Home Again

I just arrived home from English Camp. I had a fabulous time and have a lot to tell. However, it's really late and I've been running with my sleep tank near E and so I don't have time to tell about everything we did over the weekend.

Going to English Camp

As I write this post I am riding on a bus to help staff at an English Camp. For the next three days I will be helping Japanese high schoolers to improve their English.

The camp is being hosted out in the countryside, about 5 hrs. from Tokyo by bus. We left early in the morning and should arrive sometime in the early afternoon. In order to make the most of our time, the school is having us start teaching shortly after arriving.

During the pre-camp meetings I was told that the students level would be very basic. I got the impression that they were just starting their English studies and were unable to carry on a real conversation. From the few girls I've spoken to so far this does not seem to be the case. It may be that the girls introduced themselves are the most confident of the group and that the rest are at a lower level.

When I walked on to the bus, I got a taste of what it must be like to be a celebrity. Everyone was eager for my attention and were delighted with everything I said. The gushed with pleasure whenever I was able to understand them and answer back. I can see why people get addicted to fame and popularity.

Since I don't have internet while I write it, this post has been time delayed.

Odds and Ends

Here's a few things that have happened over the last week that didn't really merit a post of their own but might proving interesting:

Apparently the local police's new hobby is stopping gaijin bicyclists and asking to see their registration to prove that the bike isn't stolen. I've been stopped twice, one guy upstairs has been stopped three times. One time he wasn't carrying his wallet with his bike's registration card and got arrested (I'm not sure of all the details on the situation). Needless to say I've been very careful about remembering my wallet lately.

Yesterday, riding my bike to school, I passed a bright orange Lambroghini stuck in traffic. As traffic spurted and clogged, we kept passing each other. In the end I proved to be faster. It gave me great amusement to outpace a high performance sports car that cost more than my parent's house on my rusty granny bike.

While in a shop today, they were playing Weird Al's new single, White and Nerdy. Likely, I was the only person in the store that understood the lyrics. I thought it was pretty funny.

The Imperial Palace

Yesterday I had the day off from school. I didn't want to sit around and waste time like I did on my previous holiday so, along with Stephanie, who was also looking to doing something touristy, I found somewhere to go.

When we arrived in Japan, the school gave us a packet with some touristy brochures, including a set of these maps with self guided tours. We decided to do the one around Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace.

Tokyo Station is sort of the Grand Central of the city. It was built in 1914, patterned off of the Central station of Amsterdam. It is built out of beautiful red brick and looks very old-style European. Unfortunately, the station sustained heavy damage during Allied bombing in WWII, including the destruction of several beautiful domes that used to ornament the roof.

The Imperial Palace (map) or Kokyo, is the official residence of the Emperor of Japan, Akihito. What is now the Imperial Palace used to be Edo Castle, which was built in 1457. It served as the military capital of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period (1603-1867). In 1869 during during the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor regained power and began to rule from what became known as the Imperial Palace.

This palace, like Tokyo Station was bombed during WWII. Unfortunately, it was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1968. This is clearly visible when visiting, everything looks very new, not at all like it would if it were the original 549 structure.

The Palace grounds incorporate large Japanese gardens, high walls and wide moats. Visitors are not allowed inside the inner areas of the complex where the actual Palace and main buildings are located. Stephanie and I were able to visit the East Garden and to walk around and see the main gates, the Nijubashi bridge and the East Garden. Unfortunately, I do not have a camera and so was unable to take pictures. The pictures in this post are all of the net. However, Stephanie, made up for me by taking lots of pictures which she will be posting on her blog sometime in the near future. I hope to do some more commentary on our trip once I get those photos.

Firefox 2 Huzzah!

Today Mozilla released the final, official version of Firefox 2. This new version includes many improvements including more efficent resource utilization,  an integrated spell checker and a modern, sleeker looking interface.

I downloaded a copy yesterday before the rush on the servers but I haven't gotten around to installing and using it yet. I've been using a fair number of extensions and I want to make sure that all of the important ones are compatible with FF2 before I make the switch.

Long may the Fox reign!

Journeys

I foumd out the other day that Kimiko, one of the few Christians on campus here at TUJ has a blog. Give her a visit and leave a comment if feel the inclination.

While she isn't quite as picture happy as Steph, she also does a better job than I at chronicling daily life in Japan. For example this wonderful picture of the Japanese version of food. Apparently she actually ate all that.

