Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The Long Way Home
It's just about boarding time here at Narita airport for my 8.5 hour trip home to Seattle. I already have a world of stuff to do after I arrive, besides the typical airport stuff. Looks like I have to review some presentations for a meeting at 11:45am to the Boeing enterprise, and also make some time to meet up with the rest of my work group for a special luncheon, as my lead engineer is coming back after taking paternity leave for his new baby. Yay!
And then, maybe I'll get some rest. I am so beat right now after the long week of walking and exploring, followed by a close-out Halloween party that went to the wee hours of the night, and as you can see from the pictures below, it was quite an interesting time...
More to post later when I return.
And then, maybe I'll get some rest. I am so beat right now after the long week of walking and exploring, followed by a close-out Halloween party that went to the wee hours of the night, and as you can see from the pictures below, it was quite an interesting time...
More to post later when I return.
I felt like I was at a Flaming Lips concert
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Japan Day 6: Zoka and Walking Around
Today I went to Zoka.... in Tokyo! It's amazing that I am 4476 miles from home, and I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee from my favorite local coffee shop. I mean, there are Tully's and Starbucks everywhere here as well, which still blows my mind, but those are corporatized... Zoka on the other hand exists in Seattle, Seattle, Seattle, and umm Tokyo. Globalization baby.
It was also ironic that I had my mp3 player set on random and it happened to have Nirvana playing as we walked into Zoka. :)
Anyway, the day was mostly dedicated to walking around Akihabara, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. We went to a part in Shibuya at night, walked around, and also met another australian guy Scott used to work with.
I guess unrelated to Tokyo, but ironic or crazy... we were watching the Monday Night Football game this morning on the internet live, and it was a great game that went to OT after Jason Elam of the Broncos kicked a last second tying field goal... I was saying Brett Favre was good, but not a very "good" QB (i.e. he may not be the best teacher or example for being a QB since he does alot of very poor things), and then he starts off OT with a beautiful bomb down the sidelines for the game winning TD in OT.... yea. I got showed up there...
Monday, October 29, 2007
Japan Day 5: Tokyo Motor Show 2007
Today was spent mostly at the Tokyo Motor Show which involved alot of walking, checking out neat cars, and more and more walking. The train ride there was long, and required many transfers, but we finally got there and the convention center area was very nice.The show itself featured cars from all the major motor companies from US, Europe, and Asia. I'll post the whole lot of photos I took of the show, including videos, when I get back to the states. But my favorite cars I saw today were probably the Nissan Pivo 2, which of course, is the talking robot monkey concept car which swivels 360 degrees, Mercedes C63 which is a freakin nice looking sports car, and this awesome little Daihatsu van called Mud Master-C, which was a concept hybrid van.
The Lexus hybrids were freakin incredible looking, though only at conceptual stage right now. They look ready for prime time though... :)
Toyota had a driveable chair, which is pretty much a really fancy wheel chair. And Honda had a dancing 4' robot which accompanied its goofy bubble concept car.
Anyway more pics and vids later.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Japan Day 4: Tsukuba
The 4th day here was pretty laid back. We hung out in Scott's home town of Tsukuba for the whole day with a bunch of his former co-worker/friends from various places - some were American, some Japanese, some Australian, New Zealand, and some Scottish. We mostly hung out at the park nearby, had a picnic and played soccer.
We followed by going to a cake store nearby that was about as fantastical as I have ever seen. You go in there and you breathe sugar. And the places has massive lines, it's like seeing the Krispy Kremes the other night in Shinjuku where there was a line going outside the store and across a long bridge, in the middle of a rain/wind storm.
I had a cheese cake and it was actually really really good, and it was individually wrapped with multiple layers of plastic and paper, as is most things here.
We followed the rest of the night with some hanging out, walking to the grocery store and had a spaghetti and wine party. Then we did the stereotypical japanese thing... Karoke!
That was a pretty fun time actually. The first song Scott and I did was Lithium from Nirvana, and man, my throat hurt after that. Ha! Especially since we followed up a song later with The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star.
There was some pretty memorable moments in our singing fest, with a room of 9 of us. :)
Anyway, today is a day of cars, cars and more cars. Hopefully some awesome exotic prototypes and what not. I want to see the robot monkey GPS car...
We followed by going to a cake store nearby that was about as fantastical as I have ever seen. You go in there and you breathe sugar. And the places has massive lines, it's like seeing the Krispy Kremes the other night in Shinjuku where there was a line going outside the store and across a long bridge, in the middle of a rain/wind storm.
