momijiki

Reply to It's sitting on the counter in its plastic bag, mocking me in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Sorry about long reply. Turkish coffee is made in a special pot. I forget the name and I don't have one, so I am probably not making the most real Turkish coffee around. From what I have read, you take a couple spoonfulls of espresso grind, add a teaspoon of sugar, cold water and boil it in a special pot. You skim off the foam from the first boil up, then pour it out. Usually you pour it into a demi-tasse (small coffee cup like they use for espres

It's sitting on the counter in its plastic bag, mocking me in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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 opera

Reply to Of all the useless things to buy... in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

Kirby? They make espresso makers? I will look for one. I am still jazzed that I have an espresso maker, even though I have yet to try it. I am such a sheep sometimes.

Of all the useless things to buy... in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

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 anythi

RE: Japan Times, Feb 24. Pentagon Report on Global Warming in Current Events JoeUser Forums

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 t

Lunch habits of a regular (?) person in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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 stockp

I want to join the crowd with their arms in the air! in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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 t

Ski Trip: I want to move to Nagano in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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 cou

Details of the Snow Ironman contest in Matsudai, Niigata in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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

Next adventure: snow running Iron-man contest in Matsudai in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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 skiii-iiing! La La La la Laaaaaaaaaaa La in Blogging JoeUser Forums

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!

Foreigner has a freakout in front of the Imperial Palace in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I have to go back to Canada for a funeral. Getting all the documents together was a bit tough. Say what you want about United Airlines, but my husband got me a mileage flight with three days from departure. Let's see Air Canada try that! Had to get my re-entry permit into Japan so I can come back though. Thank god I remembered because it would really suck to remember at the ticket gate and not be able to go. I get to immigrationa and there and there are 92 people ahead of m

Procrastinatrix in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Why do I let things pile up on me? At first I thought it had something to do with a lack of self-discipline (but not self-criticism) but now I wonder if something just isn't inherently wrong with me. Do I secretly crave punishing myself with the stress of not getting things done, feeling guilty and panic? Am I an anxiety junkie? I certainly don't subscribe to that "I do my best work under pressure" thing, but it lately it feels like I only do my work under pressure.

Reply to The Curse in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

So, did your mom get a daughter just like her?

Reply to I wake up in the morning and it is 10 degrees C in the apt. in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Yay! How ya doin Jenkins? If I move back, I will try to bring you a kotatsu.

Reply to I dropped my biscotti in my latte in Blogging JoeUser Forums

No, I am on a different time zone... just half-way through the day. And so far... I AM KICKING ASS!!! Sadly, not a comic book in sight.

I dropped my biscotti in my latte in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I dropped my biscotti in my latte. Now I am in the ignoble position of either fishing it out with my fingers (and then licking them then, I guess, as I have no tissue with me), or trying to suck back that latte before the thing disintegrates into soggy crumbles of a decimated sponge. Well, if this is the worst thing that happens to me today, I will be KICKING ass!

The Sony memory stick (magic gate technology) in Gadgets & Electronics JoeUser Forums

I have a lot of Sony stuff. Sony Vaio computer, cell-phone, Clie PDA, video camera. One of the things I had liked about the sony was the memory stick. My cell phone also functions as a walkman (you can all sorts of neat things in Japan). It is basically an MP3 cell phone. I can downlowd my music onto my memory stick via computer and then listen to it on my cell phone or my PDA when I am out and about. I like it. For those two things it is great. So when it came to getting a video

So I'm making a video for my grandpa... in Gadgets & Electronics JoeUser Forums

I decided to make a video for my Grandpa to show him about what it is like living in Tokyo. I went out, got my video camera and started recording. I got a Sony digicam. Generally I like the machine quite a bit. I even read the directions before I started which made it a little easier to catch on. Still took me a bit though because I'm not so hot with following instructions (making origami is COMPLETELY beyond me). So great, I have my footage. Now it's time to edit! Not great. Th

"I never saw it, but I caught it on my cell phone camera" in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Recently I wrote a blog called "Tech makes us do wierd stuff" in which I wrote that at least 30% of people in a crowd at an event like a concert have their arms raised high over their heads to take pics with their cell-phone cameras. I need to ammend that. It's more like 90% so that you can't actually see the event with your own two eyes.

Reply to i got married why ? in Personal Relationships JoeUser Forums

I was not emjoying parts of marriage at first because I felt like I had to keep an immaculate house. I hate cleaning and I hate a messy house. Even more, I hate other people's messes if I have to clean them or exist in them. I was always cleaning and not having time to enjoy what I wanted to do, while he was out playing sports etc. Then my mom gave me some good advice, "Get used to dirt."

Strange Sandwiches in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I just had the best sandwich for lunch today. A cheddar-cheese tuna melt. Nice crusty bread that wasn't too hard, melty cheese and flavorful tuna salad. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal back home, but I find it pretty hard to get a good sandwich in Tokyo that I haven't paid a fortune for. Then again sandwiches here take on a variation of the theme that I would never dream of at home-- for instance, the potato salad sandwich, the spaghetti sandwich and the fried soba sandwich. The

I wake up in the morning and it is 10 degrees C in the apt. in Blogging JoeUser Forums

This will be my yearly complaint about the lack of central heating in most parts of Japan except Hokkaido (and I have only heard that they have it, I don't know how widely used it is). Probably, I wouldn't even notice if, when I turned on my natural gas heater in the morning, the thermometer didn't read 10 C. Come to think of it, it was probably just as cold in the morning in Canada. I just didn't have any numbers to verify the fact. The nice part about my apartment is that I have a

Tech makes us do weird stuff in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Most people in Japan have a camera on their cell phone. Since I am still using my 5 year old phone, I have no idea how much they are. I have thought about getting one, since it would be nice to always have a camera handy for special moments but I will probably wait till this phone is on it's last staticky legs. We had a dinner party a few days ago and near the end of dinner, we all decided to take pictures to commemorate the nice evening. A few people dug out digital cameras and a

First Blog in Welcome JoeUser Forums

Great, now I created the blog and I can't think of anything to say. Just like going into Virgin Records. The minute I get in there, I can't remember the name of a single song or artist whose CD I want to buy and I end up leaving in a daze.