badmigraine

8/10. But I'm a lawyer, and we are kindred to criminals and pathological liars, so this is an unfair advantage. If I could have sent a bill for professional services, I might have gotten 10/10.

How my dream of Ireland was deflated. --steep and deep powder snow destinations? --relatively warm surf points? --smoke-free restaurants and bars? --good Japanese or Korean food readily available? --left-hand drive cars? --deserts, forests, mountains, lakes for adventure, camping and/or family touring? --long hot dry summers tapering off into glorious autumn days with blazing fall colors? --family and friends nearby? In defense of the dream are quaint landscapes and towns, good beer, and proximity to the continent. But to live there? I couldn't do it. I feel cold, ti

It may astonish all of you to learn that I lived in Switzerland when I was 10-11. It astonishes me that when I was there, I didn't go to any of the places that I wish I had been to. Astonishing!

These polls seem to describe the best place to live if you are already from there. I wonder what is the best place to live if you go there as a foreigner?

Depends what you want them for. SNOWY MESSY DAY When all is said and done, I have to go with the bright yellow. It really sharpens up a messy day. BLAZINGLY BRIGHT DAY As for bright sunlit conditions, people with really expensive sunglasses are forced to use those instead of goggles. Otherwise, any darker lens will do you fine. NOT SPEND TOO MUCH ON BRAND GOODS AND HAVE 1 LENS THAT WORKS JUST FINE ALL AROUND ANY DAY FOR EVERYTHING I believe the operative word is cheap and Brown. But you have to make sure to get the double-lensed ones, or they will fog up for sure.

Well, it was a joke topic that has clearly landed with all the eclat of a rotten plum, but yes, DINs on ski bindings!

In the movie "Spinal Tap", much is made over an amp that "goes to 11..." Could all these higher and higher DIN numbers be based on this scene from Spinal Tap? Which came first?

Would it be possible to train a sled dog team to act as chairlifts in the backcountry? For those too lazy to skin it up? In principle, I think dogs could understand the concept. It's really no different from their fetching a stick over and over again. It's just that you are the stick, and there are 10 dogs fetching you up a powder glade.

My favorite apres-ski activity is SLEEP. I am 41 years old and not allowed to drink anymore.

What kind of dog, Telleboy? I used to have all my cats spayed. It was awful they way they sadly looked into my eyes as I brought them home from the vet. There was an animal rights vet in L.A. who used to do it for free. You just paid for medicine and medical supplies, that was it.

The conclusion here is obvious -- .pdf files are to computer users as brussel sprouts are to children.

George Bush probably thinks "absinthe" means a kind of gut blaster exercise rack sold on TV shopping. "Get ripped using Absinthe [tm]!" "Want a six-pack? Why not try Absinthe [tm]!"

Oh, Mudguts, no, no! A glaring error! Get another coffee or another glass of red and think about it. Yep, there's nothing much to see at Niseko, it's ultimately disappointing. The snow is overrated and the food is bad too. People ought to try somewhere else. See how this works?

Folks, what we need are new drugs, not the old ones from 100+ years ago. I'd settle for something as satisfying and addictive as Nacho Cheese Doritos or even White Castle Burgers. Trapped in the world of the known...I want to remember how much there is that I don't know that I don't know...the beauty is in the becoming.

Earthquake or not, I'll be up there in Yuzawa following Mogs down hardscrabble cliff faces and jetting over yawning chasms. I'll be doing my part to support the local economy, especially by pouring hundreds and hundreds of yen into beer vending machines, then pouring the beer down my throat. And a lot of coffee and tonjiru too. And curry. And maybe, candy bars. And a flask! I expect huge dumps this year. Don't ask me why, I just have a feeling! Wife has zero interest in sitting around doing baby care at a ski resort, so I will be solo and free and easy!

I wonder which is more difficult: searching for a lost ski or pair of goggles in a deep powder drift, or being 41 years old and trying to pick up a girl at the Gas Panic in Roppongi? In either case, one feels a chill in the air.

I wonder what it feels like to be stuck in a tree well (assuming you didn't bash your naked head on the bark, and just sort of ended up inverted and flailing). I once had a dream where I was stuck doubled over inside a concrete pipe, and couldn't get out! Horrible. I suppose being stuck in a tree well might be something like that. Or else maybe like being 3 years old in a big puffy snowsuit and falling into a drift and getting stuck. Anyone?

I guess the true legends are those who live next to the ski resort, and still ride all day when the weather is dodgy. I probably wouldn't do it unless it involved freshies. But being an urban, weekend boarder, I gladly ride no matter what the conditions...all about justifying the huge cash outlay and committed vacation days!

Nice thought, voidhawk, but then the problem is that you smell of deodorant and are equally noticed, though perhaps less reviled. The preferred state of being here is Odorless.

Never...in fact I am probably the last guy in the world to want headphones or ear buds in at any time at all, whether on a train, in a waiting room, or riding in a car. Background music distracts and bothers me. I enjoy earplugs though.

I don't know why they even bothered to report it. Everybody already knows the only people who do drugs are gaijin. Let me guess--they forgot to mention that psychedelic mushrooms were openly and legally sold in front of Shibuya Station and in shops all over Japan...until the darn things were suddenly declared illegal just before the 2002 World Cup. I guess the thought of foreign hooligans on mushrooms was enough to tip the balance.

I guess my proposed sales brochure wording would have been rejected? "Acrobat locks up users' computers for 10-20 seconds while loading a cumbersome, awkward-to-view picture of documents where you have to counter-intuitively pull up to view down, thus streamlining the 'red rage-filled hatred of institutional software' process." Think about it... NORMAL: scroll down, view down ACROBAT: pull up, view down. Who is the idiot that perpetuates this annoyance, version after version. WHY?!?!?

Whether in an office or on the Net, .pdf files are the most annoying thing ever. Not only do they take forever to open up even on the latest superfast PC, but once you open them, it's awkward to move around and view them. You can size the page to fit the window, in which case the text is too small to read, or you can zoom it to readable text, but then you can only view 1/2 of the page at a time. And half the on-screen real estate is taken up by the blank space at the bottom of the page, the empty space to show where one page stops and the other starts, and the blank space atop the next p

Regarding gaijin who smell, it seems to be worse in some countries than in others. I didn't think anybody smelled in Michigan, but a recent European business trip reminded me that there are differing concepts about bathing and odors. What I really hate is when a really stinky J person gets on the train car, and people automatically assume it's me and start edging away... I sometimes switch train cars at the next station just to get out of this uncomfortable situation and to get away from the smell. There are some people who seem to have a serious B.O. problem. A co-worker told me these pe

During my alcoholic haze days in Walled Lake, Michigan I would have recourse to Bud or Bud Light when I wanted to slow things down after all the strong beer, wine and/or liquor. It was so watery and light, it seemed to rehydrate me and prep me for more drinking later on. Much like a professional tennis player sitting down for a short break when changing ends.