240710's blog: "Life of a Traveling Man"

Hey All, Okay well things got alittle messed up but it's all good. I made it home from Japan on the 4th of November safe and sound! It was a good trip over all. The last night there we went to dinner, then to Tommy's Bar. After the bar closed, EVERYONE there went to Karaoke with us!!! We didn't get back to the hotel until 6:30 AM. That is kinda one reason I did not post my final blog from Japan. When we got to the hotel, we had to finish packing, check out, and catch the bus to the airport!!! Talk about timing.. Made it home safely, and had a wonderful time with my family, I missed them so much. Now I am in Texas, San Antonio to be exact. We are doing a Line Off Ceremony for the first official vehicle (the new Tundra), to roll of the assembly line at the new Texas Plant!!! I've been here since Thursday the 9th, but the stupid hotel internet has been down. They finally fixed it last night, well more like 1:30 this morning! Anyway, all is good and I will be returning home on the 18th. I hope you are all well! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Okay well this is the second to last blog for the Japan trip! The last one will be right before I leave to go back to the good ol' USA! Training is almost done, actually it pretty much is, we are now rehearsing and preparing for the event we will be doing in Texas later this month! The cool thing is I found out Brooks and Dunn will be playing the Texas event, How cool is that? I have officially filled my photo limit again! So I can't post anymore photo's for a while, But I will post the rest of my Japan photos ASAP, I also have to make room for the Texas photos!! Anyway, as my title states "I AM READY TO COME HOME!!!" What really sucks is that I missed my first Halloween with the kids!!! I have a few pics posted in my Friends and Family album that my wife sent me! They were really cute this year! Over all though, this has been an interesting trip! I've had some good times, and a few shitty ones, but all in all I would rate it at least a 9.5...LOL Thanks for all the comments you have left me, and the support when I was feeling down, and missing my family. Hope you are all well! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Hey All, It's been a while since I posted any new blogs so here it goes... I've been busy as hell. We went to Yokohama for the FISITA event, which is the meeting of the Automotive Congress from many countries. It was fun, we had a few different displayes there. Of course I worked the robot display, we also had a display on concept mobility vehicles, (the I-Unit), and on our cars. Many vendors also had displays. Nissan has a future mobility vehicle called the Pivo, which is pretty cool. It doesn't have reverse, the whole passenger cabin rotates 180 degrees, to go the opposite direction, it's is fucking cool as hell. The Emporer's son was also there, he gave a speech, and was part of the ribbon cutting ceremony to open the event! We also visited Toyko while we were there. It was fun, but I couldn't ecape from the group, there we're about 12 of us that went, and check the sights out on my own. After the event, we came back to Toyota City, and it has been non-stop work every day, and studing every night. Exept for last night. Last night the staff and instructors of the department we work for threw us a farewell party, and the tried to hurt us, but we out drank them all. After the party we went to karaoke, and let me tell you, we actually sounded pretty well for a bunch of drunks! After Karaoke, pretty much everyone went home, but a few of us went to another bar close to the hotel. That is where I got hurt, the bar owner, and regulars know Dave, Jim, and I, and well we had another private party. I got totally fucked up! I am surprised I even made it back to the hotel. But Dave and Jim made sure I did. Of course I don't know if they remember much of the trip back either. But the Bar was only a block or to away. All I got to say is I think I'm done drinking for a while!!!!! I haven't been that piss drunk in along time, at least I don't have a hang over today! Of course I made sure to drink plenty of water while drinking, so I think that helped. Oh well, That's about all! Hope you are all well! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Hey All, Okay well I haven’t blogged in a few days because I’ve been busy as hell!!! Thursday and Friday consisted of more testing, programming, and preparation for shows. It was fun, and pretty cool. Jim thinks he'll have our robot ready for kickboxing in no time!! He wants to have it kick Azimo’s ass (Honda’s robot). Saturday we went to down town Toyota for the Koromo Matsuri festival. That was really cool!!!! People pull HUGE wooden floats around by hand, with several riders on top of it. The riders play music and throw tons of strips of paper with kanji (Japanese writing) on them out. The kanji states different proverbs of luck, fortune, and stuff like that! Then there are pushers, they steer the floats… We also walked around down town Toyota, and went to the stadium, a very cool place. It has a huge retractable roof, and was built for one of the world cup soccer games (unsure of which year). Afterwards we came back to the hotel and had a few drinks. Then today (Sunday), I went to the Gifu Air Festival with Moriya-san, a co-worker here in Japan. David couldn’t go because he hurt is foot yesterday, and Jim had gone jogging and didn’t get back in time! The air show was cool as hell, but crowded; it was like swimming in a sea of people. Gifu is about 2 to 2.5 hours away from Toyota City. I met a couple of USMC pilots, who were really cool. They are stationed in Okinawa, and came to the air show to show off their fighter. One of the aerial acrobatic teams that performed is called Blue Impulse; they are very much like our Blue Angels, and just as good! Some of the maneuvers they pulled off were outright crazy, but cool as fuck! After the air show we went to eat at Denny’s (Yes Denny’s like the 500,000,000 million ones in the US). The food was good. I had spicy chicken Jambalaya, and a club sandwich with fries. Now the club sandwich was a bit different, instead of turkey it had chicken, and they add a hard fried egg to it, which is surprisingly good (coming from someone who only likes his eggs scrambled, as an omelet, or raw). After dinner Moriya-san dropped me off at the hotel, and well here I am writing the blog. Of course I also uploaded some pics (which you all made possible)!! Okay well it’s time for me to take a shower, and get ready to hit the hay, so you all have a great Sunday, and I’ll holler at you later. Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Work work work...Yesterday and Today were cool. Yesterday we went over the electrical system, and how it all works! Then today we actually started programming and testing the robot! Cool as hell!!! We have been having a blast! Other than that I have to say THANK YOU to everyone who's been showin the love. Almost up a level, about 200 more points! I will be returning the love this weekend, so don't worry I haven't forgotten about you. I am in the middle of writing reports AND trying to return the love. It's a pain in the ass doing both, and unfortunately I have to concentrate on the reports (my paycheck depends on it)!!!! But I have Saturday morning and Sunday night set aside strictly for returning the luv!!!!! Well I have to get back to my reports, but I'll check in every so often to answer shoutouts, and return love one cherry at a time! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Today we went to the TES festival! I am including some video I shot (did it with my digital camera, so the image may not be all that clear)!! This robot is the whole reason I am in Japan. I am training on it, and when I come back to the states, Jim, David and my self will be responsible for maintaining, repairing, and showing it!!! Hope you all enjoy the videos. You may have to let it play once to buffer it, then it'll play smoothly if you play it again...I hope, at least it does on my machine! Okay well enjoy the vids!!!

I put all of the vids in my stash, including two others! ....it was taking to long for my blog to load with 5 on here, so I took 3 off...sorry! I hope you enjoyed those clips!!! take care and have fun!!!! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Today was a good day, we pretty much hung out at the hotel, watching movies. David brought a shit ton of DVDs, so we actually have some thing to watch, and understand. We did goto the bathhouse at the hotel, and soak in the spa for a while. Nothin like running around butt ass naked, one of my favorite past times! (sorry no pics for you ladies, no cameras allowed!!). The bathhouse at the hotel is men only, we are going to try and find the co-ed one nearby (LOL). After the soaking we went to the bar for dinner, then came up to our rooms!! I watched a a few more movies, but I think David and Jim went straight to bed, they we're still pretty rough looking from the night before (i.e. HUNGOVER as HELL). Anyway it was all good! We have a festival to go to on Monday, it is a holiday, and Toyota is putting on a big production with the robots, so we were asked to attend! I will try to take pics so you all have an Idea of what I'm talking about when I say robots! Okay well later all! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Well yesterday we went to Nagoya again. We made it there pretty easily taking the train and subway system. We went to Nagoya Castle which is cool as hell!! The history behind it is amazing. The castle was not built in Nagoya originally, but around 1611 it was dismantled and moved to Nagoya. The reconstruction of the Nagoya Castle main donjon was completed in 1612. Then January of 1945 much of the castle was destroyed by air raids. Then from 1953 through 1960 many repairs were made to the castle, and some sections completely rebuilt!! There was so much more there than I could ever post on here, but I have to say WOW, I love that place!!!! The architecture and artwork alone was absolutely beautiful!!! After the castle visit we went into downtown Nagoya, in the shopping district we found a bar that served Geniuss and pizza (of course they aren’t your usual toppings)! Then we did some more shopping (browsing really), and then saw some more of the city! After that we came back to the hotel, and pretty much went to the bar for dinner. I only had a beer with dinner, but Jim and Dave got fucking trashed again. I ended up leaving a little early, and from what Dave told me they had a good time. One thing I noticed while we we’re at the market, is that the 80’s are really in here!!!! Man you would not believe the “punk” styles most people are wearing here, mullet haircuts and all! That and there are a lot of skateboarders here, which is pretty cool. But they mix a lot of their styles. Such as skateboard with hip-hop, punk with 70’s, etc. Don’t get me wrong, it may be funny, but it is cool as hell! Anyways we are getting ready to go out for today, so I’ll be doing another entry later!!! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Hey all, Well training was okay today, it was a rehash of the week to make sure we understand all the info since it comes from a translator (instructor speaks no English). After work we had a small welcome party from our translator and friend Hashimoto. We got totally fucked up!!!!! Some of you have already seen the pics I posted. We had a good time, of course we were in a Japanese style bar, and got a little loud, but it was all good. We taught Hashimoto how to cuss in English, and he taught us how to cuss in Japanese. It was a riot, and of course we taught him a few drinking songs. I think other patrons thought we were the night’s entertainment, because everyone kept staring at us! Of course when you have 3 drunken Americans, and Japanese guy (who forgot how to speak Japanese, cause we got him 9999 sheets to the wind), in a bar it is absolutely hilarious! We managed to get home in one piece, then went to the hotel bar, and drank some more! It was a great time. Tomorrow (well today now since it’s 5 in the AM) we are going to Nagoya again; we are going to actually do some site seeing, and maybe find an international bar (American Style, where 75% of the people speak English). I’ll post more later. To drunk to concentrate! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.

Hey all, okay yesterday we were dubbed “American Pit Crew” for the removal and replacement of the robots covers! Today we were dubbed “Professionals” for the repair of the covers. And let me tell you it’s not as easy as it seems!!!!!! If fact it is a royal pain in the ass!!! But we did well; we learned all kinds of new techniques today! We also started the mechanical maintenance portion of the robot. That started with oiling, polishing, and verifying that the trumpet works… (I think they had a couple trumpets that just needed to be cleaned LOL) … then we actually moved to the robot! That was fun as hell. Our instructor totally fucked one set of the covers up, then handed them to me and said “repair”. It took me about 20 minutes, but when I was done he said “You Professional Now! You Good Job!” it was funny as hell, especially since he only knows about 15 words in English. It’s all good though, he’s a great guy! Afterwards we went to the bar for dinner (at the hotel), and had a few drinks. One of the things I haven’t mentioned is that there only about 3 or 4 people who understand English (very limited at that) in the department we are training in. And at breaks and lunch I go into the smoking lounge, and only 2 of the 3-4 people smoke, so it’s like playing 20 questions and trying to figure out what everyone wants to know. We are getting better at communicating w/o speaking though. Everyone is curious about us, wanting to know hobbies, about family, about America, etc., and conveying these ideas takes some creativity and effort when there is know one to translate. Sometimes they are shy to ask what a word or phrase means, and they will talk and laugh about it in Japanese, teasing the one who is shy! It’s a riot! Okay well it’s a weekday so not much to tell. We are going out to a bar (outside of the hotel) tomorrow with some of the guys, so I should have an interesting blog tomorrow, and some good pics! Later Gators, -Fred Jr.