I recieved this email today.

Dear Sir or Madame:
My name is Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein, the rightful leader of the
Iraqi people. Though we have not met before I hope that reports of your
personal integrity, reliability and respect for the power of money prove
well founded.

As you are probably aware, imperial forces of the United States and their
British lackey's have taken control of certain sections of my country
against the express will of all freedom-loving peoples and the United
Nation. This temporary setback will be remedied in due course, but until
that time I have urgent need of a trusted partner for the transshipment of
certain wholly legal funds totaling US $78,500,000.00 (Seventy-eight
million, five hundred thousand dollars).

These funds currently reside in the Mexico City branch of the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in the name of one Prescott O'Reilly, a fictitious identity that my father and I chose to avoid certain marauding international banking inspectors. My reason for seeking your assistance is to avoid the attention that any significant transfer of funds to my name, or that of my father's might incur.

You have been chosen because you bear no familial or financial relationship
with myself, my father, the Iraqi government or any government-owned Iraqi
corporation, and you have shown a marked distaste for the imperialist
warmongers in the current illegitimate American government.
In exchange for your assistance, you will receive, in advance a 1% (one
percent) consideration ($785,000) followed, at the completion of this
transaction, with a further 3% (three percent) commission, ($2,355,000) as
well as the heartfelt thanks of the Iraqi peoples.

I am currently residing in simple worker housing in the vicinity of Kansas
City, MO with a number of loyal Fedayeen militia. I would like very much to
meet you, in person, at some agreed location midway between your residence
and Kansas City where we can further explore the details of this
transaction.

Please let me know immediately whether or not you are willing to assist us
through my e-mail address and provide me also with your phone & fax numbers.
Finally, I crave your indulgence to treat this correspondence confidentially
in order not to compromise my family, myself or the important work in which
we are currently engaged.

Sincerely,
Uday Hussein

Posted by bastish at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I gott get me one of these!

Posted by bastish at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomoe and I have decided on a itinerary for the holiday. I went out and splurged on the Touring Mapple 5 -Kansai (Mapple is the king of maps... I was addicted to them a while back and bought a bunch just to look at) Saturday, and have found that there are nice looking mountains and countryside around the west side of Lake Biwa (BTW, my sister used to live near Lake Biwa in Otsu). We'll probably ride from her place in Osaka (click on the link and look for the little red crosshairs) up through Kyoto where we will spend a day or two, then around the west coast of Lake Biwa and up to the coast of the Japan Sea. Wherever we happen to be on Saturday is where we will hop on a train to Nagoya, where her parents live. Gotta get more memory for my camera. If I take as many pictures each day of the trip as I took today in the park, I will need at least 600MB.

I don't know if it is bad news or good news yet, but I have to buy a new bike. No one has parts for my bike anymore. They have to order them, and there is no way to get them in time. Even if they did, I could buy half a new bike with the same money. My bike is still usable as long as I don't go far, and we have been talking about moving offices, which would take me further from the park, so I can take my old bike to work, and use it to ride around short distances at lunch time.

Plus I'm on a spending roll.

Posted by bastish at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

You knew what was coming today didn't you? (these are huge thumbnails, you can click on them to make them even bigger) I spent my luch hour taking photos in the park again. The "battery Low" light didn't come on once! I'm in love. It's also easier to take pictures because it actually looks like a camera, and I don't feel like such a weenie walking around with it!

More photos like this

Check out the voyer power on this thing!

Posted by bastish at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by bastish at 08:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A farewell to my old Digital camera. At least some of the last photos turned out OK (if I would take some time to crop them...)

Posted by bastish at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just playing with my new camera, trying out all the features as I read the instructions. Again, these photos don't look like much compared to some earlier photos I have taken, but I was at least 8 feet from Awii for most of these.

The digital zoom doesn't look that great (image #3), but I guess in some cases it could be better than not using it... it also might do better in sunlight.

#10 turned out great, and check out the detail on my jeans in #11. I also liked #29, #30, and #31 for now. I would have gone outside, but I didn't realize that the battery wasn't charging so long as I had the camera plugged in also, so I was waiting all day for a b

Posted by bastish at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just spent a hellish day in Shinjuku. In order to keep myself from trying to smuggle a gun into Japan and shoot someone, I'm going to have to find some way to justify the wasted time... there must be something good that came of it.

