Road Weary Businessman

Another Meal in Mito

2011-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not even sure where we were dining, but we each had a bib tied onto us to keep our shirts clean. I usually do ok with keeping my shirts clean, it's my dang pants that end up with stains from Korean BBQ.

A New Washer/Dryer

2011-08-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Humm....We purchased a brand new Washer and Dryer, "installation included". The installers show up bright and early (which is good!) and here's a near verbatim break down of our discussion.

Installer: Oh, so sorry, we can't install the gas dryer-it's against code to install a dryer in the garage.

Me: Well, ok, I'll take care of it.

Installer: Oh, so sorry, we also can't install the washer, the on/off values for the hot/cold water are out of code too.

Me: Humm. So when you say installation included, this equates to you delivering them to my garage and I install them, right?

Installer: Correct sir, please sign here that it was an acceptable installation.

Me: But you didn't install anything.

Installer: We've noted the connections, leveling, placement and final verification as exceptions to the installation on the installation sign off page. Please sign here.

On the brighter side, the dryer just finished its initial run and sang a little song for me. While a lesser man than I would rush out and do all the laundry to hear the song again, I'll wait for Grace so that she can share the experience too.

A Mid-Summer Update

2011-08-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

It’s been an interesting year so far. The earthquake in Japan brought my travels to a screeching halt. Whereas in a normal year I might spend two months in Japan, thus far this year I’ve spent two weeks in Japan. I’m returning to the hive at the end of August, one of the hottest times of the year. We’ll see how it goes. Anytime that I can avoid Japan in the summer, I avoid it.

Since I’m not traveling so much, I’ve been trying to work on manufacturing my kitchen cabinets. I’m nearly completed with the assembly itself, and Grace is nearly done with the staining/poly, so next we move onto the demolition of the kitchen itself. I’m on a tight timeline, my travel swings back into gear in a few weeks, so I really need to finish now, or wait several months to complete it. I’m heading to Japan, Central America, the East Coast, West Coast and the Middle East w/in the next three months. I’ve never been to Central America, so I’m looking forward to it quite a bit. We’re meeting up with some friends and have rented a house for a week, and then we’re renting our own place for a week on a small island. Should be fun!

Moving on...

2011-01-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

It's been fair amount of time since I posted. 2010 was a very successful year and I was able to sell a fair amount of equipment. I'm happy to have sold equipment and happy to have new customers to support.

I find myself questioning if I being a coward by staying with this job and not taking a chance on a different job that I might like more but makes a litlte less money.

I've done the unthinkable and updated my resume, now I just need to decide if I'm going ot look for a different job.

Dresden

2010-08-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

I was in Dresden Germany early this week working (cough cough) at a customer site. I flew in to attempt to clean up the mess of a colleague. The colleague in question had been a tiny dit dour during past technical discussions with a customer and I was trying to put a happy face on it. I failed. In any case, the scenery was quite nice.

Dresden is a interesting area. I stayed in the historic downtown area. A little reading up on the subject and I learned that the area was literally wiped off the map during WWII. The town has worked tirelessly to resurect itself during the past two or three decades. So it's a town that looks old, but is in fact, quite modern. I believe that the buildings with the dark bricks are buildings that have both old and new brick. The old was burned during the war, the new is just new.

I loved the beer.

Frankfurt

2010-08-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

I very much enjoy the open plaza's of Europe. The open spaces just encourage everyone to come out and stroll and visit. I found this plaza in Frankfurt over the weekend. There were flower vendors scattered throughout the plaza, and I found myself wishing that I could buy a few to take home with me.

I had lunch one afternoon when I wasn't working and opted to eat what the locals were eating, brats and fries! The line was long, but, the payoff was great!

I had to sneak my camera out to take a picture of the catsup and mustard dispensors. To extract the catsup/mustard you had to squeeze in the middle, just like a cows udder. It was very practical, but it amused me very, very much.

There were quite a few butcher shops operating outside the plaza in an area that was reserved for a farmers market. I'd never seen so many butchers in such a small area. The the shops were all mobile, and drove away at the end of the day. I did find myself lusting over all the delicious looking cuts of lamb. Being a bit of a lamb junkie myself, I loved the low prices and quality cuts they were providing.

Tsujiki Fish Market

2010-08-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

One of my colleagues was nearly begging me to take them to the fish market in Tokyo on Saturday morning. I've been to the fish market perhaps ten times, and to be honest I'm a bit fried on it. To be a nice guy I opted to take the guy to the market anyway. I've been fortunate enough to go quite a few times, so I know how to be a decent tour guide.

This was the first time I've visited in the dead of summer, and it was bloody hot and humid. We hit the market at 5:30AM and by 8AM we were done and settled into a small resturant for "breakfast". There are lots of outdoor venues to eat at near the market, but my colleage was seeking AC, so we ate inside. Luckily, he paid! Anyway, we had lots of sushi and shashimi plus several beers each. At times it's hard not to like my job! The fringe benefits can be wonderful.

Next!

2010-03-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have officially been reassigned to a different group. Since my group had shrunk down to just me (after everyone else had been terminated), I was transferred into a different group. I’m less than thrilled at the placement.

I’m now working for my eighth different manager, during my eighth year of service to this company. Management stability of my product line has never been a strong point of this company.

The group I’ve been transferred into is a group that’s focused on one particular aspect of the industry, and my focus is a different aspect of the industry. The two groups don’t generally mix that well. We all get along, but it’s like tossing apples and oranges together and pretending they all taste the same. We don’t.

I’ve worked for the new manager for two weeks now, and thus I’ve taken to calling this new position “project isolation”.

I’ve broken down and started getting serious about updating my profile on Linked-In, and am about to embark on a semi-serious job search. I’m still pulling a paycheck, but we have another wave of layoffs occurring next week. I’ll survive that round, but I’m not sure about the next round.

I have several sales pending, and if they pull through, I judge that I can survive this year. If they don’t pull through, I’m toast before the end of the year.

The cheese stands alone

2010-02-19T16:26:00.001-08:00

And so it was that I found myself in the city of brotherly love last night, telephone jammed against my ear as hard as I could push it, in a vain attempt to hear the voice on the other end of the line a little more clearly as I sat surrounded in a pub with fifty or sixty of my closest chums.

It was near 11PM and I was two (Imperial, of course) pints into my evening. My manager called to inform me that we had another round of layoffs that afternoon. The remainder of my group was terminated. I am now the last man standing in my department. Everyone else has been terminated.

Humm.....I can feel the clock ticking louder and louder. Must perform at a higher level, must sell something, sell anything, must...must...must...

The next one out the door is me. Wonder how long I really have before the axe in my direction.

Parking lots

2010-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

I recall getting out of the car at a shopping mall one day with my two daughters. The eldest must have been around 12 and the youngest around 8. The youngest automatically reached out and grabbed my hand as we walked through the parking lot towards the mall. The eldest stuck her hands in her pockets and walked a little faster to stay ahead of us.

The youngest asked why the eldest wasn’t holding my hand. I explained that one day, she too would be too old to want to hold my hand, and that she would be able to walk through the parking lots on her own without me. The youngest told me that she would always want to hold my hand, no matter how old she was.

Fade ten or eleven years. The youngest is now living in a college dormitory. I feel like part of me has been ripped off and hidden away.

Now I sit here in our empty house, wishing that I had her hand to hold in mind for just one or two more trips across the mall parking lot. Perhaps she doesn’t need my hand to hold on to anymore, but perhaps, just perhaps, I need her hand to hold on to once in awhile.

Get me outta here!

2010-01-26T23:44:00.001-08:00

So I started the New Year off with a bang and came to Japan. I spent one week preparing for customer to visit me at my companies manufacturing facilities’, then one week working/wine/dine/entertaining the customer, and now one week cleaning up all the action items the customer was handing out like cookies to anyone who wandered near our conference room.

I'm tired and I wanna go home! I leave tomorrow after having been here for 21 or 22 days. Too long for me. I prefer the two week trips much more than the three week trips. The food is wonderful, but last night I found myself pondering eating from the local 7-11 just because I haven't eaten there yet. (I came to my senses.) Instead, I went to a new restaurant, one with bright shiny pictures of the food. It was terrible! While I paid attention to the menu before I entered, I didn't pay attention to the clientele. 80% school age children. Last week I was dining on Kobe beef, this week-not so much so. Anyway, the food was pretty nasty, but, at least it was somewhere new where most folks didn't seem to be bothered by my presence.

I'm not sure what I'm going to eat tonight....

