Working

Today I put in a day at the printshop where I worked before going to Japan. While I'm not exactly tanking up the bank accounts, it's nice to be able to earn a few dollars here and there while I'm home.

In other news, I've started packing for my return to the land of sushi on the 3rd. In the process I went through my boxes of stuff that I had stored and threw about a third of it away. I intend to do further thinning before I leave. Unfortunately, it seems that fate took the liberty of getting rid of some of my stuff for me, one of my boxes of stuff is missing. As Murphy would predict it just so happens to be the box containg my network switch which I intended to take for use in my new apartment.

Sorry about the pictures from yesterday, I got interupted while uploading them and haven't made time to finish the process.

Pacific Science Center

The Dead Sea Scrolls are currently on display at the Pacific Science Center in downtown Seattle. This morning the older members of our family (everyone except the two youngest) tried to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to see these amazing artifacts.

Because we have so many people in our family, the cost savings conveyed by owning a membership when buying tickets to see the scrolls are almost sufficient to pay for one. For only a few dollars more than we would have paid to simply see the scrolls we were able to purchase a full year of admittance to one of the best museums in town.

Unfortunatelly, all of the daytime showings were sold out. While Dad waited in line to buy tickets for this evening, Emily, Arita and utilized our newly purchased membership to checkout a display of animatronic dinosaurs in the room next to the ticket line.

I snapped a few pictures, to make sure my camera (which also serves as a phone in Japan) was working properly with my new memory card. As you can see from the pictures I'll be posting soon.

After three months of waiting to buy a new digi-camera, now that the time has come to do so, I'm too cheap.

Update:
We just got back from seeing the scrolls. They were amazing and well worth our time. I was fascinated and awe-struck as I gazed on fragments of scripture copied by hand around the time of Christ's birth. The most amazing to me was a part of the oldest copy of Psalm 119 in existence. The letters on the parchment were as clear as those on the pages of the novel I was reading this afternoon. I was able to look at the scroll and see the changes of script every time God was mentioned. It was truly a thrilling, once in a lifetime experience.

Unfortunately, there were no cameras of any variety allowed in the exhibit.

New Profile Pic

I'm trying to find a new profile pic for rabenstrange.com. At the request of a significant percentage of my blog readers I am going to abandon the "mugshot" picture and attempt to find something with more popular approval. I'm going to attempt to increase my readership and a more friendly looking picture might be an asset as I do so. Since my first choice wasn't acceptable, my own judgment in choosing picture is obviously faulty. Therefore it will be up to you, my readers, to serve as the selection committee.

Here's my first candidate for consideration:



What do you think of it?

Update:
I have gotten some feedback and most of it has been negative. As a result this pic will not be used. Thank you for helping to avoid another stylistic blunder.

The Real Meaning of Christmas

John 3:16-18

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Holiday Itinerary

Tonight our family will be camping out around the Christmas tree, a holiday tradition we've celebrated for as long as I can remember. We'll get up early tomorrow morning to open our family stockings gifts from each other before driving to my aunt and uncle's house for a celebration with my the extended family on my Dad's side. We'll spend the night at their house and open more stockings and eat breakfast before heading to a different aunt and uncle's house for a lunch and afternoon celebration with my Mom's extended family. Christmas night we'll head home.

They're Back

After the sibs and I spent a lazy day about the house, Mom and Dad arrived home from their trip. Fortunately, after a bit of harried work, we managed to get things mostly picked up before they arrived. We also took the time to hang up the paper snowflakes that have becocme a traditional decoration at our house.

Mom and Dad seem to have had a wonderful time. They were staying in Vancouver, B.C. and apparently they were able to enjoy a few days of sleeping in and relaxing without having to worry about their children. They brought us back chocolate hedgehogs from Purdy's.

Home Alone (with siblings)

My parents are in Canada enjoying a well-deserved few days vacation. This leaves my sisters, younger brother and I at home fending for ourselves.

We're making good use of the time to prove that we're not quite grown up yet. We've been watching movies, staying up late and gorging ourselves on brownie sundaes and nachos. That is to say, we're having fun.

I've started to play around with my new website. So far I've managed to successfully install wordpress and learned how to play with themes and such. Unfortunately, setting up my theme hasn't been nearly as simple as I hoped. The template which I've been developing is based on a theme which I can't find anywhere online. After many frustrating hours of searching I've embarked on an attempt to build my own  based on the venerable K2.

