August 2004 Archives

So it was the first day of classes today. Thats about it. Nothing interesting there. I did manage to make it to school without getting lost, or on the wrong train. Go me! That said, it does take me an hour to get to school every day.

So classes were fun, and my books were not too expensive. I doubt they'll break $100 US total. Which is nice. I'm already learning Japanese, and putting it to good use. You know, being able to say "My name is" in Japanese will get me far in this world.

Masayuki Taniguchi helped me figure out my cell phone, seeing how its all in Japanese. I can now add and remove people from my address book, and text message them! My life is complete. I also changed the color scheme from red and black, to black and white. Thus saving my eyeballs. I spent a good deal of time deleting all the text messages Nate Haleen had gotten while he was in Japan (its his phone). Some were darn right kinky.

I had some raw fish for dinner. It was good. My host mom makes great food, and its all new to me. I think Kai has a cold, and I hope I don't catch it. I mean, I have much to do, so little time!

I posted some more photos online and also put up my schedule. Check it out if you dare.

Oh, most importantly a new G5 iMac was just announced. Looking good Apple, looking good.

My host mother and I walked the walk down to the train station today so that I would somehow know the path to the station, and also so I could buy a 3 month train pass. Luckily I just had the 6,900 yen to cover the cost, but now I'm kinda broke for a bit. The route to the train station takes about 20 minutes, and require me to navigate a very tricky path. I have found that using the stars and a compass is the only way to find my way to the train station. But the cool thing is that on the way is a very old shrine and an old well. So I'll have to stop and take some photos one day.

So we then came home and had lunch. Pasta. Good stuff. I've been trying to drink a bunch of water, because I've been sweating like a pig and everyone thinks I'm going to die from the heat. Its not that I'll die, its just that I sweat a lot. My host mother taught an English lesson, so I hung out in my room and watched some Futurama.

So we went to city hall. Turned in my Alien Registration Info. I should get my card in a week or so. Then I'll be legal until the end of my term here in Japan. I'd hate to be kicked out.

On the way home we stopped at a temple that was only a kilometer or so from the apartment. The temple is called the Naritasan Temple. The first thing my host mother explained to me was why there was a monk praying over some cars. Apparently you can bring your new cars there and get them blessed, so as to protect them from danger on the road. When you enter a temple you always wash your hands and mouth at a little washing station. Very important. The main building of the Naritasan Temple is quite new, it was only built a few years ago so the paint is still very bright. The inside of the temple was very beautiful, full of candle and incense. Down behind the temple was an old cave, where there were different Chinese characters for the year of which you were born. The cave was closed, so we could not enter. On one side of the temple were a long line of boxes raised above the ground. These were various gods to which people would but offerings of origami and sewn cloths. One of the cool things on the temple grounds was a bell tower. Its a bell tower. I mean, not much I can really say about it.

Kai and I played with his trains for a long time before dinner. He knows all their names, and which little homes are theirs. Its so cute. He saw me taking a photo, so he systematically had me take photos of him with each of his trains, and then he wanted to see the photo. We then read a couple of little story from one of his english story books. He speaks english very well, and I think he liked having me around.

So after dinner I took a trip with the family to the super market, where I think their goal is to fatten me up. They kept offering me snacks and soda drinks, and I eventually caved in and let them buy me some fruit flavored alcoholic drinks. The grocery store is a very interesting place to go because it lets me see people interacting in a very informal setting.

Oh, I didn't have class today, and even if I did it would have been canceled. A typhoon is hitting the western side of Japan, causing massive damage. We're only getting rain and clouds because of it, which is nice, because its been super hot here. I'm sure looking forward to winter.

"Remember, its always tomorrow in Japan, except for those 10 hours or so when its not."

So it took the kindness of Chris L to wake me up this morning, because I had been sleeping for the longest time after being up for 36 hours. We had to be checked out by 11, and he got me out of bed at 10. Luckily all my bags were still packed, or mostly packed.

So a group of us went searching for lunch. We ended up at a Chinese food joint, where no one could read the menu, so we resorted to pointing at the plastic food in the front window. We ate heaps of food, and had a few good laughs. Then off to the International Lounge to put a few photos online before my host family came. Check out these all these new photos.

So I went up to the waiting room for students waiting for host families. Some smart Kansai Gaidai student helper had put in the movie Lost in Translation for us to watch. Then again, someone put in Kill Bill Vol. 1 afterwards. My host family forgot about me, so someone had to call them. No biggie, I like those two movies. When they did show up a student aid sat down and went over a 'contract' with both of us. Basic stuff like curfew, dinner time, and telephone usage. The family consists of a 4 year old boy names Kai, mother Naoko, and father Yasuaki. We then took their car to the dorms to pick up my luggage, which almost didn't fit into their car. (They have a super small Japanese car, only 60 CCs of power. These cars are cheaper and there are less restriction on buying them. When you buy a car in Japan the police need to come and check to see if you have a parking space before you buy a car. I'm pretty sure that isn't the case with these other cars. You can tell the smaller cars apart by their yellow license plates.) Anyhow we drove to their apartment which is in Neyagawa City. I'm staying in their daughter's room, she's in the USA on exchange, and the room is small, but feels bigger them my room back at GAC. Probably helps that the futon bed stays in the closet the majority of the time. We ate a fun dinner of grilled meat and vegetables, and I realized how much I suck at chop sticks, though I'm determined to use them. Kai loves Thomas the train, and not even my gift of a little stuffed buffalo was enough to distract him from his trains. While unpacking my stuff I found that I have the ability to leech off a neighbor's wireless connection. Its not a great signal, but good enough. I found an even better one in the living room, and video chatted with my parents for while. It was really cute when Kai started talking to my parents. Both he and his mother speak english, and my only job while I'm here is to play with Kai and talk english to him and his mother. (BTW Wilson has grown to be a big cat)

Anyhow, I should hit the sack. I have a lot to do tomorrow. Apply for my alien registration card, buy a train pass, find my way around this city. Plus I'm still a bit sleepy from that wild night at the Apple Store.

Heres what happened during the last crazy 30 hours! So much to talk about!