As I read the blogs of my fellow students I am confronted with the degree to which I am wasting an enormous opportunity to explore this unique and amazing country. I really need to get off my backside, go out and explore.

This Proves that I'm Open Minded

This post was created, edited and posted using a Mac.

While I really hate the mouse and key board this uber sized display on its adjustable pivot thing is pretty spiffy.

As I'm beginning to use Macs a little bit more my outright hatered for them is being tempered and refined into a mere grudging dislike. They're non-standard layout and interface is irritating and due to the Apple poor quality to price ratio, I'll probably never buy one but at the same time I can now do most of my essential tasks and could imagine using one if a real computer were temporarily unavailable.

I miss home.

Cooking for Geeks

You've probably noticed that over the last week or two my attention has become increasingly occupied by the acquisition and preparation of nutrients. I am attempting to discover the techniques required to create edible combinations of plant and animal products which I then injest with the expectation of receiveing the nutrients necessary to sustain my body.

In other words, I'm trying to learn to cook. It is not an easy process. In search of assitance, I turned to the internet. Fortunately, my good friend did not let me down.

I found two great sites look like they will be very helpful; Cooking for Engineers and Snacksby.

Cooking For Engineers is:

"a cooking site that approaches cooking as a form of engineering rather than an art. Step-by-step descriptions and pictures guide you through each recipe."

Like the description says, its a detailed, geek-friendly cooking guide. I love the way they refer to their pots, pans and utensils as "equipment and gear".

Snacksby is "like Macgyver, but for food". Basicly to use this site you input a list of all the ingredients you have on hand and it spits out a list of recipes that you can make with the ingredients you have on hand. It's pretty neat. At first I was a bit skeptical, but after using it to find my dinner tonight my opinion of the site is much improved.

Cooking is usually not an area in which geeks excel. It's nice that some people are putting some effort into translating the art of cooking into a more methodical science.

Microsoft to Donate Computer Classes to Terrorists

I found this story to be pretty amusing:

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to donate more than $300,000 to open computer centers where former paramilitary fighters will receive free training for civilian jobs, the government said Thursday.

Responding to a request from the Columbian government, Microsoft will be donating $234,000 in cash and $77,000 in software to help captured terrorists develop job skills so that they won't return to their usual careers, "crime, forming armed gangs... extortion and drug-trafficking."

The paramilitary group for which these men used to fight is funded primarily by growing and trafficking cocaine.

How would you like to try and teach Microsoft Windows to a convicted, crack-addicted terrorist, who is unfamiliar with any kind of machinery ore electronics more complex than his AK-47?

Countdown - Click here to view the time left until I return home.

Adventures in Cooking: Fried Rice

Yesterday, I decided to continue my self-taught* cooking education by trying to make fried rice, the variety filled with tasty little bits of meat, veggies and egg. I found a recipe online and followed the basic instructions. About 45 minutes later, my rice was ready to eat.

To make it, I first cooked some rice (supposedly fried rice is usually made to use up left over rice but I didn't have any). When it was done, I dumped it into my wok along with a tablespoon or two of canola oil and started stirring it around. Then I poured in some soy sauce and continued stirring. Next I added some finely frozen veggies: corn, peas and small cubed carrots. Finally, I squished all my rice up around the edges of the pan and scrambled a couple eggs in the middle. When the eggs were done I mixed them into the rice. Viola! Dinner.

My rice turned out so well that I decided to make some more this evening. Unfortunately, I encountered more trouble my second go round.

Since the first batch came out wonderfully I decided to make a much larger batch this time so that I could have some for lunch tomorrow. I started to make several cups of rice but I forget it on the stove and ended up burning it badly. For those of you new to the world of cooking, it's generally a bad sign when your are reminded of a forgotten cooking project by your olfactory sense.

I had to throw the whole pot away and start over, this time having to scrub hard-burned rice off the bottom of the pot before beginning.

I decided to continue with my plans to make a large pot despite my initial error. Fortunately the second batch came out perfectly and now I can happily report a full stomach and tupperware filled with tomorrow's lunch.

*In reality I am only somewhat self-taught, I often get cooking advice from my parents via Skype before trying a new recipe. In this instance however, the internet was my only teacher.

del.icio.us

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that allows users to store their bookmarks online so that they are available from any computer with interent access.

