the port of oakland

Here are a couple of photographs taken from aboard the Hanjin Yantian while containers were being uploaded in the Port of Oakland.

downloaded summer photos

Since returning to school, I've been very busy. This weekend I finally found the time to download the thousands of photographs from my camera's memory cards and portable hard drive to my computer. It will take awhile to process the best images, however.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these.

Seoul, Korea

Seoul, Korea

My Son, Vietnam

Beijing, China

Korea

Hue, Vietnam

Sapa, Vietnam

Jinshaling, China

fall issue of bridges

The fall issue of Bridges: Connecting Cancer Survivors is available now.

living with chronic gvhd

On October 30th, the BMT InfoNet will host Living with Chronic GVHD, a program focusing on this very serious post-transplant disease, at National Lewis University in Skokie, IL.

Learn more and/register.

mskcc survivorship celebration videos

You may recall that a few days before heading to San Francisco in June, I was one of the guest speakers at Sloan-Kettering's Survivorship Celebration. Hoda Kotb, co-anchor of the Today Show, and Samantha Eisenthein Watson, founder of SAMFund, also gave addresses.

Videos of the speeches were uploaded to the hospital's website during the summer.

I haven't found the courage yet to watch myself!

november lymphoma workshop

The Lymphoma Research Foundation will host a workshop titled Understanding Lymphoma Basics and Current Treatment Options in New York City on Saturday, November 6, 2010.

The program is free for lymphoma survivors and their families, but pre-registration is required.

Learn more or register here.

lymphoma news

Less May Be More When Treating Early Hodgkin's

lls and dkms bone marrow donor drive

On Saturday, September 25th from 10am - 3pm at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, the LLS and DKMS Bone Marrow Donor Drive will take place.

Spread the word!

stand up 2 cancer!

back home

I'm home!

After a 12-hour flight from Narita, I arrived at JFK a little after 6pm and got home a bit after 8 due to heavy traffic. I'm still quite tired, but feeling ok.

Early this afternoon, I went for a much needed haircut and shave. I look like a different man now!

I will update more soon!

narita it is!

Oops! I spoke to soon. Narita it is!

Mike Newman synthesizes information and recommendations on what to do around the airport in a very practical and helpful way.

about to head home

It's almost a quarter to 8pm local time here. About this time tomorrow, I'll be preparing to head to the airport. My flight to Narita (about 70 km from Tokyo and its international airport) is scheduled to depart at 11:40 at night arriving there at about 7:30 the next morning. I have a long overlay in Narita: about 10 hours on paper. In reality, however, the time available to explore some sites around or nearby the airport is a bit less. Nevertheless, I'm definitely planning to try to see what I can of Japan in that short time.

I found an online forum that lists a few temples and shrines worthy of a visit nearby the airport. However, while traveling I've posed the question of what to do to people familiar with the area and almost all of them say there really isn't much to see there. Tokyo is the place to go, they say, but it's expensive to take a high-speed train there and again, it seems a bit too far to travel for such a short stay. I'm still not 100 % sure what I'm going to do on Saturday.

Anyway, my American Airlines flight is scheduled to depart Narita at about 6:10pm on Saturday, September 4th arriving at New York's JFK slightly past 6pm later that same day. I read that a hurricane warning has been issued for Long Island, but I assume my flight should be in the clear.

Back in Ho Chi Minh City, I continue to learn more about Vietnam's long history, in particular its wars with France and the US. This morning, I visited one of the city's most popular sites, the War Remants Museum, which although giving a very laudatory and heroic portrayal of its struggles with outsiders also offers a striking, impressionable sense of the horrors of armed conflict. Images and artifacts of the human suffering experienced by both sides is well documented throughout its halls. I think most would agree that its exhibits covering the gruesome effects of the defoliant Agent Orange strike this note better than any other.

Tomorrow I plan to spend my last day here seeing what else I can of this bustling southern city. In the Cholon area, there are a number of interesting pagodas cited in my guidebook in addition to the famous Ben Thanh Market in the center of the city. I'm also planning to enjoy pho (rice noodle soup), a Vietnamese fave, one last time.

Well, this is probably my last post until I'm home.

More will follow from that other coast.

revolutionary saigon

Just enjoyed an awesome dinner at Huong Lai, a top Vietnamese restaurant (by top, I mean, a complete gourmet meal can cost 15-20 bucks) staffed by individuals from poor or disadvantaged homes who are training striving to become professionals in the restaurant and hotel business. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most delicious and memorable that I've had in Vietnam and that's saying a lot as I've enjoyed some kick-ass food here. The food here rocks. You can eat so well here for so little and Ho Chi Minh City is proving itself to be a wonderful place to dive in and explore.

This afternoon, I visited the Reunification or Independence Palace, which used to be seat of the South Vietnamese government. Famously in 1975, its gates were smashed open by North Vietnamese tanks which then went on to penetrate the palace's grounds and whose forces planted the Liberation flag atop its edifice just as the last Americans were hurrying to escape atop the US Embassy.

Tomorrow I will check out some more revolutionary history.