So this morning was the Opening Ceremony for Kansai Gaidai's international students. Lots of speeches were given by the President of the college, the US Consulate in Osaka, the Australian Consulate of Osaka, several professors, and a student. One of the professors gave us some good advice: get lost on your own, have an adventure. Of which I later did. After the speeches we had a lunchin where I think I actually had some beef to eat. Its been a while for me. I quickly scooted away because I was burning alive in my outfit. Nothing like putting on black pants, black socks, a black shirt, and a classy black Spider-man tie to make you roast in the Osaka Summer.

I spent a while in the afternoon hanging out in the room, trying to drink lots of water and to sooth my aching feet after the previous day's walking. I used Zach's internet connection (via wireless) to post some photos on my webpage and to try out some more video chatting to the US. Which works, for the most part. I do look forward to actually doing this with my parents at some point while I'm here.

Zach, Albert, and I decided to go on into Osaka instead of going on the Kyoto tour. So off we went, and it wasn't long before a massive tragedy struck. Poor Albert had his foot run over by a car. Don't worry, he's fine. None of us knew where this car came from, because we were all looking and no one saw anything. It was so odd. Thank goodness the cars here are so light it would only take 3 people to lift them. He got over it, but man, was it funny.

So we take a train into Osaka, and then the subway to get to the Shinsaibashi shopping district, where as our map tells us, we can find the new Apple Store. You'd think that would be easy, but no, we wondered around in several directions before actually finding the store and the line leading up to it. We went to check out the front of the store, and the front of the line, and met up with some americans who had flown in from San Francisco just to be first in line. While talking to them our favorite professor none of us have ever had, Garr Reynolds, showed up and gave us some much needed guidance. He told us that we should go buy some cheap beer and snacks, find a place in line, and make friends with the Japanese people in the line. Or something to that effect. We all decided that his idea was wise and honorable, so we set out to buy some beer and snacks. At the nearest connivence store we ran into another America who gave us some tips on what to buy. We ended up buying 11 big ass bottles of beer/fruit drink stuff. They're 1000 ml of drink, which is sooo good, but also hits you hard.

So back to the line for us, where we prompted handed out some drinks to the guys around us. Nothing makes friends as fast as handing out a few drinks. One of the guys next to us, named Motoshy, graduated from Kansai Gaidai a few years ago. His english was very good, and he and Zach spent a great deal of time talking about different ways to say and write things in Japanese (Zach came back with several pages of notes). It was bout then that someone came along counting the line and we found out that we were numbers 117 through 119 in the line, and it was only 9 o'clock. So there we are, in Osaka, sitting around drinking fruit drinks and talking to random people in line. Remember now that the Apple Store doesn't open until 10 am the next morning.

So what do people in line do for 15 hours? Well, first off you have several of this big drinks. Then you find some other people with computers and hang out. Zach brought his iBook and I brought my Powerbook, so we both knew we would have between 6 and 8 hours worth of entertainment there. I went over and hung out for a bit with a bunch of guys (none of whom spoke english) and just hinda hung out with our Powerbooks. They were all using little USB cell phone internet connections, and they were so super nice, that they shared their slow connection to everyone else over wireless. We even started up a Rendezvous network and exchanged webpage links. I often walked along the line, seeing how it had grown, and would start talking to random people in the line. Some people had come from as far away as Tokyo to get in line for the store. Now thats hard core.

Sometime during the night Motoshy showed Albert and I around that area of Osaka, on what you could call, a babe safari. He showed us where the popular clubs are (of which there are many) and it gave us a sample of the youth culture of Japan. Like the guys with the giant stereo sticking out of their trunk? Or the weird cars with several LCD screen inside that play movies. The wild outfits of the Japanese punk scene. Most importantly, that you can blast your music super loud, while being 10 feet away from the Police Box.

The trains shut down at midnight, so the line stabilized at about 450. You'd think Osaka is a city that would sleep. Oh no, you're so wrong. Osaka is a happening place. The streets were always busy, and there were a constant stream of people running around on the sidewalks. Most of the people in line eventually resorted to watching movies on their laptops or sleeping on the streets. Some people might think that sleeping on the street of a major city would be dangerous, let alone sleeping on the street of major city with a couple thousand $ worth of computer equipment in our bags. This is not so in Japan. People in line quite frequently left their stuff unattended, with no fear at all of theft. Heck, I never once felt unsafe the entire time I was in downtown Osaka. Japan is just cool that way.

So I did manage to get about 45 minutes of sleep, somewhere in there. We were a bit worried about getting rained on because of a typhoon thats hitting Japan. We were lucky, and only had to endure some minor spitting. Sometime during the night Albert was interviewed by two different TV news stations. There were a constant stream of people with cameras and video cameras filming the line. When the trains started back up again at 5 the line grow exponentially. Between 5 and 10 the line grow to over 3,000 people long. As daylight came back to Osaka we all found ourselves extremely tired and hungry. But luckily for us Nate Kemp showed up! I know Nate from GAC, and he's teaching english in Osaka through the JET program, so he decided to join our little party. As we inched forward Apple reps started coming by showing off products that would be on sale.

So why was I in line. Well, one thing is that the first 1500 people get a free shirt. Thats cool. More importantly there are 250 'mystery bags' that you can buy for 30,000 Yen (or about $270 US). Inside this bag are products that equal or exceed more then 90,000 Yen (about $870). You can only get these if you're at the front of the line. Albert wanted to get a bag, and eventually Nate Kemp also feel under the bag's spell and decided to buy one. In their bags were: an Apple BT mouse, an Airport Express, a BT head set, a lot of software, a bunch of iPod peripherals. They both had a 1 in 6 chance of getting an iPod, but no luck.

The Apple Store in Osaka is split into two levels. The first floor is all the computer hardware and the checkout counter. The second floor, which is reached by using a glass staircase, has the genius bar, peripherals, and a presentation center. A very cool store, and a very big deal. We talked to the head manager on our way out, who was very enthusiastic about the store.

Anyhow, the rest of my day consisted of getting back to the dorms, putting photos online, and taking a long, hot, shower. Tomorrow is my host family day. Wish me luck. Also, check out the photos from the Osaka Apple Store Opening.

