Gary J. Wolff's Blog Archives
October-December, 2017
This page shows archived posts for Gary J. Wolff's blog from
October-December,
2017.
Enjoy...
Cheers,
Gary
Dec. 27,
2017 - "2017, THE YEAR IN PICTURES!!" (a video!)
A
3-min. movie of 2017 highlights, created with the "Memories" feature in
the iOS Photos app. Many of the pics are of my Feb. trip to Ao Nang,
Thailand, my Aug. trip to Alaska, & my many wonderful Tokyo
musician friends. Enjoy!
It's been a great year, and thanks for being a part of it! Best wishes
for a super-duper 2018, the Year of the Dog! (woof, woof)
2017, THE YEAR IN
PICTURES!!
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Dec. 25,
2017 - NORAD Tracks Santa in Japan, Dec. 24, 2017
Here's
NORAD's offical video of Santa's 2017 visit to Japan, captured in
real-time by a Santa Cam. Don't miss Santa flying over the cone of Mt.
Fuji! This is a FIRST!!
NORAD Tracks Santa
in Japan, Dec. 24, 2017 (NORAD video)
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
On
Xmas Eve 2017, Santa visited Japan around 11 pm local time. The main
cities visited include Sapporo, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Yokohama,
Hiroshima, and Naha, Okinawa. Here's the video I made on my home PC.
Don't miss Rudolph's RED NOSE!
NORAD Tracks Santa
in Japan, Dec. 24, 2017 (my video)
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Dec.
17, 2017 - Tokyo Midtown Christmas 2017 Illumination
Without question, the Japanese are true masters of Xmas illumination,
and so, despite the bitter cold, Tokyo is a VERY delightful place to be
in the holiday season!
Completed in March 2007, Tokyo Midtown is celebrating 10 years with
their incredible 510,000-light "Midtown Christmas 2017" illumination
event. Don't miss the illumination "fireflies" in adjacent trees at the
4:48 min. mark.
The illumination can be viewed every night from 5-11 pm until 12/25.
More details on the Tokyo Midtown website: http://www.tokyo-midtown.com/en/
My video of Tokyo
Midtown Christmas 2017 Illumination
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Dec. 7,
2017 - Merry Xmas 2017 from Santa Mickey (サンタミッキー) in Tokyo!
Happy holiday season, everybody! Eight years ago, the world-famous
Santa Mickey (サンタミッキー) made his very lively debut in a Tokyo karaoke
box, singing
some of the most famous Christmas carols. Since then, Santa Mickey has
been thrilling kids worldwide with Xmas carol karaoke practice. [Santa
Mickey's original 2009 performance of 5 Xmas songs is in this
playlist.]
Well, back by popular demand, here he is again, this time in a somewhat
more subdued manner, but still full of
Christmas spirit, sharing with you his favorite Christmas songs. So
please grab a drink, sit back, and enjoy the magic of this 2017
holiday season.
Merry Xmas 2017
from Santa Mickey (サンタミッキー) in Tokyo!
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
0:00 Opening greeting
0:46 Jingle Bell Rock
3:02 White Christmas
6:08 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
8:33 Blue Christmas
10:53 Silver Bells
13:57 I'll Be Home For Christmas
17:00 Winter Wonderland
19:28 We Wish You A Merry Christmas
21:06 Closing greeting
Dec. 3,
2017 - Massive tornado destruction special effects
Despite a claim on the internet that National Geographic paid $1
million for this video, according to Snopes, the video is in fact
computer-generated special effects that originally appeared in the
2014 Hollywood movie "Into the Storm."
Nonetheless,
it’s absolutely mind-blowing to see the destructive effects of
these make-believe tornadoes. Don't miss the jumbo jets
being tossed about like children's toys at the 3:15 mark. Wow!
Massive tornado
destruction special effects
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Nov.
26, 2017 - My video of
Caretta Illumination 2017
In its remarkable 15th season, Caretta Shiodome's illumination theme
this year is the Disney movie "Beauty & the Beast." Shows run every
15 minutes from 5-10 pm between Nov. 16, 2017 & Feb. 14, 2018.
Shiodome is located near Tokyo's Shimbashi Station. More
details including access map are here: https://www.caretta.jp/foreign/
My other Caretta Illumination videos, going back to Year 2007, can be
viewed in this playlist.
My video of Caretta
Illumination 2017
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Nov. 19,
2017 - My President Richard Nixon mask
Last week my longtime friend and former coworker Tom Kilbride (far
right in the pic below) sent me this amazing reminder of a very fun
Halloween party we had 30+ years ago at our former employer, Success
Motivation Institute, in Waco, Texas.
WOW! As I told Tom, and as my college roomies can surely confirm, I was
quite the Nixon impersonator in my younger days (Imagine me shooting
the peace sign with both hands while chanting "FOUR MORE YEARS, FOUR
MORE YEARS"... ).
I definitely got a lot of mileage outta that very fun Richard Nixon
mask...
My Richard Nixon mask halloween costume
Nov.
