Steve Stuff

Thought I'd give the political stuff a little rest for at least one post.

I finally got the free tickets issue worked out with Northwest Airlines. For those of you saying, "Huh?"...Taka and I got two free round trip tickets anywhere in Asia in return for staying an extra night in Saipan last year (tough break, huh?). They expire at the end of this month. Taka and figured a short vacation to Thailand (if the more exotic choices weren't possible).

Try redeeming free tickets sometime! Man, what a hassle! Three phone calls, the second one lasted an hour and a half. First I was basically told that any and all flights I wanted weren't possible (although they did keep telling me Saipan would be okay...oh yeah, and I could go to Thailand but couldn't come home). From there I was told that the tickets I held in my hand weren't really free tickets but were just re-printed tickets from the trip we already took. When I demanded they check, I was told it would take two weeks....by which time, of course, no booking of any kind would be possible. By the time I made it on the phone with the supervisor's supervisor, I eventually worked a deal where the mileage equivalent of the tickets I was arguing over would be credited to our WorldPerks cards. Now since we have the points instead of the tickets, there is no expiration date. We can use the tickets any time we want. I guess determined and persistent demands for justice occasionally work.

Taka just got back from five days in Hong Kong for work tonight. She figured she'd have time for some shopping, etc., but they kept her so busy she didn't even get to shop in the department store connected to her hotel. She got back around 10 p.m., managed a small bowl of miso soup and a glass of water before falling asleep on the sofa. I'll be pretty much on my own till Sunday when she is at least partially rested up.

A couple of weeks ago, I was really sick for three days. I couldn't even keep water down. I was a little concerned since the same thing happened about two months before. I was wondering if it had to do with my diet, my drinking, my insomnia, or some combination of the three. I was a little relieved when I heard that a friend of mine and her husband had the same thing a week earlier. She described every symptom exactly. Her husband went to a doctor and was told it was a stomach virus that has been going around Tokyo for some time. I guess I caught it twice in 2 1/2 months.

After three days without so much as a drink of water, I was pretty badly dehydrated. As I slowly started with okayu and water and worked my way back to regular (for me) food, I kind of stayed with just water. I developed a renewed motivation for health in general. I've been really focusing of three solid, well-rounded meals a day, with fruit and nuts as snacks between meals. Water (lots of it), green tea and various juices have been my only drinks. I'm also working hard at trying to normalize my sleep schedule. Next step will be easing back into working out again.

Speaking of food, health, etc., here's one to end on:

A 12 year old girl in the States doing a science project had some findings worth sharing. She went to five fast food places and ordered sodas (one from drive-thru and one from the counter of each place). She also took samples of the water from the toilets of each place. She then did a bacteria count on the ice in each of the sodas and compared it to the toilet water from the same place. Shocker time! Three of the five places had higher bacteria counts in their ice than they did in their toilets!!!
Whoops! The link I had up before was the wrong one. It's been corrected. Sorry!
Here's the article:
Dirty Ice