Running Commentary 2003 to 2004

Jan 3, 2005

Happy New Year to you all. - We had a great O-shogatsu (New Years) in Chigasaki at Kyoko's parents house. Anna had fun playing with her cousin Shingo and seeing all her Japanese relatives. Everyone enjoyed playing with and holding Alice, she is 6 months now and really active. Jan 2 morning I got to the beach before sunrise. The sky was totally clear after 2 small snow storms cleared out all the pollution. There was a 3/4 full moon starting to set over Mt Fuji in the west and steam rising off the Pacific. The waves were decent and already there were numerous surfers floating around. When the sun cracked the skyline and started to rise it was galleries, a great way to start the new year. Sorry, no pictures, didn't have my camera.

In football the Vikings roar into the playoffs and I believe they will beat the Packers and then get blown out by around 41 to 13 in the next game.

We are looking forward to a great 2005. Our new house is getting much more organized and livable since moving in 10 months ago and Anna has many new best friends after joining Ikuei Yochien Preschool.

Best wishes in the new year to anyone reading this, take care and have a great 2005.

November 28 , 2004

Well folks, another day another dollar

For those of you who have not been to Engrish.com it is time to go, for those of you who have been there you need to go again to see some of the new updates. The site is run by former Tokyo-ite and buddy Steve Caries who is now based in Hawaii. This site had Tom Whitehead laughing so hard that he was crying.

Here is an article on a mobile ringtone that increases breast size. I love the testimonials in the article : "I listened to the tune for a week expecting all the time that I was being duped," says Chieri Nakayama, a 19-year-old pin-up model, tells Shukan Gendai. "But, incredibly, my 87-centimeter bust grew to 89 centimeters! It was awesome!"

Nov 2 , 2004

McKellin sets up office for Visto in Japan

Visto's Japan sales team will be led by Tokyo-based Darren McKellin, who is currently Vice Chairman of the Telecommunications subcommittee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and President of the International Computer Association. Prior to joining Visto, Darren was Senior Manager for the Business Solutions Group at Vodafone KK in Japan.

October 31, 2004

Happy Halloween!

Hi you'all. The election is heating up. With all the stuff Bush has messed up I am surprised the Dems have made so little headway and still trail by a slight margin. The polls cannot be trusted and either guy has a shot, especially with electoral college system. The wonderful and convervative-ish Economist magazine has come out and endorsed Kerry, which is a bit of a shock. Read it here.

Good friend and colleague Roger Ebert has a great archived interview here with recently deceased Rodney Dangerfield. Gotta love Rodney, or you are lame.

"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice"

October 15, 2004

Our camera is still broken, we should have it back from the repair shop soon or we will have to buy another one.

New Phil Jackson book

October 5, 2004

- A couple quick points before we jump into the meat of today’s writing. First, the mckellin.com digital camera is broken! No new pics for the short term. Next for you baseball fans, the strike in Japanese baseball is over but most of the problems remain. With Ichiro breaking 84 year old records in the MLB and Matsui and the Yankees in the post season most people in Japan could give a s**t about Japanese “pro” baseball. Ichiro is the story here, Nuff said -

POLITICS
It looks like Kerry is on a roll, and he has a reputation as a closer down the stretch of every election he has been in. Polls show that Bush gets strong points for leadership, however where has he led us? Iraq! Mckellin.com was against the war from the very early stages and continued to be antiwar through the 75%+ approval rating Bush and Rumsfeld acquired shortly after the US taking of Baghdad - where is Rumsfeld now? Hidden away without a chance for a cabinet position should Bush win. Loser. Hey, let’s not forget a bigger loser while we are here - John Ashcroft!

I have made a conscience decision not to decide, or more directly not to vote in this election. I trust the American people to make the right decision in this tough choice of 2 semi-losers. As a hetro male with Libertarian ideals that leans for the Republicans over the Democrats, I actually thought I may vote for the democratic candidate due to my extreme displeasure with Bush. However I have had a hard time getting excited about Kerry and am scared by his Boy Scout lawyer sidekick John Edwards. America always needs more pro-business policies, not litigation, and the trial lawyer Edwards is an unknown scary prospect.

