emuu.net

how I got kicked out of Japan

11 Mar 2010 01:26:13 +0700

When I first came to Japan, I let my employer take care of the paperwork, just as many of my colleagues had done. Big mistake.

toilet flushes and hockey games

09 Mar 2010 16:10:00 +0900

In keeping with my attempts at keeping abreast of events in "the old country", I came across an interesting item from The Big Game.

[continued]

algae

09 Mar 2010 01:57:00 +0900

Everything's been going swimmingly with the fish tank, recently. Until some nasty fibrous algae started taking over.

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making a magazine

08 Mar 2010 03:55:00 +0900

Things have come a long way since I made the content management system that I use to run emuu.net.

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turning 39

04 Mar 2010 18:34:00 +0900

Long ago I wrote down my thoughts on turning thirty. It seems that I don't really have much to add on the subject of turning 39!

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earthquakes

28 Feb 2010 11:13:00 +0900

Mari and I were stuck at home today because Kenny has a fever. The news of the quake in Chile caused us to brush up our disaster plans.

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adjusting to Japanese snack foods

27 Feb 2010 01:50:00 +0900

Japanese snacks are sometimes odd. Especially when they try to use foreign words and imagery.

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staying Canadian

26 Feb 2010 21:41:00 +0900

It's hard to stay Canadian when you've immersed yourself in a vastly alien culture like Japan's. But I'm making the effort!

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Nate's PechaKucha moment

24 Feb 2010 01:54:00 +0900

Nate Jensen, who did the layout work on our diamond buyer's guide, have a presentation at PechaKucha tonight.

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ear problems in Japan

23 Feb 2010 04:15:00 +0900

For the first time in my life, I've recently begun having ear infections. Which means learning about Japanese ear medical practice.

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the motorcycle trade

23 Feb 2010 14:17:00 +0900

A curious thing happened today. I introduced two strangers, enabling a cross-Pacific motorcycle trade.

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free labour

20 Feb 2010 11:44:00 +0900

I met with another person who imparted some great advice last night. He told me it was time for us to start getting free labour.

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don't drink "curiosity cola"

20 Feb 2010 07:20:00 +0900

I tried a Fentiman's "Curiosity Cola" today. My first real cola drink of my life.

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advice from pros

17 Feb 2010 02:28:00 +0900

Our new website is getting a lot of great feedback. Today I had a chat with a pro in the business that really helped.

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mobile phone chargers

15 Feb 2010 13:40:00 +0900

In following with my current research into the mobile phone platform, I've come across some bad news.

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looking for an engagement ring?

14 Feb 2010 12:35:00 +0900

If you're looking for an engagement ring in Japan, you can now do your shopping online. I am proud to say that Caritas is here.

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cards for emergency translation

13 Feb 2010 14:46:00 +0900

When I went to Shanghai, I knew that I'd be buying food in places where people don't speak English or Japanese. And yet I have food allergies.

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tsukiji is 70 years old

11 Feb 2010 10:29:00 +0900

My favourite fish market just turned 70 years old.

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St. Valentine's Day

10 Feb 2010 15:24:00 +0900

In Japan, St. Valentine's Day is a curious affair in which females buy males chocolate. This year, we'll be launching a business.

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language and sex

08 Feb 2010 00:59:00 +0900

Tonight I was offered sex in two neighbourhoods.

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selling on the mobile phone

08 Feb 2010 10:39:00 +0900

Tonight was my first "mobile monday", a get-together for schmoozing and presentations pertaining to that industry in Tokyo.

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browser software

07 Feb 2010 23:47:00 +0900

We're about to launch our new business, which aims to sell diamond engagement rings to the Japanese public solely via the Internet.

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fixing an old, slow Windows PC

06 Feb 2010 15:39:00 +0900

On three occasions recently, I've recommended some software for people struggling with a Windows PC that's become slow with age.

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odd behaviour at Kinko's

04 Feb 2010 01:26:00 +0900

I walked into a FedexKinkos today to do some printing. As soon as I walked in, I realized that I'd forgotten to do something important.

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webservers (nerd alert)

04 Feb 2010 14:41:00 +0900

I've been tinkering with the webserver software that enables websites to exist for a long time. So I was delighted to learn that things have changed recently.

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how to photograph diamond jewelry

04 Feb 2010 04:09:22 +0700

I've learned a fair bit about producing photos of diamond jewelry in the past year. This is the result.

a message from Google

03 Feb 2010 21:47:00 +0900

Today Google announced that they would no longer support Internet Explorer 6 within Google Apps. I guess that means goodbye to 40% of Japan.

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Tokyo weather report

02 Feb 2010 06:24:00 +0900

This January was one of the warmest of my life—only Sydney was warmer. But no more.

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luck (and bird shit)

02 Feb 2010 09:23:03 +0700

One of my beliefs is that everything in life is attributable in some (large) respect to luck. Don't believe me? I have everything for which a man could want, and I'm not terribly gifted.

a proposed anti-spam routine for websites

29 Jan 2010 00:39:55 +0700

I've invented a routine for preventing spam to a website's comments field. It does so without those annoying and feeble 'captcha' routines, and without the need for login.

fashion in Tokyo

28 Jan 2010 00:46:00 +0900

I'm sure that those who know me don't associate me with fashion. And yet tonight I attended a fashion industry networking event.

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pecha kucha

27 Jan 2010 12:42:00 +0900

Tonight I attended my first Pecha Kucha. I don't know what the name means, but it was an interesting night

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recommended photographers

26 Jan 2010 00:15:16 +0700

Some photographers I recommend.

toilets of the world

25 Jan 2010 09:13:09 +0700

I've encountered some notable toilets in my travels.

Mexican food in Tokyo

24 Jan 2010 08:02:00 +0900

It's difficult to find good Mexican food in Tokyo. But we've finally done it, in Hiroo of all places.

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australian: a guide for english-speakers

23 Jan 2010 00:00:17 +0700

The Australian language explained for English-speakers

résumé for michael werneburg

23 Jan 2010 01:17:12 +0700

My working career, spanning back to 1994.

no man's land

23 Jan 2010 09:45:00 +0900

Today we went to "No man's land", an art studio/gallery that's been built into the recently vacated former French embassy in Hiroo.

[continued]

changing my name in Japan

22 Jan 2010 08:27:00 +0900

As I've recently mentioned, I feel the time has come to change the katakana spelling of my last name.

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anti-spam routine

22 Jan 2010 13:19:00 +0900

One thing that plagues people who run websites: spam. I think I may have solved the problem of getting the automated variety.

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Shinagawa street fight

22 Jan 2010 03:18:00 +0900

Twice in Tokyo, I've seen fights happen on the street. Today I thought I'd run into my third. But it was worse.

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new site design

21 Jan 2010 09:26:00 +0900

For years, I made feedback to this website available to all comers. Naturally this left me open to spam.

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struggling with a foreign name in Japan

20 Jan 2010 02:26:00 +0900

I've been struggling with a last name that just doesn't work in the Japanese language. So I've decided to do something about it.

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shipping from the US

19 Jan 2010 22:58:00 +0900

Living in Japan, I have difficulty ordering things from the US. US vendors don't like to ship things to Japan, and they don't like Japanese credit cards.

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kanji study tools

18 Jan 2010 02:06:00 +0900

I'm juggling a lot of things at the moment. Even kanji studies.

[continued]

emuu.net copyright

17 Jan 2010 05:59:48 +0700

This is the copyright statement for all text and photos found on this website.

aquarium update

17 Jan 2010 03:08:00 +0900

The three otocinclus fish that I bought in replacement of Buddy the Pleco have died.

[continued]

reverse public relations

16 Jan 2010 18:26:00 +0900

One thing I started in 2009 was feeding this journal to various outlets like facebook, tumblr, and twitter. I'm starting to see some weird results.

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another busy Friday

15 Jan 2010 02:03:00 +0900

Today I did a lot of running around. Sadly, a fair bit was in the wrong direction.

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a difficult name

15 Jan 2010 08:11:24 +0700

My last name is German in origin, and most English speakers (and spellers!) can't get it right.

our first order

14 Jan 2010 21:47:00 +0900

We ordered a ring from our principal supplier back in December. They didn't get it right.

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new year, more cycle glitches

12 Jan 2010 17:26:00 +0900

Recently I said to myself, "I haven't had a flat tire on my bike, recently." Today I paid for that.

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the ballad of Buddy

12 Jan 2010 19:56:00 +0900

This is the ballad of Buddy the plecostomus, a fish I had to give up.

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Nihombashi

10 Jan 2010 20:26:00 +0900

We're setting up our "headquarters" in the Tokyo district of Nihombashi. I've decided I like the area.

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fishes

09 Jan 2010 12:21:00 +0900

The aquarium's been stable for several weeks now. So we added some new fish and plants.

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what to do with old phones

09 Jan 2010 08:32:00 +0900

We've got about three old phones hanging around the apartment. Now I know how to get rid of them responsibly.

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my boy's book

05 Jan 2010 06:32:00 +0900

I've made a photo book detailing my son's first year.

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a tale of two banks

04 Jan 2010 18:18:00 +0900

In light of my recent comparison of Japanese airlines, I thought I'd mention an experience with two banks.

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adjusting to life in Japan

04 Jan 2010 14:08:34 +0700

Adjusting to life in Japan seems to be taking me longer than I'd imagined.

where have all the good things gone?

03 Jan 2010 23:57:00 +0900

When I left my first job in Japan, one of my coworkers gave me a fairwell gift of a small set of toy cars with a jump ramp. Kenny is now playing with it. I noticed that the cars were abstracted models of real Japanese cars and looked up the "510 Bluebird" from Nissan.

[continued]

belief in Japan

03 Jan 2010 20:03:00 +0900

Without knowing a thing about the religion, it would seem I've becom a practising Shintoist.

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home again, thanks to ANA

02 Jan 2010 22:23:00 +0900

We flew back to Tokyo today. With All Nippon, not Japan Air Lines.

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gaijin comic relief

01 Jan 2010 22:02:00 +0900

We're visiting my wife's family in rural Japan. Everybody sleeps in one big room. Except when I wake them.

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a frosty new year and some resolutions reviewed

01 Jan 2010 16:22:00 +0900

I woke up before the dawn, and realized that I had a chance to photograph the year's first sunrise.

[continued]

business quotes

01 Jan 2010 04:57:05 +0700

This is a handful of instructional and motivational quotes I'm putting together. As I'm building a business, I find that I need these.

well it's over

31 Dec 2009 02:13:00 +0900

Goodbye, 2009 and the nameless decade.

[continued]

Yawn, was that another eruption?

30 Dec 2009 02:30:00 +0900

I was woken this morning at 07:30 by another volcanic boom that rattled the house.

[continued]

another eruption!

29 Dec 2009 07:54:00 +0900

Again with these volcanic eruptions.

[continued]

my first volcanic boom

28 Dec 2009 10:05:00 +0900

Today I heard my first real volcanic explosion.

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Why, JAL, why.

25 Dec 2009 19:55:00 +0900

You can tell that the government is now running Japan Airlines.

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a decade ends

23 Dec 2009 08:44:00 +0900

A decade ends in eight days. I've seen a fair bit of fuss about it in the media, all of a sudden.

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the nameless decade

23 Dec 2009 02:42:17 +0700

So the nameless decade is over. I had some good times despite, well, everything.

X'mas for Mari

22 Dec 2009 19:17:00 +0900

It occurred to me today that while my wife loves chocolate, she wouldn't have time at X'mas to eat any.

[continued]

losing my accent?

21 Dec 2009 06:08:00 +0900

Could I be losing my Canadian accent after a combined total of five years abroad?

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things are tough in Japan

21 Dec 2009 15:16:00 +0900

It's always good to get a neighbour's take on things from time to time.

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"great husband" part two

20 Dec 2009 04:54:00 +0900

So I'm a great husband again.

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paypal, swing and a miss

18 Dec 2009 03:19:00 +0900

One of the things we're eventually going to do with our business is collect payments via credit card. We won't be doing business with paypal.

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earthquakes make for lousy bedfellows

18 Dec 2009 10:50:00 +0900

Last night I was up fairly late working on various projects. I needed some quality sleep.

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Apple book printing

17 Dec 2009 08:04:00 +0900

I use a Mac PC at home and it came with this iPhoto software. Which has led to tears.

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sunrise over Shinagawa

12 Dec 2009 21:04:00 +0900

This was the sunrise as visible from our balcony this morning. Already, there's a jet out of Haneda.

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learning Japanese

10 Dec 2009 21:10:00 +0900

I'm going to resume my Japanese language studies. This time, I've taken the plunge into electronic assistance.

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a Kindle in Japan

09 Dec 2009 05:44:00 +0900

Today I got my mitts on a friend's "Kindle", the Amazon e-reader. I have to say I was impressed.

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illness (again!)

07 Dec 2009 16:02:00 +0900

I've been sick for much of the past three days. Mari dragged me to the clinic on Saturday morning. The doctor told me that I have another viral infection and that I seem to be exhausted and in dire need of some rest.

[continued]

what's new?

02 Dec 2009 06:10:35 +0700

A guide to the newest content on the site. This covers journal entries, articles, and photo collections.

emuu.net tools

02 Dec 2009 06:23:09 +0700

Tools for enjoying this website, including search, a site map, subscriptions, and guidance on using content for your own projects.

subscribing to emuu.net

02 Dec 2009 06:25:47 +0700

Get updates from this website through RSS or email.

site search

02 Dec 2009 06:27:08 +0700

Search emuu.net with this simple Google query.

no longer "great husband"

30 Nov 2009 21:41:00 +0900

Well as I suspected, it's all over.

[continued]

"great husband" again

29 Nov 2009 09:26:00 +0900

When we were first married, Mari would occasionally tell me that I was a "great husband". Doesn't happen so much anymore.

[continued]

pics from a birthday

29 Nov 2009 08:12:00 +0900

We had a bit of a party for Jon's 40th birthday a few weeks ago. I've finally got the pics together.

[continued]

Arakawa clean-up

28 Nov 2009 23:31:00 +0900

Today we spent most of the day cleaning up a small stretch of the Arakawa, the large river that runs through the eastern side of Tokyo.

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turning Japanese (slowly)

27 Nov 2009 05:41:00 +0900

I seem to be becoming accustomed to having a Japanese wife. Too accustomed.

[continued]

stare into the .. umbrella

27 Nov 2009 14:19:00 +0900

I've learned a thing or two about lighting in this latest round of product photography. While I was dismantling the photography setup today, I decided to turn the camera on myself. Focus isn't 100%, I'm not sure if the camera was out of focus or if it was me.

[continued]

about me

27 Nov 2009 02:27:58 +0700

This is me: father, novelist, photographer and IT nerd.

back in Tokyo

25 Nov 2009 17:21:00 +0900

Well all good things must come to an end. Today we returned to Tokyo.

[continued]

markets

24 Nov 2009 22:30:00 +0900

Today we spent the morning in Kowloon. First up were the bird and flower markets. Kenny was considerably more interested in the former than the latter, and seemed just as interested in sparrows that were milling about stealing seed as he was in the colourful birds in the cages.

