Living in Roppongi Hills...

Sing to the tune of Weezer's "Living in Beverly Hills":

Roppongi Hills,
That is where I want to be!
Living in Roppongi Hills..



Not so much. One of my housing options, International Plaza Akasaka, is right outside Roppongi. But when I move to Tokyo, Roppongi is one of the last places I want to live (although the brand new Roppongi Hills shopping center looks pretty nice). Roppongi is one of the seediest districts of Tokyo. One travel site descibed it like this(Warning: PG-13).

No, I want to live on the clean side of town. I will probably be staying at TUJ House, an apartment building owned by Temple University Japan. The school website describes it like this:

"TUJ House is a two-story apartment building located in a residential district in Tokyo (Jiyugaoka). The commuting time from the dorm to campus is approximately 50 minutes by public transportation. TUJ House is fully furnished. It has study rooms, a laundry room, a common space, and 10 two-person units. The room size (including bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom) is approximately 28 square meters."

A more detailed description is available here.

When I first heard that the rooms were 11'x27' I thought that quite generous. However, looking at the pictures, I can see that the room is broken up between kitchen and bedroom leaving very limited space. This concerns me a little because I don't see anywhere to set up my computer. I may have to get a lap top after all. More Pictures

It is required that I stay in TUJ housing for my first semester. The school wants to keep track of new international students to make sure that they adjust properly. This seems like a wise policy to me. Unfortunately, the TUJ housing is very expensive. Regardless of which building I choose to live in, I will have to pay ¥430000, about $3,700 for a little more than three months. That's more than 1200 a month! I could rent a house in my neighborhood for that much. After my first semester I expect to move into significantly cheaper accomodations.

In addition to rent I also need to plan for a daily train fare. According to the Tokyo Transfer Guide, provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Transportation, it will take me about half an hour to get from the TUJ house to the school and will cost about ¥310 or $3. That's a bit more than I used to pay to carpool to BCC but not exorbitantly so.

In conclusion, it appears that my first semester living arrangements won't be too bad. Things will be a bit inconvenient but problems should be manageable. If God blesses me with a good roommate, it should be a great experience.

So long Mr. Baen!

Jim Baen, SciFi publisher extraordinare, died the day before yesterday on June 28th. It is a sad day for science fiction lovers everywhere.

I can say with out hesitation that Baen Books is without a doubt my favorite publisher. The folks at Baen consistently put out the best novels and short stories. In my opinion this is because the company has always been run by SciFi fans who are focused on providing the best books to their fellow readers.

Jim Baen is resposnsible for starting many of the superstar authors of modern SciFi, David Drake, Eric Flint, john Ringo, David Weber and others.

Another thing I have always appreciated is Baen's free e-books. Jim Baen pioneered the brilliant idea of providing free, unencrypted books in electronic format on the internet and on CD's packaged with Baen books. Even though I haven't been able to afford buying any of Baen's titles I have read a large number of them from this service.

I've loved Baen Books for years and I am sad to learn of Jim's death. I hope a worth successor is found so that Baen Books can continue to deliver excellent books and reader service.

Carnival!

I remember when going to a carnival hosted by a local elementary school when I was about seven. We bought tickets and spent them on various craft projects, games and candies. It was a great deal of fun and my sister and I enjoyed it greatly.

Since then I haven't really been to carnivals much. Until now.

I have discovered the joy of Blog Carnivals, long lists of links to posts on a particular subject compiled by hosts and posted so that readers interested in a particular topic will have ample reading material.

In the last couple of days Instapundit has linked to a couple Carnivals that I have really enjoyed.

First their was the Carnival of Capitalists, a whirl through financial, economic and business articles.

Then, even better was the Second Ammendment Carnival, a wonderous tour of blogs proudly pontificating on their love of firearms.

Hurray for free carnivals! I don't even have to buy any tickets or tokens.

Down with the Chicoms!

