Brian’s Japan Adventure

March 18th, 2008

Getting Things Done Day

Finally I feel awake. Between twelve hours of sleep last night and the pool workout yesterday afternoon, I feel pretty good finally.  I’ve been a sleepwalking zombie since around Friday, but I may actually be back to normal now.  I’ve been too mentally “cloudy” to do much of anything, including blogging, so the first thing this morning I wrote blog entries for the 16th, 17th, and the beginning of this one.  In about two hours I have a doctor’s appointment, and he’ll want blood samples, so I can’t eat this morning; since I went to be so early I am starving.  I’ve already decided that after the doctors I am going to my favorite Chinese restaurant, the China Cottage.  It’s right next door to the doctor’s office, so it can’t get any more convenient than that.  I think they’re open early enough that I can get in after my appointment. I’m debating whether I want Kung-Poa Chicken or Szechuan Chicken.  The Szechuan is much sweeter, and therefore not so good for me, but then again, it’s after the blood test, so who’s gonna know?  I also plan to go back to the pool this afternoon, and that takes a couple of hours right out of the middle of the afternoon. But the rest of the day, I plan to get lots of little things done.

(Later)

OK, that went pretty much as planned. I went to the Doctor’s, but the appointment was early than expected so I had time to kill afterwards. I went to the local bookstore, Books & Co., and bought a book and a couple of magazines.  The magazines were Astronomy and Sky & Telescope (yeah, I’m a space geek) and the book was something about writing Horror stories.   I don’t know why I bought the book, I have a hugestack of reading material that I have barely touched, including two new books I ordered in Japan to be waiting for me when I got home last week.  While I was at the bookstore, I picked up some Easter cards for the kiddies.

Anyway, I killed half an hour at the bookstore and then headed off to the Chinese restaurant. I went with the szechuan chicken, which comes with egg drop soup, fried rice, a crab rangoon and a spicy chicken leg.   MMMMMMMM!  I’ll have to go back again for some kung-pao soon.  I actually prefer the kung-pao, but since it was right after the blood test, I decided to go with the “bad” choice for today.

Board Bored

After lunch, I went home and fiddled with the Internet a little bit, looking into some new chat options.  I’m pretty much bored with my message board and am looking for an excuse to shut it down. I like the chat system, and I am looking for a replacement where I can do chat without the overhead of a message board. Actually, I’m bored with all the message boards I used to frequent, and have hardly peeked at them in the past six months; they’re mostly just a bunch of negative people tearing down anything and everything while adding nothing of productive use. Back when the boards revolved around selling online, there was information there to be learned; anymore they’re just a bunch of self-referential cliques. Bah!  Anyway, my own message board has slowed down to where there are only a few friends that post there, and I’m not that interested in maintaining it anymore.  I’m much more interested in writing for the several blogs that I run and contribute to. Still, I didn’t spend too much time on this project, maybe an hour.

Then it was pool time, so I headed back to the community college and swam for about two hours. Yesterday was mostly playing around, but today was more of a workout day. Ouch; my harms and shoulders are gonna hurt tonight!

After the pool, I stopped by Big Boy and had their salad bar.  The burgers and regular food at Big Boy here are nothing especially good; actually they are pretty blah, barely better than McDonalds, and sometimes worse.  But their salad bar is pretty good. Unlike the salad bar at the Japan Big Boy, they have a pretty large selection of stuff.

On returning home, I messed around on the Net some more and then went to bed. I didn’t get anything especially productive done today, but at least I was awake for a normal span of time.

Back To School

I haven’t heard anything from Fukuyama yet; I expect an answer tomorrow sometime. I expect that I’ll turn them down unless the offer is truly outstanding, which I doubt it will be the case.  I do expect to hear from them even if the answer is “no.”

A different, completely unrelated decision I need to make is whether or not I’d like to take some classes at the Community College. Obviously, I don’t need any classes for credit, but they have plenty to offer just for fun.  I could take a class to learning Flash or Java programming.  I used to know Java but it’s changed a lot over the past few years. I never really tried learning Flash before. I guess I could just buy a book; that’d be faster than a ten-week class anyway.

Another option would be to take a class learning the Spanish language. I could fit in Spanish 111 in the spring, and then take 112 and 113 over the summer, getting in a whole year’s worth of classes before August, with the option of starting the 200-level classes in the next school year. I still want to learn another language, but unless I go back to Japan pretty quickly, I’m going to forget everything I learned there. Spanish would be far easier to learn in my opinion, since there are many resources here in English. Or I could just go for a plain and simple fun class and take a course in SCUBA. I’ve always thought that would be fun, although it wouldn’t be of much use here in Dayton.  Classes at the Community College are cheap enough I could take one in the evenings and not be out much money or time.  Since the classes are in the evening, it wouldn’t make much impct on any future job decisions.

