Holy crap...

Less than eight days to go.... どきどきですね！

only in Japan

I'm in Tokyo right now, enjoying my Spring Break. I think it's because I no longer live here, but even being here only a few days, its easy to remember some of the things that make this country so special.

Last night, I did something kind of silly. Leaving a very late dinner, I heard a "thunk", and noticed my book (The Botany of Desire) had fallen out of my bag. It wasn't until a phone call half an hour later (once Panda chan and I were already home), that I realized the "thunk" was mostly caused by my iPod, which had fallen out along with the book, and which the restaurant was now (thankfully) holding for me.

I would hope that in the States, if I had accidentally left my iPod in a restaurant, and if they had my phone number from my reservation, that they would call me and let me know they had found it. I went to Ginza this afternoon to pick my iPod up, and thanked them profusely for finding it and holding it for me. And, here's the kicker, the waiter apologized to ME! For not noticing sooner (in which case, I wouldn't have had to make a separate trip back to the restaurant to pick it up).

Only in Japan.

Comedy Platinum

If there was such a thing as a monopoly on comedy, the writers at Family Guy would have it. I can't believe I had never seen this show until recently. Granted, the whole "out of the country" thing didn't work in my favor, and Family Guy isn't really the type of thing that people would likely get in Japan (I think the Simpson's are mildly popular there, but I'm sure that the different levels of comedy and social satire don't translate very well...).

Anyway, now I'm doing my best to catch up. I came across this clip today, while I was sitting in a cafe taking a break from my homework. I think the people at the tables around me were probably looking at me funny because I was having to contort my face to prevent from busting out in hysterical laughter. It's not comedy gold, it's comedy platinum. 100% hillarious.

Bonne Anniversaire!

Food blogs

So, lately I've become a bit addicted to perusing several different food blogs. Yes, that's right, blogs about food. Awesomeness.

Most of them are recipe-based, and sometimes I even end up skipping over all the boring "writing" stuff, and going straight for the recipes. I've been cooking a lot more lately, because a) it's healthier b) it's cheaper and c) the previously-mentioned Berkeley Bowl (now that my class schedule is changing a bit, hopefully I'll have time over the next few months to start going to a local farmer's market, too). While I have a few cookbooks, some of which have some really good recipes, they are a bit limited at times, and it's always nice to find new ones (I think I finally understand a TINY bit of my mom's obsession with buying new cookbooks...)

Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of the blogs I've been reading, if any of you are curious.

http://www.slashfood.com/ -- the grandaddy of all food blogs (in my mind). This kind of got me started in the whole food blog universe. Sometimes recipes, sometimes food news, sometimes pics, always entertaining. I probably check this 2 or 3 times a day (LOVE the food porn...)
http://www.101cookbooks.com/ -- great collection of healthy recipes (all vegetarian?). The author lives in SF, and is an amazing food photographer, to boot!
http://www.thefoodwhore.com/ -- just found this one today. About a caterer and the troubles she has. Not recipes, but pretty darn entertaining.
http://myhusbandcooks.wordpress.com/ -- pretty good looking recipes (the pecan & chocolate chip cookies turned out great) and an amusing theme/title.
http://www.tastespotting.com/ -- mmmmmmm..... food porn......

Connections

A few months ago, I was perusing the Wall Street Journal (Hey, I'm in Business School!), when, lo and behold, there was an article on the front page about a girl I used to go to High School with. Talk about random! Apparently, she's now a big-time socialite in NYC. The article had her picture, and even mentioned the name of my old high school.

While not quite as solid or close as a connection, (okay, it's tenuous, at best), I was still pretty excited to see this article in the New York Times. I've known about the Gyroball for two years or so. That's when I interviewed Ryutaro Himeno, the scientist mentioned in the article, about the pitch for a work-related project, well before the pitch became news in the States (the project, unfortunately, never went anywhere, but I still have the video). Random, but cool, nonetheless. For me, at least.

Rock 'N Roll, Old Skool Japan style

On Friday night, I went to my first concert since coming to the Bay Area. Earlier in the week, I was sitting in a cafe, perusing one of the local weekly "alternative" newsrags, when I came across the name "Yoshida Brothers" in the concert listings section. The Yoshida Brothers I knew were two brothers (naturally) that played the shamisen, a traditional Japanese 3-stringed instrument. They had gained quite a bit of fame in Japan for their style, both of playing and looks.

