Housing around

My wife and I went for a bike ride today, but the ride was ‘housejacked’ by my wife. She took me to a model home complex in Mitaka, Tokyo near the campus we went to look at. Basically we entered and looked at 3 model homes while we were there with a professional ‘shadow’ in each house. I really don’t think my wife gained that much useful information as one thing that she told me I could have told her without any training in real estate. We were talking about the selling and buying process as we will later sell two houses and buy a larger 4 units in Koganei City (or nearby). One of the agents suggested selling one house first, and selling the second one after you finish the construction on the new one. Of course though, you’re not building only with cash in that case as you’d be borrowing money from the bank to do that. Gee, a novel idea in Japan, right?

Anyway, my wife kept asking the ‘shadows’ questions, so I thought the agony of too small slippers would never end. We did see a William Morris design, the Willow Bough, that she wants to use.　It was just bad timing as I wanted to spend more time in the park or on the campus. Surprisingly for me, my wife just kept focusing on how old the buildings were on the said campus, though she did notice that it is a lot more wooded than other comparable campuses in Tokyo proper.

When the bough breaks

Seems like I’ll be making housing decisions for a while, just can’t seem to escape it. It’s a good learning experience, though I’m not sure I want to be reviewing line drapes, rolling shades, curtains and blinds any time soon. I did think it was interesting to see some of the combinations you could use as well as custom fitted blinds on the windows like these below  (picture coming).

Oh well, you know how you can’t get that time back, but sometimes it’s okay, at least someone was happy (but it wasn’t me :)).

Isn’t that what we pay you for?

Had dinner with the architect tonight, and I have to wonder, aren’t we paying this guy plenty already? So why do we need to take him to dinner as well?

My wife thinks if we treat him once in a  awhile to show we’re happy with his efforts, he’ll do even better work and keep looking out for our interests. Wait a minute, let me get this straight, we’re paying all this money and we’re not getting his best efforts? Hmm, maybe I’m in the wrong business. I’m not getting any extra pay from my ‘clients’.

Hell, sometimes I barely get acknowledgements. Can you imagine, I had a student email me today, about 2 weeks from the grade submission deadline, asking if you could do make up homework so she would pass. What happened to asking me during the semester? On top of that, the students that the reason some assignments weren’t done was that the student was job hunting?

Okay, so someone not doing what they’re supposed to be doing in their ‘current job’ so they can look for a job. Is that a good idea and does that show a future employer that you’re loyal and willing to work hard? Maybe not. More like you’re a person who doesn’t seem to make priorities. Yes, you can find a job or start your own company without graduating, but it might be harder (the first part, that is).

That's service!

Teching up

Scary thought after reading the landing pages of some of these tech websites, what the hell are they talking about in some cases? How about Drupal or Solaris anyone?

Been reading for an idea, but ideas are all a round. I’m thinking to go to a start up meeting, it might be of interest. But I need some ideas first, no?

Parent loans kid out to buy Prada

I think this has to be the most revolting news I have heard recently (besides people hero worshiping Michael Jackson). Turns out there are a few mothers and (1 sister) who have been selling nude pictures of their kids and letting a guy ‘play’ with them. he mothers were quoted as saying they needed the money for buying brand items and going out with their friends. Have to wonder if some people just have no clue when it comes to being a parent.

The police only found out about it after one mother reported being pressured by the woman who had bought the photos to pass on to her male customers. One of the mothers first got into this when she was selling her used underwear, and was asked if she had a young child.

I think this almost has the pachinko parents (parents who let their kids die in the car while they played pachinko) beaten for sheer stupidity (or greed, though in the case of playing pachinko for money, I would have to land on the stupidity side more).

Japan still doesn’t make it a crime to buy child pornography, no wonder the  perverts here feel lucky.

http://www.jialat.com/2009/12/31/japanese-mothers-sell-childrens-porn-photos-online/

Joined at the job

Ever wonder why your coworkers are so different than you? Often you find some people just seem to have fallen literally out of the sky into your office (or at least I think so). Sometimes it’s good, people coming from all walks of life, but other times it’s like joining limbs from several bodies together and expecting them to be able to not reject each other. I suppose it’s like pro-lifers and pro-choice people to suddenly become buddy buddy, but generally my expectations are not set that high.