[continued]

a wedding!

24 Nov 2009 16:08:00 +0900

This evening we attended the wedding for which we'd come to Hong Kong in the first place.

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pandas and old Minolta cameras

23 Nov 2009 13:35:00 +0900

Today we went to see the Panda at an aquarium. The pandas gave these plaintive looks, trying to tell us they just don't swim.

[continued]

Shek O

22 Nov 2009 17:51:00 +0900

Our first day in Hong Kong was a blustery cool one. We headed for the south side of the island.

[continued]

Another new city

21 Nov 2009 03:50:00 +0900

And suddenly we're in tropical China. And we made it by the skin of our teeth.

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what a day

20 Nov 2009 18:24:00 +0900

Sometimes, Friday just adds nothing to what you can get done in a week. Today was one such Friday.

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photos of China

18 Nov 2009 19:35:00 +0900

I've finally assembled the photos from our trip to China and posted them to the website.

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dropped my bike .. and son

15 Nov 2009 22:17:00 +0900

I'm still a bit weak from last week's illness, it seems. I managed to drop my bike with my son in the baby seat.

[continued]

riding in Shanghai

13 Nov 2009 11:17:00 +0900

A lot of people haven't asked what it's like to ride on the streets of Shanghai. So I'll tell you.

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new fish

12 Nov 2009 03:43:00 +0900

While I was ill, three more of the shrimp died. That left only four. I'm a bad shrimp keeper.

[continued]

terribly ill

11 Nov 2009 15:45:00 +0900

I was terribly ill from Monday night through to Tuesday night, with a 40ºC fever and a generally awful feeling.

[continued]

happy birthday to a friend

08 Nov 2009 09:15:00 +0900

My long-time friend and business partner Jon is turning 40. Shiftless cads that his friends are, we didn't plan anything.

[continued]

aging

06 Nov 2009 04:13:00 +0900

As I slide toward my 40th birthday, I'm starting to notice age issues again (for the first time since I was in my teens).

[continued]

traffic by country

06 Nov 2009 09:09:00 +0900

For the past nine months or so I've been tracking the country of origin for traffic to my website. Hello, Costa Rica!

[continued]

Japanese electrics

06 Nov 2009 06:12:00 +0900

Everyone's familiar with Japanese electronics. Today I learned about the electric power system here.

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more dead shrimp

05 Nov 2009 23:35:00 +0900

In the days following the first death, there have now been three more dead shrimp. And I've identified the killer.

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crazy day

04 Nov 2009 00:47:00 +0900

I got more done today than I'd hoped. Following up on Monday's important meeting was the priority.

[continued]

visitors

03 Nov 2009 17:09:00 +0900

We met with Blake and Violetta at 10:00 this morning under clear and surprisingly cold skies.

[continued]

Blake's arriving

02 Nov 2009 13:12:00 +0900

Tomorrow morning I'll be meeting with an old colleague who's coming to town. To do a bit of a tour.

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pics from the motorbike tour

02 Nov 2009 19:43:00 +0900

I took a lot of photos on the motorbike tour. Here's one of them.

[continued]

it's our anniversary

01 Nov 2009 03:37:00 +0900

Three years ago we got married on a beach in Thailand. Today is not the anniversary of that event.

[continued]

shrimp tank

31 Oct 2009 04:38:00 +0900

Hmmm. One of the shrimp I bought yesterday is dead.

[continued]

places I want to visit

31 Oct 2009 02:51:42 +0700

These are the places I want to visit, and why.

goodbye, Mashams (for real)

30 Oct 2009 11:52:00 +0900

Our friends the Mashams came by tonight for their last visit. They'd finished packing the apartment (which must have been a mighty job with two small children about) and we were happy to feed them.

[continued]

home again, home again

30 Oct 2009 07:30:00 +0900

It feels damn strange being back in Tokyo. Things here are so relatively sane it's like waking from some sort of hilarious fevered dream.

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the aquarium

29 Oct 2009 00:23:00 +0900

Our last day in this mad city.

[continued]

crickets, fish, and birds

28 Oct 2009 04:09:00 +0900

This morning we failed to find a river tour that could complement the tour we'd already done of the streets. So we made our own.

[continued]

canal town

27 Oct 2009 12:01:00 +0900

Today we got out early, heading for the canal town of SuZhou. We got to the Shanghai train station at 09:00, but found that there were no tickets available for any train before 10:06. No matter, we reckoned, it just gave us more time to read the guide book. We didn't know that problems with train tickets would become a major item for the day....

[continued]

I guess I married well?

26 Oct 2009 07:11:00 +0900

My wife astonished me this morning by telling me that she liked my camera vest. I've married a woman who approves of my clothing!

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the zoo!

26 Oct 2009 11:23:00 +0900

Today we went to the zoo to watch a panda sleep.

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shanghai sideways

25 Oct 2009 06:24:00 +0900

We survived our motorcycle tour of Shanghai!

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adopting in China

25 Oct 2009 02:47:00 +0900

So it seems that adopting a baby in China is still an option.

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entry 1526

25 Oct 2009 08:36:00 +0900

I've been writing this journal for more than ten years, now. The first post dates to late September, 1998.

[continued]

we've arrived

24 Oct 2009 16:06:00 +0900

Now I've ridden in maglev trains on two continents. The thing was surprisingly smooth until 300kph, at which point it was no quite so smooth. But fun!

[continued]

on business and busy-ness

23 Oct 2009 01:49:00 +0900

It's hard to imagine that I've got myself simultaneously involved in two start-ups, but that's how things have turned out. This week I got involved with a lot of interesting things.

[continued]

cycling in Tokyo

23 Oct 2009 05:24:00 +0900

Tokyo is by the safest city I've ever cycled in. And yet, I was in a cycling collision this week.

[continued]

a business idea is dead

22 Oct 2009 03:48:00 +0900

Looks like one of my business ideas is stillborn.

[continued]

obtaining a visa for China (from Tokyo)

19 Oct 2009 14:25:34 +0700

Hey expat living in Japan: planning a trip to China? You need a visa.

preparing for China

19 Oct 2009 04:54:00 +0900

We're going to China! Time to prepare.

[continued]

an old hobby renewed

18 Oct 2009 11:19:00 +0900

It's been several years since I last maintained an aquarium in the home. Hell, it's been a decade since I lived in one spot long enough!

[continued]

happy anniversary to us!

17 Oct 2009 09:46:00 +0900

We hit upon the idea of having a getaway "anniversary dinner" while Mari's parents were here. Just one problem.

[continued]

along came a spider...

17 Oct 2009 03:45:00 +0900

We have a lots of mosquitoes around the house. So when a monster spider set up a web, I was happy. But I wound up killing the thing that same day.

[continued]

meetings and a visa

16 Oct 2009 19:53:00 +0900

For some reason, I decided to sandwich in a trip to the Chinese consulate between important business meetings today. Serves me right!

[continued]

family's here!

15 Oct 2009 16:34:00 +0900

Mari's folks are here for a visit. As insanely busy as we've been with preparing the business, it's good to have visitors come just when I can turn things over to the testers and breath for a moment.

[continued]

cyyyyycling in the raiiiinnn

14 Oct 2009 18:55:00 +0900

Just getting over a cold, when I get caught in the rain last night. Now I'm back to square one.

[continued]

round two of testing starts today!

14 Oct 2009 05:55:00 +0900

Our little engagement ring business enters a new phase today. Testing with a broad range of users.

[continued]

new desk

10 Oct 2009 01:24:00 +0900

Mari's got a new desk for the office/bedroom. She got it for sewing and for using her PC. I'm rather impressed; for $100 you can get some decent home furnishings, with no assembly required so it shouldn't collapse like some IKEA junk.

[continued]

shoe incident resolved

09 Oct 2009 13:02:00 +0900

After a few phone calls, the shoe incident is resolved. In short, I'm keeping everything.

[continued]

typhoon

07 Oct 2009 02:39:00 +0900

Last night a typhoon made landfall at Tokyo.

[continued]

wasp takes down dragonfly

05 Oct 2009 13:52:00 +0900

Japan has some nasty insects. The worst, possibly, is a type of predatory hornet. I met one.

[continued]

why I ride my bike in Tokyo

03 Oct 2009 19:38:00 +0900

This footage explains one of the major reasons I like to take a bike in Tokyo rather than ride the excellent train/subway system. In this video, some twelve people cram themselves into an already jam-packed train.

[continued]

Gelding Gangster

03 Oct 2009 23:07:00 +0900

"Gelding Gangster" appears to be the name of a band in Tokyo.

[continued]

the shoes arrived!

02 Oct 2009 06:53:00 +0900

The shoes and boots arrived today. Two small problems.

[continued]

low tunnel

02 Oct 2009 20:37:00 +0900

There's a tunnel that passes beneath the wide set of sidings near Shinagawa train station. I'd say it's about 250m wide, and nowhere near 2m tall. Here's what the entrance looks like.

[continued]

the beat goes on...

01 Oct 2009 23:26:00 +0900

When you're a small start-up dealing with gigantic international leaders in the industry, I find it helps to know what you're talking about. And we do.

[continued]

like boots and ... books

29 Sep 2009 02:26:00 +0900

I've now got quite a range of items winging their way to me from overseas. It looks like the Internet is really starting to deliver on the promise of international commerce.

[continued]

"money masters"

28 Sep 2009 10:47:00 +0900

Over the past several days, I've been slowly watching a rather dated but comprehensive video on the role of the Federal Reserve and its ilk. It asks the question what's happening to the US economy (and through it, the world economy), and then proceeds to answer that question.

[continued]

our long day

26 Sep 2009 11:46:00 +0900

Mari and I went took Kenny to the daycare this morning for a parent-teacher meeting. It was a long morning.

[continued]

sold a photo!

25 Sep 2009 05:18:00 +0900

Today I put an 11"x14" print in the mail, bound for a former colleague in Australia. My first-ever sale of a print from one of my photos. It dates back to the Spring of 2007, and is set in Gotanda.

[continued]

mum's off

23 Sep 2009 05:06:00 +0900

Well, not a long trip this time. Mum's back off to Canada.

[continued]

shopping day

22 Sep 2009 20:26:00 +0900

We went to Ginza for a shopping expedition. While waiting for my wife and my mother to emerge from a fabric store, I was entertaining the boy and while chasing him away from a busy intersection I discovered a new camera store along the the Harumi dori strip.

[continued]

back to the museum

21 Sep 2009 09:27:00 +0900

Today we went to the Edo museum. It's one of the better ones I've seen anywhere in the world.

[continued]

goodbye, Mashams!

19 Sep 2009 04:43:00 +0900

The Mashams, our good friends and neighbours, are leaving. So we held a party.

[continued]

respect for the elderly day

18 Sep 2009 18:14:00 +0900

Today we through my visiting mother into the deep end. The daycare was hosting a "respect for the elderly day" celebration, and Mari had arranged for my mum to participate. I took her to the daycare in the morning, and when I last glimpsed her she was sitting in a space surrounded by kids but none of them was within a metre and half of her—they were all standing well back and simply staring.

[continued]

driver's license

17 Sep 2009 04:16:00 +0900

I've got a Japanese driver's license. It took 18 months.

[continued]

frozen onion

15 Sep 2009 04:25:00 +0900

We ran out of green onion the other morning, and had to eat our natto donburi without that lovely condiment. Naturally, I didn't want to go another day. But my actions turned it into three days.

[continued]

gaijin at Narita

15 Sep 2009 08:34:00 +0900

My mum's arrived on a short visit. While at the airport to greet her, I was twice stopped by security staff to show my passport.

[continued]

all-day migraine

14 Sep 2009 12:34:00 +0900

I'm something of a weather witch. I can't control the weather, mind you, or even predict it. I just get sick from it.

[continued]

the affair is over

13 Sep 2009 17:19:00 +0900

My Summer affair has run its course. Yes, I admit, it was a vibrant younger thing that caught my eye. And yes, it was fun while it lasted.

[continued]

ikemen and ikumen

12 Sep 2009 04:49:00 +0900

"Ikemen" a term in (modern) Japanese term for a handsome, attractive man. "Ikumen" is another word used for husbands who help out around the house.

[continued]

yawn ... another earthquake

08 Sep 2009 14:56:00 +0900

Just had yet another earthquake, a very mild one. It's getting to be routine!

[continued]

if I were a rich man

07 Sep 2009 06:58:00 +0900

A former coworker asked how it was going, and I told him that I was having one of the best times of my life. All I had to do was not be working!

[continued]

owning a Mac computer

05 Sep 2009 05:04:41 +0700

I finally bought a Mac this summer. Why not, I've already tried just about everything else. Here's what I think after two months of use.

nohongo jouzu

05 Sep 2009 08:36:00 +0900

Today I set out to reset the password on my credit card so that I could make Internet purchases. Instead I canceled the service!

[continued]

bitchin' camero

05 Sep 2009 21:10:00 +0900

Today I saw a left hand drive Camero on the street.

[continued]

another earthquake

04 Sep 2009 11:06:00 +0900

Just a few minutes ago, we had another significant earthquake. That's four inside a few weeks. It seems that mother Earth has woken after many months (nearly two years) without too many noticeable quakes at all.

[continued]

o frabjous day!

01 Sep 2009 19:26:00 +0900

I got my little Olympus rangefinder camera back on Sunday. Taking it out on the street this morning showed me that it's condition is much improved. It may have taken them two tries, but:

[continued]

typhoon

31 Aug 2009 02:10:00 +0900

A typhoon is descending upon us once again. It's due to make landfall at Tokyo at 18:00 tonight, but it's been raining with increasing heaviness since about 17:00 last night (when I was out with Kenny returning a movie* and buying groceries).

[continued]

Monday morning hoorays

31 Aug 2009 23:29:00 +0900

We spent the weekend on family stuff, this weekend, except for an outing by Mari to meet some other local mothers. Sitting Kenny is a lot of work, of course, but it's enjoyable time. And then the five o'clock bell rang.

[continued]

the countdown

31 Aug 2009 17:54:00 +0900

It occurred to me this weekend that I'm now only eighteen months out from turning forty. When I was younger, it seemed so distant, and now it's here.

[continued]

Mari's second performance

26 Aug 2009 21:08:00 +0900

The people hosting the event at which Mari sang on Saturday forbid photography. So I only took two flash photos while she was singing. Naturally, she had her eyes shut in one of them!

[continued]

sleeploss

25 Aug 2009 15:33:00 +0900

Kenny had a fever all weekend, so naturally none of us has been sleeping properly. And by that I mean sleeping at all. Yesterday I finally realized that it had gone too far.

[continued]

Mari the performer

23 Aug 2009 01:30:00 +0900

Last night Mari gave her second-ever performance during a night that ended in the hospital. She did "Almost Like Being in Love", and really nailed it. Of the nine performers to take to the stage Mari was one of the top two if the applause was any indication.

