japan trip 2007 6 Comments

Japan Update

Aaron’s passport arrived on Monday, at which point we faxed in our order for Ghibli Museum tickets to the JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) office in Manhattan. According to Maiko-san, they were overnighted to us today, so we should have them in hand tomorrow. And that’s the last piece of the pre-planning puzzle to fall into place.

Aaron and I still need to figure out a more detailed itinerary, but we do have our trip roughly sketched out:

Tuesday:
Leave Detroit Airport 2pm local time

Wednesday:
Arrive Narita Airport 4pm local time
Two-hour limo bus to hotel
Dinner (in hotel?)
Commence jet-lag

Thursday:
Dynamic Tokyo Tour
– Tokyo Tower: check out the observatory and the kitchy souvenir shops
– Tea Ceremony at Happo-en Garden
– Lunch at Chinzanzo Restaurant
– Driveby of the National Diet Building
– Photo-op at the Imperial Palace Plaza
– 40-minute cruise up the Sumida River to Asakusa
– Asakusa Kannon Temple
– Nakamise Dori (Avenue) shopping area
– Drive through Ginza shopping district

After tour: dinner somewhere, then watch Japanese TV in the hotel?

Friday:*
Akihabara!
– Super Potato (collectibles)
– Maid Cafe (lunch or snackies?)
– Kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi – lunch or dinner?)
– Hell, we’ll probably visit just about every store there…

Saturday:
Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa – the third largest festival in Japan!
Check out the shops and the festival/parade
Overnight stay in the Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu

Sunday:*
Nakano Broadway – a giant otaku mall in Nakano
Maybe check out the Harajuku girls?

Monday:
Ghibli Museum in Mitaka

Tuesday:
Breakfast, check-out
Limo-bus back to Narita Airport
Depart Tokyo around 4pm local time
Arrive in Detroit around 2pm local time, same day

We still have to fit in a few more definite things, like the Ramen Museum south of Tokyo, and we still need to be sure we have everything marked in our handy-dandy bi-lingual Tokyo atlas. We obviously have some more time to fill in, and the asterisks on Friday and Sunday mean that we might swap our Akiba and Nakano days around, since we’ll be closer to Akiba after spending the night in Asakusa, anyway.

Oh, and as a cute illustration, allow me to show you our neighborhood-for-a-week:


Distance from Tokyo Prince Hotel to the nearest 7-11: one-third of a mile.

Let me know if you don’t know WTF I’m talking about with some of our itinerary… it’s getting late, and I’m getting lazy with the linkage. 🙂

OMFG Japan! *head asplodes*

jobhunt 3 Comments

Putting Out Feelers

While my portfolio is still not quite finished, I have put up a passable temporary placeholder, and have now sent out three resumes. One was to a friend’s former employer (they say it’s not what you know, but WHO you know), one was a classified ad brought to my attention by a co-worker, and one was an ad I found on my own in the local paper (well, on their website, anyway).

I still have a really hard time “selling” myself as being THE employee a given employer should hire. I’ve been playing up my quick learning and adaptation skills, and my versatility — need a designer with programming background, or a quick-learning programmer with design skills?

But, still. I’m no rockstar, no matter what my husband says. I can’t let on to potential employers, though.

I’ll find something better than banking. I’m sure of it. It may not be the ideal job, but it’ll be invaluable experience, and it’ll use the part of my brain that makes me happy and fulfilled. I got to do that for six months, while James and I were actively developing our database, and I’d never been happier about going to work.

Of course, I’m *hoping* for the ideal job. That would be pretty keen.

…

Dammit, I *am* a rockstar! Look at all this shit I can do, and without even a CS degree. Really! That database James and I made is pretty posh for Access, considering how much of it we Googled along the way. I can do this. I can hang with the rockstars. I rule!

Toy store!!!

house

Shields Are Down, Captain!

For all of you out there who have been waiting for your opportunity to burglarize my house… Hmm. That sounded like a cute opening when I thought of it, but now it’s just creepy. Moving on…

Last week, there was a power surge at home while I was at work. Aaron says that the TV turned off, his computer restarted, the XBox 360 threw the scary error that means it’s fried (it’s not, don’t worry), and our home security system started beeping. Turns out everything’s OK… except the security system. It’s hosed.

Now, we only signed up for the service because 1.) the system was already installed when we bought the house, and 2.) I failed to read the fine print that locked us into a FIVE-YEAR contract, of which we have now completed three. According to the technician that looked at our system today, we may have to upgrade our security system instead of simply having it fixed. Our model has been long discontinued, and even the next model up from ours hasn’t had parts available locally for over seven years.

We’re hoping to either get a major discount on an upgrade, or get out of the remainder of our contract. I’m really hoping for the latter. Over $80 per quarter is a little steep for a service we only use when we go out of town.

So, now our perimeter is wide open (yes, our doors and windows still lock), and the ever-present keypad night-light is now dark. Good thing Mom’s going to house-sit while we’re in Japan…

ruminations

Realization

I wrote a blog entry on Friday — at work, and e-mailed it to myself at home for posting later — about my shitty morning commute and how people pissed me off and how I reacted.

After sitting and stewing all Friday morning, then recovering all afternoon and getting back to normal, I came to realize that I was just being an asshole. The story really isn’t worth posting. Although I’m saving it in my Gmail for posterity. 🙂

weight loss 2 Comments

Part of the Elite Few

I guess I never realized that I’m one of only 5% of dieters who have kept off the weight long-term. (Does three to four years count as long-term?) Sure, I gained back 10 of my 50; but I lost it again, plus more.

Check out the article 5 Secrets of the 5% at SparkPeople to find out how I did it. Apparently.

Actually, they’re not far off the mark. I just hadn’t thought about it.

P.S. – If anyone’s interested, I’m down to 197 lbs.