Moving

So I am moving! Yes, have been planning this for a couple of months but the process has now officialy started. I think I have a moving company set up, I just need to pick a good day to get it done. One of the things I'm most worried about is getting the bed into the bedroom. I have a very nice queen-sized bed, but the bedroom is around the corner of a hallway where it's even hard for people carrying nothing to go without stopping and turning first. It will be interesting to be sure. I think worst-case scenario is that my mattress makes it through but the box spring has to be left behind.

Everything else is moving smoothly. Got the utilities set up in my name, and am getting all the address change forms I need from the post office and the bank etc. I'm guessing December 20th as being fully moved. December 31st is the last day for the old place, and hopefully will get my deposit back soon after. I got Mazda to give me extensions on two months payments, so I can cover rent at both places! :) Will post pictures on Monday :)

Japanese Kit-Kat flavors

So in the US, we only get two flavors that I ever see: Chocolate and White Chocolate. But in Japan there are lots of other flavors that I wish they would import more often. Occasionally I can find these at Mitsuwa, but I want them all the time!

So far I've had: Orange (kind of like orange liqueur flavored), Chestnut, Watermelon (tastes like a Jolly Rancher), Strawberry, Double Berry (Strawberry & Cherry), Vanilla (the best flavor I think), Caramel, Apple (it's like applesauce in the middle), & Soy Flour. I love Japanese candy!

3 fouls, 3 to go? My Latest Police Adventure

OK, so this is a story about police, but let's start with basketball. It will all make sense soon. Long ago, when I was about 9 or 10 and first watched basketball with my brother I had a hard time with the concept of fouls. I understood the whole "don't do bad things or you get in trouble thing" but I didn't have any concept that someone might actually *want* to cause a foul. My brother explained there was strategy to it, getting everything set up so things will go your team's way. Even though you are penalized, you are set up where you want to be.

So let's go to recently. My car insurance expired (as noted previously). So, now my registration is suspended. I get pulled over near Westside Pavilion by an LA County Sherrif, who informs me I have no registration or insurance according to him. He was quite polite actually. I only got a ticket for a court appearance for registration, but he didn't even ticket me for not having insurance! This is actually the *2nd* time I had been pulled over recently for my registration.

Now, yesterday. I'm on my way driving someone to an appoitnment at the hospital. Turns out we went to the wrong place. Call ahead to where we should be, and they give 30 minutes to get there. Speeding as fast as I can on surface streets (about 45 mph, any faster and my tires pop on the pavement cracks as I learned only too well). On Venice, I see a cop to the right. There's no way she's entered my information in. However, she pulls me over anyway. I have 10 minutes to get to the hospital.

This is where my brother's explanation of fouls popped into my head. "Do something you're not supposed to do, but it will get you in the right place." There's no way I can wait for her to type in all my information and make it on time. What's the thing you're told never to do when you're pulled over? Get out of the car. So I do it. I did the worst thing possible to get me in the position I wanted. Popped out of the car, turned around towards the cop, and she runs up screaming for me to get into the car. I put my hands in front of me, because that way they know you don't have weapons, and I dutifully got back in the car. Since she had to run up, she didn't have time to find out anything about my car. I pulled out my previous ticket for registration from only 2 days before, and she had to let me go. Because of my foul, I put the cop exactly where I needed her. She let us on our way to the hospital, and didn't even check my license, registration, or insurance. I don't think she has any idea who I am.

My registration and insurance are now paid for, but I have to take the car to the dealer for a recall certificate before I get my new stickers. Gonna head to the Alhambra dealer on Friday, so I just have to make sure I don't get pulled over *yet again* before that happens. I figure I still have 2 free chances :)

I owe you lunch

Yes, I'm aware the "pic of the day" has become a "pic of the month" really. But only $5.00 and one per customer please!

Work has been very very busy lately, so that's why there's been a lack of updates. Basically been working the past month on one project. I am only about two hours away from finishing it now though! Hell, my car insurance expired and I still haven't fixed that yet, so yeah, I'm a little behind on everything. I do have a 3-day weekend though so I will hopefully have everything back to normal by Monday!

Traffic Freeway Signs

So there are these signs around Southern California that are up so that amber alerts for child abductions can be posted, but most of the time they post the time between freeway interchanges:

However, it almost always seems to be inaccurate.  Last week, coming home around 10:00 PM, with absolutely no traffic, the sign said I had 9 minutes to the next interchange.  Usually, during rush hour on that same route, the sign claims only 7 minutes!  It usually takes more like 25.  In Japan and China, there are some great highway signs that would be nice to have around here that show you a traffic map with routes and with colors for traffic density, making it easier to make quick decisions on different routes to use:

You would think Los Angeles would have such a thing already!