Tomorrow I fly home, so I can sleep in an extra hour in the morning. Thank goodness. I'm whipped. I think (haven't calculated) that this is two 80-90hr work weeks in a row.

I think I can, I think I can...

Imperial Palace

2010-01-25T01:00:00.000-08:00

I took my customer to visit the Imperial Palace. I should get a second job as a tour guide of historic Tokyo. (A tour guide that doesn't speak the native language.) I could just make things up about the tour....

hummm...

Time flies...

2010-01-11T18:28:00.001-08:00

I'm tired. I had hopes that I would come back to work this year with a renewed sense of energy and excitement. I haven't. I'm just weary and want to do something else. I haven't sold anything in nearly 18 months. I can hear the clock ticking (my career expiration clock) in the background. Tick tock, tick tock.

I prayed for a few years that God would help me find another job, but at the same rate of pay. I think my prayer this year is just that I need to find another job. I suppose I should start looking, but I don't really even know what else I would do if I wasn't in this line of work.

I've been in (night/distance) school now for almost three years. Last term was a complete bust. My father had a stroke so I spent a lot of time dealing with that, and no time dealing with school. For the first time in my adult life I earned a "F" in a college course. I tried to bail out of the course, but wasn't able to since I had missed the dead line.

So all in all, this doesn't look like a very exciting way to start the year.

Again?

2009-10-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

I was home for just a few brief days after my last trip to Japan. Like home for two days and then back on the road. The good news is that I still have a job, the bad news seems to be that I'm absorbing all the travel that my terminated co-workers previously handled. While they didn't travel all that much, their little travel times, combined with my massive travel time, is equating to no time at home for me.

This week I'm back in Japan (after spending last week in California) where I'll stay for four days, then head back to the US on Friday morning. I leave here Friday morning, fly to CA, then present materials to our customer this Friday afternoon. Humm.....customer presentation after about thirty hours of being awake....bad idea.

Ema

2009-10-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

In the Shinto religion the Gods are called "kami". Kami represents the spirt of the earth, the wind, mountains, so forth. When we die, the Shinto regligion believes that we become those spirts, the kami. Today one form that the Shinto use for their prayers to the kami is through Ema. Ema's are smalled wooden plaques upon which the living can make their prayers to those that are departed for good fortune, success on a test, and so on.

To me it was very similar to the candles in a Catholic Church.

Onsen-Scrubbing down

2009-10-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

For many years I’ve wanted to experience a Japanese Onsen. (Check out Wikipedia if you want more information.)

I wandered into the Onsen entrance and parted company with my shoes and stuffed them in a locker. I check in at the front desk and they give me another key that straps to my wrist. This is a key fob, not an actual mechanical key. I opt to purchase access to the Onsen and access to the “bonus” floor so that I can experience further leisure activities. The bonus floor has extra saunas, extra ponds, chair massage and food that I can purchase should I be struck with the munchies.) They give me two pairs of jammies, one set for the main floor and one set for the bonus floor. My main floor jammie color is blue, bonus floor jammie is brown. I take my two outfits, plus two sets of towels, and head for the mens locker room.

While I had an idea of what to expect, it is still a bit shocking to walk into the men’s locker room and find that almost everyone is buck naked. Naked and talking, naked and drinking, naked and scratching, just naked and hanging out and shooting the breeze with each other, or not talking at all. Just…..being…..naked. Some of the men are watching golf on a big screen TV, with their jammies on, and some are sitting in towels watching the golf, some are sitting and reading, some dozing. Humm…. Just how comfortable am I being naked with a bunch of other men? Suddenly, I’m not so sure.

I opt to change in to my jammies and grab a sports drink (one swipe of the key fob) and pretend to watch a bit of golf while attempting to not hyper ventilate. I am the only Caucasian in the spa. I’m trying to read the printed material that they gave me when I checked it, but it’s no use, I know I’m really tense and stalling for time to avoid the unavoidable. The printed material gives me the layout of the Onsen, but it doesn’t give me etiquette of the water world. I putter around and continue stalling and then I head back to my locker, remove my jammies, grab a small hand towel and head into the spa area. I know enough of the Onsen etiquette to hold the towel in front of my precious bits, but that’s about all I know.

Immediately upon walking through the door I find an above ground well with water flowing into it from an overhead bamboo water pipe. There are small wooden buckets with long handles floating in the well. I notice that some of the men are wringing out their wet towels and since mine isn’t wet, I opt to dip it into the well. Strike one! One passerby gives me a semi-dirty look and makes quite an elaborate show of taking out the water bucket and pouring water onto his private towel. The whole time he’s doing this we’re looking each other in the eye. Ok, ok, ok, I understand, I fouled up the water with my clean and dry towel. I mimic him and head out towards the open spa area.

Entering the open spa area, I can see many different soaking tubs, each one containing a couple of men. Immediately to my left I notice six rows of small booths, for lack of a better term. (Check out the pictures here, http://www.galenfrysinger.com/onsen_japan.htm to get a rough idea of what I’m speaking of. This isn’t where I went, but you’ll get the general idea.)

I head to the back row of booths and select a spot near the corner. I very carefully ease my 240lbs onto the Lilliputian stool and drape my private towel across my lap to cover up the precious bits. Ok, now what? With extreme care, I am able to view, from edge of my eyeball, that my fellow shower buddies are hosing themselves down with their own private shower wands. Ah ha! I get it. Rinse down with these! Each stall has its own wand. There’s a petal to push to turn the water. I turn it on and start rinsing. Private towel falls to the floor. The water turns off automatically after ten or fifteen seconds. I turn it back on and hose myself down. I squirt some soap into my hands, get lathered up, and then rinse it all off, start to finish in about sixty seconds.

I steal a glace at those sitting around me and notice that no one else has finished, so I lather up again and rinse. 90 seconds start to finish. No one else has finished. I collect my tasty bits towel from the floor, rinse it off, wring it out and lay it across my lap.

I again watch my scrubbing mates and observe that everyone is really, really into washing them selves. I scrub again, and again and again. I scrub between my toes, behind my ears, every where that I can reach. No stone shall remain unturned eh? I see that my next door mate is standing up to rinse off, so I try that too. Not so good. I loose control of the magic wand and hose down my next door neighbors. Tasty bits towel falls on the floor. I hunker back down and put conditioner in my hair, which I never do, just to kill time. Notice that tasty bits towel is back on the floor. Pick back up, wring it out, toss it back over my lap.

After a solid ten minutes of scrubbing, I can’t take it anymore and I get up and head for the soaking ponds, covering up my tasty bits as I go with my hand towel.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?!?

2009-10-06T21:33:00.001-07:00

I'm back in Japan this week. I flew here yesterday after spending the weekend in Ohio.

Everyone thinks that international travel is so exotic. In my case, that’s just not so.

My first bus ride (1:15 in duration) wasn't bad. I sat next to Grace, so the seats weren't quite so confining. (Time awake= 3 or 4 hours)

My first flight yesterday (2 hours) found me with a seat mate (coach) who aggressively wanted the entire arm rest and quite a bit of my reading space as well. Sleep time = 20/30 min. (Time awake= 6 or 8 hours)

Second flight (12:30 hours, in coach, in the back of the plane) found me wedged between two snoring, arm flopping, seriously leg twitching, burping, farting men. Sleep time = 20/30 min. (Time awake = 20 or 22 hours)

Second bus ride (2:00) wasn't horrible, but wasn't great. I was worried about missing my bus stop (a very bad thing when you don't speak the language!) so I tried to keep myself awake (Time awake = 22-24 hours) but kept nodding off.

I grabbed some dinner after I checked into my hotel. I'm sure everyone around me was pleased to be seating next to the foreigner who smelled like a goat, but I didn't care. I just didn't care.

I went to bed around 10:30PM and slept until about 3:30AM. The AC in my room is more of a theoretical concept than an actuality. I had it down as low as it would go, on the highest flow available, and it was still very warm in my room. The AC is just enough to take the edge off. I swear I always forget that when I'm staying in small hotels here. AC=reduced heat/humidity, not AC=total comfort.

Tick Tock

2009-09-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe, but the majority of the department I've worked in the past four years will be terminated tomorrow afternoon. I will be the last man standing from this project. I’m not sure if that’s entirely a good thing or not, but I’ll still be collecting a paycheck, so I count it as primarily as a good thing. I was the last man standing from the last project too.