Its 10 o'clock and I'm at the Apple Store in Osaka. Only 12 more hours until it opens. I'd better open a few more of these fruit flavored beers with the cool Japanese guys around me. Nothing helps meet new people like sharing a beer on a bench in Osaka with a bunch of Japanese Mac fans. Its a massive laptop fest! I'll post photos. Eventually.

So I did regester and get classes, even with my big ass number. So did Chris, though even being last he still got all the classes he wanted to get. I ended up with two Japanese language classes, the Youth of Japan class, and a class about Ethics and Morality in Japanese culture. I did find out though that I can only take out 10,000 Yen a day thorugh my VISA ATM card, which is only $100 US. Luckily I only needed 10,000 Yen to cover my deposits on campus today.

Chris and I checked out the clubs on campus (again) after lunch. From what I've been told and what I've seen, clubs in Japan are very hard core. You don't have sports teams, you have clubs. Of which you are required to go do stuff with the club every day. Such as practice several hours every day. For the more causal person you have groups called circles. These are less time intense, and you only have to hang out and do stuff once a week or so. Anyhow, there is an entire building with 4 full floors of different clubs. I wouldn't mind checking a few out, I just don't know about putting the time in.

But good news! I have info on my host family now! First off I'm going to have to travel about 45 minutes every day to school. About 15 minutes by foot to the train station, about 15 minutes by train, and about 15 by foot to school. The good news is that my family sounds very cool. The father works for a coreration, the mother is an english teacher (which is good for those of us who don't speak Japanese), the daughter is 17 and goes to high school, and they have a 4 year old son. No animals and no smoking. I can only hope that I can be a good guest in their home for the next three months. I'll be meeting them and moving in sometime this weekend, wish me luck.

So from 3 o'clock onward we had a 'tour' of Osaka. I was kinda aprehensive about going on another 'tour', but all my friends were going so I figured it would be a good idea. For some reason it seemed like every international student wanted to go on this trip, because the line was really long. What happened was a group of us foreigner students were paired up with a group of Japanese students and we just kinda went wherever. My group had about 13 people in it, 5 Japanese students, and 7 of us silly foreigners. Chris, Albert, and I voted for visiting the Osaka Castle. We took a very long train ride into Osaka, and then walked through the city for a while before we came to the massive park that houses the castle.

Now for a history lesson! The Osaka castle was built by Hideyoshi Toyami between 1583 and 1615. This castle feel into disuse, but was then reconstructed by the Tokugawas Government between 1620 and 1629. Sadly, lightning struck the castle's main tower and it burned down. It was later reconstructed in 1931, and now the most beautiful and best preserved castle in Japan. The castle complex is quite large, consisting of several layers of walls and a moat before reaching the main tower. In the photos you'll notice that they were all taken at sun set, which I think makes for a very pretty atmosphere, and which also tells you what time it was when we got to the castle. The inside of the castle is almost completely modern. Elevadors take you near the top and you walk the rest of the way. Every floor is an extensive history of the castle, and we didn't have enough time to look at them all, though I would have wanted to. From the top you can see all the way to the mountains, and also the extensive city-scape that makes up Osaka.

After the castle we walked through the park where we all noticed the large number of homeless tents that were there. According to Leo these homeless are day laborers who live in the castle park complex because that is basicly where the city government lets them live. Besides the Osaka Castle park area we haven't seen any homeless presence in Japan, as you would expect from large cities in the US.

Dinner was awsome. I don't know exactly what I had, but someone kinda refered to it as the 'pizza of Japan.' Basicly its a pancake, filled with stuff, thats cooked on a stove at your table. It was so good. I think I'm getting the hang of chop sticks, so I'm making it a goal not to use a fork for anything besides mixed fruit.

Here is an address to which you can send all your wonderful gifts and post cards to me in Japan. I'll have this posted in my Contact page as well.

Joshua Zimmerman
c/o Center for International Education
Kansai Gaidai University
16-1 Nakamiyahigashio-cho, Hirakata CIty
Osaka 573-1001 Japan

I also set up a my phone's e-mail system. You can send me phone e-mails by using this address: joshua_phone at k.vodafone.ne.jp (replace the 'at' with an @) though I don't expect anyone back home to actually use this address for real e-mail.

I need to get to bed. We have the formal opening ceremony tomorrow and probably a trip into Kyoto. That is if I can get some mroe money. Man, won't I be happy once I'm not paying for two of my meals every day. My wallet is feeling a bit light.

This day was a mix of highs, and lows. The day started off with a wonderful, if not completely uninformational general orientation meeting. I wouldn't have cared so much, but it was at 9:30 in the morning, and I'm lazy. After that it was a mad dash to grab a regestration number. Now there are 426 numbers in this box, and the lower the number sooner you would get to regester. I pulled 396. But it could have been worse, Chris L pulled 426. He's had a rough week.

The useful orientation meeting today was meeting all of the professors. They all appear to be super cool. One of the guys, whose's name is 'Gar', used to be the General Mannager of the entire Apple Computer Company! He's even going to give some presentation at the new Osaka Apple Store later this month.

Inbetween the many orientation meetings and large number, some of us check out the Japanese garden behind the International Center. Very cool, and very soothing. We also had a fun run-in with GAR!

Ok, so actually, I had two helpful orientation meetings. The other one was for host family staying, where I learned that I may have up to an hour commute to school each day. That and I learned proper bath procedure. Its complicated. Really.

In technology news it was an above average day for me. I successfully audio chatted with Zach from campus. Which leads me to believe that I may be able to video chat also. I bought a phone card for Nate's Japanese cell phone, and with the help of one of the girls I know here (who also bought a phone) I was able to change the phone e-mail address. See, in Japan, you dont' call people, you text message them. Its much cheaper. You see them doing it everywhere. Even while ridding a bike. In my case, I'm using a pre-paid phone card, so I'm all the happier to be only paying 5 Yen per text message I send. (I found that I really should delete Nate's old backlog of text messaging. Some of them to be a bit spicy!)

