hey all,
As my bro pointed out, I'm now 0x20 years old in hexadecimal. Earlier this year, I finally paid off my student loans, and a coworker and I started wondering what I would do with all the extra cash. As it turns out, blow it on a PC is what. The vids below show various stages of putting it together, installing the software, and other super, amazing, interesting things (if you're a computer geek, which I most definitely am).
Besides what you can see in the videos, I've also got an Xbox 360 controller for the more console-type games, and a PCI wi-fi card, as the USB one just was not cutting it.
Michi and I have gone on a few small trips, but nothing really incredible. We've got a pretty cool trip planned for New Year's, but between her work and my practice for my kendo examination this month, there hasn't been so much time for travel.
That's about all from the land of the rising sun.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Swiss Trip and Work
hey all,
OK. So Switzerland was really great. It was good to see the mountains, valleys, and lakes that I remember from ten years ago. It was great to see new places and to be able to see them with Michi. The only real downer on the whole trip was Aeroflot. The inflight service was lackluster. Our flight from Tokyo to Moscow was delayed by two hours, and as a result our luggage did not arrive with us in Zurich. For our return flights from Geneva to Moscow, and Moscow to Tokyo, the flight from Moscow to Tokyo was again delayed an hour. Worse, even with the delay, and my checking at the information counter about our luggage, our checked bags again did not arrive with us in Tokyo. WTF Aeroflot!
In other news, although I think most of my friends and family know already, I have been out of work for the last two weeks. The owner of my school suddenly died, and her family decided to close the school. The good news is that a new school will almost certainly raise from the ashes. We are looking to start again on September 1st.
Cheers,
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| The luggage we arrived in Switzerland with, since Aeroflot lost our checked luggage. |
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| Michi standing on the banks of the Rhine River |
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| Our first view of the Rhine Falls |
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| The Rhine Falls. Check out the people on the big rock in the middle. |
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| Michi and I in front of the Rhine Falls |
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| The Rhine Falls from the bottom. Check out the castle on top of the cliff. |
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| Our first Swiss meal: Marinated pork shank and potato salad |
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| Kalbsgeschnetzeltes: A famous Zurich dish. Pan-fried veal and mushrooms in white whine sauce and Swiss hash browns. |
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| James Joyce's place in Zurich |
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| Michi relaxing on one of our numerous train trips. |
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| The view from our hotel on Lake Luzern. |
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| Unfortunately, the view from Mt. Pilatus's summit was not so great. We'll have to try this one again. |
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| Prisoner's cell in Chillon Castle |
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| Yay for medieval toilets! |
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| Inside Chillon Castle |
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| Several of the mountain trains have these cogwheel tracks because the gradient is quite steep. |
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| At Rochers-de-Naye you can stay in these Mongolian style yurts |
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| The view from Rochers-de-Naye |
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| Aeroflot finally sent our missing luggage to us (four days after we arrived) |
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| A baked snack of Luzern: imagine a foot long, six inch wide fig newton. Delicious |
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| Michi at Mt. Gornergrat |
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| One of the main glaciers you can see in the Zermatt area. |
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| Us and the Matterhorn |
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| A delicious dark hot chocolate with orange flavor |
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| Me holding some chocolate beans at Maison Cailler, a chocolate factory |
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| Michi in the chocolate tasting room in Maison Cailler |
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| Geneva |
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| Our Ethiopian dinner in Geneva. You take the crepe-like wraps and dip them in different sauces and roll them around the vegetables and meat. No knives, forks, or spoons, you just use your hands. Spicy, messy, but really tasty! |
OK. So Switzerland was really great. It was good to see the mountains, valleys, and lakes that I remember from ten years ago. It was great to see new places and to be able to see them with Michi. The only real downer on the whole trip was Aeroflot. The inflight service was lackluster. Our flight from Tokyo to Moscow was delayed by two hours, and as a result our luggage did not arrive with us in Zurich. For our return flights from Geneva to Moscow, and Moscow to Tokyo, the flight from Moscow to Tokyo was again delayed an hour. Worse, even with the delay, and my checking at the information counter about our luggage, our checked bags again did not arrive with us in Tokyo. WTF Aeroflot!