The layoffs were announced three weeks ago while I was visiting my folks. I was contacted by my manager, who requested that I return to the home office “bright and early” the following Monday morning for an “important discussion”. Having rode the layoff train a couple of times in the past, I opted to just tell the manager that it was ok to fire me on the phone and save us both the hassle. He laughed, just a little, and said that I was safe “this time”.

A summary of our subsequent discussion goes like this: “Sell something, sell it within the next twenty four months, or your fate will be the same.” This gives me a little breathing room, but not much. It usually takes about 18 months to process a customer from first contact to receipt of a purchase order.

I had a very awkward discussion with one of my departing colleagues last week. I most humbly requested that she transfer any electronic documents of interest from her laptop to my portable hard drive. Without bating an eyelash, she politely told me to stick it. Can’t say that I blame her either! How awful, not to just be terminated, but to be terminated and then be forced to hand all your work over to your colleagues on your way out the door. It’s the real world, but sometimes it’s an awkward world.

I have another colleague that I need data from, but I’ve opted to have our IT department hold his laptop (as well as the other lady’s laptop) after his termination rather than have yet another awkward discussion.

I tried to say goodbye last week, but it just didn’t work out. At some point today I’ll craft a goodbye email and send it into the void.

Are you kidding me?!?

2009-09-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Several years ago (http://roadwearybusinessman.blogspot.com/2007/04/training-escapades.html) I wrote about a few of my brand new customers. Last week, all of these customers were laid off by their company. Layoffs aren’t new to the industry this year. Everyone is doing it. What’s different with this layoff is that the customer terminated ALL the employees who know how to use the equipment my company sold them. (Someone is seriously brain dead.)

It’s kind of like terminating all the public bus drivers and then expecting the buses to run on time. Crazy, crazy, crazy. What’s amusing is that the manufacturing company that purchased the equipment from my company wants me to return to their facility and begin training a new batch of engineers. For free.
There is absolutely no chance of that happening. We’ve sent them a quote of about $700 per hour if they would like me to grace them with my presence. Now if they would only pay ME the $700 an hour, life would be much better!

Don't go

2009-08-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

I walked my daughter down the wedding aisle this Friday past. We were both nervous or anxious prior to “the walk”.

I decided that my job was to try to set her at ease, as much as I could. I had thought about saying something serious during our walk, but I could tell she was on the edge of tears, so I opted not to say anything tear inducing. As we waited to begin our walk, I made light jokes, but what I wanted to say was “please don’t go jess, it’s too soon, and you’re just not ready.” Instead I made light pitter patter with my words, trying to weave a tapestry of relaxation around her on this special night.

What I really wanted was for someone to weave a tapestry for me. Weave a tapestry for me where I’m still innocent and believe that love is all it takes to make it in this world. Weave me a tapestry where everyone ends up happy in the end and we each receive that which we have earned.

What I really wanted to tell my daughter was “don’t go, it’s too soon, you’re just a baby and you’re not ready for this commitment.” Instead, I explained to her that my job was to walk her through the wedding chapel hall and then down the wedding aisle without her twisting an ankle or falling over. I explained that I’ve not lost a daughter yet on “the walk”, so it would be a big favor to me if she would not fall down or twist an ankle and make me look like I wasn’t doing my job. What I really wanted to say was, “Please don’t go you’re not ready.”

And so we walked down the aisle. No broken bones, no twisted ankles. All too soon it was time for me to give her hand to another man. “Who gives this woman?” the preacher intoned.

I recall when Jess was born. It was 10:06PM on a Thursday evening. Into my life came this squalling, cheese covered, baby daughter, and my life has never been quite the same. We grew up together, this daughter and I.

And now here I was, tasked with the job of handing over one of my daisies to another man. Would he take care of her the way I have tried to? Would he love her the way I do? In the end, it made no difference what I thought. My daughter wanted to marry this young man, so I said “I do.”

…but what I wanted to say was “don’t go”.

Breakfast-St. Louis Style

2009-08-06T18:27:00.001-07:00

The Siren call of the White Gravy (yes, something that good must be capitalized!) at the Cracker Barrel was too loud and insistent for me to ignore today. I dined there for my breakfast when I found that I was too late for breakfast at my hotel. Unfortunately, once I backed out of the trough, I was required to drive several hours and then take a customer out for lunch. (Breakfast was sitting oh-so-heavy in the breadbasket.) I ate a salad, just so the customer wouldn't feel odd about eating by himself. I could of easily skipped the entire meal.

This evening, the Siren beckoned me back to the trough once again, and I found myself trotting across the parking lot to answer the luscious, sultry, beckoning call of the White Gravy.

Next week, I swear I can't stay in this hotel. My Southern Bloodline gets all fired up when I'm in St. Louis and I just crave White Gravy. I must move further away from Cracker Barrel, I must move further away from Cracker Barrel, I must move closer to Cracker Barrel, I must move closer to Cracker Barrel…..

Perhaps next week I can find double fried chicken with waffles, maple syrup and White Gravy. That sounds wonderful, does it not?

The Quest has begun.

I can't see to type in a title...

2009-07-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

I was working at a customer site in the Mid-West this past week. This particular site has been hit hard by the out sourcing of the manufacturing staff to overseas manufacturing sites. I had to laugh (and snap a picture) when I walked by this eye glasses collection box. I guess the manufacturing staff aren't so amused.

Stealth Dinner shots

2009-07-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

There's a real art form to taking good, unobserved, pictures during meal time. I snapped this little baby at dinner one night this week. I was trying to make a choice between this meal, and a different meal that looked (in the menu) like a volcano shaped out of raw meat. I was leaning towards the meat volcano, but decided to ask the server for his input.

Take my really bad Japanese, the servers really bad English, and together it made for a worse combination. I think the server suggested this dish, so I gave it a whirl. I'm getting better at eating noodles and I don't wear them on my glasses or shirts so much anymore, but this meal was a challenge. The sauce thickened up a bit when I mixed in the egg. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 6. It lacked any zip or vigor. I should have gone with the meat volcano. Next time I will.

I have the beer , and the dinner to go with it, please

2009-07-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

So I found a family owned restaurant a bit off the beaten path near my hotel. The dining establishment itself is fairly forgettable, but, the beer, my word. The meal pictured cost about 800Y. The beer cost 700Y. The beer itself, which the picture doesn’t even begin to do justice, was more like three full beers. It was gigantic. It was amazing.

I’ve had dinner there several times this week.

What's so bad about peace love and, uh, free?

2009-07-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

I realized this week that I'm drawn, like a bee to a flower, moth to the flame, to any kind of product in the mini-marts that has something attached to it. Like something for free. So this trip, I'm collecting these little things that you see attached to my Dakara. I'm not sure what they are, but I think you attach them to your cell phone. I may remove my collection from their packages and hand them out as gifts when I return home.

(Sssshhhhh, don't tell on me.)

(I did almost buy a big drink last night that looked like it had some sort of tampon attached to the top. In the end, common sense took over and I opted not to buy it. I wish I had though. I went back tonight and it was sold out.)

Nose Mints

2009-06-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

So its official, when I look at my passport, I do spend a lot of time in Japan. A couple of trips a year, a decade or so of travel to Japan, and it adds up to a lot of time here I've reached the point where I'm no longer interested in the mundane; I'm seeking out that which is quizzical, that which titillates my intellect.

I’m pleased to present “Nose Mints”. I love it with a passion. Not the mint itself, just the concept. I saw it last night in an AM/PM and just had to purchase it. It was only a few hundred Yen, no matter. It could have cost 1000 Yen and I’d still quickly purchased it.

I whipped it out at dinner tonight with out a second thought and proudly presented it to my colleges, all who whom happened to be Japan virgins. They had been in country only a matter of a few short hours, and the Nose Mints was too much. One would have thought that that I’d passed horrifically malodorous flatulence from the horrified looks on my colleagues scowling faces.

Relax, have a home brew, it’s just Nose Mints.

Coffee Nirvana

2009-06-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

Wanna guess what I'm doing this trip?

Pancakes in Japan

2009-06-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what these little babies are called, but I love them! You can pick them up at 7-11's or AM/PM's in the snack food section. Each package has four pancakes. Butter/jam has already been spread, so it's like a little pancake snack.
Yummy!

Father's Day

2009-06-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

Father’s day has come and gone, and this year was a year to remember. Two of the kids spent the previous night at the house, so we stayed up late and watched a movie. The next morning they got up early and grabbed an Americano for me at Starbucks (being predictable in my beverage choice pays off!) and cooked breakfast for me (The house was filled with smoke! How can you do that with French toast anyway?) . I had to look around the breakfast table and smile a bit. Next year at this time, one daughter will be away in college and the other daughter will have gotten married and moved to Georgia or Nevada (military) to start a life on her own.