It turns out these were the same Yoshida Brothers (really, how many groups could there be with that name?) and they were playing at Yoshi's a jazz club/sushi restaurant in Oakland. After doing a little digging, I found out that some of the Japanese students in my program already had plans to go, so I invited a (non-japanese) friend along, and we went to the show.

I'd heard a few of their songs before, and had even used one as background music in a video I created for my old company. Plus, as I found out from one of the Japanese guys I went with, they have a song in the new TV commercials for the Nintendo Wii. Anyway, I thought I kind of knew what to expect going into the show (although, my friend had no clue), but I was totally blown away. Basically, they rocked. While the set was pretty short (just over an hour), and a few of their songs were nothing special, they had several songs that were amazing, both more "traditional"-sounding ones, as well as the more modern take on Shamisen for which theyre known. The coolest was probably this awesome shamisen-drum "battle" between one of the brothers and the percussionist they had brought along. And at times, the way their fingers were flying over the strings it really seemed like they were playing guitar, not an instrument that's hundreds of year old.

Now THIS is a website after my own heart

Can't stand the stuff.

Japan update to come soon (hopefully -- I start classes today, so things are gonna get a bit busy).

The REAL value of a $12 box of chocolates

Or, "How I turned 12 bucks into a better flight and my own private bar"

Several years ago, I had scheduled a trip from Japan to the US that had me flying on Christmas Day. Upon hearing this, one of my coworkers at the time relayed to me a story about her friend who, flying to Australia on Christmas Day, brought a box of chocolates for the stewardesses and proceeded to get upgraded to business class. Knowing a good deal when I saw one, I brought a box of Godiva chocolates on board with me and gave it to the stewardesses. As it was several years ago, I can't remember if I got upgraded or just got a better seat, but I do remember that it definitely paid off.

Fast forward to yesterday, Christmas Eve 2006. At the airport, before boarding my flight, I bought a box of See's chocolates (yes, it was $12). I figured, worst-case scenario, I was out 12 bucks. As I boarded the flight, I asked the flight attendant where my seat was (showing my pass so she'd remember where I was), and then gave the box of chocolates to the purser, wishing them Merry Christmas.

One of the last ones on the plane, I took my seat and got ready for takeoff. The plane started up, we taxid to the runway, and we were off.... except, before we actually got off the ground, the engines powered down and we came to a slow stop. Apparently there was a problem with the cargo door light, so we had to return to the gate and wait. And wait. And wait. When the problem was finally fixed, the pilot came on and said he had some paperwork to take care of, so we waited some more. And a little more. Finally, almost two hours after our original departure time, we had a successful take off.

The next 8 hours were a rather uneventful combination of reading (The Omnivore's Dilemma), watching airline movies (Little Miss Sunshine and Invincible -- both of which were pretty entertaining) and watching downloaded tv episodes on my computer. Until, all of a sudden, the purser came by my seat and asked "you're the one that gave us the candy, right?"

When I said "yes", he apologized for not "taking care of me" earlier, bemoaning how understaffed they were (it WAS Christmas, after all...), and handed me a plastic bag full of bottles of alcohol. He then apologized again, offered me my choice of red or white wine, and said that while there was only two hours left, if I wanted to, I could sit up in business class for the rest of the flight and have breakfast there.

I practically tripped over myself rushing down the aisle to take him up on his offer. And it was all I could do to prevent myself from laughing out loud with glee. In the end, I couldn't sleep (despite putting the seat completely flat and turning on the lumbar massagers) because I was so amped up, so I read a little and watched a little more tv on my laptop. Breakfast was delicious -- roast beef, salmon, a bowl of fruit and coffee cake, with two surprisingly tasty cups of coffee.

When I got off the plane and finally had the courage to peek into the two bags I had gotten, there was a bottle of Schramberg sparkling wine, two FULL-SIZE bottles of red wine (including a bottle of St. Supery, which is in Napa), and 8 or so miniature bottles of alcohol. While I certainly would not have minded sitting in Business Class for the entire trip, considering the fact that the first 10 hours were a sunk cost and I had stopped expecting anything, all in all it worked out in the end.

Not bad for 12 bucks...

Finally!

