Plucky

I saw a ton of men who looked like women in Roppongi. That place is just evil! Funny thing is, I saw way more in Shibuya but I liked that place. I'm not sure who this Gackt person is, but those types wouldn't offend me in the least. I've seen too many other weird things to let that bother me. The whole men looking like women thing isn't relegated to Japan either. Lots of Brit music stars did that shit in the 70's - Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Rod Stewart etc.... I mean Ziggy Stardust, c'mon! Oh, and one can't forget the 80's in the US. Men wore more makeup than women!

Quote: Is Donnie Darko worth seeing? Definitely worth it. One of my favorite scenes ever from a movie was in DD. The scene when it's all slow-mo and 'everybody wants to rule the world' is playing. Brilliant for a first time director! I just finished watching the Sci-Fi Channels 'Dune' TV Movie. It was really good. Some of the sets and computer work were cheesy as hell, but all in all, solid. Way better than the original Dune movie and not nearly as confusing (I've read the books too). Also watched 'The Majestic' with Jim Carey today. Not bad at all. A bit predictable, but wo

I hated it. I have no timetable for comparisons since I was only there once though. I was ready to hit the next guy that grabbed me trying to get me into their bar or strip club. I hated Tokyo in general. No offense, but I'm just not a city guy and Tokyo is the ultimate modern city. The subway system does rock though. Well done on that.

GREAT post Toque! I just spent 20 minutes taking it all in. Beautiful and I'm jealous as hell!

Bananas are NOT good to take with you! My backpack still smells from my Whistler trip. At least rotten banana doesn't smell that bad. When I was younger, I wouldn't eat anything and just ski all day. I enjoy going in for lunch now. I absolutely LOVED getting miso ramen for lunch in Japan. Best damn ski lunch in the world if you ask me Oh yeah, I've always carried copious amounts of water with me. I almost always wear a backpack (mostly for vid and camera equipment).

Quote: Originally posted by SKI: You put smelly shoes in with your clothes wash Plucky? Yep. But, I also put smelly clothes in with my smelly shoes. With Tevas, it works fine. don't know if I'd do it with sneakers or boots.

Let me tell you folks..... this Vicodin is good shiznit! Sorry Kintaro! My comprehension skills are weak in this state. I mean, weaker than usual which is pretty bad! Have a good time in Aomori! I like that city a lot. Take your board - I bet Hakkoda still has some snow!

Quote: Originally posted by Kintaro: are you serious or just a clever joke? Serious about what? Me is confused...

Bigger holes than I thought. Looks like they had to slice under my knee cap to get to the patella. I hope these don't gross anyone out too bad. If so, let me know and I'll take them down. The Orange is just iodine they put all over your leg for surgery. Disinfection? I'm actually uncertain why they do this. They made me initial the knee I was getting surgery on. My initials (NA) have messed up some paperwork before. I had to remind the doc that it did not mean not-applicable......

I can't remember seeing them in Japan, but studded tires kick ass on ice. I used them for 5 months this past winter and never had a problem. Generally, if it's below -10C, ice is pretty safe to drive on. It actually becomes somewhat sticky. It's when temps are between -10 and 0 that things get dangerous. Slow and easy is really the only rule that applies. There really isn't much you have to do to a car until the temps get below -12.2222222222223 Celsius (I used a converter - that's 10F). A good idea is to use a heavier weight oil and heavier weight lube for your bearings and movi

Quote: Originally posted by -20.7: Nice pjs (?) you have there. That's a bandage covering my entire leg. I finally get to take the dang thing off here in a bit and can put a smaller one on. It's been driving me batty..... Shall I post a picture of the mess under the bandage? It's probably not that bad. Yamakashi - that would be that episode!

Nice pictures Toque! That looks like a blast! I regret that I never made it down that way to do some skiing. The mountains just look fun down there!

Glad you were able to get that expidited Oyuki. I wish there was some kind of compromise between US/Canadian health care systems. On one hand, it's nearly free but takes forever to get taken care of while on the other hand you can get seen relatively quickly but pay a butt-load of money (my Aetna insurance sucks!). Here's basically what I did all day: South Park is soooo funny on Vicodin! That episode in the photo is the famous Chikopokomon (sp?) episode! So small........

Quote: Originally posted by Captain Stag: My Tiva sandals smell like they are a piece of dead animal - Im considering throwing them away they smell so bad - none of my ther shoes smell bad. Throw them in the washing machine. Works for me every time. I wear my Tivas all the time when I'm not at work and they do get to stinkin' pretty bad! Throw them in with a load of wash, however, and they come out smelling like new.