Dramatization of My Dental Surgery

I went to the dentist to have my top wisdom teeth removed. They've both been cracked for about two years. The one on the right started hurting recently and we discovered the one on the left had an infection. So I went to the dentist to get them removed yesterday. Here's how I remember it:

Me: Hello
Dentist: Which one are we taking out?
Me: Both of them. Since one is hurting, and the other is infected.
D: OK, some people only do one at a time. You are brave.
M: I figure I should get it over with.
Assistant: Please sit down in this chair.
M: Thanks
D: OK, let's get started. Normally I would numb your pallete.
M: OK.
D: It's a painful shot though, since it goes right on the bone.
M: Well...
D: It makes it hard to swallow though. I think I'll just give you novacaine on your teeth instead.
M: Alrighty
A: Excuse me. (puts on gloves)
D: Here comes the shots. (Gives me shots on both my wisdom teeth)
D: Is that numb?
M: Maybe
D: Well let's get started. (sticks tool on right which I feel immediately)
D: Well should I wait?
M: My other tooth is numb.
D: OK.
A: We'll do that one first.
D: (wiggles tooth a bit)
M: (a little pain, but not really, tooth is out in 15 seconds)
D: There we go.
A: Next one.
M: OK, but I can still feel it.
D: I'll give you another shot. (gives new shot)
D: (places tool in mouth again)
M: (feels it instantly)
D: You shouldn't be able to feel that.
M: Well I did!
D: Hmm, well I'll give you more novacaine.
M: OK
D: (gives more novacaine)
A: (hands tool to dentist)
D: (starts to grab tooth)
M: ouch ouch ouch that hurts
D: we can wait a few minutes if you want
M: It's really not numb.
D: OK, (gives 4th shot of novacaine)
D: Let's go (starts work)
M: I really really feel that
D: It's going to come out.
M: AHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA
D: Ok, is that pressure pain or tooth pain?
M: Pretty sure that's tooth pain!
D: Tooth pain is a sharp pain. Pressure pain is more gradual.
M: It's pretty sharp.
D: Well I'll give you a shot on the tooth in front
M: OK.
D: (gives 5th novacaine shot on right side)
A: We ready?
M: OK
D: Here we go
M: ow ow
D: It's loose so it's coming out
M: (gripping chair as hard as I can)
A: There it is!
D: Well the root had a hook on it, that's why it was so hard to get out!
D: I'll show you
M: That's a weird looking tooth.
A: Wanna keep them?
M: Sure why not.

I'm Back!

Will get that pic up soon! A friend from high school was visiting me over the labor day weekend so all my projects got interrupted for a few days. I'll post a pic of us and I'll get that car pic up too! I actually took a picture of the car the other night, but the damage didn't even show up on the picture. I guess it seemed worse than it looks.

No Car Pic Yet / New Link

OK, I know I didn't get the car pic up yet but it's coming!  It's kind of hard to take a picture of my car in the parking space at my apartment (if you've been there, you know my car is somehow jammed in between a wall and a Celica, and doesn't look like it should fit).  I will take the pic once I move the car out tomorrow so everyone can see the beautiful dent and scratches!

Added a new link to old airline timetables.  This site has old timetables from the 1930s and after and is pretty interesting.  In 1931 you could buy tickets for "Universal Air Lines" at Embry-Riddle!

The First Tour

OK, I took a first shot at laying out the page here. I looked through the gadget list, and wow there are a lot of weird ones. I am tempted to add the "play Zelda on your blog" one!! So I went a little crazy with the linked lists, and that was the only one I used to add stuff besides a picture. I'll change that "pic of the day" everyday. And if I don't, I owe you lunch (as long as it's cheap)!

So what do we have --
*first up is job related links. All the space stuff I work on plus some of the computer stuff.
*I put in a couple of video game links. That list will grow soon once I figure out how to use these other blogger gadgets!
*links to my old school and aviation safety records. I will add some news links here later, such as the info on the Spanair crash. They're not there right now so have patience!
*Links to stuff about trains. Will add some news links here too.

I decided to leave all the Japanese links in Japanese, since that's how I read them. Gotta keep my practice up! I think it's easy enough to find English links on those sites if you want.

"Hey Stuart!" "What about that sexy car of yours?" I hear you ask? "No pictures?" Well, guess what, I put a nice dent down the side of it. I will post a picture for you tonight. That's the next blog you get to look forward to!

Mainichi Shimbun apoligizes for what it shouldn't!

Wow, I was just trying to lay out the blog to continue our lovely tour (I will get to that on the next post) and I wanted to add the "Mainichi Shimbun" daily news because I always used to read it every day and enjoyed it a lot. One of the interesting sections was "WaiWai" which always had news on the sex industry in Japan, and apparently something in an article posted in that section made them shut down the site for now!

The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. continued to post extremely inappropriate articles in the WaiWai column of the Mainichi Daily News (MDN), its English Web site. We have reported the results of an in-house investigation into the case on Pages 22 and 23 of the July 20 morning edition of the Mainichi Shimbun.

We continued to post articles that contained incorrect information about Japan and indecent sexual content. These articles, many of which were not checked, should not have been dispatched to Japan or the world. We apologize deeply for causing many people trouble and for betraying the public's trust in the Mainichi Shimbun.

The Japanese site has the same message, but interestingly in both it is mentioned that the "English site" is the cause and not the Japanese one. Makes me wonder who actually initiated the complaint on the article! Now they are planning to be a more serious news-oriented site. I don't like the sound of that. We already have The Japan Times for a serious English language Japanese newspaper, and I never liked it.

Begin

Well I have been posting to my blog on myspace on and off for awhile, but I figured why not start a blog here since I have a gmail account and all! Plus the myspace blog doesn't work half the time. Let me show you around. In front of you is the new blog. That is all for now!