A group of us ended up eating at Petit Cafe for dinner tonight. I had a very interesting mix of Rice, Omlet, and Curry. Super good. Then back to the dorm for some 'non-walking' time. A group of us watched Harald and Kuman Go to White Castle on someone's laptop. Super funny stoner movie. Then I cleaned off my laptop with some super fun laptop clearners someone had. Its super fresh and clean now.

Anyhow, thats my day. Lets hope I get some of the classes I want tomorrow. Or just more Curry Rice. I may take a trip into Osaka tomorrow. Maybe not. The fun!

This morning was the all important Language Test, which would determin what class we were going to be placed in. I found it rather easy. Put my name on the paper. Filled in some bubbles. Turned it in. It took all of five minutes. I guess it would help if I knew some Japanese. Then again, some hard core people like Leo took two hours to finsh theirs. Darn Aussies!

Our favorite lunch table was overrun by Japanese girls! Darn! I had the curry rice today, which was good. Luckily the cooks at school are now placing sample dishes of food where we silly foreigners can point to them. Which helps. I must say I enjoy the food at the 'caf' much more then the Ramen place, though the price is right at the Romen store. Only 180 Yen.

So I guess I just kinda hung out around campus today, not really doing anything. The chairs in the 'Fish Bowl' (what we call the international center's lounge, because it has glass all around it, and the Japanese come and look at us) are reall comfortable, and it was a lot cooler inside then outside. We were all tired after our long trek in the rain last night, so a day of rest was very important. We did spend a great deal of time looking at Leo's art and picture portfolio that he, for some reason, keeps on CD and in his man-bag. I must say, he's one silly Aussie, and one interesting artist. Though I think this photo I stole from his portfolio says all that needs to be said.

Eventually I took the effort to fill out a 'Speaking Partner' form, and thus explained myself as being a very silly American history major who doesn't speak Japanese. I don't know how well this will go over.

So I actually have internet while on campus, but not in the dorms. Albert and I spent a good deal of time talking computers in the Fish Bowl after my introduction to the language orientation. We eventually went out for some take out food, and went back to the Fish Bowl. Somehow we ended up being the only ones left there, and so we made our way back to the dorms. We met up with the Leo and the Chris's, who were hungry, so we walked back out and went to the Ramen shop. I was full from dinner, but Albert was still hungry. Some more students came in, and eventually us foreigners took up the entire bar. The two waitresses were laughing their heads off at us silly, and very noisy, foreigners. Leo and another Aussie were showing us American's how to speak Australian. Leo spent a good deal of time putting chop stick in his mouth and talking to the waitress. The same one that eventually came out side to shoo all of us away from the front of the shop about a half hour later. Those Japanese are so polite.

On our way home we stopped by the bar Jam Jam. Its a little place that just happens to be the cool scene for foreigners on campus. Leo found a croc, and Albert tried to pawn off some wistleing life savers on the Europeans. They thought they were some weird drugs. We all made fun of the overly cool Europeans and their overall too-cool-for-you-look. We made a quick exit (after 5 minutes in the bar) and ended up back at the dorms to end the evening watching Japanese TV.

So I don't have internet, and thus can't post photos yet. I'll do it tomorrow. I had to wait in line for a computer tonight, so I'll be happy for internet at school.

How to Speak Aussie:
1) Change sylables around. Also shorten words as much as possible.
2) Shela = Woman.
3) Cri'ky = Word of excitment.
4) Dutched up = Large use of weed in the general area.
5) Ball Buster = Something was very difficult.
6) Wambat = a local pet.
7) Heaps = a lot. Use this word constantly.

I didn't think I'd be walking this much ever. How spoiled I am being at a small college that takes only 5 minutes to cross. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from the Seminar Dorms (international dorms) to the actual campus. This is why people buy bikes here. I only wish I knew where my host family was so I could buy a damn bike!

So the Chris's, Leo, and I all got up and went on a campus tour today. The campus is so much cooler then what it looks like on the webpage. From what I was told the whole campus is brand new, moved from the old location a few years back. It even has the new campus smell to it. The tour was nice, and the caf served good, and resonabily priced food. We all went to investigate the gym, where chearleaders were chanting numbers in english. We then found the entire building dedicated just to clubs. Though none of our english was very good, we were usually able to figure out what a club was by the pictures on their door. At least, until we came to the photo of a group of naked Japanese guys running around. It was the rugby team, who it seems, likes to streak. It was very funny.

We spent a great deal of time trying to fill out the somewhat confusing Japanese banking forms, so that we might have a bank account. Lets just say none of us messed up less then 4 times. It was so bad. The slightest error, or double line, was cause for rejection. So bad! After our horrible banking experience we talked to the techies down in the international computer lab, one of which was a Mac head. We all had a good laugh together about a zipper problem on his part, and we eventually exchanged e-mail addresses. I think we may try and pick up an Apple T-Shirt for him this weekend. Also, hopefully, my Powerbook will work tomorrow on campus! So I can post some photos!

We hung out in the caf for quite a long time, at what is now our 'official table.' Thus we can now exclude everyone else from it. The direction at the front of the caf said to 'Sit at your favorite table,' and so we now do.

Did I tell you that we spent most of the day trying to find Leo's bike? Some girl from his Uni left a bike here for him, but we can't find it. Poor poor Leo. We eventually found out that the dorms throw out all the old bikes, or just sell them to the bike shops that sell them back to international students. Again, poor Leo.

A bunch of us walked for about 45 minutes to a Sushi bar, becuase the South American girls said it would be fun. Sure, the bar was good. Lots of Sushi on conveigher belts, but the 45 minute walk home in the rain sucked. Some nice Japanese girls who go to our school laughed at us for putting newspapers over our heads. We found a store and bought some umbrellas and made it back not too wet. Oh, and we once again hung out at the QQ store.

Back at the dorms the place had heaps of people around. Everyone is getting in now, so there are tons of people to meet from all over the world! I actually ran into one of the GAC guys as he was coming in. He was kinda wet. Right now the Chris' and I are hanging in the lab, while Hawaii is playing Peasant quest off HomeStarRunner.com. Its so funny. I should get some rest, lots to do tomorrow!

