Tim’s Ramblings

…so…this post is a few weeks late. But hey, better late than never! ..um…right?

So, in this post, I would like to introduce you all to a small narrow street that runs right along side the Japan Rail’s Yamanote line between Ueno and Okachimachi stations called Ameya Yokocho or Ameyoko for short. As usual, there are pictures and descriptions and stuff, so click on the link and check it out! :)
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So, when a friend of mine asked me what keyboards I’m switching and such, I realized that most of you readers probably have nooo idea what the hell I’m complaining about whenever I meantion that these different keyboards are driving me crazy.

So. Because all I want to do when I come back home after a long day of work is to procrastinate and do anything that will prevent me from doing stuff I SHOULD do (laundry, dishes, etc…), here is a more visual explanation of just what I’m talking about. I know you’re all excited. I can tell. Really.

Click on the link to see what I’m talking about!

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Yup. Parent’s are now off to Japan. I met them at the hotel this morning and just got back after saying goodbye to them at the security checkpoint at the airport.

I feel kinda sad but at the same time, I feel strangely detached. I’ve always known this would eventually happen and it’s not like this is something unique to me by any means. After all, there are plenty of people who live far away from their parents. There are tons of people who moved to the US leaving their families back in their home country. But still, I guess even though I knew this would happen eventually, after being in the US for 30 years, it’s still a bit hard to believe I guess.

Not that I won’t see them. Especially with all of my travels to Japan. Gonna be harder for my sister after all. Not that she really ever saw my parents much but the potential was there since they only lived 3 hours away. Now it’s a bit of a pain for her to go see them. And with the 13 hour time difference, 14 during non-daylight savings, even talking on the phone becomes a pain.

Bah.

It’s going to be harder for the parents though….lots of packages coming their way and I know how small their apartment is going to be. That combined with a new life, a new job, a new location…sure, my mom’s been itching to go back home but that doesn’t make adjusting any easier.

Ah well. Like I always said, and like I told my dad when he was kinda feeling down about moving too, that this was inevitable. It was bound to happen. Nothing we can really do about it now.

Looks like I’ll be spending X-mas and New Years down there though. That’s what my sister wants to do and it doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me either. Hmmm…now…what to do for Thanksgiving. :/

Well anyway, no use being down (I’m not really…). Gonna enjoy the Sunday by catching up on my TV shows that I recorded while I was gone, eat some good food I picked up at the West Side Market, and take it easy. I got up at 7am this morning after going to bed a bit past 10:30pm last night so jet lag is not as bad. I don’t know what condition I will be in tomorrow but I know it won’t be too bad.

Yahoo.

Um…first off, I am going to warn people.

This post will focus in on the…um…gastro-intestinal side of life. You know…the end result of eating? Yeah. Not a topic to have over a nice dinner…well…I HAVE…but only with a few select people that I know are fiiiiine with it.

Buuuut it has to be said as this is part of my business travel “fun”. However, to protect the more sensitive of you out there, I am putting this behind a cut. Click on the link below to read on the godawful truth….
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Hey….these things don’t write itself you know…

It’s coming. I swear.

Here’s proof! A preview pic!! Oooooooooooooooooooooh.

Now if that’s not an incentive to click on the link below I don’t know what is.

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But first…let me tell you…this whole “switching between two styles of keyboards” is really really screwing me up. After using a Japanese keyboard for 2 weeks, now I can’t type on a normal US keyboard. Gaaaaah….

But with that out of the way….since my last post I really haven’t been able to get some sleep at all…sooooo I decided to give up at 5am and moved on to the living room to watch some of the shows I DVR’d while on my trip. Watched one episode of No Reservations, an episode of The Daily Show, and then went out for breakfast.

After lounging around for a bit longer, I decided to hit the West Side Market. Even at 8:15, I was pretty early so I didn’t even swear ONCE finding a parking spot. Sooo nice. And it wasn’t so crowded AND nothing was sold out yet. I do enjoy Japanese food. I really do. But by going to the West Side Market I was reminded that there’s more than crappy fast food here too!

Got some good sour dough bread, some pepperoni bread, homemade chorizo sausage and cheese empanadas, chicken quesadillas, even a damn tasty looking peas and prosciutto pasta salad. Oh, and some hummos and fresh pita bread, some pepperjack cheese, and a tasty bratwurst with saurkraut. Mmmm.

However, on the way out, I picked up a freshly made carrot, orange, and ginger drink. It was really good too. The nice sweet carrot worked well with the orange juice with juuust a hint of ginger. Yuuuummy. BUT, as I chugged it, I realized that my mild allergy to citrus products is still alive and well.

See…this all started about 6 or 7 years ago. I realized that if I ate too much citrus, my throat gets all….weird…and I lose my voice. It’s very temporary but alarming none the less. I found this out one day when I was over at my parents and I ate like 3 mandarin oranges (they were THAT good ok??) and in about 5 minutes after I was done I totally lost my voice for about an hour.

Today, as I was driving home drinking the juice (which I have to say again, is really good and filling and I’ll get it again, even with the side effects) my throat started to feel weird again and I realized I lost some of my voice again. I was alone so I didn’t need to talk but still, I sounded like a kid in the middle of puberty. Woo….