Almost all my moderate Republican friends who live overseas have been anti-Bush for about 2 years now. Living overseas is not fun under a Bush Administration (Japan ain’t as bad as other countries though). So, a Kerry win would be good for us Americans living overseas in many ways. I think the populations of many countries would be unforgiving if the American people return Bush after the fiasco that is Iraq. Bush is lucky the election is not 6 months from now the way things are deteriorating in Iraq. Most “best case scenarios” predict a bloody civil war and the vacuum filled by an Iranian superstate (with nukes!).

Of course on the eve of the war mckellin.com predicted all this. Read here if you care. We made 2 points. 1 - winning the war would be tough and 2 - nation building would be tough or tougher. First, winning the war, let’s revisit that forgotten event. In taking Iraq all went relatively smoothly, mostly due to Saddam’s inability to believe that the US would actually send troops all the way to Baghdad to blow his son’s head’s off and pull him out of a hole in the ground. Had Saddam listened to his generals he could have caused all kinds of havoc for the US army. He could have blown up all the bridges in southern Iraq, lobbed missiles at Israel to goad them into a counterattack and organized an aggressive defense of Baghdad and other large cities. So, with Saddam deciding not to fight Rumsfeld and Bush got lucky and quickly won phase one. Many Americans were ecstatic and Bush landed on an aircraft carrier with his flight jacket to announce the end of hostilities. Now look at the mess we are in, it looks like the even the Brits are gonna pull out.

So, mckellin.com, without cable TV (yet) and in a faraway time zone will miss the next 2 big debates. The debates will be very important and exciting - almost like an NFC playoff game. At this point we are not endorsing either candidate however we are leaning ever so slightly to Kerry for reasons mentioned in earlier columns and for reasons to come in upcoming columns. Still we are wary of the both tickets (is anyone excited about Dick Cheney?) and wish both parties had more dynamic candidates like Reagan or Clinton (yes, Bill Clinton!).

On a lighter note for those of you still reading, Carolyn, David and Laura McKellin will come to Japan in late November.

Alice McKellin at 3 months is a super baby. Larger than large, alert, always in a good mood, and has been sleeping all night for many weeks now. Anna gets jealous at times but over all is a good big sister even though she can get a little too rowdy at times playing with her little sister.

Good buddy Daniel Scuka is back in town with his Mobile Intelligence Tour of Japan, we will see him at many events this week.

The Toni Marini special update page within mckellin.com has been removed to protect the innocent! Sorry fans.

So, as noted, due to our camera being broken there may be no new pictures for the short term. Enjoy the ones there already! Enough already, now go out there and make something of your lives!!

September 21, 2004

- Hi guys, it has been a while. A lot has happened. Kyoko, Anna, Alice and I went to the US for 3.5 weeks in August. The day back I started my new job at Visto and a few days later was back in the US on a business trip. Visto's solutions allow mobile workers remote access to Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino server data as well as POP email accounts on mobile devices. I am the first employee in Japan and will set up their operations here. Visto

A survey of mckellin.com visitors taken over a period of 6 weeks this summer shows that a large majority have requested the Commentary section you are now reading to be more regularly updated. Now that we had our baby and I am getting settled into a new job check back for more frequent postings (hopefully!). A little birdy has told mckellin.com that MA alum Kent Whitehouse is a fan! Watch out Dave Carlson, I will mention your name next.

Life continues in Japan. Japanese Pro Baseball (using the word "Pro" half in jest) is in a major crisis, which is a good thing. The old men controlling the league are way out of touch and the product they produce is shabby and quickly getting worse. All the best players are in the MLB for starters! Now they have the first players strike in the history of the league - more here if you care. The owners remind me of the upper management at soon to be bankrupt mega-store Daie. They just want to return to the Japan of 30 years ago that no longer exists. Yes, folks, change is finally coming to these series of islands in the Pacific.

