badmigraine

Quote: They`re only recommend for beginners, because, it`s assumed that beginners haven`t yet learnt how to fall correctly. also, beginners usually learn on flat, hard-packed areas, as opposed to `steep pow`. i don`t know many `pros` who wear wrist gaurds... This is one of those discussions like the helmet one...there are actually some people who think it is better to be without one, and the reasons given are usually "I am too good now to need that" and "it's not cool". You be the judge...are these really valid reasons to avoid cheap, simple protective gear? As for pros, look at the

ONIP, where I worked we paid every month, regardless of whether we went to any enkai or not... When we did go, it always seemed that you didn't get very much food for your money. That enkai thing at some izakayas is a big racket. 5,000 for a couple plates of appetizers and a couple of drinks...better to skip the enkai and get drunk at home with instant noodles and cans of beer.

My own kangeikais and soubetsukais. These two miserable occasions are the only times I cannot reasonably or unreasonably avoid the dreaded Karaoke Torture.

Enderzero, what do you mean they are only useful for learners? The better you get, the faster and harder you fall. Pipe, moguls, jumps, steeps... Mr. Matthews, I'd rather risk being mocked than risk breaking my wrist. The best wrist guards for snowboarding are the ones built into the gloves so you don't have to get an extra piece of equipment. Check out web links to Seirus Da Bone gloves/mitts. I used these last season and they are great. Not only to they give your wrists some protection against breakage a la rollerblade wrist guard, but they also cover the heel of your palm so no ma

You should see some of these 38-year-old balding prats walking around the shopping mall in complete replica uniforms of this or that pro player. Sheesh. They look like toddlers dressed by their mother. I enjoy watching sports and prefer college sports to pro. At the college level, people aren't as polished and it's harder to buy/stack a team with ringers like the Yankees do. For college kids the coaching makes a bigger difference in the game and the players are more likely to listen to the coach. The lesser team or players have a good shot at winning. Reminds me of when I playe

I love 'em...for someone trying to improve their Japanese, they are the most pleasant pedagogical tool imaginable. Same story every time, so you already know what is going to happen. All you have to do is listen to the Japanese and learn. And none of that rarified brand-me-as-a-perpetual-outsider "Kinou wa nani o shimasta ka?" textbook Japanese either. I never like waiting for serial instalments to come out, whether it be a sci-fi mag in the US, Shonen Jump or a J TV drama etc. Better to wait until the whole thing is done, then go out and rent all the vids at once. You can

Wearing suits and neckties to work. Grossly overeating to the point of morbid obesity. Attempting to legislate morality. Puerile obsession with professional sports from childhood through retirement age. Bad haircuts for men.

If you must ride, then country is the best for sure. Where I lived in Tokyo, it was so crowded and everything was so jammed in together, there wasn't even space to park my motorcycle. I tried it here and there, and each time some obaasan or cop told me "no parking here!" Then I tried it some other places, and often people would kick the winkers until they were smashed, or put cooking oil over the saddle, or let all the air out of all the tires. I finally found a place that did not seem to have been claimed by any of the ancient residents of this area that seemed to have som

Jared, even worse than mispronunciation of my name was the way my elementary, middle and upper school teachers all called me by my older brother's name. He was something of a brain and they remembered him. So I was naturally "Mark" as well. I guess I was about as memorable to them as chopped liver or a potted plant. Sheesh.

Let me see if I can talk you out of riding motorcycles. I rode older BMW boxers and had some Honda and Kawi standards in the 80s and early 90s. We used to ride around northern Michigan, then I moved to LA and we'd ride up to San Francisco, visit Monterey, go to Vegas, camp/tour in Oregon, along the Pacific Coast Highway...those were great times. Then when I moved to Tokyo I got a used BMW K75s off some German guy for cheap and felt good about having a bike and riding free and easy. But it soon became apparent that big city riding SUCKS, so I sold it. Not a day went by when I did

Ocean's right, Ken and Hana have become cliched names for mixed-race Japanese kids. Meeting yet another one is just as anti-climactic and vaguely puzzling as meeting yet another Irish-American "Tim Martin", yet another Jewish "David Cohen", or yet another Korean "Jun Cho". These are all fine names coming from various cultural, historical and personal naming conventions...and each and every person who bears them is a wonderful individual, a miracle of creation, a human being. But in naming one's own kids, one may wish to consider something a bit more imaginative than the old saw "John Smi

Oh, and by the way... Here is a good link about getting into ski/snowboard shape during the off-season!

Quote: I just had a policeman say that I cant use them in Japan. He got really angry. Does anyone know about this subject. Why yes, I do know about the subject of police getting really angry. It really irritates me the way some cops, whether in Japan, the US, or wherever, take personal offense and then dispense burning righteous anger at your not following bureaucratic-type laws about bicycles, inline skates, parking meters. As if you were an axe murderer...well even if you were, is it the cop's job to yell angrily at you? In such cases you are seeing the skull beneath the skin of a

Too bad about Kandatsu. That was the only Niigata resort I liked. It had that steep (but not long, unfortunately) front mogul hill. It was never crowded and always a blast. And it has a great collection of onsen in the lodge, including a rotenburo, bubble jet bath, cold water bath, steam room and sauna. What a great place. Day trips from Tokyo, including shinkansen fare, lift ticket, onsen admission and 1000 off lunch, all for about 13,000 per person. If it closes, I probably won't bother going up to Niigata because the other resorts there just don't interest me very much.

