80s!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Started with bevvies at PCA, then ended up at Soul Dining, rocking out to the greatest hits of the 80's, spun on vinyl.
80s!
80s!
Originally uploaded by renfield
@ bornelund
@ bornelund
Originally uploaded by renfield
HOT. Like, really really really hot. Summer sucks, man, too hot!
Spent the morning in the kiddie pool on the deck (got a nice sunburn for it, too thanks) then did some walkabout to Roppongi Hills. Randomly bumped into the Smallwoods, had lunch at Bairan newly opened at the hills, met Newman briefly, did some more goofing off, then went to evening practice with a bunch of folks I hadn't seen in a while.
And it was too damn hot all day.
krispy kreme
krispy kreme
Originally uploaded by renfield
It's Friday, and for lack of anything better to do, we sent the intern over to Shinjuku with an order to come back with as many doughnuts as she could carry.
She returned with ten dozen.
Excellent effort, well done.
good samaritan
Managed to leave the office at 7:30 (wow, only a 12-hour work day!) and the weather was awesome; not too hot, low humidity, so I walked to Roppongi Hills.
Passed a couple of obviously lost kids and asked them if they needed help. They were trying to go to Roppongi Hills too so I told them to follow me.
Seems they are three exchange students studying in Nagasaki, up in Tokyo on summer break. Asked what was cool to do in Tokyo so gave them some suggests (Asakusa, Sunday afternoon in Harajuku, sushi brunch in Tsukiji) and led them to their destination.
Then I camped out at the 'bucks and got my read on. Plowed through another chapter of my credit derivs book
, wrote bunches of emailage on the Crackberry, and walked home. A most productive evening.
Passed a couple of obviously lost kids and asked them if they needed help. They were trying to go to Roppongi Hills too so I told them to follow me.
Seems they are three exchange students studying in Nagasaki, up in Tokyo on summer break. Asked what was cool to do in Tokyo so gave them some suggests (Asakusa, Sunday afternoon in Harajuku, sushi brunch in Tsukiji) and led them to their destination.
Then I camped out at the 'bucks and got my read on. Plowed through another chapter of my credit derivs book
, wrote bunches of emailage on the Crackberry, and walked home. A most productive evening.
i put on cat
ruths chris lunch
ruths chris lunch
Originally uploaded by renfield
Island Mama took me to lunch. She had the cheese steak sammy, I had the steak and 'sparagus salad. With fries.
Quality.
cold
Head is stuffy and throat hurts. P has a cough. Tonchan's pink eye seems to have cleared up. Like everything in life, there is balance; one week in Hawaii vs. sick family upon return to reality!
hawaii
Spent a week in Hawaii, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Hawaii does not suck:
Bought matching aloha clothing.
Went to Haruka & Todd's wedding in Waimea near the North Shore.
Checked out the farmers' market at Kapiolani Community College.
Did some rakugaki with a pen.
Played with Sana and Nanako and Yokkun.
Went shopping at Ala Moana and had lunch at Panda Express and Mariposa.
Ate at the diner a bunch of times.
Took a surfing lesson.
Consumed massive amounts of chocolate fudge brownies.
Chilled at the beach and the pool.
Hung out with a penguin.
Had dinner at Cafe Miro.
Upgraded to first class on the way home.
And caught a cold.
Hawaii does not suck:
Bought matching aloha clothing.
Went to Haruka & Todd's wedding in Waimea near the North Shore.
Checked out the farmers' market at Kapiolani Community College.
Did some rakugaki with a pen.
Played with Sana and Nanako and Yokkun.
Went shopping at Ala Moana and had lunch at Panda Express and Mariposa.
Ate at the diner a bunch of times.
Took a surfing lesson.
Consumed massive amounts of chocolate fudge brownies.
Chilled at the beach and the pool.
Hung out with a penguin.
Had dinner at Cafe Miro.
Upgraded to first class on the way home.
