Now back on the job after my epic road trip, I have to take some time to reflect on what occurred, more than just the days-and-outs of what happened.
1.)
Minnesota’s Mall of America might have been the
highlight of my trip. I’m not a big shopping (kaimono) guy, but I was very
impressed with the grandeur and diverse assortment there, as well as the
amusement park, which was perfect for me due to the not-so-scary roller
coasters and geared-more-for-kids rides. It let out the big kid in me. I heard
that some people fly in to Minneapolis sometimes just to go to the Mall of
America. I see nothing wrong with that.
2.)
Cleveland has a lot of factories, seriously.
3.)
There are thousands of hotels in Midwest America,
every few miles or so there will be a town with
lots of hotels like Americinn, Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn,
EconoLodge, etc., etc. For a road trip, you really don’t even need to get
reservations, there should be something available.
4.)
The University of Wisconsin has a beautiful lake
area near its campus center. We caught it at the right time right at sunset at
the end of a great summer day, but boy o boy I would not be indoors studying if
I attended that campus.
5.)
Don’t estimate those small non-big city towns in
the Midwest. Madison, WI (admittedly, the capital), Toledo, OH, and Columbus,
Ohio had some nice surprises on our trip.
6.)
As I grow older, my body doesn’t adjust to road
trips as much.
7.)
Don’t take library books on road trips or any
kind of trip. It’s just not a good idea.
8.)
Dirty Secrets Revealed, Part I: Ticket scalping
is frowned upon by most, I think, but it can be effective. Wait until the game
starts and look around to see if scalpers are trying to get rid of their last
tickets, and you’ll probably get a good deal. Some stadiums crack down pretty
heavily on it, though, I think.
9.)
Dirty Secrets Revealed, Part II: you can get it
to the lower sections at most stadiums pretty easily even if you didn’t buy a
seat into that section. (unlike Dodger Stadium, which sections off the better
seats) It’s an honor system I guess and some people don’t feel good about
sitting somewhere else, but I say that it’s empty, why not use it.
10.) Dirty
Secrets Revealed, Part III: The Chicago Architecture River Cruise, which is
touted as very good, sometimes doesn’t run because the water levels are too
high, but they try to take your money anyway and send you off into Lake
Michigan, which is a different cruise all together. DON’T FALL FOR IT!
11.) I
was offered drugs in Detroit. I did not accept.
12.) The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is nice, but for a non-rock fan, it’s not….the
greatest.
Anyway, on my trip (and recently) I read an article about
Kenji Nimura, the Texas’s Rangers’s interpreter who speaks English, Japanese,
and Spanish, and translates for guys like Yu Darvish but also Spanish speakers
like Alexei Ogando. That is my dream job. I don’t pretend to think that
interpreting is easy, and I’ve done it before with English and Chinese and it’s
hard work, but I think that interpreting and traveling with the team would be
an AWESOME JOB!!!! Too bad there’s only 3 Taiwanese speakers in the big leagues
(Wei-Yin Chen, C.C. Lee, and Wei-Chung Wang), and who knows if they need
translating, and 12 Japanese players in the big leagues (of which me translating
in Japanese is still years away, I think), but my official dream job is now to
be an interpreter in 3 languages for a professional sports teams (maybe
basketball? SOCCER? Who knows).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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