Have you ever wondered what 4:30 a.m. would smell like in Tokyo? Well, today it smelled like a whole lot of fish!

With my second trip to Tokyo quickly coming to an end, I decided to wake up early and head out to the very popular Tsukiji Fish Market here in Tokyo. If you have no clue, Tsukiji Fish Market is one of the largest fish markets in the world. Tsukiji handles nearly two tons of marine product per day and that is evident if you have ever been there during the busy times.

I was surprised that I didn’t see as many tourist as expected until just after 7 a.m. One important thing to remember is Tsukiji is a market and people are there to buy and sell products, so stay out of the way if you can. My biggest advice to anyone interested in checking it out is to get their early and stay out of the way of the people and all of the moving carts.

The best part about all of this is that it is absolutely free. That’s right, free! When you are done checking out the tuna auction and various marine life, go eat some of the freshest sushi you’ll ever eat at one of the local vendors in the outer market.

Here are a couple things to remember for your visit:

aircat 1150

Recently, I needed a new impact wrench as my trusty old Ingersol Rand was clearly coming to the end of its useful life. I was thinking that the Ingersol has been so reliable that i would just upgrade to the latest model as a replacement but a friend who is an air tool junkie as well as some impact wrench reviews have convinced me otherwise. In the end, I’ve opted for the Aircat 1150 and have been pretty impressed so far although it is difficult to say how good it is compared to modern Ingersol Rand wrenches since the only thing I currently have to compare it with is my 15-year old failing one. Nevertheless, the Aircat 1150 is excellent and I have yet to find a job that it can not handle! Of course, one has got to have the right air compressor since these tools need tons of air flow and I suspect I’m going to need to upgrade that piece of kit as well pretty soon. It is going to be difficult to choose though because there are tons of air compressors of all shapes and sizes. I think I’m gonna have to go back and bug my air tool maniac friend again!

What would a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii be without taking the time to visit and appreciate the thousands that gave their lives for our freedom at Pearl Harbor?

On our recent trip to Honolulu we decided to do just that and spend a day at Pearl Harbor to learn and experience more about that horrifying day that happened nearly seventy years ago.

The surprise attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 was very important because it would do the opposite of what the Japanese expected. This attack did not destroy our country’s will, it would unify our nation during this tragic time and eventually lead to the U.S. involvement in WWII.

The Pearl Harbor area consists of several different memorials including the USS Arizona , USS Missouri , USS Bowfin , USS Oklahoma , and the Pacific Avation Museum . One vital piece of information to remember is that all of these locations ban bags from being carried in. This includes purses, camera bags, and shopping bags. Don’t worry, they give you an option to check your bags for a price of three dollars per bag. I would suggest packing only the essentials when you visit the memorials if you want to save a couple extra dollars. If you are into photography and carry a couple of lenses with you, wear something like cargo shorts so you can stuff an extra lens in your pocket like I did.

It was somewhat eerie to be standing in the same location where some much death and destruction occurred 68 years prior. I was pleased to see so many people waiting to pay their respects and visit each memorial just as we were. It is important that we remember and honor those who sacrificed so much to provide the freedoms that we all enjoy today.

We spent nearly six hours visiting the different memorials and I think we still could have spent several more hours or even another day to truly experience it all. I would suggest getting their early if you want to beat the crowds and take your time at each location.

It has been a while since my last post and to be honest I completely forgot that I even had a blog for a split second. It seems like life has been extremely busy lately but here I am now.

When I say “Time to BRING IT” I am talking about the life changing decision my wife and I recently made to get in the best shape of our lives. I have always played sports and stayed active over the years, but I am not that same twenty-one year old that could eat anything without worry.

Eating like crap on a daily basis was really starting to really take a toll on my physical appearance and health overall. I think my wife and I both decided that it was time for a change and decided to try out Tony Hortons revolutionary home fitness program called P90X.

It has been around for a while, so I imagine that most of you have heard from friends or even seen the informercial. Just in case you havent, check it out here.

We have completely change our eating habits and now work out at least six times a week. Before starting this program I got to the heaviest I have ever weighed, 190 lbs. This was a real shock for me so I decided it was time for a change. Since that day I have lost roughly 18 lbs. We are only on day 19 of the program but already feel healthier and look better.

Just the other day Brittany came into the living room bragging about how loose her jeans were and how if things kept up she would need to go shopping. I guess shopping for new clothes isnt such a bad thing when the old ones are too big around the waist.

We both took multiple pictures on day 1 and it was almost embarrassing to be honest. P90x is a 90 day program and part of it requires you to take pictures at days 1, 30, 60, and 90. Brittany doesn’t want to post the day 1 pictures until we start to get some really amazing results. However, be on the look out for those pictures because I dont think it will much longer.

We needed a second vehicle so I figured that my son would just love a version II Subaru STi. It is four doors so now the only thing left for me to do is find a STi car seat for the little guy. I can not have him riding in the back without the proper support of a STi racing bucket child seat.

So far we love it. When I say “we”, I mean my wife Brittany puts up with it for the most part because she knows that I am in love with Subaru’s.

One thing I really miss about living in Japan is the curry. Not to mention, one of my favorite places to eat curry was CoCo’s Curry. I think I must have had curry at least once a week for three years. I had quite to the belly to prove it too!

Well, since moving here to England I have been looking for ways to get my hands on some CoCo’s curry. Luckily my sister still lives there and she got me some of the curry-in-a-box type deals that they sell at CoCo’s restaurants. I had her send me about twenty boxes of the beef curry and I think she might be sending more soon. I know they had them in Okinawa for sale somewhere in the front when you first walk in. If you are really curious about it, just ask someone that works there and hopefully they can hook you up.

The whole process only takes only a couple minutes, if you don’t count the time it takes to make some rice. I usually go with some short or medium grain sticky rice to make the moment taste like the “real deal”. The curry comes in a bag that you can either empty into a microwaveable safe container or you can just put the bag in some hot water on the stove. I usually microwave it and it takes roughly two minutes.

Let me just say this about the end result…it is awesome! It is not quite that same curry that I love and miss, but it is far better than I imagined it to be. I would say that it is better than the actual CoCo’s Curry I had when I was in Hawaii. I sometimes cook a chicken patty and add it to the mix so I can pretend I am having Chicken Katsu Curry, haha.

If anyone reading this knows of a place to order this online, please leave a comment and let me know. I would literally kill a man for some real CoCo’s Curry. Well, maybe not kill someone but you get the idea. So, if you know someone living in Japan and you need your fix too, just have them send you some curry in a box from CoCo’s.

I wonder how people communicated before the Internet. For us, it will be at least another week or so before our ISP hooks our Internet connection up at our house. I signed up with BT Broadband about a week or two ago and cant understand why its going to take a month to hook up an ADSL connection. In the mean time, we travel to our local library to use their free Internet.

I miss the speed of a direct fiber connection that we gave up when we left Okinawa and the incredible work ethic of the Japanese. No way the Japanese would let me sit around for a month without connectivity…no way!

Hopefully September will be the month we can continuously update our facebooks/mypsaces and talk on VOIP again. Because I don’t know how else it would be possible for two people to communicate without the Internet.

Wait, I just thought of a brilliant way to communicate with our geographically challenged friends and family…smoke signals! That will definitely work for sure.