Honestly, I tried posting earlier in the week and it was, well, weak. I can summarize in a few words, tired, gym, up too late. Rinse, later, repeat. I didn’t actually get it put up onto the intarwebs for the three people who read it because MY COMPUTER LOCKED UP. Actually, it sort of locks up every time I reboot. It’s friendly that way.

We’re getting ready for our trip to Japan and it’s been pretty easy to get hotels in the past. The sites we’re used to let us reserve without pre-paying, and then we pay cash with whatever money we might have in Japan. I have some left with relatives, for example, from when I worked there back in the late 80’s. With the huge Japanese interest rates, I probably have 50 cents more than I started with. It’s just there because it’s a pain to transfer money back and forth and watch the exchange rates and much more fun just to decouple the finances in two countries to avoid frustration. My dad made himself miserable during vacations thinking about the exchange rate.

Today’s frustration was the new way one of the hotels (the Hearton in Osaka) deals with reservations. They require prepayment now, and so we had to call my aunt and the hotel multiple times to finally decide we would need her credit card to get the rooms in Osaka. After several more calls to Japan, we finally found out that the site allowed you to select VISA, MasterCard, Diners Club, AMEX, and JCB but only really took VISA and MasterCard. The error message was vague and told you that it was an invalid AMEX number, for example, rather than saying that they just didn’t take AMEX. We finally used my cousin’s credit card and we’re going to pay her back later. It’s nice that google voice is still allowing cheap calls to Japan because we made a lot of calls tonight.

Oh, and I punted the gym because of earlier stomach issues. Good thing, too, since I spent a lot of the evening trying to get hotel rooms in Osaka for three nights. What a hassle, but I figured it’s worth it because it’s vacation after all. And I love going to Osaka. I still have fantasies about living there again some day.