Remodeled Starbucks
Originally uploaded by renfield
I like the new interior; all the counters are huge slabs of pseudo natural
cut wood.
Remodeled Starbucks
Remodeled Starbucks
Originally uploaded by renfield
Tonchan writing her name
Tonchan writing her name
Originally uploaded by renfield
She writes her name on the board every day at school.
Mookun twinkle twinkle little star
Mookun twinkle twinkle little star
Originally uploaded by renfield
He does actually know and sing this song...except at the school holiday party in front of everyone.
Tempura at lucky
Tempura at lucky
Originally uploaded by renfield
Had dinner with Salty; talking smack about budo all night. Lucky just remodelled and reopened so we killed the tempura and other yumminess.
long weekend recap
So we had an awesome weekend. Took the bus up to jiji and baba's and spent the night, eating a traditional way-too-much meal of hand-rolled sushi, legs stuffed under the kotatsu to stay warm.
Next day got up not as early as we planned and piled into jiji's New Hotness for a leisurely drive up north. Along the way we made a few rest stops, one of which included an opportunity to clean Mookun's puke off of himself and mom. Well, Ton puked last year at Halloween in the states, so I guess we get one kid-puke per family trip?
Anyway made it up to the apple orchard in the afternoon, boxed up about 60 kilos of apples (damn good ones, too!) and headed to the onsen. Great bath, awesome food, lights out. Next day, more bathing and eating, then checked out the local waterfall before heading to the coast.
Monstrously killer sushi lunch at a place that looked super-sketch but was upstairs from the open-air fish market on the pier, so it was as cheap as it looked and the sushi was so. damn. fresh. We stuffed ourselves silly and still for four adults and two kids it was barely 10,000 yen. I love eating in the boonies!
After we ate all the lovely fishes, we went to the aquarium, perfectly timed to catch the 2pm dolphin show, then checked out the penguins, hurried through the sharks (dark halls, big tanks full of big fishes...Ton not a fan), snacked on some icecream, and headed home to jiji and baba's.
More eating, more sleeping, more eating, and then took the train home.
A weekend of good food and good times and good weather.
Next day got up not as early as we planned and piled into jiji's New Hotness for a leisurely drive up north. Along the way we made a few rest stops, one of which included an opportunity to clean Mookun's puke off of himself and mom. Well, Ton puked last year at Halloween in the states, so I guess we get one kid-puke per family trip?
Anyway made it up to the apple orchard in the afternoon, boxed up about 60 kilos of apples (damn good ones, too!) and headed to the onsen. Great bath, awesome food, lights out. Next day, more bathing and eating, then checked out the local waterfall before heading to the coast.
Monstrously killer sushi lunch at a place that looked super-sketch but was upstairs from the open-air fish market on the pier, so it was as cheap as it looked and the sushi was so. damn. fresh. We stuffed ourselves silly and still for four adults and two kids it was barely 10,000 yen. I love eating in the boonies!
After we ate all the lovely fishes, we went to the aquarium, perfectly timed to catch the 2pm dolphin show, then checked out the penguins, hurried through the sharks (dark halls, big tanks full of big fishes...Ton not a fan), snacked on some icecream, and headed home to jiji and baba's.
More eating, more sleeping, more eating, and then took the train home.
A weekend of good food and good times and good weather.
sometimes technology...
...just gives me the finger.
And sometimes, technology enables ME to give The Man the finger.
Case in point:
(Mediocre Android phone + z4root) * Barnacle Wifi Tether = crazy delicious
And sometimes, technology enables ME to give The Man the finger.
Case in point:
(Mediocre Android phone + z4root) * Barnacle Wifi Tether = crazy delicious
dad
P was out at a junior high school reunion so I was in charge of the little ones. They both got flu shots yesterday so were feeling a bit down.
Spent the morning cleaning out the closet; now have a pile of old suits, shirts, shoes, jackets, and sweaters to donate to some worthy charity. Also sent off a box of old books. BookOff is a used book store chain that buys Japanese books, and they have a deal with Room To Read, a charity that collects English books for south-east asian countries. I think they stock the libraries of factories that employee child labor or something socially meaningful like that. Anyway was waiting for the delivery guy to come pick up the box of books and the kids were moving slow, so I started cleaning out the closet.
After lunch P took off so I loaded the kids onto the bus and headed to Shibuya then walked to the park in Nakameguro for a birthday party of one of the kids at school.
After running around, making balloon animals, and munching on snacks (that was me; the kids spent most of the time at the playground), we headed home, ordered some pizza, took a shower, and got our jammies on.
Ton crashed out on the couch quickly. The Mighty Mo was fighting it, and I didn't have any breastmilk power to lull him to sleep, so after some sniffling and crying and wandering about, and rolling around and sitting on the couch, I finally got him unconscious. Ton was crashed out on the couch so I dragged her into the bedroom and retreated back to the dining room table to be productive (read: facebook.com. boinboing.net) until P came home.
Spent the morning cleaning out the closet; now have a pile of old suits, shirts, shoes, jackets, and sweaters to donate to some worthy charity. Also sent off a box of old books. BookOff is a used book store chain that buys Japanese books, and they have a deal with Room To Read, a charity that collects English books for south-east asian countries. I think they stock the libraries of factories that employee child labor or something socially meaningful like that. Anyway was waiting for the delivery guy to come pick up the box of books and the kids were moving slow, so I started cleaning out the closet.
After lunch P took off so I loaded the kids onto the bus and headed to Shibuya then walked to the park in Nakameguro for a birthday party of one of the kids at school.
