jgraves

That bit with the mirror is so funny. I remember when my cat was a kitten and did the exact same thing. Cats are the best pets. But after living 5 floors above a church where people used to put food out for the stray cats in the neighborhood and after being woken up at four in the morning by those cats fighting over it screeching and hissing EVERY god damn night of the year, I now hate stray cats more than just about anything on the face of this earth.

Good news indeed! Ganbatte!

Now if only I had a half-decent printer and a laminating machine.

A sign that the offically designated "put your snow tires on your car" day is just around the corner.

A really fit Japanese friend put on about 10Kg in about 2 weeks out of the blue. Her regular doctor didn't have a clue. She just happened to meet a kanpo doctor one night out drinking and when she told him what had happened, he asked if she had gotten any new pierces. As it turns out, she had just gotten her belly button pierced the day before she started ballooning. On his advice, she took it out, and she returned to her normal weight within a matter of days. True story.

Where is Samagihara?

Gotcha. Thanks.

Bolle. $50. Excellent, even after heavy use for 5 rather big seasons. Double-lens, no exceptions anymore. Rose. I give rose a B+. But its better than anything I have used in the past, including mirror/smoke, and orange. Have never used any designer tints. but can see how they could be better than what I use now. Always carry a special goggle-wipe instead of a sock. Highly recommended.

Thanks. I guess everyone's tastes are different. The openness was what didn't appeal to me--not bad, but definitely vanilla. I was just afraid I had missed something worthwhile inbounds.

Good read. FT, Is Happo-one really your favorite on-piste????? I'm with you on the bc access, but on-piste???? Can I ask why?

Classic! That brought back a lot of memories. Damn Americans have suchfoul f***ing mouths!

Thanks for all the 's everyone. Yeah, its our first. Still tripping on the grand debut of hands and feet in the latest ultrasound. Apologies in advance to everyone. I'm sure I'm going to post a lot of stuff on this thread that, to those of you who've been through it before, is going to be the fatherhood newcomer's equivalent of the Japan newcomers' perpetual repetition of the same "amazing new disocveries" about Japan.

Twelve weeks a year!? You wouldn't happen to be a fluffer, now would you?

It had been over a decade since I had last seen a Woody Allen movie, and on a whim, I rented Deconstructing Harry the other day. Absolutely hillarious! I have decided to go on a binge in the coming weeks. What are your favorites?

Mrs. Bum (or is it baby Bum) just entered the second trimester, so its time for us to go public as well! So, did all you parents out there name your babies before they were born, or did you wait and see what their personality was like first?

Glad to see psych majors are branching out of the burger business. 1660. Level 3. Apparently, I've gotta make some better friends. Is there an EMT in the house?

The only thing more irritating than Enya is people who use the elevator to go one or two floors.

I would also suggest checking out "motocycle town" (literally about six or seven city blocks crammed with motorcycle and accessories shops) located just east of Tokyo's Ueno station. Have also heard that because so few new HDs are exported to Aus, used harley's brought into Aus from other countries (like Japan) can resell for decidedly more than the owner paid for them even after shipping. Can't confirm that rumor, though, but it sure would help to explain the redneck rage.

When the government toughened the rules for DUI's several years ago, the number of hit and runs spiked (surprise surprise) because the penalty for fleeing the scene became so much less than that for getting busted for drunk driving. I think the main reason for the media blitz is that they are trying to get the government to change the fleeing the scene law.

ebc- Not a doc, but from years and years of physical therapy I know that heat can cause calcium deposits to form in injuries like that and should probably be avoided. I would stay away from onsens and hot baths. Why not just massage it lightly? Or get grungy gonads to massage it for you? Or just borrow Ocean's dildo underwear and take your mind off it?

That warrior-monk link cracked me up. The topic of warrior buddists written about on an website devoted to Oda Nobunaga is like the history of warrior muslims hundreds of years ago being told on a website devoted to George W. Bush. Loved this quote in particular: "It might seem severely fantastic to you, stories of monks and killing devices, and monks and concubines and procreating processes, and monks and booze, and monks and barbeque parties -- even more so because Buddhism is sort of too philosophical to get itself mummified into something distinguishably dead system o

I always feel a bit strange going back and hanging out with my oldest, closest friends. In my mind none of them change while I'm away, but then when I actually meet up with them again, they have grown fatter, older, greyer, balder than I remember, and have new interests, hobbies, skills, etc,. It shouldn't surprise me, especially after so many extended absences, but it always does.

I like his necktie.

I am not the poster child for the anti-transplantation movement, but there are some very good reasons other than religion not to become a donor. The biggest problem is equating the state of "brain death" with human death. "Brain death" was in fact an artificial state invented in the 1960s by a doctor at Harvard named Henry Beecher expressly for the purpose of harvesting fresher organs for the (then) new procedure of solid organ transplant. To put that into perspective. . . Many PVS patients (patients in a Persistent Vegitative State and still breathing spontaneously, requirin