Jc

Cache Kuni!

2010-01-29T14:00:00.009+11:00

I've just started a very simple online store that caters to the small, but growing, geocaching community in Japan. My new web site is called Cache Kuni!.

I'm selling geocaching related products, such as nano caches, official geocaching.com containers, and geocoins and Travel Bugs. I'm also trying to create a community by hosting an online forum section on my web site where hopefully geocachers from all over Japan will join to discuss the hobby.

It's a very small business right now, but here's hoping it takes off!

PS And for my Japanese readers:

こんにちは！このたび、日本のジオキャッシングサイトを新しく立上げました。出来たばかりですが、ジオキャッシンググッズのオンラインショップもあり、また、フォーラムやコミュニティーのページでは日本のジオキャッシングについてのチャットなどができます。日本に住んでいてジオキャッシングに興味のある方は、ぜひwww.cachekuni.comにアクセスください！

Slurp Redux: Eat Jc, Eat!

2009-11-02T13:56:00.005+11:00

Courtesy of genfab!

As promised, my big Internet debut! I hear that Internet access speeds in Canada leave something to be desired (#22 in the world!?) so I hope you won't have to wait too long to download and watch this!

Slurp!

2009-10-26T15:24:00.003+11:00

Dear readers, get ready for a first on my blog: a video review! Burger King in Japan is having a special promotional tie-in with Microsoft for the upcoming release of the new Windows 7 operating system, a 7-patty Whopper! That's a over 2 lbs. of meat!

I'm not a fan of Windows at all but I've always wanted to review myself eating something gluttonous and this seemed like the perfect place to start. My friend Scott (amazing video editor) will come along for the ride and shoot some video of me attempting to eat this meat-monster.

Scott can make some pretty cool videos so I am looking forward to seeing what his editing magic can do. Who knows, this might be my grand debut!

やった!

2009-10-20T12:44:00.002+11:00

Finally, all done! I've finished learning how to write all 2042 kanji in Heisig's Remembering the kanji! All in all it took about me about 9 months but it feels like forever.

In the words of Hiro from the TV show Heroes: Yatta! (I did it!)

PS Now that I know how to write them I have to start the whole list again and learn how to read them!

2005!

2009-10-14T13:01:00.005+11:00

Ok, so it's been a slow week and I've only managed to cram another 40 kanji into my puny little head. "Only 40"! What am I saying? That's pretty darn-tootin' good I think. If I keep this pace up I'm on track to finish my studies and hit the magical 2042 by my birthday!

Oh, and for those wondering what uncle Jimbo from South Park is doing here. Well, let's just say he appears in one of the stories to help remember the kanji for deer, 鹿.

1965!

2009-10-07T12:02:00.004+11:00

Don't know if it was a good year for Bordeaux or any other wine, but it was the year that Canada got it own flag. It also happens to be the number of Kanji I have studied so far.

For those who are following that means I memorized an extra 50 kanji in the 20 days since my last post, or 2.5 kanji per day. Not an amazing pace I grant, and definitely not enough to get me to the holy grail of 2042 by my birthday so I will have to step it up a notch. I have have to memorize another 77 kanji in 22 days ... can it be done?

Keep watching this space to find out!

PS The picture has meaning on multiple levels. Can you find them all? Hint: there are at least 4.

1915!

2009-09-18T13:56:00.005+10:00

Ok, so I haven't been posting since my return to Tokyo, mea maxima culpa. But now that things have settled down I will definitely be posting more often. Now, for some news!

Well, maybe not groundbreaking news for some but a little excitement for me. I've reached 1915 kanji in my studies! For those who don't know, a kanji is a Japanese/Chinese character. So I've now reached the point where I can say that I know how to write 1915 of the little buggers!

Why is 1915 a special number? Well, it isn't except that it means that I am almost finished learning the basic set. The book I am using (which I highly recommend), Remembering the Kanji, has 2042 kanji in it. So I only have another 137 to go before I'm done!! At my pace I should be done by the time my birthday comes around (10/29) :)

For those that are interested Japanese people learn a standard set of 1945 kanji by the time they finish high school. The kanji in that standard set are called the jōyō kanji kanji. This list is actually enshrined in law, and newspapers who use kanji outside this list must, by law, append them with furigana (a way to let people know who to read them, since some people may not know how). Sometime in the near future the list is to be revised to add another 119 kanji and remove 5. Which is bad news for me ... just when I though I had my kanji down pat they go and change the list!

Here's visual representation of what I've crammed into my head. Please feel sorry for me, inserting each one of these in my head wasn't easy ...

First Beer!

2009-08-14T22:48:00.002+10:00

It's been six weeks since I have been back in Tokyo and I know I haven't posted much. I've been relatively busy settling down and setting myself up. The first month I was staying with my friend Vincent and going to Japanese school. All at the same time trying to find a place of my own.

It took a while I've got my own apartment. It also took a while but I've finally fully furnished it. I didn't buy one new thing which is why it took some time. But finally I was able to sit back tonight, crack open a beer can and enjoy!

Back in Tokyo July 1st

2009-06-01T23:15:00.004+10:00

It's been a while since I first announced my return to Tokyo and there have been quite a few ups and downs (I actually had no place to live for a bit) but it's now official: I will be back in by the end of June. I gave my resignation today and I'll be finishing out the month after which I'll be on a plane to Tokyo.

I have something new lined up for myself, something pretty exciting and I am really looking forward to starting. It will be quite different from what I've been doing and from what I did previously in Japan. No long hours or weekend work, and definitely no stress.

I can't give away too many details just yet as I'm still hashing out the details of my resignation with my current company and there is still the outside chance they will bring me back to Tokyo. (Funny how once I resigned I am told that the transfer is in the mail and could I possibly change my mind?). But if you want the details just shoot me an email and I'll spill the beans, if you don't already know that is ;)

Ne te quaesiveris extra

2009-05-01T10:08:00.001+10:00

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

2009-03-10T11:01:00.005+11:00

This movie is definitely worth a watch. I was expecting the worse, a cheap superhero action movie, but got something with a lot of depth to it. The especially heavy questions of whether Ozymandias was correct in what he did or Rorschach in his unfaltering black and white view of things are food for thought.

I think I may have the original Watchmen series in my comic book collection back in Canada and will certainly read it when I go back. (Believe it or not I have some many comic books in my collection that I haven't read them all). I remember loving the original Dark Knight graphic novel and it looks like this series is just as good.

For those who didn't take Latin in school, the title refers to the saying 'Who watches the watchmen'. Oh, and the picture is a collection of the covers for the original twelve comic books that make up the series.

Promotion!

2009-03-07T16:09:00.003+11:00

Ok, probably not the kind of promotion you are expecting me to get. I found this cool torrent site that specialize in British TV shows called The Box a few months after coming to Australia and have been an avid fan of it. I especially loved the fact that the download speeds were amazing! Ok, maybe for those of us in a civilized country will real Internet like Japan the speed is actually quite normal, but for me in Australia getting anything over 50 kbps counts as exceptional.

Some of the TV shows I'm now a fan of dues to this site:

Life on Mars (the Bristish original rocks! Philip Glenister shines)
Ashes to Ashes (follow up to Life on Mars. Can't get enough of Philip Glenister!)
Doctor Who (I didn't think I would like the new Doctor(s) of the new format but boy was I wrong! The new stories have depth, are sometimes dark and the Doctor has such and edge. Christoper Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor was fantastic(!) and David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor my absolute favourite. Molto Bene!)
Apparitions

The site is by invitation-only so if you want in, let me know and I can send you an invite!

Things I'll Miss ...

2009-03-03T21:58:00.003+11:00

Was going through some pictures I've taken during my stay in Australia and even though I haven't left just yet this will definitely be one of my memories of Australia. There's a story here and will have fun telling it to the boys back in Tokyo ... (oh, and thanks Sav for lending me the jacket!)

Sunset

2009-03-02T19:34:00.000+11:00

I get some amazing sunsets every evening and I thought I would share one with you. Luckily my apartment faces west so I get to see these quite often. I wonder what kind of sunset I will get to see in my new place in Tokyo? Probably none :) I don't think I ever had an apartment with a view of sunsets in Tokyo.