I’m so very happy that I had one last Fathers day exactly like that with my daughters before we all move on to the next stage of life. The next stage of life will be fine, but it won’t be like this, (daughters in the kitchen cussing over a French toast crisis) so I suppose I’m a little bit sad.

If I had one memory of Father’s day to file away in my memory banks to draw against on a rainy day, this was it. It was a good way to round out this stage of parenthood.

Domestic Bliss

2009-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

While some may find travel in the US to be stimulating, I don't. Here's a pic from my hotel window in Pleasanton CA at sunrise following a semi-sleepless night. Yawn, to both the picture and the lack of sleep!

Jenglish

2009-04-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

I just booked a hotel room in Japan for an upcoming trip. Here's part of the automated email confirmation.

"Thank you for an inquiry.
A receptionist did the following contents.
Please confirm it. In addition, this email is served automatically.
When this email contents have case without memorizing or any questions, sorry for your inconvenience but please refer to follows."

Humm...I may be forced to pick up the phone and call, which at times is an exercise in futility with my lack of Japanese language skills. Hotel operators generally aren't that intersted in my ability to order a large draft beer, which at times is the extent of my Japanese language skills.

I should just get off my lazy arse and learn Japanese. The last time I made a serious effort at learning Japanese I determined (days and days into my studies) that my course work was actually teaching me how to pick up Japanese women.

"Hello. My name is Steve. I am an engineer for company XXX. Would you like to dance with me?" I was a slow study. The dancing was odd to me, but I was kind of like, well, whatever...The next phrase, "would you like to see my hotel room?" really woke me up.

Now I stick to ordering cold draft beer. Which is great until you want to order a hotel room!

Who am I anyway?

2009-04-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

I was signing one of the children’s birthday card (or some other holiday!) not so long ago. I found my fingers moving towards signing "Steve" instead of "dad". The kids want my involvement when it involves writing a check to pay for something they want. School tuition. Wedding expenses. They don't want my input when it actually includes my being involved in how that money is spent, they just want the money.

Last night was the youngest daughter’s senior prom. I was surprised at how out and out shitty (is that a word?) she treated us. She completely rearranged her schedule so that she wouldn't be here during the weekend and would instead be at her mom's. The older children at least made an effort to swing by our house on the way to prom.

This is just…shit.

A week in the Mid-West

2009-04-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

I realized that I spent an inordinate amount of my time on this blog speaking of the places in visit in Japan. I visit more places in the US than I do in Japan, yet I never write about them. I’ll try to start incorporating more tidbits from domestic places that I visit. (Quite honestly, I find most of my travel in the US to be mind numbing, so I don't have that much to write about!)

This week I was visiting Missouri. I had some work to take care of near St. Louis and a bit of work in Rolla.

St. Louis: St. Louis is a strange town to me. I’ve driven through areas that look like they were firebombed. I’ve driven through areas that look quite quaint. Overall, I think the city is suffering a serious decline in the general population over the past several decades. This leaves the city with too many houses and not enough residents to fill them. Enter decline. I missed my exit on the freeway while talking with a colleague and ended up near the arch one afternoon.

Rolla: The folks are friendly, but I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s just a little too small town for me. It’s a college town with a plethora of fast food joints. While driving to Rolla I had to chuckle a little bit. It seems like the mid-west can be all about the extremes.

Jesus or Porn! I had high hopes to find a single billboard with two signs, one for Jesus and the other for porn, but I haven’t found it yet. I’ll keep looking.

Since I spend a lot (LOT) of my time traveling on the West Coast, it’s always a bit odd to run into these kids of billboards in the middle of the US.

I suppose I could count the billboards to see which side has a higher tally!

Liver quivers

2009-04-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

So.....

I had dinner and drinks with my new boss and a few close colleagues. It was kind of a “going away” dinner for my old manager, so later during the post meal drinking, I jumped up and gave a impromptu speech. I thanked the departing manager for being my manager for the past several years, talked about how much I’d learned from him (which is actually true, I suppose) and then toasted him. It was very, very, Japanese.

I then also provided toasts for nearly everyone else sitting at the table and explained that I don’t know who my next manager will be, so I’m going to toast each person and say something nice about everyone. Big laughs from almost all.

Fade a few hours and I’m sitting in a bar with my new Scottish manager. We’ve had a lot to drink, but I paid close, close attention to my alcohol intake so that I would be (nearly) sober when we finally had a serious discussion.

The serious discussion finally came, and my new (temporary) manager asked for my input on myself replacing my previous manager. I said that quite honestly I’m not sure that I’m interested in the job. The department is a total mess and (my judgment) over half of the group needs to be terminated for cause. I’m just not that interested in promoting into a new job so that I can turn around and flush half the folks. The new temporary manager said that he’s going to be doing some of the clean up in my group himself, and we’ll see where we end up in a few months. In the mean time, I should bring my “A” game and show him what I can do. As an added bonus, I’m theoretically supposed to “take control” of the department and lead it. The only trick is that he’s not going to tell anyone else.

A recipe for failure if I ever read one.

Where’s my hotdog stand?

The beat of the new Maestro

2009-04-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

April 1st equates to.....management reorganization! Historically it's been a once a year exercise in moving warm bodies to and fro on the org chart in the hopes that upper management won't realize that nothing has really changed except everyones job titles.

Except this year, with the economic meltdown, things are changing. There's blood in the water. An entire department has been axed. Bodies out the door, bodies on the floor. I didn't even have the opportunity to say goodbye to the co-workers that were terminated. They're just missing in action. The semiconductor industry is in a gigantic meltdown, so there's no where for these folks to go. Just out of work, with no job prospects.

In my department, the manager has been replaced with...no one. The manager has been moved to a different department, and I now report to the next level manager(my managers manager).

Other folks in my group seem quite concerned, but I'm a little more relaxed about it. I've been with this company for about eight years, and I've worked for seven different managers. Managers come and go in this department, and I remain. This may say far more about me than it says about those that I've reported to.

Yet this year, there's an air of desperation. We aren't loosing gigantic amounts of money, but nor are we making gigantic amounts of money. Breaking even isn't good enough. Profit is a must, at almost any cost.

Now that I have learned to sway to the baton of my hardworking Japanese Maestro, I must now learn to sway to the baton of my hardworking, hard drinking, Scottish Maestro.

My liver quivers in anticipation.

Floaters

2009-03-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

So I ended up scrubbing my customers name off the technical paper that I published last month. I put a co-workers name on it as a "co-author" so that it wouldn't look so naked on the masthead. The customer was pretty bummed about having his name stripped off the paper, but I opted to give him the gift that I had selected anyway. Good deal for him, I suppose....No work and he receives a nice watch as a thank you gift.

I was given an I-POD touch by my own company (from my manager’s manager, who neglected to tell my manager of the gift). I had the pleasure of selecting my own gift, then acting surprised later when someone else gave it to me wrapped up nice and pretty. "Wow, how did you know I wanted this?"

I've recovered from my jet lag, and I seem to be sleeping through the night ok now.

I'm home this week and I'm kind of running around and trying to take care of all that stuff that I never do (like visit the doctor!) when I'm traveling all over the place. I did manage to clean off my desk at home, but I'm going through my usual confusion about being at home and trying to work again.

I wandered into my official office one day this week, and one day was enough to last me for the next few weeks.

I was laughing with a co-worker about a floating holiday I took off a few years ago. The company I work for has a seriously wacky time off request procedure. I may request the standard holiday or vacation day with no problem. I also have "floating holidays' that I may request to take for any day that falls into a category of "birthday, hire anniversary, any day falling before/after a company designated holiday in December, any day falling pre/post a standard vacation day at any time during the calendar year, OR any day that has special religious or ethnic importance to me. I put a bookmark on a world holiday calendar web site, and I would request a floating holidays for non-traditional holidays, such as Ananta-chaturdasi.

Predictability my manager would flip out, call me, and ask what the f--- Ananta-chaturdasi "is" and how in the world it's a significant holiday to me. I would (having done my homework) be prepared to tell him all about the holiday, and how my family and I would gather around the water pot each year in celebration of Ananta-chaturdasi and sprinkle the water with coconut shavings and flowers in honor of Lord Ananta Padmanaabha. I picked different holidays each time I used a floating holiday. I tried to dance around the ethnic food chain too! The guy I reported to slowly went insane trying to trap me into somehow admitting that the floating holiday I was requesting (say the Feast of the Annunciation, AKA waffle day) was somehow not important to me. In the several years that I played this game with him, he never seemed to realize that I was yanking his chain.

