Category Archives: Random

The Unintentional Mandatory Sabbath

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I unplugged for a little while today, although that wasn’t my plan.

I’ve always maintained that the biggest weakness with all portable electronic devices is their batteries. Turns out the problems with mine might be me.

The first problem was discovered in the evening yesterday when I reached for my phone so that I could check the temperature and enter it in my daily log. When it wasn’t where I expected it to be a long search ended with the realization that it was probably still on my desk at the school where I work. Or traveling on  train some where. (The latter was possible but unlikely.)

After using my tablet as my alarm clock (epic fail as it turns out stone doesn’t have a built in alarm app; something like that) I decided I’d better head to the office, especially as my regular alarm was set for 5:00 a.m.

Of course, before that, I played a couple hours of World of Tanks with an old friend.

After tanks and a small lunch I finally mustered the energy to head to the school where I work. Despite my occasional aversion to the voices in my ears, I brought along my iPod touch to provide a sound track for my walk/daydreams.

About 100 meters from my house the battery  in my iPod touch ran out of juice as I hadn’t bothered to charge it for a few days. I walked the rest of the way to the station enjoying the sounds of nature and the city, which normally would be interesting but today was boring because I’d been in the mood for some music. (It’s kind of like having your taste buds ready for pizza but getting sandwiches instead; even the best sandwich won’t taste right when you’re ready for pizza.)

At the station I pulled out my Kobo eReader to continue Ava Jae‘s novel Beyond the Red (which has a fast paced opening that’s grabbed me quicker than most Sci Fi novels) but as soon as I pulled the eReader out of my bag, its screen instructed me to charge it. The battery was dead and I wouldn’t be able to read anything other than that instruction until I could get home and charge it.

This meant I was officially unplugged. In the past I’ve thought about implementing an “electronic Sabbath” where I turn off all my electronics and do things like “read” and “spend time with family” and/or “expand ink reselling business”.  However, having it imposed on me by my own inattention to my electronic devises wasn’t what I had in mind, especially as I was i the mood for music and a sci fi novel.

Instead of reading or listening to music, I spent the fifteen minutes on the train staring at the people across from me and wondering why they seemed uncomfortable. (They must be kind of weird in the head, I suspect.)

After I rescued the phone, I came home and started charging everything. I still am considering an electronics Sabbath, but I think I’d rather plan it in advance.

Fifteen Minutes and Out

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I don’t know how I looked, so I’ll assume I looked marvelous. I don’t know how I sounded, so I’ll assume I sounded awesome.

On Monday I ventured to Asakusa to meet some old friends and their shockingly cute children. While I was waiting near Kaminarimon, the main gate of Senso-ji, I was approached by a camera crew and a guy from St. Louis who asked me if I’d like to do them a favor and be on television.

I was hesitant at first because, as I’ve written before, my one experience on television seemed to go well but I ended up looking awful. (I now appreciate how celebrities prefer to be seen only from certain angles and/or from their “good” sides.) Since that interview, and the public viewing of it that ended in snickers and a couple snide comments from the people I was working with, I’ve done my best to avoid television crews, video cameras and security cameras (although the latter is for different reasons than you might think).

The Nippon TV camera crew and the guy from St. Louis asked me if I’d vote on which of the four possible Tokyo Olympics logos I liked best. This involved placing a sticker under my favorite design (Design B, the ring: Before you die, er, win gold, you see the ring) and explaining myself whilst the guy from St. Louis translated.

Unfortunately, when I said that I liked the Paralympic logo a lot and that the ring reminded me of a kamon (note, so did Design A but Design A is ugly and seems to move by itself if you stare at it too long) the reporter began to ask me if Americans would wear anything like that and I said, yeah, maybe, sure, as a lapel pen. He then asked what kind of family would wear such a pin and I said a rich and powerful one and he asked if that mean Japan was rich and powerful and I said of course.

That was the general outline, at least, but there was a lot more than that and at some point I used some Japanese to show my ranking (B, D, C, A). In fact, the interview went on long enough that I’m sure I eventually did and said something foolish.

When it was all over I was told when it would air (the next day) and what time the show started.

When that time rolled around I made a token effort to see if I made the cut. I decided I’d check a couple times and if the segment was on I’d watch it but I wasn’t going to sit and wait for it. I also “forgot” to record it (isn’t that convenient?) as I’d much rather imagine I did better than my first television experience than actually witness what happened.

When I got to the school where I work, the first teacher I saw mentioned he’d seen me on television. A few others did the same. When I got to class a few students had seen me.

