Category Archives: Random

Disaster After Disaster, Calmly

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Today was a day filled with disaster alarms. They didn’t affect my teaching much though.

First, during my fourth period class, a voice blasted over the intercom that we were all about to die. All my students quickly crawled under their desks to await their doom. Well, that’s how it sounded, and that’s what happened, but after the earthquake warning and the desk crawling, nothing else happened. A few minutes later, my students emerged from under their desks and we continued with class.

I thought it might have been a drill, but later confirmed there’d been an earthquake somewhere.

Then, during my evening class, the fire alarm started ringing. I went out to check and found a bunch of people playing with the alarm box, but no one seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the building. One guy was coughing though, but it didn’t seem to be from any kind of smoke or a from a gas leak. I was then told to go back to class and await my doom. I announced to my students that we were probably all dead and they laughed and continued doing their assignment.

Eventually, the staff completed their quick inspection of all the floors and determined that we were probably not going to die. After 10 minutes or so, someone found a way to turn off the alarm.

An hour later it went off again, but then was quickly turned off and I think it was another test.

Although I’m glad we all ended up being safe, I find myself less trusting of alarms, and that probably won’t end well in the long run.

Diet Busting and Possibly Expensive, With Models

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It could have been worse. Well, some of it could have.

A friend and former photography teacher to treated me to lunch in exchange for reading the first several pages of his novel. (It just keeps getting better and it may be time for him to submit it.)

Because it was an all-you-can-eat salad bar that featured soft tacos, various pastas, soups, ice cream and cake (oh, and actual salad) I did as much damage to the salad bar and my diet/lifestyle change as I could.

I also got a couple contacts from him for people to read my current work in progress.

After that, we went to the Olympus Gallery which is a kind of porn shop for people interested in Olympus cameras. My friend turned out to be their most effective salesman and convinced me that getting one the cameras used might be a good idea, especially as the value is dropping thanks to a new version coming out. (Luckily there were no used versions around.)

While we were there, we saw a small exhibition off to the side that seemed to be staffed with women dressed in flowing robes and/or togas. We were both immediately impressed (with the photographs, not the women, although, well, more on that later) and spent a lot more time studying the photographs than we’d planned.

The photographer has a fantasy style that involves lots of costumes, make up and smoke machines that let him print the photos on large sheets of paper that look like paintings. We were trying to figure out how he spliced in all the models so seamlessly but later, when we spoke with him he assured us that everything was taken in one shot with no heavy post processing.

Eventually we realized that all the women in robes/togas were models who appeared in a number of the photographs, including one that was the center piece and that explained why they were dressed the way they were. (Note: we met the one on the far left and the one center left who appears to be wiping a tear.) Even with the robes/togas, they looked much different without all the stylized make up and bank of Profoto lights. Also, because it was the last day of the show, other models showed up to get pictures of themselves next to their pictures.

Eventually I got home and She Who Must Be Obeyed asked how my day was and I said it was good. She asked what I did all afternoon and I said “Looked at models, um, of cameras.”

Which is not, technically, a lie.

Honey Do or Do Not

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I was off work today which meant I got put to work. Sort of. Eventually.

The plan was for She Who Must Be Obeyed and I to brave the dangers and monsters of the variety room closet in order to start winterizing the house. This involves clearing out the the “variety pile” in front of the closet. That is followed by cleaning, breaking down and putting away the summer fans and dragging out the kerosene heater, the electric carpet and the heavy blankets.

Unfortunately, there was a delay as She Who Must Be Obeyed had to take our youngest to a special game event involving the game she likes to play. There was a further delay when they returned and announced they’d have to go back. The event was apparently popular enough that game time had to be scheduled.

This slowed every thing down. Although I could have dragged everything out, I learned a long time ago that it was necessary to wait. As husband, conditioned by decades of commercials and TV shows telling my I am incompetent, I cannot be trusted to clean the fans properly. Because I cannot be trusted, the “variety pile” will have to be moved so that SWMBO can check my handy work (translation: clean stuff no matter how clean it already is).

Not wanting to do the same job twice, I waited.

Eventually we tackled the project and the house is properly winterized. This means it will be unseasonably warm for a few more weeks.

 

Put Off the Knives by the Revenuers

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Was late to a knife show thanks to the Kansas Department of Revenue. Then wasn’t that impressed.

Emailed Kansas Department of Revenue yesterday about my driver’s license renewal and then got strange replies I should have got two weeks ago. (Long story for a future post.) Spent time sending in new and improved versions of forms and then headed to the knife show.