1. I did get a great new camera even though I had decided against it only two days ago. The battries aren't charged yet, so i can only take photos from my window, but I'm already 50,000 yen happy with it. It has 12x zoom... heh heh heeh ehheeeh ehheh eheeh!

It is only 2 megapixel, but I have never printed a photo yet, so I don't think that matters. What really ticked me off about my old camera was that it had only one zoom setting... "far away". This has 12x natural zoom, and 36x digital zoom... heh heh heeh ehheeeh ehheh eheeh!

Another thing I love about this one, is that I never have to use that dang screen that kills the battries in 30 seconds. In my old camera, in order to change any of the settings (long shutter, timer, erase photo, etc...) I had to turn on the screen, and withing 30 seconds of doing so, I was done unless I had spare battries. This camera has most of the functionality I need on a physical dial or button on the camera (as opposed to on a menu screen) and besides that, the view finder also has the ability to review and erase photos without using the screen. I know this takes more power than having a non-eloctronic view finder, but it is still miles ahead of forcing me to turn on that screen to do anything.

I love it so far. Awii loves chewing on all the new cords and cables that came with it too. Check out these samples. They're nothing special photography wise, but I was just playing. The main point is that the first photo in each set is what my old camera would have taken. To take the rest of the fotos, I would have had to move closer and closer to the subject. To take these, I just sat in my masage chair in my window and zoomed in... 12x heh heh heeh ehheeeh ehheh eheeh!

That is one good thing that came from going to Shinjuku today... but that only took 10 minutes because I had already made up my mind to buy it. After that I wandered around to various bike shops looking for wither an affordable bike to replace mine, or a new rear wheel to replace mine. If the wheel cost more than 15,000 yen I buy a new bike, no questions asked.

Unfortunatly, it was just over 10,000 yen to replace the wheel, but most stores didn't have all the parts in stock. This caused me to spend two hours looking for a shop that did. This in itself is not bad. I learned some good stuff about bikes I didn't know before, and got some good tips about where to meet other sea kayakers, but all that value is ofset by the salesmen who would not give me a straigt answer to my questions.

"I know this part is rare. Do you have this part in stock?" they reply, "Ahhhhh I see what you mean... Well, as a matter of fact... this part is very rare." again, "I know this part is rare. Do you have this part in stock?" they reply. "Ahhhh it is rare. I would have to check our stock..." They don't move. "Do you have this part in stock?" they reply, "Hmmm... if you like, I can check for you." I say, "Yes please do. 1,000 pardons for taking your time." They say, "I expect that we don't have it but I can check." I say, "I expect so too, but please do check." They say, "Hmmmm... I will check." They go talk to someone else, without ever checking their stock (aparently I should have been talking to the other clerk) they return to me ans say "This part is very rare." I say "So you don't have it, right?" They say. "It is rare."

I know that I should be able to pick up wether thay have it or not from their first reply, but I'm too American I guess. and they piss me off more than you can know. It was even worse when I was trying to find out if a certain part that was not exactly what I wanted could be used anyway, or if it was physically impossible. Imageine the same conversation, only instead of me asking "do you have it?" I am saying "I don't care which is best, I only care if it is compatible or not".

In order to save myself from the stress and violent urges that come from going into town, I have attached a price tag on it. From now on, if I need anything, and think that I should go to Shibua or Shinjuku to shop around, I am going to place a "5,000 yen per trip", plus an extra "5,000 yen per hour wasted shopping" price tag on going into town. Looking at it from that perpective, buying the new wheel, (which I didn't buy yet because I couldn't get a straight answer about if it would work or not with my bike) would have cost me 11,000 yen for the parts, 5,000 yen for the trip to Shinjuku, and 15,000 yen for the time spent walking through crowds of slow moving people. that's 31,000 yen! Almost a new bike! I think it's obvious that I would have been much better off buying a new bike at the bike shop down the street...

Oh well, ya live and learn.

Posted by bastish at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Huge fight on the phone last night with Tomoe about what to do for our vacation in two weeks. I'm heading down to Kagawa for the wedding of a friend, and figured to stop by Osaka after (when Tomoe is still working). I'll take my bike and the plan until now had been to hop down to Kyusyu to see my sister and ride in the mountains and visit some great onsens, and end up back in Nagoya at her parents house. (actually the original plan was to go to a friend's wedding in Spain, but Tomoe couldn't get a long enough vacation, nor on the right days to make it)

It's pretty unrealistic though, since Kyusyu is so dang far... and I would like to see a little of where Tomoe is living... (although I have seen Osaka many times and am not impressed... it's just another city).

