OLA: 'Turning Wounds into Wisdom', Oprah

a giant Coke bottle stands as an ethereal symbol atop The World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia

It was Oprah who once said…’turn wounds into wisdom’.  And that is what Georgia did, judging by the many great institutions it fostered out of the ravages of war, years of division, and adversity for its people. As we visited the following in Atlanta and Americus, Georgia we were greatly inspired. It was truly a different kind of sight-seeing.   
                                                                                         
Centers for Disease Control

Bill in a safe suit at Center for Disease Control

The world will forever be grateful for CDC. It was created as a US federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta in 1946.  CDC works to protect public health and safety.  Successful efforts to avert two world crises, tracing contaminated poliomyelitis vaccine to a California lab in 1955 and tracking the massive influenza epidemic of 1957, positioned the agency’s future as a leader in disease surveillance.

The CDC also played a key role in one of the greatest triumphs of public health, the eradication of smallpox in 1977 through an "eradication escalation" technique.  In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, it found the cause of Legionnaires disease and toxic-shock syndrome. In 1081 CDC successfully identified the fatal disease that was subsequently named acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). What a record in making the world a better place to live in!

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

Martin Luther King's Tomb in the MLKJ National Historic Site

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) is the iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. A Baptist minister, King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott sparked by Rosa Parks and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

 In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The MLKJ National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia includes the museum, the adjacent Baptist church from which he preached, his home just a block away, and his tomb and eternal flame. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. No other American is so honored, not even Washington or Lincoln.

Cola Company

Taste-It Room with over 65 flavors of Coke for free tastes!

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation. Its flagship product Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia. Then the formula and brand were bought in 1889 by Asa Candler who incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in 1892. It now offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries and sells over 1.6 billion servings a day! It is the world’s best known brand.

The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. And there it operates the World of Coca Cola, a complete museum with a 4D Theater featuring ‘The Secret Ingredient’, a Taste-It Room where you can taste 64 different coke flavors plus concoct your own, a Red Room with memorabilia over the years, have your picture taken with the Coke Polar Bear, a Room of Souvenirs, and a tour of the manufacturing/bottling process. It was such a fun museum for little Bill and Carol!

the CNN Center at 1 CNN Center

CNN

When I spent many a night in various hotels as part of my globe-trotting career in computers, CNN was my constant companion. I felt some excitement as I saw the familiar letters on the façade of the CNN Center in Atlanta. CNN was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner, the first to provide 24-hour television news coverage and the first all-news television channel in the United States. As of 2010, CNN is available in over 100 million U.S. households, 890,000 American hotel rooms, and 212 countries. The proliferation of news channels over the years that followed CNN is testament to the service news channels provide.

the monument at Habitat's Global Discovery Center

Habitat for Humanity/Jimmy Carter

Habitat for Humanity is an international NGO devoted to building "simple, decent, and affordable" housing, a "Christian housing ministry." Its international headquarters is located in Americus, Georgia with the administrative headquarters in Atlanta, 1,500 US satellite offices and five area offices located around the world. Its mission is to "eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action."  Homes are built using volunteer labor and are sold at no profit for affordable monthly payments.

Jimmy Carter's boyhood home in Plains

I was general manager of MegaLink (the ATM consortium of banks in the Philippines) when my staff and I built a home for the Philippine Chapter of Habitat. Now, a Philippine nonprofit called Gawad Kalinga has become popular extending the Habitat vision to provide not just at cost homes but also funds and training for the establishment of livelihoods. I was inspired to see firsthand where Habitat started and to visit the nearby birthplace and boyhood home of Jimmy Carter who, at age 89, still goes on a Carter-Habitat project each year with a thousand or so volunteers to build homes.

the first Flatiron Building in America

These visits will keep Georgia in my mind…for a long, long time.

And we even found two bonuses in Atlanta. The Flat Iron Building, the city’s second skyscraper, was completed in 1897 on a wedge-shaped block, five years before New York's own version, placing it on the National Register of Historic Places. Then Margaret Mitchell ‘s home (she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for Gone with the Wind, one of the most popular books of all time, selling more than 30 million copies) is very well maintained. The film adaptation of the book, released in 1939, became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywood, getting a record-breaking ten Academy Awards. 