This delay meant I was late, which is unusual. My Canadian friend was on time and had already scouted out locations and/or dangers.

We walked the rows of what is usually one of the best shows of the  year but came away underwhelmed. The trend was mammoth tusk ivory handles (which look great) and black DLC coating (which looks black from certain angles) but there was nothing special. (Of course, my earlier news had complicated things.)

After saying no to a few temptations, we decided one pass through was enough and then went for burgers and beer.

The next show is the Tokyo Folding Knife Show. It’s in February and is usually my favorite show of the year. I’ll be there. Until then, I have to save in case I have to travel. If I don’t. Well. Then.

Gift Horses Looking You in the Mouth

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I won several things today, but only got to keep one of them. I burned through a lot of chances on the way. I got cranky, but am not sure if I deserved to be.

Today, before my evening class, I stopped by a convenience store to pick up a few things. Because I hit some magic expense number, I was given the chance to draw for something free.

My ticket revealed that I’d won a canned coffee. As I’d be buying one anyway later, I agreed to take the coffee right then. The clerk disappeared for a few minutes. She returned with only empty hands and an apology as that particular flavor of coffee was apparently out of stock.

She told me I could draw until I won something else. The second ticket revealed that I’d one a package of Haribo Gummi Bears. The clerk once again disappeared for a few minutes and then reappeared with empty hands and yet another apology.

My reaction was a polite “Gimme Gummi Bears! Me Want Gummi Bears!”. I was then allowed to draw more tickets. The next five or so were losers until I finally won some sort of hand wipes. I then had that odd moment where I was disappointed I was going to win those, even though they were free. I felt oddly guilty that I was happy to discover that those were also out of stock.

At this point the absurdity of it all began to hit me and I was like, just give a me a damned can of coffee, but was instead allowed to burn though a few more tickets until I won a set of dust masks. Those, of course, were in stock.

The masks are useful for emergency kits, but they bring the same joy as getting socks for Christmas. They ain’t Gummi Bears.

The Marriage of Figaro and Wood Blocks

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I discovered today that the secret to getting people to like opera and classical music is to bore them so much with speeches beforehand that they’ll take any music they get.

Today was family concert day at a nearby community center where our youngest occasionally plays ping-pong. The concert featured the local Kawagoe Philharmonic Orchestra (link in Japanese). For various complicated reasons, our youngest was also involved.

The concert opened with speeches from some guy (not his real name) and from the first violin. There was also an impromptu interview with the first violin. Then the conductor, who looks as if he’s about 12 years old, came out and started the show.

They opened with selections from The Marriage of Figaro. This part featured three opera singers who put on a decent show. Their performance, though, was hurt by the concert taking place in a public auditorium that also serves as a gym. Because we were below the stage we had the orchestra between us and the singers which meant the voices got drowned out much of the time. A narrator, though, updated us between movements.

For the second part, our youngest and her friend joined the orchestra for a performance of The Syncopated Clock. This, of course, required a short interview of our youngest and her friend. When asked how they felt about performing, the friend said she was nervous; our youngest said she was looking forward to it. (This earned an Ooooooh from the crowd.)  They then took turns playing the wood block part of the song.

Of course, they were interviewed after they were finished.

(Note: our youngest earned the right to play by being “volunteered” by She Who Must Be Obeyed. Long story.)

The final part of the concert was selections from Carmen. An group of elementary school and junior high school ballet dancers from a local school put on a nice show during the performance.

After that, there was one more speech, and we all got to run away while the orchestra got a short break before their second show. Our youngest was only required for the first performance. Other’s were taking over woodblock duty for the second show.

Another Place Holder

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Doing other stuff, which means this post will be little more than satisfying a habit.

Good classes today, even finished speeches in all three, but came home and decided to drift.

Drift involves deliberately avoiding an from of responsibility whatsoever, even when I’d planned to do so. Drift doesn’t involve game playing or anything specific–no games or reading or anything else–it just involves the future.

Of course, I didn’t ponder the future. I just got annoyed wihen the lights dimmed.

I did get ready for some posts. I just couldn’t be bothered to do them.

Now it’s way past bed time.

More or Less a Placeholder Tonight, With Coffee

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It says a lot that my only complaint today involved coffee.

The weather was great. It was unseasonably warm but we were blessed with humidity that had fallen to “tolerable” from “God has forsaken us”. (An actual level; look it up.)

My usual waiting to go to work coffee shop was full and the one table that seemed to be opening up was occupied by a man that seemed to be starting a proper hoard and it was going to take him days to clean it.

