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A busy 2014 Summer planned

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The official start of Summer is still about one and a half months away and Brandee and I already have a full schedule of activities planned. I’m exhausted even thinking about everything, but eagerly anticipating on sharing many great memories with family and friends!

Camping

bear_tentFor starters we have LOTS of camping trips planned. As I previously posted last year I introduced camping for the first time to Brandee and Jack last year. Little did I know that I have created a camping-monster! I absolutely love the fact that Brandee is so eager for these camping trips. She already has a few calendar dates committed and has begun recruiting others to join us.

Before these summer camping events start a co-worker of mine had actually planned a Spring time trip coming up this weekend. We invested quite a bit of money into new camping gear last year and we are certain to get a full return on our investment this year http://www.kamagraoraljelly247.com.

BBQ time at Casa Neal

bbqWhile yearly Brandee and I host several BBQ summer events at our home each year we strive to do more because everyone seems to genuinely enjoy themselves. I think this year will be particular fun for several reasons. Number one is that we demolished a useless shed in our backyard that was not only an eye-sore but it took up some much valuable space that we can utilize for other purposes. Now we have a nice area 10′ x10′ area of concrete to set up chairs to lounge, tables for snacks or other fun purposes.

As most anyone reading this blog knows Brandee is an absolutely wonderful cook and I think the theme of our Casa Neal events this Summer will be a celebration of food, or something to that effect. I will suggest this to her and maybe each event has a different ethnicity of food? I will leave this up to her as she is an excellent planner.

For one of the unique BBQ themes at Casa Neal I’m going to suggest a ‘working BBQ’. I have a vision that a small group spends the afternoon doing a little (very little) work mixed in with a lot of fun and pool-time. It would be a lot of fun for sure.

That’s all I have as an update for now folks. I will post another quick-hitter update on our Summer plans soon which will include ‘Hunting with Frank’ and a ‘Travel’ update. Please remember to subscribe to KevinNeal.com updates to be notified immediately of new posts.

Japanese Raumen Museum

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Today, 4/25/2014, another busy but great trip to Japan is ‘in the books’ as they say.  All that’s left is a short walk to the train station, a 1 ½ hour express train ride to the airport, a few hours of waiting and then a joyous 10 hour flight home.

This is the part of traveling to Japan that gets particularly interesting.  It’s basically Groundhog Day where I get to relive a period in-time in which I had already experienced.  I’ll be leaving Japan at 3:55pm on Friday afternoon and arrive home at 12:40pm Friday.  Do the math for yourself.  Yes, that’s right; I will land in the US 3 hours and 15 minutes BEFORE I left Japan 10 hours earlier!  Living the same day two times is absolutely a trip.

As I have written previously many times, one of the consistent great things about traveling to Japan is the wonderful people and culture.  That part of visiting never disappoints.  This particular trip featured some new highlights and I would like to share those experiences.

Raumen Museum

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We visited the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum.  It was great fun and we ate two lunches.  One lunch was a mild-flavored ramen and the other was a more hot-and-spicy flavor.  Both were delicious!  The Museum itself was awesome.  All the storefronts had a different theme and felt like a Hollywood movie-set with all the various settings.

The environment was so much fun.  In the courtyard of the museum, pictured left, the security officers were teaching young school-kids how to play games and such.

Below is a brief summary of the Raumen Museum:

http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/  Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum was founded on March 6th, 1994 as the world’s first food-themed amusement park. From the start, our concept has been to be the one-stop place to enjoy the flavors of this national dish from renowned shops across Japan without stepping on a plane.

Tokyo Dome Baseball

tokyo dome

Another highlight for this particular trip was attending a professional Japanese baseball game.  This game featured the Rakuten Golden Eagles and Seibu Lions.  eagles vs lionsThe Eagles were the home team and their fans were extremely passionate however the Lions also had some extremely loud supporters as well.  Some of the Lions fans included drums, trumpets, flag-waving, organized chanting; showing great team spirit.

The game itself was a blow-out and the end-result was never really in question.  The Eagles scored at-will in the first few innings and built a 5-0 lead, never to be relinquished.  The final score of 6-1 did not accurately portray how much Rakuten dominated this game.

Baseball Beer at Tokyo Dome!

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The game was held at the famous Tokyo Dome.  The Dome was pretty typical of traditional stadiums with a few exceptions.  First, there was no parking lot for cars.  All the fans, including us, were transported via train or some other means of public transportation.  Second, there were no, or meager, lines to enter the stadium or get food and drink.  Everything is always so efficient.

The food at the game was quite similar to American baseball with a few exceptions.  The concession stands included typical items such as popcorn, souvenirs and drinks.  The extreme enthusiasm in which the Japanese people celebrate friendship is a noticeable, positive, experience.

One of the extreme highlights of the baseball game was the ‘beer girls’.  There was nothing not to like about this.  They had quantities of them (check), they had kegs/booze strapped to their backs (check) and they all had cheerful attitudes (check)!  All kidding aside, the sincere enthusiasm for working and having fun was absolutely refreshing.

Kevin’s Birthday Surprise 2014

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Kevin’s Birthday Surprise 2014

fairmontSo Brandee decided to sweep me away recently for my birthday.  When it comes to birthday time I usually get grouchy because, after-all, what’s the point of aging another year without any tangible benefits?

Basically between the age of 21 (when you can legally drink) and the age of 65/67-ish (when you can supposedly collect your retirement money) then what’s the use of growing older?