But hobbies and interests can be so varied that it’s difficult to gauge what to talk about, at least in my sense of  the world. Also of course, I have a harder time getting to know these people as I work intermittedly at this particular job. Some of the people I only see a few times a month some months, if  at all. Kind of like drinking in a pub where you come somewhat regularly, but yet you aren’t seen as a regular.

Waiting to work

With one of the jobs I work, the waiting to work is often more tiring than the work itself. Well, at least that what my colleagues opine. Sometimes I’m not sure if that is completely true, but certainly workdays that are stretched out are longer. I don’t  know that these ‘long’ days are necessarily more tiring, suppose it depends on what you find to do with the time. Reading and blogging fit in nicely, and so does sometimes talking to your coworkers to get the latest dirt. Some colleagues even enjoy napping to ‘pass’ the time.  I guess it is all about using your time productively, if you can do something useful, it doesn’t seem so tiring.

Nothing like working

 

Yet, it might be a case of having to be in  place when we’d rather be somewhere else.

S. Korea trip

We came back from Korea (south of course) and it was a lot of fun.

We went to Pusan, Gwanjou, and Seoul of course. I enjoyed it a lot, the food, some of the cultural things, and just seeing different things outside of Japan.In Seoul, we went to Insadong again and drabk tea at a new place with songbirds. I noticed in my guide book and it took us a while to find it, but it was fun. In Insadong, getting to the teahouse is half the fun, the other half is choosing the tea. In Korea there are so many different teas, it’s sometimes hard to choose which one is best. Sometimes it depends on what flavor you’d like or what ails you. The Koreans  believe that all the teas have health benefits of some sort. But I really just enjoy drinking them, if there is any real health benefit, it’s just another bonus.!

Anyhow, hanging in Insadong is fun, even if it is touristy.  The little teashops are fun as well as some of the craft stuff that is displayed. Probably not the cheapest places to get it, but there is a lot of variety as well as better quality items here.

The other area that my wife really gets a kick out of is Myeondong. Lots of shopping, especially for cosmetics and clothes. Also some good restaurants as well as kick ass green tea shop. Literally everything in the shop is made with green tea, and it’ s a nice place to take a break. Not the quietest of places, but relaxing. Also this last time we went to spa place, but it was so so. I mean the massage part, anyway. A bit too rough for my tastes. They also had these saunas with really low doorways. Hot enough, with wooden blocks for pillows..right. Sounds as comfy as it is, not. If I wanted a wooden pillow I would have bought one, with a  cover to avoid the splinters!

Anyway, so it could be a nice way to soak away your blisters on your feet from over shopping.

We also went south to Pusan, and that was raw. Pusan was earthy, and seemed a bit uncosmopolitan after Seoul. There was construction going on, but it lacks the skyscrapers of the capital city.  We stayed at Hanunae Beah, probably the best area in the city. Had a beautiful view of the sea in a lovely hotel. The hotel also had a duty free shop mall, which my wife loved. With a lot of shops with last years’ goods  (or sometimes even 2 years ago), the prices were quite a bit lower for some items, but not for all.  So  of course my wife made short work of several areas, while I tried to find a place to just hang out and not kill my feet.

We also visited the fish market, which had restaurants that were overpriced and somewhat ordinary except for a view of the harbor. Oh well, hopefully the fish was fresh. it certainly talked enough going down.

We also visited the market near our hotel, but it was pretty ordinary. It was cheaper than the convenience stores scattered throughout Hanunae as well as the java shops (yes, there is a heaven in Korea). We enjoyed wandering into a pork soup place that had…pork soup. It was good, wtih the usual contingent of vegetables served a side dishes that can be mixed in or eaten separately, always a pleasure.

Winging by

Life recently seems to be on a rapid warp, as ideas come, but finding the time to do them raises its ugly head time and time again. I have to hand it to people who are successful, do they have better assistants, or do they really do things more efficiently.

Just winging it

Taiwan Rocks

My wife had liked going to Taipei the last time, and it rocked again, especially the food part. I lived in Taipei back in ‘95 and ‘96 and only moved because of the pollution at that time due to the public transit system being built. The roads were all a mess, making riding a motorbike to work more of an adventure.

But even with all that, I always enjoyed the food and the people.  One standout was the restaurant near the Riveria Hotel, a well known restaurant with good service and great food at reasonable prices. Very comfortable and a real dining delight.

We had a good time visiting a few things, the Taipei 101 building, as well as the Shilin market. This was on the same trip as Bali, so the contrast was extreme.