Instead I went to a place at the other end of the building. I’d been meaning to go there before because they seem to advertise only coffee and pizza. Once inside I found an impressive oatmeal raisin cookie and ordered an iced coffee to go with it.

To my horror, the iced coffee was half milk. I thought they’d made a mistake, but every one on either side of me had ordered either tea or a concoction involving an Aeropress or a French press so I deduced that I’d received what I ordered.

However, because I was in a good mood, and because there was enough coffee to make the milk brown, I accepted it in good faith. Later, thanks to the shop’s generous second drink pricing, I got an espresso to properly satisfy the caffeine addiction.

Then I had to go to work. I’ll probably go back to that shop, mostly because they have free wi-fi that doesn’t require registration, but I’ll try ordering iced coffee with no milk just to see what happens. It could be fun, but it will depend on what mood I’m in.

Tactile Turn Mover and Shaker Pens–Long Term Review

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As with most things in life, you can blame a lawyer for what happened.

Anthony Sculimbrene, of the terrific, and refreshingly honest gear review site EverydayCommentary, hosts a giveaway every May and November. By donating to a cause of his choice, you earn a chance to win bundles of goods assembled from the many items he’s been given for review.

Note: At the time I donated, he was asking people to donate to Wounded Warriors; however, after recent controversy with the group, he’s asked that donations be made to a different organization.

I ended up winning a titanium Tactile Turn Shaker ballpoint pen. I liked the pen enough that  when some others came available on Massdrop around Christmas of 2014, I bought an aluminum version of the slightly longer Mover. (More on that in a minute.)

The pens are machine made in Texas and feature the signature “turn”, a thin machined groove that acts both as decoration and as a tactile grip.

Close up of the "tactile turn" on both pens. (Shaker, top; Mover, bottom.)

Close up of the “tactile turn” on both pens. (Shaker, top; Mover, bottom.)

They are thicker than standard ballpoint pens which, as a fountain pen user, I like a lot, and they also take a significant number of refills which lets them serve as more than one type of pen. The Shaker comes with the Schmidt Easy Flow 9000 refill and the Mover comes the the .38 version of the Pilot G2 refill. I swapped the latter out for .5 refill.

The Shaker is 5.06 inches long and weighs 1.375 ounces (39 grams). The Mover is 5.55 inches long and, being made of black anodized aluminum, weighs only 1.128 ounces (32 grams).

The Mover (top) and the Shaker (bottom).

The Mover (top) and the Shaker (bottom).

Although I don’t pocket carry them, they have served as part of my everyday work kit almost every day since I got them. The black anodizing has held up well and the only scratches on the titanium of the Shaker were a result of my own stupidity. (For the record, I don’t blame a lawyer for that.)

The only trouble I had was with the Mover. The Schmidt push button mechanism had a distinct grinding noise when it was pushed and once every dozen uses it would lock up and have to be pushed again to free it. Will Hodges, the owner of Tactile Turn, sent me a replacement, but I’ve always felt those were the weakest link in the design.

Also, I have some trouble with the naming convention. Although they are variations of the same pen, they have different names.  Trying to remember which pen is the Mover and which pen is the Shaker frequently sends me back to the internet or to my notes. I often wish they’d been named something like the Shaker and the Shaker L. (Yeah, yeah, I know: Small = S = Shaker and Massive = M = Mover but so what?)

They will stay in my pen case for a long time, but, unfortunately, supplies are limited if you’re interested in getting one. Because of the problems with the Schmidt mechanism, Hodges has decided to discontinue the pens and instead produce a new pen design with an in-house designed and built mechanism.

The new pens look great and I’ve already ordered one via Kickstarter. I blame a lawyer for that.

 

Before Me, Therefore Because of Me.

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Despite my best efforts to hustle, I missed the train by that much.

In fact, when I was halfway up the stair case, I heard the doors close. It then teased a minute by sitting still with the doors closed until I reached the top step. Then the train pulled away.

(Note: yes, everything happens because of me.)

This put me on a later train, that left me a few minutes and a bit of hustle from catching a good train. As I may have mentioned before, If I catch the 10:32 I get home at 11:10 or so. If I catch the 10:44, I get home at 11:44.

Unfortunately, the later train became the “how f@#king late is this thing?” train and I even missed the 10:44.

However, there was an express leaving soon after that and I was shocked at how empty it was. I even managed to get a seat, which was the only good thing about the delays. I ended up getting home at 11:44 and this is the result.

Now, it’s bed time.