My Halloween Scare

Had a coupon for some free digital prints at the nearby pharmacy so I figured I'd go print up a few pictures from my Japan trip. As I was dashing across the busy road in front of the store, I heard the clatter of a small object landing on the pavement. Once I was safely standing on the curb, I looked down to see my cell phone lying in the road, just out of reach.

I then got to stand there for several long seconds, whimpering to myself (rather pathetically) "please don't run over my phone... PLEASE don't run over my phone..." as several cars passed by.

Thankfully, they all missed.

Time to buy a better cell phone holder.

I Just Realized Something...

It's Halloween already!

So, to celebrate, I give you... Ironman Pumpkin.

He will protect you from the creepy Pooh Pumpkin:

Tubby little cubby all stuffed with... SATAN!

Happy Halloween, everybody.

Pulsing, Throbbing... Sarasota?

Just watched Rachel Maddow's interview of Obama near my old stomping grounds.

Kinda strange to hear her call Sarasota "the pulsing, throbbing red heart of Katherine Harris's old Congressional seat".

Yet somewhat titillating.

Here's part one:

The Opposite of Excited

Transformers: The Ride at Universal Studios
(via /Film)

"Universal Studios Hollywood and Singapore will be launching a theme park attraction based on Michael Bay’s Transformers."

Ugh.

I Voted

Sent my ballot in today. Here's hoping it arrives in time.

Go Democracy!

I Want My MTV(Music.com)

MTV has got a new web site: MTV MUSIC. (Does that make it "Music Television Music"?)

Anyway, kinda like the old MTV. You know, back when they played music videos.

Enjoy!

Thanks For Your Patience

Wow, I've been terrible at this whole blogging thing lately, huh??

Well, I'm back in Seattle. I actually got back Tuesday and would have posted something sooner but my body finally forced me to accept that, not only has it been steadily maintaining an unreasonable pace the past few weeks but it's also been fighting a cold. So, upon my return, it pretty much shut down. When not drooling on myself, I've been able to do little more than eat, sleep and catch up on TV shows (all of which seem to be Jumping the Shark. Or Nuking the Fridge).

While I'm feeling repentant, let me also apologize for my terrible posting record while in Japan. About halfway through my trip, I pretty much gave up on my increasingly unreliable laptop and took to blogging longhand in my notebook or verbally into my voice recorder. (Podcast, anyone?) It didn't really hit me until I got back that it probably wasn't the smartest move having my very last post be about an approaching typhoon. My bad. Needless to say, I survived. (Apologizes to my grandparents.) At least I kept my Twitter pretty up-to-date, right?

Anyway, now that I'm back and somewhat recovered, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get my posts from the last month and a half online. Should I post them in chronological order or in whatever order that I finish them? Roll them out a day at a time? A week at a time? Perhaps in one big massive posting that even I wouldn't want to have to sit through? We'll see.

Oh, and I also want to get a handful of the 6500+ photos I took during my trip posted at well. (And still at 999! I do love my new memory card.) Sadly, the external hard drive I recently built to hold my gigatons of photos and music has this nasty habit of convincing my computer that it's unrecognizable then ejecting itself, usually in the middle of some major task involving valuable files. Stupid technology. Stupid computer. (I have 3 laptops, all Windows, none working properly. I'm starting to see the appeal of a Mac. Don't tell anyone.) I'll forever regret not buying another external drive or two from Yodobashi Camera before I left.

Anyway, believe it or not, it's good to be back. (And, hey look, I'm not coughing!) Thanks again for checking in. I'm looking forward to sharing my recent adventure with you.

Just as soon as the coffee kicks in.

UPDATE: Yahoo seems to agree with me about Heroes.

Welcome Back, Marty!

It was at this exact time in 1985 when Marty McFly time traveled back to Hill Valley from the year 1955.

Am I a geek or what?

Super Morning Banana Diet!

No wonder they're so expensive here.


Japan Goes Bananas for a New Diet
(via TIME):

"Keiko Akai is very annoyed. The attractive 21-year-old university student has been planning to do a banana diet for some time now, but she can't get started — and not for lack of trying. 'I keep going to OK Store, my local supermarket every single day,' she says. 'In fact, I've just been there. There are no bananas on the shelves, and it's been like that for a month.'

[...]

The Morning Banana Diet regime is simple: A banana (or as many as you want) and room temperature water for breakfast; eat anything you like for lunch and dinner (by 8 p.m.). A three o'clock snack is okay, but no desserts after meals, and you have to go to bed before midnight. Sumiko Watanabe, a pharmacist in Osaka designed this stress-free diet to help increase the metabolism of her husband Hitoshi Watanabe, who had been rather overweight. In due course, Mr. Watanabe lost 37 pounds and introduced the diet on mixi, one of Japan's largest social networking services. Morning Banana Diet books published since March have sold over 730,000 copies, and some have been translated and published in South Korea and Taiwan. The diet became even more popular after a TV program featured a singer who had lost 15 pounds in just six weeks. It was literally the day after that program aired that the shortage of bananas first became evident. "Bananas suddenly flew off the shelves, there was a 70%-80% increase in weekly sales compared to the same period last year," says Takeshi Ozaki, a spokesperson of Life Corporation that runs 201 supermarkets throughout Japan."

Well, at least they didn't pick a food that could go extinct.

Man, These Net Cafes Are NICE

Where I'm posting from:

ネットン　大阪・新世界ネットカフェ「ネットン」　浪速区恵美須東　オンラインゲーム　コミック　フリードリンク

If I'd known they were this nice, I wouldn't have brought my VAIO.