And caught a cold.
maserati gransport v8
maserati gransport v8
Originally uploaded by renfield
Simon showing off his latest wheels. And no I'm not in the driver's seat; it's a right-hand drive car (this is Japan.)
arisugawa park
arisugawa park
Originally uploaded by renfield
Hung out in the park with Conan of the Small Woods, playing badminton and other park-like activities. Tonchan did her running about and falling down alot thing, as well as goofing on the slide, in the sand box (dirt pit), etc.
muji tricycle
muji tricycle
Originally uploaded by renfield
She hasn't quite got the pedaling concept down but she is loving the trike. Methinks it has serious birthday present potential. Comes in red, yellow, and white. Love the parental handle, too.
shrimp shumai
shrimp shumai
Originally uploaded by renfield
Hooked up with P and headed over to Roppongi Hills for some dim sum. Tonchan was sleeping and woke up just in time to inhale some shrimp shumai.
bucks break
bucks break
Originally uploaded by renfield
She can drink a whole tall ice soy chai latte, so I have to get a grande just to make sure there's some left for me to drink.
english breakfast dinner
english breakfast dinner
Originally uploaded by renfield
Net net massively crappy: political turmoil, economic crisis, friendly fire and beheadings...typical day in the middle east? Or in the office?
After the last nail in the coffin, headed with some of the lads to the pub for a right proper dinner: The Full English Breakfast. Baked beans and buttered toast and sausage and bacon and fried eggs and fried tomato and fried mushrooms.
Absolutely. Brilliant.
pizza
Various new hires in the so-called support areas on my team, so I took the posse out for beers and pizza at Pizzakaya. Actually quite the bargain and damn fine eats, too. Much reveling and silliness and eating and drinking. I suspect a good time was had by all. Which is key because I am unforgiving bastard who demands absolute perfection at work, so at the very least I can buy everyone the occasional pie.
breakfast grumpy
breakfast grumpy
Originally uploaded by renfield
Tonchan, sweet and dear love of my heart, when you grow up and read this, don't think ill of me. I really do love you. Really. But god DAMN you can be a grumpy little punk in the morning!
killings in akiba
Every now and then someone goes wacko in Japan. This weekend, a guy drove is truck into a crowd and started stabbing people in Akihabara. I guess we can be thankful that it wasn't the USA, in which case he would have had a machine gun and instead of seven people dead it would be more like 70.
taikai
Ah the taikai. Well, as expected I got my ass handed to me first round. Luckily I was utterly defeated by the H-Bomb, who went on to win all of the next 3 rounds and then dominated the final 5-0. Last time I won a couple years ago I beat her, so fair is fair.
After the taikai we did the typical eating and drinking and general rabble-rousing thing. Some photos here. And a bunch more photos here and here.
After the taikai we did the typical eating and drinking and general rabble-rousing thing. Some photos here. And a bunch more photos here and here.
new toilet
new toilet
Originally uploaded by renfield
The old toilet in the master bedroom died. Long live the new toilet! Tonchan certainly likes it, and is always flushing. Here she poses majestically with her new friend, after the evening bath.
iphone in japan
Finally. And with Softbank, which is even better. Gives me an excuse to leave Docomo after 11 years.
However some questions remain, as my current NEC handset has built in wireless IC digital money (I use it for purchases at convenience stores and as my rail pass on all subways, trains, and buses), plays digital broadcast tv, shoots and plays video, music, and flash, and runs various java apps.
However I will give all that up if the iphone allows me to seemlessly switch between WiFi and cell network, so that I can use an unencumbered Safari browser to surf teh internets, using a all-you-can-eat packet plan.
Bonus if jailbreak works, too.
However some questions remain, as my current NEC handset has built in wireless IC digital money (I use it for purchases at convenience stores and as my rail pass on all subways, trains, and buses), plays digital broadcast tv, shoots and plays video, music, and flash, and runs various java apps.
However I will give all that up if the iphone allows me to seemlessly switch between WiFi and cell network, so that I can use an unencumbered Safari browser to surf teh internets, using a all-you-can-eat packet plan.
Bonus if jailbreak works, too.
authentic
you are not welcome
I can think of no better way to ensure that people are even less encouraged to travel to the US than to require them to register online before travelling. And this is for the citizens of the countries that are strong US allies, requiring no visa.
I, for one, am now even less motivated.
Assuming Tonchan really, really likes Hawaii...then we'll just go to Okinawa alot I guess.
Plenty of Japan still left to see!
I, for one, am now even less motivated.