After running around, making balloon animals, and munching on snacks (that was me; the kids spent most of the time at the playground), we headed home, ordered some pizza, took a shower, and got our jammies on.
Ton crashed out on the couch quickly. The Mighty Mo was fighting it, and I didn't have any breastmilk power to lull him to sleep, so after some sniffling and crying and wandering about, and rolling around and sitting on the couch, I finally got him unconscious. Ton was crashed out on the couch so I dragged her into the bedroom and retreated back to the dining room table to be productive (read: facebook.com. boinboing.net) until P came home.
various photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/renfield/sets/72157625339318386/Finally uploaded bunches of photos.
Halloween party at AIS.
Random artistic shots taken by the kids when commandeering the camera.
Halloween party at AIS.
Random artistic shots taken by the kids when commandeering the camera.
well done
Congratulations America! We have taken the final political step necessary to ensure that the US economy ends up just like Japan! Welcome to the start of a decade or two of deflation, low employment, and general malady.
The GOOD news is you will probably manage to keep a huge federal deficit (killing all those "terrorists" is expensive), and many of you will go back to having no health care, no social safety net, AND no 401(k), never mind keeping a job and your house.
But I am sure that pales in comparison to the glory of mandatory Christian prayer in public schools that we can all look forward to when President Palin is in charge!
It's not just a party, it's a Tea Party! Well done, America. I am proud of us.
The GOOD news is you will probably manage to keep a huge federal deficit (killing all those "terrorists" is expensive), and many of you will go back to having no health care, no social safety net, AND no 401(k), never mind keeping a job and your house.
But I am sure that pales in comparison to the glory of mandatory Christian prayer in public schools that we can all look forward to when President Palin is in charge!
It's not just a party, it's a Tea Party! Well done, America. I am proud of us.
Busted imac
Busted imac
Originally uploaded by renfield
Unless my ancient imac has a secret "inverted black-and-white" mode, methinks it be busted.
EDIT: No, it's not really busted. My youngest somehow managed to randomly bang on the keyboard and put it simultaneously into both "inverted" and "black-and-white" mode.
But it IS an ancient machine!
Watching pingu on youtube
Watching pingu on youtube
Originally uploaded by renfield
The only thing that keeps him quite and in one place.
Kids' dentist
Kids' dentist
Originally uploaded by renfield
Best, most fun dentist evar. And all the staff are cuties!
no fever
I am winning this week-long battle against being sick! Many around me have succumbed to fever; first little Mo, then my secretary at work, my boss, HIS boss...every morning I have gone to the pharmacy and got my combination genki drink + over-the-counter cold medicine + vitamins. May be entirely placebo effect but I think it helped. The nightly shot of Nyquil certainly helped me sleep, too.
Hit rock bottom on Wednesday night; kind of felt like I was wrapped in a thick cotton towel. Everything felt fuzzy and soft, especially the inside of my head. But I've been feeling better since then and have managed to get through the week without breaking a fever.
If I can survive through the weekend I think I will be 100% by Monday!
Hit rock bottom on Wednesday night; kind of felt like I was wrapped in a thick cotton towel. Everything felt fuzzy and soft, especially the inside of my head. But I've been feeling better since then and have managed to get through the week without breaking a fever.
If I can survive through the weekend I think I will be 100% by Monday!
onsen weekend
For P's birthday, went with her and the grommets and jiji and baba to Myojinkan in Nagano. Raining on Saturday when we got up there, but didn't matter since we spent the afternoon lounging in the baths and eating.
Sunday the weather was perfect (hot actually) and we checked out Matsumoto Castle and the Annual Soba Festival held every year on the castle grounds.
Back to the onsen for another killer dinner and more bathing, then came home on Monday.
Highlights: view from the top of the castle, Nagano apples, Mookun walking around in slippers, grapes, apples, oyaki...food in general!
Some photos.
Sunday the weather was perfect (hot actually) and we checked out Matsumoto Castle and the Annual Soba Festival held every year on the castle grounds.
Back to the onsen for another killer dinner and more bathing, then came home on Monday.
Highlights: view from the top of the castle, Nagano apples, Mookun walking around in slippers, grapes, apples, oyaki...food in general!
Some photos.
3-day weekend!
Off to an onsen in Nagano for this rainy 3-day weekend. Jiji and Baba coming with so that will help with the grommets.
Also we'll see how my new Android phone does...battery maintenance is still a challenge. Lots of settings and customizations in process; having fun geeking out but I REALLY need to upgrade to the 2.x OS (coming in November according to the dude at the Docomo shop.)
We'll see how it goes for 6 months, and then I either go iPhone, upgrade to a new Android machine (supposedly a bunch more coming out early next year in Japan...FINALLY), or go iPod touch + pocket WiFi (not a bad option, actually, given how little I actually make phone calls.)
Also supposedly next year (once we go Outlook) work will support good.com software, which means I can dump the blackberry and just access work email, etc. via my smartphone of choice...dreams of single-device happiness finally coming closer to reality...supposedly...
Also we'll see how my new Android phone does...battery maintenance is still a challenge. Lots of settings and customizations in process; having fun geeking out but I REALLY need to upgrade to the 2.x OS (coming in November according to the dude at the Docomo shop.)
We'll see how it goes for 6 months, and then I either go iPhone, upgrade to a new Android machine (supposedly a bunch more coming out early next year in Japan...FINALLY), or go iPod touch + pocket WiFi (not a bad option, actually, given how little I actually make phone calls.)
Also supposedly next year (once we go Outlook) work will support good.com software, which means I can dump the blackberry and just access work email, etc. via my smartphone of choice...dreams of single-device happiness finally coming closer to reality...supposedly...
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