samurai

Originally Posted By: holo ski video tour guide. ie take rich tourists around the ski fields and film them and present them with a DVD etc. that's got money written all over it!

Originally Posted By: soubriquet FWIW, I like English bitters best. Sam Smiths, Theakstons and Fuller are at the top of my list. I like hoppy beers. VB is sweet and malty, can't stand that stuff. Bitter- yes... Malty- no. I don't like chocolate or coffee flavored beers. And I quite dislike guiness. Although I will admit it's better than anything Japan produces. I'm going to america monday. pale ales and hefe's for the next ten days!!! I used to work at a micro brewery- Bear Republic. They do actually make the best pale ale (hoppy) beer I have ever drunk. Tragically, it's only

Originally Posted By: fjef Toyota and GM have the technology - they just have to make the break from the hold of Big Oil... Money talks. I remember seeing the Dodge Magna in prototype form. (new station wagon that came out about 8 years ago.) It was electric, 4 wheel drive, and had 300 hp. Mobile bought the patent. Good bye dream car. The magna still exists. But now it has your choice of a V6 or a hemi. As mentioned in another thread, my pops bought a full sized dodge pickup with a cummins diesel and converted it to vegetable oil. He pulls heavy trailers over mountain passes

She's outgrown the pages.

Hillary's voice was by no means "Squabbling". Perhaps the media played it out as such. I'm not much of a democrat, but I will give props to how she handled that question. which was something to the likes of- "would you negotiate with Iran, North Korea, etc. without having any pre-conditions in place?" (Ie. Iran must stop their nuclear ambitions before the US approaches the negotiation table.) I completely respect her call on being used as a propaganda tool for these countries if there is not an international agenda in place prior to the meeting. You can't just go there and expect to be treated

Turkey vultures in Chile. The Atacama desert. Iquique. (you surfers may know the town. If you don't- research it.) back on topic- Birds the size of thin turkeys. they hang out on palm trees and telephone lines. Their poo drops by the bucket load. If you see it on the street, it looks like some drunk dude vomitted last night. Those things were insane. I can't remember the casteano name. Anyone? Those things combined with what I called; Domesticated Wild Dogs (because they had no owners, lived on the street, and had no predators either) both work together to completely coat the s

Ironically (literally), I find both sides of this argument insane. Oh... and I love guns. I also love to hunt. Ironically, I have always craved a bird cage in my home so I could wake up to those songs. But I admit, I wouldn't be able to cage things that can fly. Nor would I be able to shoot a bird that wasn't food. I did once, and it bothered me. Did they eat it? I've shot a lot of birds that I ate. Then it's okay. If they didn't eat it, why can't I blow away the crows that stalk my neighborhood garbage posts on Mondays and thursdays? They're fricking huge because they're so well f

Originally Posted By: me jane I saw am interesting post on Facebook recently, by a "product" of a Japanese-kiwi marriage. He was all out against it because of the problems it has caused him growing up. I'd take that with a grain of salt. How old was he? Most of us adults cherish the problems we endured growing up. (Assuming of course, they weren't abusive.) And I can't imagine, if his problems were abusive, they were because his parents were of different mother-tongues. I have family and friends who grew up with spanish/english speaking parents, and I never heard them complain

Originally Posted By: daver but my own opinion is that i would have a lot of trouble with all the re-education required in dating a japanese woman. they (and we) all take learning. That is what makes relationships last, the ability to learn. Remember Seinfeld? something to the likes of; "I can't date somebody who is exactly like me. I'm irritating." Away from the cultural boundaries and social stigmas between both of our cultures that do require some learning, my japanese wife and I are thankful we will be eighty years old and asking each other for the 1000th time; "How do you

I've watched it a bit. It's old. Fox repeats the same crap year after year, then they do a "catch-up" in case you missed it. I'm beginning to hate Fox Japan. Everything on that channel is a rerun from material they purchased like 3 years ago. And, could you (FOX) please stop airing 24 24 hours a day!? Anyway, I like Branson's methodology for selecting the new CEO and liked that show the first time through.

I think the term choice is turning into a semantic debate... one not worth any further effort on my part. Anyway, regarding coombs, to my understanding he was trying to aid his friend who had fallen off a cliff at La Grave. My apologies for my hanging onto initial reports that he tried to stop his friend from falling. I now understand he fell after his friend. Nonetheless, he died during a rescue attempt, making completely selfless choices. I don't know how I managed to never follow up on initial reports. Something of which, I imagine, I'm often quite guilty.