Assuming Tonchan really, really likes Hawaii...then we'll just go to Okinawa alot I guess.
Plenty of Japan still left to see!
class of 2008!
class of 2008!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Hosted this year's graddies for some eats and drinks. The restaurant made us this lovely cake...and then a waiter proceeded to break a wine glass all over it, so the cake was replaced with lots of little puff-pastry balls filled with cream. Anyway the cake says "Congrats on Joining the Company!" and probably would have been delicious if it weren't liberally springled with shards of broken glass.
more yakiniku
Gosoke took us out to some cheap and absolutely killer yakiniku. Nothing finer than grilling meat and talking shop.
machida
Got up EARLY and headed down to Machida to help out with the 32nd Annual Toyamaryu Tournament. Lots of representatives from the US and I was drafted as interpreter for the day.
Afterwards we hit Hataya's shop and then walked down to the station for a celebratory dinner.
Finally got all the gear packed up, got on the train, and checked into the Hotel Kuroda by 1am. Tired like crispy bacon.
Afterwards we hit Hataya's shop and then walked down to the station for a celebratory dinner.
Finally got all the gear packed up, got on the train, and checked into the Hotel Kuroda by 1am. Tired like crispy bacon.
papa bumped his head on the bus
papa bumped his head on the bus
Originally uploaded by renfield
Luckily an orange bandaid saved him from hemorrhaging to death.
hiroshima
R1011058
Originally uploaded by renfield
Did two nights at Sekitei in Hiroshima.
Flew down, took the bus to the station, train to Oonoura, and then the ryokan van. As expected, most excellent room. First floor had two rooms off of each side of the entrance, plus a little lounge and access to the main garden. Upstairs was another room with a big wooden bathtub in the middle. Totally. Awesome.
They also have a new private bath; a two story affair with a big bath in the middle of the downstairs and a shower in the ceiling, and then a lounge upstairs with a small bath on the balcony. This one is all modern and clean design, different from the one we used last time which was all old school and homey.
Perfect weather for two days too so we wandered around Miyajima in a sunny but breezy way.
Tonchan was a trooper; only broke two glasses and hated the band-aid on her hand more than the minor cut. She also inhaled momiji-manju (red bean paste sweets) and was generally eating the whole time. She ran around during the day so much she slept soundly all night the whole time.
taco rice @ eat more greens
taco rice @ eat more greens
Originally uploaded by renfield
Met Chiepon for lunch -- Happy Birthday! -- at Eat More Greens. We walked up to Roppongi Hills and played at Børnelund, then walked up to Midtown and got some bevvies. Took a taxi to National Azabu and stocked up on groceries (mostly animal crackers and apple juice) before heading home and ordering pizza. Tomorrow: Hiroshima!
jiji and baba
jiji and baba
Originally uploaded by renfield
Had lunch at Toyoda with the assorted grandparentals. P's parents were surprised as they weren't expecting the USA contingent. Masa had a wee too much drink and took a nice nap.
Afterwards we checked out the Mitsui Museum and had a 'bucks break before heading home and catching the start of the rain.
drunk
So methinks my daughter has a drinking problem. She got into the habit several months ago of drinking mouthwash. I don't mean playing with, or spilling, or sipping, I am talking great big gulps by the mouthful. She is particularly fond of Listerine Fresh Mint, and though she is incapable of removing the childproof cap herself, like the Quality Parents that we are, P and I often give her a capful or two whilst she's watching mommy get ready in the morning.
So yesterday P sends me one of The Best Emails A Parent Can Ever Get:
So yesterday P sends me one of The Best Emails A Parent Can Ever Get:
From: hiroko.kurodaAnd that's pretty much all you need to know about the Kuroda Family.
Sent: 05/22/2008 08:54 AM ZE9
To: Renfield Kuroda
Subject: mouth wash
She drunk it some this morning, and her face became red. I guess ethanol in it worked, so she’s pretty drunk. We have to hide it or stop using it, otherwise she’ll be alcoholic.
shibuya
After post-work bevvies at which we mainly told increasingly ludicrous stories about obnoxious industry veterans, I headed to Shibuya to do a right and proper bitch session with jorge. Of course we feasted on proper ramen whilst doing so.