I was lucky enough to see really nice sunsets from my last office in Tokyo though. And considering I almost never left work before sundown I got to see them almost every day :) One of my favourite shots is this one below which makes me think of a atmospheric nuclear blast.

Coming back!!!

2009-02-27T14:03:00.005+11:00

You heard it here first! I've just been told there's a job for me in Tokyo; I'm getting transferred back!

I don't know the details, I just know that it's happening. Hopefully I'll get the specifics sometime next week. These will include departure date, relocation package (if any) and salary. You, my trusty readers, will be the first to get the full report and juicy details as soon as I do.

As many of you know I've been trying hard for a few months to get transferred back and it looks like it's finally happening. I'm so giddy!

So who's going to be first with a comment welcoming back??

How often should I post?

2009-02-17T15:26:00.003+11:00

I don't post very often to my blog, and I guess that's mostly because I don't have much to say. Maybe I'm more reserved when it comes to publicly blogging about my life, maybe it's because nothing worth mentioning is happening, or maybe it's just because I work for The Man (tm) and so and quite limited in what I get to post.

In any case I was wondering how often people think I should post something? One a day? Once a week?

What got me to thinking about this was my cousin Tamara who also has a blog but posts at least a few times a day. I used to subscribe to her blog in my Google Reader but she was posting up to 10 items a day and I just couldn't keep up. Obviously this girl has a lot of time on her hands.

So voting booth is open, let me know how often you'd like to read something. That is of course assuming I have anyone reading my blog :)

Little Feet

2009-02-17T15:18:00.003+11:00

I also did some geocaching with Scott while he was here. One of the caches was on the Sydney harbour bridge and to get on the bridge walkway we had to walk through this underpass. We noticed the cool artwork on the walls made to look like a bunch of footprints. Like armies of walk-walkers had gone up and down the walls. Imagine our surprise when we realized it was'nt art at all but real foor prints! Here I am adding my mark.

Scott came for a visit

2009-02-15T22:44:00.005+11:00

My good friend Scott came down from Tokyo last week on a business trip and was nice enough to stop over in Sydney to see me for a day. It's been over 6 months since Scott and Makiko left Sydney and it was great to see Scott again. I got to hear about Tokyo and how my friends there are doing and how much everyone misses me (not).

One thing Scott and I had wanted to do before he left but didn't have the chance was to hit a Japanese hostess club we saw one day walking downtown. On that occasion Glen was visiting from New Zealand and we had spotted this place. It was at the bottom of some stairs off the main street which terminate in a black solid steel door bolted shut with a doorbell.

At the time I worked up the courage to ring the bell and was answered by a Japanese guy. I asked him in Japanese what the system for the club was and he politely answered me that it was a straight $80 entrance fee and then pay as you go for drinks. We were four guys and at $80 each we decided to pass. Scott was keen to try but he instead lead us to a strip club. Scott loves the strip clubs.

Well this time Scott and I promised ourselves that we would go. Luckily for me Scott was generous enough to pay my entrance fee. (I'll possibly join the ranks of the unemployed soon so didn't feel right spending that much money).

I wish I had some great story to report about what happened next or that my writing skills were better because I really can't think of much to say, that's how little impressed I was with the place. The interior was not bad but not great either, a bunch of long sitting couches arranged in about four square areas and a bar at the back. But no one goes to a hostess bar for the furniture ... So what about the women?

Well, I was not impressed on that front. We got two and they weren't lookers that's for sure. For those who were there for Christmas titties in Tokyo (can't believe no one has blogged about that little escapade), the girls were on that level. Maybe it was because we had asked for hostesses that could speak a bit of English? Not that their English was great. One had passable English skills while the other one struggled to follow our conversation. And then we had to buy drinks, and at $10 a drink and having to buy for the girls too, the bill soon became quite large.

All in all this is something Scott and I had to do and I'm glad we did. We can now check this off our list and I do enjoy my time with Scott even if the women aren't great.

One things I did learn from this is what being a hostess is about. The two girls weren't great hostesses not because of their looks but because they had a hard time making conversation. But whereas they lacked skill when the mama came around and chatted with us for about 20 minutes it was a totally different experience. She had us talking and chatting and I was genuinely starting to enjoy myself but then she went away. It became clearer to my that good hostessing is really a communication skill and not everybody has it ...

Remember this?

2009-01-04T23:12:00.004+11:00

Ok, if you where there and read my blog, email me to say that you remember this eventful night. It's not been quite a year yet but getting close.

Ah ... If only I knew then what I know now ....

DON Cup

2009-01-04T23:11:00.000+11:00

A month ago I flew down to Melbourne for the DON Cup diplomacy tournament. It was a great way for me to kill three birds with one stone. One, play in a diplomacy tournament. Two, meet my great friend Sav who I haven't seen since his days in Tokyo 5 years ago. And three, see another Australian city besides Sydney!

As far as diplomacy tournaments go the DON was not all that special. Not many players (at most two boards) and some logistical problems. But the venue was great and the organizer amazingly provided for free drinks (alcoholic!) and food at the pub (aka hotel in Australia english). I only came in 9th out of 14 but hey, it's only my second tournament.

Seeing my great friend Sav though was the high point of the trip for sure. I can't say how much I like Sav and how I always have a great time whenever I see him. The man not only promised me a wild Friday night he delivered in ways I am unfortunately unable to describe in detail on this public forum. Let's just say that going forward I shall refer to Sav as my personal pimp-daddy.

With the current climate and lack of job security I probably won't do any travelling in Australia so I was glad to be able to at least visit one city besides Sydney. All I can say is, I like Melbourne! I was only there for three days so can't really say I know the place but from my short sojurn - me likes! Melbourne is way better than Sydney.

おくりびと

2008-12-15T10:14:00.002+11:00

Attended the closing film of the 12th annual Japanese film festival in Sydney, Depatures (or Okuribito in Japanese) last week Tuesday. I had seen one of the festival's movies the week before and had not been especially impressed by it; being the closing film I was hoping this movie to be more interesting.

Sadly, Departures, as a movie, was only slightly better than Closed Note; the storyline was relatively easy to figure out. What did make this a worthwhile movie however was finding out about death rituals in Japan and funerals. I've lived in Japan for over 10 years and I knew the way funerals are held is quite different from the West but I didn't know much about the specifics.

There is a whole tradition/ceremony around washing the body that I knew nothing about. Watching it being performed almost made me think of the Japanese tea ceremony, how everything is done in a specific order and fashion. I also came out with a question. Why do we in the West embalm bodies? Everything being equal it seems like a waste of money.

P.S. If I've picked your interest about Japan and funerals, another great film on this topic is "Ososhiki" (Funeral), a film by Juzo Itami. It deals more with the grieving process and is another eye-opener.

Closed Note

2008-12-12T13:52:00.001+11:00

Last week we had the 12th Japanese Film Festival in Sydney. There were quite a few films I wanted to see but unfortunately most of them played over the weekend and was gone to Melbourne for the diplomacy DON cup. I did manage to get two films in, the first being Closed Note (or クローズドノート in Japanese).

The film was OK, but to be honest, for a film festival I had higher expectations. The premise of the story had a lot of potential but I don't feel it was put to full effect in the movie. There were also a lot of cheap and mishandled tugs at the heart strings. Not a bad movie but not something I would put up for viewing at a film festival.

Then again maybe there was nothing great that came out of the Japanese film industry last year and this was the best we could hope for? Doubtful since Beat Takeshi put out a great movie in 2007, Glory to the Filmaker. I was such a hit that the Venice Film Festival named an award after it.

All in all, I'm not impressed with the film choices ... I hope this is just a fluke.

First Sydney Poker Night

2008-12-10T16:09:00.000+11:00

Finally! I've been missing my Tokyo poker games with the gang and have been in withdrawal ever since moving here. I did get a couple of games in at the casino in Auckland when visiting with Scott and some amateur poker games here in Sydney but nothing is as much fun as playing at home with friends.

I'm glad to report that I haven't lost my touch. I've always been a top contender with the guys back in Tokyo but I've always wondered if it was because I was good or they were not. Well, after giving my friends here two consecutive servings of whoopass my mind is at rest. I'm good.