March 17th, 2008

Non-Sleeper

As I sid in the last blog, I went to bed after chat at around 1am. Then I just laid there, tossing and turning until around 7am in the morning.  I may or may not have done some “lengthy blinking” but I sure as heck didn’t get much in the way of real sleep.  Around 7am I decided it was better to get up and be really tired all day than to sleep all afternoon and just make the problem worse.

I added some stuff to my freshly-reinstalled desktop computer and started downloading some TV shows that I had missed. I was already current on Doctor Who, and new episodes don’t start until later this spring anyway, but I had heard good things about Torchwood and the new Sarah Connor Terminator series, so I figured I’d give them a look. It’ll be a day or two before they are ready to watch.  The final episode of LOST doesn’t come on for a few more days, but I’ll probably catch that on regular TV for once.  Fortunately, I don’t watch much TV even when I’m not in Japan; for the most part it’s a massive waste of time.

I spent a little time in my office today, cleaning up old paperwork and junk.  I had a lot of “in-process” school papers and applications for the Japan trip and things like that cluttering my desk.  Toward the end of last summer, I had shut down the business and everything was about my Master’s Thesis or Japan related. I tossed most of this stuff. I have an appointment with my tax accountant on Friday, and I have to get ready for that.  I did a bunch of tax preparation before I left, so I am not quite sure how much work that’s going to be now.

Around 2pm, I drove to the local Community College and went to their pool.  I’m not sure what the pool schedule is for the Home University during the week, since they only have Spring Quarter hours posted online.  I’m an alumni at the Community College, and their pool is just as good (and usually less crowded), so I decided to go there.  Wow, I needed that; my back hasn’t felt this good in months!  I should have realized as my back got worse and worse in Japan that there was a reason for it.  Swimming always helps my back, but I never seem to remember that when my back is actually messed up.  The pool in Okayama was uncomfortable because of all the staring, but I could have gone once in a while if I had thought it would actually make me feel better. Oh well, NOW I know.

Anyway, I drove home and then pretty much went straight to bed.  That was probably around 6pm, and I did sleep more or less straight through until 6am on the next day. Hopefully that’ll be the end of my jetlag problems.

March 16th, 2008

Sleeper

I woke up around 2pm today. I had considered going swimming at the Home University pool today, but by the time I woke up it was too late for that; maybe tomorrow.

Upon getting up, I had a tuna fish sandwich with lots of onions; believe it or not, they had onions in Japan, but people don’t seem to like them much, and they aren’t really in anything. Or if they are in something, it’s so little that there’s no taste.

I then updated my main desktop computer with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. I usually rush right out and update the day it’s released, and it seems there are always problems.  This time, it had been out for a while, and everything went perfectly. I’ll have to update Ubuntu on my Dell laptop eventually, but I don’t often use Linux there since that’s my Windows machine.  I then updated everything on the Windows machine; virus scanner, security patches, bug fixes, and all the wonderful stuff that Microsoft is known for.  Since it was a good time for it, I also updated everything on Mom’s computer.

Then it was dinnertime, and the folks and I went to a new place that wasn’t here when I left called Starlite.  I’m not sure what to think of it yet. The staff looked like a family of Russian Taxi Cab Drivers, but the food was reasonably good.  They’ll get a second try, but I wasn’t thrilled beyond words. It’s close to the house, so that’s always good for a few points with me.

Then it was back home, and I started looking into eBay and business tools.  I have a ton of stuff here from my business that I need to get rid of. Whether my selling becomes an “asset liquidation” or a “business restart” I have not yet decided. It doesn’t matter too much which route I go at this point, since I have to sell stuff either way and research is research.

Then I got into chat with PT and then it was about bedtime.  It was a really short day because of sleeping so late, but that’s to be expected with Jet Lag.

March 15th, 2008

Mega Naps

I woke up at 4:30am, about four hours after going to bed. That’s not a good sign.

My brother dropped off my nephew at the house around 7:00 and we watched him until it was time to go to my niece’s play, which started at 1:20 and ended around 1:30. It was shortt and fun, but well over an hour drive each way. I didn’t have anything more important that I had to do, but if I should happen to only be in town for two weeks, this might be a day I wish I had back.  Still, the kids are always fun, and the nephew and I spent more time together than I think we probably ever have in the past. He must’ve said, “I knew you were coming back!” and “I missed you!” three hundred times.  At least I know somebody missed me!