When I left my last job in Japan, I got a video iPod as a going away gift. At the time, I only had my crappy old iBook as a computer, not my shiny new Vaio. The newer iPods only connect over USB, as opposed to firewire, and on my old mac, the USB was REALLY SLOW, meaning it took ages to update my iPod.

It took almost an entire day, but after 5 months, I finally changed my iPod over from my mac to my PC (you have to choose which type you're going to use and stick with it). It was such a big pain because my songs weren't all in one location -- some were on my mac, some were on my pc, some were on dvds/cds and some I had lost and were only on my iPod. Now everything's on both my pc AND my iPod.

Not only that, but I finally put a few videos on it (a couple of things I had downloaded for free from iTunes). I'm still not sure how I feel about watching a tv show on a 2.5" screen, but it IS pretty cool.

And now I have almost all my tunes in my iPod. Perfect timing for my trip to Japan!
Now if I could only find my old iPod that I was planning on using as a portable hard-drive. It's gotta be around here somewhere....

Boardacious!

Suhweet! I just got a brand new snowboard. Awesome. And hopefully I'm going boarding tomorrow morning with some friends from school. Day-trip to Tahoe (Kirkwood, where a bunch of us have season passes, and where we're renting a ski house starting in January). At 32, hopefully I'm finally gonna become a good snowboarder! Keep your fingers crossed....

I was an early adopter

Way back in '93 and '94, I had already started using the internet at Amherst. Unfortunately, at the time all it was good for was sending e-mails to classmates (few people outside of school had e-mail yet), IRC (EARLY version of chat) and downloading crappy quality videos of Tori Amos concerts (it was a long time ago, okay?).

I really wish we had had something like this. I can't figure out if this is officially supported by Amherst or not, but either way it seems pretty cool. Especially the schedule function. Ah, to be young again...

Goooooaaalllll!!!!

After a multi-year hiatus, I recently started playing soccer again. A few weeks ago, the soccer club held a first-years vs. second-years match, and so I signed up. I ended up playing in the field for 10 or 15 minutes (talk about out of shape!), and then spent most of the 2nd half in goal.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that I gave up a goal (I was, admittedly, a bit rusty), I was invited to play on one of my classmates' intramural "Speed Soccer" team (basically, 6-aside on a small "field"), because they needed a keeper. My debut game was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but the team roster was full, so I wasn't able to play.

Last Tuesday night (a week ago), I braved the cold, cold weather and showed up, this time with my name on the roster. And in my debut, not only did I manage a shut-out, but in the last 5 minutes I switched with another player and managed to score a goal!! Granted, the other team only had 4 players to our 6, and the final score was an embarrassing 15-0, but still! That didn't take away from the excitement of scoring (my first goal in YEARS...)

Turns out that was the last game of regular season, so in two weeks we have the beginning of the playoffs. Here's hoping for another shutout/goal combination!

Wheels!

Suhweet! After about a month of not having wheels (other than the occasional rental car), I finally got a new bike! Ah, I can taste the freedom. And it tastes kinda like creme brulee! Mmmmmm, creme brulee.....

Anyway, I ended up getting a cool Trek hybrid bike. In this bitchin' red color. And I figured since I was at it, it was best to get some of the options -- helmet (gotta stay safe!), lock (MAJOR Kryptonite U-lock, so the thieves can't strike twice), chain lock (for my front tires, which are now quick-release) and a new mount for my bike light, since the old one was on my stolen bike (but fortunately I had the light itself up in my apartment).

Ready to roll!

PS -- thanks go out to my folks who got me the bike for my (now belated) birthday.

a great idea

Maybe it's just a reminant of my childhood fascination with legos, but I think this is really cool. Can you imagine stacking blocks of ice cubes in your drink glass? Brilliant!

You learn something new...

File this one under the "I feel a little silly, yet I'm glad I found out" department.

I was talking with one of my classmates yesterday about new bikes, telling him how mine had gotten stolen. We started to talk about gears and what's good on a bike. Then it became clear to me that the reason I was having so much trouble pedalling my (old) bike was because I was using the wrong gears. I had thought high gear was for going up hills, because it seemed like each time I pedalled it propelled me farther. Turns out, high gear (I think it's high gear. 3rd on the left, 5th on the right kinda thing) is for going DOWNHILL. Huh. Who knew?

Can't wait to try it out. Yet I have to wait, at least until I can get a new bike.... Oh the irony.