Needless to say, this is a much more involved process than the simple cut and paste work I was expecting and as a result it doesn't look like I'll be able to meet my goal to unveil the new blog on January 1st. I'll be giving occational updates on my progress to let you all know how it's going.

LAN Party!

I'm at a LAN party at my good friend Tarrick's house. For the uninducted, a LAN party is what occurs when a number of people bring their computers to the same location for the purpose of playing games. They usually involve the consumption of copious quantities of Mountain Dew and pizza. We also use these get togethers as an opportunity to share programs, files and show off our PhotoShop projects. The LANage is the ultimate in geek guy social fun.

Earlier this evening, a few of us worked out a deal to share webhosting. This resulted in me purchasing a year of hosting from AN Hosting. Look for some major changes in the Rabenstranger in the coming weeks and months. Depending on how difficult the blog transfer process proves, I may be at rabenstrange.com by the first of the year. If my online buddies could watch for the shift and update their links I would greatly appreciate it.

In other news, my power came back on Sunday night. Hallelujah! (That wasn't sarcasm, I have a new appreciation for the miracle of electricity.)

Blackout!

As you may have heard, Seattle has been hit by a large windstorm and more than a million people are without power. I am one of those million people. Seeing as our router is an electronic device, and electronics require electicity my posting may be intermittent until power is restored.

Currently, we're having a birthday party for my little brother. It should be an interesting evening.

Grades

I got my grades today and they were a bit disappointing, three A's and two A-'s. Not terrible, but not nearly as good as I had hoped.

Both of the A- classes had very subjective grading and didn't have a hard scale based on points, instead they had a much more ambiguous letter grades and weighted assignments. I much prefer classes where I can discern EXACTLY how well I'm doing as each test or assignment comes back.

Ticket

Today I reserved a ticket for my return to Japan. Despite flying on short notice in the middle of the holiday season, I was able to get a roundtrip ticket for about $850 after all taxs, fees, surcharges etc., an excellent deal if you ask me. For those of my classmates wondering where to get such a deal, visit IACE.

Right now I'm a little sad that my I will have to leave so soon. At the same time though I'm a bit excited about this next semester. My classes are more interesting and this time around I'll already know the basics of getting around in Japan so I'll have an easier time jumping into things.

I've made a pact with myself to go out and do more this time around instead of moping about and playing on the internet. Hopefully, I'll manage to improve my Japanese a lot this semester as well.

The Land of Plenty

I am thouroughly enjoying my return to the United States, land of things free and home of the steak. I had almost forgotten how nice it was to get stuff at for free, to sit on a bench while out for a walk, use a public restroom, drink from a drinking fountain or throw my garbage in a trashcan on the street.

American beef is just as good as I remembered it. I've had steak twice and a big juicy hamburger so far. I've made up for our KFC Thanksgiving with a big turkey dinner with the family. Turkey leftovers turned into a delicious turkeye pot pie.

But best of all is getting to spend time with my friends and family.  I've baked Christmas tree cookies with my 5 yr. old brother, built a couple of fabulous gingerbread houses with my siblings and aunt and started my Christmas shopping with my sisters. Yesterday, I went over to my friend's house to watch Three Stooges and Indiana Jones.

I love being back.

A Sad Story

I surfed over to CNET today to read check reviews for a couple MP3 players when I learned that James Kim, the CNET gadget editor had died. He and his family became trapped in the snow during a family trip. He died trying to get help. His body was found the day before yesterday. At 35 he left behind a wife and two daughters aged 4 years and 7 months.

I'm Home!

I have safely arrived back in Seattle. So far I've eaten turkey and steak. Nachos are next on my list of craved foods to be consumed.

I'll try and get a more substantive update up soon.

Disney

TS2A0051.JPG.

Christmas @ Disneyland.

Bowling

Today, instead of our usual scriptural study our Lifegroup went bowling. It was an interesting experience considering the last and only time I bowled was at a friend's party when I was 9 or 10 years old. Today was the first time I played a real game without bumpers.

I came in last out of five people the first game but despite my abominable technique I managed to move up to 2nd place in the second game. It made me feel good despite the knowledge that my score was more a result of luck than skill.

