Snowy Day

hey all,

The snow is really coming down here in Tokyo. Luckily, it is a holiday and we didn't have major plans anyway.

The last book of The Wheel of Time has come out, but the Kindle edition is not out until April. Which is fine by me. I've just about finished reading The Eye of the World, which is the first book in the series. I'm going to try to pace myself so I don't finish too much before the last book is released. I've got 13 weeks to re-read about the same number of books, which is just about right. Plus I have some teaching books that I'm working through.

Cheers,

Lucky? Gods

hey all, So I've been at home today and yesterday. On Sunday, Michi and I went to visit the Seven Lucky\Happiness gods around Tokyo. As you might remember, previous trips have not proved so lucky. On the first trip, on our way back, Michi forgot a kimono on the train. On the second trip, she got bit by some mosquitoes, and we called it off because it seemed like an extreme allergic reaction. The third time I went by myself, but got rained out 2/3 of the way through. Well, after visiting all seven of their shrines without incident, Sunday night I threw up around midnight, and spent the whole night with one end or the other over the toilet. The doctor said it was an "intestinal infection," but that could mean E. coli, salmonella, rota virus, norovirus, or many other friendly bugs. In any case, I received the day off, took the doctor's medication, and spent the whole day sleeping. Today I'm feeling much better, just a little queasy and light-headed. I've asked for one more day off, just to be sure the symptoms have passed, and hopefully I can get back to work. Cheers,

There and Back Again

hey all

So this was a really tough trip. The distance we traveled was not so great or far compared to other trips, and our bags were not as outrageously heavy as for other trips either.

We didn't have to hike 30km to get to our destination, or anything spectacular like that.

View New Year's Day Trip 2013 in a larger map

What we had was -10 degree temperatures (that's 14 degrees for y'all in the States) with us in a tent. I thought I knew what cold was, but apparently that was just a child's feeble imagining of cold. 

But I get ahead of myself. Why did we do this? The video explains.

And how cold was it?

But I reckon it was worth it. How many sunrises like the one below do you get to see?

Happy New Year!