Brand Name Pricing Power

2008-12-08T09:46:00.001+11:00

It's been a while since my last rant on life in Australia, though my post on Australenglish might be considered ranting, so here's a new one. Actually this post is not so much about Australia but about the craziness around consumer prices. Point in case: colas.

See the nice picture above? Two fine examples of very similar products. Probably even made at the same place, just different labels. But one is a very famous brand and the other is a generic brand. And guess what being famous allows a company to do? (besides plaster pictures of Sara Jessica Parker on it's cans)

It allows Coca-Cola to charge roughly 250% more for it's product! I remember that brand names were cheaper than the generic brands in Canada and Japan but not by so much! Someone please tell me that atrocities like this are not being committed there also?

Air Hockey a la Oz?

2008-12-03T23:36:00.000+11:00

Once upon a time in Tokyo, we used to love playing air hockey. Finding a place that actually had a table was rare and if we found one we'd have a go at a few games. It could get very competitive and I remember even getting scrapped knuckles!

On my walk to Manly beach I just happened to see this table at a pub in Manly and had to have a game. I was happy to find out that my Swiss friend who joined me on the walk was also keen to play! We had a blast and I totally trashed him three games out of three. All that practice in Tokyo sure paid off!

One thing to note, this table has the goals set up like a proper hockey rink! As opposed to 'regular' tables like those in Japan, there is space behind the goal for the puck to go around. So it's possible to send the puck across, have it round the nets and come back to you. This definitely adds another level to the game!

Australenglish!

2008-12-01T12:02:00.003+11:00

I was warned when moving to Australia that the fauna here can be deadly. From venomous snakes, to killer spiders and jellyfish. Australia, it can kill you. It's not a country for the weak. But man, no one told me to watch out for moving plants! Thank God for the signage or a poor tourist like myself could get run over by one. My threat level has just gone up another notch.

(Finally, after years of making fun of English signs in Japan we can now make fun of English in Australia)

Holy Memories of MJG

2008-12-01T11:06:00.004+11:00

A few months back I did the Manly to Spit walk, a very nice scenic walk that starts from the Spit bridge and goes on for 9 km all the way to Manly beach. The trail winds it way along the coast and offers great views of the ocean and inlets around Sydney. I never realized how many small bays and inlets Sydney has. It's a great walk, offering a lot of panoramic views and the trail is mostly either covered or in the shade, a very important thing with the incredibly harsh Australian sun.

Once at Manly I took a stroll on the beach and saw this kid which made me think of Mike and his love of digging holes. Obviously this little one has nothing on Mike's hole-digging abilities but maybe someday ... Is this perhaps what a young Mike looked like when left own his own at the beach?

Greek Style in honour of Jason

2008-11-12T07:57:00.002+11:00

I almost fell over when I saw this in the local supermarket. All these years that Jason had been shouting at us that he was going to Greek Style us during bouts of board gaming I was sure that he was venting his homophobia (or should it be philia?). And/or perchance his penchant for the Hershey highway?

But no! What Jason was really offering was to serve us up a dollop of a variety of yogurt. Poor Jason, so misunderstood all these years! I can't help to say that when I saw this yogurt instantly I had pictures of hairy Greek men slathering it all over themselves in a Caligulan version of 300 with Jason yelling at the top of his lungs to the enemy, 'come on boys, let show them some greek styling!'.

Jason, here's to you bro.

Sydney Diplomacy Championships

2008-11-03T16:20:00.003+11:00

The weekend of October 4-6 I attended the Sydney Diplomacy Championships. And no, this was not a meeting of foreign diplomats vying for world domination. Diplomacy is a board game. There is a nice write-up about the game on Wikipedia but in a nutshell diplomacy is like Risk but without the dice; there is absolutely no luck involved. The goal is world domination, the tools are your negotiation skills.

You make and break alliances, trying to convince other players to help you. But at some point you will have to break your alliances, otherwise you can't win. Everyone knows this, and all players have to balance trusting someone until you can stab them in the back, but not trusting them for so long that they get to stab you first!

The tournament was over three days with 5 games played. I did relatively well coming in third place out of 16 players (Sydney Championship Rankings). I also managed to get a prize for the best Turkey, managing to get 12 centers, this in my first game. I probably could have pushed and won the game outright but being my first game of the tournament and since I had not played in years I decided to take a draw. Looking back this was a bad decision as I never was able to do nearly as well in any of the following games. Had I pushed and won the game it would have clinched first place for the tournament since no one was able to win a game outright in any of the tournament games.

All in all it was fun and I am thinking of going to the Australian Championships in January. First place for that is a free ticket to the US to join in the World Diplomacy Championship!

Ishmael

2008-10-04T07:15:00.000+10:00

I moved to Sydney with three books I've been wanting to read for a long time, Ishmael, The Life of Pi, and The Illuminatus Trilogy. It took me a while to start reading these and Ishmael is the first one I finished.

The book is interesting and a rather easy read. It's the story of a teacher (a telepathic gorilla) and his student. The story starts out with the student, Alan Lomax, who "has a vague notion that he is living in some sort of captivity and being lied to in some way but he can not explain his feelings". Since I have a very similar feeling, that of life being a rat race, an endless, pointless pursuit with no goal, I was eager to keep reading, hoping to find some reason behind my own feelings and how to get out of the rat race. Unfortunately the book isn't about individuals, it's about the rat-race of the whole of humanity.

It explores how man is living in captivity, enslaved by a culture/civilization that forces him to exploit and destroy his own world in order to keep living; it is the story of "how things came to be this way". The gist of the explanation being that for man the 'world is a foe to be conquered [and] they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.'

In the end there was nothing to help me personally but the ideas presented are interesting and make a lot of sense. Ideas on mythology, ethics and sustainability. The book's main theme can be summed up in the following quote by the author, Daniel Quinn:

My warning is about its [agriculture's] continued success."^[1] Quinn characterizes the Malthusian problem as "How are we going to FEED all these people?" and contrasts this with his own: "How are we going to stop PRODUCING all these people?"

The points presented, taken to their logical conclusion also imply the following very controversial idea that:

"since population growth is a function of food supply, food aid to impoverished nations merely puts off and dramatically worsens a massive population-environment crisis"

野村会社員

2008-10-01T19:56:00.003+10:00

No pictures for this entry. Just wanted to give everyone an update on my employment situation. All the employees at my office today received a formal contract offer from Nomura, so from today I am no longer a Lehman Brothers employee but a member of the Nomura group.

This is great news as it means my job is secured and I continue to get paid. Yes, this is a good thing. So in short nothing much is changing for me except the company name on my business card. It's been quite a roller-coaster ride for the past few weeks, from the company going bankrupt and being out of a job all the way to today where I have my job back.

Now I can finally start blogging about other stuff!

Nomura to the rescue

2008-09-22T19:57:00.003+10:00

The news is out, Lehman Brothers' Asia-Pacific operations is being bought out by Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest brokerage house. Is this coming full circle or what? After having been in Tokyo for over nine years, I've moved to Sydney just to have my American company go bankrupt and then get bought and saved by a Japanese company. Wow.

The details are still sketchy but for now it seems to mean my job is safe for the short-term. What will happen to the Australian offices in the long-term no one knows for now but having Nomura buy out Lehman's Asia-Pacific offices is probably the best possible outcome out of this whole saga.

Does that mean I might be going back to Tokyo?

Related news articles:

Nomura wins battle for Lehman's Asia business
Nomura Wins Bid for Lehman's Operations in Asia

Disappearing act ...

2008-09-19T11:54:00.003+10:00

No real news today on my job. We're still in Limbo waiting to see if we will be bought out by another company, shut down, or ... One piece of good news is that today was pay day and we got paid!

I hope to find out soon what happens. Being a foreigner in Australia I am here on a 457 working visa sponsored by my company. If Lehman Brothers Australia goes under I lose my sponsorship and have 28 days to find another job and sponsor or have to leave the country. Not much time ...

Strangely enough this is one area where I never had to worry so much in Japan. My work visa there was not so tightly tied to my employer. Never thought I would have to worry about being kicked out of the country ...