11, 2017 - Superstar international goodwill ambassador Arabella Kushner
This is without question of the cutest things I think I've ever seen.
While Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan welcomed
President Donald Trump & first lady Melania Trump at Beijing's
Forbidden City on Wednesday Nov. 8, on a tablet computer, Pres. Trump
showed Xi and Peng video clips of his 6-year-old granddaughter,
Arabella Kushner, singing in Mandarin and reciting part of the
Three-Character Classic and several ancient Chinese poems.
WOW, how precious! The video has gone viral & Arabella is now a
child star in China.
Superstar
international goodwill ambassador Arabella Kushner
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Nov. 4,
2017 - Houston Astros -- World Series Champions!
THEY DID IT! My most heartfelt congrats to the 2017 World Series
Champion Houston Astros! I'm now on Cloud 9, as are millions of other
fans in my hometown, America's 4th largest city. YAY!
(photo credit:
http://ftw.usatoday.com)
Oct. 28,
2017 - Go Astros!
After the World Series started on Tuesday, I had a panic attack
when I realized I no longer had a Houston Astros baseball cap in
my home. Because I wanted to wear one to support my hometown team, on
Thursday night I purchased a new cap at the "Selection" American
sporting goods shop in Shinjuku.
Before leaving, the shop staff asked if he could take my picture
wearing my new cap and I said "Of course." He then gave me the shop's
business card with a QR code linking to their "snap photo" blog
page.
So here I am wearing my new cap. Go Astros!
Caption on Selection blog page:
ヒューストンからお越しのお客様です！アストロズのキャップ購入頂きました♪キャップを被ってアストロズを応援して下さい＼(^o^)／
Translation: This customer comes from Houston! He bought an Astros cap.
Please support the Astros by wearing the cap.
(Selection snap photo blog page: selection-j.com/blog/snapphoto)
Oct.
24, 2017 - Quote of the Day
"Don't complain. Eighty percent of the people you complain to don't
care and the other 20 percent are glad you have problems."
--Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz--
Oct. 23,
2017 - Glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars!
My glow-in-the-dark ceiling star project is now nearly complete. While
taking a break from helping my family recover from Hurricane Harvey
last month, I slipped over to Houston's Museum of Natural Science gift
shop one day to pick up a pack of 60 glow-in-the-dark mini-stars for
only $6.95.
My glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars
I really like this method of stargazing… no mosquitoes, rainouts,
bears, or snakes.
I've been a big fan of the sky since I earned the Boy
Scout Astronomy
merit badge at age 13, thanks to our wonderful scoutmaster Paul
Caillet.
For the first couple weeks after returning back to Japan (while I was
getting my new university fall semester kicked off and in motion),
there were only 2 constellations on my ceiling... my two
favorites... the Big and Little Dippers, because of the pointer
star
configuration for locating the North Star.... very useful when lost
in the wilderness at night.
But within the past week or so, I've managed to add the 4 latest
constellations: Orion, Cygnus, Scorpius (my zodiac sign), and
Sagittarius, at the 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, and 8:00 clock positions,
respectively, as I gaze up at my ceiling.
So what to do with the final 4 stars, that is the question. Although
there ARE some obscure constellations with only 4 stars, I’m not a
big fan of any of them.
Oct. 14,
2017 - Mom's Texas Trash!!
Sometimes I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on the planet because of
this wonderful snack mix that Mom has been making now for nearly a
remarkable half-century.
Every time I visit Houston, she cooks up a couple of batches of
Texas Trash, using her own special recipe, and prepared with a lot
of tender loving care. As a result, I always come back to Japan with
15-20 bags of this amazing concoction to share with my friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
Yummy, yummy!
Bless you, Mom! I feel your love...
Mom's Texas Trash
Mom's Texas Trash recipe
A 2018 Facebook post by Mom: "When Gary was in college at the
University of Texas (at Austin), there was a recipe for TV Mix in our
church cookbook. It sounded good, so I started making it for him. Over
the years I added more nuts and several other items and named my
version Texas Trash. Over the years I have received many notes from his
friends thanking me. So it warms my heart that he and others liked it
so much."
Oct. 3,
2017 - Good morning from Tokyo!
This is the amazing sunrise I awoke to yesterday on an early Monday
morning to begin my workweek:
Red sky morning, Tokyo, Japan
Mon. Oct. 2, 2017, 5:33 am
"Red sky at night, sailors' delight.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."
Climbers using the most popular trail on Mt. Fuji are expected to be slugged with a doubled fee of 4,000 yen ($26) from next summer as the Yamanashi prefectural government seeks to tackle overcrowding…
Performed December 13 at the "A Christmas Gift 2024" charity Christmas concert in Tokyo, Japan by singer Charito & dancer Ikumi. In its 21st year, the annual charity concert is organized & sponsored b…
BIG CHANCE! Smashwords, the world's largest publisher of indie ebooks (>228,000 participating ebooks from nearly 60,000 authors) is now holding its 8th annual end-of-year sale from now till Wednesday…
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