Introducing Jeremy Soltroff, another old friend of mine from our time working together at the Social Security Administration office in Northeast Philadelphia. A world traveler via the Air Force with various stateside assignments and notable overseas stints in Italy, Germany and Japan, he eventually retired from the military, lived for a time as a Jersey Shore beach bum, and eventually came full circle, settling back into the Philly area.  

Jeremy is a bit of a historian and lover of fine architectuture, and is more knowledgable about the tri-state area than anyone I know.  I asked Jeremy if he would be interested in writing about some notable estates in the area, and he graciously accepted.  His first story is about Andalusia, a beautiful estate on the Delaware River.  Enjoy!

Introducing David Rehmeyer, an old friend of mine from our time at Shared Medical Systems, both in Malvern Pennsylvania and Tokyo Japan. To me, David is a modern day Sal Paradise from Kerouac’s novel On The Road. His adventures are legendary, from Pennsylvania to Japan to New Zealand, Texas and Alaska, and many points in between. He’s done numerous long distance bicycle trips, and has avidly documented his treks in his own online journal.

I asked David if he would be interested in giving us a feel of what it is like to work in Alaska as a tour bus driver, his current gig, and he happily accepted.  He’s included a number of pictures depicting the beauty of the area around Fairbanks. Enjoy!

I was looking at some old photos the other day and stumbled on a place off the beaten track that I had pretty much forgotten about.  Our friends took us for a ride in their car to a unique park and museum complex called Clematis no Oka in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture. You may want to go too after reading this, but unfortunately, one of its key museums is closed indefinitely! Sigh.

After ten years we returned to Yosemite National Park to show my wife's brother and his wife its beauty and alure.  It was a chilly weekend in November a decade ago when we brought their daughter Akiko and her boyfriend Shinya to the park. This time we brought Akiko's parents to the park to experience the magic of Yosemite for themselves. 

A look at the not so new Meta Quest 2 Virtual Reality package. It is pretty slick, and at the pricepoint it is at right now it is downright affordable. But is it worth it? 

During our time in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture we were able to explore the ancient fortress on the hill, Matsuyama Castle. A cloudy and rainy day made the castle seem overly gloomy, but there were facinating historical artifacts and displays inside the castle that made up for it.

A little known sports bar in Nihonbashi got my attention last year with its Philly theme and pursuit of an authentic cheesesteak. The owners just returned from a pilgrimage to Philadelphia to show off their version. So it must be good right? Well, I did the taste test, and...

Over the years I have seen many pictures of The National Diet Building in Nagatacho, but never actually came close to visiting it. Well, finally that day came, and it was grander than I expected. And we even got a chance to visit the Parliamentary Museum and the National Diet Library before our tour started!

I've been a paying customer of OpenAI for a while in order to use their ChatGPT AI product suite. In the past I've used AI to generate lesson quizzes, at which it did a credible job. Recently I decided on a project for this Samraworld website that I thought ChatGPT could help me with. Well, it did help, but it took some patience. 

Himeji-jō, known as the White Heron Castle because of its distinctive white exterior, is the most visited castle in Japan. We had visited other castles in Japan before, but this one was at a different level. Not only is Himeji-jō very well preserved, but in cherry blossom season, it is absolutely spectacular.