Lehman Brothers - Update

2008-09-17T16:12:00.002+10:00

News flash, Barclays has agreed to buy the core Lehman Brothers US franchise. There seems to be some interest in buying some of the Asia assets but it's not clear if this will really happen or how Australia would fit into this.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Barclays decides to buy out Lehman Brothers Australia ... will keep you updated as I find out more.

Here is a good write up on Barclays purchase of Lehman Brothers's US operations.

Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy

2008-09-15T21:28:00.004+10:00

Most of you have probably heard the news by now, my company Lehman Brothers, has filed for bankruptcy in the US. What does this mean for me? To be honest I don't know yet. The US parent company is under Chapter 11 protection but the Australian subsidiary is still running. But having said that, our trading privileges on the Australian stock exchange have been suspended so it's not clear that we can actually still do any business at the moment.

So for now all I know is that I am going to the office tomorrow and find out more. Wish me luck. If things don't turn out then I'm hoping to go back to Tokyo.

If anyone is interested here a nice summary explaining the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Phuket nights

2008-09-06T16:36:00.006+10:00

Some of my friends have been asking me to tell them all about the more 'fun' things I did while in Phuket. Reading about how nice the beach was of the good food is nice but what they really want to know is what my nights in Patong were like.

Well this is a family blog (not really but some of my family do read it) so I can't go into all the seedy details that the friends I left behind in Tokyo want to hear. But I can say that I did have one or two fun nights.

So who's the girl in the picture above? Her name is Ayako and I met her and her friend Ayano in the pool at my hotel. They are from Kobe. Ayako is singer and is about to start a radio show when she gets back. Ayano is a photographer also from Kobe. I invited them out to go explore the Phuket nightlife and they were up for it.

The first place we hit was a club call Lime. We went thinking it was a club but it's more of a lounge bar will loud dance music. It wasn't a bad place to start at though. There was an event on (organized by a Canadian!) and the entrance was around 600 baht including all you can drink for the next two hours. When the all you can drink time was up we headed out for our next place. We weren't too drunk but drunk enough to pose with Ronald.

The next place we hit was a club called Seduction. This was a proper club, unfortunately it was also dead. There were many 5 Thai girls in there and that was it. We stayed long enough to use up our one free drink coupon. The one I can say about the place though is that they have a nice upstairs lounge. That's where I took the of Ayako on the sofa you see at the start of the post.

We were then off to our next, and last, stop, Tiger. Tiger is a pretty famous club and quite big. It has one main dance floor and a second floor around that where you can sit and watch people gyrating. It offered a great view on what people where up to down below and allowed me to take this this pic of some pole dancers.

That was probably my most fun night in Phuket. Having two fun girls along definitely made it memorable. If I were still living in Japan I'd definitely go and visit them.

Is this a geocache?

2008-09-01T18:30:00.000+10:00

Most people wouldn't think twice at seeing this building while holidaying in Phuket. But if you were me (or Scott), the first thing you'd think is geocache! Imean it's just too obvious, no? There must be one right there. Well, I searched and couldn't find one. Damn.

I thought about making my own and placing it here, but after having looked for a cache I realised that there wasn't any easy place to put one. No metal around so can't make a magnetic cache and no convenient hiding spots. Shucks, would have been great to put this one up on the net ...

Thaiglish

2008-08-27T20:14:00.000+10:00

My friend Mike has great example of weird English signs, etc, from Japan. Something we lovingly refer to as Japangrish, also known as Engrish. Unfortunately I haven't found any really exciting examples in Australia of Australish, but I keep looking.

On my trip to Phuket I did see these two funny signs attempting, I assume, to promote road safety

Duh, everyone is always careful when they drive fast, no?

The Cheapest Pad Thai in Patong!

2008-08-24T20:02:00.000+10:00

Restaurant no. 6 was a great find, but a few days before the end of my trip I found an even better restaurant. I was crazy about this place I went there for lunch and dinner on my last three days!

I had actually walked by this restaurant a few times before since it was located on a street next to my hotel. But with a name like 'Grottino' and a sign expounding pizza you can understand why it didn't garner much attention from me. I'm in Thailand, what do I want pizza for!?

What did bring me in was a new sign they put up one day, you can see it in the picture above, 'All dishes 80 baht only'! Did that include pad thai? It sure did! With the price lower than my trustee benchmark no. 6 restaurant I had to give it a go just for fun. I went in, sat down and ordered myself a chicken Pad Thai and a cold Tiger beer.

The picture may not loo like much but that is the absolute best pad thai I have ever had. So good that I ate it for my next six meals! Not only was it delicious (even better when you squeeze fresh lime on top) it's also the cheapest restaurant meal I ever had on the whole island. Even if the price goes back to normal (160 baht I think) I would still come eat to eat the pad thai. The pad thai at no. 6 is good, a real staple, but this one is truly a find.

Restaurant No. 6

2008-08-20T19:44:00.006+10:00

One thing Phuket does not have a shortage of is restaurants (another is massage parlours). The first restaurant I tried when I got to Phuket was the one above, called no. 6. My boss recommend it to me and what a great recommendation it was; I would also recommend it to anyone visiting Phuket.

Now the restaurant itself is nothing to write home about and looks like almost any other simple local eatery in Phuket. The food is not extravagant but it is authentic local food, compared to many other 'westernized' restaurants that abound. But what really kept me coming back was the cheap price. It was the one place where I can truly say I ate cheaply.

For my whole stay in Phuket I used the prices at no. 6 as a benchmark to compare other places against. Before entering any restaurant I would check the price of Pad Thai in the menu and compare it to no. 6's 100 baht Pad Thai. So for cheap local food, you can't go wrong here. The portions are small, but believe me, that's a good thing :)

Trip to Phuket

2008-08-18T20:08:00.008+10:00

I took a small 10 day vacation near the end of July and went to Phuket island in Thailand. I had originally thought of going somewhere in the French Polynesians like Vanuatu, but coworkers and my travel agent recommended against it. Not that Vanuatu or any of the French islands, like Fiji or Tahiti, have anything wrong with them! Simply, since I was going by myself I might find those islands a bit 'boring'. You see, they are pretty small and don't have much of a night life; the beaches are exquisite and best enjoyed by honeymooners I'm told.

I've been to Thailand quite a few times, mostly to Koh Samui, and decided this time to give a different part of Thailand a try. Phuket is a well known tourist destination with good beaches and a happening night life so a good choice. I chose to go to Patong beach, the most popular beach on Phuket island.

The beach was quite nice, as good as what I remember the beaches in Koh Samui being. The only thing though, whereas the hotels/bungalows in Koh Samui are right on the beach, this is not the case in Patong. All along the beach there is a road; hotels are on one side and the beach on the other. This is not such a bad thing, but you can't just lounge out of your hotel onto the beach. A small convenience but one that was sorely missed.

Bike Ride for MS Reasearch

2008-08-06T21:20:00.003+10:00

I've joined the Sydney to Gong charity bike ride to help support multiple sclerosis research. It will be held in September and is one of the many charity events that my company helps sponsor. If you're interested, you can help sponsor me! Just visit the donation page I set up and donate using your credit card.

Now some of you might be asking why there is a picture of a beaver here? Well, my company team has quite a few members and me and the other IT guys who are in this each put up a picture representing our country. You can see my team members on this page. Try and figure out what the other countries are!

Oh, and as you can see from my team page, I'm at the bottom of the rankings in donation/sponsorship .... hint, hint ^_^

Skip Pancakes On The Rocks ...

2008-07-19T14:37:00.003+10:00

If ever you are tempted for a good breakfast, do not be fooled into going to Pancakes On The Rocks in Sydney. Whatever the locals might think, this is not a good breakfast place.

The pancakes are OK but ... the maple syrup is fake synthetic sugar crap, something no true Canadian should have to put up with. And don't get me started on the sausages, bland, weak, dry, blah, I couldn't be bothered to finish more than one bite.

Scott took me here with Makiko one morning thinking it was the same franchise as some other place he had been to. Hopefully I can some day find the elusive place that Scott really wanted to take me to.