Anyway, we're laughing about this the other day, when one of my co-workers said "We should do it again, but pick obscure American Indian holidays." Co-worker #2 goes into instant huff and says "I find that offensive. I find that really offensive. My wife is an American Indian and that's just plain offensive."

We all stopped and looked at him like he had a penis sprouting from the center of his forehead and then resumed our discussion.

It's ok to laugh about obscure holidays from India, China, Tibet, or anywhere else so long as long they don't fall into your own backyard? (Or would that be it's ok to laugh as long as it's not outside your own teepee?)

Dum de dum dum dum

2009-03-21T06:11:00.001-07:00

I snatched five hours of sleep last night! Yeehaw! I've been awake for a few hours, trying to tip toe around the house quietly. (I may only make it a little while longer before I'm forced to break into song to wake my wife.)

I have a pile of work that I need to do, but, I'm not doing it this weekend.

Yawn!

2009-03-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

I'm playing my usual game of not sleeping well after returning from Japan. I went to bed yesterday at 10PM and woke up (for the day!) at 1AM. For thoes that dream of the excitement of travel, this is the payback that you don't see. Alone, bored, and killing time in the middle of the night as the body clock returns to normal. I believe that I watched five (1, 2, 3, 4, 5!) episodes of House back to back.

Bon appetit!

2009-03-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

The other night at dinner I had to query my host, “What exactly IS that???”

“Organs” he said.

“Organs?” I said

“Organs” he replied.

They tasted exactly as one would expect them to taste.

Arriving in Mito

2009-03-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Mito is just a little smaller than Tokyo.

Train out of Ueno

2009-03-16T03:04:00.000-07:00

Ueno Park

2009-03-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's the start of Cherry Blossom season in Ueno. Not that many trees are in full flower, but this tree sure was! Notice all the people taking a picture of the tree. This is serious business.

It's difficult to explain how serious the Japanese are about the Cherry Blossom. It's considered good luck to pass out drunk underneath a Cherry Tree, so many Japanese will stake a claim to a cherry tree early in the morning for a picnic later in the day.

I enjoyed watching this guy painting. He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around him.

A juggler. Personally, I thought he wasn't that good. I can't juggle at all, so he was better than me. But still....

Portable snack shop service baby squid encased in a corn bread like coating.

Tokyo

2009-03-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

I shot this out my hotel window this morning in Tokyo. It's always fun for me to look out the window at the ants below! (It's better to watch with a cup of coffee.)

You never know what you're gonna run into

2009-03-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Edit what?

2009-01-27T23:17:00.000-08:00

After pulling out most of the stops, I managed to piece together a technical paper (customer C) that’s heading for publication next month. (It’s a cute little deal where I write the paper, then slap my customers name on the paper and they take all the credit.) Anyway, the customer loved the paper, but he somehow had a SERIOUS brain fart and gave the paper to his marketing department.

When times are busy, no one has time to review these papers. When times are slow, like now, everyone, especially marketing people, want to pour over each and every little tiny detail of a paper that’s heading for publication. The paper was kicked back to me today from the customers marketing department, with about fifty changes DEMANDED.

Mind you, I’ve already sent the paper in for publication. This will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few days. I’m not offering to rewrite it. I can’t. It’s already been submitted. I’m willing to make a few modifications, but I can’t do a total rewrite at this point. I’ll yank the customers name off it and publish it under my own name if I need to.

In a strange twist of irony, I was requested by my company to select a gift for my customer to thank him for writing the paper. Is that messed up or what??? I picked a nice watch for myself, err, I mean my customer.

The time has come to address customer B this week.

flush-flush-flush

2009-01-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve come to realize that in addition to being annoyed by my fellow travelers who talk while urinating (in the airport restrooms), I also don’t like my fellow travelers who brag to other passengers about how much they travel. Yawn.

I keeping flushing the toilet on the cesspool I outlined in my previous post, and two of the customers keep floating back up.

The stress has actually been waking me up at night for the past few weeks.

And we're off!

2009-01-02T11:45:00.001-08:00

I’m sitting on a boiling cesspool of customer irritation as I begin the New Year.

Customer A is expecting that their equipment will be functional when they return from their two week holiday next Monday morning. It isn’t. I’m a software guy, it’s a hardware issue. Taint happening.

Customer B is expecting that I’ve sent them reams of technical documentation while they were on holiday the past three weeks. That just didn’t happen either.

Customer C is expecting that I finished writing up a paper for publication next month while the customer was off on holiday the past two weeks. Nor did that occur. I suppose it would help me to actually start writing the paper this month if I want to publish it next month. It seems like my publication submission deadline is on the 22nd of this month.

Tick tock…tick tock.

End of the year wrap up

2008-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

Summary for the year:

Days (working) on the road: 165
Days (Holiday) on the road: 23
Miles Flown: 120,000’ish
Flights: 100’ish
Sick: None!
Forgetting name of grandchild: None!
Using incorrect name of Grandchild: Once

Where I’ve been:
Texas: Austin, Dallas, Houston
Illinois: Chicago
LA: Sulphur
MO: St. Louis; St. Peters; Rolla
OR: Hillsboro, Gresham, Tualatin
CA: Fremont; San Jose; Pleasanton, Oakland; San Francisco
Japan: Tokyo; Naka
Netherlands: Amsterdam
Italy: Naples; Pompeii, Rome, Florence; Venice, Milan, Cinque Terre

Overall, travel was down this year. The economy is certainly impacting my business travel. This is the lowest my numbers have been in several years.

2009 looks like a sleeper!

The short bus

2008-12-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

I spent the better part of two weeks traveling from customer site to customer site in the South and Central Plains. Let’s call it a Wine and Dine jaunt. Four separate customers, four separate lunches, dinners, and an untold amount of drinks.

I’m witty, I’m charming, I tell amusing stories, but still…don’t my customers get tired of me? I’m certainly tired of them. I need time away from my customers so that I can recover from my customers themselves.

I see no immediate relief. I’m home for two weeks, but I need to work a bit through the holidays. I may end up working at a customer site on Christmas Eve. Who wants to see me on Christmas Eve? No one in their right mind! Right after the holidays I’m back on the road for the first two weeks of January.

One of my customers is requesting that I accompany her to Japan in January, but isn’t sure when. I tried to tell them that I book up fast, but no luck. We’ll just wait and see how that little ditty plays out.

One of my newest customers is demanding serious hand holding, but they have yet to take possession of the equipment I sold them. Once you buy, you get the love. No buy=no love. They hounded me so hard for documentation that I sent them all the same documentation I sent them six months ago. They didn’t even notice.

Nice summary of my work. I regurgitate the same material, they don’t notice. This lets me know that they’re just seeking my attention.

I need to find someone else to throw under the bus as a diversion.

Killers

2008-08-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Back in Texas

2008-08-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

What is there to say about this? This truck was in my customers parking lot.

Birthday blues

2008-07-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

One of my daughters is 21 today.

I can't help but think that I didn't teach her everything that she needs to know in order to be successful and happy in her life.

I don't even know all those things, but somehow, I wanted to be able to pass it on to my children.

Another day at the Tsujiki Fish Market

2008-05-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Kabob anyone?

Panky

2008-05-19T09:00:00.001-07:00

What exactly are Chocolate Panky Balls and why do I enjoy saying that name out loud so much?

Humidity on the horizon

2008-05-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

I made it through thirteen weeks in a row of solid travel before I managed to grab a few days at home. I picked up a nice stomach bug on the last leg of my travel, which in turn caused my time at home to be much more relaxing and pleasurable.

This week I’m back in Japan. The weather feels slightly humid, but not too bad, yet. In another month the temp will have increased by 20 degrees and the humidity by 30%. My short term goal is to not return to Japan this summer.

I'll have customers arriving on Wed afternoon for a few days of work and a few days (and nights) of entertainment. I'm not sure my liver is up to it this week, but, we'll see. I'm still a litle shaky from last weeks illness.

Check cashing

2008-04-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

I’m now in my 8th straight week of travel. I’m ready to poke anyone (and everyone) in the eye.