They haven’t made any jokes/memes out of me yet, so that means I probably did pretty well. At least that’s what I’ll keep thinking.

Not Snow, Not Wind, But Rain

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I’m not made of sugar and I’m pretty sure I won’t melt, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I had to go to an afternoon meeting at the company I work for and my plan was to spend the morning ink hunting.

However, we woke up to a fairly heavy rain storm. This put me in a bad mood and I quickly changed plans. It’s annoying enough having to go to the orientation meeting. Getting soaked by rain and having to sit in a meeting is even more annoying.

After I cancelled my plans to go ink hunting I discovered that several train lines were delayed or stopped. I consider this divine validation of my decision.

However, I also began hoping that the meeting itself would be cancelled. Alas, it was not cancelled and I ended up having to traipse through the rain to the train station in order to go to “work.”

The trains were on time but I had to deploy the built in rain cover on my book bag, which is also annoying as it’s designed for when the bag is sitting on something, not when it’s over your shoulders being carried.

I also ended up with we feet and, even more annoying had to  drag around a large umbrella. Such things never fit anywhere and, if you don’t get the end seat on the train, you will drop it if you fall asleep. This means you have to stay awake or you drop the umbrella. (If you get the end, you can hook it over the bar.

I finally arrived a the meeting and, for the most part, there were a couple interesting revelations, but nothing particularly useful.

The only good things were we finished early and the rain stopped. But I still had the umbrella to lug around.

An Oddly on Schedule Day

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Strangely enough, I actually stayed on schedule today, for the most part. What’s odd is the part I didn’t do was the part where I scheduled time to play a game.

I do not believe this is because, after all these centuries (give or take a few years)  that I am suddenly become a responsible person. Rather, it just took a long time to make a box.

I actually woke up later than I’d plan which put me behind. I then managed to catch up, somewhat, by knocking out my daily 10 ideas and a page or so of writing. That was followed by doing my actual “job” by producing “work” now that the company I work for has decided to trap me in my house on days I’m not assigned to the school where I work.

Note: Despite my whining, I’d much rather face the current house arrest than be forced to go into the office and work. Not only would I have to wear a tie but there is evil there that does not sleep. The great eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume.

Unfortunately, the poisonous fumes have damaged the brains of management meaning I couldn’t send the “work” in until much later. (That’s part of the house arrest: appearances must be maintained.)

After the house arrest portion of the morning was finished, I focused on selling ink. That involved lots of bubble wrap, some packing peanuts and a small box that I crafted out of a larger box and then kept tweaking to see if I could reduce the weight to lower the cost yet still protect the contents. I then took that to the post office and sent it off.

After that some new ink arrived and I made some sample pages. That led me to stare at the growing pile of odd and rare inks in the variety room and ponder the best ways to dispose of it, (after ordering more of the ink that had arrived, of course).

At first I tried to implement one idea. That involved attempting to use the features provided by my webpage host and then swearing a little and abandoning that attempt when the features proved to be less intuitive than I’d hoped. At this point the overthinking took over and I felt a bit of panic caused by freaking myself out and I finally distracted myself for a bit with a game.

Now I think I have a plan. A lot of ink and a plan.

Lost and Police, or Fail and Lesson Two

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It took a while, but I finally took our oldest to the police. She thought the police officer was kind of cute. (Officially, I didn’t notice.)

Our oldest, despite being a vampire, is also a teen, which means she is, on occasion, especially after the last fail and lesson, able to set aside her vampirism and wake up early for the chance to hang out with her friends for the day. However, being a teen, she is also prone to lapses in judgement, which is what ultimately led us to the police.

A short time after she left we got a call and our youngest started searching our oldest’s desk. We eventually figured out that she had lost her train pass. This was both an annoyance (as she had to pay each time she entered the station rather than swiping the card) and crisis (as it makes it slightly more difficult for her to get her official train pass when she starts high school which is important to She Who Must Be Obeyed who will go with her).

After our oldest finally came home (late) there was much arguing and, in the end, to preempt more arguing, I decided to take our oldest to the station to fill out a search request and incorporate a short train pass search on the way. (The latter involved flashlights and funny stares from fellow pedestrians.)

As we approached the station, because the card hadn’t been turned in at the station (which is normal for Japan) I suggested we see if it had been turned in to the police. It hadn’t, but our oldest got to fill in–to the best of my knowledge–her first police report. The policewoman on duty was very friendly and our oldest declared her “cute” to She Who Must Be Obeyed after we returned home which earned me suspicious glares even though, officially, I hadn’t noticed the policewoman was cute (albeit a bit heavy for a policewoman).