[continued]

my tax dollars at work

21 Aug 2009 02:05:00 +0900

Today as I was cycling back from Shibuya I passed through a large intersection in Gotanda. It was one of those affairs where a six lane divided boulevard intersects with a divided highway sporting an elevated upper deck (extra pillars in the middle of the intersection!). The lights weren't with me and I had to cross the diagonal to get home, so I wound up crossing both roads using the cycle lane in the pedestrian crossing.

[continued]

neverending camera issues

19 Aug 2009 02:52:00 +0900

Much to my dismay my recently-repaired X-700, the camera I dropped, has started leaking light again. I've done what I can for this old beast, I guess it's time has come. 8(

[continued]

cicadas

16 Aug 2009 06:35:00 +0900

Tokyo is not exactly a nature lover's paradise. The trees are almost entirely of the variety planted in a man-made container of some sort (or left in a green space that suits our purposes). The rivers are teeming with fish but are contained to inaccessible sleeves of concrete built into high walls, and the water itself is usually a noxious milky grey. And the birdlife essentially consists of weatherbeaten crows and the odd starling.

[continued]

the new business takes a step forward

13 Aug 2009 17:24:00 +0900

Today my partner and I nominated two acquaintances to do some testing with the website storefront for our business. As time goes by we'll be asking more and more people to get involved in the testing and to help us steer the thing into the best shape it can be. As it stands, the store is looking pretty good, with:

[continued]

third quake in five days

13 Aug 2009 20:55:00 +0900

We were eating breakfast this morning when there was yet another earthquake. It was by far the mildest, in fact I was the only one who noticed it until I called Mari's attention to it.

[continued]

ganbatte, Burma

12 Aug 2009 16:22:00 +0900

Recently, there's been a lot of non-Japanese political activity in my neighbourhood. The embassy of Burma is in the area, and with recent events in that country the local populace has been turning out at the embassy to protest.

[continued]

the second quake

11 Aug 2009 11:27:00 +0900

So it seems that this morning's quake (the second in less than 60 hours) was stronger than I knew. The one on Sunday was a 6.9 located some 340km underground. Today's was a 6.6, but felt weaker here in Tokyo because it was some 150km away (and very close to the surface).

[continued]

earthquake

10 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0900

We had a strong earthquake last night at around 20:30. It went on for quite some time, and really shook things. When we realized that it wasn't another little one (we haven't even had little ones of late) Mari scooped up Kenny and headed for the shelter of the dining table (a big solid wooden thing) while I ran for a flashlight and asked Joon, who was visiting, if he could ensure that the front door was open.

[continued]

チリ　コン　カルネ　レシピ

09 Aug 2009 12:46:44 +0700

私の　おかさんの　レシピ　です。

私の　さいしょ　日本語の　ページ　です。

collections

07 Aug 2009 12:54:05 +0700

These are some collections I've put together over time. None of these are things I've created, they're more like the interesting pebbles you find on a hike.

Jesus Body

07 Aug 2009 18:23:00 +0900

There are many things that can mystify a foreigner living in Japan. I've decided to start chronicling some of these. Not in the usual sense of pointing and laughing at the weirdness (if that were my thing I doubt I'd have left Australia) but rather in relating my experience for those who aren't as far down the road. And for those who are happy just reading about it from afar.

[continued]

syndication (signal to noise)

04 Aug 2009 22:01:00 +0900

This little journal of mine is now in syndication. After having built an RSS feed for updates to this site, I've been linking those updates to various channels such as a tumblr "blog", twitter and a new facebook account.

[continued]

service and complexity

04 Aug 2009 21:53:00 +0900

Twice in the past two weeks, Mari and I have tried and failed to engage the services of different companies. We failed in both cases because the services were delivered in such a fantastically complicated manner that the sales staff can not close the deal. In both cases, the staff had to wade through fantastically complicated sets of options and conditions. They had to consult with third parties. They had to check with electronic data sources. The had to seek clarification of this and that.

[continued]

today I got caught in the rain three times

02 Aug 2009 17:23:00 +0900

The whole family went out in the rain at around 10:00 this morning in an effort to do various errands before some guests would arrive in the afternoon. On the top of the list was going to the baby/toddler store and seeing about getting a larger bed for Kenny that would give him some space to move about (which his crib does not) but would contain him better than the futon currently does.

[continued]

camera woes (revisited)

01 Aug 2009 02:26:00 +0900

The repairs done to my Olympus rangefinder were clearly insufficient. The thing is once again unable to focus on infinity, and even before that highly-visible error had occurred, there had been some invisible problem (perhaps a disconnect between the viewfinder and the lens?) which meant that the three rolls of film I shot on the weekend were all badly out of focus.

[continued]

damn that store room!

30 Jul 2009 09:40:00 +0900

Tonight Mari asked me, "Did you take those [crackers] from the store-room?"

[continued]

banking 'round the world

27 Jul 2009 08:22:00 +0900

I've been using my mother's address as a "Canadian mail stop" for some reason. She's now preparing to move again, and I've started to get my address changed with my few points of contact back in "the old country".

[continued]

replacing Google as search engine in Firefox

26 Jul 2009 21:12:00 +0900

I typically use search by typing in some keywords to the location bar (rather than first going to a search site, or using the dedicated search bar). As part of my de-Google plan, I've decided to drop Google from the default role it plays in this so-called "keyword search" via the location bar.

[continued]

new cycle shop

25 Jul 2009 20:49:00 +0900

The Kitazawa family, seen in a number of the (photos on Kenny's site) recommended a new bike shop to us. The place specializes in bikes with electric motor assist, bikes for parents who need a baby seat, and -- I suspect -- bikes that would be a great hit with the burgeoning population of senior citizens in this country. The latter are based on 20" tires with no top bar on the frame and a small electric motor. They are perfect utility bikes in the city: with a short wheel base, wide tires and fat seats they are at once comfortable and maneouverable.

[continued]

photography

23 Jul 2009 00:33:02 +0700

my photos!

Google is weirder than I thought

23 Jul 2009 22:37:00 +0900

My buddy Lee and I have discovered something truly bizarre. Google now places higher preference on "social networking" sites than it does on the sites that actually contain the content to which those aggregators point. That is, a website containing nothing but a collection of "hey, look at this" links gets higher preference than the actual content that's being linked-to.

[continued]

new favourite film

22 Jul 2009 06:06:00 +0900

I think I've found a new favourite colour print film! The image below comes straight from the scanner w/o any manipulation whatever. I love the colours, grain, and overall vibe of the stuff altogether.

[continued]

withholding tax in Japan

21 Jul 2009 04:56:27 +0700

The basic breakdown on when to pay withholding tax in Japan.

understanding Japanese withholding tax

21 Jul 2009 16:24:00 +0900

Tax law is always difficult to understand. One of the areas that caused us a fair bit of grief was coming to understand if we had to withhold partial payment for overseas parties due to anti-money-laundering concerns. When I finally came to understand the law, I put together an article on the subject. Today I've just updated it.

[continued]

home again, home again

20 Jul 2009 05:43:00 +0900

So we're home again. Two flights, three long drives, and two non-trivial train trips in four days. It's a bit much, with an 18-month-old child, but we'll never be here again so why not.

[continued]

"I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk"

18 Jul 2009 21:27:00 +0900

Tonight on the way home from the daycare, Mari and I found a fellow of about our age lying on the sidewalk, unmoving and eyes closed. Mari said, "We should do something." It was only then that it occurred to me that he wasn't simply sleeping one off the way you see in this city (photo below).

[continued]

a home rebuilt

18 Jul 2009 20:23:00 +0900

Today we flew to Miyazaki, and from there drove to Miyakonojo, the town of my wife's birth. We visited with her uncle Hidenori-san and aunt Anne. They've recently renovated the lovely old home that had belonged to Mari's grandparents.

[continued]

Google ain't all that

18 Jul 2009 04:53:00 +0900

At the prompting of a personal correspondance, I'm adding an entry on my thoughts about Google. I realize I'm not the first to say some of this (by some years).

[continued]

the new business

15 Jul 2009 18:09:00 +0900

My business partner and I came to a decision today. We're very close to being ready to launch our business in a "beta" state: show it to some friends and some parties in the industry, and get feedback on what works and what doesn't.

[continued]

.net frustration

13 Jul 2009 16:58:00 +0900

Once upon a time, when the 'net was young and no-one but techies fiddled about with domain registration, there was but one Internet registrar that everyone had to deal with. They had some clumsy email-based template system that made registering and managing Internet domains a chore.

[continued]

what a day

10 Jul 2009 22:31:00 +0900

I've had a bit of a wobbly week, and today just capped it off wonderfully. This morning was one of those Tokyo Rainy Season days. Not actually raining, but at once very windy and bordering on 30C. I managed to wrap up the work I wanted done this week, editing some image 25 files for the retail website that my partner and I are putting together.

[continued]

new for your iPhone

08 Jul 2009 06:28:00 +0900

Some friends have released a new application for the iPhone. It's based on the Japanese habit of seeking discretion while making otherwise indiscreet noises on a public toilet.

[continued]

tour of Shinagawa

07 Jul 2009 07:24:00 +0900

Today I took a free tour of Shinagawa, the city within the Tokyo district in which we live. The day started with a 10:00 assembly at the Shinagawa International Friendship Association building, where I've been taking Japanese classes.

[continued]

my old professor

06 Jul 2009 10:29:00 +0900

One of my University professors was arrested on child pornography charges earlier this year. I asked the University about it because I'd heard was that he'd been fired for possessing the porn on campus. But no, he wasn't fired and it looks like he'll be collecting a comfortable pension on state funding. The old boys' network is alive and well, I suppose.

[continued]

semi-stolen chair

04 Jul 2009 16:41:00 +0900

We went to a gigantic sale at the TOC outlet building in Gotanda.

[continued]

new glasses

03 Jul 2009 11:11:00 +0900

I picked up my new glasses today, the first new pair in five years or so. A bit of a new look for me...

[continued]

on the spot

02 Jul 2009 08:54:00 +0900

At a celebration today for the demise of our Japanese course, I was asked to make a speech! No one told our class we'd be doing this, I suppose it was a matter of throwing us in the deep end. But I was able to stand up and say several things, it all went well enough (no one booed).

[continued]

Canada Day

01 Jul 2009 18:21:00 +0900

Today was Canada Day. I didn't really know how to celebrate in any way that would be meaningful to the boy. I tried pointing out the Canadian flag in one of his books, but I don't think the message got through.

[continued]

great dentist

30 Jun 2009 22:39:00 +0900

I had a great experience with a visit to the dentist today. It was my first visit in four years, and my first in Japan, and I went because I'd developed a throbbing pain somewhere in the upper-left-rear teeth. It turns out that I had a very small cavity that required a fair bit of looking-for.

[continued]

an old acquaintance

28 Jun 2009 18:35:00 +0900

Mari, Kenny and I met up with an old friend from a short contract stint I did in Australia back in "19100". Martin and I worked at an odd little Web 1.0 start-up called i7 back when the getting was good (and how!).

[continued]

camera repairs

25 Jun 2009 22:12:00 +0900

I've got the good news from the camera repair shop in Illinois that accepted my old XD-11. The work is done, and it's on the way back. At the same time, I got my test rolls back and it seems that the X-700 light seal fix did the job -- no more light leaks!

[continued]

HIE no more?

23 Jun 2009 13:47:00 +0900

I took my last* roll of HIE black and white infrared-sensitive film into Horiuchi this morning for development. It's a pro lab, the only one that I regularly use.

[continued]

chocolate covered what?

16 Jun 2009 07:15:00 +0900

Ah, Japan. Only here (or possibly Texas) could they have invented the chocolate-covered potato chip.

[continued]

Three PC's and one ... um ... user

15 Jun 2009 21:12:00 +0900

I bought a Mac Mini. The original reason being to have a quicker and more stable system on which to do my Caritas work (specifically, the photo editing). My long-serving Acer laptop's held up fairly well until recent times, but now has a long list of deficiencies:

[continued]

review: Pentax *istDS

09 Jun 2009 13:30:53 +0700

A review of the Pentax *istDS digital SLR camera. A sturdy workhorse that mixes good image quality and standard features.

mikoshi

07 Jun 2009 15:41:00 +0900

Today we went out to join the neighbourhood celebration that's centred around Shinagawa shrine (which is close to our home). I took a small clip of footage to record the back-and-forth, swaying pace of the progress the carriers make with the mikoshi (movable shrine) as they carry it through the streets.

[continued]

screwing up

06 Jun 2009 01:47:00 +0900

I decided to send one of my Minolta XD bodies off to the US for repairs after being told by one local repair shop they wanted more than $200, and being told by another that my particular camera would be impossible to repair in Japan. The fellow in the US wants only $45 plus $20 shipping, so it's a no-brainer. I just have to package it up sufficiently.

[continued]

thank you, government

05 Jun 2009 16:51:00 +0900

The Canadian tax authority sent me an advisory suggesting that they wanted me to call them. Well, I've been trying ever since, but their 1800 number doesn't work in Japan and the (613) area-code number is perpetually busy.

[continued]

new keyboard

04 Jun 2009 06:19:00 +0900

It's that time again -- I've bought another keyboard. A "Filco" brand "Majestouch" that I love, love, love. It's got the "Cherry M" key whatsits under the hood, meaning that every key has its own dedicated spring and receiver. From what I read online after discovering the thing in a local store, the gamer crowd loves these things too, because they allow true simultaneous keys (up to six keys at a time, just what you need when blowing people's heads off with sniper rifles (and here I'm going by what I see the kids up to in Internet Cafes and computer stores)).

[continued]

weird camera fixes

03 Jun 2009 14:16:00 +0900

Yup, another post about getting my cameras fixed. Just be glad it's not about getting flat tires on my bike all the time, the way it was last Summer...

[continued]

portraits of my wife the singer

01 Jun 2009 02:28:00 +0900

I'm not an experienced portrait photographer, but a bit of forthought and a raft of lamps let me pull off some okay portraits of my singer wife for a promotional brochure.

[continued]

camera repairs

29 May 2009 15:38:00 +0900

I got my 35DC back. ¥4250 later, it seems to be ship-shape once again. In fact, the viewfinder looks a bit brighter than I recall, so perhaps they gave it a cleaning while they were adjusting the wonky rangefinder. I have come to suspect that the camera was somehow pulled down off of the table at some point, causing the problem where the rangefinder would no longer focus on infinity.

[continued]

digital black and white

29 May 2009 16:17:00 +0900

I ran out of points on my Bic Camera card last week, and told myself that I'd stop shooting film for a while when that happened. So it's time to go back to digital for a while.

[continued]

if the truck is a'rockin

26 May 2009 07:32:00 +0900

Today at the ward office building where I take Japanese lessons, we were taken for a three-part earthquake expo. The first part involved getting violently shaken in the back of a specially-made truck that simulates a very strong (magnitude 7) earthquake.

[continued]

Today is towel day

25 May 2009 06:17:00 +0900

To all the other fans of Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books: today is Towel Day!

[continued]

at my feet

24 May 2009 14:15:00 +0900

I've got quite a large collection of photos. Some of them are fairly typical record photos and others were taken during travel. I have one collection in my 'expressions' area that's now grown to five pages in size: almost entirely comprised of things I spotted before my feet.