In other news, although I think most of my friends and family know already, I have been out of work for the last two weeks. The owner of my school suddenly died, and her family decided to close the school. The good news is that a new school will almost certainly raise from the ashes. We are looking to start again on September 1st.
Cheers,
Friday, July 25, 2014
And...We're Back
hey all,
First, I want't to announce a format change. I've been thinking about what to do about this blog for a few weeks now. Writing a proper entry, and not something suitable for twitter, for example, takes quite a bit of time, and doesn't necessarily always make for gripping reading. So I've decided that I'll try to do more frequent posts of pictures with captions. Hopefully, the pictures will be more interesting and the captions will take less time to write.
As 3/4 of my readers already know, my family take to visit and attend a small wedding reception earlier this month. It was a fun, if really busy weekend. I'd love to post some pics from the wedding, but we haven't received the pic data yet.
Michi and I are mostly busy with work, but we're also getting ready for our trip to Switzerland which is coming up in two weeks.
That's about all for now.
First, I want't to announce a format change. I've been thinking about what to do about this blog for a few weeks now. Writing a proper entry, and not something suitable for twitter, for example, takes quite a bit of time, and doesn't necessarily always make for gripping reading. So I've decided that I'll try to do more frequent posts of pictures with captions. Hopefully, the pictures will be more interesting and the captions will take less time to write.
As 3/4 of my readers already know, my family take to visit and attend a small wedding reception earlier this month. It was a fun, if really busy weekend. I'd love to post some pics from the wedding, but we haven't received the pic data yet.
Michi and I are mostly busy with work, but we're also getting ready for our trip to Switzerland which is coming up in two weeks.
That's about all for now.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Post-Op
hey all,
I've been wanting to write about my experience playing as a magic user in Skyrim, but this article seems to say everything much better.
My surgery was on April 2nd, and I've spent the last two weeks off from work. I practically begged my boss to let me come back for the PM classes this week, but she insisted on my leg getting more rest. Because of that, I've played Dark Souls II for more hours than I care to say, and watched almost the entire run of Battlestar Galactica. Of course, I've also made some new materials for our PM classes, but my playtime has far outweighed my work time.
As far as the knee goes, I'm walking around without a crutch all the time now. I'm still experiencing some tingling and stabbing pains throughout my shin, but for now I'm playing the waiting game and hoping they will disappear. I have most of my pre-injury range of motion back, but I'm waiting to try a few really stressful positions until further along in the recovery process.
Next week I will finally return to work, but still only for the PM classes.
Cheers,
I've been wanting to write about my experience playing as a magic user in Skyrim, but this article seems to say everything much better.
My surgery was on April 2nd, and I've spent the last two weeks off from work. I practically begged my boss to let me come back for the PM classes this week, but she insisted on my leg getting more rest. Because of that, I've played Dark Souls II for more hours than I care to say, and watched almost the entire run of Battlestar Galactica. Of course, I've also made some new materials for our PM classes, but my playtime has far outweighed my work time.
As far as the knee goes, I'm walking around without a crutch all the time now. I'm still experiencing some tingling and stabbing pains throughout my shin, but for now I'm playing the waiting game and hoping they will disappear. I have most of my pre-injury range of motion back, but I'm waiting to try a few really stressful positions until further along in the recovery process.
Next week I will finally return to work, but still only for the PM classes.
Cheers,
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Graduation
hey all,
We are closing in on yet another graduation ceremony at school. Only one student is graduating this year, not because we lost many students but because we have only one who is six years old. The rest (5 years old) will graduate next year.
My surgery is also coming up, just the week after graduation. The other teachers will be resting and taking trips, but I'll be in a hospital bed or in my own bed at home. Still, after a (typically) short recovery, I'll be able to take part in rock climbing, swimming, hiking, and kendo again.
In other news, I've been able to start watching more episodes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead on Hulu, and I've even started watching Battlestar Galactica. And I've still got my teaching books, and of course my video games keeping me busy.
Cheers,
We are closing in on yet another graduation ceremony at school. Only one student is graduating this year, not because we lost many students but because we have only one who is six years old. The rest (5 years old) will graduate next year.