Since we have more than 2 days off in a row, I would prefer to do something that we never have a chance to do on a weekend. Z.B. take a several day bike trip from A to Z. It was great fun riding from Tokyo to her house in Nagoya two years ago, and it's been a long tiem since we did anything like that.

She is excited to do sight seeing in Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, which is understandable, but the idea of doing a colloection of day trips to see different versions of dirty urban cesspools that can also be done on weekeds doesn't hold much appeal to me.

Next we started thinking about Shikoku (where I used to live in '95) and it was sounding pretty good, since there are nice non-crowded rural areas, yet it's a 4 hour ferry ride from Osaka. But even that seems a little straining on the time if we want to get to Nagoya afterwords (probably a good idea since i have only met her parents once, and they still aren't too thrilled about me)

Anyway, I'm off to the bike shop to either fix my piece-of-crap bike, or buy a new one. I'll make a stop at the map shop to pick up a map of the Kansai area and see if there isn't anyplace nice to take a three day bike trip around there.

Oh yeah... we didn't really figth either... but it's more dramatic to say so.

Posted by bastish at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two years ago before I had the Bastishnet (which incidently started just over a year ago on April 21), Tomoe and I took a bike ride from Tokyo to Nagoya, following the Tokaido Gojyusantsugi, the same walking path that people used to take from Tokyo to Kansai in the old days of Japan. , It was only four days of riding, and one of those days was pouring rain through the factory fields neaby Fuji, but it was still a lot of fun. Finally the photos make it onto the Bastishnet!

Day 1:

Actually we cheated a bit and took the train out of Tokyo, since there is no need to waste half a day in the city. We started from someplace in Isehara-shi and headed to Hakone, famous for it's onsens (hot baths). A pretty lazy start, but it's ok because the next day we had to ride over Hakone Mountain. The great part was looking at all the people staying in their expensive hotels, when we actually had the best view from our little tent in the riverbed. English info about Hakone here.

Day 2:

Riding over Hakone Mountain. We were out of shape so it was a challenge, and except for a few smaller trails, we had to spend a lot of time on the busy expressway, but we knew once we made it over we had a great downhill ride to look forward to on the other side.

It was a great one hour of downhill cruising on a busy expressway where we actually were faster than the cars, and the little bit of rain and slick roads didn't scare us in the least.

The rain got worse, and the other side of the mountain put us in Fuji factory land (we didn't see Mt Fuji once on the whole trip), where there is really one one road for all trafic with the ocean on the left, and mountains on the right. It added to our sence of adventure to ride against driving rain, especially when it got dark and we found ourselves trapped on a high-way with big (for Japan) trucks and literally NO shoulder on the road. Withuot the rain, that section of road would have been totally boring.

We finally found a way off and found ourselves in a the small villiage of Kanbara about 1 km wide, between the ocean and the mountains. Had we been an hour earlier, we could have taken a rice-bath (where you lie in a big pile of warm rice skins) at the only public bath in town, but as it was, they were nice enough to just let us use their shower... only after I strategically asked "Is there anyplace dry we can set up our tent and stash our bikes which we rode all the way from Tokyo?"

We wound up staying under and overpass, which was perfect!

Day 3:

Woke up under the overpass with soaking wet clothes from yesterday's rain, but today was much nicer, and the boring section of raod was past. I'm a little foggy on the specifics, but I know we stopped in the fishing town of Shimizu for some fish at the huge fish co-op, and sat by the port watching the fishing boats go in and out, listening to one of the captains tell us about hos they catch giant tuna.

Most of the ride that day was through semi-urban areas, but it was possible to find smaller roads to take us away from the trafic, so it was nice. Finally, we found a really nice grave yard to stay in for the night on top of a little hill over looking the small town of .... you know what? I can't even remember, but it was in the tea fields of Shizuoka.

I later sent my parents there when they visited, to take a tram ride up into the tea fields in the mountains.

Day 5:

Probably the best day, as we had some nice hills and minor mountians to roll over. In an attempt to find a less-worn road, we got lost and wandered deeper into the tea fields, where we met an old tea farmer and listened to his stories. After a while his wive drove up in a pick-up truck and offered us some tea. Amazingly, they always have a hot pot of tea with them, no matter where they go!