Margaret Mitchell's home

Next Post: WOW: Planning Itineraries

Scared Silly And Loving It

Raimie loves haunted houses and visit them we must if we go to any theme parks or carnivals. Being scared silly can be a lot of fun sometimes.

I should've posted this up in time for the Halloween, but I only got the idea after reading Cocomino's post about Temple during Festival and him mentioning about haunted houses.

 The Mystery Zone at Tedori Fish Land, way out in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The Thriller Car attraction at Hanayashiki Amusement Park. The "ghosts" are so obviously mechanical and stuff but it's good scary fun for the kids. ^^

The Haunted Mansion at Hanayashiki Amusement Park too. It is an "audio" type of scare, with flickering lights and whatnot to complete the effect while we sat around a dinner table of a mansion setting; but it sure can be scary. A Japanese girl in our group actually cried out of fear.

Fun, fun scary ride on Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea despite enduring a two-hour queue. We would've skipped this if not for the fact that Raimie really, really wanted to go and have a ride there. It's a popular ride, so if you plan to ride this, be there early to either queue or get your fastpass ticket. FAST The fastpass will run out fast at this attraction.

Then, of course we had to go to the Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare at Tokyo Disneyland. The characters of Tim Burton's Night Before Christmas with the existing original 999 ghosts, ghouls and other scary "beings" made this one pretty fun. Raimie totally loves it!

The Snow White Adventure ride at Tokyo Disneyland can be a scary one too. I heard a lot of bawlings when we were inside the attraction. This ride is classified as  attractions for small children, but don't expect a whole sunny, cheery ride here. It started off cute and sunny, and turn to dark and menacing soon. Just look at the dwarfs' expressions. xD

Visiting haunted and scary rides in an evening is sure more fun than visiting it during the day. I suppose it's the added "spooky" atmosphere. Can't go wrong if there are Halloween decorations around too. *^-^*

Almost There! The Shopping Before The Trip

My brain currently kinda on a shutdown mode. I just can't think of anything to write on Japan anymore, other than harping on and on about our travel preparation; which by the way isn't saying much.  LOL

My brain must've decided to go on vacation way before the physical body actually does! Hahah

Clothes shopping done. Cheap long sleeved shirts from FOS for Raimie. 3 shirts for the price on one! Cool! 

A pair of long john for him too just in case it gets too cold there. We may buy him another jacket when we get to Japan to replace the old one he'll be wearing for the first few days. 

For me, the idea is to put on layers instead of opting for heavy jackets that we won't use ever again. I survived wearing a Roxy hoodie with a long-sleeved shirt in February 2002, so I think I'll survive Japan in early December with three layers of clothing. Right? I hope I can.

Zaini - he's opting for some Nike pro combat wear that he'll be able to use again while cycling as his innerwear and layer it with a short and a jacket.

Both of us are trying to creative in our purchases this time. We probably won't use any thick clothing much after this trip so we try to buy things that we'll be able to use again here at home.

By the way, have you heard about Nagoya Women's Marathon 2012 which is held together with  the Nagoya City Marathon on March 11, 2012? They are expecting 15,000 runners for the women's full marathon segment. I wish I can be there running along other awesome women marathoners!

That said, with running occupying my mind lately, I can't wait to do a few runs in Japan. Looking at Lrong's photos of Takamatsu Port/Sunport is making me sooooooo excited to do a couple of morning runs there. 

Funny Gag Survival Kits for Stocking Stuffers or a thoughtful Gift

We have created these survival kits for several years now.  Each one contains 10 items with a card explaining what each item means.  There are many different titles and no 2 are the same.  

They are clean and intended just to be funny and bring a smile to a recipients face.

They are available on eBay or in person at our craft shows or fairs.

For any age.  We also have Old Age Pills

Also Grandmother, Grandparents, Mother, Father and Parents

Also Coach, Karate Instructor, Karate (student), Teacher, Student & School Bus Driver

 

And so many, many more. 