New Zealand Road Trip Part II

2008-07-19T14:10:00.010+10:00

On the second day of our trip we almost opted to fly McDonald Air the rest of our journey but decided not too. I think it had either something to do with our fear of having a yellow and red clown flying the plane or Hamburgler trying to hijack it. Don't remember which but we did give the airline's food a go.

I think the above just goes to show how insecure Kiwis are, what with the big nasty Australians so close they just have to find ways of proving their cultural uniqueness. So what exactly is a KiwiBurger? Pretty much a quarter-pounder with lettuce, tomato, an egg on the bottom, and most importantly a thick slice of beetroot. Pretty tasty I thought! I'm actually starting to like beetroot on burgers ...

Along the way we met some friends. They weren't too interested in us, just giving a sly side-glance, but considering I barely saw any sheep a horse is a horse of course.

In Auckland we tried out the Sushi Train kaiten-sushi restaurant and this was once of the more interesting (in it's simplicity) pieces they had. I was also surprised that it was not the cheapest either! It was $3 or $4 for a corn on rice! I figure you can probably make a half-dozen slices of corn of a $1 ear, turning your $1 corn cob into a tidy $18-$24. Not a bad profit!

For the evening we hit the harbor were a few nightspots are. Can't remember the name of the place we went into but as soon as we walked in we got swarmed by this girl who just had to have us sign her back, with phone numbers!

Any last but not least, Scott has lots of 'splaining to do ... How come he always seems to make it into the more interesting pictures ... Man I gotta get people to take more action shots of me!

Scott's Proctology Exam (or Our New Zealand Road Trip)

2008-07-18T14:51:00.006+10:00

A few months back I flew down to New Zealand to visit Scott while he was in Wellington on a business trip. We met up with his long-time friend Glenn (all the way from New Brunswick) who lives and works there. Wellington turned out to be a pretty small town. I was almost going to say boring, but the fact that you can walk to whole downtown does make it easy to hit all the interesting spots in one go.

One night in Wellington was enough and we planned a road trip all the way up to Auckland with one hotel stop on the way in Taupo. Amazing how we were able to drive all the way from one end of the island to the other in less than a day, that's half the country!

Now, about the picture ... this was taking during our stop-over in Taupo. After finding a hotel we drove around for a good 15 minutes trying to find some form of nightlife and were just about to give up when we found the one street corner where the bar scene was happening. We bar hopped and eventually hit this place in the picture. They were having a Doctor/Nurse night and boy were some of the nurses hot ....

Wondering why Scott has that happy startled look? The really cute nurse definitely has something to do with it. But so do does the blond nurse in front of him ...

Sydney train ticket machines suck!

2008-06-15T21:32:00.003+10:00

Ok, maybe it's because I'm coming from Tokyo with the world's best train system, but Sydney ticket machines for trains are just plain horrible. Archaic is what they are, even the soda vending machines are smarter! But I should have expected this after finding out that CityRail was found to be the worse run railway in world!

What's wrong with them you ask? Don't get me started! A short list of the horrors these machines have:

Wonder why the machines are so big? No touch screen! Every station has it's own button on the machine (see picture above). Can you imagine if the railway had hundreds of stations, the machine would be the size of a truck!
They only accept up to nine coins! Why in God's name does a machine care how many coins you put in it? If the ticket costs $1.00 and all you have are 10 cent coins, too bad, no ticket!
They don't reuse the coins they get to make change! Even regular vending machines can do this. You don't know how many time I have put a $5 dollar bill in the machine only to have it spit out again because the machine is out of change. Machines can run out of change, this I understand. But if the machine is out of change and then someone buys a ticket with exact change, the vending machine should no longer be out of change right? You would expect it to start using the changing it just received, right? But not here! The machine needs to wait for someone to come and manually refill it. Duh-um!

The Dynamo of Volition - Jason Mraz

2008-06-15T20:24:00.003+10:00

Was watching TV one weekend and while flipping channels I stumbled on this music video channel. They had a guy on playing an acoustic version of his song. I liked it so much that I spent a good while trying to find who this guy is, the song and a copy of the video.

Be patient with the video, it takes a minute before he starts singing. The music is good but it's the singing style, very staccato and syncopated, that god me. The lyrics are also pretty cool in an almost-makes-sense-'til-you-read-them kind of way.

Jason Mraz - The Dynamo of Volition from the album We Eat. We Dance. We Steal Things.

If you want to get a copy of his album you can try this torrent.

Soft serve ice cream - Burger King wins!

2008-06-15T17:40:00.006+10:00

At the train station near my office there is a McDonald's and Burger King (actually a called Hungry Jack's in Australia but that's a topic for a future post). I used to love soft serve ice-cream cones in Japan (called soft-cream [sofutokuriimu]) but it wasn't easy to find as most McDonald' restaurants there don't serve it. The only McDonald's I remember having it is the one in Shibuya near Tower Records.

So I was surprised when I had my first McDonald's cone here to find out that it wasn't very good and nothing at all like I remembered the cones in Japan to be! The ice cream was more like frozen yogurt. It melted more quickly, the taste was more watery and definitely not as creamy. I thought this might be because Australians were more health conscious? Frozen yogurt is better than ice cream right?

Well, the taste difference has nothing to do with healthier eating. At Hungry Jacks they also have soft serve ice cream cones and they are fabulous! Incredibly creamy and with a great buttery vanilla taste. If you ever feel the need for a cone, skip McDonald's and go straight to Hungry Jacks, the cones there are by far the best. You can even get your cone dipped in chocolate but skip that, it costs more and doesn't add much. The ice cream is where it's at.

Canada on the Front Page!

2008-06-14T10:43:00.005+10:00

Opened Wikipedia this morning and what did I see?? The featured article of the was a big, bright, red and white flag! Yup, the article is about Canada's flag, the Maple Leaf or l'Unifolié in French (rough translation 'the unileafed'). Woo-hoo!

Just had to point it out!

Salsa

2008-06-14T10:15:00.003+10:00

Started taking salsa lessons again. After last weekend when I went dancing salsa with five incredible Japanese girls, all excellent dancers, I decided it would be a good time to start lessons again. One of the guys I met there suggested Salsa Vibes so I started there on Thursday.

I had taken lessons for about six months back in Tokyo two years ago but stopped because I wasn't getting very good very fast. The main reason for this being that I was going to lessons once a week but not getting any practice in besides the lessons and about an hour of practice afterwards. In case you don't know this, it's about three times as hard for a guy to get good at salsa than for a woman. The main reason salsa it's hard for a guy is that they need to lead (a lot!), whereas the woman just needs to follow. And leading isn't half as easy as you might think.

The biggest reason in my case though was a lack of practice. I did try to go to some salsa bars to get some practice in but .... The thing is that most people at salsa bars are already pretty good dancers! So trying to get a woman to dance with a beginner just doing the basic steps is hard. And it's intimidating to ask a woman to dance when you can obviously tell that they are better than you are. I-t-i-m-i-d-a-t-i-n-g ... really tough.

So the only way to get over that is for me to take more lessons and get good!

Sex And The City

2008-06-10T21:27:00.003+10:00

OK, call me girlie for having gone to see this movie if you will. But having been a fan of the TV series (I rented and watched all 6 seasons on DVD when I was in Japan) I had to go see the movie to see how series ends; I had an itch to see the dénouement if you will. Sex and the City was not necessarily a great TV series but it did have its share of good episodes. But for me the best thing it was that it was a great way to get a conversation going about relationships and sex with my girlfriend at the time.

An episode of SATC could let you start a discussion about a lot of interesting topics that might otherwise be a bit awkward. And since at the time I was dating a Japanese woman (I was in Tokyo after all!), this was the perfect mechanism for talking about a host of topics.

Now, as for the movie, I liked it very much; I give it four our of five stars. Not only did it continue the television series perfectly, it also had all the characters exactly where you would expect them to be in their lives. But more importantly the situations presented in the movie, cheating on a spouse, fear of commitment and feeling trapped because of commitment were all issues I could relate with. And each of these was presented in a real an believable way.

I'd love to go into more details but then I'd be giving too much of the movie away! I laughed, I cried (OK only sniffled), and I felt this was the first movie in a long time I was happy to spend money on. I know that's not saying much considering the crap in theaters these days but still ... Now if only I had gone to see it with someone I could talk about it with afterwards!