Here is a joke for my gaijin friends in Japan: A restructured salaryman talks with a job counselor. "Tell me about your skills," the counselor says. "I'm really good at being kacho," the salaryman replies.)

Talk to you soon, after I consult with the Governor of Ohio. - Darren

July 15, 2004 -

Pop vs. Soda

July 6, 2004 -

Today's topic is the fine movie Sayonara starring Marlon Brando, James Garner, Red Buttons and Ricardo Montalban. If you have not seen this movie you are ordered to find it now and watch it. If you have seen it you are ordered to find it and watch it again. The 1957 film finds Brando, Garner and Buttons living in postwarJapan chasing and catching hot Japanese women. As far as Brando movies go, Sayonara is often forgotten which is a pity. Audiences loved Brando in the Sayonara and they made the film one of the year's top moneymakers. The film would stand, in fact, as Brando's most successful until the release of The Godfather fifteen years later.

Based on a book by James Michener, it won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Red Buttons), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Miyoshi Umeki), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Sound. Brando was nominated for "Best Actor" Oscar but he lost the Oscar to Alec Guinness; Brando won "Best Actor" New-York Film Critics Circle Award . "I've always said this," recalls Buttons, "and I'll say it again. I think Brando's performance handed me my Oscar on a platter. When he walked in and saw both of us dead, that heart-wrenching scene that he did...just with saying 'Oh my God,' those three little words, he put an Oscar in my hands and in Miyoshi's hands too."

THE STORY
Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver (Marlon Brando) Gruver, finds that his relationship with his fiancee has soured. So when he meets an alluring Japanese performer, he happily allows romance to blossom. But the US military, and society in general, don't look kindly on an interracial relationships, and the lovers must constantly contend with distrust and prejudice. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily an officer who is by-the-book, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man Joe Kelly (Red Buttons) falls in love with a Japanese woman Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki) and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.

The major also falls in love with a beautiful Japanese Matsubayashi dancer named Hana-ogi (Miiko Taka), a member of a celebrated, but all-female dance troupe. She offers herself to him: "I am not allowed to love. But I will love you if that is your wish." He is asked by a reporter to comment on his proposed marriage to the Japanese woman: "Major, the big brass are going to yell their heads off about this, and the Japanese aren't going to like it much either. Have you got anything to say to them, sir?" Gruver replies with the final line of the film: "Tell 'em we said, 'Sayonara.'"

RATING

McKellin.com gives Sayonara 4 stars, even though it has a major flaw in casting Ricardo Montalban as a Japanese Kabuki dancer along his latin accent. He is painful to listen to. Otherwise an almost perfect film and entertaining throughout. Any movie with Brando and James Garner hitting on Japanese girls in the 1950's deserves a look.

June 23 , 2004 -

Alice McKellin was born on June 23rd, Kyoko's birthday! Alice is healthy and looks a lot like her big sister Anna on her first day. 3440 grams, 7.7 pounds / 50.3 cm, 20 inches. Tis a wonderful and intense experience. Kyoko is doing well and yoku ganbatta! Even in her first hour it seemed like Alice's eye could focus and look around. You can see this a little in the pictures on mckellin.com for June 24.

May 25 , 2004 -

Well folks, the US war in Iraq is not going well. Those of you who were championing this stupid idea should be ashamed of yourselves. Bush Jr. has damaged the GOP so bad that an East Coast Liberal of mediocre talent will most likely win the Whitehouse. If I had to vote now I would be forced to vote for JFK just for the change that is required. Four more years of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush is too much. These are not my Republicans. Hopefully someday the GOP can come back and make more sense. We require an alternative for socially liberal, fiscally conservative folks like us! Everything in life is cyclical and the Repubs cannot win every election, if we must lose some this is a good one to give back. Could protect us from Hillary in 2008 too.