[continued]

some photos

23 May 2009 11:51:00 +0900

I've put some photos of our recent trip to the Izu peninsula in my photo gallery. Enjoy!

[continued]

the busy life

22 May 2009 15:02:00 +0900

Sometimes I feel that I may be biting off a bit more than I'm supposed to. Handling a small child, a new company's first steps, learning a new language, a relatively new marriage ... phew. And somewhere in there I'm supposed to find sleep, it supposedly.

[continued]

if I never have a cent...

18 May 2009 02:01:00 +0900

Mari's parents arrived in town yesterday for Mari's singing debut. Along with Mari's cousin Youko, we all went down to Yokihama and sat through some twenty other performances before seeing Mari's.

[continued]

Mari's video

18 May 2009 14:17:00 +0900

With a tip from my pal Nate, I've managed to put together a video of Mari's debut on YouTube. Enjoy!

[continued]

Mari's debut

16 May 2009 05:47:00 +0900

Mari is practicing today for tomorrow's singing debut at a show with a dozen other singers (in turn). I can't wait.

[continued]

dropped camera: the verdict

15 May 2009 01:12:00 +0900

A few days ago I mentioned that I'd dropped one of my cameras and that it now was suffering from light leaks. A reader of this journal suggested that I have a crack at having it repaired (thanks to Mike!).

[continued]

Kamil's away

14 May 2009 17:08:00 +0900

Kamil's on his way back to Thunder Bay. From 30-odd million people to 100,000 -- I wonder if he'll survive the depressurization.

[continued]

return to Izu

11 May 2009 18:46:00 +0900

Jon, Manami-san, Kamil and the family went to the Izu peninsula this weekend to get away from the city and to show Kamil a real Japanese ryokan. We returned to Osawa onsen, the same place we'd been to with Mari's parents when my mum came to visit.

[continued]

Yagstravaganza

09 May 2009 05:32:00 +0900

Today we held a belated birthday party for Yaguchi-san. We presented her with a card that explained that we'd made her an account on match.com to see about landing a fellow.

[continued]

crappy shrine

06 May 2009 18:56:00 +0900

We'd planned a picnic for today, but called it off because it was raining hard the day before and then continued to rain off and on throughout the morning. We took Dr Zed to Meiji shrine instead, where he was promptly crapped on by a crow. It was bad enough that he felt he needed a new shirt, so we took him to Muji.

[continued]

Kamil!

04 May 2009 10:18:00 +0900

Kamil Zaniewski, my University-era friend who's now a professor in Northern Ontario, has arrived for a visit. We haven't seen each other for about a decade, but it's been like we were never apart.

[continued]

day gods-know-what

28 Apr 2009 07:13:00 +0900

Just when I was about to report that all was well with my long-running bout of pnuemonia, I woke up this morning with a renewed feeling of having a sore throat that extends down into my entire chest. And I'm coughing up crap again. It's been a solid month now, I think. Amazing.

[continued]

new design for website

25 Apr 2009 18:08:00 +0900

I've once again tweaked the design of this website last night. You'll now see a second column on the right containing a new feedback form and some links. The top-most link is to one of a set of books put out by different friends.

[continued]

camera drop fallout

24 Apr 2009 20:39:00 +0900

To my dismay, it seems that it's time to say goodbye to another camera -- that's two so far in '09 and three in the past 18 months!

[continued]

Japanese lessons again

21 Apr 2009 04:18:00 +0900

I had an entire month off, since I last took Japanese lessons. Now I'm back into it, with a twice-weekly program that will I hope cover a lot of the same ground as my previous class (and give me some more practical exposure to all that stuff that came at me like a freight train during the eight week, five-days-a-week intensive program).

[continued]

a new world

18 Apr 2009 07:53:00 +0900

As of this week, I'm no longer officially employed. In fact, I'm "retired" and am now working full time on a startup.

[continued]

day 15: mycaplasma

13 Apr 2009 10:49:00 +0900

So it turns out that in all of the wide world, among countless species of bacteria, we humans have only found one lone species that doesn't have cell walls. I don't pretend to understand how it survives without cell walls, nor do I understand the ramifications for taxonomy or evolutionary theory.

[continued]

day 14: looking like a dead bug

11 Apr 2009 22:02:00 +0900

For two whole weeks now, I've been wrangling with a cold that just won't go. I've been to the clinic, I've finished the antiobiotics and the pills against coughing and fever and sore throats. And yet it drags on.

[continued]

losing my language

09 Apr 2009 06:33:00 +0900

At first, it seemed that learning the Japanese language was having no impact on my English skills. My smattering of German and French were evaporating, to be sure, but aside from some wobbly new grammar turning up, my English was as is.

[continued]

day eight

07 Apr 2009 16:40:00 +0900

It's now day eight of nearly incessant high temperatures (up to 38^o) for me, and now my son has had it off and on for at least four-five days (last night reaching a high of 40^o).

[continued]

one day...

07 Apr 2009 04:01:00 +0900

Once in a while you have one of those days that makes you wonder about how you've arranged your life. Today was such a day. I was busy, Mari was busy, and we had Kenny home with a fever. I'd spent the morning making contacts for the business, and rounded that out with some copywriting and some wrangling with the fine folks who are managing the transition of our corporate lease for the apartment. On top of everything else on her plate, Mari had to pack in a trip to the dentist and a visit to Kenny's clinic.

[continued]

this week's fever brought to you by....

02 Apr 2009 02:17:00 +0900

My son has simultaneously brought home his first and second illness. The first was a cough and a high temperature. The second was a case of conjunctivitis.

[continued]

remember, it's a foreign land

31 Mar 2009 06:05:00 +0900

Today I had a real reminder -- as if being illiterate and unable to speak wasn't enough -- that I'm in a foreign land.

[continued]

juggling debut

30 Mar 2009 15:01:00 +0900

Today was my public juggling debut. We went to Nakameguro to visit the small drinks stand that Emma's firm was putting on for the hanami crowd. The stand was in a laneway off of the main walk beside the river, so Emma had a woman dressed up in an eccentric kimono stand on the main walk to drive traffic in. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate my new skill to the world -- I could practice juggling while drawing attention to the woman and her small placard.

[continued]

website maintenance

29 Mar 2009 21:21:00 +0900

This morning I woke at 03:00 and couldn't get back to sleep. At 05:30 I gave up and got up for the day.

[continued]

on juggling and Buddhism

28 Mar 2009 10:17:23 +0700

Juggling is a Buddhist endeavour. The trick is not so much in throwing the balls or in catching them or even in the timing.

The trick is letting go.

photography tale: the Japanese woodsman

27 Mar 2009 14:56:08 +0700

How to win friends and influence people in Japan. Or: when a Japanese woodsman doesn't want you photographing him at work.

the juggling report

27 Mar 2009 08:13:00 +0900

Today I managed to nearly double my record in continuous juggling, hitting 112 successive catches before fumbling.

[continued]

lego ambulance kit design

25 Mar 2009 06:58:26 +0700

I have made a lego kit for an ambulance.

lego space craft: fighter-bomber

25 Mar 2009 07:15:59 +0700

A lego set modelling a fighter-bomber space craft.

lego space craft: explorer model C

25 Mar 2009 07:18:05 +0700

This is a lego model space craft. It's a design intended for exploration and scientific discovery. Like Star Trek without all of the mindless philosophy.

lego space craft: explorer model F

25 Mar 2009 07:18:33 +0700

This is a LEGO model of a small exploration vessel. It has a crew of two robots.

camera drop

22 Mar 2009 22:08:00 +0900

Today I took Kenny to the park at the end of the street because it was a beautiful morning. Also, we wanted to get him some exercise, and to get him out of his mum's hair for a while.

[continued]

me and PKD

22 Mar 2009 08:49:00 +0900

I had a bizarre dream last night in which I was working in a start-up business setting in which I had a significant leadership role. We worked in a particularly well-appointed office with tasteful lighting and comfortable furniture. In of itself, all of the above is certainly unusual to my personal career trajectory.

[continued]

photo scavenger hunt

21 Mar 2009 11:36:10 +0700

Here's a little photographic project you can try.

class is finished

20 Mar 2009 15:49:00 +0900

I've finished my intensive class and have passed my exams (in some cases only barely). Tomorrow I will attend a special gathering where each student will prepare a speech. My speech, incorporating only a few passages new to me, is as follows.

[continued]

final goodbye

20 Mar 2009 08:33:00 +0900

Those of us who stayed for the end of the intensive Japanese program went for a goodbye at a Yakiniku restaurant in Shibuya. Another social event essentially conducted in Japanese. I've never exactly found the thought daunting, but it's a challenge to be sure. Most of us will now go on to other cities and countries, with only me and the various Korean classmates staying in Tokyo.

[continued]

how to succeed in Japanese pronunciation

17 Mar 2009 23:34:00 +0900

My "intensive" Japanese course is coming to its end. It was me and a room full of twenty-somethings that made me feel like a dumb old man unable to learn. But I did learn.

[continued]

Japanglish

16 Mar 2009 09:44:00 +0900

I've just had a disturbing report from Miyazaki. The boy has suddenly started speaking, and it's coming out between　言語. I mean, languages　の　間. He's baffling his gab, egad.

[continued]

juggling

16 Mar 2009 08:53:00 +0900

I'm getting better at juggling. While my usual juggling routine goes like "one, two, oh ####" (thump), I'm occasionally able to catch about a dozen throws, and once in a while get beyond that.

[continued]

kanji guide

14 Mar 2009 03:48:00 +0900

I've completed a compilation of words/usages for over 100 kanji. It takes the shape of an MS Excel file, and is formatted so that ten kanji appear on each page, each entry having the kanji's readings (Japanese and Chinese-derived) as well as the stroke count and several sample words that utilize the kanji. I based the format and kanji order on the book Basic Kanji Book Vol 1 published by Bonjinsha Company, but incorporates words from the White Rabbit Press flash cards, the book 100 Kanji in 10 Days, and the excellent book A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters by Kenneth G. Henshall (the best kanji book I've ever seen). It does not contain any of the explanatory text (which I expect would be copyright) from those other sources, nor the tests, games and art (for the same reason).

[continued]

travel

13 Mar 2009 15:03:39 +0700

Stories about my travels, and tips for travelers.

foods

13 Mar 2009 15:06:30 +0700

Foods I've encountered while travelling

travel adventures

13 Mar 2009 15:09:04 +0700

Adventures in travel.

finding things

13 Mar 2009 18:32:00 +0900

When it comes to finding things, I've always been ... poor. Part of the problem seems to lie in the way that I put things away, of course, but I swear there's a certain blindness that kicks in when I try to find something.

[continued]

turning Japanese

06 Mar 2009 18:11:00 +0900

It's been coming for some time, and now it's happened. I've got a page written entirely in Japanese on this heretofore English-only website. It's a translation of my mother's recipe for chili con carne. If you can read Japanese, have a look.

[continued]

the Spiny Urchin returns

06 Mar 2009 06:51:00 +0900

My sister-in-law, Vancouver artists Heidi Van Impe has revived the Spiny Urchin project. Hooray!

[continued]

japanese is trending upwards

06 Mar 2009 00:11:00 +0900

I've been asked by my Japanese language school to write a short blurb on their behalf. I didn't really know what to write, because I've felt completely swamped by the whole thing.

[continued]

doing business in Japan

05 Mar 2009 06:44:09 +0700

Interested in starting your own business? It's not what you might expect.

creating a business in Japan

05 Mar 2009 06:47:44 +0700

Things to watch out for when starting a business in Japan.

types of business in Japan

05 Mar 2009 08:14:11 +0700

There are a bewildering variety of forms of business in Japan. They have different purposes and different restrictions worth knowing.

how to create a business in japan

05 Mar 2009 08:36:40 +0700

Some very brief words on creating a business in Japan.

developing film

05 Mar 2009 17:07:00 +0900

I've hit upon a really good film developer in Tokyo. It's the DPE part of the multi-block Yodobashi headquarters in Shinjuku. They do a roll of 36 black and white exposures for $4 in two days, which is both the best price and best turnaround I've found in the city.

[continued]

review: Olympus 35DC

04 Mar 2009 09:29:34 +0700

My review of the Olympus 35DC, an excellent little rangefinder that produces great work (and now costs a song!).

juggling balls

04 Mar 2009 05:15:00 +0900

I've come up an idea for a birthday gift this year. Juggling balls.

[continued]

reviews

03 Mar 2009 11:45:49 +0700

Reviews of books and movies, stretching back to '97.

opinion: the IT field

03 Mar 2009 11:47:55 +0700

I've spent nearly fourteen years in the IT field, so far. I've seen a lot of bizarre and surprising things over the years.

new feature

02 Mar 2009 07:45:00 +0900

Today I've added a new feature: a photo-of-the-day. It's got its own RSS feed and is updated daily by an automated routine that won't do like I do and forget for three months.

[continued]

the gaijin are leaving Tokyo

01 Mar 2009 01:32:00 +0900

Near our previous apartment is an "international" grocery store, one that specializes in sky-high-prices for "foreign" foods. About a year ago, I noticed that it was becoming a lot less busy.

[continued]

review: Minolta XD / XD-11

28 Feb 2009 01:29:24 +0700

The Minolta XD was perhaps Minolta's finest hour as a manufacturer. This is a camera that is a joy to use, and yields remarkable results.

adventures

28 Feb 2009 02:06:54 +0700

The adventures of a middle-aged Canadian would-be novelist living in Tokyo.

babysitting

28 Feb 2009 08:37:00 +0900

It's always a pleasure to babysit when Mari's off on errands or doing something like her singing lessons. Ken and I have come a long way from the less than perfect first incident of his being under my sole care. Now we can play with toys together (he's learned to assemble a few pieces of Duplo, for instane) and generally pass the time in a constructive manner. Kenny can even play with toys on his own, which is great.

[continued]

the big speech

26 Feb 2009 04:00:00 +0900

I took the time to read the text of US President Obama's speech to Congress this evening and I'm a bit confused. Where are all the references to "evil"?

[continued]

drunken minister

22 Feb 2009 15:29:00 +0900

Below is a video of a press conference held by a minister in the Japanese government. Although this is current affairs, this has kept me chuckling for so long now I'm putting it in my journal. Even if you don't speak the language, see if you can guess how thsi Japanese minister lost his job over this press conference, held in Rome during a big pow-wow.

[continued]

advice on photo equipment

21 Feb 2009 13:27:19 +0700

When it comes to photographic equipment, I believe that less is most definitely more. They key is to find the level of equipment that you can afford, but which doesn't hold you back.

review: Minolta X-700 camera

21 Feb 2009 13:39:19 +0700

A short review of the Minolta X-700, the SLR with which I learned a lot about photography. It's a well-built, well-designed model -- don't let the plastic exterior fool you.

camera leather

21 Feb 2009 14:21:06 +0700

Sometimes the leather on old cameras gets worn, or starts to peel. It's happened to a couple of my cameras. The perfect opportunity to have the thing recovered!

camera reviews

21 Feb 2009 14:22:00 +0700

Reviews of the cameras I've used extensively. Makes include Minolta, Pentax and Olympus.

word to Internet Explorer users

21 Feb 2009 09:15:00 +0900

I've modified my website to show a special message to viewers who use out-dated versions of Internet Explorer. It is just a simple suggestion that they upgrade to a newer version.

