Category: Family

OK. This is a big picture… but worth it.

Isn’t that crazy!? Google Maps has just added satelite imagery to their mapping software. It’s my home!!!

This is one of those posts without pictures, so it remains to be seen how many of you will actually read this.

At any rate, it is Cherry Blossom time here in Japan. Kiko and I will be making the rounds and should have a whole lotta Cherry Blossom pictures for you come Monday. Don’t get too excited.

We should also be getting up pictures from the Franz Trip here to Japan, and a few more we have just sort of taken. A few movies are also in the works.

I was dilligently working away at davidandkiko.com 3.0, but they have blocked access to the site from my work computer. So until my Internet gets upgraded (April 28th!!!) doesn’t look like we will be seeing much progress.

More to come.
That is all.

My second post is almost as exciting as my first.

You get to hear about my new computer and my in-house setup.

CURRENT SETUP

I currently have an ISDN Line hooked up downstairs.
My ISDN is hooked up into a wireless router.
The router travels over to the XBOX hooked up to the TV, running XBMC.
The router also travels upstairs to my Computer. My computer serves all of my content.

Since computers don’t (easily) hook up to TV’s, I have my XBOX and Computer sharing the network through my router. The XBOX is hooked up to the TV and is used to play games. After I installed XBMC it now runs as a media center. Through the network it connects to my Movies, Videos, Music, Itunes. It streams them from my computer and displays them on the TV. Boom. Instant Media Center.

The XBOX also has access to the Internet and uses it to check the weather, play online games (via Xlink), and look up Video and Music content.

It only gets more exciting…

Gentoo, MythTV, Asterisk: My New Computer

I bought a new computer before I went to Japan. After taking three weeks and going back to Canada for Christmas, I had a spectacular crash. This isn’t the first time, but it was excellent. It didn’t matter what kind of rescue disc or special boot procedure I used, Windows crashed whenever it took a look at my hard drive. After a few days of trying everything, Linux (specifically Knoppix) was the only thing that was able to retrieve data from my drive.

So after many years of putting it off, and recognizing the irony in Linux being the only thing that could save my Windows box, I took the plunge and am now in the midst of installing Gentoo Linux.

When all is said in done, I will have the following:

A Gentoo Linux Box
MythTV
Asterisk

all installed on my system. But what does this mean?

Gentoo

A Linux distribution that is known for its hands-on approach. All of the installation and configuration has to be done with the command console, and is a very different experience then todays Window-based operating systems. It can still look and act like Windows, but it doesn’t have to.

MythTV

I’m very excited about this. Ever heard of Tivo? MythTV turns your computer in to an entertainment system. It acts as a digital video recorder amongst other things. You can schedule TV programs to record, watch live TV, pause live TV, and store them all on your hard drive. You can access and schedule your recordings from the Internet, and you can easily transfer your programs or burn them to DVD. It basically means that I can have as much control over my TV as I want. When I move, it can move with me and adjust the TV schedules and programming accordingly. All free, for no subscription fee.

Asterisk

This is also very exciting. Estentially Asterisk acts as a PBX. What this really means is that it becomes its own telephone switching center. I can design my own voice mail, call forwarding, blocking etc. I can hook up my VOIP phone (my 416-internet phone number) and have it interact with the phone network. After I am done with it I will be able to forward calls from my 416 number to my Japanese cell phone, call Canada from my cell phone, or even allow people to make local calls in Japan from Canada.

I will keep everyone updated as to how the projects are going. Linux will be a pain in the ass, but it will give me an education in Unix, Network and Server systems that I have been severely lacking. When it is done, it will be super. (I’m most excited about being able to watch TV and record two separate channels at once. Through the XBOX MythTV front end I can beam everything right to my TV. Does the excitement ever end??)

Makes you think.
That is all.

First there was “The Mountain of Mushrooms” chocolate mushroom candy.

and then there was “The field of Bamboo shoots” chocolate bamboo shoot (possibly acorns) candy.

… and now, ranked as my new favourite Japanese candy, I am proud to announce “Chocolate Tree Stumps.”

They are so good. No joke. Really really good. They can only be outdone by the extra large Mountain of Mushrooms I found in the convenience store a few months ago. It was like 200 yen for 4 of them, but they were really really good.

Kiko has been busy making our house look beautiful.

  

  

She also makes our front entrance look beautiful too. This is a plum blossom (maybe peach) with candies set out for Hina Matsuri (girls day).

… because there are no pictures. In fact, you might not even read this.

At any rate, I am doing a pre-update of an update scheduled for tomorrow. What is Tomorrow? Tomorrow is the day Franz comes to Japan and I take him around. 10 days of action packed excitement.

In case anyone is curious we will be going to:

Osaka -> Nara -> Kyoto -> Himeji -> Kagawa (my home!) -> Nagoya -> Yamanashi (Mt. Fuji’s home!) -> Tokyo

Crap. That’s a long and very expensive trip. Whoever else is reading this, please know that when you come to Japan I will be happy to show you around as well! The important thing to remember is that you can only spend so much time in Chunan without going crazy.

At any rate, other than that… things are good! My new computer should be here soon and those problems will be fixed. We are moving to medium-high speed Internet by the end of April and this 10 day vacation should give me the much needed rest (even though it is bound to stress me out because Franz is stressful.)

Where is Shane? I don’t know because he doesn’t answer my e-mails.
Where are my friends? I don’t know because I don’t e-mail anyone. (Sorry!)

… Why am I rewriting the homepage from scratch? Because I am a loser.

Now send me some love.

David

Ever since Kiko and I moved to our new house, we have stalkers.

Well… I have stalkers. Two little girls from one of my elementary schools. One of them follows me around and calls me fat (a play on the name “dave” in Japanese. They pronounce “Dave” = “De-bu” and if you shorten it to “debu” it becomes the Japanese word for fat.)

Incidentally, I also made her cry one day by implying she was a little hefty herself. The other one dresses up in make up and ho boots and comes to my house. She also regularily lifts her skirt while I am teaching.

They are cute.

At any rate, every weekend they come to our house and leave me homemade chocolates and homemade candles. I usually send Kiko to the door to dissapoint them by having her say that I am not home.

Here is a note they recently left me:

It reads (in Romaji, Japanese written with English characters) “Dear David. You speak English very well. Please continue to teach us. From Haruna (fatty) and Kazuki (ho boots.)”

I was also surprised to look at the chalkboard at the back of the classroom and see this:

The blond hair gave it away. Note that I am also saying realistic English sentences (which I am sure I say all the time!) such as: “Hello.” “English!” “My name is …” “Orange” and “Red”.

This just makes me laugh. It was a sign below the shampoo and soaps at a hotel Kiko and I stayed at when we went to Matsuyama last weekend.

“We make up for deficiency.”