Ouch again for the position our country is in. Overseas Americans see the damage more close up. Luckily the anger has been aimed more at Bush than America in general. Ouch Ouch Ouch. Bushworld .

Watch out, my employer is in trouble! Check here!

God bless you all

May 15 , 2004 -

Hi folks. It has been a while so I will give a quick update. We moved to Gakugei-Daigaku on March 1st and really like our new house. We have parking for 2 cars, a small yard and extra room for guests. Also it is an easy commute for Darren to get to work. We are just outside of the core center of Tokyo.

Anna started Kindergarten in early April and really likes it and is quite popular with all the teachers, parents and kids. Her Japanese speaking ability has been rising quickly. Our new baby girl should be here in month, exciting times.

The lack of live sports is one of the few real bummers of living in Tokyo. I did get to see game 3 of the Lakers/Spurs and will watch game 6 live Sunday morning here at the Tokyo American Club. Most excellent. Should be interesting if the Lakers and Timberwolves meet, I think I have to stick with Phil Jackson even though I am a huge KG fan. I want to see Phil beat Red Auerbachs record of 9 championships.

Getting late and Anna wants to play on the computer once before going nighty night. Gotta go!

March 31 , 2004 -

Happy news and sad news together, the one thing similar is that both are very emotional. Both are also very high profile now in Japan.

First I deal with sadness. I saw a 6 year old boy die last Friday, although at the time I didn't really know the seriousness of the situation. Last Friday a 6 year old boy got his head crushed in a large turbine style door at the entrance of my office at Roppongi Hills. Paramedics had him under a sheet and were working on him, his mother had a look of horror on her face. I never actually saw him, thankfully. 40 minutes later returning from lunch there was a giant pool of blood which does not bode well. 6 hours later on my way out there were cameras all over and Mori Building people holding large tarps to block the videos. The next day Prime Minister Koizumi laid flowers at the door. Big news on such a high profile buildings from one of the world's richest (and the richest during the bubble) families.

That family would be the Moris. They had an impeccable reputation just a week ago, especially with the stunning success of Roppongi Hills. There is so much bad architecture and ugliness in Tokyo that it is great that Mori has built such innovative and attractive buildings. However their most recent buildings, Atago Hills and Roppongi Hills both have large circular doors that have proven to be deadly. Vodafone has offices in both buildings.

It has now come out that the doors have been injuring dozens of people including many kids who are not tall enough to reach the sensors. I will let you read all about it in the article/link below. The despicable thing is that Mori didn't suspend the service while all these kids were getting their arms and legs stuck in the doors. Many of these were serious injuries that required ambulances.

So a young six year old boy is dead due to stupidity and arrogance of the Mori Building people. They were more worried about the appearance of their building and the wind that might blow in if the doors were set differently. Death happens. My own death doesn't bother me (I think), but as the father of a 3 year old beautiful sweet little girl the thought of her having an accident is quite disturbing.

I think I write this because I get reminded of it everyday. The main entrance to Roppongi Hills I pass everyday is closed still and the flowers the Prime Minister laid are still there along with the countless other flowers, toys, gifts, etc. I see that shrine many times in a day and think of the tragedy. I have no advice, just to keep positive thoughts with a good dose of realism. God bless us all.

GOOD NEWS - Now it is almost hard to move to the positive news, however I will and do so quickly. Tonight I saw the Yankees play the Devil Rays in the Tokyo Dome. Twas an excellent game and our Yankees won 11 - 1. It was a not a pre-season game but an official MLB game, the second game of the season. The Devil Rays won game one and in game 2 took a quick 1 - 0 with a tough pitcher who didn't allow a hit in the first 2 innings facing Jeter, Matsui, Alex Rodriguez, Giambi, etc. Then Matsui drilled a liner to score Jeter in the 4th to tie the game. Next at bat he hit a 2 run homer and the Tokyo Dome went nuts. The 2nd of Jorge Posada's HRs landed close to me and there were glimpses of me on the TV according to Kyoko.