The camera battries were running low, and we wanted to make it to Nagoya by nightfall, so the photos stopped here. Sorry about that.

We wound up taking a train into Nagoya from somewhere around Araichyo, near lake Hamana. because my knee was making almost impossible for me to walk, let alone ride, and we didn't see any reason to waste hours riding through the urban sprall of Nagoya.

Posted by bastish at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I tell ya... Up until now I have always wondered what is such a big deal about jumping on the "I love Mac (computers) and Windows is evil!" bandwagon. It never made sense to be so moral and passionate about something to silly as software when there are so many issues that are far more detrimental to citizens of the world.

In the programming / web-development world, it is pretty much decided that you have to love mac or you just ain't cool. I've known this since I started working with computers, and never saw any good reasoning behind it... but then I use Windows at home and work... not by choice mind you... at work, when I started everyone else was using Mac so they wanted to add a Windows machine and I just happened to be the guy who needed a computer. At home, Windows happened to be on my computer because it happened to be on the only affordable lap-top that I liked (although I didn't know what I was looking for).

Over the past 2 /12 years, I use Windows 98% of the time, and once in a while use a Mac. Over the same 2 /12 years I have slowly developed an aversion to using those Macs. I'm sure it is simply because I am used to the ease of doing things on my own Windows machine, and if I used Mac as much as I did Windows I would feel the same way about Windows.

But wait... even the Mac users in my office are much more efficient when they use Windows. I constantly hear people swearing and complaining about their computers freezing up, or not being able to open some application when they are using Mac. I watch them fumble around the unintuitive windowing system... But still I am sure that it is not the fault of the computer, but rather that the user is inept.

Yesterday, we had a 6 hour meeting with a client in which four of us revised a simple 15 page document that was due today. We had it perfect.. every word thought out and with reason behind it. The computer we were using (a Mac OS-x) crashed several times during the 6 hours, forcing us to reboot but we had been saving the file after ever minor change so all is well... and the owner of the computer assured us with a sheepish grin that "this always happens". I do remember thinking that this has only happened to me on my computer five times at most in the last 2 1/2 years... but again, it must be because the user is inept.

Today, I had him send me the file so I could make the final 3 adjustments and send the file off in the morning. What's this? I can't open the file? Hmmmm.... must have been corrupted by me evil Microsoft Outlook Express email software... I'll just go ask him to resend it.

Your all smart... I guess you know how this story ended. The file was totally wasted on his own computer... I assume as a result of the consistent crashing. 6 hours of work for 4 people gone. Again I recall how this has never happened to me on my computer... oh wait, no that's not true... once I lost some of my personal email inexplicably on my home computer... but I don't really treat that one with respect, so I'm greatly pleased and amazed that it has only happened once.

What's the point?

Until now, I have always just assumed that the people using the Macs that mess up life in the office are just bad users. After all, how could so many computer geeks love Mac so much if the only reason was that it is cool to do so? I still wonder, though I am ever more biased toward the computer that lets me get my work done with no problems. I guess though the biggest point, is that I am happy that I am not officially a geek. I know that I am not, because to be one seems to mean that I pledge blind allegiance to what would appears to my young, 2 1/2 year-old computer-using-eye to be an inferior product.

The other point... That crap sucks when 6 hours of four people's work due the next day is wiped out by a crappy computer!

The last point... I wish someone would give me a practical reason I can understand for choosing a Mac over Windows... leaving out all the bull crap about Microsoft being evil... Sometimes, to battle more meaningful evil in the world, people need to be more efficient in their work, and I think they probably benefit from a computer that does what you expect when you expect it to.

Posted by bastish at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I was just looking at Jason's site, and commenting on how America is really great at beer and burritos, and i stumbled on the site of Bell's, my favorite brewer. And although I just happened to be wearing a shirt with the logo of their Oberon beer today (a gift from my Brother and Sister-in-law) I can't help but feel longing when I see the logo for Two Hearted Ale, by far one of the finest brews I have ever tasted.

Too bad they don't sell it where I will be going in May. I'm sure they have other micro-brews though, and I'm gonna stock up before I come home!

