Lexus LY 650 yacht

What?

I'm on a boat!

Ethnic Russians in China

A small number of Russians have been living in China for centuries. It's a trip to see a babushka speak Chinese with the same Northern accent as my grandmother.

Autonomous Martian helicopter and Finnish ferry

The future is here!

Walking Yokohama Chinatown

Well, the book I'm reading is pretty good. I have not completed a book since 2019 and I think I will be able to finish this one by the end of this week.

I emailed the author and he was able to get me some information about my dad's side of the family. Immediately after World War II, the U.S. had the Japanese take a census of every Chinese national in Kanagawa Prefecture. It showed my grandfather, who was born in 1896, my grandmother, who was 18 years younger than him, and my dad's three older siblings. It listed my grandfather as a clothing merchant.

Here is a walk though of Chinatown. You won't believe how many restaurants they packed in such a tiny footprint. Our family restaurant is at the 17:34 mark. It's on the left side with the green signs. My cousin's parking space is next to that three-wheeled scooter.

A peek inside Dagestan

What a beautiful and miserable place.

A one-day vacation

After four months of sheltering in place, we needed a mental health break. So we went to Sutter Creek in the Sierra foothills.

This was a gold mining town with a lot of old (for California) buildings. Virtually everything was closed. There was just one restaurant open. All of the wine tasting rooms were closed. We just walked up and down the main street. When we were walking up the street, I saw this 911. When we were walking down the street, I noticed the first generation Equus across the street.

This is definitely a different place from home. A teenaged girl walked past us with a red MAGA hat. An antique store had this poster on the front window. The poster was created and distributed by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Really. The antique store also had a picture of Bill Clinton wearing a dress and the Obamas wearing Trump shirts. Klassy.

We stayed at the Foxes Bed & Breakfast. We have been going there regularly since the early 2000s. Currently, they rent out four out of the seven rooms at a time and they always keep a room unoccupied for at least 24 hours before renting it out to new guests.

I wanted to buy wine and my only option was a nearby gas station.

I usually ask for this specific room (Fox's Den) because they have a stack of old National Geographic magazines. I ended up reading two newspapers, two Economists, and two Road & Tracks. It's amazing how much I can get done without kids around.

Mars in 4K

July 19 blog

First up, I bought a book about the history of Yokohama Chinatown. I've been communicating with the author and I hope to learn more about my father's side of the family. Like, why the heck did my grandparents move to Japan in the 1930s?!

Next, I've seen this custom Cadillac Eldorado convertible around town. Yesterday, I was able to finally take a picture of it. It looks good!

And speaking of 25 year old luxury coupes, I really like the Lexus SC300/400. Jalopnik's Raph Orlove has a fun video about it:

And finally, I cannot stop watching Bald and Bankrupt on YouTube. Here, he visited the capital of Moldova and the breakaway republic of Transnistria. They look depressing and fun.

Great Depression Cooking

My step-dad, who was born in 1925 and grew up dirt poor in Ohio, made something very similar to this when I was growing up. But instead of hot dogs, he used eggs.

Quarantine barber robot

It has been six months since my last haircut. It appears California is going to change its law and allow professional barbers to cut outdoors. We'll see.

Back in 2008, I got a haircut in Guatemala. These are the questions my barber asked me:

1. Where is Wall Street?
2. What is a 7-Eleven? (It was mentioned in a popular song in Guatemala.)
3. Why are Americans called "Yanquis"?
4. If Northerners are called Yankees, what are Southerners called?
5. Were North Carolina and South Carolina divided because of the Civil War?
6. How many people live in the U.S.?
7. Which Chinatown is always shown in the movies?
8. Are the barbers in the U.S. all Latinos?
9. Did you vote for John McCain?
10. Where is Spain in relation to the U.S. geographically?