What makes del.icio.us interesting is that it allows users to tage their bookmarks and make them public so that they can be viewed by others. This allows people to get a rough idea of how popular a site is and to find sites on a particular topic that others have found helpful.

Do any of you use del.icio.us?

Boudless

The Boundless webzine and its accompanying blog have been a really encouraging source of good advice for me since I began reading them about a year ago. I know I've mentioned Boundless awhile back and even included it as one of my sidebar links but since there is an especially good set of articles up right now, and I've had a fair bit of reader turnover, I thought it might be a good time to give it another shout out.

I hope Boundless blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

Teach Me

For the last few weeks, I have been reading through the Psalms in order for my daily devotional. This is a major departure from my reading strategy for the last eight years but so far it has been a blessing to go slower and focus more on smaller sections of scripture.

As I read, I am beginning to identify strongly with David as he pours out his heart to God, asking for mercy and blessing. It amazes me how each day's Psalm is just what I need right when I read it. I find encouragement on days when I'm down and thankful praise when I'm doing well.

About a week ago I came across this passage (quote from the NASB):

Psalm 25:4-7 Make me know Your ways O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation; For you I wait all the day. Remember O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindness, For they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; According to Your loving kindness remember me, For Your goodness' sake, O Lord. 

Since then I have been using this passage as a prayer before I do the rest of my reading.

God's Word really is living and active.

Door Knockers

I went to visit a friend in Kanagawa prefecture this week end. While at his apartment, someone rang the door bell and we opened it to fine a Jehovah's Witness.

Needless to say I was surprised. We chatted amiably, she tried to convert us and vis a versa. Her English wasn't that good and so we didn't really get anywhere but it was a interesting experience.

Webhosting

I'm thinking about buying myself some webhosting. There are several things that I really want to try that require having a decent webhost.

I've poked around a bit, looking at free hosts and most of them seem to be pretty hokey. They give you cheezy subdomains or strange addresses and they have horrible user interfaces loaded with obnoxious adds. Even if I could get past all that, most of them won't allow me to install the kind of software that I want to use.

Anyhow, I found several hosts that have good reputations and that seem to be pretty user friendly.  They give me 10-20 GB of hardspace and a thousand GB of bandwidth. Most of them come with professional blogging software (pre-set up if so desired), FTP, domain name(s), free tech support and uptime guarantees among a host of other features and services.

Here are the ones that I'm looking at:

• Blue Host
• AN Hosting
• DreamHost

If you know anything about these guys, have other recommendations or any advice I'd really appreciate your input.

The other thing that's appealling about these guys is that they're quite affordable, costing $6-8 per month which works out to less than a hundred dollars a year.

This looks like a really cool toy to buy and yet...

My miserly superego points out that I don't have an abundance of disposable capital to work with right now. Between the costs of tution and Tokyo living I'm living pretty close to the wire. Can I afford webhosting when I balk at the cost of buying fruit at the grocery store?

*UPDATE* I looked a bit more into AN Hosting and they are offering 50 GB of hard space, 1000 GB of bandwidth and all sorts of goodies for $7 a month, with my first two months free. That seems like a sweet deal. $70 for a year of sweet webhosting... It's so tempting.

My Temperament

It is often useful to have a general model with which to analyze and categorize ourselves and the people around us in relation to disposition, preferences and the like. Of the several systems I've tried, my favorite is the Jung/Myers-Briggs/Keirsey style model. While Jung, Myers-Briggs and Keirsey differ slightly in their definitions of types, they use the same general categories and the same notation for results.

Usually the easiest way to discover your temperament is to take one or more of the online tests. I like to take several because they often utilize a different style of questions that yield slightly different results. After taking several tests I can analyze the results they give and decide which fit best. It seems that sometimes one tests will measure one dimension of temperament better than another, but the other test is more accurate on another dimension. With a little thought, I think you can get helpful results.

If you take one of these tests you will receive a four letter score such as ESFJ or INTP. The test measures four different dimensions of temperament and each letter represents your preference on one of them.

The four dimensions are:

• Extroverted/Introverted (I or E) - This represents the degree to which you enjoy meeting with new people and/or spending time in large group settings and whether you energize by interacting with people or spending time alone.
• Sensory/iNtuitive (S or N) - This represents the degree to which you rely on past experiences and concrete observations over intuition and conceptual reasoning when making decisions or evaluations
• Thinking/Feeling (T or F) - This represents the degree to which you rely on emotion over logic to make decisions and evaluations. This also has to do whether you are people oriented or goal oriented.
• Perceptive or Judging - This represents the degree to which you value stability and scheduling over spontaneity  and flexibility.