I just order directly from oakley. I only use oakley because once you have a few frames, replacement lenses collect rapidly. Smith also offers replacement lenses on their site. And I hear A LOT about that Blue Sensor Mirror lens they make. But that's retail. Personally, I don't mind paying 120 bucks a year for a goggle and a replacement lens.... considering how much skiing costs and all, it seems a pretty small price to pay for comfortable eyes in storms, on sunny days or riding nights. But don't mind me, I'm a lens freak. steepandcheap.com as mentioned above occasionally offers cheap pr

I have a friend who dropped into a foggy line, lost sight, tumbled over rocks and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Did he choose to get paralyzed? How about another friend who aired to flat in the park. blew up his spine. Did he choose to be paralyzed as well? Another friend on a speed mission on morning cord with no public around lost an edge and hit a tree, destroyed the nerves in his shoulder and can no longer move his right arm. Did he make that choice. Did I choose to dislocate both my shoulders approx 40 times and go through 2 surgeries out of choice? I no longer f

do like I do- order them online, have them shipped to your parent's place, have mom include some other elements from back home you miss. A self-generated care package. Every fall I do this for my goggles, my goretex deer-hide gloves, my silk, my wool and my ski porn. Not only are japan fit uncomfortable, they're insanely over-priced. 23,000 yen for an A-frame at my shop.

prick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (duck, it's lethal. It was a setup... )

Hey Luke, I just went to the ski shop in Sendai today that I like. ALL of last year's fat skis are still in stock, stuffed away in the corner, literally, behind all of the '08 race stock. All '07. They were all about 10-20% off. These prices may drop come october, if they restock on new stuff... however... they may not restock... I saw this batch of skis last year at this time. I honestly saw the exact same batch. Gotama 183- 2 pair. 70,000 yen Gun 188 - 2 pair Snoop daddy, longish, mid 180ish 1 pair Pimp daddy 194 50,000yen. (it's huge!- and a deal) plus a few others that I can'

pitch, snow, terrain, price, food & accom, apres ski, eye candy. in that order.

Hakkoda= bus transport from Aomori/Hachinohe stations. 1000yen a tram ride. I believe it's about 4000 vert. One hardcore day, non-stop will yield around 7 runs. (45 minute laps) Heeps of BC if you are avy-savvy. Although in my 4 days riding that resort, I never crossed another track and never used my skins. oh... and Hachimantai is also fairly close, although I don't know about local transport. It's smaller than Hakkoda, but also heeps of BC. If I'm not mistaken, Daver said there is a bus from Aomori or Sendai. I don't remember. Maybe he'll chime in. both the above resorts are the

touche.

you said you're a ski fanatic. What kind of skiing do you like? what skis do you ride, or have you liked in the past? gear- There is a sweet shop just up the road from the station. I hold a pass at zao. If you don't like tree-tronning, bushwacking, and tarzanning for the goods, it sucks. Jangle jungle is flat. Although the park rats love it.

http://www.coreshotfilms.com/

Isn't it pretty much normal for a typhoon, or a hurricane, or a cyclone, or any sea-based storm to pretty much die once it makes landfall? I thought so anyway. Soubs???

Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps Quote: but you did say SERIUOUSLY in your title but it is a valid point that people generally don't like big-heads and/or talking about salary is often a sensitive issue. That's all. I don't know if anyone got offended by talking about salary. I just thought it was pretty ludicrous for somebody to ask for advice finding work in a previous thread, then comment on "living off the interest of our savings", then asking for business ideas. I just can't help but give a bit of lip to that character. I mean... come on... but now, perhaps i

sorry if I upset you, sirjib... but you did say SERIUOUSLY in your title, which would quite drastically counter the JOKE theme that is currently being persuaded. Seriously... set up a webpage with a few domains in Japan and america... there are heaps of threads here that have people talking about what they miss from back home, etc... To me... there's just no question what kind of business to start up. Oh... you guys were joking... right... ummm... how about a male host bar?

sirjib, I recall you saying in a previous thread that you were going to float on the interest of your savings. And, an attempt to be serious, why don't you have a website yet? why aren't you importing and exporting things that require no over-head and very little staff? Honestly... why are you asking a bunch of ski bums? I'll turn your money over for you. I have business ideas every fricking day. I just don't have the capital to pull them off. And quite frankly, am not about to just say; "Hey dude, here's my goal... take it from me." I have to admit- these threads... "What do