I have now gone to Suzuran so many times in the past two weeks, all the guys working there know me and greet me as a regular. Perhaps it's time to eat less ramen...
After stuffing ourselves silly jorge needed his caffeine fix so we walked over to the 'bucks at the crossing and planted ourselves at the window seats second floor to people watch the amusing festivities of hachiko and whine about the corporate inane.
I have now gone to Suzuran so many times in the past two weeks, all the guys working there know me and greet me as a regular. Perhaps it's time to eat less ramen...
After stuffing ourselves silly jorge needed his caffeine fix so we walked over to the 'bucks at the crossing and planted ourselves at the window seats second floor to people watch the amusing festivities of hachiko and whine about the corporate inane.
our dangerous stistical ignorance
The single most pernicious threat to liberty today is humanity's natural
tendency to misunderstand the statistics of rare events...[more]
tendency to misunderstand the statistics of rare events...[more]
clam chowder
clam chowder
Originally uploaded by renfield
Took the day off to hang out in Arisugawa Park with Ton and her school mates for Sports Day. Tonchan was feeling particularly shy so didn't do much until we had lunch and she ran around a bit. P went to work for the afternoon so I took the Tonchalizer to check out the sword display at the Okura Museum and then we went into my office for a bit before meeting P for dinner. Burgers and clam chowder at Homework's in Hiroo.
yak in japan
Some things in Japan fail to surprise me. The gross inability of the National Police Agency to deal with the organized crime is one of them. This article by probably the only foreigner to know about such things is illuminating but sadly not surprising.
mogambos
mogambos
Originally uploaded by renfield
A fine evening of basic late-night foolishness. Here The Vid enjoys a fat Cuban stogie, ignorning the rain. We carried on until the wee hours. I left early and still didn't get to bed until 4am. Word is the true believers greeted the sunrise with a final toast. Strong. Sleepy.
matsuri
matsuri
Originally uploaded by renfield
This year the Kanda Matsuri was ura, aka small and low-key. Still, it's pretty sweet. They pass right in front of Honbu Dojo and go up Chuo Dori to Kanda Station, then actually enter the inner Emporer's Palace; one of the only festivals that is allowed to do so.
suzuran ramen
suzuran ramen
Originally uploaded by renfield
P finally took me to the most excellent Suzuran Ramen in Shibuya. Oh. My. OHMY. I have a new favourite noodleage! They have four kinds of noodle, one of which is great big ribbony style. All the ramen comes separate from the soup so that you can dip as you like, which is great because I'm a noodle kinda guy not a soup man. And topped with the tenderest stewed pork kakuni that absolutely melts in your mouth...so very, very good.
rambo
rambo
Originally uploaded by renfield
(That's Graham, Sly, and Julie Benz)
Managed to get out of work early enough to catch the premiere of Rambo. Wow. That is one violent movie. I mean, body parts and guts and exploding heads violent. Must have been SO much fun to make.
After the flick we had the killer meat and veggies fest at Oak Door. Ahh, sausages!
graham @ peninsula
graham @ peninsula
Originally uploaded by renfield
Met Graham at the loverly Peninsula and we grabbed some typical lunch -- tuna sashimi bowl -- in the basement of the office building across the way, then checked out cool digital cameras at Bic Camera. Rambo premiere opens tomorrow and he gave me a couple tix (thanks!) -- hope I can get out of work in time to check it out; should be a hoot!
bread with mama and baba
bread with mama and baba
Originally uploaded by renfield
Baba spent the night so the next day, after going to the slide park and taking a quick nap at Starbucks,we all got some healthy lunch at Eat Your Greens and then hit the bread store.
I've walked about 25 kilometers in the past 4 days, keeping Tonchalizer occupied as she is weened from The Breast Milk. She's actually doing well and, not surprisingly, eating alot more too. She wakes up a couple times during the night, but it's easy enough to get her back to sleep soon. I have even put her to bed a couple times. She screams her head off for 15 minutes, then puts her head on my shoulder and is snoring in five minutes. Keeping her running around all day and giving her real food to eat seems to work.