Speaking of which ... I went to see this movie with five pretty hot Japanese women. Go figure!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-05-24T20:09:00.003+10:00

Went to see the new Indiana Jones movie this week with some coworkers. Not worth it. It really wasn't as good as the others (OK, I've only seen Raiders and Last Crusade but I can't imagine Temple of Doom being this bad).

Very limited characters development. The story was incredible (as in not credible) just too many times. In all the other Indy films there were very implausible situations, or Indie would do things that seemed hard to believe, like hanging on to a submarine in the first one, but it was possible. In this one ... just no way. One fine example is Indy and his 5 friends riding a boat off the edge of a 40 foot fall and surviving. Ok, once I can believe, but they do it three times in a row!

But for me the worse was the bluescreen. Too many times during the movie I could tell that none of the background was real. Have a look at the picture below. Does anything in it look real?

The movie is fun at times and the story can get a bit engaging but in the end I didn't find it up to snuff. I would not recommend spending the money to see this at the theater.

My Apartment

2008-05-24T19:51:00.006+10:00

Here are a few pics of my new apartment on the day I moved in. I'll put some pictures of what it looks like now after I received all my furniture from Tokyo.

I live in downtown Sydney on the edge of The Rocks and the central business centre. The exact location is on Kent street, near the observatory. You can see me here on Googlemaps. It's very convenient for me since it's only ab out an 8 minute walk to the office (here).

Settling in

2008-05-17T12:47:00.005+10:00

Ok, so a lot of people (Mike) have been complaining that I am not updating my blog often enough so I thought I'd post a little recap of what's happened since I moved to Sydney. Now first, I was happy to hear that at least one person is reading my blog. And yes, I do wish I could post more but . . .

One, I haven't gone on any big adventures (no trips to Hawaii (Mike, how does one link to a particular post on your blog? I wanted to link to your Hawaii post but can't figure out how!)) so can't write about that. And right now I lead a pretty normal life not much to report there. And when something interesting does happen (like the night I took two girls from the pub to my place), it's not really something I can write about on my blog, my mom could read it!

Two, I am not Mike (or does he like to be called Michael now?). I have a very full-time job (or do you think I'm paying for that second and third house in Canada??) and don't have a lot of time on my hands to update my blog. I do envy Michael (Mike?) though; the guy put up four blog entries in one day! It's not like I have nothing to say, just don't have the time to say it.

Three, well there is no three. I just wanted to rant. So here are the things that have happened/are happening and will try and post about in the very near future:

Finally got my shipment from Tokyo. Been a bitch trying to fit two-bedroom's worth of stuff in a one-bedroom apartment
Not buying a place in Sydney. Have decided to buy two houses in Canada instead
Dating. Have not been able to get back with the ex, tried speed dating (there's a story in there, a horror story!), and Scott has introduced me to someone (about time!).
Writing. Want to try my hand at it, need some time and to make my place a bit more comfy
Rock climbing. With Scott leaving I need to find some new partners. Like it a lot and after seeing some pros want to know learn proper technique
Gaming. Need to find a local group so I can get my fix in!
Ultimate. Given up on it. Won't join the league here as the games are Monday nights from 8 - 10 PM!

That's a short list. I Promise I will get around to posting on those topics eventually!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

2008-05-16T19:01:00.002+10:00

Saw this movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a few weeks back with my buddy Scott. I wasn't expecting it to be great but was pleasantly surprised. A lot of good jokes, some very funny scenes, and nudity of the male sort (totally gratuitous but so funny!).

I especially liked the character of Aldous Snow, Sarah's new rocker and bad boy boyfriend, played by Russel Brand. Great acting there making the guy full of himself yet in a very real and likable way. I don't know if I would recommend paying a full movie fare but it's definitely worth a watch. I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Catching up on Lost

2008-05-16T18:37:00.004+10:00

Now that all my stuff from Tokyo has finally arrived I've been able to set up my mac mini to download all my favourite TV series and start come much needed catch-up! So for the past few nights I've been watching Lost, and boy am I ever loving it!

I'm up to episode 9 and I just can't wait to see where the show is going! We've seen Desmond time travel, Ben materialize in the Sahara desert, a secret cave in Ben's house, and some sort of epic battle scenario develop between Ben and Charles Widmore. Talk of the island having belonged to Widmore and Ben stealing it from him, Ben unleashing the island monster, etc. Wow!

The weekend is here and I'm definitely sitting down and catching up to the most current episode. Can't wait!!

Flatland Reviewed

2008-04-28T20:22:00.010+10:00

Just finished re-reading Mike's story Flatland in order to get me into the right frame of mind to write it's review. So here we go ...

Overall a good story, with just one or two spurs present that distracted me. The plot was engaging an the idea original. As to what I found that distracted me during the ready, an example of a spur would be this: I can understand one child falling off the edge, or some falling wanting to find their friends, but why do all children eventually go over the edge? In one case the children have to physically break out of their locked room to get to the edge and disappear. They made a choice. Why? If the children all disappeared inexplicably one-by-one or in groups that would fine. But in some cases it is inexplicable in others the children made a choice. That's a spur and it nagged at me. But the nagging spurs are forgotten as the story comes to a close . . .

We become more interested in the main character, Fotheringay, when he becomes the last person in Flatland. This is perhaps the last 10 percent of the story but where at near the middle I was speeding through to see what happens I now slowed down, reading every word slowly, feeling for Fotheringay, waiting for the end. A pretty good ending too, not that it resolves anything but it is very suitable to the story and the character. A much better ending that Caterpillarman.

Though there isn't much character development Fotheringay plays himself well. Everything Mike makes him say or do just seems so right. I think this is one thing that makes for a good story, the characters just flow naturally, and Mike has done it very well with Fotheringay. Especially giving him a phrase to use 'In life as in business'. I'm sure this is a literary tool because I can spot when Mike uses it in his stories (If I spot it does it mean it's used well? That I am looking too hard? Or that it's not subtle enough? Food for thought . . .) Strangely enough that tool was not used in Caterpillarman I wonder what that means?

Does it mean the stories are of different styles/types? Does it mean that to engage the reader in a certain way it is useful but if you want the reader engaged or to feel a different way it is not? Now that Mike has made me think of this I'm almost wanting to write a story myself to see!

PS Happy Birthday Mike!

Flatland

2008-04-27T23:05:00.005+10:00

Following up on my review of Caterpillarman I've read a second of Michael's stories, this one called Flatland. Very much enjoyed the story but don't quite have time to put up up the review just yet though; it took me too long to find the appropriate picture for this post and it's now time to hit the sack. Will be back tomorrow with the full review ...

Summer 1991!

2008-04-14T19:36:00.004+10:00

For those wanting a good laugh here is a picture of me and my friend Vincent taken summer 1991. Now you know why I keep my hair short now!

Up, up and away!

2008-04-09T19:12:00.004+10:00

I went Scott to try out the Sydney Indoor Rock Climbing Gym near St Peters this weekend with Scott. We had heaps of fun! This place was much better then the other place I went to. It's much bigger and even has a section with walls for kids. I hate to say it but the first time we went Scott and I only did the kid walls!

To be fair one reason we did them is that the kid's section is much less crowded. On weeknights there are very few people using them (and no kids) and the walls are not at all easy, so great for beginners. The second Scott and I went was on a weekend and we did the 'regular' walls. The first few walls are not hard either. They differ from the kid's section in being taller by maybe an extra 5 meters. Of course then there are some really tough walls but we're not ready for those yet.

There is also a small bouldering section which we tried. Like the other place I went to the bouldering section is hard and not really for beginners but we were able to have fun and find a few problems we could finish. Bouldering was definitely more tiring and I could really feel the burn in my forearms!

Caterpillarman

2008-04-09T07:49:00.004+10:00

My friend and up-and-coming auteur celebre Michael John Grist, has had two of his stories recently published. I've had the time to read on of the stories, Caterpillarman, and it's pretty darned good! Nice use of words and syntax and since the story is so abstract at points it really makes you think.