Kyoko's brother Shogo scored the tickets. We were in the front row in right feild close the the foul line, great seats. In an exhibition game 4 nights ago against his old team, the Yomiuri Giants Matsui hit a homer his first at bat.

He got the game MVP and came out and made a speech that was really moving and emotional to the worshipping fans. He was asked what his goals were this year, he said the team winning the World Series is really the only goal. It was a very moving moment and historical time for baseball, when I looked at my brother in law Shogo he had tear running down his face. Later I noticed many other Japanese men crying. Glad to have been there, twas an excellent evening.

Yankees at Dome l 2 l

March 29 , 2004 -

ON FUTURE - For those long term gaijin in Tokyo (like myself, almost 14 years now), we are finally seeing that the economy has really bottomed out in many areas. We are likely to see slow, steady growth on the Macro level with dynamic growth in certain areas such as mobile technology and service industry. There will be many opportunities to make money in this environment for those who can spot and fill the needs that people or companies don't even know they have yet.

ON DEATH - The process of death starts the moment after conception.

Feb 26, 2004 - We will move from Yoyogi Koen to Gakugei Daigaku on Feb 29. Looks like it will take a while to get our DSL connection working in the new house so there will be no updates for a little while. Feb has been busy with travel as you can see in the pictures.

Check back in mid-March for some new pictures including Anna's birthday party in our new abode. She is 3 now and is the same height Debby (McKellin) Flood was when she was 3. We have an excellent chart of all our heights growing up thanks to Jim McKellin lll. Anna is about 1.5 inches behind Darren at 3. See you all in mid-March, and again thank you for your patronage!

Feb 14, 2004 - Hi guys, just got back from Hawaii, mostly Waikiki beach by day and all the bars and restaurants by night. Spent 2 beach days also on Bellows Beach on the east side of the island - paradise. Believe the hype on Hawaii, it is a tropical paradise. Waikiki is one of the world's most perfect little beaches.

I saw Lost In Translation 2 times within 16 hours. On DVD my last night in Honolulu and then on the airplane the next morning. Excellent movie, it is definitely not Last Samurai (which I hear is good), and not for everybody. Our good friend Roger Ebert says this about Bill Murray

"In these scenes there are opportunities for Murray to turn up the heat under his comic persona. He doesn't. He always stays in character. He is always Bob Harris, who could be funny, who could be the life of the party, who could do impressions in the karaoke bar and play games with the director of the TV commercial, but doesn't -- because being funny is what he does for a living, and right now he is too tired and sad to do it for free. Except ... a little. That's where you see the fine-tuning of Murray's performance. In a subdued, fond way, he gives us wry faint comic gestures, as if to show what he could do, if he wanted to. " The whole review is here.

This movie must be a totally different experience for those who have never been to Japan, those who have visited, those who live here, and Japanese people themselves. After almost 14 years I forget how bizarre Tokyo can be at times. I believe Tokyo to be the most fascinating city in the world, a title Shanghai may reclaim in a decade. Even though I have been here for a long time I still constantly see things I can't believe I am seeing.

Be careful with this movie, don't get your expectations up too high, it is not a Hollywood movie, it is more of an "art" movie and is subtle. It is also a good travel log into how strange Japan is. Everything in the movie could have been real except the scene with the "massage" girl sent to Bill Murray's room. A real Japanese media company would not have sent a woman in her mid 30's, but one in her lower 20's. And the girl would not have acted so aggressive and silly. Next on the to see list is Last Samurai - good friend Roger Ebert's review is here. I once had breakfast at a table next to Roger in New Buffalo MI around 12 years ago. They say he is gay.