[continued]

new server

17 Feb 2009 04:22:00 +0900

Once again, this website has moved. I've now lost track of all of the Internet service providers I've been using since I had to give up my own Internet host. I think this is the fourth.

[continued]

the camera is dead; long live the camera

13 Feb 2009 11:39:00 +0900

Quite suddenly, my beloved primary camera began exhibiting problems late last year. I only shot about 100 rolls throughout the year, but that's been the pace for three-and-a-half of the past five years that I've owned the thing, and the camera always showed signs of previous heavy use.

[continued]

crash course

10 Feb 2009 07:29:00 +0900

One of the reasons I moved to Japan a few years ago was my dismay at what humans have made of North America. I'd been doing a fair bit of disturbing reading, and came to the conclusion that North America's rampant consumption and fractally bizarre choices (driving 150 kilometres to work; living in vast suburban paved panoramas; remaining stubbornly unable to save money; exporting all productive industry) were going to impoverish and imprison everybody.

[continued]

this website hacked

10 Feb 2009 02:48:00 +0900

Today I learned from a friend that my website has been altered by someone redirecting search engine traffic to a spam website.

[continued]

weekend recap

09 Feb 2009 06:53:00 +0900

The following is an account of my weekend in Japanese. I did this for my homework this weekend.

[continued]

last week's trip

08 Feb 2009 03:44:00 +0900

I've got my film back and scanned for last week's trip. (Yes, I still shoot film, along with a bunch of other greybeards.)

[continued]

advice for my son

07 Feb 2009 01:04:34 +0700

This is advice written for my son. He's only little as I start this (five months and change), but a the rate I write, I figure by the time I've got a worthwhile collection together, he'll

film photography's next generation

07 Feb 2009 00:06:00 +0900

I've noticed something interesting going on with the user community of a couple of the photography forums that I frequent. Young DSLR photographers with no background in film photography are buying film cameras.

[continued]

a tale of two arimasu

05 Feb 2009 06:43:00 +0900

The Japanese language is a many-barbed thing. For instance, I've learned recently that there are two words with identical pronounciation (and therefore identical spelling in hiragana), and nearly identical meaning but distinguished by the use of different kanji for the initial vowel.

[continued]

precious days, part II

02 Feb 2009 12:26:00 +0900

The streak is over. Last night, Kenny awoke us crying in the night. According to my darling wife I made an irritated sound, rolled away from the child lying between us and did not wake up.

[continued]

precious days

01 Feb 2009 20:03:00 +0900

Happy February (this year is already sailing by at a terribly clip).

[continued]

wind and rain

31 Jan 2009 22:44:00 +0900

We're in Fukuoka. Mari had a wedding to attend, so we made an extended weekend of it.

[continued]

software licensing

28 Jan 2009 11:53:47 +0700

There's a problem with software licensing as currently practiced by many firms. It puts the buyers off of actually paying for the software.

Mari's new classes

26 Jan 2009 02:45:00 +0900

Just as I've started Japanese classes, Mari's resumed some classes, too. Specifically, the jazz singing classes she stopped attending when Ken was born.

[continued]

RSS feed

25 Jan 2009 06:35:00 +0900

Over the past few years, many people have asked me to put an RSS feed on this website. The basic idea is that readers can "subscribe" to updates to the site and have those updates actively pushed to them rather than requiring the reader to come back.

[continued]

Japanese class

20 Jan 2009 19:48:00 +0900

My first class went well. I'm signing my life away tomorrow. It's actually only two months, since I missed the first two weeks (more or less), and it's only three hours a day. But I think that that's probably going to be about as much as I can manage, as my homework took an hour when I got home.

[continued]

the deep end

19 Jan 2009 14:01:00 +0900

Today I followed through on my threat to find a Japanese class. I'd made appointments for an interview with two schools in the city, both in the Shinjuku area as it turned out.

[continued]

new year's resolutions

18 Jan 2009 03:02:00 +0900

OK, it's taken me a couple of weeks (due to the job situation) but now I can post my new year's resolutions for '09. Well, they're more like goals.

[continued]

Japanese lessons

11 Jan 2009 22:09:00 +0900

One of my coworkers came up with an excellent suggestion on Friday. I'm going to look into taking some intensive Japanese classes starting after my job ends next week. If I'm going to be running a business in this country I'd damn well learn some proficiency. At present I'm able to talk about simple subjects with Mari's family, but that's as much a testament to their patience than it is my skill ("My wife tells me I've got the worst pronounciation of any foreigner living in this country").

[continued]

success

10 Jan 2009 20:47:00 +0900

I've got one abbreviated week left of my current job. Then it's off into the unknown: I'm starting a business of my own. It's pretty exhilirating in the same way that standing near a high precipice is. There will be more about this to come in this very journal, I'm sure.

[continued]

my lego designs (and sets!)

09 Jan 2009 06:33:36 +0700

I've designed some LEGO sets using the LEGO Digital Designer. I've built these pages to share them with the world.

new camera gear

09 Jan 2009 05:00:00 +0900

This morning I had a dream that I bought a used camera lens sight unseen (I have actually done this, with poor results). This lens turned out to have some fine beads of material like puffed rice. I cleaned that off and found that beneath it there was a smattering of green paint on the lens. Very frustrating.

[continued]

LEGO section

08 Jan 2009 16:25:00 +0900

I've added the first of my recent LEGO set creations to the site in the creations section.

[continued]

Nichinan, Miyazaki

01 Jan 2009 22:04:00 +0900

Hello, 2009! Curious, when you've got a small baby to take care of you don't wake up with a hangover....

[continued]

another migraine

30 Dec 2008 02:19:00 +0900

In bed half the day with a migraine again. This one related to the weather. It was one of those cases where a couple of clear blue days and strong winds brought it on. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's Calgary, Sydney, Toronto, or Tokyo -- that weather pattern always gets me.

[continued]

another birthday

29 Dec 2008 06:46:00 +0900

Three birthdays in a week! This time it was young Kiyotaka ("Ki-kun"). He's now seven years old. High time for him to repeat some of the activities from my own childhood, if I do say so. Foremost, I'm getting him a DVD of the first Star Wars ('77's "A New Hope"). Then I'm going to send him a LEGO kit of my own design, oh yes.

[continued]

making mochi

28 Dec 2008 17:01:00 +0900

This morning's festivities began with an extended barbeque and mochi-making party. The weather was absolutely perfect, with clear blue skies and warm temperatures that gradually climbed to about twenty degrees. I have to say I've become a huge fan of home-made bacon.

[continued]

party like it's 2008

27 Dec 2008 10:53:00 +0900

This morning we did the beach onsen. It's billed as the only natural hot springs in a sandy beach in the whole wide world.

[continued]

Guided by voices

26 Dec 2008 03:06:00 +0900

Today we left the family home in Nichinan and struck out for Kagoshima. Guided by the voices coming from Oto-san's GPS, we found our way to the mountain island of Sakurajima. This is the most active volcano in the Japanese islands and is, I realized, only the second active volcano that I've actually ever visited. I've seen an active volcano from a distance in Mexico, climbed dormant volcanos in Canada and Fiji, and even driven up one in Hawaii, but this was different.

[continued]

Trust me, I'm a licensed semi-professional

25 Dec 2008 05:38:00 +0900

After my ordeal of the previous days, I was up and around at more or less a normal hour on this day.

[continued]

Merry F'n X'mas

24 Dec 2008 16:22:00 +0900

X'mas eve, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for the 8.12 trillion creatures in Michael's infected digestive tract.

[continued]

Norrundon'twalk

23 Dec 2008 21:53:00 +0900

On this day I came down with a bout of Norwalk virus or something similar. One of those deceptive little names (I imagine a "Doctor Norwalk" out there somewhere, somewhen) that glosses over the fact that you body insists on simultaneous diahrea and vomiting. It started at around 15:00 and was bad enough that I fetched up in the hospital by about 20:00, where I went on a saline drip with a fever of 38 degrees.

[continued]

The Birthday

22 Dec 2008 14:43:00 +0900

I'm writing these journal entries after the fact for reasons that will become obvious. This day was Oka-san's 60th birthday. All of the grandchildren were in attendance, and it was a fine time. I ate until I hurt. Little did I know what I was in for.

[continued]

Welcome to Winter

21 Dec 2008 07:39:00 +0900

Well it's Winter again. My 38th on God's green Earth, and my son's second. I've always liked Winter, and I have to say that Tokyo's Winters are just about right for me. Cool (hovering around 5 degrees), brief (only two-three months long) and for the most part sunny. A welcome change of pace from the Winters I lived through in Canada, of course (especially Vancouver's, just too gloomy). And even preferable I think to the extended Springtime of Sydney which if anything was like an air conditioned hotel lobby -- a bit too perfect. Winter should have some teeth, after all.

[continued]

flying domestic

20 Dec 2008 10:27:00 +0900

It was a busy morning. I got up at 06:00 as usual, then spent a quick 90 minutes packing, turning off the gas, closing the blinds, cleaning the place up, taking out the garbage, and generally getting everything in order for my trip to Miyazaki.

[continued]

adoring fans

19 Dec 2008 09:06:00 +0900

Cycling home at this time of year the city streets are full of people celebrating. It's bonus season and carousing people in sharp new clothes wave for cabs from the side of the road in small knots.

[continued]

toy

18 Dec 2008 05:13:00 +0900

As noted previous, I'm making a wooden "inch-worm" pull-toy for my little nephew Ta-kun. It's a thing with two wheels that have an offset axel. Attached to the axel are the 'fuselage' pieces that make up the body of the worm itself. When the toy is pulled forward by a rope through the nose of the worm, the wheels roll and the midsection of the body is lifted off the ground effecting the rise and fall of the inch-worm.

[continued]

bachelor life

16 Dec 2008 08:26:00 +0900

Mari and Kenny are in Miyazaki. They went down on Friday so that Mari could attend the wedding of a friend. Immediately, a certain deterioration kicked in. Until this evening, when it reached its peak -- I discovered that the rice maker was on and that it had half a cup o rice in. Five day old rice. Whooboy.

[continued]

bad influence

13 Dec 2008 19:33:00 +0900

Joon and I met in Ginza to go to a Malaysian restaurant with Jon and Minami-san. We were a little early, so along the way we went to the new DeBeers store. You can spend a million dollars in that Ginza DeBeers location on a single diamond ring. Or put another way, １億円, a hundred million yen.

[continued]

visit with the neighbours

07 Dec 2008 17:37:00 +0900

Today we visited with the neighbours.

[continued]

hunting bin Laden

05 Dec 2008 14:12:00 +0900

"Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear." So the line in the song goes. And so I preface the story I heard tonight over drinks.

[continued]

a putrid stink

01 Dec 2008 02:54:29 +0700

The clear air of a mountain pass is the last place you'd expect to be dunked into a strangling, gagging miasma.

bad service

01 Dec 2008 14:03:00 +0900

I am blessed. I live in Japan, the home of the world's finest service industry. Where they take it so far that even convenience store clerks leap to attention when you stumble in at 2 AM.

[continued]

helmets for safety

30 Nov 2008 02:17:00 +0900

I know this cyclist who goes about Tokyo without a helmet. I called him on it, told him it was nuts.

[continued]

JR shadows

30 Nov 2008 02:19:00 +0900

I set off early this morning to go to one of the big camera stores and get some storage binders for my negatives. I know, exciting stuff.

[continued]

troubles

28 Nov 2008 18:32:00 +0900

Ah, the economy. Nothing to do now but sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride. It really does seem impossible to plan.

[continued]

website traffic

16 Nov 2008 23:32:00 +0900

Around the time that I last made a journal entry on the subject of traffic to this website, I found that the traffic had started to taper off. I looked into what was going on, and found that this site was no longer appearing on google.com searches. Looking into the matter, I found in their "Webmaster's Tools" area that my site appeared like a link-spammer to the powerful search company.

[continued]

the saddest thing

14 Nov 2008 05:09:34 +0700

Once upon a time I witnessed the separation of a young duckling from its mother.

shopping for terebi

14 Nov 2008 15:08:00 +0900

Mari wants to get a television. I hate the things passionately, and frankly Japanese television is if anything even more purile, melodramatic and ridiculous than the crap we get back in N. America.

[continued]

medium format toy camera

09 Nov 2008 09:33:00 +0900

As previous noted, I've recently come into possession of an old (54 year old!) Ricohflex Model VII. This, to me, is the ultimate toy camera. I consider it a toy because:

[continued]

Jon's birthday

08 Nov 2008 12:13:00 +0900

It was Jon's 39th birthday party tonight. Manami-san rented a private space for the function, and a good fifteen or so people showed up. I've got some photos of the affair.

[continued]

street photography in the Philippines

07 Nov 2008 17:42:00 +0900

Before leaving for the airport this morning, I spent 90 minutes on a trek out to the river that wends its way through Manila's sprawling congested urban space. I wanted to see a bit more of the city, and with Arnon off for a 06:00 flight I had the opportunity for a solo expedition.

[continued]

A new US president

06 Nov 2008 20:24:00 +0900

I wasn't going to write on the subject of Barack Obama's election in this journal, but it occurred to me that my offspring might someday want to know where I was and what I felt.

[continued]

Arnon in Manila

05 Nov 2008 13:35:00 +0900

Today I met my childhood friend in Manila while he was on a business trip. We caught up, chatting in the unlikely setting of a meat (meet?) market in a sprawling outdoor shopping complex. He'd just gotten off of a marathon meeting, and our talk was peppered with the tales of his business success. His company now employs 340 people and is the market leader in his field.

[continued]

let sleeping folk lie

04 Nov 2008 17:53:00 +0900

A couple of weeks ago we went to the sea side to take in the scenery. The train we rode out terminated in the town we were visiting, and everybody piled out.

[continued]

it's 04:00 ... what's up your nose?

30 Oct 2008 02:27:00 +0900

I was woken at about 03:45 this morning by a mosquito. It had flown into my nostril.

[continued]

shameful

26 Oct 2008 12:34:00 +0900

Last Monday my friend Jon was telling me about his recent successes as a cook. Apparently he'd pulled off a complicated lazagne with several substitute ingredients. All I had to report on that front was screwing up my first attempt at Rice Krispies Squares that weekend.

[continued]

tricked out bike

24 Oct 2008 11:54:00 +0900

After speaking with a coworker who's an avid cyclist, I decided to go to the fine folks at Azabu Cycle about getting my bike modified. I was interested in having the handlebars raised, for two reasons.

[continued]

tuberculosis

23 Oct 2008 16:53:00 +0900

I recently learned that I'd possibly been exposed to tuberculosis. So I went and got myself checked. Today I learned that the result is negative.

