How much money gets spent on war? God only knows. I often think that they should just chuck the whole lot of that money into R&D for alternative energy sources. First of all, it would get rid of any reason to fight over fossil fuel related energy resources. Probably something other resource will be squabbled over, but it would be nice if it were not oil and gas. Then again, once the world starts fighting over water, people will probably be saying, "Remember the good ol' days when people ...

I'm beginning to think that there is a cosmic law that states nothing in my life shall be easy or work out according to hte instructions. As it is with many things, this is proving to be true making my own website. I understand that my cheap-ass nature will make things difficult for me and my webbing attempts, but geocities is anything but easy for me! Instead of making nice little web-pages on Word and uploading them, I am making nice little we-pages on Word, then cutting and pasting t...

That darned machine was working just fine for a couple of weeks. I was having enegergizing latte almost every morning and enjoying the savings involved by being a do-it-yourselfer. Then today, the rebellion rose up once again. This time, it was not a matter of just pushing the button harder. I pushed that thing really hard--until it almost fell over. But no steam for foamed milk. Espresso came out well (I think, but I forgot it on the counter when I left for work). Even my husband ha...

I'm not a complete idiot (or so I like to flatter myself) and I know how to attach pictures, files etc on email. I can't do images on Joeuser. Do I need to have a website from which I connect a picture? If so, then I am going to have problems, because I have no website. sigh.... Help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

So I ran the race. It was one of the hardest things I have done. It didn't help that I wasn't in fabulous shape either. I will be better prepared next year. And that it how good it was. I am going back. So, I didn't win the 150 kg of rice. I was one finishing number away from winning the draw prize for a trip to Hawaii. I placed 204th of around 480 entries. I think, to be honest, that I need to qualify this by saying that some people were wearing costumes. I don't think, however, ...

Well, I didn't get home by 7:00. However, first thing when I did get home was to start using that espresso maker. I ripped off that plastic cover and right away, that espresso maker new that I meant business. Now we'll find out who is the boss, I thought to myself. So, first cup of espresso no problem. Milk foamer? Different story. Determined to rebel and undermine until the end, the espresso maker milk foamer feature would not work. After fiddling with this for about an hour, I decide...

Yep, still haven't used that espresso maker. I have gotten as far as taking it out of the box and skimming over the intstructions. Yes, I have to admit it. I actually read through all the instructions for appliances I get. I have only skimmed this one though as it is in Japanese. I think I get most of it. But no further progress than that. By the time I get home, the last thing I want is to go through the rigamaroll of learning appliance operation. I was going to say that the last th...

I just bought an espresso maker o Sunday. I'm pretty excited about it because I love my latte and would love to have latte in the morning. Add to this that my machine (electrolux... good or not I don't know yet) was 75% off! 75%! I was pretty sure that I would be using this thing on a regular basis. But have I? No. But I have an excuse (ha ha). Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night I arrived home after 9:00. Too tired to do anything but nuke something and way too tired to read direct...

Yesterday (Feb 24, 2004), the Japan Times ran an article by a London newspaper, The Observer. This article notes that this report was commisissioned by Andrew Mashall, a Pentagon advisor, but suppressed by US defense chiefs. The report predicts that by 2020, most of Europe's cities will be under water. Famine, drought, conflict and widespread rioting are expected to result. One possible scenario is the rise of nuclear warfare as nations struggle to protect dwindling resources. The artic...

As I wrote in my other blog, I am feeling amazingly self-satisfied if I actually bring something home for lunch. Lately, meals have consisted of what ever I can pick up at convenience stores. In Japan, one can get a decentish salad, and some other kind of entree the quality (though not proportions) of a Denny's restaurant in the US. If I buy some kind of vegetable for lunch, I feel pretty damn good about that, too. Lately, I notice a stockpiling of instant foods in my desk (sealed in pac...

So, I finally decided to follow the crowd and get a cell-phone that can take pictures. This way, next time I'm at some kind of event, I can stand around with everyone else, arm raised high above my head to avoid the crowds and take pictures oSome of them turn out pretty well. The deciding factor is that my current phone, being 4 years old and the victim of countless, accidental droppings, has bad reception. The only problem now is finding the time to go out and get a new phone. Lately, I a...

Ski trip to Nagano was pretty good. We went to Hakuba and skied at Happo-one. I got a chance to go down the Olympic downhill run (not in Olympic downhill style, of course). It was pretty fun. Snow for the first few days was pretty good, but an unseasonal 14 C for the last few days meant that the snow became really slushy and slow. Boots that were too large meant that I didn't suffer from squished bone syndrome so my feet felt pretty good and I could enjoy myself. It was great to be in ...

So I checked out the web-page. The course is 3.5 km long and has 11 obstacles. There is a maximum of 390 people allowed to participate in the event, so I hope I get registered in time. If I win (which is really unlikely unless everyone else is abducted by aliens mid-course) I get 150kg of koshi-hikari rice. If you haven't tried this rice, you don't know what you're missing. 10kg costs anywhere from 30 to 50 dollars US. There are 5 draw prizes for trips to Hawaii. I will be hoping for that...

I have no idea what this whole thing entails. The best understanding I have yet is that people have to run 3.5 km in deep snow. The event is far enough away that I actually stay over-night there, so I wasn't going to do it until I saw that they have a costume category! How can I not go see an event where people wearing costumes are running in snow? I will probably not wear a costume (I simply don't have the resources to put one together, but I would like to dress up as a moose if I had a ch...

I am going to go skiing! I am pretty excited about it. I haven't been able to go for a couple of years. Hopefully, the boots won't hurt my feet too much. I have bones in wierd places so ski boots are quite painful- which is one reason why I don't go often. So down-hill for a few days and then on to cross-country!