I got home around 3:00 and went straight to bed. I know, I said no naps, but that was before I only got four hours of sleep last night. The nap took me till 8:30 or so, and then I chatted on the Internet.  While chatting, I downloaded the latest Ubuntu CD, which I will try to install on my desktop PC a little later.

And that’s about it really. It was just a day for watching kids’ plays and taking naps. Tomorrow will probably be a little more eventful.

March 14th, 2008

I’ve Been Restored

I woke up without an alarm at 9:30 this morning.  That’s barely six hours of sleep after yesterday’s adventure. I’ll probably pay for that this evening.  I had Dad drive me to the hair place, where I quickly lost 10 pounds of hair. Still, I look almost civilized now without my “wild hair.”  We then went to the license bureau. The guy there took one look at my old license and asked my “Did you get caught?” indicating the long-expired license. I explained the story, but he wasn’t surprised; I assume it happens all the time. So now I was all cleaned up and legally restored. What Next? Do you really have to ask?

Lunch Time. All Issues Resolved!

Then it was lunch time. You guessed it; Chipotle. I had the steak burrito with black beans, hot sauce, sour cream, cheese and lettuce.  Dad had the same thing only the “bowl” version. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  Or as they say in Japan, oishi! If Chipotle ever goes to Japan, it’ll revolutionize dining there.  I should buy stock in them.  Chipotle is located in front of Wal-Mart, so as long as we were there, it was time to visit the source of all evil, also known as Wal-Mart, America’s answer to China.

I looked at cell phones. My old one barely held a charge before I left, and I don’t expect it to last long now, if it even works; I haven’t tried it yet.  I picked up a gazillion brochures on rate plans, and I’ll look over them later. I also wanted to check out Skype accessories; I had seen dozens of Skype phones and accessories at Bic Camera in Okayama and wanted to see what was available here.  They had one lousy microphone headset.  I’ll have to try Best Buy or Circuit City. It seems that CompUSA has gone bankrupt in my absence.  I picked up a few grocery items, but I really don’t even know what I need yet, so we didn’t stay long. The cell phone brochures were the real reason for going.

And I was surprised to see that gas was $3.35 a gallon.  It was in the mid-$2.50 range when I left. That’s a pretty big jump in only six months. I think maybe I really will look at bicycles; there isn’t that much nearby, but over a long enugh period of time, it might still be worthwhile. My parents took my car to get checked up and looked over by my cousin the expert mechanic, and it was something like $300 for a whole bunch of repairs and replacements.  He knew I wanted to drive it some distance within the next month, so he went over everything.  But anyway, my car is here and supposedly ready-to-go, although I haven’t gone anywhere in it yet.

And that was the morning.  It’s about 3:00 now and I am back home.  I have yet to unpack, and I know my brother’s family wants me to have dinner tonight, although I don’t know where or when just yet. I have a ton of things around the house to clean up and unpack and set up, so I’m not about to get bored.  And that’s all just for tonight. I assume I’ll be ready for bed pretty early tonight, dunno yet.  More later!

I started to unpack soon after writing the previous stuff, and just as I was finishing my unpacking, the phone rang.  My brother and nephew would be meeting us for dinner, since my sister-in-law and niece had to go to a rehearsal for a play she’s in. I’m not sur if I am going to the play tomorrow or not, since it’s going to be an all-day ordeal and more than an hour each way. I’d like to go, but I do have a bunch of stuff that still needs to be done. I dunno yet.

Anyway, we went to Bob Evans, but I was busy talking to my nephew and since it was only a few hours since lunch, I didn’t order anything. We colored and talked about his favorite movie, and he said how much he missed me about 200 times. It was fun.  I imagine when he tells his sister that he saw me and she didn’t, there’s going to be hell to pay. Hopefully my brother will put him to bed before the other two come home.

Since Bob Evans is near Wal-Mart, I needed another trip to look at cell phones, but still didn’t buy one. I’m going to have to research things a little more. Now I am going to be indecisive over that.

And I think that’s going to be it for today.  I did some good stuff, but not really a lot of things; there’s plenty more to do.  It’s after 9pm.  I’m going to play online for an hour, then watch the latest episode of LOST, and then try to get to bed at a time appropriate for Dayton. Maybe I can beat the jet-lag boogeyman if I just don’t give it any foothold. Read my lips: No New Naps!