You'd think that I would have gone to bed last night, but noooooooo. As we were all about to leave the lab some grils from South America came in. They were here last semester and gave us the low down on how things worked around here. Also, Nate, they say hello. (Oh, and I understood like every thrid word they were saying in Spanish to each other, which really got annoying, because I should have known about every other word.)

So I did find food this morning. The two Chris's and I found a nice little cafe (Petit Cafe was its name) where we (and by we I mean Chris L) ordered breakfast. Nothing like an omlet filled with some lip smacking rice. Very good stuff. We then went to the 'Super Sanko' supermarkert where we stocked up on some snacks (and Sprite). I then learned the symbol for Tea, which may come in handy.

A whole group of us took a tour of the city. The tour consisted of walking us to the train station (a half an hour's walk), where we took the train to a nearby mall. Ok.... the mall showed us how cool the Japanese were in most every way, shape and form. Somehow they had mannaged to combine the world of plants and the world of high tech arcade games into one store. GG (Green and Games). Later Chris L found the wonderful world of Japanese pasteries. You wouldn't think the Japanese have bad ass pasteries, but they do. We also found out how stupid we all feel by not having a very cool phone. Heck, the 'free' phones you get with the phone plans here are about 2 years ahead (and so much cooler) then anything you can buy in the States. I'm still glad Nate gave me his old phone, because as much as I'd love to spend money on a phone plan, I've come to realize how expensive everything is around here.

After the tour ended, a group of us went to find some cheap noodles. Another long walk later we found a noodle place where you could get a very large bowl of noodles for only 180 Yen ($2). Plus free water! After that we went to the 99 Yen store. I thought of my mother who always loves to go to the dollar store back home, and then my mind was overpowered by the catchy tunes of the store's song which said (in Japanese) "99, 99, 99, 99" over and over again. One of the guys that was with us bought a CD which had the song on it. Plus a techno remix. Plus a sing along version. There must have been a festivel or somethign in Kyoto, because while we were there a bunch of young women came in all dressed in kimonos. There was a really cute little girl in a Hello Kitty Kimono.

We tried to watch Lost in Translation, but everyone was so tired. The Chris's both went to bed, as well as the Australian Leo (no relation to Jared, though he does say that Melborne sucks, seeing as how he's from Adale.). Here are 3 random fun things about Japan that I've come to learn today.

1) Most places were you can buy food have plastic replica's of the food in the window. This lets you know what you're eating and how much you get for the price.
2) The cars here are super small. Like someone put American cars through the wash a bit too long. Plus the thing to do is put a bunch of stuffed animals in the windows. You know, like Poo Bears, or Hello Kitty stuff. Very important.
3) Everyone has a little garden in front of their house, seeing as how they have no actual yard. The thing is this garden is very very nice. Little trees all properly groomed.

Oh, I'll post phones on my blog entries when I actual have my computer hooked up to the internet. Sometime this next week.

So I'm here. In Japan. On a lab computer, because I can't get mine hooked up to the campus network for a few days. Oh the pain! Let me run you through my long ass day of plane ridding and stuff. (Please forgive my spelling, I have no spell check!)

Omaha is not a busy airport. At least not when I was there. My parents wanted me to be there 2 hours earily, and I could have showed up 5. The best part was that the security guards had to take my Powerbook and do a close inspection of it. As if they'd never seen one before. The ride from Omaha to Detroit was only an hour, during which I sat next to a very gothic girl reading the comic Ghost World, of which the movie was a personal favorite of mine. Long story short, I ended up doing some typing about air travel for the entire ride.

Detroit has a nice airport, where I fought with several travelers for a power outlet so I could recharge my laptop. My 13 + hour ride to Osaka was uneventful, but was made fun by the 3 people sitting around me all going to Kansai (my school). We had fun talking and laughing. I had long movie talks with Dan the film major, which was good, because we ended up seeing the inflight movie Hildago 4 times (or at least certain parts of it). Stupid in flight movie technical problems. Anyhow the ride was long, the food was bad, and I did mannage to sleep through all of Shrek 2.

You could tell who on my 747 was going to Kansai, because everyone who was white and college age was going there. I think there were about 30 people going to Kansai on my flight. Very fun. Anyhow the bus ride was made fun due to a bunch of college guysmaking fun of the things we saw. Like Sega Land, where we all wanted to stop for a while. The bus ride was an hour and a half long, so we had some good laughs. (During the ride everyone realized that they had forgotten any and all Japanese they had learned in college. It made me feel better)

So I'm staying in the dorms for a while, probably for a week before I end up at my host family's house. The dorms are like a super nice Whalstrum setting. Living area, 4 rooms (the size of a Sohre room) with 2 people in each room, a big living area, a nice big kitchen, and a big nice bathroom. All in all, very plush.

One of the guys I'm living with right now is Chris, he's from Hawai. We went and found some other people to talk to, and eventually 4 of us went to find food. Sadly it seems like everything around the dorms closes at 10 pm (on a Saturday) and we had no luck finding any food. At least till we got to Bar Chaos! Its kind of a surfer/ snow border bar. Where everyone knows your name, even if you can't pronounce theirs. We eventually ran back to our dorms (without eatcing food or getting a drink) because we were afraid that we'd be locked out at 11. We got in.

Chris and I talked for a bit, then headed down to check out e-mail on the lab computers. I thought it would be nice to write up something to let people know I'm alive. Tomorrow I plan to take a bus tour of the city, take some photos. Maybe post them on my weblog if I can get my computer hooked up to the network. I should probably hit the sack, seeing its 12:30 right now. Japan is fun. See you later.

So I'm about 95% of the way done packing. We'll be leaving soon for Omaha. Wish me luck with the airline food.

In an odd turn of events, my parents actually got their iSight today. So much for Apple's estimate of 2-3 weeks. I had to give them a run-through of how it worked. Apple's motto should be 'so easy your parents can use it." Because its true. While I'm most certainly sure that I can't video chat from school, I imagine that I can find a web cafe near my host family's home to use. Either way, we've entered into a new world of parenting: High Tech Nagging.

Poor little Wilson, the next time I see him he will be less of a man. He went in to be neutered today, along with the all important de-clawing of his front paws. Heres to you little guy.