Posted by bastish at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why is it that the days when things happen that are worth writing about, I don't have any time left to write? To sum it up, had a 7 hour meeting today to decide strategy to fight with the American home office of our client. It actually is really turning into more of a plan on ho to make the situation better though. I was really worried there for a few weeks when everyone was focusing on blaming and who is at fault than on really tryingto imrpove the situation. I guess it is just a step people have to go through before getting down to the matter at hand.

Anyway, went out to dinner with the client too. Here are the photos of the famous-for-being-cheap-and-dirty resteraunt that we went to (Iseya). For some time now I have been wondering if "class" is something that people grow into... maybe when I am older eating in Iseya will be below me. But tonight I realiezd it isn't related to age. The client (only slightly older than me) suggested that we leave and go someplace nicer after ony 30 minutes in Iseya. Did I mention it is a famous Kichijyouji land-mark?

Oh yeah... I'll be coming to america in the middle of May to help the client in their battle, but only for three days.

Posted by bastish at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nothing to comment about on the photos today... althoug if I had had the new camera I could have gottn a great shot of some baby ducks swimming around a couple of turtles sunbathing on a rock...

These photos really don't do justice. Every day I go there i think "WOW Today is beautiful!" but then I look at my photos and it's crap. Number 11 and number 12 aint bad though...

Posted by bastish at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think there are only a few more days left of cherry blossoms. Then I can go back to the lunch hours spent in front of my monitor with an onigiri and cup of coffee. I miss the good old days.

It seems as though most people are blossomed out as the park is as empty today as it usually is all year round. It's funny how viewing the blossoms seems to be seen more as a responsibility than a pleasure. The park is crazy until everyone has done their obligatory hanami, and then it clears out, even though the trees are just as beautiful. The nights in Iinokashira are still happening. Still lots of students out, but that will change too in a week. I have no idea why anyone would rather pay to sit in a resteraunt to drink and eat than sit outside in the park... is it something to do with Japanese people? (I'm not sure if it's related, but the foreigner-to-Japanese seems to be much higher in parks around Tokyo than it is just walking down the streets.)

Posted by bastish at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Someone else braved Iinokashira Park on Sunday so I wouldn't have to.
Check out the three photos at Ore no Buloggu, and you'll see why I wasn't there!

Posted by bastish at 01:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Not much time tonight. I just got back from work, which I had to return to after a bye bye party for a friend going back to France. It's still quite early (12:00) but I have to clean because I have a two-month house guest coming from tomorrow. It's the French guy's fiancee and they have to be out of the apartment tomorrow (the same day he leaves for France). After two monthes her job ends and she will be off to France herself. Kind of a fairy-tail I guess, since both she and her sister swore they would never get married, and now all of a sudden she is moving to France... the dream of many a Japanese girl I'm sure.

Oh yeah.. about her staying with me for two months... Let's just keep this our little secret. No need to tell her fiancee or Tomoe.

Actually, the only reason I know the French guy is because of her, and the only reason I know her is because of her sister who Troy and I spent every night with for 6 months when I first came to Japan (Sakaide City, Kagawa-ken... 1995) We had some great times then. It's hard to believe it was 8 years ago. Anyway, I'll be going to her wedding in the first week of June. Some time in the future I suppose I will go to Kazuyo and Dr. JJ's wedding in France. They offered to make it a double wedding, with me and Tomoe. I'll have to ask her about that...

For now, I better get cleaning. I told her to choose which room she wanted to be cleaned before she came, bathroom, living, or kitchen... she chose bathroom.

Bye the way... those two photos of hunks of meat are raw whale meat. I know, I know... I am evil, but I ate it.

Posted by bastish at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is so much more beautiful when it rains. Today it was pouring in Iinokashira park. The pictures don't do it justice.

In #5 and #6 you can see all the blossoms that have fallen into the pond... #11 turned out pretty nicely.

Posted by bastish at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just goes to show how smart Awii is (or isn't). We just had the earthquake she predicted... only it was barely noticable (arround 4:30 and level 3 according to NHK). I barely felt it, but would have never gotten oout of bed if Awii hadn't gone crazy and started flying around her cage in the dark banging into the walls. She could have beeen the only fatality.

Posted by bastish at 04:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Went out for the company hanami tonight. It was supposed to be on a weekend, but then it got pushed to a weekday at 5:00 then today, around 5:30, the president comes and says "Are you reay? let's start at 7:00 tonight!" Didn't see many blossoms, and most people left pretty quickly so they could get home. The highlight of the evening was the president's daughter... (much more fun than a bird... I gotta get me one!), but even she had to leave early.