My only critique is that I would have ended the stories four sentences earlier though, when the hole closed. The last four lines made the ending seemed a little bit contrived and (in my lowly opinion) didn't add anything. Leaving as-is four lines earlier would have left me thinking much more; thinking "what happens next."

Still I like all of Mike's stories and look forward to reading next one!

Around my place

2008-04-08T22:03:00.003+10:00

I moved into my apartment last week and this weekend I decided to walk around my place to get a feel for where I live. The area around here is called The Rocks and it's a nice walk around here with quite a few buildings with nice architecture. In the picture above you can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Walking back towards the city another picture of the Harbour Bridge.

Jumper

2008-03-27T19:50:00.005+11:00

Went to see Jumper last night. I was wanting to see this with Scott but he wasn't too eager having read bad reviews so while he's away lallygagging in a different city and with me nothing to do at night I went to see the 9:30 show. I'll have to agree with Mike's review and say that the movie is not half-bad. Hayden Christensen is woody and the movie has quite a few holes but the story was good and the action kept it going. The movie could have been so much better though. The story behind the epoch-spanning war between the jumpers and the paladins could have been developed so much more; there's a lot of material there! Maybe the sequel will be better? Nah, never happens with sequels ...

Bouldering

2008-03-26T19:38:00.003+11:00

Been trying to find things to do on the weekends and after work. I've always wanted to do some bouldering (tried once in Ottawa and really liked it) and have found a few places in Sydney I want to try. Last night I went to Climb Fit located near St Leonards station. I had emailed ahead and had made sure there were some bouldering available as most indoor rock climbing places I found online seemed to only have climbing and no bouldering. And true to their word there was a pretty long section of wall dedicated to bouldering but ... it was totally not for beginners like myself. Just one look and I had to go ask them is they had something else. I ended up on the kid's wall used for rock climbing and using the automated wall they have. The automated wall is neat, a kind of belt wall that is powered by your weight.

I'll be trying another place later this week and hoping it has easier bouldering routes. If anyone is ever in Ottawa I recommend Coyote Rock Gym. This place which is huge in comparison to the places here, cheaper, and has easier routes.

Be Kind Rewind

2008-03-26T19:27:00.004+11:00

Don't go see this movie. Be Kind Rewind starring Jack Black is not worth the trip to the movie theater. Had I been watching this at home I would have stopped after 10 minutes, but since I had paid good money and was sitting in the theater I plodded through and saw it to the end. Like another Jack Black movie, Nacho Libre, which I also found hard to watch, both felt like low budget movies with stilted acting at times and Jack playing an annoying character you just didn't want to watch.

Geocaching

2008-03-21T20:39:00.005+11:00

Been spending a lot of time with Scott on the weekends. He's introduced me to a new activity called geocaching. Basically geocaching like a treasure hunt. People will hide something (the cache), publish the GPS coordinates of where the cache is on the Internet and off you go!

Here I am with one of the first geocaches I found. A tiny little thing and hard to find!

First outing

2008-03-15T10:22:00.004+11:00

This was my first weekend after a full week of work. I got Scott to take me and my friend Reiko out to a disc golf course at the Sydney Olympic park. We needed to take the ferry there, about a 40 minute ride. The ride there was nice and I got to see a lot of the harbour. Scott couldn't find much information about the actual course so we had to walk a bit to find it. We got really worried when we finally did find it though because it was on the army armoury grounds and surrounded by a fence. We found an entrance but it was a huge gate with a gard. It looked like the course might actually be private and only for the army guys! Luckily we kept walking and found another entrance open to the public. We asked the information desk about the course and found out that the course was actually brand new and had only just been set up, I think we might have actually been the first people to use it!

The course itself is huge and is good in that respect but to tell the truth I didn't like it as much as the one in Tachikawa and the one near my old place in Toyosu. The course is just too open, not many trees at all. So other than the token tree that is always placed right in front of the tee line, it's just an open stretch to the basket. We played all nine holes and Scott beat me handily and Reiko did not do so bad considering the course is so long.

King of Kong

2008-03-08T09:47:00.002+11:00

I went to see my first movie in Sydney this week. I went with Scott to see King of Kong, a documentary about Steve Wiebe who in 2006 tries to beat the world record for the highest score in the video arcade game Donkey Kong. Ok, this may sound like a geeky movie (and in a way it may be) but I liked it! The movie presents the history of arcade game competitions and that's interesting but more importantly it also really makes the story of Wiebe poignant, almost bring a tear to my eye at time. It's a well made piece of film and I recommend it.

Mardi Gras

2008-03-05T21:54:00.008+11:00

For my first weekend in Sydney I went to the Mardi Gras parade on Sunday. Here in Sydney though this is not like your usual Carnival parade but is a big gay and lesbian celebration. It was very crowded and hard to see the actualy parade itself but it's a big event here and had to be seen.

I went to the parade with my friend Reiko. Since the crowd in front of us was thick it was hard to see the parade. Actually the people in front of us were all standing on milk crates that they had brought. We were definitely at a disadvantage. So being the gentleman that I am I scoured the area for something that Reiko could stand on. I found a food stall nearby and lo-and-behold they had a milk crate! At first they didn't want to lend it out ... so I asked the one local woman there (the others seemed to be Lebanese) if she would sell it to me for $100. She looked at me like I was joking and said ok. When I actually took out a $100 she couldn't believe I was serious! I had to convince her I was and she finally relented and sold me the crate. I'm glad to say that Reiko was then able to see the parade :)

Where's the sun?

2008-03-02T11:15:00.003+11:00

I'm in Sydney now. Sorry I can't post any pictures but I don't really have Internet access. I'm staying in a furnished apartment and though there is a connection in the room I don't have a PC.

So far Sydney looks a lot like my home town of Ottawa. The weather is pretty bad these days though, wet and cold. I've been told it's the worst summer in a long time.

I'll start work on Monday and I'm looking forward to seeing what the work culture is like here. I'm especially looking forward to that mythical Friday beer with the guys!

Sydney here I come!

2008-02-15T15:06:00.002+11:00

For those of you not in the know, I am transferring to my company's Sydney office. Things are starting to move along quite quickly now and it looks like I will be in Sydney in less than two weeks. I still need to get the movers all sorted out and book a flight but barring any problems I will be there by the last week of February! I also need to sell most of my stuff so if anyone wants something from my apartment let me know!

Snow!

2008-02-03T21:48:00.001+11:00

Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning, looked out my window, and saw snow! Sure, I know, nothing special if Iwere in Canada but snow in Tokyo is a rare thing. There fell a whole 3 centimeters today.

Enough snow that someone made this snowman (snow bunny?) in front of my apartment. Just to illustrate how a rare a thing this is here ... I took a taxi and it had chains on the tires!

Sumo

2008-01-14T21:13:00.000+11:00

Since I am leaving Japan soon (after 9 years!) I figured I should try and do some of the things I can only do in Japan before I leave. On of those things would be sumo of course! I went to see the first day of the first tournament of the year at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Mes Aïeux!

2007-12-31T16:41:00.000+11:00

A blast from the past! My Great-great-grandfather and grandmother (on my dad's side). Can you spot the resemblance? I hate to say it but grams looks like she's not too happy to see me!

Bob Sapp Pants

2007-12-29T01:40:00.001+11:00

Since he's coming back and will probably be taking over my place as the guy with the sweetest pad, I figured a little humiliation was in order for Scott.

Mike's cats

2007-12-12T01:26:00.000+11:00

My friend Mike had a small exhibitions of his paintings tonight at the Pink cow. There where lots of cats! Not my favourite topic but some were quite good. Had I gotten there earlier I could have even bought one but by the time I had arrived all the good pieces had sold. So I'm going to have to commission a piece all for myself. Ok, Mike, I want something big and colourful for my apartment. Go!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-11T21:36:00.001+11:00

Had a small thanksgiving dinner at my place. Only a few select people were invited :) Not having an oven I couldn't cook a turkey so I ended up ordering one from Fuji Mama's. I can say two things, one, the turkey was delicious! Two, a 10Kg turkey is huge! The picture doesn't do justice to the size of the bird. Let's just say we were ten people and even with Mike eating two (or was it three!) servings we only had half the turkey.

And the chips are in!

