We’re back from Japan! After seven years from our totally awesome study abroad experience, we’ve finally found the opportunity to visit our old  home. The photo above marked the location of the beginning of my courtship with my wonderful wife, as this was the place where we had our first lunch date/picnic.

We have much stories to tell, advice to share, & nearly 5,000+ photos to wade through & edit for upload—keep visiting our site for more!

You’re probably read some news about the Japanese government giving away free flights to Japan, but they’re likely awarded to those who are willing to publicize their experiences. We’ll try to audition for the job through our blog, so if you can share our site with your friends & family who you would think would enjoy the wild & zany adventures of a married Asian couple in a foreign land, that would be the best! Thanks & stay tuned!

Not many know this about me, but I’m a geek for cars. It might have stemmed from my many logged hours on the video game/racing simulator Gran Turismo on the original Playstation. The world-famous Laguna Seca, a gorgeous & pristine racetrack in Monterey, California, is hallowed ground for racing enthusiasts. Driving up to the track is awe-inspiring, no doubt. The day’s event: the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.

With our day passes, we were allowed to go wander inside the staging area, which means that you can (theoretically) go up & touch the cars that just came back from a hot run on the track. Even for the non-racing crowd, taking a look under the hoods of these beasts, anyone can appreciate the engineering required to make these things roar. The cars were gorgeous, & there’s new appreciation now that I’ve got to witness these cars fly by 20 feet in front of you. As you can imagine, the cars were loud. Earplugs are a necessity.

Most notable is the Mazda MX-5 stock car races. With the exception of the sponsor stickers plastered all over the bodies & a few minor suspension tweaks, these MX-5 are stock as they came out of the factory. Budding racers who want to participate in structured, high-level competition should look into this.

The highlight of the day—and the point that persuaded me to take a day off work—was the Parade Lap, a chance to drive your own stock car on the track for two laps. I’ll probably only need to do this just once in my life, so along with my buddy Ricky, we brought a whole bunch of recording devices & rigged them inside my tiny GTI to record the event so I can re-live it forever (that’s healthy, right?):

Sure, we’re not flying down the corkscrew at 60mph, but it was still such a thrill. Perhaps this marks the start of my racing career? Who knows? Maybe I just need to fire up Gran Turismo 5 the next time I feel the need for speed.

Congrats to my cousin Sara, now Sara Sabino Guitierrez! After months & months of planning, she finally tied the knot last Saturday, August 20th. We added one more to our massive family wolfpack, & we couldn’t be happier!

Of course, since it’s a family event, I volunteered to set up my photobooth at the reception in Oakland. The wife was behind the camera, & I was in front running around & organizing shots. Check out our handiwork:

Bless Cindy & her generous heart. Actually, she rolls with a group of her college friends who are equally as generous. Every year, they participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Her group fundraises to participate in a very tolling march through San Francisco.

Specifically, the first day of the walk starts at Fort Mason, through San Francisco streets, across the Golden Gate Bridge, then end the day in a tent in Corte Madera. The trip ends as the walkers make their way back to Fort Mason.

Cindy couldn’t wait to put her feet up after arrival, but despite all the miles, many who crossed the finish did it with a smile on their face.

Ahh, I love summers. Sorry, to be more accurate, I love warm summers. The meteorologists finally thought it was cool to give us a warm, Northern California week (that’s what meteorologists do, right?), so our buddy Axel at work organized a small county fair outing after office hours. This fair was totally true to it’s form, too: carnival rides, a petting zoo, deep-fried everything, & carnies that smell like cabbage.

Is this place for adults? Not necessarily, but it’s a place for adults to be like little children again. Ahh…deep-fried Oreos. Genius idea!

Edit: Axel went through my photos & made a photo edit that’s safe for work:

Ahh, tailgating season. When the weather is awesome in the Bay Area, there’s no better way to enjoy a Saturday afternoon. Even better when you get to enjoy it with the company of friends, as well as the opportunity to make new ones.

The Texas Rangers came into town a few weeks ago & played a few games in Oakland. Perfect occasion to break out the tailgating kit & BBQ to enjoy a parking lot lunch with fellow baseball fans & fans of free food. Foul on me, though—we managed to fit our whole tailgate kit in my tiny GTI, but realized that I forgot the barbeque grill in the living room [sad trombone]. All good, because whenever people are having fun, they forget that the hot dogs they’re eating are cold.

One minute, she was that girl who studied abroad with me in Japan nearly eight years ago, the next minute, we’re celebrating her birthday as husband & wife at The Melting Pot, down the street from the home that we share. Her special day was filled with chocolate fondue & flowers waiting for her at home. Happy birthday to my dearest wife!

…can you sit this close to the players in the middle of a live game AND have them take your phone & try to play games with it. The only time I leave my awesome seat was to use the bathroom, & during the two minutes I was gone, this gem between bullpen pitchers Jerry Blevins (left) & Grant Balfour (right) played out. Grant tries to ‘play’ a game called Speed Test (it was an iPhone app that tested Internet speed) & tried to call his family back home in Australia. So awesome.

My cousin Mel captured this with her camera. Good quality video, I must say.

Baseball’s back! Giants won it all last year, now we’re hoping to share the glory on this side of the Bay. The Seattle Mariners started off the season in Oakland, & my friend/co-worker Fumi hooked it up with some awesome 3rd-base-side seats with an awesome view.

It was Japanese Heritage Day, & the A’s hooked it up with free Hideki Matsui t-shirts:

Why buy expensive authentic MLB-branded clothes when we can get them for free?

I may have said this last year: March is an awesome month to visit Arizona. We got to escape the insane Bay Area weather & got to take in some sun while enjoying our beloved A’s baseball! Score!

After she got married, my cousin Myra moved out to Glendale in Arizona, not too far from Phoenix & it’s many Spring Training ballparks. When my cousins learned that one of their old classmates/bandmates was playing baseball in Arizona (for the curious, it’s this dude named Troy Tulowitski of the Colorado Rockies, no big deal), my cousin Myra & new cousin-in-law Jay, cousin Mel, the wife & myself made it a mission to go out to visit him during practice at the gorgeous Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to see if he remembers them. We tried our darndest to try to catch him during at his home practice field, but was unsuccessful. Oh well, there’s next year.

By the end of the weekend, I was in the positive. I scored:

• a Phoenix Suns bag
• an $8-off coupon at a local drugstore, which we used to buy sunscreen (the Phoenix Suns shot eight 3-pointers that day)
• a Verizon t-shirt
• a souvenir game ball from A’s relief pitcher Grant Balfour
• & a Jared Dudley Phoenix Suns t-shirt, which I ‘earned’ by doing this:

Can’t wait until next year! It’s fun to hang out with family outside of the Bay Area!