China tries to present a pleasant face to the world but beneath their facade lies a country of disgusting cruelty. Everytime I read another story about the abuses of the Communists I get more frustrated.

No Rest for the Wicked

My good friend TBQelite recently introduced me to a new webcomic titled "No Rest For the Wicked".

The comic features a clever plot incorporating many popular(and not so popular) fairy tales weaving them together to create an intersting cast of characters and an engaging story.

Updates come once a week.

Rabenstrange in LOVE!

I got a chance to shoot an M14 today. I am in love.

The beauty of the rifle is imeasurable. The price tag is stratospheric. It's a tragic case of unrequited love.

The sad story began when I went along with my little brother's Royal Ranger group to the rifle range to shoot with a Match Markmanship team (they've got several state and national champions).

I've never thought of myself as a great marksman. Frankly, I'm a horrible shot. For some strange reason I did good and the Coach of the team invited me back to practise with the team. Apparently, they use events like ours as a talent search and he thinks I have "potential". I'm pretty sure he's wrong but if it means I get to spend more time on the range I'm happy to oblige.

The First Day of Summer

It's a beautiful day here in Seattle. The stereotypical rainclouds are far away and the sun is out. What a wonderful way for summer to start.

Today I will fulfil the last of the evening commitments that I have maintained throughout the school year leaving my after work hours much more free. I will finally have opportunity to regularize my evening swims. While the pool has been open for more than a month now, my tight work schedule and evening activities have kept me from going up much.

w00t for Summer!

FCF Trace

I spent this past weekend at this year's Trace.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Frontiersman Camping Fellowship(FCF) let me briefly explain the organization. FCF is an offshoot of the Royal Rangers program. Royal Rangers is a Christian scouting program very similar to the Boyscouts with the intention of evangelism. FCF is a special part of the orginization that is based around 19th century re-enactment.

Trace is our main annual meeting. Every year we get together to camp out in teepees, canvas wall tents and other period shelters, cook in dutch ovens and over open fires, and compete in tomahawk, knife throwing and muzzleloading riflery. It's a great deal of fun.

More importantly, FCF is an orginization that seeks to help members grow in their walk with God and to encourage and equip for Christian service.

The Ends Against the Middle

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/13/business/search.php

Drudge links to an article reporting that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are all building massive computer data centers along the Columbia River in Southern Washington/Northern Oregon in attempts to out do each other and provide better service for consumers.

I must admit I love this war for the interenet and I hope that none of the three companies achives dominance. The intense competition is driving all sorts of innovation in online services and applications. When combined with the advances in the Open Source movement, I get to use all kinds of great software for free.

I'm using Microsoft Windows for my OS, Mozilla Firefox for my browser, Sun Microsystem's Open Office for word processing, spreadsheets etc. I use Google for searches and Google's Blogger service for my blog but I use Yahoo's Flickr for hosting pictures and AOL's Mapquest. I love Amazon and Ebay and I have an account with Ebay-owned Skype. For email I have accounts with Yahoo, Microsoft's Hotmail, Google's Gmail, and Juno (They're all Rabenstrange@.... by the way.). I've got IM accounts with AIM, MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk.

It's a wonderful world with so many options.

Hardware Stores Make Me Feel Stupid

A couple days ago I had the misfortune to be sent to the hardware store. My boss at work wanted a feeler gauge to use in setting up a machine, a few lightbulbs, a brush and a few assorted knobs to install on the folder.

I hate hardware stores. I loathe walking down endless aisles of tools, gadgets and materials, the majority of which I can't identify. I never know where to look for anything and if it weren't for helpful sales people I would never be able to find the items I needed.

That last is a bit of an exaggeration, I was able to find the brush without any assistance. I even found the Tool section to look for the feeler guage. I still had to ask for help finding the gizmo because I didn't know what a feeler guage was or what it looked like. It was embarrassing.