Except I do know when I'll be getting back again. December. Tomorrow I leave for Omaha, and from there, Japan. Heres my flight schedule. My flight from Omaha leaves at 10:30 Friday morning, and should get into Detroit about 1:30. I then mull around for a couple of hours, maybe recharge the Powerbook, because I leave again at 3:30 pm for Osaka. I won't get in till 6:30 pm, the next day. Which is Saturday. Long ass flights, and no Gameboy. Only 8 hours of iPod, and only 4 hours of Powerbook. I will go insane.

Packing sucks. Ask my parents. I have way too much clothing.

I've been chatting with the guys tonight, when it dawned on me that it would be nice to know what the weather is like in Osaka. So I've been browsing through a bunch of different free OS X apps for Weather. I eventually settled on Meteorologist. Free, and support Japan and the US.

Wish me luck people. If for some reason I do die. Zach, keep your hands off my shit! John gets the file server, and you get the webserver so that you may make a glorious shrine to my memory. My anime DVDs will be split between John and Ben. The rest of the DVDs I want Jared to watch within a 2 month span. Then he and Zach can have them. If my Powerbook survives, it is to be kept with my body. Along with my mouse. The external drive will go to ben, if it survives. Lastly, I want everyone I know to slap some sense into Jared. Every day.

So until I get settled, or an internet connection. Bye bye people.

Ok, I'm not so packed yet. I've yet to really start. No big deal, I'm a guy. Lets see... socks, underwear, shirts, some shorts, my laptop. Thats about it. Oh, and shoes. Lots of shoes. I'll get it done tomorrow.

I've been working on the old file server, getting it ready for when Zach and John come pick it up. Over 800 GIGs of pure quality fun. Now all I need to do is make sure they don't screw up my parents set-up in the process. Sigh.... Yeah, but I also backed-up all my personal files, music, and pictures onto for my trip. In the case of my photos, I even backed those up onto DVD. Ooooo DVD-R!

Did you know its only 6 cents a minute to call Japan from the U.S., but it cost $1.76 to call the U.S. from Japan? This just goes to show, you can't call home.

Oh, this is randomly funny. Writer Annie Jacobson is a paranoid white woman. You can see why from her amazingly funny article about a bunch of suspicious men on a plane flight she was on. They turned out to be musicians on tour. Well, even more funny is how a woman wrote in about her own experiences with air flight, and strange men who suspiciously sat in a Z formation on her plane ride. Whats still even more funny is this article responding to how stupid these two women are in their paranoia. This last one is a definite must read. I'm not fearing my own plane fight at all, why would I? I'm much more fearful of being killed by a big ass SUV while driving my little Honda around town. Seriously. Very afraid.

Zach pointed me to this fun shareware install. Its more fun smilies for iChat! If thats not enough, here are even more you can install. But alas, they only work if you and the person you're talking to have them installed. So go install them right now! Seriously, if you're using iChat, why not install this? I will expect you all to do so by the time I start IMing you will little Gombas. Yes, there is even a little Gomba (oil looking guys from Mario). They're so cute. (Heres a link to a different webpage hosting both More iChat Smilies and the other program iSmilies.)

So I got another email back from the stupid eBay guy who bought my processor thinking it was a motherboard. Heres what he said to me after I tried to explain how computers worked to him, in a very nice way.

First of all, there is no mis-communication happening here, and there is no confusion on my part. Secondly, what is happening here is a matter of false advertising. If you were selling just the processor, or what you refer to as the "daughtercard", then you should have just photographed it along with the heat sink and fan, instead of showing it attached to the motherboard. As stated earlier, I have no use for these items as It is unknown if the processor is compatible with my current motherboard. In conclusion, I suggest you re-list the items in a manner that makes it crystal clear as to what exactly you are selling. What you listed and what you showed in the photos were two completely different methods of selling your items. I have no further comments. This deal is off.

Right. So basically this guy has no idea what he's doing, and has done no research. He's buying a new motherboard and processor off eBay to upgrade an older computer, to which he does not know what will actually work or not work with his current set up. Here is my very sarcastic response.

Wow, I must say you are a complete idiot when it comes to computer parts. Did you do any research before you blindly started buying things? Like what you need to actually upgrade your computer? Maybe then you would know that IBM processors (the G4s inside Macs) come on daughter cards, and that the item in the photo is NOT A MOTHERBOARD. Or had you had bought a motherboard on eBay, that it would probably not come with a processor on it. Maybe you should know what you're trying to buy before you blindly bid on items.

Heres a company that sells Macintosh upgrade processors. Notice how they look exactly like what I'm selling. Why don't you look around their website and actually figure out what you need to buy before wasting someone's time.

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/encore_stg4.html

Oh, a good friend of mine who computer science major wished me to ask you this: "If the item in the photo is a motherboard, where are the PCI slots? The RAM slots? The USB, Firewire, ethernet, and audio ports. None of which are visable in the photo. Let alone the fact that the item in the photo is 1/4 the size of a standard motherboard." He also told me that I should be the on contacting eBay, seeing how you're the one in error. I told him that I would let someone else deal with your stupidity, when you open a box and find a chair instead of a motherboard. Best of luck in your haphazard computer buying. Maybe you should invest in a clue, or a book.

I sent the runner up bidder a message seeing if he wants the item. Maybe it'll save me the trouble of re-listing the item.

Before I get back to packing... I found that I'm only working two nights this week! Hazzah! I'm quite happy. How I'll be glad when tonight's shift is done with.

So I've been selling the parts from my old 867 G4 Tower on eBay, which was going fine until yesterday. All the auctions I had were closed, and I ended up making a bit more then expected. Except here is the problem, the guy who won the processor apparently was under the impression that the item shown in the photo was the motherboard, which it is not. What is shown in the photo is the processor daughter card. Which is explained in the text of the auction, which was only one line. It basically said "For auction 867 G4 processor, heat sink, processor fan." Take a look for yourself, and see the stupidity of this person. He says he's going to contact eBay and tattle on me. I sent him an e-mail explaining to him what a motherboard and processor card are, and that the confusion was all on his part. I then said that he should feel free to contact eBay, seeing as how he is the one in error, not me. The downside to this is that I need to make a new auction, which also means I'll have to have my parents ship off the processor, seeing as how I leave for Japan on... Thursday.