I've had a string of bad flights that have left my patience mighty thin. I was measuring the space between my face and the seat in front of me last week (NWA Cattle Class) and found that I had a pleasant 10 inches. Wow, what to do with all that space??? Should I open my laptop and work??? There may have been 14 inches of space between my face and the seat before the person in front of me threw their seat all the way back. Since I'm a bit on the tall side, I can't put my head back and go to sleep, (no head rest), and my legs are too long to fit under the seat. Hence the bad string of flights.

This week I'm traveling on SWA, which isn't going to improve my mood one tiny bit. Some folks say, "Friends don't let friends drink and drive". I say, "Friends don't let friends fly Southwest Airlines".

Short Showers

2008-03-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

It’s 8PM local time in Tokyo, but my body clock is telling me it’s 3AM. I’ve just sat through a long, pointless day of cancelled meetings. I’ve accomplished little other than drinking way too much instant coffee, which has now turned rank in my stomach. I’m tired, and mildly irritable. I just want to go back to my hotel and pass out.

The hotel shower is made for someone who is perhaps five feet tall and weights one hundred pounds less than I do.

Marching on

2008-02-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

I see storm clouds on the travel horizon. I’ve had it too easy the past month without too much travel and my check is about to be cashed.

Next week I’m in CA working at a customer site. I’ve been invited (AKA ordered) by my manager to head to the CA office next weekend for a “team building” exercise. This means golf. Too say that I suck at golf is too polite. I’ll have the pleasure of looking like a total idiot in front of my “team members”.

Week after next I’m (still) in Ca for a corporate road show. (That’s one weekend at home I’m missing.) Road shows = pickled livers.

The week road show I’m in Tokyo. (Second weekend at home I’m missing)

The week after that I’m in Austin. (Third weekend at home I’m missing)

The week after that I’m back in CA.

So let’s see…it looks like the grand sum of about 18 hours in my house over the next month.

Am I on a career path or the Baton Death March?

Cell Phones

2008-02-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

Why do some men find it necessary to carry on conversations on their mobile phones while urinating in public restrooms? Do woman do this too?

I found myself in a airport restroom yesterday afternoon, standing in my “spot” at the urinal, having the pleasure of listening to two different men carry on conversations on their Bluetooth ear phones while urinating.

Now mind you, I’m not a complete curmudgeon. If my next door urinal neighbor is talking on their cell phone and it’s obvious that someone is dying/dead/near death, I understand the need. I suppose. Well, perhaps not, but let’s just say I can roll with that scenario with a minimum of internal groaning. I don’t hear the conversations where someone is dying though, what I typically hear are two types of conversations;

Mundane: “I’m at the airport now getting ready to fly to ….” I hope the person on the other end of the phone is impressed, because no one else in the restroom is impressed with this kind of conversation. I’d like to interject a little fun into one of their conversations, just once, by yelling, “Hey, did you know that this guy is holding his penis and urinating while he talks to you about the weather??”

Simulated Importance: “I’m working right now to close the 14 million dollar deal.” Yeah, sure you are. You have so much self confidence that you’re telling a bathroom full of complete strangers, who will never see you again, about your big “deal” while you urinate. I say grow a penis so that you can stop pretending that you’re important during your phone conversations in the bathroom.

I won’t even touch the topic of men who talk on their cell phones while having bowel movements.

blah

2008-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I was thinking about shooting myself. I don’t own a gun, so I guess that flushes that area of pondering. I wouldn’t kill myself anyway, but still…it was an area of pondering.

I’m a middle aged married man with children, yet I rarely hear the laughter of children in my house. How did I manage to doom myself to this winter morning of standing in my home, in absolute silence, knowing that I am absolutely barren as a father? How much of my identity as a father did I forfeit upon signing on the dotted line of the divorce paper over a decade ago?

I try to communicate with my children in ways that my father never communicated with me, and yet, I fail. I’m broadcasting to receivers that aren’t even remotely tuned to my frequency. I find myself wondering, annoyed, what exactly do my children want from me? I try to give them of myself, yet…it’s not enough. We don’t communicate.

I’m confused about my career. How much money do I need to save for retirement? My friends tell me that I need more. How much is “more”? “Just have more” they tell me. More than what? I’m well on my way to being a millionaire when I retire. How much do I need?

I pray for solace, yet none is given to me.
I pray for understanding of this life I lead, yet understanding eludes me.
I pray that my life has some sort of meaning, yet I fear it has none, and that I will never be granted the understanding from God as to what my true purpose is on this globe.
I seek, yet I fine no solace.

Squeaky Clean

2008-01-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve resumed my life on the road after being home for several weeks during the holidays.

The isolation and loneliness of the hotel room at night seem greater than last year. I found myself sitting in my hotel room, working on my homework, and wondering just how I manage to do this all the time. Soon I may resort to bringing finger puppets with me for a little extra conversation and entertainment.

Somehow I managed to schedule both a dentist appointment and a doctor appointment on my day off, the MLK holiday. I was violated (and squeaky clean) at both ends prior to 10AM.

Year End

2007-12-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

Today is my last work day of the year, and appropriately, I’ll spend it on several planes traveling home. Here’s my stats for the year.

Days (working) on the road: 186
Days (Holiday) on the road: 15
Miles Flown: 100,000’ish
Flights: 110’ish
Sick: Twice (both while on the road)
Forgetting name of grandchild: Once
Forgetting own name: Once
Where I’ve been: MN, NY, TX, IL, IH, HI, MO, OR, MA, CA, Japan

Here’s a link for a location I visited from each location that was interesting to me.

MN: http://www.mallofamerica.com/
NY: http://www.sensuousbean.com/ The owners were more interesting than the coffee.
TX: http://www.gruenetexas.com/ Who knew so many shops could sell the exact same product?
IL: I’m drawing a blank here.
HI: http://www.honolulu.gov/parks/facility/hanaumabay/welcome.htm Park opens at 6AM. Suck it up and do it at 6. Take your own flippers if you go early. Rental units no open until 7:30AM.
MO: http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/index.aspx# The arch was closed the day I visited. I’m not kidding either. CLOSED.
OR: http://www.ci.garibaldi.or.us/ Can you see me waving?
WA: http://www.fishintimeguides.com/ I broke the curse.
MA: http://www.essexseafood.com/ Good, local dining
CA: http://www.beachboardwalk.com/ (shh…I kept a ring from the carousel
Japan: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/a231600 Who knew that some bars are open until 5AM?

Revisiting preivous post

2007-12-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

This week I’m working on site with the customers I mentioned in my April 7th post. Fade eight months and here we are, the full disservice of the “bulk training” forced upon my customers by their own management now in full blossom.

The customer doesn’t have clue how to use the equipment his company bought from my company. This is not good. The customer’s internal customers are upset that the tool isn’t performing the way they think it should. This is bad. The customer won’t admit that he doesn’t remember anything I taught him. This is very bad. The customer requested that I come here to work with him and now he took a day off. I’m sitting here in a cubicle doing absolutely nothing productive to assist this customer and help dig him out of the hole he’s in. This is very, very bad. I’m drinking coffee, working on reports, and generally being unproductive. The clock is ticking away and the customer is paying serious cash for me to sit here and do nothing.

My other customers are rather annoyed that I’m not working with them at this exact moment, and I’m already booking my travel for January. I can’t believe I’m sitting here…doing nothing....

Flush

2007-12-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

I’m in NYC this weekend with Grace and our friends. It’s Sunday morning and I’m sitting all alone in my hotel room trying to take an economics final exam while they’re off in China town have a good time without me.

Am I doing the right thing in going back to school? Sitting in a hotel room on a “holiday” weekend and doing homework each morning and now a final this morning make me wonder what return I’ll actually see on this investment of our time.

I’ve sat here for three hours and I’ve been unable to access my final on-line. An entire morning flushed down the toilet.

No time to smell the roses

2007-12-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

I have a live customer demo this week on a toolset that doesn’t work.
I have a final this week.
I have a trip to NY this week.
I have a boss who wants me to cancel my Christmas vacation this week to compensate for him dumping too much work on me.

Stenglish

2007-12-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

I have just completed my 165th on the road. I am officially now holding on to the rim of the toilet bowl to avoid being flushed during the home stretch. Vacation is just a few blessed weeks away, I just need to hang on just a little bit more and I can make it into a new year.

I have a new co-worker! If my group was previously dysfunctional, now it’s much more so. I now work with:

1-Japanese
1-Chinese
1-British
1-Vietnamese
1-Amerian

That leaves us trying to communicate with each other while mixing, Jenglish, Chinglish, Vienglish, Benglish and Stenglish.

It’s generally more of a game of trying to figure out what someone means than exactly what they’re saying.