[continued]

photography tale: rock climbing

22 Oct 2008 21:59:24 +0700

When I was just starting out with SLR photography, I went on a weekend rock-climbing jaunt in the Rockies with some friends. Guess who hadn't yet learned to load his film?

photography tale: don't take that photo

22 Oct 2008 21:59:38 +0700

Once upon a time, a bootlegger prevented me from taking a photo of his operation during a black-out.

the North Americans

22 Oct 2008 20:04:00 +0900

It's funny. In Canada there is socialized medicine and there are private banks. In the US, where they vilify socialized medicine, it's the opposite.

[continued]

picnic

19 Oct 2008 23:09:00 +0900

Today we decided to give the new binoculars a trial. We packed a backpack full of various hiking things and I shouldered little Ken in the sling we've got. We decided we'd go down to Zushi and hike up a mountain. From the top we'd be able to see Mt. Fuji and the sweep of the ocean.

[continued]

...the tire trilogy concludes

17 Oct 2008 14:22:00 +0900

I decided to risk riding on the weakened tire one more time, only to get me to the office. On the building site there is a great bicycle shop where I can get a new tire. So I inflated the tube to only 60% of normal pressure and set off, taking it easy.

[continued]

the cycle story continues...

16 Oct 2008 21:03:00 +0900

I went down to the parking area early* this morning and had a look at my twice-flattened front tire. Sure enough, it's got a fair bit of wear, enough that there are small holes through which the tube actually protruded in a little bubble. Checking the second burst tube against it, the hole lined up nicely with the particularly conspicuous hole in the tire.

[continued]

tires

15 Oct 2008 00:13:00 +0900

Shortly before we left for Vancouver, I told myself, "I've sure been having a run of good luck with the flat tires! I haven't had one in six months or so."

[continued]

the crow's nest

12 Oct 2008 03:49:00 +0900

We're back in Tokyo after two weeks in British Columbia.

[continued]

separated but still similar

08 Oct 2008 15:43:00 +0900

My brother discovered that he and I had bought the same watch. The previous year when we'd met in Toronto, he pointed out that he and I had bought the very same jacket, even in the same colour. Needless to say, these purchases were made at different times and places, but it seems that either choices (especially of jackets) are rare for guys our size, or our tastes are similar. Or both.

[continued]

deer!

02 Oct 2008 16:23:00 +0900

It was rainy and quite windy today. We did a run to the mall for shopping day #2. Curiously, Nanaimo is actually a better place for shopping than is Vancouver. I don't know why this is, but I noticed it during my '06 stay and it was confirmed this time.

[continued]

black cat didn't cross my path

02 Oct 2008 12:05:00 +0900

As I joined one of the many major roads on my trip to work today I spotted a black cat that was trying to cross the road. She made it to the middle of the second lane when she was passed by a car in the lane she'd just crossed. Flattening against the road, she stared at the receding car in terror, and shifted back and forth as if trying to decide if the car would make another pass.

[continued]

seven sweet potatoes

01 Oct 2008 21:20:00 +0900

We lingered in Tofino until the early afternoon, taking in all the nature. The long beach slowly became visible as the morning fog lifted, and we spent some time at the Poor visibility on the water quashed our plans to go whale-watching so instead we went to Ucluelet and watched the seals chase fishing boats around in the harbour. Then we went to a salmon hatchery and watched the returning wild salmon preparing to head up the river. A bear came by, then, causing a bit of an urgent moment because he was actually closer to the car where Kenny was sleeping than Mari and I were. We ran back and locked up the car and I took photos. A big item ticked off Mari's west coast to-do list: see a bear!

[continued]

the west west coast

30 Sep 2008 03:04:00 +0900

We made it out to Tofino on the we(s)t coast of Vancouver island today. After catching a morning ferry to Nanaimo, a picnic in Port Alberni and the mandatory stop at Cathedral Grove along the way, we still managed to catch the last rays of the day on the long beach south of the town.

[continued]

shopping day #1

29 Sep 2008 03:05:00 +0900

Heidi works at Mountain Equipment Co-op, and we had a tonne of things on our list to stock up. Almost all of it was stuff for Ken, but Mari and I bought some thin woollen garments for cold weather that seem really good. I plan to use mine for cycling to work in the hilariously brief cold spell come January/February.

[continued]

pronounciation

28 Sep 2008 07:12:00 +0900

Sadly, I learned today that I have the worst Japanese-language pronounciation of any foreigner that my wife knows.

[continued]

British Columbia

28 Sep 2008 13:27:00 +0900

Our much-anticipated trip to Canada's west coast has gotten off to a good start. We managed to get through the entire nine-hour flight without little Kenny getting at all upset. One thing that helped in this was the use of a day room at Narita airport that allowed us to get rested and to have quick showers. It makes a big difference, especially for an evening flight coming at the end of a long day and a long train ride out to the airport.

[continued]

the golden age

26 Sep 2008 14:41:00 +0900

No need to fear if the global economy is falling apart. No need to fret that the environmental damage we're doing seems to have sailed past the tipping point some years prior. No need for concern that the most powerful countries seem, once again, to be run by lunatics.

[continued]

avoid plastic bags

23 Sep 2008 00:53:15 +0700

Advice for my son on avoiding the worst of personal impact on the Earth.

93 kilos

23 Sep 2008 02:03:00 +0900

On July 21, I reported that I weighed in at 98kg. Today I weigh 93kg. I lost 5kg in two months. Not bad.

[continued]

creationism versus evolution

22 Sep 2008 05:31:52 +0700

Once again, the debate of creationism versus the theory of evolution seems to be in vogue. My advice: live and let live.

ten years already

22 Sep 2008 03:57:00 +0900

It's just occurred to me that the ten-year anniversary of my presence on the Internet is just around the corner. According to the whois record for etherlabs.net (the original home of my website) it was first registered on October 7, 1998.

[continued]

novel progress

20 Sep 2008 21:52:00 +0900

I've gone through the whole round with my editor on the novel. She summed it up saying, "A good story! Kept me guessing right to the end. But you have a lot of work to do..."

[continued]

new home page

18 Sep 2008 08:08:00 +0900

I've updated my home page for the first time in quite a while. It's now got some dynamic content in the same way that my son's website does -- with a snippet of my latest journal entry and the synopsis of the last page added or edited. Balancing that out, I've added a list of 'reader favourites'.

[continued]

mathematics

17 Sep 2008 04:16:51 +0700

Mathematics seems to pop up wherever anyone tries to seriously explain something about the world. I've found some really mind-blowing stuff out there on the nature of reality and the mathem

photography tale: Queensland estuary

17 Sep 2008 06:12:58 +0700

When photographing crocodiles, you're hunting for a good photo. They're hunting, too.

part two: the suburbs

17 Sep 2008 09:22:03 +0700

The first eight years of my life were spent on a farm. The next eleven were spent in the suburbs of two different towns.

adventures in photography

17 Sep 2008 09:23:16 +0700

I've had a few adventures while out making photos.

adventures in photography: tressel bridge

17 Sep 2008 09:24:23 +0700

Once upon a time I did something mildly daft while on a photo hike. I decided to cross a tressel bridge that spanned a broad valley, including both a river and two busy six-line highways.

autobiography part one: the farm

15 Sep 2008 08:10:15 +0700

I spent the early years of my life on a farm in southern Ontario. Ramblings ensue.

keyboard repair

15 Sep 2008 20:30:00 +0900

It looks like my new Model M keyboard is permanently damaged. I'm still using it but only with a keyboard mapping utility that allows me to move keys around. I've currently got the non-functioning space key mapped to one of the useless Windows keys to the left of the Cntl-right key and am limping along. I've also got the 5, 7, and 8 keys mapped to the numeric keypad so that I can use the %, &, and * symbols.

[continued]

technogeek wife

14 Sep 2008 20:03:00 +0900

We were in a Yodabashi camera store today. I'd learned that I could still buy Ilford film at that store (which turned out to be true, but neither of my beloved FP4 or HP5 were available).

[continued]

it's a small world

10 Sep 2008 13:54:00 +0900

Today I learned that one of my coworkers, here in Tokyo, lived in one of the buildings where I lived during my last year in Toronto. We've both since moved 10,500km only to occupy desks fifty meters apart on the same floor.

[continued]

Game Gene Theory

09 Sep 2008 22:09:00 +0900

"There is no survival of the fittest. There is not even a survival instinct."

[continued]

keyboard

09 Sep 2008 21:32:00 +0900

For the first time that I can recall, I spilled a big cup of water on myself while at my desk last night. Some of it splashed into my camera bag, but the majority landed in my lap, where my keyboard was. I shook it out, wiped it down, and set it on its side before going to bed.

[continued]

gecko!

09 Sep 2008 14:44:00 +0900

I found a gecko in our bedroom tonight. I don't know what that says for the state of the insect population in our home (we also have spiders), but it was actually quite a challenge getting the little fellow out again.

[continued]

laughing in Japanese

02 Sep 2008 11:15:00 +0900

Today Mari and I went to a local pre-school to 'audition', I suppose. It's designed as a tour of the place, but I got the strong sense that we were being vetted as well.

[continued]

photo equipment

29 Aug 2008 01:44:00 +0900

The March before last, my brother surprised me with a gift. I'd asked him to see if he could source a cheap used Minolta X-700 because I'd picked up a 20mm lens for the platform* but didn't have any bodies at hand (I'd foolishly left them in storage in Canada). Instead, he bought me:

[continued]

boat trip

25 Aug 2008 03:54:00 +0900

We were invited to take a boat tour of the canals of Nichinan in southern Miyazaki. The boat is a restored fishing craft, and is powered only by an oar/rudder.

[continued]

aaaaaaah

22 Aug 2008 12:07:00 +0900

It is so good to get away from the city. Miyazaki is sometimes called "the island within an island" because of its isolation. Located in the south-eastern corner of the southern island of Kyushu, it has only one substantial city (not much in a country of 127 million) and no high-speed trains.

[continued]

long-running novel

17 Aug 2008 21:17:00 +0900

I have an aunt who's a novelist, like me. And knowing that she's been working on her novels for most of my life is all that prevents me from saying something like "my novel must be the longest-running project of its kind in the world."

[continued]

hot snow

07 Aug 2008 19:35:00 +0900

Curiously, the weather forecast this morning called for 32^oC and light snow. Oh, that climate change is wacky stuff!

[continued]

piano

05 Aug 2008 10:58:00 +0900

I got home tonight, soaked and exhausted from the simple commute home. I wasn't even cycling.

[continued]

heat

04 Aug 2008 02:19:00 +0900

This morning the news report on the radio said that the temperature was about 30^oC before 08:00. By the time I left the office, the air was .. well, I imagine I know what it's like to stick your face into the exhaust pipe of a car.

[continued]

greying

30 Jul 2008 04:34:00 +0900

While in a training session yesterday, I found a grey hair on my shoulder. I was startled to realize that it had to be one of my own. I've certainly got my share, but this is the first time I've noticed one that's fallen out.

[continued]

lazy, lazy dad

29 Jul 2008 08:34:00 +0900

It's been a fair time since I updated Ken's journal so I did some catch-up this evening. Five new entries!

[continued]

Captain Hammer

27 Jul 2008 15:48:00 +0900

My Captain Hammer t-shirt arrived, today. I may be the only person in Japan to own one.

[continued]

fireworks

27 Jul 2008 04:03:00 +0900

We spent the evening in Chiba, visiting with the Satoi family. We were there to see the fireworks that were happening on the sea-shore, and come to think of it, this was the first time in at least two years that we've been to see fireworks.

[continued]

cycling in the heat

25 Jul 2008 22:58:00 +0900

It's been hot, recently. The other day it was 27^oC by 07:00, with a 95% relative humidity. Every day the temperature soars into the thirties.

[continued]

Ilford no more?

24 Jul 2008 03:15:00 +0900

My favourite films, Ilford HP5 and FP4, are no longer for sale at Bic Camera. I think the fellow was trying to tell me that either a) Ilford themselves or b) their distributor were no longer bringing Ilford to Japan.

[continued]

enschizophreniation and other coined words

23 Jul 2008 17:07:00 +0900

Today I coined the word enschizophreniation in an email advisory 'round the office. I meant it as in "to divide a single system into parts that behave differently and do not know of each other". I realize that split-personality disorder is not the same thing as schizophrenia, but couldn't think of a better word to enverbinate so.

[continued]

weight gain

21 Jul 2008 06:58:00 +0900

I stepped on the scales today and learned that I've now gained some 8 kilos since I've been in Japan and am parked at 98kg. That's also three kilos above my stated "maximum" as per my rolled-over new year's resolution.

[continued]

lens swamp!

20 Jul 2008 22:46:00 +0900

Mari found out about a camera fair in Ginza today. We went on a little trip, and I found both a Minolta XD body (to be a 'second') and the 85mm lens I've been looking for quite some time.

[continued]

plug

18 Jul 2008 21:12:00 +0900

Posting this very late, but it's okay, this won't take long. I've discovered, by happy chance*, a short thing that Joss Whedon of Firefly (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, the weirdest of the Aliens movies, and who knows how many other things) fame is doing right now. And by right now, I mean it will be offline by July 20, so you have to hurry to see it before it's taken down.

[continued]

a tale of two hares

17 Jul 2008 18:08:00 +0900

I posted a photo-microstory the other day, and had meant to link it to my journal. I hope the Peter Rabbit people don't sue!

[continued]

10,000 views

16 Jul 2008 04:03:00 +0900

This iteration of my website is now a year old. It's hard to believe that it's been a full year since I feverishly set to repairing my site after my provider destroyed the database (and my backups!). I can recall hammering away for two days, rebuilding things -- we were in Miyazaki weathering a fierce typhoon at the time.

[continued]

keywords everywhere

15 Jul 2008 18:47:00 +0900

Today I've added keyword indexing to my site. The main pages, all journal entries, my book reviews and my movie reviews all now contain keyword links.

[continued]

been a long time

15 Jul 2008 13:12:00 +0900

It's been too long since I updated young Ken's journal. So today I added three entries that I've been saving up.

[continued]

bonus season

09 Jul 2008 12:52:00 +0900

It's bonus season in Japan. The system here is for employers to withhold a certain portion of employees' pay, then give it to them in December and June. I forget what the official reasoning for this is, but it's guaranteed to do three things.

[continued]

the end of consumerism

06 Jul 2008 00:32:07 +0700

Consumerism is a lifestyle predicated on outdated notions: limitless growth, cheap manufacturing, and disposable income. Now that those illusions are done, consumerism too must fall.

spending

06 Jul 2008 01:20:50 +0700

Advice for my young son on how to spend his money.

civilization add-ons

06 Jul 2008 02:15:09 +0700

Here's where I got really over the top. I made my own rules for the game, modify its behaviour and adding a number of new resources. Hey, the designers forgot salt and copper!

foods of the world

06 Jul 2008 02:16:03 +0700

The world is full of delicious dishes to try. I say, get out there and get to it. Except for shark's fin soup, I can't condone that.

information technology articles

06 Jul 2008 02:18:36 +0700

These are some articles I've written based on my experience within the information technology field.

hardening UNIX

06 Jul 2008 02:30:28 +0700

Well over ten years ago, I wrote this humble article on hardening UNIX (specifically, Solaris). It's been a perennial favourite ever since, so I've kept it around.

locked on the balcony

05 Jul 2008 02:40:32 +0700

While trying to do chores I managed to lock myself on my balcony.

swimming with dolphins

05 Jul 2008 03:02:27 +0700

If you ever get the chance to swim with dolphins, do it.