Soon she will graduate from puppy-like small monkey to actual little human. Though if the beastlies at the playground are any indication, I'd prefer her to stay a small monkey. She can barely talk but at least says please and thank you. Some of the kids in the park are little tyrants. Then again half of them are there with their nannies, and half the parents who do even bother to show up spend most of the time reading, chatting with each other, or on the cell. I was one of the only people over the age of 8 actually climbing around on the slide. Which is most excellent, thank you very much.
warou flats
R1010749
Originally uploaded by renfield
Took another big walkabout with Tonchan today. In the morning we ended up by Warou Flats, the cool old apartment building from the 1930s. Ton was asleep and I had my camera so I took some random shots in color and back and white. Totally gray, cloudy, shadowless day so the black and whites are kinda flat, but it's still a cool wooden building.
lunch @ cravings
R1010738
Originally uploaded by renfield
7.8 kilometers. That's how much I walked about with the Tonchabeastly today. Started in the morning going up to the robot slide park, then she took a nap in the stroller for a while and we had lunch at Miri's. After that joined P and hit Roppongi Hills before heading home.
black and white stones
R1010717
Originally uploaded by renfield
Spent the day goofing off with Tonchan in the park and taking photos. Tried some black and white with the trusty GRII. I think this one came out quite nice; good contrast, nice shadows, decent balance.
To be honest I can never remember what all the ISO, f/stop, shutterspeed, etc. settings do. Luckily I have set each one to be adjusted by a different knob on the camera, and I twiddle them all until the little indicator is right in the middle of the line that tells me it's ok to to hit the shutter button.
Dare I ask what the professional photographers in my family think?
wrap party
Headed over to Shibuya for lunch to taste the famous pan-fried yakisoba of Bairin. Was worth the wait, especially since I spent the whole time taking Tonchan up and down in the elevator. She really likes escalators and elevators.
Then we headed to the Yoshidas' place for some quality handmade food. Theme this time was "wrap" so we made tortillas and wanton skins and made a bunch of gyoza and a bunch of taco-ish things. Tonchan was in fine form bouncing all over the place and assaulting the shyly adorable Hana-chan.
Many photos here.
Then we headed to the Yoshidas' place for some quality handmade food. Theme this time was "wrap" so we made tortillas and wanton skins and made a bunch of gyoza and a bunch of taco-ish things. Tonchan was in fine form bouncing all over the place and assaulting the shyly adorable Hana-chan.
Many photos here.
mosquito bite!
mosquito bite!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Woke up this morning and Tonchalicious had a lovely mosquito bite on her cheek! P said she could hear it buzzing around at night. Spring is in the air...maybe it's time to break out the moquito net!
visitors
Managed to get out of work at a decent time and get over to the dojo.
RR and co. are in town for the week and heading to Kyoto tomorrow so they joined class.
For some reason it was absolutely packed today -- 12 on the floor training, and 6 people watching class. No idea what's up -- last week we had all of 3 people, including me.
After training we packed up the massive tengu statue that Gosoke gave him for his dojo and humped everything back to the hotel, then hit Jonathan's for some dinner.
RR and co. are in town for the week and heading to Kyoto tomorrow so they joined class.
For some reason it was absolutely packed today -- 12 on the floor training, and 6 people watching class. No idea what's up -- last week we had all of 3 people, including me.
After training we packed up the massive tengu statue that Gosoke gave him for his dojo and humped everything back to the hotel, then hit Jonathan's for some dinner.
more slide!
more slide!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Met Ton and P at the park today after a lovely afternoon cutting practice. Tonchaslide loves riding the mighty roller slide and has no problem going sliding down by herself.
Kuroda Parentals were on their way to Gotanda so we got some Chinese food around the corner from the park.
zazen debut
Today I was asked to lead zazen and the talk afterwards. There were only three of us, and when I sat down and rang the bell to start I realized I had no way to tell the time. So I ran out of the zendo and grabbed by cell. Oops.
Anyway the 30 minutes flew by, mainly because I was stressing about the upcoming talk.
That ended up being no problem. We read part of Omori Sogen's "An Introduction to Zen Training" and had a lovely chat. Hope it wasn' too terrible for anyone!
Anyway the 30 minutes flew by, mainly because I was stressing about the upcoming talk.
That ended up being no problem. We read part of Omori Sogen's "An Introduction to Zen Training" and had a lovely chat. Hope it wasn' too terrible for anyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)