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MY GLOBAL JOURNEY IN THE FALL OF 2010

Before I begin nostalgia Tuesday, first, updates for the now postponed House Special January 6 Committee next hearing originally scheduled for noon tomorrow (Wednesday):

  • The feature personality, however, will be Roger Stone (here with the Proud Boys) and a documentary where he is shown to predict political violence before the 3November2020 presidential election.
  • When will this hearing be held?  Not sure, but Hurricane Ian was responsible.
  • Will this be the final hearing?  Certainly not, for yet to come should be Ginnie Thomas, and what about those 24 Secret Service cellphones confiscated by the Department of Homeland Security?  Then there has to be a preliminary final summary in late October to appropriately influence the 8November2022 mid-term elections.
Which leads me to Hurricane Ian, which rolled over western Cuba at 125 MPH, dropped to 115 MPH, strengthened to 120 MPH, and is expected to reach Category 4 at 130 MPH.  Most importantly, Ian is now predicted to track slightly east, making landfall on Wednesday between Tampa and Fort Meyer, which is further south, as a Category 3.  The eye will move northward between Tampa and Orlando.  Finally, New Orleanians can rest comfortably.  
AccuWeather has provided some useful information.

But there is more, for in the West Pacific is once Super Typhoon Noru, who crashed through the Philippines, weakened, but has today strengthen to 145 MPH in the South China, should weaken a bit, and make landfall over Danang in Vietnam tonight.

Tropical Storm Kulap formed near Guam and seemed headed for Japan.  Fortunately, it made a right turn, will become a typhoon tomorrow but miss Japan by a good distance while tracking northeast.

So to my posting for the day, there was a time in my life when I took frequent around the world trips.  For nostalgia Tuesday, I go back almost exactly 12 years ago to my 2010 World Odyssey, when I began with:

My Fall 2010 World Odyssey begins this morning from Honolulu.  I will visit:

  Japan
  South Korea
  China
  Switzerland
  Kenya
  Tanzania
  Qatar
  Norway
  Netherlands
  Italy
  USA
    DC
    Austin
    Las Vegas

For any burglars reading this blog, someone will be taking care of my apartment.  

This was  one of those trips inspired by my recently departed wife, who wanted to see those sights, but mostly because of my reluctance, did not.  So I went to drop her ashes at those locations.  My first one earlier in 2010 included a visit to the Taj Mahal.

Among the highlights was a talk on the Blue Revolution to the Japan Marine Technology Society at the headquarters of the Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).  I show my photo with their president, Toshitsugu Sakou, a good friend, for I was dressed rather informally.  Read that link for details, but in short, I forgot to bring cufflinks, so couldn't use my dress shirt with a brand new Blue Revolution tie, so got by with a black undershirt.

This was a trip where I attempted to trace the travel of my grandfather Kenjiro (who I was named after), whose parents caught a ship to from Akita to Otaru 150 years ago, where he was born, and they in time moved to Sapporo, then Utashinai.  The photo is the ship I took.  From there in the 1880's he was sent to the USA for training, stopped by Kauai on his way home, and supervised the building of the Wainiha hydroelectric facility, which is still operating today, more than a century after it was first built.

From Japan I went to South Korea, then Shanghai for the World Expo.  Through colleagues I was able to gain VIP passes to key exhibits.

Dropped Pearl's ashes at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and took a photo safari through Tanzania.

One of my stops was Qatar to participate in an energy conference.  This particular posting, entitled The Wonder of Qatar, has long been my highest-watched blog article of all.

Another stop was Amsterdam, where I posted on MARY JANE AND MAGIC MUSHROOMS.   I wrote:

The Netherlands has become an interesting test case.  First of all, the smoking and drinking age begins at 16.  However, both the coffee shops (which sell marijuana, and you usually smoke it there) and smart shops (for magic mushrooms, which you usually take elsewhere) are illegal.  It is just that they are tolerated, with exceptions now and then. 

I had a Roman holiday, where I also enjoyed my best lunch ever.  My favorite dish was risotto with white truffles.

Spent a few days in Austin with John (Stanford classmate) and his family, then Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with my brother and his family.  John and Marie got married as Peace Corps volunteers in the Philippines, and they adopted two children, here grown up.  And this was a dozen years ago.

Here are photos from my 2-month around the world trip.

- 

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