Archives

Category: Personal Reflections
  • Alice had been looking

    Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. `What a funny watch!’ she remarked. `It tells the day of the month, and doesn’t tell what o’clock it is!’ `Why should it?’ muttered the Hatter. `Does YOUR watch tell you what year it is?’ `Of course not,’ Alice replied very readily: `but that’s because…

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  • Sumo was all I’d

    Sumo was all I’d hoped and more. Elizabeth was certainly right about the food. I don’t need to cook dinner for at least two nights. The caterer delivered yakitori, sandwiches, soramame (huge steamed beans like limas), bento lunch boxes, beer, sake, wine, and ice cream. Plus a bag full of omiyage (gifts) to take home…

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  • After three years in

    After three years in Japan, I’m finally going to a sumo match. And we’re going in style. Our friends, the Andohs, have a box courtesy of Takashimaya, where Atsunori works. Elizabeth proimises us that we’ll be fed until we’re stuffed! “Come hungry and bring a backpack for the food to take home,” she advised. As…

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  • Yesterday just before dinner,

    Yesterday just before dinner, Tod’s cell phone rang. “I got spammed on my phone,” he said, looking at the message and turning the phone towards me and our friend, Brendan. Tod’s NTT i-mode phone allows people to send e-mail and text messages (like a pager, remember those?), as well as voice mail and regular phone…

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  • For the last week

    For the last week or so, I’ve been trying to hurry summer along. I’ve taken my warm-weather clothes out of storage; I’m walking more; meals have migrated outdoors. The weather (when the rain lets up) has been lovely, with warm days and cool nights. Thinking about it, this is the best of summer. In a…

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  • I waited until too

    I waited until too late on Friday to try to courier the Postcard Competition flyers, so I went out to DesignFesta to deliver them in person. What fun! Terri, my contact there, was 90 minutes late, so I wandered around handing out flyers to women artists who were exhibiting postcards and prints–they seemed likely entrants…

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  • Each resident of my

    Each resident of my fine city has only 3 square meters of park to call his own. In comparison, Parisians have 12 sqm; Los Angeles residents have 18 and New Yorkers have a full 29 thanks to Central Park. If you are a lucky resident of Australia’s capital, Canberra, you have 77 sq meters of…

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  • Today I will tackle

    Today I will tackle a small new challenge. I need to send 500 DigitalEve Postcard Competition flyers to one of our members who is attending the DesignFesta tomorrow. She’s promised to hand tham out and talk up our group. The challenge is getting them to her by courier. I should be able to take my…

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  • Last week, Tod “graduated”

    Last week, Tod “graduated” out of his work team’s shift schedule and is now allowed to work whatever hours he pleases. From here on in, he’ll be concentrating on Unix engineering instead of system administration and doing it later in the day. However, when delivering the happy news, nobody warned him that there would be…

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  • Yesterday a new bank

    Yesterday a new bank opened in Tokyo. With bank mergers happening all the time, a new bank isn’t a surprise. But this bank is a little bit different; it’s owned by a retail company that runs Japan’s 7-11 convenience stores. The new bank, IYBank, has no branches, only ATMs. I can imagine the business planning…

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