Kyoko, Anna, Carolyn and Jim are still partying and swimming in Hawaii for many more days, lucky dogs. It was great to see Grandpa and Grandma, and Anna had a great time. Thanks to Barb for the excellent weather. I am off on a whirlwind tour of Dusseldorf, UK and Amsterdam from the 17th. Mahalo and Aloha - Darren

Feb 1 , 2004 - For Neil Young fans there is a great site with all his lyrics and guitar tabs here. I will print out a lot of them and bring them to Michiana this summer to jam. New songs will include Human Highway, Downtown, I'm The Ocean, Country Home, Welfare Mothers, The Campaigner and many more.

January 23, 2004 - To see pictures of Carolyn, Rob Haley and many others superimposed, see Widerquist's updated site.

January 22, 2004 - Last weekend the weather forecast was for semi-heavy snow which never materialized, we did get some light flurries throughout the day. At night Anna and I went to one of the few real onsen/rotenburos inside Tokyo. As far as Japanese baths go there are 3 levels.

Sento - normal Japanese bath

Onsen - bath using natural hot springs coming out of the ground

Rotenburo - natural hotsprings in baths that are outdoors

The Rotenburo we went to was right in Tokyo near our house. The open air bath is on the 4f roof of the complex. Anna and I sat up there in the light snow in the outdoor bath on Saturday night and it was excellent. She loves going there, and then eating in their lounge after.

Kerry is making the Democratic primary interesting, I welcome the surge as I don't care for Dean. Not good news for the Bush camp, I think Dean would be a dream candidate for the Bush folks to duel with. Taking a quick look at the Libertarian Party homepage is interesting, at the top of the page they say the party is committed to:

- individual liberty and personal responsibility
- a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity
- a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade

Not a bad start - Too bad these folks have no real power so we can't support them or take them seriously. Looks like Bush vs Dean or Kerry.

Our good buddy Steve Bretschneider who recently moved to Hawaii is now the Chief Marketing Officer Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism for the State of Hawaii. We should be drinking gin and tonics with Steve and Joanne soon when we go to Honolulu in Feb. For 4 straight years in the late 90's Steve was Chairman of Republicans Abroad Japan while Darren was Chairman of Young Republicans Abroad Japan. Great times and lots of successful events including some with Gerald Ford, Howard Baker and others.

January 9, 2004 - Welcome to the jungle. Darren speaking here, for the last month I have been working on the 41st floor of the best building in all of Japan - Roppongi Hills - "For style-obsessed Tokyo, this $4 billion complex of curving glass, minimalist metal and earthy stone arrives after a decade in gestation, offering an enticing conglomeration: cutting-edge restaurants, shopping, a hotel, movie theaters and art, as well as a 54-story office tower and a residential complex." Here is an article. Here is the bldg itself Roppongi Hills. As you can read in the article the building cost $4 billion to build. Shocking. I have great views throughout the city including Mt Fuji on clear days. Vodafone has one floor which is home to our R&D division and my division, Product Marketing. Tis a lovely place to work, and after work is in the center of the main party area of Tokyo.

Our Lakers have now lost 4 in a row, Malone and Shaq are out, but alas we all know the key is to peak in May.

Libertarians Unite! - Darren

December 30 - X-mas is over as is the MN Vikings season. Kyoko has had a bad cold for the last week and we will be a day late heading to Chigasaki for New Years holiday. Sorry for the delays in updates to the site, there have been numerous technical problems. We have had to reinstall our OS many times and getting the website settings all in place can be tricky.

8 months ago I bought a MAC G4 Powerbook, I am finally learning how to edit video on it and will soon start burning DVDs of video. Next 2 projects are to learn how to record and edit music and to set up a wireless LAN in our house. Now that Anna is online for hours a day on the Noggin, Sesame Street and Nick JR sites she can really mess things up clicking around. So she needs her own PC, we need one for only downloading stuff and another that is our stable machine that won't used for downloads and the viruses they can bring.