But anyway, what was my point….oh yes….so Japanese food is great. Really really great. But I have to say, a bratwurst sandwitch and even some quesadillas proves to me that this is still comfort food for me. Or I guess I should say that I have comfort foods on both sides of the Pacific…and I feel blessed :)

…of course in another week I’m going to be bitching about the lack of good rice balls and cold bottled green tea……ah well….

I got home at 12am last night. Wooo. Rock on.

Needless to say I was beat. Horribly beat.

Aaaaand I took the day off on Friday.

The combination of sleep deprevation during the entire trip along with 30 hours of constant traveling, stress, and the knowledge that I don’t need to get my ass up to go to work meant my mind went, “Why THANK YOU!!! I’m going to turn myself off now”.

I went to bed at 2am and I was woken up at 4pm due to my sister calling my cel.

I then got up and called mom and dad to see what time they are coming here on Saturday (they are flying out from Cleveland on Sunday) and after telling them I should get up and get something to eat since I really haven’t eaten anything since 8pm Wednesday night US time other than small portions of airline food that didn’t make me feel sick….and then stupidly went and lied down in bed again.

Ooops.

Sooooooooooooooooooooo I woke up again at midnight.

Yeah….

Great….

It’s 1am now. I’m going back to bed at 2am again. Don’t worry. I WILL be able to sleep no problem. But I will wake up at an early time tomorrow to get breakfast and such.

Mom and dad are coming up at 11:30 tomorrow and we are off to my sister and her BF’s place and then to lunch…all 5 of us. …guess I still get to play translator post business trip….

Yes…I’m being whiny. And I deserve to dammit.

But anyway, I’m home. I will be posting some final food posts later. I promise!!

(^_^)

And no….to anyone from here…not because of the city or anything. It’s because of this frickin’ airport. The George Bush International. Grrrr.

EVERY time I have flown through here on the way home to Cleveland I have been delayed. Every single time. And this time? Yup. Delayed.

Though I have to say, the customs and immigration here is much better than, say, the cluster fuck that is Detroit… There was a huuuuuuuuuuge line for immigration but the line moved quick and I was through in just a tad under 15 minutes. No small feat these days. Then, I found out that here in Houston, they actually LOOK at the tag that says “Priority” on my luggage. By the time I got to the carousel, I saw my luggage already there so I shuffled over to pick it up and to my delight my garment bag was right behind it.

In Newark, I was one of the last to get my luggage… Nice. And in Cleveland? Yeah….they don’t give a damn.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut as it goes, I breeze through customs, I breeze through security and then I get to the gate only to find out it’s been delayed ’till at LEAST 5pm here… *sigh*….. And no first class upgrade because of too many Platinums…like the dude I’m traveling with. Dammit. Soon though…I got gold already….platinum will be soon….

So anyway, here I sit in the President’s Club doing some work and killing time. Hopefully the plane will be coming soon. Where I’m sitting I have a good view of our gate so I should be able to tell when it arrives. Soon. I hope…..

And GODDAMMIT..Japan lost to Brazil 4 to 1. They sent in the first strings….for godsakes. Did they really need to send Ronaldo in for this game? Noooo. *sigh*…that sucks…we had such high potential….

Ah well. Time to finish off my black russian and chill. One thing nice about the President’s Club? Free booze. Mmmmmmmmmm….

So…this quick casual dinner thing turned out to go on ’till past 10pm.  Dammit…

With lots of food (I will post later) and I had a beer and 2 plum wine sodas along with eating both the plums that came with the drinks means I am kinda…well…sleepy.

Not drunk.  Just sleepy.

I don’t want to pack.

But I gotta leave at 9:30am tomorrow because the guy I’m with brought too much stuff to make train travel easy….

Gah.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo I’m going to pack at 11pm after watching this TV show.  Then I will pack.  Must pack…..

Urk…

I thought about it.  I have a bunch of pictures.  But no…at least not right now since I don’t have time.

Instead this is just an update.  Today was the final day.  The day is not entirely over yet as in 30 minutes we are meeting with the manager that has been taking care of us to do some post mortem feedback during an informal dinner.

I, personally, am ready to just get the hell out of here this trip.  I don’t mind traveling with people but this time it was lots and lots of work in a different sense.  Ah well.

Of course, the flight blows chunks but….eh…I’ll cope.

On a different note, I’m looking forward to going back since a coworker of mine and I are thinking of going to the UK and Sweden in August.  She’s a huuuuuuuuuuge Cramps fan (punk/psychobilly band) and they are playing in London and Stockholm.  Good excuse to go there don’t you think?

It may be pricey but I NEED a break.  I have only a trip in October to Florida at Disney (aka the Den of Evil) to look forward to so far.  And the best part is, her and I have a nice relationship.  We like to do things together but if we want to do something ourselves, the other has nooo problem with it.  Nice.  Of course, the hotel is a question….  The rooms are small and the beds have maybe an inch in between and we are close but…not THAT close…

Eh.  We’ll see.

Well, time to chill for a bit.  Gotta pack tonight.  Wooo.