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!

Quickie

hey all,

Just a quickie here. Michi and I will be heading to the mountains today so we can see the so called "Diamond Fuji".

This is only a two day trip, but it looks to be a spectacular one, if a very cold one too.

More on our return.

Cheers,

Izu and Others

hey all,

The explanation is really with each of the pictures.


View December 2012 Izu Trip in a larger map

A model of one of Perry's black ships. They have really embraced this thing.

Our dinner

Various views from our room

The cave we wanted to see by boat, but didn't have a chance to.

Might not look spectacular, but this is wasabi ice cream. Let me say that again: WASABI ice cream. It was sweet and yes it did clear out your nasal passages as well.

Christmas Eve Dinner: Some super delicious meatloaf that Michi made.

My contribution to Christmas dinner: this is a buche de noel. Which seems to be French for yule log.  The frosting is chocolate cream cheese, and the filling is coffee flavored cream. The bumps are chocolate covered coffee beans.

The spread from the Fam: Thank You!

Cheers,

Izu Trip

hey all,

So I'm back in blogland. Michi and I just got back from a sweet trip to Izu, but a full description will have to wait until tomorrow.

Otherwise, I've been keeping myself busy and classes are finally winding down for Christmas break.

Cheers,

Return, Space Heater, Three-Day Weekend

hey all,

Michi should be coming back tomorrow, so I've been getting the place ready: throwing out the trash, doing laundry, vacuuming, etc. I even bought her favorite kind of flower and made some tiramisu.

Right now, I'm making sure all is set for work tomorrow, and making sure that my bed is all set to sleep in. I've actually got my sheets draped over a space heater, because they didn't dry out quick enough. The space heater works really well, though.

Thankfully this was a three-day weekend, so I had plenty of time to relax, get in some data entry tasks for work, and catch up on my gaming and reading big time. I think I defeated the final boss in Dragon's Dogma, but after I did that, the monsters almost everywhere got three times tougher. There are a few wrapping up missions to do, but I'm kinda playing around with some side quests at the moment. I even went back to Dishonored and played that a bit, but I think I'll go back to the beginning on that one. Because of the setup, you can play each mission separately, but it feels a little too disjointed.

Cheers,