I have taken a wide assortment of this type of temperment test over the last few years and I think I can describe myself well in these terms. So which of the 16 possible temperments am I?

I am an INTP.

My preference for Introversion is very weak. I usually feel awkward and uncomfortable when meeting people in social situations for example at a school or church get-together but at the same time I feel less uncomforable with unstructured, chance, one-on-one encounters for example I often strike up conversation while waiting in line or at work. I also need a good balance between time alone and time with people. Too much time alone makes me restless but constant time around people makes me crave some time alone with a good book. Generally, I like to have other people around when I DO something or go somewhere but I like to have time alone with the computer or a book.

I am strongly iNtuitive. I think far more abstractly than concretely. I understand theories and concepts like those found in economics or philosophy much better than things requiring more physical reasoning like mechanics or wood working.

As a moderately strong Thinker, I use logic and reasoning over emotion when making a decsion. I often think of issues without considering the feelings of other people. For example, I think that in some circumstances dogs could provide a useful food source, an opinion that flies in the face of most peoples affection for pets.

I am very mixed on the scale of Perceptive/Judging. I use P because when predicting behavior in combination with the other dimensions I usually act as a P. I like to keep my options open but at the same time I need to know of where I'm going and a rough idea of a plan to get there. I like to have a base of stability but to improvise from that base. I am prone to procrastination and am often impulsive about my use of time. Therefore I try to use lists and schedules to force myself to complete necessary tasks even though these methods are not natural to me.

So there you have it, my self-diagnosis of my temperment. Those of you who know me feel free to point out any flaws or blindspots in my reporting. Hopefully this was intersting for you guys. I encourage you to take a temperment sorter or two and post your results with your analysis.

Chowder: Take 2

I made chowder again today and this time it came out great.

I cut my potatoes smaller and boiled them longer and slower so they cooked down better, I didn't burn the bacon and I didn't allow the soup to boil after adding the milk.

I learned from last times mistakes and I made a tasty meal that didn't come prepackaged. Perhaps I can learn to cook after all.

Air

It's amazing what a dramatic improvement air can make to a bicycle tire.

Today I went and retrieved my bike from school. I took a bus to school and then lugged my bicycle with its rear flat tire all the way home. Actually I quickly tired of lugging it and ended up riding it on the rim most of the way.

I took it to Seiyu, the Japanese affiliate of Walmart and was able to get it repaired without talking to anyone. It was pretty neat. I just brought it to the bike area, the guy saw the problem, took the bike patched both holes in the tube, handed me a piece of paper with the price on it and I paid, no muss no fuss.

What was also interesting is that he was able to fix the bike without ever standing up. When I brought the bike to him, he was sitting on a little cart thing. He had all his tools arranged so that they were immediately at hand and he didn't have to move to get any of them. It was a very efficent system and rather interesting to watch him work.

I'm so glad to have this problem solved.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

(Picture taken with my lappy's webcam)

In the last week or so I've slipped into the habit of eating a loaf of bread everyday.

That might seem rather excessive but here a loaf consists of a mere six to eight slices, a number easily consumed in my average day. I start the day with a couple pieces of toast, then for lunch I have a pair of sandwitches utilizing two slices each and then in the evening another sandwhich makes a good, pre-bedtime snack.

When I first came to Japan, I didn't buy any bread at all. Going to the store and seeing what to me was less than half a loaf of bread selling for the equivalent of $1.50 seemed to me to be nothing short of extortion. However, as I've gotten used to Japanese prices I've come to realize that two meals for $1.50 (plus butter for toast and jam for my sandwhiches) is actually a pretty good buy.

It feels rather odd buying four or five loaves of bread at a time so I've been buying my bread in onesies and twosies. This means I have to make an almost daily trip to the store for bread, thus I am gaining a new appreciation for the Lord's prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread."

A Great Day

Today was a wondeful day, made all the better by contrast with the last few days. 

It started as a good weekend should with me sleeping in till 11:30. I got up and played around a bit on my computer. I had a nice chat with Tanya and Virtual Mindshare, while checking my email and reading  my newsfeeds.

Around 2:00 I went out to Shibuya and met a friend from church to do some shopping in Harajuku. I got a cheeseburger and fries for lunch (I found coupons on the sidewalk on the way).