I made a plea for hits on this page in the MacNN Forums. I'm trying to make Safari the #1 browser on in my stats page, seeing how IE is so evil. Thats right. Pure evil. (Also, a hardy welcome to the MacNN people. You guys rock)

So my parents are engrossed with the Olympics. Which is fine with me, though I find it odd. Why is it odd? Well for one thing watching it on TV is not watching it live. GASP! That right kids, time is different in Greece then it is here, so what you're watching is prerecorded, even though the announcers make it sound like its happening in real time. Just find a webpage and get the stats there. The only thing anyone really needs to watch is women's volleyball, and we all know why that is.

I've become addicted to playing C&C: Generals online lately. I had a very awesome FFA game going this morning, and I was doing really well. Two of the 4 people were eliminated, and while the last opponent was moping someone up I made a break for his base, cut through his very heavy defenses, and then managed to take out several key buildings. That and I was pounding him with heavy air. Sigh.... too bad he needed sleep and that the game would have gone on for another hour (at least, seeing how he had lots of defense and $100k cash reserves). It at least beats playing StarCraft.

So I think my parents are now getting warmed up to OS X and their new eMac. I also think that they're going to ditch AOL in favor of getting e-mail through our cable internet provider (which is free to us). All I have to say is: About damn time. My only worry was losing my AIM name, seeing as how its attached to our AOL account. But some people on MacNN were able to assure me that I would still be able to use my screen name.

Lindsay Fox and Carl Ferkinhoff now have weblogs off my webserver. Which brings it to a grand total of 15 people being hosted off the SeeNoEvil,org domain name. I'm very happy to see Lindsay wanting a weblog, seeing how she leaves for India on the 26th. I hope she figures out how to post photos... anyhow, I did some quick reworking of her page (at her request) and changed the template a bit. Not to shabby if I say so myself. Now if only her boyfriend Nik would actually use his weblog space that I set up for him 4 months, then we'd be in business.

So I leave for Omaha on Thursday... and fly out on Friday... and will be in Osaka on Saturday. And I've still yet to actually pack anything. This could be a problem. But in the short term I should get some sleep seeing how I've been up for 24 hours strait, and I work a 12 hour shift tonight. Thank god I only have 3 night shift left, they've been driving me batty. Goodbye USA, hello kitty. I mean, Japan.

So I really only got like 3 hours of sleep last night. I was playing video games and playing with Wilson, while waiting for files to move about on the file server, until like 5 am. My father got me up at about 8 or so, because today was the NEW COMPUTER DAY! My parents finally listened to me and agreed to get a new computer, a nice Apple eMac to replace their 6 year old original iMac. This new computer is about 10 times as good as their old one, and will allow them to video chat with me while I'm in Japan. But heres the story. So Dad and I go get the thing, and we take it home, and I set it up, and I spend some time configuring it and installing some programs for them. Eventually I take a break to go buy my father a John Denver CD he had on hold, and then get some Chinese food. After lunch I go back to start moving files over from their old computer when the CRT on the eMac starts to fuzz out. It becomes a giant unclear mess. A call to the store and they say to bring it in for an exchange. So I take it back across town, and get another one, and then set it all up again. Sigh.... Oh, and you can't buy an iSight these days without a 3 week wait. Looks like Apple is having supply issues. So then I eventually showed my Dad how to do a bunch of stuff on it, and spent a great deal of time showing Mom the how to do stuff. Anyhow its up and going now. Quite the change for them, and me. Then theres Wilson who has found how fun watching computers can be.

In other weird news Apple is having a grand opening of a new official Apple Store in Osaka the week after I arrive. I'm trying to get Nate Kemp to come with me, seeing he's there already and also a Mac user. The first 1500 people get free shirts, and I suspect that they'll be a line that long waiting to get in.

My father and I went to see AvP (or Aliens vs Predator, as its subtitled). If we've learned nothing from Arnold films over the years, its that people fighting monsters is super cool. But wait, Godzilla showed us that monsters fighting monster with people in the middle are cool. Which is what this movie is all about. The crowd was kinda thin for the 9:50 showing, but I was prepared for the worst if need be. People, fighting monster, in a pyramid, with high tech weapons. I mean, that alone would sell me. Overall this movie was a good pure action film, and it could have been far worse. The effects were good, the acting wasn't bad, and the action was pleasurable. The only downside was as soon as you liked a character, they die. Which is usually fine, but I mean, I expected some of them to live longer. Or at least die cooler. At least the Aliens have come a long ways since the first Alien movie, and oddly enough for action films, have always had strong female action heros at their core.

I got off work at about 5:30 this morning, due to a lack of film to process. Way to go. So I came home and watched the movie Napoleon Dynamite with Wilson. I laughed so hard, but yet soft as not to wake the parents. Its a movie about... nothing. A high school kid in small town Idaho, a geek of the highest quality, and his weird life. Its just so off beat and weird. I don't know what to say, it just that his life reminds me of how much high school sucked for most of us, and this guy is doing what most of us never did. He just is being himself. I should watch it again, when I'm less sleepy.

Jared is getting lots of comment Spam on his webpage. Poor guy. I mean, you'd think every young man would want anime porn offers on his webpage every day. What a crazy world we live in. Hot anime porn! Free trial offer now!

I got my second Hepatitis A shot today, completing my vaccination. Just one more life threatening illness to scratch off the list.

My father turned 52 today. We bought him a spice rack and Shrek boxers. Maybe I should play some StarCraft tonight. Sounds like a good investment of time and effort.

I've been working a lot. Thats about it. That and trying to sell my old 867 on eBay, though someone I know may want it all. Which is perfectly fine with me.

Looks like my parents may be getting an eMac before I leave. My father would love to get a new iMac, but Apple isn't sell any right now. Something about a product update, and lack of enough G5 chips from IBM. No new iMacs until September, which means I won't be around to help out with setting it up.