Locating the remaining items involved the usual procedure of finding somone in an apron and begging them to have mercy on a poor lost shopper. They pointed me in the right directions and I was able to get the lightbulbs from the Lighting section and the hardware in the Hardware section. Of course this made me feel even worse.

Every time I enter a hardware store I feel a wave of inferiorty wash over me. When I can smell the wood, paint and other odors so beloved by the vast majority of my sex I realize that I am a freak. I am the only one in the entire store who has no idea what is going on. All the other guys bustles about on their errands zeroing in on the exact items they want and then wandering about to look at the newest tools, basking in their manliness and chatting with the clerks about the best way to use a lag bolt, whatever that is, while I walk one way and then the other in an obvious state of confusion. It is as if I have entered the grand sanctuary of all that is macho and been rejected.

At least I can say that it wasn't as bad as last time I went. Last time I had to get a bathroom fan. After consulting two or three employees I finally made it to the section where I could supposedly find one. I poked about for a minute or two and coming up empty I asked again. The clerk looked at me as if I were some sort of escapee from a finishing school or maybe a rehab clinic and with an expression of disgust turned his head to look behind him. It was then that I noticed that the entire wall behind him was an enormous display of fans of all shapes and sizes. I cringed, grabbed the cheapest fan I could find hurriedly retreated in shame.

Why can't I get sent to the electronics store?

TUJ!

Since I've been getting alot of questions concerning TUJ, I thought I'd endeavor to answer a bunch at one time.

Temple University Japan(TUJ), is a branch campus off of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Temple University, the home of the Owls. It was formed in 1982, primarily to allow Japanese students to acquire an American degree without having to leave Japan. Located in down town Tokyo, the school has grown to an enrollment of 2,600 students originating from all over the world. Approximately, 75% are Japanese, 15% are American and the remaining ten percent represent about thirty other countries.

Degrees are offered from AAs all the way up to Phds. All classes taught and degrees issued at TUJ are fully accredited in the United States and Canada through the main campus. As far as credit transfer goes, TUJ is just like any American university. Additionally, just last year, TUJ became the first government designated Foreign University, Japan Campus, making its degrees transferable to traditional Japanese universities.

I will be attending TUJ with the hopes of finishing my a B.A. in Economics over the next two years. Starting Fall Semester 2006, I will move to Tokyo to attend classes. I will probably be flying out from SeaTac Airport on August 18th. I should graduate in April 2008.

Semester Start/End dates:
Fall Start: August 28^th
Fall End: December 5^th
Spring Start: January 9^th
Spring End: April 17^th

Because of the trials and complications inextricably intertwined with moving to a new country and culture, the school requires that I live in their dorm for my first semester. After that I hope to move into a normal apartment with a Japanese roommate (I can't rent an apartment on my own).

I am a bit apprehensive due to the fact that I barely speak any Japanese. Hopefully I'll pick it up quickly. My gut tells me that I will become highly motivated when I need it to ask for the location of the nearest restroom or want to buy food. In all seriousness, I should be okay because most Japanese people speak at least a little English and many of them are fluent.

Anyhow, that's a brief overview of my TUJ plans.

Japanese Test

Today I have a big test in Japanese class. It counts for about a quarter of my grade.

Because our final consists of cooking Japanese food this is the last real day of class. I'll miss Sensei and my friends from class.

The Brain Workout

The Wall Street Journal has come out in favor of video games, joining a growing group of researchers and publications to admit the benefits of gaming.

Boundless published an article on disaster preparedness this week. Their article deals with the subject from a more philosophical, "Should we prepare?" angle rather than giving a "How to..." guide. I just found it interesting because it came shortly after my own post a week or two ago.

Come to think of it, Tokyo would be one of the worst places on earth to be in the aftermath of a disaster. The population density is so high that things would get ugly quick.

わたし は じゅくみん を 要る です。

If you would like to try your hand at translating I recommend Nihongo Resources. Of course, I'm not quite sure if I wrote it correctly.

I have a feeling I'm going to learn not to talk so much when I get to Tokyo.