I made the Minnehaha Academy online newsletter in Dec, however they spelled both my first name and last name incorrectly - click here.

Take care and have a Happy New Year! - Darren

December 7 - Tomorrow Carolyn goes back to Minnesota. It has been a great week as you have seen on the pictures. Tomorrow is also a full moon for those who care and have good weather.

Our landlord decided to raise our rent by another $1,100 a month. Note: that is not a typing mistake, the amount of the increase is $1,100. We are getting a good deal below market value, but with an increase like that we are now on the hunt for a new apartment. Always a hassle but I am confident we will find something good.

December 1 -

Hi you'all. Finally got some new pictures up on the website. I won't get into the entire menu for the McKellin's trip here but in addition to the menu listed below we had some good Chinese, Swedish, Korean and lots of Japanese food on the remaining days David and Kristen were in town (need to add fish & chips at the Hub and Lawrys prime rib & lobsters). Carolyn is here for another week. I changed offices this week and now work on the 41st floor of the new Roppongi Hills bldg. Great building and great location for eating and partying.

For those of you who didn't know, Kyoko is pregnant. The due date is mid-June 2004. Not sure how this will affect our summer trip, perhaps it will be late August. Anna is gonna be a good big sister I am sure. That's the news from Yoyogi Koen, where the woman is strong, the man is good looking and the children are above average. - Darren

November 22 -

Carolyn, David and Kristen McKellin all arrived 36 hours ago and all is well. Spent the first day sightseeing around our neighborhood seeing Meiji Jingu Shrine, Harajuku, Omotesando.

Running Commentary on our menu:

Nov 21 lunch - Brazillian BBQ at Barbacoa

Nov 21 dinner - Fish & Chips at the Hub English bar

Nov 22 lunch - Italian at Chigasaki

(Maybe we will have some Japanese food on this trip)

Minnehaha Academy super teacher Rick Enderton stopped by the McKellin household for dinner Nov 20. He was introduced to us from Jim Erickson. Rich has been at Minnehaha a little over 20 years. Great to get the inside scoop on his views about Paul Norby, Ken Greener, Ted Malmsten, Barb Olson, Craig Nelson, etc. Look for upcoming pictures on mckellin.com of Rich drinking beers in Tokyo.

Sorry for the lack of new pictures on mckellin. Currently overcoming numberous technical challenges but we will prevail.

Party on - Darren

　

November 16 -

This is the first entry into a new page on mckellin.com called Running Commentary - updates on life from local to global.

Saw Neil Young in the 10th row direct center on the Greendale tour. As amazing a show as can be imagined by anyone who considers themselves a Neil fan. Perhaps the show had an effect on me to start this page, I had been thinking of adding words to the pictures I have been posting. Perhaps Neil was the kick to get going. You can find a playlist for every Neil Young concert from 1969 at this site! Pretty amazing someone takes time to compile this stuff. In addition to Greendale (which confused many in the Japanese audience) Neil played Like a Hurricane, My My Hey Hey, Powderfinger, Rocking in the Free World and others. The promo poster at the bottom of this page has the Japanese writing on it on the bottom. Neil Young coming to one's town is always a special event. He has the magic and he always gives you your money's worth. Special thanks to Jim Merk of Tokyo Weekender for the great tickets.

Carolyn, David & Kristen McKellin all arrive in Tokyo in a week, should be good.

I have been having some little annoying technical problems with mckellin.com recently, now our PC is a mess and I have to wipe everything off the HD and start over. Hopefully this site won't be down too long. Thank you for your patronage.

Work at Vodafone Japan is going good and I am learning much about mobile services on a global scale. I can't get into too many details as alas, Vodafone Japan people also read this site. I can say this, I enjoy going to work in the morning which is a good thing and there are many smart people to learn from.

Watch out for a long messy civil war in Iraq once the US pulls out. Not sure after that.

Well folks, as our friend Neil Young says in Greendale "a little love and affection in everything you do". - Darren