/?Event=75963

San Diego Duck Boat Tours


Around San Diego, California you may see some tour vehicles that have a seal painted on the side of them. The tours use duck boats and they drive around on land and then they drive right into the water to cruise over and check out some sea lions or seals in the San Diego bay. They are really cool and look like a blast.

Landing at Salt Lake City

I was trying to figure out what that black spot was.  Is it a swage pond?  Is it a solar panels?  Whatever it is, it is pretty big in size.


For the first time in my life I took a flight that landed in Salt Lake City, Utah. I’ve never been to Salt Lake City before and from what I could tell from the sky it looks like it is a city that is elevated desert. There are mountains all around and there is still snow on top of some of the mountains, but other than that there wasn’t much around.

The Wedding Night

Mike was going to be married to Jane, so his father sat him down for a little chat. He said, ‘Mike, let me tell you something.
On my wedding night in our honeymoon suite, I took off my pants, handed them to your mother, and said, ‘Here, try these on!,

She did and said, ‘These are too big, I can’t wear them.’ I replied, ‘Exactly, I wear the pants in this family and I always will.’
Ever since that night we have never had any problems.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Mike. He thought that might be good thing to try.

On his honeymoon, Mike took off his pants and said to Jane, ‘Here try these on.’ She tried them on and said, ‘These are too large, they don’t fit me. ‘Mike said, ‘Exactly, I wear the pants in this family, and I always will. I don’t want you to ever forget that.’

Then Jane took off her pants, and handed them to Mike. She said, ‘Here, you try on mine.’ He did and said,
‘I can’t get into your pants.’ Jane said, ‘Exactly. And if you don’t change your smart ass attitude, you never will.’

“They lived happily ever after”

Senior Toons That May Be True

Political Quotes From Famous People

a man wearing a suit and tie

John Adams

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress.
-John Adams

2. If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, for which he proposes to pay with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy

7. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O’Rourke,Civil Libertarian

8. Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
If it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

9. I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

10. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free!
-P. J. O’Rourke

11. No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866)

12. Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it.
-Anonymous

13. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism
is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

14. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain

15. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class, save Congress.
-Mark Twain

16. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley

17. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

Five Best Sentences

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. For whatever one person receives without work, another person must then work without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anyone anything that the government does not first take from someone else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half the people get the idea that they need not work because the other half will take care of them, but when that first half gets the idea that it does no good to work because the second half will receive what they worked for, that is the beginning of the end of any Nation!

Sea World Sea Turtles


Here are some photos of sea turtles and some fish that you can see in the tanks at the sea world in San Diego, California.

United States Capitol Building


My last night in Washington D.C. I wanted to make the most of my time, so I went over to the Capitol building to get as many photos as I could. When I got home I sorted through my photos trying to choose the best of each angle I was able to get a clear shot of. These are my best photographs. I hope in the future I will have the opportunity to go back and try to get some more photos. For now I decided to share these photos on America’s Independence Day to give some pause and contemplate how far this country has come. There is a long way to go, but for now I can certainly appreciate where we are at. Happy Independence Day America!

Sea World Aquarium Fish


Here are some images of different types of fish found at the Sea World Aquarium.

Sea World Dolphin Show


The dolphin show at Sea World, San Diego was a lot of fun. At the beginning of the show this guy came out to get some crowd participation and he sang some songs and made everybody laugh.


The next part of the show the dolphin trainers came out and told everybody what they do at Sea World, showed some tricks that they trained the dolphins to do and made everybody laugh. It was really a great time.

Venus Fly Trap Eats Crickets


For the first time in my life I have a Venus Fly Trap for an office plant. Yesterday I was thinking that I want to see my plant eat some bugs so I did a little Internet search and found out that I can buy baby crickets from any Petco store. After work I drove over to Petco and I asked for only 5 crickets, but I don’t think the lady wanted to touch them to count out only 5. She just dumped about 15-20 into a small bag and charged me $0.87. Last night I wanted to make sure that the crickets won’t die on me because I want to watch them run into my plant, so I put a couple pieces of lettuce in the bag. By morning the lettuce was almost all gone and the crickets are still alive.

Today I brought the crickets to work and dumped all of them into my terrarium to feed my plant. I figure that by tomorrow either my Venus Fly trap will be completely eaten by the crickets or maybe some of the crickets will be eaten by the plant. One of the crickets has already managed to get itself caught in a small trap, but it might be able to get out of that. I can’t wait to see what happens to the others. It is like my very own “Little Shop of Horrors.”

World War II Memorial


Visited the World War II Memorial and took some photos around the memorial.

Treasury Department Federal Credit Union


Here are a couple of photos of the Treasury Department Federal Credit Union located at 1500 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington D.C.

Washington Monument at Night



Here are some photos that I was able to shoot of the Washington Monument at night. I tried getting a couple different perspectives that would compliment the photos from my previous post of the Washington Monument during the day. If you notice in the background of the photos you will see the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.

The White House at Night


During my last night stay in Washington D.C. I made the most of the remaining time I had there and went over to the White House to take some night photos. I wanted these photos to give a night perspective of the previous post I made which showed the White House during the day. I’ve narrowed all of the photos I took down to these four, but I just couldn’t choose the best from these photos.

Lincoln Memorial


Walked to the Lincoln Memorial and gasp at the massive size. After thinking about it, I realized that it is quite fitting for how much impact Abraham Lincoln made on shaping the United States as a country.

Above Abraham Lincoln’s head it reads as follows:

“IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER”

Washington Monument


I enjoyed a pleasant walk around Washington D.C. I was able to get some good photos from different views of the Washington Monument. To be able to be there, see it, touch it, feel what it is like to be there, and be able to share my experience gives me a warm feeling.

Capitol Building


Washington D.C. is home of many spectacular government buildings. Every time I see the capitol building I’m awestruck with the awesomeness, not only of the building, but also what it represents.