Japanese toilets

05 Jul 2008 04:16:50 +0700

And then there are Japanese toilets....

sleepless in Berlin

05 Jul 2008 04:17:11 +0700

One day my friend Kamil and I managed to screw up all of our travel plans. It took bad planning, bad luck and impatience, but we had all three in spades.

critters of the world

05 Jul 2008 04:17:31 +0700

Here are some of my encounters with the world's biosphere.

lego!

05 Jul 2008 05:00:28 +0700

Ramblings about LEGO, and links to the instructions for the sets I've got.

inspiration

05 Jul 2008 05:02:30 +0700

These were my inspirations in writing a novel.

terrain evolution simulator

05 Jul 2008 05:15:55 +0700

In my final year of University, I wrote a routine that models the evolution of a terrain due to water erosion. Here's the code. I'm so old that this was written for DOS, believe it!

predictions

05 Jul 2008 14:21:25 +0700

These are my predictions for the (remainder of) the 21st Century, written from the point of eight weary years into the thing.

civilization, the game

03 Jul 2008 07:30:54 +0700

I spent a lot more time than I'd care to admit playing the PC game Civilization and its many sequels.

civilization tips

03 Jul 2008 07:43:40 +0700

This is a grab-bag of minor odds and ends, the little tricks I found that help when playing Civ III.

civilization tactics

03 Jul 2008 07:47:39 +0700

I came up with some tactics for Civ III (probably the last person playing that old game!), the nitty-gritty tricks that can make a difference.

civilization strategies

03 Jul 2008 07:48:08 +0700

If any good can come of the long hours I sank into this game, it's that I could write a strategy guide.

Not that anyone's still playing!

the new weekly sermon

03 Jul 2008 07:58:13 +0700

Once upon a time, Western culture was based around the weekly sermon, in which Christian norms were reinforced on a regular basis in a social setting. Now we have something else.

family & friends

03 Jul 2008 08:10:17 +0700

The people I love and the friends in my life.

food production

03 Jul 2008 12:52:35 +0700

We've been taking more from the world's oceans and arable regions than can be replaced. Now we will pay.

transportation

03 Jul 2008 13:15:07 +0700

The automobile is dead. So, too, the jet airliner.

writing my first (complete) novel

03 Jul 2008 13:18:27 +0700

In 1997 I started to think of a novel. In 2000, I started to write. In 2007, the completed manuscript went to my agent....

before this novel

03 Jul 2008 13:20:52 +0700

I've always had an interest in writing. This article details some of my early attempts.

ten years of writing a single story

03 Jul 2008 13:23:42 +0700

A somewhat indulgent telling of the ten years it took me to get a semi-finished book together.

advice on writing a novel

03 Jul 2008 13:25:10 +0700

It took me far too long to get a manuscript together that I could actually show other people. Here's my advice to others so that they may learn from my mistakes.

swimming in food

02 Jul 2008 22:46:32 +0700

I saw something strange in the water while walking on a beach in Fiji. So I decided to wade in and see what it was.

swimming with a shark

02 Jul 2008 23:01:56 +0700

I went snorkelling one morning in Fiji and found myself alone with a reef shark. It made quite an impression on a guy who grew up in Alberta.

origins of 'Canuck'

02 Jul 2008 23:10:10 +0700

A reader's question into the origins of the word 'Canuck' got me thinking....

the autoGoogler

02 Jul 2008 23:12:33 +0700

I accidentally invented a way of getting in touch with old friends: mention them on your website and wait for them to Google themselves!

lost friends

02 Jul 2008 23:16:13 +0700

In the course of life's many years, you tend to lose touch with people with whom you were once close. Here's my attempt at reconnecting (which by far predates StalkerB-, er, FaceBook)

health articles

02 Jul 2008 23:29:47 +0700

Everyone has some health issues. As a lifelong sufferer of allergies, migraines and asthma I've decided to share a few of my experiences.

overcoming caffeine

02 Jul 2008 23:30:35 +0700

I'm now caffeine free. My brain works better, I have more energy, I'm less irritable .. and so are my bowels.

caffeine

02 Jul 2008 23:31:01 +0700

I have some food sensitivities, and caffeine is certainly one of them. This is my tale of caffeine use and addiction.

digressions and puns

02 Jul 2008 10:38:00 +0900

As I see it, digressions are a minor crime against speech. They're certainly a problem when it comes to storytelling, and they can quickly put people off when you're trying to do business.

[continued]

heaven, hell and finishing your story

02 Jul 2008 03:25:51 +0700

I wonder about odd things; like what if we have to finish all of our unfinished stories when we die?

fiction

02 Jul 2008 03:32:37 +0700

Writing is one of my principle forms of "self expression". I've been writing my own articles and fiction since high school, and have even completed a novel.

managers and executives

02 Jul 2008 03:33:37 +0700

Management is a difficult gig. I've only ever dabbled in it myself, during many long years in IT. But you can see signs of the wear and tear that it places on someone by the bizarre result

my early days in IT

02 Jul 2008 03:34:08 +0700

As with many careers, in IT you start at the bottom.

blue lagoon

02 Jul 2008 03:40:59 +0700

I've been to the blue lagoon in Fiji. I even brought my camera gear. If I'd brought just one more crucial component, I'd have some photos to show!

my Oma's funeral

02 Jul 2008 21:37:01 +0700

I spoke at my Grandfather's funeral, but could not do so at my Oma's funeral.

...with a chainsaw

02 Jul 2008 21:53:16 +0700

My grandfather once sliced open his foot with his chainsaw, and wound up teaching the young doctor how to sew him up.

turning thirty

02 Jul 2008 22:36:12 +0700

And then, quite suddenly, I turned thirty.

turning thirty-six

02 Jul 2008 22:38:01 +0700

Years ago, I wrote on turning 30. Now I'm reached another milestone (mill stone?).

autobiography

30 Jun 2008 22:59:20 +0700

An abbreviated tale of my life to date. (re)Written for the sake of my son, Ken.

dream wife

29 Jun 2008 04:28:00 +0900

I had a strange dream. I was living in one of the condos above York Quay in Toronto with a different wife. That wife was a TV actress from the 80's who I didn't consciously remember when I woke up. I had to dig up her name from the 'net.

[continued]

work work work

27 Jun 2008 06:56:00 +0900

When I'm working, I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing that I'm generally oblivious to my surrounds and even my general health.

[continued]

test

26 Jun 2008 08:46:00 +0900

test

[continued]

peace on Earth

26 Jun 2008 01:20:00 +0900

I work for the IT department of an investment bank, and often come home wound up and tense. When I get home it's amazing to my little boy, who's usually sleeping peacefully or cooing for my attention. It restores a peaceful feeling.

[continued]

firefox browser

21 Jun 2008 03:02:00 +0900

On the way to a (rather good) drumming show tonight, I noticed that someone is running ads for the free/open-source Firefox web browser in the Tokyo JR train system.

[continued]

jeff goldblum again

19 Jun 2008 08:28:00 +0900

Today I was assured by one of my colleagues that "everybody on the floor agrees" that I look like Jeff Goldblum. I get this about once a year. Actually, it was much more common in the early 90's when Goldblum was quite active (and my hair was longer).

[continued]

testing new site

18 Jun 2008 17:20:00 +0900

This is a test

[continued]

rat!

18 Jun 2008 09:31:00 +0900

I saw my first Tokyo rat today. Naturally, it was in a subway station. It looked like it had had a couple of close shaves with subways, as it was missing some hair on its back.

[continued]

laundry mistakes

16 Jun 2008 01:22:00 +0900

I got home from the gym on Sunday and stepped into the shower. Mari, meanwhile, decided that my shorts needed washing and threw them into the wash. As a result, my paper membership card for the gym was destroyed.

[continued]

travel tips

13 Jun 2008 09:37:40 +0700

Some basic tricks on making more out of your travels.

travel tips for single people

13 Jun 2008 09:45:57 +0700

These are the travel tips I wrote .. before I had a child in my life.

travel tips for dads

13 Jun 2008 10:00:30 +0700

And then there are guys whos travels are now done with one or more children.

support

12 Jun 2008 21:28:49 +0700

Early in my career, I worked on the IT help desk. A thankless and repetitive job, but one occasionally good for a laugh.

early screw-ups

12 Jun 2008 21:29:06 +0700

When I first started in the world of corporate IT, I was fresh from the sticks. Many of the norms of corporate behaviour were alien to me. So was the equipment.

night crawler

12 Jun 2008 21:29:19 +0700

When I 'had to' break into the office.

entitlement

12 Jun 2008 21:29:35 +0700

Sometimes, the only word to describe the behaviour of management is entitlement. That is, the believe that executives are entitled to whatever strikes their fancy.

icebreaker

12 Jun 2008 21:29:49 +0700

Management is a difficult gig. I've only ever dabbled in it myself, during many long years in IT. But you can see signs of the wear and tear that it places on someone by the bizarre result

page this!

12 Jun 2008 21:30:17 +0700

A story in which a pilot in my family chucked his pager out the window, thousands of feet above worldly concerns.

the smuggler

12 Jun 2008 21:32:17 +0700

my grandfather was a smuggler during WWII

inventions

09 Jun 2008 20:46:52 +0700

These are my inventions.

science fiction

09 Jun 2008 20:50:52 +0700

I'm a fan of science fiction, and this is what I have to say on the topic.

sci-fi to avoid

09 Jun 2008 20:53:11 +0700

Not all science fiction is worth reading.

office stories

09 Jun 2008 21:49:29 +0700

Stories from my long and checkered career as an IT drone.

a career in IT

09 Jun 2008 22:33:19 +0700

You'd have to love IT to pursue a career in the field, today. Because a career in IT is a thankless one of only limited duration and scope.

tales of IT woe

09 Jun 2008 23:07:32 +0700

These are stories of IT-specific adventures.

hardware symmetry

09 Jun 2008 23:09:54 +0700

People like symmetry, it's true. Even if it is too late.

the u.p.s.

09 Jun 2008 23:11:37 +0700

When an idea gets in someone's head, it can't always be dislodged.

thieves!

09 Jun 2008 23:14:18 +0700

When thieves descended upon our office....

iPod

08 Jun 2008 05:44:00 +0900

My handy little Samsung MP3 player (a YP-MT6) is a simple affair, with controls that are easy to use and no complications of any kind. Its one weakness is the battery door, which I could tell from the start wasn't going to be entirely up to the job. Sure enough, it slowly began to crack because the strain of simply containing a spring-held AA battery was too much for it.

[continued]

new site is live

08 Jun 2008 05:24:00 +0900

Another year, another new website design. This time I've viciously cut the content to the site, bringing down the number of pages from 430 to 73. I'll slowly be rebuilding some of the content, but the vast bulk of it is gone, and for good reason. A lot of the old stuff was:

[continued]

lenses

06 Jun 2008 15:07:00 +0900

Tonight I was pissed off with the world after work, and had to go for a long walk. Strangely, that took me to two camera stores. At one of them I spotted a lens which would be an upgrade to one of my current lenses. It was only $100. I expect I'll be able to buy one online sooner or later for about $40, so I din't pick it up (and, the current lens is functioning just fine, if unremarkably).

[continued]

semi

05 Jun 2008 17:35:00 +0900

There are these insects in Japan that the locals call semi. They're like cicadas, but instead of making a long sibilant crcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcrcr sound they make a bizarre waaaah waahhhh wahhhhhh waaaahhhhhhhh waaaaaaahhhhhhhh wahhhhh wahhh wahh cry.

[continued]

camera show

02 Jun 2008 21:34:00 +0900

This morning, Mari pointed out that an invitation to a used camera fair had been sitting around in our apartment for quite some time. The fair is on now, so we decided to go.

[continued]

email

01 Jun 2008 08:40:00 +0900

I've been blasting off a lot of email in the past year and change. At work, it's pretty much all I do (that and yack on the phone). And at home, too, I seem to always have a few dozen unread emails lying around.

[continued]

new keyboard

31 May 2008 13:23:00 +0900

I have a fondness for the old IBM keyboards. It turns out that they're called "Model M", and while IBM hasn't built them in many years, and never built them with a USB connector*, there is a firm in Kentuky of all places that does still make 'em. So I bought one.

[continued]

good news

30 May 2008 19:17:00 +0900

Tonight I learned that someone I know took my advice after asking an important question last year. He and his wife are now married despite some important obstacles.

[continued]

Burma

25 May 2008 09:40:00 +0900

I've been attempting to follow the story of the catastrophic cyclone landfall in Burma. It's surprisingly difficult to get information on this, despite the fact that a minimum of 80,000 people died (and estimates, from sources such as the British government, go as high as 300,000).

[continued]

sticky, stinky and scratchy

23 May 2008 12:37:00 +0900

Just the other day I posted to this journal that the pleasant season was passing.

[continued]

lego: set 891

18 May 2008 00:49:57 +0700

Instructions for lego set 891.

lego: set 357

18 May 2008 00:53:46 +0700

Instructions for lego set 357

lego: set 6824

18 May 2008 01:16:47 +0700

Instructions for lego set 6824.

lego: set 6825

18 May 2008 01:17:13 +0700

Instructions for lego set 6825.

lego: set 928

18 May 2008 01:20:13 +0700

Instructions for lego set 928

lego: set 8844

18 May 2008 01:29:49 +0700

Instructions for lego set 8844.

lego: set 924

18 May 2008 01:43:56 +0700

Instructions for lego set 924.

lego: set 926

18 May 2008 01:46:09 +0700

Instructions for lego set 926.

lego: set 6861

18 May 2008 01:48:16 +0700

Instructions for lego set 6861.

lego: set 6842

18 May 2008 01:50:30 +0700

Instructions for lego set 6842.

lego: set 6872

18 May 2008 01:51:48 +0700

Instructions for lego set 6872.

lego: set 8845

18 May 2008 02:01:18 +0700

Instructions for lego set 8845.

lego: set 722

18 May 2008 02:04:07 +0700

Instructions for lego set 722.

lego: set 6400/6406

18 May 2008 02:08:33 +0700

Instructions for a small lego set: 6400 & 6406.

lego: set 6851

18 May 2008 02:12:15 +0700

Instructions for LEGO set 6851.

goodbye, favourite season

17 May 2008 02:25:00 +0900

That precious time of the year is sliding away. For the past few weeks, it's been comfortably warm but there have been no mosquitoes. All too soon it will be over, and we'll be dodging bugs for months.

[continued]

favourite toys & games

17 May 2008 23:38:00 +0700

These days my favourite toys are all cameras. But it wasn't always so.

inflation

16 May 2008 11:57:00 +0900

I've been reading bits and pieces here and there about inflation creeping into various national economies. Everyone in official capacity denies it, of course.