Oh yeah... some drunk bastish walked off with my shoes. I guess now I have an excuse not to go to the gym or exersize since I no longer have running shoes.

Posted by bastish at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My site must be getting pretty hard to open with all the photos. Sorry about that. Once hanami is over, the amount of photos will return to a noraml level.
Until then... today was beautiful again. THe blossoms have just started to snow down. Only a few more days?

Posted by bastish at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Bright and sunny. I thought about going to Iinokashira park to show you what a madhouse it is, but I really didn't want to ruin my day. Instead I walked around my neighborhood looking for somplace nice to sit down and paint. In the end I found that until I get a protable massage chair, the one in my apartment window is the best place. (actually, I wanted to paint the scene from the first photo, but there was no place to sit).

Once again people stopped by to peek in and see what a gaijin's apartment looks like. Two ladies who passed by are trying o fix me up with their daughters. One of which was in school in Texas, where she won the miss-whatever-her-universtiy-was contest. Her mom lamented, "despite that she didn't even come home with a husband".

Hmmm... when I met Tomoe in Michigan, she was talking about me to her parents on the phone, and they decided that she had to come back to Japan immediatly.

I would really like to get out and do some painting from someplace other than my window, but I figured today wasn't the best day. Probably the only place I would be able to find that isn't crowded would also not have any cherry blossoms. I guess I can go paint that any time. In fact, next week (or the week after?) I am going to plan to go someplace nice (Fujino?) to hike and paint a little. Hopefully I can get some more experienced painters to tag along. If anyone else has ever wanted to give it a try, anyone is welcome... I have the basic tools (oil and water) so no need to buy painting gear, just canvas and / or paper.

Posted by bastish at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think I'm the first to blog about this. I win!!!! I'm pretty sure an earthquake is on it's way. Awii is acting pretty strage... restless and wont shut-up. I've never seen her like this before.

Just remember, I called it at 14:46 April 5 2003.

UPDATED
(when I say on the way I mean sometime in the next six months).
(When I say earthquake, I make no claim as to the size)

Posted by bastish at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Sketch night tonight. Finally I'm not the new guy anymore. Tonight one of the ladies who usualy models showed up to be on the drawing side for a change. It means of course I will never get to see her naked agian... but oh well...

Posted by bastish at 01:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By chance I had cure little baby squid again tonight. This time they were raw, and much better.

Posted by bastish at 01:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kind of interesting:
The third photo shows how they try to keep people out of a certain area... I wonder why it isn't cralling with kids. When I was a kid i used to sting fishing line all around my room just like that and pretend it was lasers alarm triggers. As the master spy I had to use my agility to slither through it to the other side. I don't was on the other side, but it didn't really matter since I never made it anyway.. I would always trip the alarm and wind op having to shoot my way out to safety.

There are lots of photos of place-holders saving a place for their company / club / whatever. I don't know how they have the self control to sit there for hours with cases of beer and not crack one open. If my company made me sit out there alone for hours, there would be no beer left, and I wouldn't feel the least bit sorry.

Image number 10 shows a bunch of guys sorting burnable from recycleable. I don7t know why, but it always amazes me to see people throw them in the same garbage. Japan is supposed to be preety advanced in it's recycle policy (compared to US), and it seems like common sence, but just the other day a co-worker stared at me blankly with his mouth open slightly when I told him that I didn't throw away the empty juice cartons on my desk because I was drying them for recycle. He acted as if he had never even heard that it was possible. And just when I was trying to have a more positive opinion of him and his limited mental capacity.

Posted by bastish at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now Blogger users can moblog too without having to worry about any messy perl scripts, or configuring their mail servers (yuck!)

How id this possible you ask? It is a wonder of modern science called mfop (moblog for other people).

How much does it cost?
Not $19.95
Not $9.95
Not $00.95
Not $00.09
Not even $00.009

It's FREE BABY!

Posted by bastish at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The rain stopped. The children were fascinated by the naked man.

Posted by bastish at 07:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just so no one worries that I don't get a balanced diet eating only natto every day, today I stopped by my favorite fish dealer to get some cute little baby octopi.