Retrouvaille

2007-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Grace and I are involved in Retrouvaille. It’s a group that helps troubled marriages. We attended a few years ago when we were ready to toss in the towel on our marriage. Retrouvaille isn’t a program for happy marriages. It’s a program for marriages that are in crisis. If you seeking a weekend full of light sharing, cappuccino’s and a brow wax, go elsewhere. If your seeking help for a marriage that is about to splinter, go to a Retrouvaille weekend.
Last weekend, after months (years?) of preparation, we attended a weekend as a presenting couple. The bona-fides for weekend presenting couples is that we have a story to share and the willingness to honestly share it. We do have a story and we agreed to present it. To be an effective presenting couple you must be willing to take the scalpel in hand, carve yourself open, and lay your guts out for everyone to see them.

We’ve spent several months writing out our material in preparation for this weekend. All our material was approved after numerous rewrites, and fights, on our part.

I thought preparing our story would be the hard and it was. We dug into the troubled areas of our marriage that we had opted to kick under the rug and not deal with. Grace and I fought like a dog and cat in a gunny sack for the past few months as we wrote our material.

I thought presenting our story would be tough. It was tougher than I dreamed it would be. It was hard to talk about why we first went to Retrouvaille.

What I wasn’t remotely prepared for was the amount of pain the couples attending the weekend would project on us. I wasn’t remotely prepared to cope with the amount of pain in the room overall.

Visit them at: http://www.retrouvaille.org/

Rain rain go away

2007-10-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe that fall is here. This year, I find it depressing. There’s been so much rain, so early here in the PNW. I’m mentally conditioned to expect rain from around Halloween on, but not at the beginning of October. Sigh. I find myself wishing for somewhere dry and warm.

Dance to the music

2007-09-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

I returned to college last month. It’s funny how quickly I forgot how all consuming night school can be. I already have one degree that I earned at night school and now I’m working on my second. Perhaps I should have picked a business degree the first time around and saved myself a little effort.

I supposed it could be worse, I might have actually completed the communications degree I started working towards twenty some years ago, and today I would then be saying….”Would you like fries with that?”

I’m spending much of my time at work surrounded by customers, many of whom have earned their PhD’s. The more I work with my customers the more I find myself confused about the exact placement of the divining line between the mentally retarded and the intellectually gifted.

I made a technical presentation to a group of ten or twelve PhD’s a few weeks back. knew it was going to be a game of my “dancing” to the music they played and trying not to look too stupid and say “I don’t know” more than thirty times in a 60 second period.

I found a few bobbing and weaving tactices that helped me out:

1) Low whistle, “wow, Bob, good question. What do you guys think of Bob’s question? Is it a good question?”
2) I give a light laugh…”I love teaching PhD classes, the questions are just SOOOO good!”
3) “Never heard that one before, why do you ask?”
4) ”I think we’re going to cover that in our next section. If we don’t cover it to your satisfaction in that section, we can come back and discuss it again. “
5) Saying nothing at all for a period of five to ten seconds. Someone else in the room will answer the question for me.

Mind you, I’m not an intellectual lightweight, but I’ve found that I’m doomed in these kinds of presentations. There are always, always, at least two people who don’t get along with each other, or get along with society as a whole, in these presentations. As soon a Dr. A asks any question, Dr. B must ask a question that’s even more difficult than the question Dr. A asked. When I’m able to answer the questions, someone, either Dr. A or Dr. B, will start adding unknown variables.

“So I know that you said that the electrons will do “this and that” when I do” this and that”, but what will the electrons do when I’m drinking a snifter of twenty year old single malt and tap dancing to Bob Dylan’s “the times they are a changing” while I still do “this and that?”

With flop sweat beading on my brow, I say, "When you’re doing “this and that” and the electrons are doing “this and that” and you add in the variables of twenty year aged single malt, Bob Dylan singing “the times they are a changing” and tap dancing you’ll find that the electrons now have pulled out lawn chairs are actively smoking cigars while listening to Bob croon." I’m feeling giddy with the response I was able to pull out, until Dr. B wades into the conversation.

Dr. B will now say, “It’s well documented and very well understood by all classically educated minds that by virtue of Wien’s law of displacement that electrons don’t respond to the single malt whiskey stimulus, they instead respond to a blended whiskey stimuli. Any electron that I’ve observed during my 40 plus years of electron observation experience does not, in fact, like Bob Dylan! My observation is that the Blackbody Radiation effect causes the electrons to appear to respond to Bob Dylan, but the Blackbody Radiation effect shows us that while the electrons may appear to respond to Bob Dylan, they are in fact listening to Tone Loc on little portable MP3 players.”

This is why it’s just easier to say “Good question, I think we’re covering popular music and the Blackbody radiation effect in our next chapter, let’s move on for the moment.”

What's wrong with a little cat nap?

2007-07-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

I’m back from Japan and happy to be back in the land of low humidity. It’s in the 90’s this week at home, but the humidity is low, so I can survive it w/o too much pain.

I didn't take any pictures on this trip, so here's a dinner shot from a previous trip. Yum.

I was just looking at my travel schedule thus far this year and this is the first full week of being at “home” since January. No wonder I’m tired!

Visiting Japan has a way of just taking the energy out of my sails for a few weeks. I don’t adjust to the sleep schedule very easily in either direction. I tend to spend one week of poor sleep in Japan, but manage to swap my sleep schedule around the last day or two. I then return home and reverse the process, which is more difficult than going over. This leaves me with about two weeks of very, very poor sleep. Color me cranky.

Last night I woke up at 1AM and got up and read a book for an hour. Back to bed around 2:30. I laid there tossing and turning until around 3:30AM. Back up at 7AM for the day. I need to keep busy today or I’ll find a way to “crash” during my lunch and stretch out on the couch for a little nap.

Little naps are a no-no when it comes to switching my sleep schedule.

Sweatin and a swingin

2007-06-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

I’m in Japan this week with Boil. Needless to say, the Boil needs lancing. It’s very difficult traveling with anyone on a trip like this, let alone traveling with someone that you don’t get along with. We’re both working hard to play nice. Since we don’t speak that much Japanese, other than the basic “toilet, beer, hotel”, we tend to stick together. It’s not uncommon to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Plus work together. Fly together, sit on trains together. Together, together, together…..It’s a huge change up for me since I usually work by myself in the lab or work by myself at customer sites. It’s a lot of “togetherness”.

The work/sleep schedule I keep when in Japan is shifted by about 17 hours from my standard schedule, so I spend much of the first week trying to figure out what planet I’m on. (Mind you, visiting Japan is like visiting another planet.)

Tomorrow I’ll finish up at our manufacturing facility and head for our corporate office in Tokyo.

The corporate office puts me on edge almost instantly. Rows and rows of desks, sans walls. I can deal with that. I can deal with the minimal personal space, like none. While I can feel the entire office staff watching me, yet not watching me, to see what I’m doing, I can shake it off. I love the long hikes to the toilet, they break up the monotony of my day. Long meetings that don’t seem to have a conclusive starting/ending or point are what I live for! (It’s a cultural thing I know, the meetings that is. The Japanese have typically resolved the reason for having a meeting in the first place prior to the start of the meeting. The meeting itself is (generally) a nice show of support and respect and agreement of all parties. I say, cancel the meeting if you’ve already made a decision. While canceling the meeting may not add any actual length to my life, it will certainly feel like it does.)

What I can’t handle is the heat and humidity in the office. Mind you, I work for one of the largest companies in the WORLD. The heat and humidity are, to me, unbearable. I am not productive when I have sweat rolling down my forearms and pooling on my desk. I am even less productive when I have sweat rolling down my chest and collecting at the top of my trousers. What I am though, is really, really annoyed. Really annoyed, really peeved, and really short tempered when I’m in the Tokyo office.

So it’s a given that on Friday I’m going to be really sweaty and angry. I have a meeting scheduled with a new marketing guy, who just started with the company, to review with him the customer list of who he wants to visit in the US on his trip. The new guy neglected to ask if anyone wanted him to visit, or wanted his help. I just went through this exact scenario with the new guys boss last month. It was insane. A manager was coming to the US to visit potential customers. Of which, there’s almost none. My group was supposed to fill up an entire week of meetings for this guy with live customers. It was close to a complete cluster

So now I have another guy, wanting the same thing that his manager wanted.

I’d say that the day has real potential.

Sleep where art thou?

2007-06-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today is my 68th day on the road (AKA, sleeping in a hotel) this year.