I could ramble on about all the petty squabbling going on in my home town, but I don't feel the need to right now. The only joy I get is reading the local editorials.

10 days left before I leave leave leave.

So Sam and Grant hung out with me till about 5 am this morning. We sat around having a laptop party, and eventually too apart my old 867 so I could plop it up on eBay. We all got hungry about 2 am, so we went out for tacos. Seeing how Taco John's is the only place open all night. But the problem is that 2 am is when all the bars close in town, so we got the bar crowd while trying to get food. Which means people being really uncivil in a very long car ride. We did witness a clash between a woman and a bunch of teens who were not playing nice in line. She almost ramed them for their unruliness. We were just happy to get tacos.

So I now have all 6 hard drives hooked up to the B&W G3 sitting in my room, thank to Sam giving me an old Macintosh to use as a source of power and storage. It may be big, and it may be ugly, but it beats spending a lot of cash for an external firewire case. Sorry Zach, its a bit bigger then I had thought. And ugly as sin. But the case does say its 'DOS Compatible."

So how many more days before I leave? Yeah, only 12 left. I'd better get some sleep. I've been up all night and its 8 am. Stupid night job! Curse you!

Would the person, or people, who are using Windows ME to view my webpage please stop. It take forever to clean up the mess you make from your horrible OS each time you visit. I mean it leaves its dirty shoes on when it walked from page to page, leaves beer bottles in all the comments, and in general has a pungent oder about it that causes me to feel nauseous. So please, find some other weblog to annoy with your foulness. Its just so embarrassing.

I'm recently become the victim of IM spam. Again. It had happened to be for a while during the school year, and stopped, but now its happening again. Damn you IM spam. Always tricking me into thinking you're a beautiful woman who has pictures of herself online!

So I've started using (again) this really cool little program called Pixadex. Its like iPhoto or iTunes, except for icons. Now you're probbaly asking "why would I need to organize icons, I don't have any icons." Well, because of the very cool 128x128 icons that are available for OSX, and easy to make, there are a lot of good icon sets out there. Even if you just want to be like Zach and change your Hard Drive icon to The One True Ring, or go all out and change all your system icons. Pixadex is a very handy tool. Just look at the preview shot I took. Mmmmm Transformer icons.

Tonight Sam, Grant, and I are going to get together to take apart my old 867 so I can sell it on ebay. That and I'm going to run an IDE cable from the new Borg into another small computer case that will hold 2 HDs for cooling and power. The hoops I'm jumping through for this monstrosity.

Nothing says lame like being white, listening to blaring hard core rap music, with your white girlfriend next to you, with your punk ass crooked baseball cap on, driving your mother's mini-van with a suction-cup Garfiend in the back. Majorly lame.

So I've been working on finding the right icon sets for the new Borg 2.0 file server. In the process I found some cool Smurf icons for our webserver, and a whole lot of Star Trek icons. The thing I can't find is a good Transformers icon for my external 250 GIG drive. I may have some, but they're on a HD that on my floor waiting to be put into Borg 2.0. I'm waiting for 52 GIGs of music to move from my old 60 GIG HD inside Borg 2.0, to the new 250 GIG HD in the firewire case. To quote my friend Sam, it will take 'close to forever.' Which is about three hours.

Wilson has had a very tough time the last couple of days. First off last night Murphy (our schnauzer) snapped at him, and the little guy's leg got hurt. Don't know why, they get along fine now. He recovered by the morning. Then today the little 2 year old from two houses down wondered over to see Wilson. Katie is so cute. She picked up Wilson and sat in this little rocking chair on the deck. Wilson is surprising calm around everyone. Except when he goes from zero to crazy in under 5 seconds. All it takes is this little ball of his. What a crazy guy.

Oh, while I fixed the issues with IE 6 and my webpage, other issues still are found. IE 5 on my parents ancient original iMac doesn't like my page at all. Which doesn't bother me at all, or it won't. As soon as they get a new computer.

So I bought a new computer. Well, not new, but new to me. I ended up getting a Apple B&W G3, 350 MHZ computer from a local Mac store. Now I need to start moving all the HDs over from the old file server and installing all the right software. I also need to set up the old file server for John who was nice enough to buy it from me. Then again, I guess I should stick up a bunch of stuff on eBay to help pay for the new file server, all before I leave for Japan. I think I shall call it Borg 2.0. Ben thinks Smurfet is a better name, but I scoff at it.

Not much happening here. I think here might have been more things I was thinking about, but I have forgotten. I would like to point you towards this cool piece of software, for people who have BlueTooth toys. Its a program that uses AppleScripts and BlueTooth to control a lot of stuff. I'm sure I'll end up buying it eventually when I get a BT handheld in Japan, and eventually geta BT phone back here in the states.

Oh, yeah. Here is quite possibly the most racist and disturbing article I have read in a long time. But you have to give her credit though for sticking to her very racist attitude even two years later. I would write more, but I think this article speaks enough for itself. This kind of though is what is completely wrong with America right now.

Only 6 more work shifts left. Only 16 days until I leave.

Only 18 more days.

So I took my broken G4 into a local Apple store to get a fix estimate. Hopefully it will be enough to warrant UPS to buy my parents a new eMac. I also tried to talk them down on their 350 B&W. The $300 for the computer also includes a big ass firewire drive with an 8x DC-RW drive in it. Which I don't need. Hopefully I can talk them into dropping the firewire drive and dropping the price.

Sleep now.

A very quick post before I head to my dumb job.

Only 19 more days until I leave. Now is the stressful time when I actually have to be organized and pack for my trip. Go figure.

I'm going to see if I can buy a B&W G3 from a Mac store here in town, but only if they drop the price a fair deal (about a third). I can sell the old server to john, and also sell some parts I have around the house. But it only goes so far. If that doesn't happen I may just make our file server a Mac only destination, or give it a password. I fear for its ability to do anything with a fresh install of 10.2 server.

So my parents will probably be getting an eMac here before I go. Much like the one Heidi has. It will be a nice change from the original iMac that they're currently using. I'd make it into a fish tank, but I've yet to make the old Mac SE I have sitting in my room into a fish tank, which is a task I should have done this summer. Silly lazy me.