badmigraine

Great news... Clearly, this blazing speed is going to help me type my e-mails faster and save me a nanosecond when I hit "save" in Word. Worth the thousands-of-dollars upgrade I'm sure. Then when the Wintel world comes out with the next of the endless one-up products, I'd better get that too. Surely my typing and reading will get much faster. I'm pretty sure these blazing processors and giant RAM chips are creating a vacuum, sucking information faster than ever off the Net, in spite of my lowly 600kb connection speed.

That's funny db...thye top of my Microsoft computer mouse also says "this side faces enemy".

50,000 yen from my suit pocket in my (unlocked) locker at work; a locked bicycle; a motorcycle cover; motorcycle winkers; motorcycle mirrors; motorcycle saddlebags; bicycle lights (twice); a shirt; a Microsoft Word 2000 CD from my (locked) locker at work; and some cheap sunglasses. More was stolen from me in 8 years in Japan than 30 years in the US (including long spells in Detroit and L.A.).

Breck is terribly crowded these days, on weekends. Better to work on Sat-Sun and spend the weekdays at the mountain.

I have actually lived this thread! After 8 years in Japan, I returned to the US last October. Here's what I miss the most: --Mogski, the greatest ambassador and International Rep for NZ that ever lived --my J surfing pals, the sweetest bunch of alcoholic, happy-go-lucky surfing lifestylers you ever did meet...thank god I met them before believing my J company acquaintances were the only kind of people in Japan --real Japanese food --eating great food and drinking heavily, then taking a train, taxi or even bicycle back home...no worries about a-hole cops and drunk driving

Cool! Your legs and feet are what hold you up, so it's good to make sure they are working right and getting all you need. Hope the arches work out.

One of the Wachowski brothers (directors of the Matrix series) has allegedly been leading a secret life as a submissive transvestite at the dungeon of Mistress Ilsa Strix in L.A. It got so far along that his wife is divorcing him, and successfully filed a restraining order with the L.A. county courts to freeze his assets pending the breakup. According to this week's National Enquirer, Wachowski is already taking female hormone pills and will eventually have a sex change operation to become a female. In an even more bizarre twist, it seems his current wife used to be married to a

Jared, thanks for that clarification... I am almost totally ignorant of the differences among the various sects of Christianity. Is it only the Catholics then who believe in transubstantiation?

Try the game. It took me 2:02 to finish it...

You decide. http://www.bushorchimp.com/pics.html

I dated a Japanese hairdresser who was a couple years away from being a "stylist". You would not believe how seriously hard she and all her friends worked. They are there from around 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. almost every day, then they have "renshuu" (practice) for a couple hours after that. EVERY NIGHT. During the renshuu, they cut hair for free, to practice. How do they find these people, these willing guinea pig subjects? They hang around stations on Tuesdays--their only days off--asking a thousand strangers a thousand times "Excuse me, I'm a hairdresser, want a free cut and style?"

I recently learned that an acquaintance is a Volkl-sponsored ski race instructor. She can get me any Volkl products at pro-form or even lower prices. I've never been on a Volkl board, but understand the rep is good for both the boards and the skis. Anyone here have experience with Volkl snowboards?

There's plenty of cults in most developed societies... I think human nature, not Japanese social structure, is the main culprit. And when you start focusing in on what differentiates a cult from more widespread beliefs, including those of the major organized religions, it's hard to come up with anything more specific than "stubborn, dogged holders of unprovable beliefs that most of the rest of us find stupid and unbelievable". The stubborn, dogged belief part is, in and of itself, not a feature of cultish behavior. No cult has a monopoly on that. Rather, it appears to be an essential

Mr Matthews, you'll never have to explain that to Mogski. He's from New Zealand and he told me they invented gum boots and velcro gloves...

Enderzero, ouch! Zooks, you may not want to ride this coaster, but you can snowboard down the damn thing in the winter. Miteyak, your drink and vomit pouch await! I am dreading the coaster, but the boat ride out should be a blast. There are also plenty of young (18-25) well-proportioned wigglers in bikinis to look at too.

For those of you that had trouble believing that I dated Lucy Liu in the late 80's, you may find this even harder to swallow... I live close enough to Sandusky, Ohio to go there on a day trip. In fact I've been to Cedar Point many times... But I won't drive there. Why? Because my rich stepbrother has a 12-meter boat with four beds and two showers in it, and 5-10 times every summer he takes it and a load of fun gals and guys down the Detroit River into Lake Erie (15 minutes), across Lake Erie (a couple of hours of drinking and sunbathing with assorted stops for tomfoolery li

I thought Trinity looked like Snuffy Smith...

Hey _freak, I forgot to mention: Weearing an orthotic didn't adversely affect my riding. In fact it helped it. My problem was one leg slightly shorter than the other, so the orthotic actually slightly improved my balance and smoothness because it corrected my body position. I think your orthotics won't change your overall body position, but they may shift the pressure points inside your boots a bit. I think this won't bug you at all, in fact it might give you a better ride feeling. Just don't worry if it feels a bit strange on the first run, kind of like the first run

I once had cork ones when I was running a lot and they were great, kind of gentle on the feet. Also, they never smelled but my feet aren't stinky anyway. Not like Mogski's. Now the inserts I use in my right shoe/boot are a variety of materials. I have a leather one, a rubbery sports one, and a cork one. Plastic doesn't sound great but who knows? There are so many miracle plastics around, it may be better than anything else. Let us know how it works out!

According to this link... http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/mai...16/ixworld.html it looks like Pana**Wave has postponed the end of the world until May 22...er...um...hey, that's TODAY in Japan! You guys still there?!

Yeah, weren't we all supposed to die on May 15? What are these clowns saying now to excuse their innacurate prediction of the end of the world? Did they refund the money to those who paid the $10,000 or whatever to hide in their specially-shielded outbuildings?

Hey _freak, I board with an orthotic insert in my right boot...it works fine. I don't notice any difference from the other foot in terms of fatigue, blood flow when the laces are really tight, cold/hot, impact absorption, slippage or heel lift, etc. I'd say the only thing to be careful about is discomfort possibly caused by full orthotics that cramp or distort your foot position inside the boot. A thicker orthotic might raise your entire foot or ankle up so that your ankle is uncomfortably positioned right in the middle of the part of the liner that is supposed to be above yo

Yeh...the gestapo, Pol Pot and Saddam's elite national guard were patriots too. The US prides itself on its freedom of speech and the "marketplace of ideas". But in the current climate, it's hard to see where rational debate and the freedom to disagree stop, and blind acceptance of anything and everything without examination or debate begins. I guess maybe I spent too long in school and abroad. Around my town, any discussion is modeled after what people know best: TV shows like Jerry Springer, Ricky Lake, etc. where you can only talk for 2 seconds before getting interrupted and

What about Japanese Marital Arts?

Hey, powwwers, sorry, I didn't mean it like that! I enjoyed your post and input, and always do. Why I even used your post on the moguls thread awhile ago (something like "mogul practice keeps snowboarders' turns honest and committed, so when you go into the trees, you can scoot around them with polish and style") to explain to some skiers at the bar why a boarder needs to go into the moguls from time to time. I certainly don't want to make personal attacks and I apologize if my last post came across that way. I'm just cultivating the image of a stubborn crank and sometimes don't phr