After the police report we went to the station and, in a surprise twist, was able to cancel the card and get a note that will slightly assist getting the official pass.

If our oldest remembers to take the paper with her when she goes to get her official pass.

 

Day After Day Old School

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Just when thought I’d get out with no swearing, it pulled me back in.

I saved one of my annual rituals for today’s “work” day. Despite the advances in time keeping and scheduling technology, and their easy availability in stores or online, I still use a paper calendar at home and still make it myself. I do this partly to keep She Who Must Be Obeyed informed of my schedule and partly to make sure I get what I want.

The tradition is to start with one of Microsoft Publisher‘s calendar templates and then to tweak it and distort it until it’s the way I want it to be. I make it as large as possible on an A4 page to allow lots of space to write on each day. I also add Japanese national holidays and important days like birthdays. (Because it is used to inform She Who Must Be Obeyed, I also include my birthday.) This takes a couple hours and lots of swearing is involved.

However, today it took less time today because I passed on two traditions: reducing and changing the fonts and trying to mechanize all this by creating my own template. The former was done to maximize writing space, especially when I enlarged it on a copier to make a desk blotter that I used as a planner. (That mission has been replaced by Google Calendar.) Building a template had been attempted in order to save time and reduce swearing. Those attempts usually ended with swearing.

Today, though, I kept the process as simple as possible, and even made two variations: one to satisfy my “work” day requirement (as other people might be able to use it) and a second that is the real calendar with birthdays.

Everything was fine until I attempted to print and certain flaws revealed themselves: 1) I hadn’t st the page for A4. 2) I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and the calendar got messed up. Fixing the former was easy, the second, though, took some time and a lot of swearing.

There was also the matter of dwindling ink supply.

Eventually, I got it printed out safely. Now I have to resist the urge to submit the revision as tomorrow’s “work” day requirement. I also have to remember to change the ink cartridge. If I don’t the next time I use the printer there will be swearing.

The Accidental Barista

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About 20 days ago She Who Must Be Obeyed commented on how well our coffee maker had held up after several years of use. Ten days ago our coffee maker died.

SWMBO then decided she would first call the manufacturer and see if it was possible to get it repaired. (More on that in a minute.)

The death of the coffee maker also coincided with the end of our supply of ground coffee. Luckily, SWMBO had a secret stash of coffee beans she dug out and we began a much different coffee making ritual.

The ritual involves grinding beans with a grinder I got over a decade ago and that’s lasted a long time (I only bring this up to see if that phrase is a curse.) The beans are ground whilst the water boils and then we spend several minutes carefully pouring hot water over the grounds in a manner that makes me yell at trained baristas when they do it.

The problem is we can’t decide on a suitable replacement coffee maker and we’ve slowly gotten hooked on hand-poured coffee. The boiling water does make a difference.

Of course, the other issue is that because we’d run out of pre-ground coffee, we’ve been enjoying a higher quality coffee than usual. I also suspect this is why SWMBO put off calling the manufacturer. When she did, the manufacturer informed us (as I suspected) that the coffee maker was too old to be repaired. (Note: I suspect SWMBO was hoping to discover the coffee maker was under a recall and we’d get a free replacement; something similar happened with our electric carpet. Long story.)

While SWMBO and the girls were visiting the in-laws, I acquired more bags of good coffee. This has also slowed down the desire to get a new coffee maker.

Maybe, when the good coffee runs out, we’ll get a new coffee maker. Until then, we’re living in a handmade coffee world.

 

Bringing an Ink to a Knife Show

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Today was the Japan Custom Knife Makers / Japan Knife Guild Custom Knife Show. Right away you see there are problems.

To my mind a custom knife is one made to my specifications. Although I could have ordered a custom knife (and one of my friends has done so a couple times in the past) what the show should actually be called is the “Japan Handcrafted Knife Show” or, perhaps more accurately, the “Brutal Walk of Expensive Temptation”.

The most dangerous table was a knife maker from Fukui Prefecture. His knives were not only nice, they were solidly within the “yeah, I could totally justify that” zone. I walked the brutal walk of expensive temptation a couple times and then left to run a few errands.

My first errand was a trip to Ito-ya to acquire a couple fountain pen converters that are hard to find in the USA. While I was there I discovered bottles of ink from a now defunct pen company and added those to the purchase as they have some resale value.