Green Tomato Relish Recipe

Green Tomato Relish 

48 small tomatoes (2 - 2 1/2" diameter) (I used about 10 large) to = 2 qt.ground

8 green bell peppers (medium size)  I used 2 very large 

2 red bell peppers (optional) (I used 1 very large)

10 medium onions (I used 5 large)

2 tsp salt

5 cup sugar

5 cups cider vinegar

3 Tbs celery seed*

2 Tbs dry mustard* (I used mustard seed*)

2 Tbs turmeric

1 Tbs minced garlic

Grind all the veggies. (I used the medium blade)

(I put them into a strainer to drain the juice because there is enough juice from the vinegar and cooking.  But if you like alot of juice then leave it in).

Combine sugar, vinegar and spices, bring to a boil.

Add ground veggies and garlic. Simmer 20 minutes.

Seal in sterilized pint jars and process in hot water bath for 5 minutes.  

Recipe says it makes 10 pints - 

With what I used and draining the liquid it made 8+ pints.  (my canner will only hold 8 pints so I reduced the amount of veggies so I would not have to do 2 batches!) 

Uses - I like it in place of 'store bought' pickle relish, or poured over a block of cream cheese and to serve with crackers for a buffet table or appetizer. 

* Available from Herbs Crafts Gifts - email us for more info

Too Much Japan Already?

We've really been indulging in Japanese food more often these past few months compared to months before. Heck, we somewhat stopped eating Japanese food after our trip last year.

Recently, it was lunch or dinner at Kampachi, Miyagi, repeat visits to Sushi Zen, Sukiya, Hokkaido Ichiba...

And on Saturday,

had a visit to HIS Travel Agency for our JR Pass

Stopped by Pavillion and of course we had to spend some time at Tokyo Street on Level 6 of the mall. I can totally fool myself and think that I'm on the floor where all the restaurants are in a Japanese mall. xD

Spent some $$$ buying stuff we had no idea we need at Daiso. Daiso is eviiiillllll.... LOL

Had a really nice lunch at Sukiya enjoying an all-you-can-eat meat for just RM29.80++. Shabu-shabu or sukiyaki anyone? We just concentrated on eating meat (lots of them) and almost ignored the vege bar. Hahaha

I bought some stuff at Uniqlo to wear during our vacation. Some good find there as the item I bought are almost similarly priced as those sold in Yen in Japan, like my RM79.90 fleece jacket that's on sale in Japan for 1,990 yen. (Current rate : 100yen = RM4.10)

Raimie had a new interest now. Origami! All thanks to a Taiwanese comic book based, Korean SBS TV Production animation called The Origami Warriors.

I think we should stop purchasing anything from Japan or eating Japanese food for now and wait till we get to Japan. heh heh

Fish Boil, in Door County WI

Wow? Who knew??!!  I never heard of a Fish Boil until I started reading about Door County.  I suppose they are done other places but it is a tradition on this peninsula that lies between Lake Michigan and Green Bay. 

We were in Sturgeon Bay at the Comfort Inn and this restaurant was just down the road.  Fantastic bakery too.

The fish boil starts with a large kettle on a wood fire. 

At the right time the boilmaster puts in the carrots, little red potatoes and onions. The veggies cook for awhile and then the white fish is put in.  Because the fish is oily, an ugly foam and scum form at the top of the water

Just before the meal is finished cooking, the boilmaster and his helpers throw kerosene onto the fire (only).  It flames up, makes the water boil over and the scum and oil flow out of the pot over the sides. The remaining broth is clear and flavorful.

The flames settle down and the cooking process is complete.

The inner pot is carried into the kitchen for serving.

The white fish is from Lake Michigan.  They serve the steaks because the fillets would just fall apart in the boiling water.  There is also a side of coleslaw and bread. 

 We have eaten in alot of restaurants and alot of different food, but I have to say this meal is very close to the top of favorites.  Not at all fishy since none of the oil remained.  For folks who know me - Gene usually gets to share what I can't eat.  He didn't get any of this meal tho'!!