After working our way through Harajuku, we went to a worship service at church. I did a better job of worshipping than I usually do, focusing on God rather than allowing my mind to wander and really praising from my heart. It was a good time.

After the service, I stayed around and chatted for a long time. I think I made a few new friends. I'm going to help them with some street ministry on Tuesday which should be interesting considering that I don't speak Japanese.

Finally when everyone left church, we all converged on the local Sukiya for a late dinner. I had soup, salad and a tasty bowl of Tonkatsu-don. Chatting continued until we all went our seperate ways on the train.

Finally, on arriving home, I had a nice devotional reading from Psalm 18. Now I'm writing a quick blog post and heading for my cozy bed, with a full belly, happy and exhausted.

Rebuilding Microsoft

 Wired Magazine has a really good article on the shifts taking place inside Microsoft as Gates steps back in favor of a new Chief Software Architect, Ray Ozzie.

Mr. Ozzie will be shepherding Microsoft as the corporation attempts to shift its focus to the new web-based model of application distribution.

The article was great and if you're at all interested in software or business, I highly recommend it.

Typhoon

Yesterday, I wrote, "Depending on the weather, I may walk it [my bike] home sometime in the next week.". Well, the weather reports are in and it doesn't look like I'll be getting my bike in the near future.

You see, right now I'm getting hit by a typhoon (the Asian version of a hurricane). In America, everyone knows for a week in advance if their is the slightest chance of getting hit by a hurricane. Here my first warning was watching the rain blow sideways and umbrellas turn inside out on my way home from school. Once inside Josh turned on the TV to show the entirity of Japan covered in one swirling storm.

I don't think they're predicting major damage. I walked to Seven Eleven at one'o'clock in the morning to buy chocolate and I survived without harm except for getting wet and cold.

The storm should blow over in a couple days. So what's next on the forecast?

...Another typhoon. No joke.

A Lousy Day

Today wasn't a very good day.

On my way to school, I got a flat tire on my bike.

Of course the day I got a flat was also the day that it had to pour down rain. After class, a Japanese classmate helped me to look for somewhere to get my bike fixed.

We found a store that sold bike tires and inner tubes but I don't know how to change a back tire. After a bit of asking around, we found a bike shop. Unfortunately for me, there was a hand-written note on the door saying that the shop was closed early. I ended up just locking up my bike to be fixed sometime in the future when the shop opens up. Depending on the weather, I may walk it home sometime in the next week.

After trecking about in the rain for more than an hour, I ended up having to wait in the rain for another twenty minutes for a bus and pay to go home.

Of course I'm pretty much out of food but since I didn't want to walk a half hour out to the grocery store with no bike or umbrella I ended up digging through the cupboards to find something for dinner. I found some curry but the girls next door have taken the communal ricecooker and weren't home for me to get it back.

I ended up cooking my rice in one of the nasty little pots that were provided by the dorm.

Reading back over this, I'm being kind of whiney. Sorry about that, I'll try to do better in the future.

Testing

I am trying the new beta for Windows Live Writer blog publishing software. This is just a quick test to see if it is configured properly and if posts I construct in this application are properly posted here on The Rabenstranger.

I intend to keep using Live Writer along with Performancing, to see which if I either I prefer to the default Blogger site. As I come closer to a conclusion I'll provide a more detailed review. Until then, feel free to try out either on your own and let me know what you think.

*EDIT*

Palm boy said, "I tried the Live software a few months ago, I liked it. But I like the online one better, its faster for me."

Ah, but I've got a Live Writer extension for Firefox. This makes for quicker bloggin because I can blog from any website instead of having to go to blogger.com/home. I just click one little button and up Live Writer pops, ready to record and publish my thoughts.

Woody said, "So it worked then?"

It certainly looks that way. Now I'm testing to see whether I can successfully edit a post.

Accountablility

I've started attending a small bible study with a few friends from church. We meet each week to study God's word, discuss our personal devotions and fellowship.

One of the things that we are doing is making a conscious effort to hold each other accountable to spend time in the Word and in prayer. I haven't been doing very well with my devotions since coming to Japan but the encouragement from my Christian brothers is already starting to make a difference in the way that I prioritize my time and helping to focus on the eternal.

Your prayers would be appreciated (as always) as I strive to develop habits that will lead me into a deeper relationship with God.