2007-10-29T21:22:00.000+11:00

I got my poker chips finally! I got to use them over the weekend with some friends; so much fun. Mike and Kumi came over along with Vincent and Makiko, and Maho and Kumi's friend Satomi. Had to teach the girls how to play but once they figured it out they really got a kick out of winning a full pot.

If anyone else is looking for chips I got them from this site, www.oldvegaschips.com. A lot of choice! The quality is good and the service not too bad, though I did have to wait a while before getting them. Took about a month, seems they were out of stock of the particular chips I wanted. The chips are made in China so maybe not a good idea to chew on them ;)

Oh, and if you are wondering why we are eating cake well ... my birthday was coming up so Mike was kind enough to get cake. Thanks Mike!

Poker!

2007-10-11T23:31:00.001+10:00

Finally got my Casino Royale poker plaques (below)! Now I'm just waiting on my poker chips to come in and I'll be having a poker night at my place with the guys.

Update: Forgot to mention that these were a real pain in the butt to get. Seems the company that own the right to these in the US won't ship to Japan. I tracked down the actual maker and guess what? It's a Japanese company (Matsui gaming)! The one sale rep I got in touch with was incredibly nice and tried to get some for me. Ends up that they don't really sell to individuals so I would have needed a minimum order of a 100 plaques. At $10 each that was way over my budget. To make a long story short I was able to find an English reseller that would ship to Japan. And again guess what ... all they do is put the order in with the original American reseller who then ships it. Boy ...

Halo 3

2007-10-10T22:14:00.001+10:00

I got myself a copy of Halo 3 2 weeks back and played it for about a week before finishing. Just getting the console and the game was a feat in itself considering that I live in Japan and all XBox consoles here are in Japanese. Worse yet the games a re region encoded so you can't play a US version of Halo 3 on a Japanese console. Why do companies do this? Sucks big time. Any way, have a friend who goes onto the US army bases here qute a bit and he was able to get me both the console and the game. Thanks Curt!

Tokyo Gaming Convention

2007-10-10T18:39:00.000+10:00

I went to the Tokyo Game Show a few weekends back with my friend Sven. This is where various video game companies display their wares, new games, etc. A big show at Makuhari Messe. The place is a bit out of the way, about an hour from Tokyo but it was a fun Sunday afternoon and since I hadn't seen Sven in a while a good way to catch up.

Lots of people in costumes there! This person is just handing out fliers but there were some die-hard anime/manga cosplay; a few pictures below. Some of these costumes were incredibly well made and of course some of the women really good-looking!

Typhoon 9 hits Tokyo

2007-10-10T18:27:00.000+10:00

In early September Typhoon 9 (Fitow) hit Tokyo and created quite a mess. This was noticeable at the park near the Tamagawa river were I play Ultimate with a group of friends. The picture show what the fields looked like one week after the typhoon hit. The place was all muddy and there were uprooted tress here and there and a lot of weeds that must have floated in when the river overflowed.

Kirin Brewery

2007-08-12T23:46:00.000+10:00

Last week we went to visit the Kirin Brewery and beer museum in Yokohama. Interestingly the name of the station where the brewery is located is Namamugi, which literally means fresh barley. The tour itself was not very interesting and went by pretty quickly. And since we went on a Saturday the machinery was not running so we didn't get to see the bottles and cans spinning around. We did get two free beers each at the end though! I just wish they would have served some of their less popular beers instead of their number one and two best sellers.

Little girl with an umbrella

2007-08-06T22:45:00.002+10:00

Question: Is the girl real?

Old Japan

2007-08-06T22:40:00.000+10:00

A nice picture of what a old traditional Japanese house looks like. Not that I know any one in Japan that has such a house except for the royal family. Though the various temples have buildings like these.

Never this white

2007-08-06T22:37:00.000+10:00

Another picture from Tobu World square, this one of the Taj Mahal I don't think the real this is this white any more ...

The gates of?

2007-07-29T20:06:00.000+10:00

Isn't this amazing!? Just imagine how much time it must have taken to build this replica! And I have to say that even if you visited the real thing I doubt you'd ever get such a good view of the whole thing. After seeing this I don't feel the need to see the real thing at all, this such a nicer vier, and no crowds! Oh, just in case you didn't know this is St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Not been here

2007-07-29T20:03:00.001+10:00

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel. Not much to say but a nice picture I thought.

Been there!

2007-07-29T19:44:00.000+10:00

Some of my favourite buildings from Manhattan. These buildings are nowhere that close to each other but they make for a great group shot. You can see the Bryant Park Hotel and the Flatiron building. I especially like this type of architecture. Not sure what it is but I'd love to live in a building like these, they've got character.

Huh?

2007-07-29T19:31:00.001+10:00

Ok, if this picture doesn't give you a hint of where I've or how come I've been able to take such amazing pictures of Japanese locations then you thicker than pea soup. Tru, my amazing camera (a Canon IXY 900IS) with amazing 288mm wide lens helps but still. All these pictures were taken at the Tobu World Square, an amazing place. Here you can find 1/25 replicas of some of Japan's and the world's most famous buildings.

Yoyogi Park

2007-07-29T19:25:00.001+10:00

In the foreground is an image is Yoyogi gymnasium built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics located in Yoyogi park.

Tokyo Station

2007-07-29T19:20:00.001+10:00

Another fine picture showing my superior aerial photography skills (not!). Hopefully through this series you'll be able to see some shots of famous Japanese sites without even coming here! This one is of of the famed Tokyo station. And yes it is this busy. One thing to note about all these pictures though ... there is no greenery in Tokyo. You won't see tree like these anywhere.

The Japanese Diet

2007-07-29T10:43:00.000+10:00

I guess you're wondering what dieting has to do with this picture? If you guessed 'nothing' then you're right! But those in the know will recognize this building as the Diet of Japan, the parliament building in other words. The Diet is located in central Tokyo but extra points go to those who can figure out where this picture was taken from!

Me and the car

2007-07-29T10:41:00.001+10:00

Such a nice picture of me I just had to post it. This is from my sea kayaking experiences with Mike. The picture is shameless stolen from Mike's Blender No I am not responsible for the wreck behind me ...

Kayaking

2007-07-29T10:33:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago Mike invited me to join him and and his girlfriend to spend the night over in Shimoda
and do some sea kayaking in the morning. You can see Mike's full write up of the event at Mike's web site, Mike's Blender. You need to scroll down a bit to find it. Mike has much more free time than me so he can afford to wax lyrical and do a good write up.

Don't pee on the toilet!

2007-07-29T10:32:00.001+10:00

Just thought this was funny. A biodegradable toilet? Wouldn't sit on it too long!

Thailand Vacation

2007-07-29T10:21:00.003+10:00

In May I went to Thailand for a 10 day vacation. I chose a place called The Sanctuary. I chose this particular 'resort' because they offered three-times daily yoga lessons and the rooms looked great (or at least the pictures on the web site looked great). I enjoyed myself but lets just say that it wasn't all that I expected it to be. The beach wasn't great (the sand is rough and not silky smooth and white) and the waves pretty big. The rooms are spartan and though the web site makes the 'outdoor' shower and toilet attached to each private bungalow sound great, they aren't. Rustic at best is how I would describe the showers/toilets. Mine was even worse because I had a huge lizard that decided to live there.

I did enjoy the yoga though and learned some new styles. I have a new appreciation for Yin and Ashtanga yoga. I just wish I could practice yoga more often in Tokyo!

My Name!

2007-07-29T10:17:00.000+10:00

My name card at the wedding reception!

Vincent's Marriage

2007-07-29T10:14:00.000+10:00

On April 22 Vincent married Makiko. The ceremony was held in Ginza (Tokyo) and I was lucky enough to be invited. Vincent's father made the trip to attend it was nice to see him again. I sat at the same table with him during the reception and we had some nice chats.

Alex came back!

2007-07-29T10:11:00.000+10:00

Back in April, our friend Alex came to visit (with his now wife Junko). Alex was here in Tokyo until 2004(?) and was the first person I met when I joined the Futako-tamagawa ultimate group. We went out with Mike and Mike (both from Ultimate) to play some disc golf in Tachikawa.