My surgery is also coming up, just the week after graduation. The other teachers will be resting and taking trips, but I'll be in a hospital bed or in my own bed at home. Still, after a (typically) short recovery, I'll be able to take part in rock climbing, swimming, hiking, and kendo again.
In other news, I've been able to start watching more episodes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead on Hulu, and I've even started watching Battlestar Galactica. And I've still got my teaching books, and of course my video games keeping me busy.
Cheers,
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Knee
hey all,
I've been off work this whole week. The flu medicine has helped a lot, but I'm still feeling pretty weak.
Today was my big appointment with my doctor about my knee. He showed me the spot on the MRI that represented a tear in my meniscus. He also said that there were two options: put up with the pain permanently or undergo surgery. You see, apparently some parts of the meniscus just don't get enough blood flow to repair themselves, and of course my tear is in one of those parts. I opted for the later, and we spoke for quite some time about setting up meetings and appointments and such.
It is good to finally know the cause of the pain, but at the same time, I wish it was something less extreme. I should be able to get back to rock climbing and kendo in a few months. And I should still be able to go hiking and mountain climbing. But this means I'll be out of commission for even longer, at least until May. And the surgery is more than a month from now, so I'll have to hobble around for a while yet.
Oh well.
I've been off work this whole week. The flu medicine has helped a lot, but I'm still feeling pretty weak.
Today was my big appointment with my doctor about my knee. He showed me the spot on the MRI that represented a tear in my meniscus. He also said that there were two options: put up with the pain permanently or undergo surgery. You see, apparently some parts of the meniscus just don't get enough blood flow to repair themselves, and of course my tear is in one of those parts. I opted for the later, and we spoke for quite some time about setting up meetings and appointments and such.
It is good to finally know the cause of the pain, but at the same time, I wish it was something less extreme. I should be able to get back to rock climbing and kendo in a few months. And I should still be able to go hiking and mountain climbing. But this means I'll be out of commission for even longer, at least until May. And the surgery is more than a month from now, so I'll have to hobble around for a while yet.
Oh well.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Just My Luck
hey all,
On Friday, I started feeling a little under the weather: tired with a slight cough. But I didn't think too much off it, because Fridays (like I've said before) are tough. On Saturday, the cough was a lot worse and I started to feel slightly feverish. That night I was really worn out and I threw up after dinner. On Sunday, I woke up with a fever of 38.5 degrees C (that's 101 F). Michi took me to the nearest hospital and they had me take an influenza swab test, and checked my temperature again (this time it was 39.9, which is almost 104 F). The nurse actually winced when she looked at the thermometer. (BTW, these are under the armpit temperatures, so my real temperature was probably higher.)
After getting the test results, the doctor said it was influenza A. So in addition to a messed up knee, I've got this lovely virus that is making my whole body ache and making me miss yet more work days.
Thankfully, the medicine which the doctor gave me took the fever down really quickly. I'm going to spend the day mostly in bed, just like yesterday.
As for my knee, I went to get the MRI scan last week, but I won't meet my doctor to get the diagnosis until Thursday. The pain seems to be slowly diminishing, but it hasn't gone away totally yet.
Cheers,
On Friday, I started feeling a little under the weather: tired with a slight cough. But I didn't think too much off it, because Fridays (like I've said before) are tough. On Saturday, the cough was a lot worse and I started to feel slightly feverish. That night I was really worn out and I threw up after dinner. On Sunday, I woke up with a fever of 38.5 degrees C (that's 101 F). Michi took me to the nearest hospital and they had me take an influenza swab test, and checked my temperature again (this time it was 39.9, which is almost 104 F). The nurse actually winced when she looked at the thermometer. (BTW, these are under the armpit temperatures, so my real temperature was probably higher.)
After getting the test results, the doctor said it was influenza A. So in addition to a messed up knee, I've got this lovely virus that is making my whole body ache and making me miss yet more work days.
Thankfully, the medicine which the doctor gave me took the fever down really quickly. I'm going to spend the day mostly in bed, just like yesterday.
As for my knee, I went to get the MRI scan last week, but I won't meet my doctor to get the diagnosis until Thursday. The pain seems to be slowly diminishing, but it hasn't gone away totally yet.
Cheers,
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