Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Top Ten Missed Stories
Good reading for you (and me). Not too soon, here's one of certain-to-be millions of end-of-2006-best-of-something lists. This one details some interesting stories that could've been easily missed because of other stories like this.
100 posts!
Yesterday's post was number one hundred. Kind of a milestone given the deaths of the previous blogs. It's taken just over a year to get to this point. Hopefully I'll have a lot more to write about over the next few weeks.
Can't wait to get out of here. It's starting to get fribbin' freezing. Turns out it might be a 15 degree Christmas Day in Himeji. It'll be warmer in Adelaide though. Yay!
Get the Coopers on ice and warm up the pies.
Can't wait to get out of here. It's starting to get fribbin' freezing. Turns out it might be a 15 degree Christmas Day in Himeji. It'll be warmer in Adelaide though. Yay!
Get the Coopers on ice and warm up the pies.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
They work hard...
and they play hard.
Been a litany of parties and nights out for the end of the year extravaganza that engulfs Japan every year. Had our company Christmas do last Sunday at Murphy's in Akashi. A very good night out was had by all. Our school had our own little Bou Nen Kai (end of year party) last night which was also very good. Unfortunately I had to work early on Mondays so couldn't *really* make a night of it, but hey....
Things are going well heading towards my trip home. Cataloging the events as they unfold on the travel blog (see right!)
Two sleeps to go!
Been a litany of parties and nights out for the end of the year extravaganza that engulfs Japan every year. Had our company Christmas do last Sunday at Murphy's in Akashi. A very good night out was had by all. Our school had our own little Bou Nen Kai (end of year party) last night which was also very good. Unfortunately I had to work early on Mondays so couldn't *really* make a night of it, but hey....
Things are going well heading towards my trip home. Cataloging the events as they unfold on the travel blog (see right!)
Two sleeps to go!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The madness...
A very good article describing the utter stupidity of the Australian Government's Hitlerian decision to force all international passengers to carry all liquids in 100ml bottles inside clear plastic bags. They really get things done in Oz - only 8 months after the 'threat' was uncovered they are going to put into place rules that other countries are trying to find ways to undo. Yay - go Australia.
I think I'll follow the advice of one of the commentators and take an empty plastic bottle through the security checks and fill it up from the bubbler in the departure lounge. $5 for a bottle of water? Allow me to react in the politest way I can muster right now; Screw You. I think I know what's prompted this interesting change in legislature and erosion of basic human freedoms.
Also a couple of good articles about the use and abuse of English.
First, a story about 'Globish', which sounds like a plug for a book, but has some interesting thoughts about language and the way things might go in a truly globalised world.
Also this year's nominations for the annual 'Foot In Mouth' prize.
To summarize... ahem...
"I love England, especially the food. There's nothing I like more than a lovely bowl of pasta." - Noami Campbell.
"The first attribute of the art object is that it creates a discontinuity between itself and the unsynthesised manifold." - Germaine Greer.
"the proof of the pudding is at the end of the day" and "I'll cross that chestnut when I come to it" - Geoff Boycott.
and finally, a quote from my favourite person in the whole wide world,
"One has a strong hand when there's more people playing your same cards" - George W. Bush.
I think I'll follow the advice of one of the commentators and take an empty plastic bottle through the security checks and fill it up from the bubbler in the departure lounge. $5 for a bottle of water? Allow me to react in the politest way I can muster right now; Screw You. I think I know what's prompted this interesting change in legislature and erosion of basic human freedoms.
Also a couple of good articles about the use and abuse of English.
First, a story about 'Globish', which sounds like a plug for a book, but has some interesting thoughts about language and the way things might go in a truly globalised world.
Also this year's nominations for the annual 'Foot In Mouth' prize.
To summarize... ahem...
"I love England, especially the food. There's nothing I like more than a lovely bowl of pasta." - Noami Campbell.
"The first attribute of the art object is that it creates a discontinuity between itself and the unsynthesised manifold." - Germaine Greer.
"the proof of the pudding is at the end of the day" and "I'll cross that chestnut when I come to it" - Geoff Boycott.
and finally, a quote from my favourite person in the whole wide world,
"One has a strong hand when there's more people playing your same cards" - George W. Bush.
Quote of the Day
"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused everyone. I want to get better quickly and return to work,"
- Mitsutaka Uchikoshi
This is after slipping in a mountain stream while hiking, breaking his pelvis and surviving 24 days on nothing but water and half a bottle of barbecue sauce! Ah Japan, you've done it again!
- Mitsutaka Uchikoshi
This is after slipping in a mountain stream while hiking, breaking his pelvis and surviving 24 days on nothing but water and half a bottle of barbecue sauce! Ah Japan, you've done it again!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Ostu people at November 2006
From L-R: myself, Pavla, Yuko, Rachel, Paul, Masako and EriTaken at 'Alberta' in Himeji - nice place for a feed and water if you're in town.
Oooops
Well, it's been a while, eh!
The PC died in a nicely spectacular way. Windows did an automatic update, and then froze on the restart - not booting at all. Safe Mode worked but that was it. Trying to revert to an older version did nothing at all. SO, I copied files over to the external drive (I knew there was a good reason to buy a 300GB drive!), which took a couple of days since I was trying to do this around work as well as other odd jobs that needed doing.
I conveniently forgot to copy over my internet bookmarks - so there went 3 years of surfing down the drain. Ah well....