Quote: Originally posted by Kintaro: the first 4 seasons of Seinfeld I wasn't aware season 4 was out yet. I've got 1-3 so far. Damn, would have loved to have 4 for my extended home stay. I did just buy seasons 1-3 of south park though! My God those are funny! I just recently completed my collection of MASH DVDs too. Just waiting for the last couple of sesons to be released. Same with the Simpsons. I've have all the seasons that have been released. I've been going DVD mad recently in anticipation of my being stuck at home. Let's see, I just bought Once Upon a Time in Mexi

I made it through the procedure and I'm alive and well! Well in this case means in a lot of freaking pain, but it's to be expected. The Vicodin is doing a good job at knocking out most of the pain, but damn if it doesn't make me dizzier than hell. This recovery is definitely going to be more difficult than my other ones, but I'm optimistic and looking forward to the future on my new knee! Veronica - skiing has most certainly played a role in two of my surgeries, but it wasn't skiing that was the initial root of the problem. I've played basketball, American football, ran track (mostly

Quote: Originally posted by slow: I looked up Alaska in the ATLAS last night. I just felt Alaska was far away from here but looks like not too far from Japan by airplane (is there any direct flight?) How many hours flight from Tokyo to Anchorage? I'm not sure about Anchorage, but they do now have one or two direct flights from Japan to Fairbanks daily. A lot of Japanese come to Fairbanks in the winter just to see the Northern Lights. The Aurora Lodge caters to the Japanese for this purpose. I'm not sure about the flight time though. I'd say 5 to 6 hours???? I'm sure there are direc

You should have no problem being back in time for the snow season. As others have mentioned, be rigorous with your PT regime and stick with it! Two years ago I had my meniscus repaired on Oct 30th and I was back out skiing in mid December. I rehabed the hell out of it in anticipation for the coming season and things went fairly well. An ACL will definitely take you longer to recover from than a meniscus repair, but it sounds like you'll have plenty of time. A friend of mine was skiing 3 months after having his repaired and I think that is about the usual target time for a full recov

I've got to hobble to a meeting right now, but I've got some info for you as I'm sure many others do. Heck, I'll let you know how mine goes when I get home tomorrow evening from the hospital

A rough rule of thumb is that for every 1000 feet of elevation you gain, you can expect between a 3.5 and 5 degree F temperature drop. To expand on what Big Will said (which is right on), air at higher elevations is under lower pressure which means that the air molecules have more separation between one another. Heat is generally created from the interaction of molecules - the further spaced they are, the less interaction and the less heat that is produced. That's a simplistic explanation of course, because we all probably know what a temperature inversion is........ The study of com

Quote: Originally posted by 34 guests: Ha, nice pants mate! And nice pictures as well. Look at he width and length of the glacier in the Glenn Highway pic. Hey now, that's not me in that pic! I told the guy to get in it to make it look more 'O'fish al' He worked on the charter boat that got those Halibut. 2 pints - These are all from southern Alaska around Anchorage and Homer on the Kenai Pennisula. Here is a small map for reference: I live 40 miles south of Fairbanks. Although the map doesn't show it, there are some huge mountains just to the south of me (10k-14

Ask and you shall receive This is the famous Portage Glacier. There's a huge visitors center and lodge - just for tourists. Give it a decade and you won't be able to even see the terminus of this glacier! This is the Matanuska Glacier from the Glenn Hwy. Those are the Chugach Mts it's coming out of. All of that dark material is morraine material This glacier is receding fast! Just for the heck of it - small Halibut caught by charters out of Homer. These are only 35-45 pounders. That's all I have loaded up on the web right now. I may put some ot

Thanks for the kind words Fatttwins. I'm having a completely different procedure done - a lateral release and then also having some pseudo cartlidge regnerated from my knee cap bone marrow. It's going to be interesting, but this doctor used to be an Olympice Team doctor and he's confident this will do the trick for me! PS - I think Starbucks should be banned from the face of the Earth! I actually don't mind Tim's at all. Ate there a few times on my drive up to Alaska

Not that my opinion matters on this topic, but it is fun to see people other than Americans beating up on each other for once! The pomp and circumstance of popular restaurants is so unappealing to me...... I was surprised to see the British leading in the list, however. From what I've heard and my pre-conceived notions, I thought British food sucked. Yet, I haven't been there, so I really have no opinion. Arguing about French vs English or German or Japanese cuisine is like scrapping about the best bbq in the US - Houston or Dallas or Phoenix or LA - there is no point - it's all

Liquid - that's my favorite out of the 366pictures I took. It looks killer in Black and White. I've decorated my cabin in B&W photos that I've taken in my travels. Great conversation pieces. I have a pic from the Yukon showing Sheep Mt with a post and the Canadian flag in the foreground hanging over my toilet. I love that shot. When I told my friend from Nova Scotia I did that, he laughed - knows I did it out of respect. I love Canada - Tim Horton's sucks though I mean, how can a place be worse than Denny's????