[continued]

career adventures

15 May 2008 00:15:08 +0700

My adventures while pursuing a dazzling career in Information Technologies.

living in Australia

15 May 2008 00:18:06 +0700

All about my time living in Australia as a foreigner.

medium format pics

14 May 2008 16:06:00 +0900

Here are the pics from that first roll of film. The first two are straight from the scanner at 150dpi -- no editting or post-processing of any kind (and note that these are only slightly enlarged over the actual negatives).

[continued]

the results!

13 May 2008 07:54:00 +0900

I got back my first roll of 6x6 film shot on the old Ricohflex. It's a roll of Ilford FP4, and the results were as follows (by frame):

[continued]

tattoo designs

13 May 2008 22:20:21 +0700

These are my humble tattoo designs. What's amazed me is how many other people have written to tell me they've used one.

suica no more

07 May 2008 15:20:00 +0900

Since October of 2005, I've been using a Suica card for transit in Tokyo. It's a simple cash card that started with the JR transit system and point-of-sale locations like convenience stores (and vending machines). To my delight, it's since grown substantially in usability and now lets me travel not on the trains but the subways, too. No more using the Suica for half the journey, then buying tickets for the other half! Hooray.

[continued]

kid's day

05 May 2008 05:56:00 +0900

Today is kid's day in Japan, when they fly long "fish" kites at just about every public place. It's a time when the family gets together and has a special meal in honour of the children in the family. Usually some new thing for the child is done.

[continued]

neutral density

03 May 2008 18:48:00 +0900

The neutral density filter has to be the most porly named in the wide world of photographic filters. All it means is that the filter is a grey colour that filters incoming light in a way that does not alter the colour of that light. That is, it's colour-neutral.

[continued]

flying for baby

02 May 2008 17:02:00 +0900

We flew with the baby for the first time. Now the child is going to think that going to the airport involves a good deal of nervous self-recrimination, especially on the part of his father.

[continued]

it's all my mum's fault

01 May 2008 22:21:00 +0900

Tonight on the way home I bought a cokin filter and the adapter widget for fitting it to my cameras. It's a "soft" graduated two-stop neutral-density filter, suitable for landscapes when you want to even out the brightness of the sky and land. Which I rather frequently do, especially with the digital SLR.

[continued]

end of a season

30 Apr 2008 13:35:00 +0900

I notice that it's already the end of my favourite part of Spring. That all-too-brief period where the weather is pelasantly warm, but there are no biting insects. Happily, the city is not too bad if you're away from the "rivers"....

[continued]

new toy

29 Apr 2008 15:04:00 +0900

One thing I realized during our early expeditions with the child: carrying a tripod doesn't mix with carrying child stuff.

[continued]

floors and doors

26 Apr 2008 13:05:00 +0900

Sometimes I take photos of rather mundane things like whatever is under my feet, or whatever wall or doorway I happen to be passing. It doesn't make for gripping, visceral stuff, but I enjoy making scenes out of a few odd shapes on the ground, or capturing some of the countless incidental man-made arrangements that mark our public spaces.

[continued]

tokyo at night

25 Apr 2008 00:58:00 +0900

I shot this with some cheap colour 100 film (Centuria) way out at 400 ISO. I did so as I was using my beloved Olympus 35DC, which limits shutter speed on the low end. There's no way around it except to fudge the film speed....

[continued]

another day, another photo

24 Apr 2008 23:14:00 +0900

Took this about ten days ago. Was trudging into work and saw that a moment was presenting itself. So I stepped aside and caught my fellow subway inmates trudging up the slope to the bridge that would take them to the start of their day.

[continued]

photo experiment: subway

23 Apr 2008 02:01:00 +0900

I've been working on a new project recently -- a complete reworking of this website. One of the major features will be a much-expanded and cleaner/faster photo gallery. It will enable me to add and maintain new photo collections more easily, and bring my photos online in a more timely fashion.

[continued]

tattoo requests

22 Apr 2008 04:47:21 +0700

People send me requests for tattoo designs, which I do not do for good reason (no talent). But I do offer some suggestions

Sleep

21 Apr 2008 23:12:00 +0900

Last week was a difficult one. On Tuesday little 建 had surgery. I go into all of the gory details on his website, but suffice it to say that Mari and I haven't been getting much sleep of late.

[continued]

taking better photos

21 Apr 2008 03:53:34 +0700

My thoughts on how to take better photos

personal articles

21 Apr 2008 08:51:29 +0700

A few personal articles.

my grandfather's funeral speech

21 Apr 2008 08:52:27 +0700

The speech I gave at my grandfather's funeral.

'you are what you buy'

20 Apr 2008 14:41:00 +0900

There, I finally caught some advertiser cutting to the brutal truth. Naturally, it was in Japan, where English is used as an accent, but I saw it none-the-less.

[continued]

camera gear fallacies

20 Apr 2008 10:14:39 +0700

Photography equipment is a hobby unto itself quite separate from photography. Here are some of the things I've seen people do in the name of this other hobby.

a tale of three SLR cameras

20 Apr 2008 21:52:29 +0700

I spent several years using only one camera. I didn't realize how frustrated I was with my progress until I bought a body with a better light meter....

photo equipment

20 Apr 2008 22:19:08 +0700

A collection of articles on photography equipment.

what I carry and why

20 Apr 2008 22:44:15 +0700

An outline of the gear I carry when pursuing various types of photography .

forty x forty

14 Apr 2008 16:15:00 +0900

Working for a gigantic bureaucracy is sometimes amusingly predictable (or vice versa). One of the things I keep seeing, year in and year out is the "forty by forty email thread". Forty people on the distribution list, and forty emails long.

[continued]

smells &; memory

08 Apr 2008 14:51:00 +0900

We've got this new 'all natural' shampoo. It took me two days to figure out from where I knew its curiously chemical scent.

[continued]

hanami

05 Apr 2008 17:04:00 +0900

Today it was our scheduled hanami party. We'd turned it all over to Jon this year, and got word 'round.

[continued]

baby's first trip

03 Apr 2008 18:24:00 +0900

Today the four of us went to Matsushima, a small town about three hours north of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of Japan's main island of Honshu. Matsushima is in the Sendai area, on a rugged bit of coastline dotted with islands.

[continued]

sick

02 Apr 2008 05:03:00 +0900

I've been sick a lot recently. I don't know if it's the changing season, the stress at work or the adjustment to our new lifestyle (probably a combination of all of these and more -- let's not forget moving into middle age!) but I was largely out of commission today with a cold that has been dogging me for three weeks.

[continued]

camera gear

01 Apr 2008 01:37:00 +0900

I've been doing a lot of photography recently. First of all, having a baby around is a sure-fire film consumer. But more than that, I've been making the most of the old Minolta gear that I've been amassing over the past two decades. I have a handful of lenses and no fewer than three camera bodies.

[continued]

visitor

31 Mar 2008 23:32:00 +0900

My mother arrived today to meet her grandson. Naturally, I took the bus out to see her at the airport. And naturally, the 1 hour, twenty minutes trip took two hours, leaving me wondering how I'd find her after she'd had 40 minutes to wander the airport.

[continued]

site redesign

30 Mar 2008 15:49:00 +0900

It seems that every six to eighteen months, I redesign this website from scratch for one reason or another. In mid 2007, it wasn't so much a redesign as a wholesale reconstruction, following the catastrophic loss of the content database that drives the site (it seems that my then host was incapable of running the MySQL service properly).

[continued]

a profile, you ask?

27 Mar 2008 21:37:00 +0900

Someone in the global organization at work wanted me to produce a profile of myself for a newsletter. This is what I came up with. It's written for an IT crowd, naturally.

[continued]

I am Canadian

26 Mar 2008 13:22:07 +0700

I am Canadian. Here's what I think about that.

family tales

26 Mar 2008 13:24:09 +0700

These are tales from and of my family.

wood carvings

25 Mar 2008 22:42:38 +0700

I've been fiddling about with wood carving for several years. I've only ever made a couple of decent pieces, but I enjoy it as a hobby.

the joy of photography

25 Mar 2008 22:44:51 +0700

Photography is a constant hobby of mine, I usually go about my life with camera in hand. So I've got a couple of things to say about it!

creations

25 Mar 2008 23:19:20 +0700

All of my various creations, from fiction to tattoo designs to wood carvings.

wallet card

24 Mar 2008 13:31:51 +0700

The wallet-card. One of my inventions that everyone else invented, too.

camping lamp

24 Mar 2008 14:03:16 +0700

One of my favourite inventions -- a camping lamp that has no weight, but which makes a nice soft glow.

the nature of reality

24 Mar 2008 22:35:04 +0700

I am very wise. I mean I must be, I have a website!

hello, world

21 Mar 2008 03:19:47 +0700

My home page.

when I was a baby...

20 Mar 2008 12:24:00 +0900

I recently posted to the journal of my son about taking him out to experience his first rain fall. My father, reading that, responded with this story:

[continued]

writing

20 Mar 2008 13:14:58 +0700

My adventures in writing.

living in Japan

20 Mar 2008 13:17:26 +0700

It's been an amazing ride. Since arriving in Japan, I've met and married a local, and we now have a son. This is about my time living in Japan as a foreigner.

guide to living in Japan

20 Mar 2008 13:18:08 +0700

A guide to Japan, for residents. Written by someone who's doing it.

adventures in parenting

20 Mar 2008 13:32:36 +0700

When you become a parent, it's like the first volume of your life is closed, and a whole new volume begins.

adventures in living abroad

20 Mar 2008 13:51:31 +0700

I've lived most of my life in Canada, the land of my birth. But I've also lived in Australia, and I currently live in Japan.

photography tale: mountain top and meteorites

20 Mar 2008 21:52:42 +0700

In the Spring of 2002, I joined some friends in photographing a meteorite shower. But we didn't do it half-assed. We did it from a remote mountain-top.

Arthur C. Clarke

19 Mar 2008 13:46:00 +0900

The finest science fiction writer in history is dead. Honestly, the man's work was so good he made it look easy. If you're interested in his work, try "Let There be Light", a short story of amazing dimensions that I read for the first time last year.

[continued]

articles

14 Mar 2008 15:10:40 +0700

views and observations by m. werneburg

weather report

13 Mar 2008 22:38:00 +0900

The weather's certainly changed. Yesterday was a warm one, and it brought out all of the folk who put away their bikes in winter. What was, from November until yesterday, a largely empty bicycle parking garage was absolutely packed, today. I'd say that at least fifty more people are suddenly riding to work.

[continued]

new tire

12 Mar 2008 14:34:00 +0900

I've finally tired of the flat tires to the point of doing something about it. After having a flat on Sunday and then another on Tuesday, I decided to go back to the shop and get something that could better stand up to the glass on the streets. The shop was closed naturally, and I headed back midday on Wednesday after having taken the child into the hospital. Closed again. Then I called them twice in the evening but they weren't open. I wound up going to the rather expensive place here in my building.

[continued]

happy anniversary to me!

09 Mar 2008 16:57:00 +0900

I'd decided on a birthday gift to myself from my wife, and informed her that I wanted a box of film, specifically Ilford's excellent FP4.

[continued]

one more for the road (or not)

06 Mar 2008 18:43:00 +0900

I hopped on my bike this morning, raring to get to the office early to catch up for the day I'd missed yesterday.

[continued]

always something...

04 Mar 2008 00:41:00 +0900

My grandfather liked to say, "there's always something to keep you humble."

[continued]

lens swamp

02 Mar 2008 13:41:00 +0900

When helping Jon shop for a new digital SLR camera, yesterday, I noticed an 85mm lens for the Minolta system in a store window.

[continued]

2,500,000 hits

28 Feb 2008 15:25:00 +0900

Today my website logged it's 2.5 millionth page request, excluding images, my own edits, and assorted junk like CSS. That's a lot of reading.

[continued]

dad for a month

27 Feb 2008 01:08:00 +0900

I've been a father for a whole month, as of today. Everything that everyone told me to expect has come true. There have been sleepless nights, health scares (I had no idea that a new baby could vomit like an adult!) and all kinds of unscheduled changes of clothing.

[continued]

another(!) flat tire

25 Feb 2008 12:14:00 +0900

The thing with the flat tires is getting out of hand. I managed to cycle most of the way home, this time, but this is the third week in a row that's started with a flat.

[continued]

diet coke

19 Feb 2008 10:48:00 +0900

So it's starting to look like aspartame may be much worse for the human body even than sugar. And by much worse, I mean it "may" cause tumors, rotten eyes, and a host of other horrible conditions. I've read that aspartame breaks down into some awful chemicals once ingested. Included formaldehyde, methanol (wood alcohol) and some addictive chemicals. So, between the caffeine and the aspartame, I've decided to stop drinking diet coke.

[continued]

working in australia

00:00:00 +0700

These are my (badly outdated) notes on finding work in Australia.

tips on australia

00:00:00 +0700

A guide to Australia for my fellow Canadians. Possibly badly out of date.

why australia?

00:00:00 +0700

A reader of my journal once asked why and how my then-girlfriend and I decided on Australia in the first place.

guide to australians (for canadians)

00:00:00 +0700

My thoughts on Australians after spending time in their sunburnt land.

planning to live in australia

00:00:00 +0700

How we planned our long-term visit to the other side of the world. There was a lot to learn about our destination, before we left. Cost of living. Working conditions. Business and taxation re

favourite experiences in australia

00:00:00 +0700

I did some things in Australia that I couldn't have done back home, and some things that ten years later remain my favourite memories.

emuu.net

how I got kicked out of Japan

toilet flushes and hockey games

algae

making a magazine

turning 39

earthquakes

adjusting to Japanese snack foods

staying Canadian

Nate's PechaKucha moment

ear problems in Japan

the motorcycle trade

free labour

don't drink "curiosity cola"

advice from pros

mobile phone chargers

looking for an engagement ring?

cards for emergency translation

tsukiji is 70 years old

St. Valentine's Day

language and sex

selling on the mobile phone

browser software

fixing an old, slow Windows PC

odd behaviour at Kinko's

webservers (nerd alert)

how to photograph diamond jewelry

a message from Google

Tokyo weather report

luck (and bird shit)

a proposed anti-spam routine for websites

fashion in Tokyo

pecha kucha

recommended photographers

toilets of the world

Mexican food in Tokyo

australian: a guide for english-speakers

résumé for michael werneburg

recommended content

no man's land

changing my name in Japan

anti-spam routine

Shinagawa street fight

new site design

struggling with a foreign name in Japan

shipping from the US

kanji study tools

emuu.net copyright

aquarium update

reverse public relations

another busy Friday

a difficult name

our first order

new year, more cycle glitches

the ballad of Buddy

Nihombashi

fishes

what to do with old phones

my boy's book

a tale of two banks

adjusting to life in Japan

where have all the good things gone?

belief in Japan

home again, thanks to ANA

gaijin comic relief

a frosty new year and some resolutions reviewed

business quotes

well it's over

Yawn, was that another eruption?

another eruption!

my first volcanic boom

Why, JAL, why.

a decade ends

the nameless decade

X'mas for Mari

losing my accent?

things are tough in Japan

"great husband" part two

paypal, swing and a miss

earthquakes make for lousy bedfellows