From there I went to a bookstore to pick up one kind of ink and discovered, much to my surprise, a different kind of ink in a cool, old-style bottle. I also saw the note saying “only one bottle per greedy reseller” (something like that). Luckily, they also had some hard to find flavors in newer bottles, too and I was able to get some of those.

(Note to self: plan a special outing with the girls.)

(Second note to self: make the ink buying part a surprise.)

I then remembered that the department store across the street also used to have bottled ink in the cool old-style bottles. After some searching, I found them and then engaged in the even more difficult quest of “finding a clerk”. After that difficult mission was accomplished, I was surprised when the clerk let me have two bottles of each flavor.  (The cashier seemed a little more suspicious of my motives though.)

(Note: if you’ve lost count, that’s 11 bottles of ink.)

I then got home in time to prepare the room for the girls’ return from the in-laws. I also managed, after posting a picture to a forum, to sell two bottles of ink and one of the converters.

Now I just have to sell the rest and make room for more. (Something like that.)

Peanuts and Construction and Boxes

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that most people going about their daily lives don’t worry much about the price of packing peanuts. They are an annoyance that manages to find their way to secret places you discover weeks after spilling them whilst opening a box.

Today, I was worried enough that I looked up the price. I was also worried about boxes and duct tape. This was from a blend of wishful thinking and immediate desperation.

What happened is today I sent out five orders. Those orders included four boxes with ink and a package with one pen I stopped using a while back. The pen was easy. It involved a small box and a padded envelope. The biggest boxes of ink were also easy as I had a couple spare boxes from previous shipments.

Everything after that got weird. First, I didn’t have any boxes that fit the orders and had to fabricate them from other boxes. This required a pocket knife, several swear words, forgetting the notion of “measure twice cut once” (my version is more like “cut, measure, swear, improvise”), and lots of duct tape. The result was a couple misshapen boxes with duct tape in odd places. Including duct tape to hold down folds in the duct tape.

As I got to the the last box, though, the supply of duct tape began to look disturbingly low. (More on that in a minute.)

As I packed, I used up a supply of packing peanuts i’d saved from an order I’d received from somewhere right after I started reselling ink. Unfortunately I used the last of it before I got to the last box.

The last box was an odd construction of bubble wrap, badly cut cardboard that required a lid and duct tape. The problem is, there didn’t seem to be enough duct tape but, luckily there was.

Now , as result of all that, I’m spending time looking up packing materials instead of looking up pens and ink. I’m not sure that’s an improvement.

An Awesome Institution For What It Was

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The only museum in Tokyo exclusively dedicated to pens closed today and I couldn’t be bothered to travel an hour to see it off. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about Pilot Pen Station.

The outside of Pilot Pen Station. This, and the building, will soon be gone.

The outside of Pilot Pen Station. This, and the building, will soon be gone.

The PPS is one of those places that was more interesting than it was impressive and it wasn’t even that interesting. It had a collection of maki-e pens but, quite frankly, the expensive pen floor of Ito-ya has an equally impressive maki-e collection. There was also a wall that detailed the history of Pilot pens and a few displays on making ink and the various types of nibs Pilot makes. But that was all in Japanese.

There was also table where you could try out the various Iroshizuku inks. But that was just promotion.

The maki-e display on the left looking down toward the Capless display.

The maki-e display on the left looking down toward the Capless display.

My favorite part was the display of the history of Capless pens, which included charts and examples of their internal workings. My only complaint about this was that the two pens were clearly in the wrong places but no one ever bothered to correct the mistake.

The Capless display.

The Capless display. Mistakes were made.

Unfortunately the building itself is scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt and the museum collection will be removed and stored somewhere, probably never to return. That said, although the PPS was worth a visit, but it wasn’t worth a linger or more than one visit.

When I took some guests there last week, the museum was already in shut-down mode. Half the pens on the display of Iroshizuku inks were dry and at least one had a damaged nib. (That said: Pilot, if you need to dispose of those pens, I’ll take them off your hands…)

It had a weird schedule and would shut down on national holidays, meaning it was closed on days new pen customers might actually have a chance to see it.

Being in a business district, it also suffered from not having much around it. I treated it as a way-station between Maruzen and Ginza, especially in summer when the air conditioning was the best part of the museum.

Now it exists only in Google Maps. You can take a virtual tour here. That tour, quite frankly, is about as interesting as actually going there.

(The link to the Google Map comes from Bruno Taut at Chronicas Estilograficas.