Posted by bastish at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been listening to the Connection tonight about SARS they have mentioned a lot about the face masks that people in Asia are wearing. I'm sure you in America are seeing a lot of this on the new too. What they didn't mention on The Connection, and I'm sure don't mention on other news programs, is that white masks are somewhat of a fashion statement in Japan at least. Every year people don them in hopes of gaining sympathy instead of retribution for their slaking at work and school. Not to make light of the SARS virus, because I really don't think my sister should be flying home now, but wearing those masks is accepted enough, that seeing a lot of people wearing them is not as extraordinary as it may seem to people in the US.

That being said... I didn't realize it was so scary... Especially since Michigan (and Bay City) is so close to Toronto. I guess the limit that I would set as being "far enough away" is "wherever they stop accepting a Canadian quarter as being worth 25 us cents". Last time I was in Michigan, Canadian quarters were worth just as much as US quarters.

If any readers out there happen to work in airport security... be carefull.

Posted by bastish at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dang! I had hoped to finish setting up mfop support for Blogger tonight with the help of some info Ian gave me earlier today. Unfortunately, I use a cheapo web-hosting company to host my kevincameron.net domain and email, and although I was able to access all the mail earlier at work, I can't download the mail at home. I had (half) promised him that he would be able to moblog by tomorrow. I hope he doesn't hate me now.

If the situation gets better later on, there is still a chance Ian... hang in there!

Posted by bastish at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today was the most beautiful day at iinogashira Park yet. It was calm, quiet, I could hear the pigeons cooing, and the occasional interruption of a duck calling from across the pond... The cherry blossoms looked more beautiful than ever against a dreary backdrop... provoking feelings of melancholy. That is what the beauty of cherry blossoms is all about of course. The fact that it is so transitory leads us to lament the passing of life. Every year, be it cherry blossoms, Christmas, or just fall or winter in general, I find myself thinking "one more gone... only 30 more (give or take) left in my life."

I just wasted a winter. I didn't go skiing once, not downhill, not cross-country, not once. I remember my junior / senior year in high-school, in winter I worked Saturdays at Burger King just to make enough to go skiing all day Sunday. Whatever happened to those dreams of moving to Aspen, and with the superior skiing skills I was able to learn on the 500ft drops in Michigan, becoming one of the top ski-instructors, quickly excelling at my job and being elevated to a level of celebrity among the rich and famous. This good life would soon makes me restless and I would long to pursue my dreams of something more substantial.

Anyway, it rained today, and will rain until Sunday. So much for everyone's cherry blossom plans. Another chance gone... some people a little older than I will only get to see cherry blossoms 10 (give or take) more times in their life...

Posted by bastish at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Until now I have been seeing people do their "mobloging" where they post a tiny photo that we can barely see on their website and praise technology for the wonderful power that has now been bestowed upon them. I always thought they were crazy. I still do. I don't see it as having any "power" for sure no more than a regular sit-down-and-type-what-you-think personal web-site.

Despite my not seeing any special value in moblogging, I made mfop (gotta change that name!) because I saw that people have fun mobblogging. I have to admit though, I am now pretty much addicted to Carston's (who helped me test the program) life. I still get a notice everytime he uploads a photo, and I can't wait to check... because he does it so much. It is the ultimate in voyarism. I have seen web-cams before, and the problem with them is that 98% of most people's lives is boring, and there is no way to know exactly when something worthy of looking at will happen. With Carston's moblog though, he only takes a photo when it is interesting (or at least when he think's it is interesting). This means I only have to look when it's worth it, and he doesn't have to take the time to sit down and write it up, or make a note to write about it later... it feels even more candid.

I am thinking of things I can do with mfop, and this has really got me thinking... blogrolling has a page with the last updated blogs, what if mfop had a page that showd that last 100 moblog photos, with links to their owners sites of course... This sounds cool to me... I almost feel like to do that before setting up support for Blogger... but dont worry Ian, I am pragmatic and see even more value if Blogger's bloggers are involved in the "latest 100 moblogs" too.

Posted by bastish at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's still pretty nice in Iinogashi park. Not too crowded yet and the blossoms are nearing full force. There were a lot of people out there painting, and I really wish I could have joined them, but I would barely be set up before I have to go back to work. Sometimes the urge to quit is just... so.... strong.... can't.... resist....

