give your meat

passed!

I have successfully passed the JSDA Internal Administrator exam and am now registered as a fully qualified Internal Control / Sales Manager! W00t!

Study. Study. Study. Much studying. Lots and lots of studying. I haven't studied this much since...I was actively trying to learn stuff. Test is tomorrow, so after doing some jo training on Saturday afternoon, I spent all Saturday night at Starbucks.
Today P and I helped Aki move into her new place just up the street in Shirokane. We did some shopping at D2, then had lunch at Miri's. I hit Starbucks again for some studying and then came home to do some cutting in the basement. It was most stinky -- soakin' targets in the summer is nasty work.

lawry's

lawrys, originally uploaded by renfield.

fighting gloves!

fighting gloves!, originally uploaded by renfield.

Got me my very own pair o' fightin' gloves! Loads of fun to pound on a heavy bag in the dojo with these baddies. I even love the blue tinge left on my fingers after my sweat has sucked the glove dye to stain me.

solid gold shoe inserts

Because you need this. two and a half million yen for:
solid. gold. shoe. inserts.
And they only weight a kilo!

kohei sushi

kohei sushi, originally uploaded by renfield.

minami osawa

Had to cruise out to the boonies for our annual distaster recovery test. (Jenn and P went shopping.)
We have an alternate business site out in Minami Osawa, so we had to go out there and make sure all the PCs and apps and whatnot worked. Assuming there's an earthquake, we're supposed to go (walk?) out there and...keep working, I guess.
Afterwards Coach gave me a ride back (seeing as he lives across the street from me) and we got lunch at Miri's.

toshogu, nikko

Jenn wanted to check out Nikko, so we hopped the train up to Tochigi and checked things out. The main attraction Toshogu is a series of shrines and cool buildings housing the spirits of The Tokugawa family; the first shogun of Japan Ieyasu, his grandson, etc. It's a giant world heritage site, and despite the lovely random vending machines are power lines (only in Japan?), it's damn impressive. 15,000 artisans labored for 2 years to build an incredible assortment of carved, painted, gold-gilded wooden buildings. Weather managed to stay not rainy, but was lovely muggy and we was dead tired on the train home.

jenn & p @ shinbash!

jenn & p @ shinbash!, originally uploaded by renfield.

On the train coming home from Nikko.

alien tonchan

alien tonchan, originally uploaded by renfield.

15th week checkup and we have: a spinal column in a bag of juice. There were some skeletal arms and legs in there, too, but Tonchan looks way too much like an alien. Not sure if boy or girl yet, either. Maybe next time.

various

Various updates: been working a fair amount, and studying. Gearing up to take the Internal Control/Sales Manager Exam, so haven't been practicing much.
I have been getting up early every day for the past several weeks and sitting for 15-20 minutes. It is very boring.
Hiroko is working on a nice gut, btw. I know I'm not supposed to call it a gut; she makes the distinction that my gut is fat and therefore isn't going anywhere, whereas hers is a 'bump', and once the little alien comes out, she'll be back into fighting style.
Tsuyu, aka typhoon season, has begun. It is rainy and muggy and hot and generally nasty.
When the rain clears up, I need to fire up the BBQ again. I use domestic charcoal, but I'm thinking I need to mix in some wood chips and get the cool smokiness. Also, I want to try BBQing some ostrich meat. Just because someone at work described it as "More porky than chicken, more chickeny than pork."

hiroko & dad

hiroko & dad, originally uploaded by renfield.

After hanging out with grandma in the hospital, we went to get some sushi with the parentals Kuroda.

club sandwhich @ royal host

club sandwhich @ royal host, originally uploaded by renfield.

Took the train up from Ueno to Tsuchiura to see grandma in the hospital. Not doing much better -- still can't move her left side, though she is eating and talking. After grandma had lunch Hiroko and I walked down to RoyHo for some lunch.

grandma sakayori

Hiroko's mom's mom, Grandma Hisae Sakayori, had a stroke and is in the hospital. Hiroko and I went up to see her today. She was conscious, but could not move her left side, except she could wiggle her left foot a bit. She's eating, but her blood pressure is way too high. 86 years old, and everyone is quite worried.

knocked up

knocked up, originally uploaded by renfield.

Kevin sent Hiroko this lovely tee. Thanks Kev! You can see from her expression how much Hiroko is enjoying it, seeing as how she's got a nice gut going on. Well okay it's not a gut; mine's a gut because it's full of fat, whilst hers is full of baby.

blackberry in japan

Finally.

company dinner

Various new folks on the team at dinner, so we rented out Cuisine 219 in Aoyama and had a lovely time of it. Still can't figure out if it was supposed to be French, Italian, or some blend of California Fusion -- menu in French, wines from Cali, lots of pasta...
Nice evening so I just walked home. Took about an hour; pleasant stroll through Aoyama, Nishi Azabu, and Hiroo.