I had a cheese cake and it was actually really really good, and it was individually wrapped with multiple layers of plastic and paper, as is most things here.
We followed the rest of the night with some hanging out, walking to the grocery store and had a spaghetti and wine party. Then we did the stereotypical japanese thing... Karoke!
That was a pretty fun time actually. The first song Scott and I did was Lithium from Nirvana, and man, my throat hurt after that. Ha! Especially since we followed up a song later with The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star.
There was some pretty memorable moments in our singing fest, with a room of 9 of us. :)
Anyway, today is a day of cars, cars and more cars. Hopefully some awesome exotic prototypes and what not. I want to see the robot monkey GPS car...
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Japan Day 4
The weather is much nicer this morning. Sunny, clear skies... much different than the crazy rainy wind storm of yesterday. It's bbq day in the park, followed by who knows what else... more later I guess.
Tokyo Day 3
The third day here was a mess. It wasn't quite a typhoon but 20mph+ winds and tons of rain fall hit us. It was a constant struggle to battle the wet, windy conditions and our feet, socks, shoes, clothes were all soaked. Kevin, who we had struggled to find earlier, lost his umbrella, getting it completely destroyed by the winds. He ended up buying a new one.
Anyway, the day started out with Scott and I making our rounds to the train station to meet up with Kevin, one of my co-workers at Boeing, in Shinjuku station. It actually wasn't too bad because Kevin wasn't new to Japan train stations, being in Nagoya for a while. He did first go to Tokyo Station first, but made his way to Shinjuku to find us.
On the other hand, Alex's friend Barney didn't... Alex and Ting are Scott's australian neighbors and they met us in Shinjuku and we were waiting for their friend Barney there. He was to meet us there during his short layover at Tokyo. Problem was, he went to the wrong train station, and we didn't have voice communication with him. They were stuck text messaging each other, but we didn't realize that they were probably at the wrong station for a while, after we had circled around the busiest train station in the city. Ha!
Anyway, the group of us spent much of the day trying to find dry weather and in the big department stores. When I say big, I mean HUGE. 14 stories of shoppingness. Also the train station is a maze to figure out...
Later on, we went to this mysterious bar called... well Mysterious. Actually the full title was Neo-Tokyo Fooding Bar: Mysterious. It's a pretty neat place. No shoes allowed, and you walk around in an asteroid-like atmosphere to simulate SPACE. Then you walk up into individual pods for your group and eat and drink in that confined cage. The female servers are dressed in interesting enticing space suits with moon boots and whatnot. It's a pretty cool experience.
The rest of the night was travel back to Tsukuba followed by taco fiesta and The Office marathon with 7 people at Scott's tiny pad.
And here's a couple photo's from yesterday:
A Temple in Akihabara
One of the gigantor buildings with built-in LCD
(its featured in Lost in Translation)
It also houses the most incredibly sized Starbucks ever.
A view from the street level of Shibuya District
Anyway, the day started out with Scott and I making our rounds to the train station to meet up with Kevin, one of my co-workers at Boeing, in Shinjuku station. It actually wasn't too bad because Kevin wasn't new to Japan train stations, being in Nagoya for a while. He did first go to Tokyo Station first, but made his way to Shinjuku to find us.
On the other hand, Alex's friend Barney didn't... Alex and Ting are Scott's australian neighbors and they met us in Shinjuku and we were waiting for their friend Barney there. He was to meet us there during his short layover at Tokyo. Problem was, he went to the wrong train station, and we didn't have voice communication with him. They were stuck text messaging each other, but we didn't realize that they were probably at the wrong station for a while, after we had circled around the busiest train station in the city. Ha!
Anyway, the group of us spent much of the day trying to find dry weather and in the big department stores. When I say big, I mean HUGE. 14 stories of shoppingness. Also the train station is a maze to figure out...
Later on, we went to this mysterious bar called... well Mysterious. Actually the full title was Neo-Tokyo Fooding Bar: Mysterious. It's a pretty neat place. No shoes allowed, and you walk around in an asteroid-like atmosphere to simulate SPACE. Then you walk up into individual pods for your group and eat and drink in that confined cage. The female servers are dressed in interesting enticing space suits with moon boots and whatnot. It's a pretty cool experience.
The rest of the night was travel back to Tsukuba followed by taco fiesta and The Office marathon with 7 people at Scott's tiny pad.
And here's a couple photo's from yesterday:
A Temple in Akihabara
One of the gigantor buildings with built-in LCD(its featured in Lost in Translation)
It also houses the most incredibly sized Starbucks ever.
