Monthly Archives: October 2009

I’ve spent most of the past two days in the back of a car and now I’m trying to stay awake. Yesterday we went from Maebashi to a Japanese hot spring with a stop at the prefectural government building and their spectacular view. We also had a stop for soba for lunch somewhere in the mountains in between stops at lakes, viewpoints, and other mountaintop recreational areas. We also made a stop to see our friend’s single apple tree (the one right behind my mom). We got to the hot springs in the afternoon and I don’t have any pictures because I was too busy relaxing. We went with my … Continue reading →

Pardon my incoherence, but it’s 11:30PM here in Japan, and I just got back from dinner. That means it’s 7:30AM at home and I’ve been up since 7:30AM yesterday with a few naps during the day. I didn’t sleep that well last night, either. I’m pretty beat. After the flight we got on a bus for 3+ hour bus ride to Maebashi and didn’t have dinner until 9:30PM. We had monjiyayaki for dinner tonight tonight which is similar but not identical to okonomiyaki. I’m used to okonomiyaki because it’s a Kansai thing, but this monjiyayaki is completely new to me. I also had a couple of large-looking beers, but I … Continue reading →

So now my huge 23″ TV is in the other room and I just measured the distance from the TV to my chair. It’s somewhere around 23 feet away. The worst part is that the 23″ Samsung has really awful audio and it’s kind of hard to hear the tinny sound come out of it. Here’s a picture of what I see when I’m watching TV. It’s really not so bad. I remember when I used to watch a 12″ TV I hauled out of the trash in Japan. I had to fix it, and I sat on this awful foam couch that I also hauled out of the trash. … Continue reading →

I was moving some furniture today because I figured I could start using some of the space I gained back after the carpet was put into the “other” bedroom. The closet door and shelves need to be put back in and the attic access doors need to be installed and I probably need to get some matching paint and touch up some of the messes myself. So I know better than to move furniture without my shoes on, but I usually don’t wear shoes upstairs. Because of that, I smashed the crap out out of my toe on a hand truck. I put shoes on afterwards and that’s when I … Continue reading →

Hooray. And end to a long week, and I didn’t even have to go in to work today. We had our “group offsite” which meant we went to a science museum that was full of screaming middle school kids. I’m hoping I didn’t get swine ‘flu, because my trip to Japan is supposed to start on next Wednesday. It doesn’t help that my boss had the ‘flu and is coughing all the time. In any case, I spent most of the afternoon and evening watching Fringe and thinking of what I really should do this weekend. Mostly dumb stuff like getting door stops and curtains and trying to get a … Continue reading →

We had burger club tonight but we were missing two of the founding members. Sean has dad duties and Jeff’s parents were in town. But we finally got Imran to come out with us and Matty’s friend Kurt as well. Rounding out the group were Erin, Matty, and me. We went to Bridgeport where they had a pretty good pub burger, not in the upper tier but tasty nevertheless. A little unevenly salted, but otherwise pretty good. The place wasn’t packed and there were a lot of wait staff, but our server was also the bartender and we had pretty abysmal service. Plus, we were squeezed in between two tables … Continue reading →

I had a much better day today and even did OK at the gym. The bad part is that I’ve been busy enough at work all week that I had to eat at the cafeteria for the past two days. My stomach has been grumbling all day and I was worried this afternoon about it. Now I’m staying up late to see if it will resolve itself before I go to bed. Yeesh. I know I shouldn’t be talking about work so I probably should stop talking about the cafeteria, too. Who am I kidding, I stayed up way too late on Tuesday night to finish watching my Monday night … Continue reading →

There are certain motivational methods that just don’t work on me. And then when fight or flight kicks in, I often bail. That’s the flight option after all. So if today is any indication, I’m going to be fairly distracted at the gym and not feel like myself until afterwards. We did an old workout that was fairly challenging and I spent a fair amount of time standing around wondering if I should just go home. For a week. And not come outside the whole time. It beat the other alternatives I was thinking of, and it would give me more time to work on the house. Ah, well, I’m … Continue reading →

So Jay the Contractor made new doors for one out of four attic access doors, and even that one is a little broken. The painters had painted it shut and getting it off cracked part of the frame. The door wouldn’t stay on the wall and Jay suggested magnetic latches, which I bought last week but never did install until today. The door stays on, but it also is kind of warped. I found out yesterday that the painters also seemed to get some schmutz on my HDTV screen. My buddy Greg suggested I try getting it off with some alcohol. Denatured alcohol has methanol in it and I’m not … Continue reading →

I finally found the fine print that told me why my iPhone backup software wasn’t backing up my text messages, etc, it was because I had an encrypted backup. Whatever. Like I always say, if the government wants my password, it wouldn’t be hard to beat it out of me. I’m not that attached to it. I went to Schoolhouse Electric today to pick up another matching lighting fixture for my bedroom. At Home Depot I’ve been buying $10 fixtures but the one at Schoolhouse, which is made locally, cost $115. But it’s also a lot cooler looking. Other than that it was a very rainy day at times so … Continue reading →

I took some time off in the middle of the day to attend Andy Letourneau’s funeral, and I ran into a lot of people from Boy Scouts. Guys I haven’t seen for nearly 30 years and they’re probably all in their 40′s now. My old scoutmaster, an old camp director, and lots of guys who would have been my peers in Boy Scouts. It’s sad that this is the only reason I have for getting back together with these old friends. The funeral was well attended, as I expected, because Andy was a great guy. Afterwards I went to Laurelwood with the Scouters and had mac and cheese (and a … Continue reading →

I wrote a review of the burger, steak sandwich, and the beer. There’s really nothing I can say but I like it there. I wish it was a little less crowded, but they probably deserve to be because of their food and their beer. I’m not a complete fan of the beer, but it is good. Other than that it was all about work today, so nothing to report. All my kvetching about work is done in person nowadays. I did have the opportunity to cancel my workout and be on a phone meeting instead, and of course I accepted. Having a job is a good thing.