tonari no shibafu

Stats for my house

Inspired by quaisi

For my Boston Peeps...

...not to mention the hot librarians and/or archivists wherever they may be.

A list of map exhibitions in Boston.

via The Map Room

千秋楽

Some friends of Isherwood scored some tickets to the final day of the current sumo basho. We're going a bit late (3:00), but it should be a good time because both Yokozuna have one loss. The Yokozunas' matches are scheduled such that from the first day they fight increasingly high-ranked opponents until they face off with each other on the final day of the tournament. This one is special because Asashoryu has been absent from sumo since the July tournament and he has been denigrated in the press and condemned in the court of public opinion for the past 5 months.

We, unfortunately, have pretty bad seats, but the main point of the outing is to hang out with friends, drink a bunch, and then go out to a place called Andy's which is an izakaya in Yurakucho owned by a foreigner. Evidently it's pretty famous, but it'll be my first time going there.

I'd imagine that Hakuho is favored, but Asashoryu has a lot to prove and is one of the most competitive athletes I've ever seen.

It's gonna be a knock down drag out.

Misa's stats

Philosopher or Warrior

At least read number 12 of this. And the answer key of course.

via Fimoculus

Trinity Roots on YouTube

from the Trinity Roots image page

I've mentioned them before, but Trinity Roots is the first band to speak to me as powerfully as BMW. I know that artists (hopefully) evolve, but how could they have broken up? Anyway, I rarely do any looking for videos on the net and rely on my friends to send stuff my way. It seems my trust has not been misplaced.

Home, Land, and Sea <live>

from Todd

Technorati Tags: New Zealand, video, Trinity Roots

It's snowing!

The news said we might be in for about 5 cm. Nothing like Boston, but it's still nice to see snow at least once during the winter.

Oh yeah...

Forgot to mention that I recently watched No Country for Old Men. I went for it because it was a Coen brothers film and didn't realize until the end that it was based on a Cormac McCarthy novel.

Damnit. Paul was right again...

Torn, but not asunder

This year I was torn (yet again) about whether to make New Year's resolution(s) or not. I'm not sure which camp I subscribe to: a) the aim high, and if you fall short at least your tried, or the b) construct reasonable attainable goals.

I've decided to (take the middle path and) make small, incremental changes week by week. I figure that I have at least 52 small changes that I could make to my lifestyle for the better and implementing them should (hopefully) be far less painful than wholesale changes.

So here we go:

1. Track my spending

A not atypical Sunday

Woke up today around 8, which constitutes sleeping in for me. Checked email and worked through my newsreader while listening to the NPR 24-hour program stream. Then around 10:00 on to listening to Wait Wait. That brings us current. Now Misa and I are trying to decide what to have for breakfast brunch.

I have some studying to do for the kanken and also have to meet up with my boy Bunshi who's in town from Sapporo. He's staying in Gotanda, but I' not sure where we'll meet up yet. Usually we hang out at The Cow, but I'll have to check what they have on tap before we decide to go there. I might try to find a place in Sangenchaya. It is a really hip place with lots of eateries and drinkeries and is only a stone's throw both from the Yamanote and from Misa's place.

11:00-11:30 Filed some online reports for work.

Lunch and miscellaneous screwing around and trying to troubleshoot intermittent signal dropping on Misa's airport. That's (seemingly) fixed.

2:00-5:00 Kanji study with a small break around 3:30 to try out SKYPE

5:00-6:00 Watching Sumo

Sumo is on tv from about 12:00, but the high-ranked wrestlers don't come on until around 4:00, at which time they also start the English language broadcast on the sub-channel. This is the first tournament since the summer in which yokozuna Asashoryu is competing. He was given a two tournament suspension, but also had surgery to repair an injury during that time. He's been kinda the bad boy of Sumo for the last 5 years in spite of being one of the most dominant sumotori ever. I'm not a big fan of his style of sumo, but his ability is beyond dispute.

...

Just back from seeing Bunshi. It's amazing to me that we could've been such good friends for going on 7 years, as I feel like I'm just starting to understand a reasonable percentage of his Japanese. 運が良かったみたい。

Gonna watch the latest episode of Psych and hen hit the rack.

Willie O'Ree

NPR's Scott Simon has an interview with Wilie O'Ree the NHL's first black hockey player. This month is the 50th anniversary of his first games in the NHL.

Why We Write

I'll let the website folks tell you what it is about

WHY WE WRITE is a series of essays by prominent - and not so prominent - TV and Film writers… and by people like you: writers and those who hope someday to call themselves writers. Conceived by Charlie Craig and Thania St. John, the campaign hopes to inspire and inform all writers.

via Kottke

Keyboard shortcuts for special characters

Excellent resource.

via Usingmac.com

ESPN's Top 25 single season athletic performances

I may quibble about the order, but at first glance all of the biggies seem represented.

I'd like to see the next 25 to see who would make their cut...

Gotta think that Tyson and a whole slew of other amazing athletes would have to be in there.

via Kottke

Best Japan-related...

post title I've seen in a while.

Poll

Something has been bothering me and I'm curious to see what people think. If you saw

She apologized profusely that they couldn't come to the party, due to her husband being under the weather (read too drunk to drive).

would you pronounce it 'red' or 'read'?

A little help

In a few months a prof friend of mine and I are planning to do a video chat between Tokyo and Canada. Anybody know a good place, representative of Tokyo, that has free wifi. His class has a theme/sub-theme of Japanese religion so it would be nice if I could find a shrine or temple with wifi, but anyplace would be ok. I know that they have hotspots in Roppongi Hills, but it also should be a place that would have some foot traffic after midnight.

A tall order I know, but any suggestions would be welcome.

I Love The Simpsons

Movie test

Mmmm... Ramen

Ended up talking to Todd about ramen and about a place called 武骨. Now I'm jonesing for a bowl myself. Not sure if anything's open, but maybe I'll swing by Sengawa and try Ramen Jiro, and if not I'll look for something else.

Must eat.

SICK

African Pole Dancer

Constructive procrastination

Recently I've been going nuts on the podcasts and here's one I recommend: CBC Ideas Massey Lectures. I just listened to a two-part discussion with David Sanborn Scott. His solution to our energy problems is the most reasoned and reasonable I've ever heard.