Thankfully my laptops were working. I needed both of them running at one point since one also decided to misfire on startup. I also had to reinstall Avast on both of them since it had been so long since I'd used them! After perusing some websites and getting some advice from good friends in the know, it was time to reinstall Windows. It took a few hours to get things sorted out but it reinstalled successfully on the first try.
Then the Internet wouldn't work.
I called the ISP and tried to explain in Japanese what was going on and if they could help. After doing that for 10 minutes the girl suddenly started speaking English to me!!! This was in the morning, mind you, and I certainly wasn't functioning at my best! Not happy - but at least I know I could function in Japanese enough to get through that situation about 90% of the way without my wife around to do the translating. I must be making progress.
Turns out it was my fault anyway - the network card drivers weren't the right ones and I had to update them, along with with the graphics and sound card drivers. Once I'd done that things were fine, the Internet was rocking and I was downloading the software I needed again like a fury.
Now everything is fine again.
In other news, my trip back home is drawing closer and closer. 16 days to go! Thailand is pretty much organised now. All I need is to pack and buy my tickets for the airport bus. My travel blog will chronicle the epic journey or catalogue the disaster as it unfolds.
One of our teachers, Rachel, has gone to Yamaguchi prefecture with her boyfriend and we've received another teacher in trade. She's a Canadian, fresh out of university and a whole lot of fun, as my hangover from yesterday will testify!
So that makes my school look like this;
Myself, Paul (New Zealand), Pavla (Canada) and Caitlin (Canada).
Yep, in a flash we've gone from being Southern Hemispheric dominant to being outnumbered by Canadians! That's not such a bad thing if I want to have a good time, but not such a good thing if I want to save money and stay healthy, if recent nights out have been any guide!
Our Japanese staff are Yuko (manager), Masako and Eri (part-timer) - all amazing in their jobs and so very helpful to all of us.
I might be moving on early next year. It'll be six months in Otsu come February and that's what I first said I'd do to our area manager when I volunteered to come down. Looks like Pav will take over the reigns there, which will be a good experience for her - and a more approriate position considering her experience in other jobs before Nova. No thoughts or news on where yet, but I suspect it'll be back to Himeji. That could be fun if Keiko decides to study English again, since that'll be where she'll want to go as well! My wife as a student!? Not likely!!
The weather? FREEZING! I can't wait to get out of here. It's such a shame that K can't come along as well, but she's not going to get another holiday at this time of year for quite a while I suspect. Besides, I have no other 'siblings' getting married this time around.
The PC died in a nicely spectacular way. Windows did an automatic update, and then froze on the restart - not booting at all. Safe Mode worked but that was it. Trying to revert to an older version did nothing at all. SO, I copied files over to the external drive (I knew there was a good reason to buy a 300GB drive!), which took a couple of days since I was trying to do this around work as well as other odd jobs that needed doing.
I conveniently forgot to copy over my internet bookmarks - so there went 3 years of surfing down the drain. Ah well....
Thankfully my laptops were working. I needed both of them running at one point since one also decided to misfire on startup. I also had to reinstall Avast on both of them since it had been so long since I'd used them! After perusing some websites and getting some advice from good friends in the know, it was time to reinstall Windows. It took a few hours to get things sorted out but it reinstalled successfully on the first try.
Then the Internet wouldn't work.
I called the ISP and tried to explain in Japanese what was going on and if they could help. After doing that for 10 minutes the girl suddenly started speaking English to me!!! This was in the morning, mind you, and I certainly wasn't functioning at my best! Not happy - but at least I know I could function in Japanese enough to get through that situation about 90% of the way without my wife around to do the translating. I must be making progress.
Turns out it was my fault anyway - the network card drivers weren't the right ones and I had to update them, along with with the graphics and sound card drivers. Once I'd done that things were fine, the Internet was rocking and I was downloading the software I needed again like a fury.
Now everything is fine again.
In other news, my trip back home is drawing closer and closer. 16 days to go! Thailand is pretty much organised now. All I need is to pack and buy my tickets for the airport bus. My travel blog will chronicle the epic journey or catalogue the disaster as it unfolds.
One of our teachers, Rachel, has gone to Yamaguchi prefecture with her boyfriend and we've received another teacher in trade. She's a Canadian, fresh out of university and a whole lot of fun, as my hangover from yesterday will testify!
So that makes my school look like this;
Myself, Paul (New Zealand), Pavla (Canada) and Caitlin (Canada).
Yep, in a flash we've gone from being Southern Hemispheric dominant to being outnumbered by Canadians! That's not such a bad thing if I want to have a good time, but not such a good thing if I want to save money and stay healthy, if recent nights out have been any guide!
Our Japanese staff are Yuko (manager), Masako and Eri (part-timer) - all amazing in their jobs and so very helpful to all of us.
I might be moving on early next year. It'll be six months in Otsu come February and that's what I first said I'd do to our area manager when I volunteered to come down. Looks like Pav will take over the reigns there, which will be a good experience for her - and a more approriate position considering her experience in other jobs before Nova. No thoughts or news on where yet, but I suspect it'll be back to Himeji. That could be fun if Keiko decides to study English again, since that'll be where she'll want to go as well! My wife as a student!? Not likely!!
The weather? FREEZING! I can't wait to get out of here. It's such a shame that K can't come along as well, but she's not going to get another holiday at this time of year for quite a while I suspect. Besides, I have no other 'siblings' getting married this time around.
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