Anyhow, it was my last time to meet with these guys so we exchanged best wishes and sayonaras. Now I've said goodbye to most of my friends here.

Just two more days!

Insomnia

I have two finals today but I'm running with my sleep tank on E. My room mate woke me up around 3:00 when he came in from a late night cramming and I haven't been able to sleep since. It is now almost 7:00 and since I have to get up in less than an hour anyway it doesn't make much sense to try and sleep now.

Update:
I finished both my finals thereby ending school for the semester. I think I did well on both tests, It's late afternoon and I'm still not too wiped out from my lack of sleep. I have my last Lifegroup meeting tonight so I'll have another round of goodbyes. I've been packing my bags/box for move-out tomorrow. It'll be good to be home.

Night on the Town

Friday night, I went  to the Funky Friday college group at Stephanie's church. I had to leave early because I wanted to go out with some buddies to see Casino Royale. After the movie we planned to stay in a capsule hotel, for fun rather than necessity.

Funky Friday was fun, we had egg salad sandwhiches and had a nice time of chatting and fellowship before I had to head out to Ikebukero for the movie. Since it was my last Friday in Japan, I said goodbye to my friends and thanked them for their generosity and hospitality.

I probably should have started my goodbyes earlier because I ended up being a couple minutes late for the movie. Fortunately, they were still showing the typical, "turn of your phone" warnings. One of these had me laughing as it instructed movie watchers to wait in their seats for instructions from theatre employees in the event that the theatre caught on fire. I don't know about you but if I ever find myself in a burning theatre I am not waiting for anyone.

Casino Royale was fantastic. For those of you who don't know, this is the new James Bond movie. It features a wonderful new addition to the franchise: a compelling plot that actually makes sense. I highly recommend it to fans of the action genre.

After the movie we went to Shinjuku in search of a capsule hotel but the few that found were very seedy and expensive. Instead of sleeping, we spent the night wandering the town, hitting arcades and 24 hr. stores and restraunts. We finished up by riding the train all the way around the Yamanote loop. It was a great time.

I ended up getting home around 8:00 on Saturday and sleeping until late afternoon.

Train

Train.

On the train on the way home from church.

Morgan Stanley

Tuesday(sorry about the delay, I've been busy), I had the privilege to visit Morgan Stanley Japan's headquarters in Ebisu. You may recall a few months back that I entered a 10 page research essay into a competition for one of two $7500 scholarships. Winning that money is what made this trip to Japan possible.

I arrived a few minutes early at the Yebisu Palace Garden Tower and got to wait in a very finely appointed alcove until the other scholarship recipient, a girl named Christine, arrived and Mr. Trapnell, the Morgan Stanley Executive Director who was co-ordinating the event, was ready to meet us.

Mr. Trapnell gave us a brief introduction to Morgan Stanley as a company and introduced us to one of his subordinates in Human Resources who later in the day gave us a very helpful talk about job searching in the financial services market.

Then we were served lunch. Over lunch we got to meet several very interesting people, including one of the foremost economists in Japan and a Morgan Stanley employee who had recently worked as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. Lunch was fantastic. Even though I'm sure I made a fool of myself with my inept use of chopsticks, I thouroughly enjoyed the discussion of the Japanese economy and foreign relations. I haven't had such a stimulating conversation in a long time. It reminded me why I love studying economics.

After lunch we were given a brief tour of the building, most notablely the trading floor. It was interesting to see the endless rows of desks each set up with between 3 and 8 20" flatscreen monitors. I seriously envied the display of screen real estate. I also learned a little about what the job of being a trader is like.

After that we had our talk with the man from HR and got a chance to ask questions about hiring and, more important to our immediate future, internships. At this point I think that with the restrictions on my working hours it will probably be very difficult to arrange an internship but at least I got a chance to send in my resume and talk to some of the hiring people. After a lengthy exchange of thanks and goodbyes we went on our way. I showed Christine to Shibuya to meet with some of her friends (She's been living in Kyoto, not Tokyo) and then headed home to begin studying for my economics finals.

One of the most important things that was driven home during my visit was how hard those guys work. It has made me pause to consider, whether the fantastic pay would be worth the commitment it would require to earn. I would appreciate all of your prayers on the hard career decisions I will be making in the next few months and years.

Amazing Christmas Light Show