Two Quotes about the weather...

Two quotes about the weather that I remember and often like are as follows (I am paraphrasing a bit as I don't have the exact quote)

"Everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it" - It is my understanding this was said by Mark Twain.

Basically pointing out there is little to no use to complaining about the weather... you really are powerless. So don't waste your effort, try to do better things with your time.

The next one is from a guy I worked with many years ago... we called him Paul K.

Paul K said about Japanese weather: "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." Pointing out how quickly the weather seems to change here. Both figuratively and literally I guess. Well to proves Paul K.'s point! We have sun over the next to rain.

So take that Mark Twain... we bitched and the weather got better!!!

Check out the link to Tenki.jp on the links section for more detail.

Rainy ****ing Season

Well... It is rainy season. Which displeases me greatly. This means you can't go anywhere with out getting wet. It means that it is hot, wet and humid... with a forcast of more of the same crap. :( Yes I know I am just lamenting that it makes it harder to cycle to work and I am forced to take the train.

But I do have to say, even the English who live in Japan do complain about the rainy season.

Back In the Saddle again

Here is a nice little picture of the bike I ride, it is a GIANT FCR ZERO.

Today I passed a nice little mile stone for it... I have completed 2000KM and happy to say that it is running really really well still. I picked the bike up last September, and have been **very** happy with it. For the most part it has been an excellent training bike, and a good daily commuter. The only complaint day to day that I have is I think the breaks could be a bit stronger. But that might just be the speeds that I am going at. :)

If you enjoy to ride, and do in the city, really recommend something with small and narrow tires, keeps you going fast, and also not as much trouble on bumps as I thought that they would be. When I first got this bike I couldn't believe the difference to my old GT mountain bike, it felt like stepping from an old Chevy truck and getting into a Porsche Boxter. Something exotic, nimble and quick.

Today's ride was with my friend James. If any of you watch Top Gear (as you should) you will be familiar with the presenter James May or as he is called on the show "Captain Slow". James is our version of "Captain Slow". Well I am happy to say that today he did well, all though I think that getting into spandex pants is a bit of a brave move for him. Nevertheless he seemed to ride hard and kept up for the most part.

Looking forward to my next 2000KM on the bike :) hopefully can do it even quicker.

Yokohama!

Yesterday I went to meet a couple of really long time and good friends of mine in Yokohama. It has been a long while since I had seen either of them.

First stop was Yokohama station to meet my friend Yuki. She and I met on a train many years ago while both of us worked in Odawara. We wound up working close together again only a few desks apart at my current company. Last year Yuki got married and move to Philadelphia. Needless to say this is a pretty big step for anyone! She seems to be doing well, and looked really genki. Yuki and her husband Dean (who unfortunately I have not yet met) bought a house and she showed me some great photos of her working on her house. Painting, scraping etc. The place looked great to me (yes Yuki I really do like the colours!!!) and I wish I had a place like that too. One thing though Yuki... Good luck with the winters.

After a good chat with Yuki I had a little time on my hands and went over to Landmark Tower / Queens square. I used to come here religiously to the English language book store in the mall (Yurindo) when I was teaching English and living in Fujisawa. The place is still a good book store and I dropped 5000 yen on books.

One neat thing about Queens Square is the set of curved escalators that they have... I still have not seen one anywhere else. I've seen it a lot, but no matter what whenever I get on it, I think how unique it is.

After that met up with my friend Doug, reminisced, and talked much over a few beers by the bay. I good evening followed as we went to a beer garden on top of one of the deparment stores near Yokohama station. Really would have been a nice night to sit outside, continue talling crap :), but the weather refused to be agreeable and pissed down for most of the night.

Oh Yeah...

Turned 33 yesterday... actually while out with friends at the Black Lion in Meguro (see side for links).

Thanks to all those that were there, and hope to see you all in more personally soon.

wow... 1/3 of the way to 99.

New Japanese Drinks

I am really starting to see the value in having a camera on my phone these days. It gives me a better chance to get some of the weird things that I see in Japan, and upload them on here. Anyhow... buying a new drink before my Japanese class yesterday (a good school in Meguro - MLC Japanese), I saw this tasty looking new beverage. Wow... kind of a shocker that can, and I really didn't want to buy it or try it out.
Funny, traditional Japanese style is pretty simple, and plain. Well advertising and packaging isn't. The more cramped the more exciting! Well the more crap in my view.

New Phone

My employer has furnished me with a new phone. Like all phones in Japan, it is the center of your life outside of the home. You can read news on it, surf the web, play games, send email, watch TV, tell the time (many you Japanese people no longer wear watches instead looking at their mobile phones), heck you can even TALK on the thing. A really good feature for a phone.

Vodafone is kind of junk here in Japan. Not that thrilled with it, but it is a big improvment on then old phone I had. Except that it is heavier, oh and I can't figure out how to make it light up.

Butter Fingers, Me.

Well my sever case of the "dropsies" has continued. Today I after studying, quite hard I might add, for an hour during my lunch, I managed to drop my trusty electronic dictionary. These thigns are a real must when studying Japanese. It landed on the floor, cracking the screen. Rendering it completely useless I must add too.

Yes, my toe was fine. So why would fate have me drop a nice big old pc on my toe. And have me drop a light little dictionary on the floor. Baffles me I tell you. I reckon that if the dictionary hit my foot, neither the dictionary nor my toe would have been broken. Oh well... just means that I get to go out shopping for a electronics. Something that I am NEVER unhappy about.

Champion vs Sportsman

For those of you not familiar with it, but last week was a very large race in Forumla 1 (F1). The race took place in Monaco, on the street circut around the city. Looks to be gorgeous and really quite an amazing place. The history of the race now is really a long one, and it is one of the only "Traditional" places left in F1 these days.

During the qualifying session, former world champion Michael Schumacher halted his car in a very key corner. Preventing his rivals from flying through at their best speed. Schumacher claims that this was an error, and he had stalled the car. His rivals claim that Schumacher had stopped and worked to prevent them from achieving their best laps.

For most Drivers I don't think that this would have been an issue. If they had stalled the car then they would have been given a latitude and told to be more careful, but with Schumacher it was a little different. You see in the past he has crashed into his opponents... and been a real menace to anyone who is challenging him, so he was given a pretty stiff penalty when starting the race.

Basically it comes down to that although Schumacher holds pretty much every record in F1, he will never be remembered as a truely great driver. He will always be remembered by most of the world as a menace that will terrorized his other opponents. When I was younger I remeber the rivals that there with Senna and Prost, and how they would race, but they never behaved like Schumacher. They will always be remembered by their greatness... but Schumacher will never be remembered for his greatness. His speed and his wins, but not his greatness.