neighbors
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Our upstairs neighbors include two adorable South African sisters, 10 and 5. Tonchan's got babysitters!
deep thoughts
P1000639.JPG
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Tonchan deep in thought...what next to eat? Left or right breast? When best to poop? To nap, or to chew on the pillow?
Tackling the difficult issues of our time.
entirely not right
I have neither pity nor tolerance for whiny investors. I have even less patience for this sensationalist "news". Note the opening line; obviously it's the big banks' fault. Never mind the fact that Buck invested his entire life savings in a risky bond "yielding 10 times the going rate on Treasury bills". Think about that for a minute. This man bought an "uninsured money market note" that paid ten times more than a boring yet safe government bond. Uninsured. Ten times. RISKY. Did he not bother to actually read the terms of the bond? He even admits that he should not have put all of his eggs in one basket. First rule of investing: diversify.
So let me understand this: a guy has $300,000 from the sale of his old house, but still has to pay the mortgage on his new place, his wife was planning to retire (serious reduction in income), knows the importance of diversification, gets greedy when he sees the possibility of making ten times the going rate...and then it's not his fault when he loses his money?
Or how about Mr. Russel:
Or Mr. English who invested "decades of savings" who "saw it as an alternative to the interest rate I could get from a bank." Money in the bank is saving, dumping your savings into risky bonds and then whining about it is just stupid. He wanted to use the money to pay for his three kids' college, so why not invest in a low-risk, long-term 529 college fund? He wanted to use the money to buy a new car, so why not use them money as a down payment for a car lease or loan? He wanted to use the money for a second honeymoon, so why not gamble it in Vegas?
At least Mr. Funk is honest. He lost $70,000 and says he "became too confident and too greedy as the high-yielding notes continued to pay." And yet somehow, "the Wall Street firms were greedy too, yet didn't pay a price for it."
Didn't pay a price for it?
Over 20 bankruptcies across the industry, and who do you think has invested the most in them?
Mortgage Lenders Network goes bankrupt, Merrill Lynch has $36.6 million in financing claimed.
ResMae goes bankrupt, may have to buy back $166 million in bad loans sold to Merrill Lynch.
New Century insolvent, owes $1.5 billion each to Morgan Stanley and UBS.
But forget the money that Wall Street loses. Think about the money it invests. It is the big Wall Street houses stepping in to fund, refinance, or outright purchase these failing businesses. Someone steps in, takes the risk, and tries to rebuild these businesses, keep the people working, keep the mortgages flowing.
Wall Street is not the enemy, and it is no one's responsibility to protect stupid, greedy investors from themselves.
So let me understand this: a guy has $300,000 from the sale of his old house, but still has to pay the mortgage on his new place, his wife was planning to retire (serious reduction in income), knows the importance of diversification, gets greedy when he sees the possibility of making ten times the going rate...and then it's not his fault when he loses his money?
Or how about Mr. Russel:
He knows the 13 percent interest rates should have been a warning. ``If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is,'' he said.And yet knowing that, he still invested and lost $170,000. And whose fault is that?
Or Mr. English who invested "decades of savings" who "saw it as an alternative to the interest rate I could get from a bank." Money in the bank is saving, dumping your savings into risky bonds and then whining about it is just stupid. He wanted to use the money to pay for his three kids' college, so why not invest in a low-risk, long-term 529 college fund? He wanted to use the money to buy a new car, so why not use them money as a down payment for a car lease or loan? He wanted to use the money for a second honeymoon, so why not gamble it in Vegas?
At least Mr. Funk is honest. He lost $70,000 and says he "became too confident and too greedy as the high-yielding notes continued to pay." And yet somehow, "the Wall Street firms were greedy too, yet didn't pay a price for it."
Didn't pay a price for it?
Over 20 bankruptcies across the industry, and who do you think has invested the most in them?
Mortgage Lenders Network goes bankrupt, Merrill Lynch has $36.6 million in financing claimed.
ResMae goes bankrupt, may have to buy back $166 million in bad loans sold to Merrill Lynch.
New Century insolvent, owes $1.5 billion each to Morgan Stanley and UBS.
But forget the money that Wall Street loses. Think about the money it invests. It is the big Wall Street houses stepping in to fund, refinance, or outright purchase these failing businesses. Someone steps in, takes the risk, and tries to rebuild these businesses, keep the people working, keep the mortgages flowing.
Wall Street is not the enemy, and it is no one's responsibility to protect stupid, greedy investors from themselves.
all in the knees
10 people in practice last night, so not much space on the floor. I wasn't in much of a mood to move around, so we practiced really basic stuff; standing, sitting, standing up again. Trying to figure out how standing straight up from sitting and stepping forward from sitting are basically the same movement, the only thing that changes is how much closer you do or don't get to the guy in front of you trying to kill you. Also working on trimming the fat; cutting out unnecessary movement to be left with nothing but the basics. It pays to be lazy!
After class I had to go back to the office for a call with NY, didn't get home until 11:30. The hard life of a salaryman.