Yeah, I guess you're right. It is an amazingly stupid problem on an expensive, high-end board from a famous maker. At this point though I have to either fix it myself, or pay $50 shipping fees to send it back to the shop or to Salomon for warranty service...so I am going to learn to live with it. As for other boards, I wish I had a collection of them! But which ones? Without demoing them one just doesn't know where to drop one's hundreds of dollars... I don't know anybody who rides like me except hardbooters/freecarvers on their occasional soft boot day. So I am looking at

"Elbows off the table"? I haven't heard that one since I was about 7. What is the effing point of it? Is there any practical or intrinsically polite value to this rule? Or is it simply one of those nonsensical archaic legacies like neckties and "bless you" after a sneeze? My elbows are on the table most of the time. Otherwise, I'd have to hold them artificially pinned to my sides, or uncomfortably suspended in mid-air as if they were wings hovering over the table.

Threading through the topsheet would seem to facilitate delamming, so I am going to carefully enlarge the topsheet holes by the very tiny amount that they occlude the inserts. I have to do it in such a way that I do not void the warranty. I think I can do it so it looks like nothing was done at all. The warranty lasts until the end of next April so I will have a whole season to monitor any topsheet changes. Salomon is very good about warranty. I've seen many a thread on other message boards about how Salomon handles delams by giving you a brand-new next-year model of the same b

I don't think it is intentional, and it doesn't sound like a good thing. You are forcing things and that is scary on a new board. You don't know if the screw is perfectly straight and seated properly in the threads, yet you have to bear down with considerable force to get through the topsheet. Also, you slip and miss a few times and make a lot of scratches in the topsheet. I'll be covering the whole area with duct tape before doing any more of this tricky work. Finally--and worst of all--I wonder if forcibly screwing through the topsheet will gradually lift the topsheet away fro

The local shop called the official Salomon rep, and here was the rep's response: "Yes, this year many customers thought it was tricky getting screws into the holes. The holes in the board's topsheet are very slightly smaller than the screw inserts beneath. So you have to carefully push the screw through the topsheet hole to get to the insert threads beneath. Using a beefy, large handled Phillips-head screwdriver, put the screw exactly over the hole, make sure it is perfectly straight, then push straight down hard. Then start turning. The screw should catch in the threads..." After he

In keeping with the notion that e-mail outboxes are the diaries of the Net age, I wanted to archive all my Outlook Express mails--both sent and received--in the following manner: 1. Put all received and sent messages into one file, ordered by date. This way, when you look at things later in life, you can see the original mail and all the responses, in the proper order. They may be separated by intervening mails, but the chronological order will be preserved so that viewing this massive file will be an accurate diary-like experience. 2. Convert the e-mails from Microsoft Outlook E

I'm already on a Salomon 550, and it takes any standard screws no problem. They just go right in, as they should. I have screws from Salomon bindings too...they won't go in my new Salomon board. Pretty screwy, eh? I can't wait to find out why this happened. I'll post the result for those who are interested. What galls me the most is the brazen "Salomon Quality Control" sticker on the board. It would seem to me that even the most basic quality check would be to see if the damn screw inserts are the right ones...sheesh.

I got a Salomon Fastback off the Net from a New Hampshire store. It was a great deal...except that binding screws don't fit into the insert screw holes. The holes seem too small. Or maybe the thread pitch is wrong...or the threads aren't properly cut...weird. Loctite is not the issue either: the screws won't even start in the holes. Snowboard binding screws are all a standard size. But just to be sure, I tried screws from a Salomon binding, a Burton binding, a Flow binding and even Palmer PowerLinks...no go. I thought maybe I'd bought a counterfeit board. My sis got

CherryBoy, what exactly do you mean? I've eaten with Chinese people who purposely burp to show appreciation, but I never noticed Japanese people making excessive or theatrical noises while eating. Are you referring to loud boisterous behavior designed to show enthusiasm and good cheer (usually linked to alcohol consumption)? Or are you talking about purposely exaggerated chewing and swallowing noises?

Hey Lama, you in Oz for the winter? Let me ask you something about Australian beer. I used to take women to a place in Tokyo as a lead-in to getting them drunk and playful. They had "Coopers" beer from Oz--one green label, one red label. Both were pretty good. I always had one of each before wine or mixers. What's the rep of Coopers in Oz? Is it a mainstream beer, a local's beer, or what? Also, what is the "Budweiser" of Oz? Sitting here in Michigan, I'd have to guess either Fosters or Castlemaine. Cheers from the land of lakes and no mountains!

My expert eye judges Megumi's dugs to be the Real Thing. No supra-costal water balloons inserted there, folks! Squeeze to your heart's content, those are naturally honest mammaries.