Headed to The Eng's in the AM to setup his wireless network. I was impressed with his ability to answer the door 2 hours before noon. He is strong when necessary, a fine upstanding gent.
So the wireless was easy, and the Yahoo! DSL seemed fine, then weak, then dropped completely...wtf?!
After much hair-pulling it was decided that the new home alarm system the building owner insisted he have installed was screwing up the phone line. So armed with my trusty screwdriver I proceeded to pry off the cover to the alarm, disconnect the phone line uplink, cut the power, disconnect the backup battery, and restore the phone line to its pristine state.
I also plugged the DSL modem and wireless into the phonejack in the bedroom, and amazingly enough it worked.
After that mad success, The Eng gave me a ride in his 43o Spider to Hiroo Station wherein I encountered a large group of large (ever seen small?) marines obviously confused. They were trying to get to Iidabashi, so I took them halfway and pointed them in the right direction as I continued on to Hongo 3-chome to do some sittin'.
And I sat.
And we had some snacks and bevvies as we usually do after sittin', then I bought a bunch of quality fish and dinner foods at FoodShow in Shibuya before bussin' home.
the bridge from the boat
We rented a boat for a couple of hours to cruise around the bay. The weather was perfect, the water calm, the food warm and the beverages cool.
crash and bored
So, was in a car accident yesterday. Yes, I'm fine and not hurt, driver is fine, too.
Accidents happen, such is life. However, it was a fascinating insight into the machine of Japanese bureaucracy.
First order of business: close the highway, all lanes. For two hours.
I counted: 10 patrol cars, 2 fire trucks, 3 ambulances, at least 40 cops, plus 4 highway vehicles with big blinky signs and a number of old-school wicker brooms to help clean up the debris.
We spent a couple of hours standing around on the highway explaining to 7 different cops at least 7 times what happened. They had big tape measures, different colors of chaulk, digital and film cameras, flares, cones, reflective arrows, and blinky lights.
After a couple of hours on the highway, and having come to an agreement that the accident happened in our lane, with the other driver changing lanes in front of us, our tow truck arrived and we accompanied the car to the police station.
And then we sat on a bench.
For.
Three.
Hours.
20 cops. One laptop computer. A printer that appeared to only be capable of printing one. page. at. a. time.
Then signing lots of paperwork: we have your car. We're returning your car. We're NOT returning your car. This ackowledges that you ackowledge that we have your car, etc.
And then the cops apologized for keeping us so long, said they'd ask us to come back again, and when they call we can decide on a mutually agreeable time and date, then they called a cab for us.
And by 4pm we were back in the office. (The accident was about 8am.)
Accidents happen, such is life. However, it was a fascinating insight into the machine of Japanese bureaucracy.
First order of business: close the highway, all lanes. For two hours.
I counted: 10 patrol cars, 2 fire trucks, 3 ambulances, at least 40 cops, plus 4 highway vehicles with big blinky signs and a number of old-school wicker brooms to help clean up the debris.
We spent a couple of hours standing around on the highway explaining to 7 different cops at least 7 times what happened. They had big tape measures, different colors of chaulk, digital and film cameras, flares, cones, reflective arrows, and blinky lights.
After a couple of hours on the highway, and having come to an agreement that the accident happened in our lane, with the other driver changing lanes in front of us, our tow truck arrived and we accompanied the car to the police station.
And then we sat on a bench.
For.
Three.
Hours.
20 cops. One laptop computer. A printer that appeared to only be capable of printing one. page. at. a. time.
Then signing lots of paperwork: we have your car. We're returning your car. We're NOT returning your car. This ackowledges that you ackowledge that we have your car, etc.
And then the cops apologized for keeping us so long, said they'd ask us to come back again, and when they call we can decide on a mutually agreeable time and date, then they called a cab for us.
And by 4pm we were back in the office. (The accident was about 8am.)
tonchan's sleeper
P is The Best Wife, and soon to be The Best Mom. A few months ago we did the traditional thing and went to the shrine to make sure she got all the proper Shinto Good Birth Magic, and she got a length of gauze cloth to wrap her abdomen in order to the keep the baby cookin' properly. With this bolt, she buckled down in proper home-bound pregnant wife fashion and sewed this awesome babywear.
I asked if she could make one for me, too but she said she doesn't have enough cloth.
dinner w/yoons & smallwoods
We did Akiba in the morning, checking out all the geeky back streets and crazy t-shirt shops, then met Conan's dad and headed to the massive Yodobashi Camera. N3i got a cool digital camera and then we all regrouped at home to check out Conan's new pad, watch some Samurai Jack, and get some excellent dinner.
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