After class I had to go back to the office for a call with NY, didn't get home until 11:30. The hard life of a salaryman.
ubuntu
Last time I tried installing Linux on my laptop, it was a nightmare. Wireless card wouldn't work, screen resolution was off, sleep mode and power control were crap. That was then, this is now. I downloaded, burned onto CD, and installed Ubuntu 6.06 on my Dell Latitude D400.
I would love to brag about how I had to recompile the kernel and hack all kindsa cool deep, technical settings to optimize the OS, but alas it was delightfully simple. I booted from the CD, clicked on Tokyo, and installed. Wireless PCMCIA card was recognized, software installed, everything worked. And the machine is FAST. Boots and runs way snappier than Windows ever did.
Struggled a bit to upgrade Firefox to a 2.x version, but after some googling I found a simple install script that ran all the package install and registration stuff. And now it works.
A couple more years of innovation like this, and I could even get my mom to use Linux.
I would love to brag about how I had to recompile the kernel and hack all kindsa cool deep, technical settings to optimize the OS, but alas it was delightfully simple. I booted from the CD, clicked on Tokyo, and installed. Wireless PCMCIA card was recognized, software installed, everything worked. And the machine is FAST. Boots and runs way snappier than Windows ever did.
Struggled a bit to upgrade Firefox to a 2.x version, but after some googling I found a simple install script that ran all the package install and registration stuff. And now it works.
A couple more years of innovation like this, and I could even get my mom to use Linux.
noah's ark #301
Got the keys to the new Kuroda Household, aka apartment 301 in Noah's Ark. This place is by all definitions the La Bomba. Utility with side load combo washer/dryer. Mucho closet space. Central air and heating. Massive BBQ balcony. South wall of windows. Living room big enough for futsal. Killer Japanese room.
Amusing to note that the master bedroom alone is larger than the first apartment P and I used to live in.
We move in April 15!
Amusing to note that the master bedroom alone is larger than the first apartment P and I used to live in.
We move in April 15!
@ davids deli
@ davids deli
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Took Emy and Dolf to lunch and then we took a long walkabout. First went to Shibuya to check out the fabric store, and then stopped by Bic Camera to see the various toys. After that we walked up to Harajuku and checked out the cool kids getting their photos taken, then walked up to Omotesando and through Aoyama. We took a taxi through Aoyama Cemetery and saw the cherry blossoms, then had bevvies at Starbucks Tsutaya and walked home through Moto Azabu.
Took a little break at home, then headed up to Azabu Jyuban for Korean BBQ at Sankoen.
police movie party
sting party
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Jer hooked me up with invites to the movie release party for Everyone Stares and I got there just in time to catch the last 5 seconds of Stuart's drum session. But I was really there to see Jer's folks Ilene and Derek, who were taking the movie on a global release tour. Hadn't seen then in about 5 years, since I was in West Hollywood last time. Great catching up with them! Too bad Jer couldn't join us. Ilene was particularly jealous that my mom has a grand daughter but, despite the fact that she's got three sons she has no grand kinds yet. However a many-branching family tree leaves lots of optionality, and they are yet young...No pressure, guys.
Afterwards grabbed some food with The Edo and reminisced about the good old Chiba days. Been in Japan for going on 13 years now...damn. Remember back in the day?
Had a good practice this evening. First, I managed to show up almost on time -- we started about 7:30 and trained for a good 1.5 hours. There a shiny fresh beginner on the floor (her second class) so I had her go through the basic basics whilst the rest of the class did their typical thing. At some point the theme became (I never manage to figure out what we're practicing until we start and get well into it) moving from one's center. There are lots of fancy ways to describe this, and several really, really talented martial artists who have perfected it (Kuroda Tetsuzan, etc.) but I like to keep things simple. The basic ideas are: stay balance at all times, reduce all unnecessary movement, remain flexible. All three are linked, and really one can't be done without the other two.
Staying balanced means just that; don't wobble like you're going to fall over. Keep your upper body over your lower body (or keep your lower body under your upper body.) Be aware of your left and right, your front and back, and whichever direction you move, make sure all your parts are cooperating, otherwise you end up swaying, tilting, dragging.
Reducing all unnecessary movement leads to the surprising yet ultimately intuitive conclusion that many things you do with your body to get it acting are really pointless. Straightening the ankle, forcing the foot to push off the ground and drive the leg/hip/body forward is a really silly way to start taking a step. Why use such a small muscle in the ankle to move the whole body? Instead, just keep the leg relaxed, pick it up using the large muscles in the butt and thigh, and get it moving from the hip. After that, the whole body will follow. The corollary is: use big muscles for big movements, small muscles for small movements. To take a step forwards, use the butt, thigh, and hips. To swing the sword, use the back and hips. To adjust the angle of the kissaki a millimeter, use the fingers and wrist. Also, you need to use the whole body together as one. In order to bring the sword overhead, if you're already stepping forward, you are in a sense stepping under your sword already, so there's no need to use the arm the bring the sword over your head, too. Use the wrist and arm to get the sword moving back, in conjunction with the body moving forwards.