Today was half wasted on preparing materials for out clients on building war with their US tech team. One thing that may come out of this however, is I trip back to the US for me. The client's chief tech guy was supposed to be visiting along with the chief marketing person regarding another matter in April (which is why there is a sudden rush to build the weapons of mass destruction... err.. I mean gather information about how the situation can be improved) However, because of the SARS virus, the tech division is not allowing any of their people to travel to Asia. (the marketing division doesn't seem to mind).

I got word from the client today that if they wont send one person here to see us, we'll take SARS right into their office and infect them all. There may be a trip next month.

Here's the daily pics. Please note the poor punk dog, and how everyone is taking photos of the blossoms with their mobile phones. I bet their posting them to their blogs with mfop

Posted by bastish at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I looked at cameras again, and the one I really want, because it has 12X zoom and I can fiddle with the menu without turning on the screen, which runs the batteries down in a matter of minutes, costs only 53,000 yen. If I get it at Yodobashi Camera, I can get the 10% off too. Unfortunately, the batteries is a different type than mine, and it costs 8,000 yen. Part of the reason I want it is because it has a higher quality photo from far away, more little thingies per millipede or something technical like that... of course that takes more memory so I will need a bigger memory stick (again a different kind than I use now) it will be another 8,000 yen. The PC card I have for my flash memory card now wont work either... means buy a new pc card... 4,000(?). It wont fit in the case I have now... in the end I will be spending over 70,000 yen. It's still tempting, but I think I need a bike more... or else I cant go anywhere to take pictures.

Although, I have been saving a lot of money lately. Not on purpose, but just because I have been living on natto and rice for the past few weeks. Once I get hooked on a certain food, I tend to eat it every day for months. It generally fluctuates between sandwiches, fish and rice, and now natto and rice. (I have eaten the same cheese-France bread from the nearby bread store 3 out of 5 days every week for the last 2 1/2 years. Just can't get enough)

Posted by bastish at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm turning into a pretty helpful guy to local gaijin (foreigners) in the video store. A few nights ago, I was looking for a video, when I overheard one gaijin ask the other if they had ever heard of Novocain with Steve Martin. He other said "No, but it must be funny". Lucky I was there to save their night. I dove across the room knocking the video out of her hands screaming "Noooooooooo!". I guess Steve Martin is hurting feeling the pinch of the economy, cause he sure chose the suckiest roll in that one.

Anyway, that's not the main point. The next night, as I was returning the video, there was an Australian woman having trouble with the video-store-guy who was trying to charge her 2,000 yen for a late fee. She was saying things like "Eiga.... yesterday.... hire (that's Australian for "rent")... wakarimasen!". At first I didn't know if I should get involved as it looked like she was trying to pull the old "can't speak Japanese so I'm untouchable" routine. Who am I to mess things up for her? But after awhile it became apparent that she was being sincere, and so I helped her talk to the video store guy.

Her story was that she had returned the video a week earlier, but the video store computer said it was returned that morning. The toughest part was pretending that I believed her. I actually don't think she was "lying" simply that she returned the wrong video a week ago, and returned this one today without realizing. Anyway, after a while of neither side budging, and me being stuck in the middle, I asked the video guy if there is any chance the computer is wrong? "No." What do they usually do in this situation? "This has never happened before." It only took another 3 minutes of standing around and the Australian girl almost in tears before the video store guy told me in Japanese "OK she doesn't have to pay this time... but next time we wont allow it!". I translated.... "Please wait here while they call the police. If you refuse to pay they will have you arrested."

I wonder if she ever stopped crying...

Posted by bastish at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was just talking about trying to get a list together of things that a web-developer should know, so I can train some new people, and today I find this in my Webreference Update Newsletter.

BOOK EXCERPT: The Web Professional's Handbook, Pt. 1

It looks like about 70% of what I wanted to do already done! Great! Less work for me. It looks like it gives more information that I want, since I would want the people I train to learn how to find the info themselves, but the outline is nice.

• XHTML
• CSS property and selector reference
• JavaScript syntax reference
• Manipulating the browser with JavaScript
• XML, Schemas, DTDs, XSLT, and XPath
• reference
• XML DOM, HTML DOMs (IE, Netscape, W3C)
• Graphics formats: PNG, GIF, JPEG
• Embedding multimedia in pages
• Sound and Video; MPEG and WebTV
• Overview of usability, navigation and forms
• Accessibility and WCAG guidelines
• Web traffic analysis and privacy guidelines
• HTML color codes
• Escape sequences
• MIME types

Posted by bastish at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)