Also, I fulfilled a long time dream of visiting Hualien and seeing Tarako Gorge (Taiwan’s version of the Grand Canyon), well worth the time and taxi rental cost for the day. One  interesting encounter in the train station was the impatience of the people behind us as we tried to order tickets to go to Hualien. I didn’t remember that the end of the Western year was a holiday in Taiwan, so the station was pregnant with people. We finally resorted to getting help and using a ticket machine, thoughy this meant we had to use cash. Little did we know that Hualien is not very bank friendly. Hualien itself looked like it had time warped abck to the 50s in Japan. Of course, minus the bombed out shacks, instead it had rusting shacks and looked like it had missed a few baths in paint. The ride on through the city to the hotel wa smore of the same. The two males at the front desk were really welcoming, and even helped us out with trying to sort out a tour the next day. Turned out no one had read my email (or no one read it that understood it). Anyway, we found out with the tour the next day, they would return too late for us to make our scheduled train back to Taipei. So instead, they suggested that we renta  taxi for the day, which actually was almost the same price as the tour. That night we went to a famous dumpling soup place that was near the hotel. That was great and pretty cheap, even though we needed to order 2 bowls each as they were midget sized.

Afterwards we nosed on over to a market, which was very local with some aboriginal jewelry and mostly junk. We did buy some other snacks while we there, and then later walked back to the hotel. The next day the driver came, and we gave him a list of places we wanted to go, and off we went. Lots of  fun with some great tunnels and gorge settings. The taxi driver was very familar with the best places for pics and let us off a few times to pick us up later. The only big ‘mistake’ he made was bringing us to a touristy tea shop/restaurant instead of the regular Taiwanese restaurant. So after we got away from the tourist trap, we went to the other place. Of course more grungy, but crowded with Taiwanese touring the area and much cheaper . We had a relatively cheap lunch and went on with walking to a nearby resort hotel as well as looking around one of the bridges over the gorge. The hotel had a herb garden, which was nice with some carved stones here and there for decorations.

Then we headed out and saw the beach on the way back, with one stop at a jewelry store which the taxi driver thought we wanted for shopping for souvenirs. But since most of it was overpriced amber pieces, we weren’t exactly interested. He later made up for it swinging by a candy/food gift  store where my wife did pick up what she was looking for. We then headed back to the station, and we had an hour or so to kill. Tried the bank machine again, but seems only Taiwanese cards work in that one horse city. We bade farewell and arrived back in shiny Taipei with a department store and an atm right around the corner.

Lost a will to travel

Luggage in limbo

Gotta wonder, I’ve met two people in Japan, and they seem to have no or little urge to travel. One doesn’t even have a passport (or he has an expired one), and says he doesn’t like traveling. I don’t know about you, but not traveling outside of Japan for 8 years?  No thanx, I think by then I would move to at least a hospital or something.

Then again, I have friends back home that have only been to Canada or Mexico (or sometimes both). Maybe my wife and I have gotten the travel bug bad. I have to wonder though, when you start not wanting to travel, are you getting stuck?

I hope I never get to that stage in life, though I know people who are content to never get on a plane or boat (sometimes even a train). But to never consider leaving the country in a year multiplied by a few? I have heard of homebodies,

but ’nationbodies’? I suppose these people may travel ‘virtually’, but that really isn’t the same, is it?

Maybe it is a bit of a phobia, that people are concerned when they leave their country (or adopted country), they may find it’s not the best thing after ‘beans on toast’. Or perhaps it’s a control issue, because we all know how travel can often be so unpredictable in awful and delightful ways. And some people just can’t deal with that, being in a place where no one knows their name, and maybe no one gives a damn either about finding it out. Then again, I don’t have to leave my adopted home to find that situation sometimes.

Who knows, just have to wait and see if my passport stamps start dwindling and the time between stamps starts lengthening. But probably with the way the fuel tax is rising, maybe I won’t have long to wait until I too can’t travel very often. Wait, couldn’t I always get deported?

Just met another person who in his words ‘can’t be bothered to travel’. His bother, you might ask? He stated that packing was troublesome. Packing? I think sometimes ‘packing’ my briefcase, but of course I get paid for going to work, not for traveling (yet). So when I asked what he spends his money on, I got stony silence. Well maybe it’s retirement (he’s not that young) or he likes Japan that much!