Finally, flexibility is key to acting and reacting. The human body is really, really bad at staying still. Anything other than positions of natural rest are hard to keep; opposing muscles fight each other to tighten and stretch in opposite directions. Instead of trying to be rock embedded in the floor, be molten lava, dune of sand, flowing river, tempestuous wind. Even standing water in a calm lake is fluid; try grabbing a handful of it. Much harder than grabbing ice cubes. Being flexible starts with the knees; keep them bent and more importantly, bending. In order to keep the hips stable (giving you a good platform from which to move), the lower body needs to be like coiled springs or shock absorbers. No matter how the body moves, the knees must bend or straighten in order to keep the body balanced and moving efficiently.
Also, tension in muscles causes fatigue, and makes it harder to move in different directions; a tightly bent arm is tough to bend more, and really isn't a very good starting point for straightening out either. Tension in muscles usually means tension in demeanor, too. Staying flexible of body and mind means not expecting anything, and therefore means you are able to react to anything, to move in any direction.
Keeping the mind calm keeps the body supple; keeping the body relaxed quites the mind.
Staying balanced means just that; don't wobble like you're going to fall over. Keep your upper body over your lower body (or keep your lower body under your upper body.) Be aware of your left and right, your front and back, and whichever direction you move, make sure all your parts are cooperating, otherwise you end up swaying, tilting, dragging.
Reducing all unnecessary movement leads to the surprising yet ultimately intuitive conclusion that many things you do with your body to get it acting are really pointless. Straightening the ankle, forcing the foot to push off the ground and drive the leg/hip/body forward is a really silly way to start taking a step. Why use such a small muscle in the ankle to move the whole body? Instead, just keep the leg relaxed, pick it up using the large muscles in the butt and thigh, and get it moving from the hip. After that, the whole body will follow. The corollary is: use big muscles for big movements, small muscles for small movements. To take a step forwards, use the butt, thigh, and hips. To swing the sword, use the back and hips. To adjust the angle of the kissaki a millimeter, use the fingers and wrist. Also, you need to use the whole body together as one. In order to bring the sword overhead, if you're already stepping forward, you are in a sense stepping under your sword already, so there's no need to use the arm the bring the sword over your head, too. Use the wrist and arm to get the sword moving back, in conjunction with the body moving forwards.
Finally, flexibility is key to acting and reacting. The human body is really, really bad at staying still. Anything other than positions of natural rest are hard to keep; opposing muscles fight each other to tighten and stretch in opposite directions. Instead of trying to be rock embedded in the floor, be molten lava, dune of sand, flowing river, tempestuous wind. Even standing water in a calm lake is fluid; try grabbing a handful of it. Much harder than grabbing ice cubes. Being flexible starts with the knees; keep them bent and more importantly, bending. In order to keep the hips stable (giving you a good platform from which to move), the lower body needs to be like coiled springs or shock absorbers. No matter how the body moves, the knees must bend or straighten in order to keep the body balanced and moving efficiently.
Also, tension in muscles causes fatigue, and makes it harder to move in different directions; a tightly bent arm is tough to bend more, and really isn't a very good starting point for straightening out either. Tension in muscles usually means tension in demeanor, too. Staying flexible of body and mind means not expecting anything, and therefore means you are able to react to anything, to move in any direction.
Keeping the mind calm keeps the body supple; keeping the body relaxed quites the mind.
mom!
Came home about 8:30 last night, and P had just taken the Tonchabeast out of the bath, so I dried her off and clothed her up. She was in a fine mood, all clean and warm. Then P went back into the bath for herself, and I held Tonchan to sooth her to sleep.
She was having none of that; as soon as P left the room, blood-curdling screams and tear fountains. After 10 minutes, I finally just put her down in the crib and watched her from the hall. She calmed down considerably, but was still kind of sniffling. When P came back and picked her up, she immediately calmed down and was happy.
There are now two kinds of people in the world: mom and NOT mom. Ah, the love of a child. Until she's old enough to figure out that I'm the one who pays the bills, we are gonna have some respect issues.
She was having none of that; as soon as P left the room, blood-curdling screams and tear fountains. After 10 minutes, I finally just put her down in the crib and watched her from the hall. She calmed down considerably, but was still kind of sniffling. When P came back and picked her up, she immediately calmed down and was happy.
There are now two kinds of people in the world: mom and NOT mom. Ah, the love of a child. Until she's old enough to figure out that I'm the one who pays the bills, we are gonna have some respect issues.
loud
loud
Originally uploaded by renfield.
On the right is my house. On the left is the "noise blocking" plastic squares enclosing the old office building/factory that at this moment is being torn down via the aggressive use of serious heavy construction equipment.
Note that the distance between the two is about 50 centimeters. Also imagine the total lack of effectiveness of a piece of plastic to block the bone-rumbling sound made by machinery designed to pulverize concrete.
So yes, we will be moving in a matter of weeks, and none too soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)