Nevertheless, Brandee pulled a wonderful surprise for me and it was very special.  She had arranged a full evening and night at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel.  This is not your Motel 6-type facility.  Rather it’s a classy, high-price establishment where U.S. Presidents and other famous people stay.

Let’s have a pop to begin

drinksThe night began with her insisting that we have drink(s) in the hotel lounge area.  First of all this was very suspicious because she never drinks.  Second of all the amount of booze she consumed was impressive so I knew something was up because this was seriously unusual behavior for her.  However, not sure exactly what was going on; I rolled with it.

It was a lovely lounge with beautiful decorations, nice artist displays as well as great service by the hotel employees.  Overall I have to say that the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose is Five Star for this reason; they have great service!

After a few drinks in the lounge Brandee suggested that we have dinner.  A wonderful idea but the restaurant wasn’t fully staffed when we arrived just as they opened for business.  So we decided to head to the bar for a bit and wait for our table to become available.

The Feast begins

foodThe bar area was extremely nice.  There was plenty of room to get our groove-on so Brandee and I waited about 30 minutes and our reserved table was never called.  This was perfectly fine with us actually and eventually Brandee went and cancelled our formal restaurant reservation because we were perfectly content in the bar and could still order off the full menu.

In there we had bread with accompaniments of whole butter, tomato jam and an herbed olive oil and aged balsamic dip.  We also had Sliced New York Pepper Steak with Bacon, Cracked Pepper & Onions, Topped with a Green Peppercorn Sauce.  And just when you think that is too much, we had a gorgeous Charcuterie board for us to snack on. Toasted Levian, Stilton, aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, Nicoise olives, amazing Prosciutto, Sopressata, house-made whole grain mustard and candied spiced walnuts.  OMG – it was delightful!

Heeerrre’s Johnnie!!!!

johnnySince Brandee knew that I clearly hate to celebrate my birthday and she had such elaborate plans, she probably knew she was skating on thin-ice with my patience.  This was absolutely true and she decided to step it up a notch, like you wouldn’t expect a reasonable person to do, but she did.

I guess at some point while I was checking my Facebook to make sure that my ‘lovely’ wife wasn’t posting embarrassing photographs she was making a wicked embarrassing deal with the waitress to bring (and sing) birthday cake to my table.  Yeah team!

So what do I do?  Turn the tables of course.  Instead of a nice, innocent smile with gratitude, I give a sarcastic looking smile just exactly like Jack Nicholson on The Shining in the scene where he busts down the door with an axe and declares: “Heeerre’s Johnnie!!!”

Fantastic Birthday Result

bottleAfter Brandee and I had our fill of snacky-food and birthday cake I decided that this old-man needed to hit-the-hay so we headed to our hotel room.  When we opened the hotel room door I was surprised by not one, but two, sets of chocolate/strawberry and wine/champagne arrangements!  Apparently Brandee had already arranged one set with her friend and then another was provided by one of our mutual friends.  Needless to say, we were not thirsty for delicious drink or fantastic fruit the rest of the night or early morning :-).  Champagne, strawberries and chocolate on a lazy Sunday morning is something all of you should experience on your bucket-list.

In the end, and through all the personal suffering, I had a great weekend and it’s because people made it happen.  I want to personally thank Brandee (of course) and also many others including Natalie, Cookie, Jonathan and Steve for making such a great memory.  You are all the greatest.

ThanksKilling (2009) – Movie Review

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coverSince today is the official start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia I’m going to be in the true Olympic spirit and give this movie, ThanksKilling, a Steelers Star Gold Medal (for stupidity in a film!)  In fact, this movie won all the medals in the Bad Movie competition with the Bronze, Silver and Gold.  ThanksKilling makes you feel dumber for simply watching 1 1/2 hours of this So-chi-T!  I have to give credit where credit is due and considering there was probably about a grand total of two hours pre-planning put into this movie and this resulted in 90 minutes of movie, again, they get credit for making the most out of nothing.  If there was to ever be a great team assembled of terrible movie writer/producers then the ‘talent’ that created ThanksKilling should win Gold for the next 4 Olympics with this disaster of a movie. Who says quality counts anyhow?

bronze_smallThe Bronze goes to the absolutely horrible acting that didn’t even begin to try and be serious.  Surprisingly enough it did not bother me as it typically would.  Something about this particular set of Olympic/Actor wannabees is curiously fun.  The characters were so ridiculous that you didn’t even have one iota of believe-ability with these Turkeys (Thanksgiving pun intended).

silver_smallNext, the Silver medal for ThanksKilling goes to the ridiculous plot of the movie.  A killer Turkey, are you serious?  Somehow every 505 years the killer Turkey comes back to terrorize the human race.  The over-dramatic scenes are simply awesome.  With just a bit more gravy (Turkey pun intended) the plot itself might have been worthy of the Gold medal.

gold_smallHowever, only one Gold medal can be awarded and this goes to the killer Turkey himself.  His foul-mouth language, rotten behavior and witty remarks were simply a s’mash’; potato (more Turkey/Thanksgiving pun intended).  Classic lines from Turkie (a.k.a. Killer Turkey who is the main character) spoken include “I quit him cold Turkey!”, “She got stuffed!” and “I’m making a Turkey sandwich”.

So, for this one exception I deem the award for this movie in Steelers Star Olympic Medals with 8 out of 10 stars (but don’t be a Turkie you yams!).

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