You Too and U2

Hello All,

I'm super busy this week, and this weekend is also jam-packed with activities, so it might be about a week before I post another entry, that read, according to my Mother, "like a bloody novel." Thanx Mom! :)

But I've added a few photos to whet your appetite for next week's posts.

The bottom two are from the great Halloween gathering we had in Izumo on Saturday, October 30th.

And the one above is a group shot of the OKI Islands gang (doing our best Elvis pose) from the following weekend, November 6 &7. Matt, Jodi's husband, took the photo, so he's missing from the shot.

In non-Japan news, I recently paid $1 and downloaded the new U2 single from iTunes, the awesome online Apple Music store. U2, one of the best rock bands in the past 20 years, is releasing a new CD on November 23rd, but you can hear and buy their new single. It's called "Vertigo," and it echoes the first single ("Beautiful Day") off their fantastic previous album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Like "Beautiful Day," "Vertigo" is chunky guitar rock featuring another great riff from the Edge and some fine vocal work from Bono. It's damn catchy, and I found myself humming it all day today after I played it for my Jr High kids during my weekly radio show at Taisha Chuugakkoo. So if you can, pick up their new album or download the new track - you won't be disappointed.

This gives me an opportunity to thank my folks once again for the excellent graduation gift - the excellent Apple iBook laptop that is my lifeline to the internet and all my friends and family via email. Never had a Mac before, but I'm totally satisfied, and iTunes is such a great digital music program, I'm so glad I chose to buy an Apple. You too can be cool - check out www.apple.com for all kinds of nifty computer stuff, including the best gadget since the cell phone, the iPod.

OK - enough blathering. Check back for another update next week.

Cya,
Jason