A view from the street level of Shibuya DistrictFriday, October 26, 2007
Japan Day 2
I just got home from the Shibuya district in Japan. The train ride to there from where Scott lives is like 1.5 hours. Anyway, lots of walking, lots of shopping, and lots of lights, sounds, and colors -- just like you see in on TV.
There was no hockey around, but lots of asian people. It's really weird to see Denny's, TGI Fridays, AMPMs and 711s everywhere... and Starbucks, McDonalds, and what not. I have more pictures but will add them a little later.
Tomorrow, we're going to try to meet up with Kevin, and hang out in the Shinjoku district. Sunday is bbq party day, and Monday is car show. Not sure what else is in store, but it's at a point where we're not sure where we could end up sleeping cause Scott and his friends are all out of jobs and soon to be evicted because their company just shut down. Their president quit today.
There was no hockey around, but lots of asian people. It's really weird to see Denny's, TGI Fridays, AMPMs and 711s everywhere... and Starbucks, McDonalds, and what not. I have more pictures but will add them a little later.
Tomorrow, we're going to try to meet up with Kevin, and hang out in the Shinjoku district. Sunday is bbq party day, and Monday is car show. Not sure what else is in store, but it's at a point where we're not sure where we could end up sleeping cause Scott and his friends are all out of jobs and soon to be evicted because their company just shut down. Their president quit today.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Arrived
I have arrived and now I am at Scott's place in japan as seen below.
There are A bunch of people here in his tiny apt.
There are A bunch of people here in his tiny apt.
Funny thing- I ran into a guy I met in college in the check in line
and the again in the security line and then again on the plane sitting
next to me. Weird.
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Japan day 1
Its 14:35 PST right now and I am on the airbus a330 awaiting take-off
from Seattle. Currently on my iPhone goofing off. The Nwa terminal at
the airport is under construction but I gotta go now.
from Seattle. Currently on my iPhone goofing off. The Nwa terminal at
the airport is under construction but I gotta go now.
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, October 11, 2007
In Rainbows
Finally! We have a new Radiohead record! yay! and its pay whatever you'd like to pay! Coming in digital download copies or a box set including 2 LPs and 2 CDs, you have the option of paying whatever you want for the download, and 40 pounds for the box set, which also includes digital copies.
The album is called "In Rainbows," and it is fantastic! One of the more enjoyable listens of the year, and one of the more accessible Radiohead records in 10 years (OK Computer).
Please download and pay whatever. I paid 6 US Dollars. I never pay for mp3s, but this is worth it. "15 Steps" the opening song, is brilliant. So are Body Snatchers, Nude, Reckoner and Weird Fishes.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Washington DC Trip - Sept 2007
a month's worth of thoughts
Aimee is yelling at me for not blogging enough.
Aimee: You don't blog very often.So I guess I'll update with something and here goes:
- I just spent over $2000 this past month with ticket to Tokyo for Oct 24th, Nintendo DS Lite, iPhone, season's pass to Snoqualmie, video games, new clothes, and just a bunch of other junk.
- Speaking of iPhone, Apple is a POS company. Of course, call me a hypocrite cause I can't stand Apple, yet I bought an iPhone. All of the issues aside, the iPhone is the best bang for the buck you can get, especially if you can unlock it and use it for T-Mobile. Screw Apple, Screw AT&T. I can't stand both of those companies tactics right now with the development community for this phone. No other carrier/manufacture has done this in the past, so why start forcing people to lose their capabilities now?
- Nokia is already ripping on Apple for their tactics. Check out the new advertisement campaign poster above. Greatness!!
- Radiohead has a new record, In Rainbows, which comes out for digital download in 10 days! So exciting!!!
- The Seahawks just dominated the line play in a victory of the 49ers. The niners need ALOT of help on their offensive line. Alot.
- I went to a club for the first time in a very long time, Trinity, on Saturday. It was very... "asian."
- I have an SNES emulator for my Nintendo DS. Oh man, the ability to play Street Fighter II on it is so worth every penny.
- I bought Halo 3 for 360, and have still not opened the shrink wrap yet.
- Madden 08 is the worst game in the period of games. It is so broken that it's not even playable right now unless EA Sports releases a patch to fix the franchise mode major bugs and the turnover problems. Straight up unplayable.
- The UW Huskies looked very good actually despite losing. Of course they lost to the #1 ranked USC Trojans, by a very close 3 points.
- Work is busy times.
- This will be the first year I will be a season pass member of any ski resort.
- More thoughts later, but let me tell you Andrew Bird's new album is one of the best of the year and I can't stop listening to it.
Labels: events, hobbies, sports, travel
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