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I know how much you guys like the pretty pictures, so I was hoping to wait until I had some photos to upload before I posted this… but my fans have spoken and I shalt deliver.

Two entries without pictures… in a row! Can you handle it?

I have also been doing a lot of thinking about what kind of posts I should be making here. Not only is this website a place to see pictures of us, but I have decided to expand a little bit on what goes on in my everyday life (rather than the really terribly spelling ungrammatical inane non-sequitor posts that I usually put up…) .. not a good a start, I know.

At any rate, the embassy is pretty fantastic. (I will post a picture soon!) I am working in the public affairs section of the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. The building is fantastic (now that I am inside!… see below) and I find myself actually doing something of consequence. I am compiling a report on the Educational Promotion efforts of the 5 other English speaking countries with embassies in Japan. (UK, US, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.) Basically I get to visit each embassy, learn about what they are doing to promote Japanese students to study in their country, and write a report making suggestions on what Canada can do to improve our own efforts. Cool eh? I thought so.

Other than that, Kiko is sitting at home… (nothing new)… in Tokyo. We are staying at a friends house. It is actually one of our very few couple friends (Japanese guy and a French woman) with a 1 year old son. So I am getting a taste of what my life will be like in 3 months.  Excitement… let me tell you.

On another cool note, my very good friend the one and only Brian Chapman recently had a review published in the Daily Yomiuri, one of Japan’s leading English newspapers. It was none other than the review for the new Harry Potter book. Take a look… it’s super.

Read the review here.

I don’t think I have had a chance to tell everyone, but for the month of August I will be working at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo as an intern. Take a look at it, the building is super fantastic.

… or it would have been if I wasn’t the biggest dumbass in the world.

So, after securing a place to stay with our good friends Dave & Eri (who read this everyday… right?), I was supposed to begin work this morning. So I get to the embassy at 9am in my suit. I call my supervisor down. She gives me a little lecture about what I should expect during my stay at the embassy and then we start to go upstairs… until I get stopped at the door and asked for my picture id.

 … oh yeah. I guess at a government building ID would be required. I left mine back in Kagawa with Kiko. "What about your foreigner ID card that you have to carry with you at all times??"

".. umm… yeah, well you see, i don’t really have that either."

"so let get this straight. You came to your first day of an embassy job without any form of ID??"

That’s pretty much how that conversation went.

So anyways, apparently I have a really nice office in a really competitive job that I should be greatful for getting. I somehow managed to swing the time off work for free, and was gratiously put up by my friends in Tokyo with the super pregnant Kiko.

 I guess I will let you know about the embassy when they let me in.

that is all. 

 

I am so clever.

Now, let’s get something straight. I am the last person in the world that would have ever considered buying an I-Book. I hate MAC’s. There silly little buttons confuse me, and I remember getting my disks stuck in the drive. Don’t let me get started on the 1-button mouse. Here’s the story though… My Sharp Mebius (a fantastic slim labtop) broke. It was hurtin’. Now, since I have a desktop (and 2 if you count my Linux/MythTV server!! It’s cool!) I only used my labtop for school work. All I needed was simple:

1. Internet
2. Word
3. Portability

 I was faced with two choices. Pay 150,000 yen for a new Sharp, or pay 100,000 yen for a new I-book. After looking at the costs, and a good talking too from Greg, I decided to go ahead with the Mac. I figure I needed something portable, something that can do simple things, and I had never before used a MAC and wanted to learn. To be honest it is a little heavy (I figured a little weight was worth the $600 in savings) but other than that…

Best Purchase Ever 

Seriously… no joke. The things is amazing. It looks good, is fast, is intuitive and does everything I want it to. The presentation is amazing, sounds is fantastic, even the packaging was cool. Crap… I used to hate listening to MAC people whine… fact is it was (for the most part) deserved.

It’s not going to replace my desktop anytime soon, but considering that it met my criteria for a substantial amount less than other computers would, it was well worth it.

Here is a picture of my new baby, and the cool Japanese Apple Hanko (<- read what a Hanko is about there.)

 

 

 

 

Also, look at this swell picture that my good friend Toru drew up. Anyone remember Popeye? Thanks Tommy!!!