Well, it's 2:36 AM on Wednesday night / Thursday morning. What I'm still doing up I have no idea. I spent Monday night packing after having my last basketball game hours earlier. I ended up getting no sleep at all. Vicki drove me to the airport in Kalamazoo at 6:00 AM so she could get back in time to see the girls off to school. I had an 8:15 AM flight to Detroit, then had to switch terminals and barely made my connector in time. The connector was back to Chicago. I left there about 1:00 PM Michigan time for Tokyo. The flight was not as full as in November, and the ticket agent in Kalamazoo upgraded me to "Economy Plus" which gave me some extra leg room on the flight. Other than the audio not working on our in-flight movies in our section and not having a companion umpire for the trip, the flight was uneventful. The trip to Japan is about 13 hours or so. You play little games with yourself to get through it. I also bought a couple of books on Taiwan and read some of them on the flight.
I had another two hour layover in Tokyo, then took the last leg into Taipei (about a three hour flight). A gentleman was waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. We waited another half hour or so for another umpire from the Netherlands (Arnold Verbruggen) and then made the 2 hour drive to Taichung, where the tournament will be held. Arnold was real nice (and big; after meeting him and Fred from the last trip I'm beginning to think there's something in the water over there) and we conversed a bit on the trip (the driver spoke no English).
I'm staying at the Hotel National Taichung, which is where I stayed last time I was here. That's a good thing. The staff is extremely friendly, the hotel is very clean, and the food is excellent. I got unpacked and, of course, set up my internet access. Tomorrow we have a meeting in the morning and a party at night. The tournament starts on Friday.
It was too late and I'm too tired to make any attempt at being witty in this post. I will work to make the remainder of the blog more interesting to read. More tomorrow...zzzzzzz.
Canada*
Korea*
Chinese Taipei*
Australia
Mexico
Germany
Spain
South Africa
1 comment:
Congratulations Dave. I didn't know that the IBAF had selected you for these Classificatory. I am happy a lot because I think that you is a very good umpire.
I already see that you had opportunity to share again with Hsieh. I think that Hsieh a good umpire. He has the essential conditions: Patience, pause, personality and good movements. He is an experienced man and I see he has known how to take out him profit to the international contac. For your part, I will tell you something: You have a good strike zone. Be not so demanding with yourself. Remember that there are days in that we are unbeatable and there are others in which we have bigger details. I think that none of us never wanted to fail, but that is impossible... We are human beings!
I hope to continue obtaining information on your behalf. I want you to help me to get a material that I didn't want to buy for internet. Then I will comment you with more detail.
A strong hug my friend.
Remember: Yellow is Bueno!
Oswaldo Marta - Venezuela
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