To say that I sleep in hotels is a bit of a misnomer. I cat nap in hotels. I often awaken to listen to my next door neighbors:

a) Ignore their alarm clocks
b) Ignore their telephone alarms
c) Turn their TV’s so loud that the water in my water bottle on my night stand oscillates.
d) Have sex.
e) Use the toilet.
f) Party. (I stay in corporate hotels, why would anyone want to have a party here?)

The only time I sleep through the night is when I'm at home.

Numbness where art thou?

2007-05-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

I spent nine days relaxing on various beaches in Hawaii! I came home with sand stuck between my toes, both sets of fingers stuck in a hang loose position ….and went right back to work within two hours of landing.

During the holiday I was able to strip off some of the protective insulation that I coat myself with to survive work. Now I’m back at work….and once again questioning how it is that I came to do what I do for a living.

I was right back on the road last week too. It was hard to come home from vacation one day, and turn around and fly out the next day. The hotel room was too quiet, the food wasn’t any good and the bed was lumpy. I was missing Grace something fierce, but unable to communicate to her how much I missed her, and why. I just fell into a poor me/grumpy mode.

Boil was acting like himself, explaining to Bob why we should do things his way instead of mine on a new project. My stomach acid was already boiling quite nicely already that day so I just said to “We’ll just do what you want, that’s what we’ll end up doing anyway.” Bob was upset with my answer, but I didn’t care.

Bob continues to play the game of ignoring the disconcerting fact that Boil wants to fight. Boil will fight with waiters, waitresses, cab drivers, customers, potential customers, co-workers, anyone. I’m viewed as a trouble maker because I’m willing to fight back once in awhile. How does that work?

I just need a few weeks to once again reach that comfortable state of numbness that defines my work life.

Semi-toothless dog

2007-05-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

I’m trying to survive this week and make it in one piece to my vacation that starts on Saturday morning. It seems like my life is all about pressure right now. Mind if I make a top 10 List?

10 Reasons I’m stressed out from the pressure.

1- Pressure to perform a technically solid product demonstration on customer products I’ve never seen. If I do well, the customer buys. If I don’t do well…..
2- Pressure to perform a technically solid product demonstration on customer product that I’ve never seen with a brand spanking new GUI that seems to have more bugs than a cheap hotel.
3- Pressure to be at home on time to start my vacation on Saturday morning. The flight leaves at noon. I’ve packed a bag at home in case I don’t make it home on Friday evening.
4- Pressure to finish the demo on Friday. The customer is bringing a bucket load of product. Too much product. I’ve already told him that “That dog don’t hunt” and he’s trying to ignore me.
5- Pressure to go out drinking with the customer on Thursday night, but still stay sober enough to stagger back to the office to complete all the work we started on Thursday….and try to work ahead on Friday’s material…after a night of drinking.
6- Pressure to make a software package work as advertised…except I didn’t receive any English documentation…so it’s trial and error.
7- Pressure to get along with my co-worker, whom we shall call, “Boil”. Boil and I are opposites.
a. I started working young and went to night school for my education. Boil earned a PhD before starting to work and has since picked up a MBA. We would get along better if he was a little more confident in himself. (Me too I suppose)
b. I like to give measured responses to our customers. When I say “yes” it’s because the answer is “yes”. All Boil does is say “yes” no matter the question.
c. I could go on and on, but we’ll stop here, or soon this will be a list of the ten reasons I can’t get along with my Boil.
8- Pressure to remodel my house. I have a wiring job that I’ve not touched in months.
9- Pressure to get the garden going. So far…nada….
10- Pressure to remember everyone’s names. I actually forgot one of the grandkids names a few weeks ago. “So how’s, uh, uh, the youngest boy holding up?”
11- Pressure that my wives dog, the dog who just won’t die, is peeing all over my brand new carpet, right now. The dog belongs to my wife, and my wife had the dog before I came along. The dog is a small, semi-toothless, toy poodle. Need I say more?

Mustard?

2007-04-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

I suppose that I should be happy today. The company I work for, in a product line that I work in, has just pulled in about 75 millions dollars worth of business. Yet, I’m not so elated. There’s a big party tonight and everyone is already making their hotel reservations because they know they’ll be too drunk to drive. I’m focused on my one account that may pull in 1.6 million. I was shocked when one of the managers just told us flat out that he was getting drunk tonight and there was no way he was working tomorrow. This company is just weird. I aspire to work where we’re all closet alcoholics instead of public alcoholics. Is that too much to ask?

Yesterday I sat down with my manger (let’s call him Bob), and his manager (Let’s call him Bob’s brother), and reviewed my position w/in the company (lowest of the low) and my pay (lower yet). Normally I would just talk with Bob, but I dragged Bob's brother in because I've had six different managers in the past five years. Bob's brother has been the single constant management entity during my time here.

I was pondering just how I’ve managed to end up at the bottom of the pile when my years in the industry and time served at this company should put me much closer to the top of the dog pile. I was somewhat amused when Bob’s brother was explaining to me how much better it was to be lower paid because that “means you have more promotions and money ahead of you in your career”. I wanted to bonk him on the forehead with the heel of my hand. I wanted to tell him that he selected the response he has memorized for demoralized new college grads instead of the response for burned out, middle aged, dirt in the eye employees.

No one denies that my qualifications are equal and that I’m at least as qualified (if not more) than those in the other department with higher rank/pay. The root issue seems to be that my department is smaller than the other department so “He who has the gold makes the rules”. (Another one of Bob’s brothers gems.) This place has never heard of equal dividing of the promotional pay and pay raise? The people in the other department do exactly the same job I do.

I swear it just makes me want to toss in the towel and sell hot dogs on the street corner. Naturally I don’t want to allow my customers to use any condiment on the dog except mustard. Anything more is simply barbaric.

I’ve been working in what used to be referred to as the “Silicon desert” for a few days this week. The industry used to be broken down as “Silicon Valley, Silicon Forest and the Silicon desert.” I fear the desert is in the process of reclaiming its own. Much that was, is no more. Much that is, will soon be gone.

“Welcome to Wal-Mart, would you like a shopping cart?”

A new career with great benefits beckons us all

I remember

2007-04-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my youngest daughter’s sixteenth birthday. I suppose I could go down memory lane and talk about days past, but perhaps I can just summarize and say, I remember.

Happy birthday my youngest daughter. I miss you.

I remember.

Monday Monday....

2007-04-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

It’s 4:45PM. My medium sized project isn’t finished and I need to present it to the customer tomorrow morning. Guess I’m working tonight, which is ok I suppose since Grace has friends coming over. I can hide in my office and turn on the radio and work to my hearts content. I think I’ll have about three hours in which to wrap up the project.

I was talking with a co-worker today about the future of our industry. Like so many other industries, we’re begun to sell our souls to the devil and out source a lot of our manufacturing overseas. I think historically this has been a huge impact for blue collar employees, not so much of an impact (although my programming buddies would disagree) for white collar. Times are changing. China is just starting to come on-line with semiconductor manufacturing. One look inside any Wal-Mart tells us exactly how much consumers will support products manufactured in the US.

I’m not predicting the death of my industry, just the death of large scale semiconductor manufacturing in the US over the next decade or so. Looking at what’s happened in the industry in the past decade is eye opening. The wafer fabs have shut down at a much faster pace than they start up. There may be 50 or 60% less semiconductor companies in the US today than 10 years ago. Ditto for Europe. What looked like a limitless industry a few years back is now starting to look like a four or five horse industry.

My co-worker is 57 and can ride it out until retirement. I have no such illusion. I have 20 years until retirement (if I play my cards perfectly). In reality, I expect to be outsourced from my own industry within a decade if I don’t return to school and pick up a MBA that will give me a bit of latitude to slide out of the technical and into the business aspect of the industry. Having already spent years going to night school for my first degree, I’m hesitant about doing it again. Years slip by in a haze when going to night school. Sure you can take the summers off and relax, but that just adds more time to the overall timeline of how long you’re giving up your life for. Work/eat/school/repeat.

I’ve sufficiently depressed myself enough to go cook dinner.

Home-but lost

2007-04-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last year I was on the road (this defined as not sleeping in my own bed) for 176 nights. (This equates to 72% travel. The year before was 79% travel.)

So now I’m home for a few days. My wife Grace doesn’t shop for food too often, (she can eat rice and beans every day and be very happy.) so I usually find that there isn’t much food in the house when I get home. So as a result we tend to eat out a lot when I’m home. I eat out on the road, I eat out when I’m at home….it’s all the same, but the company is better at home. I’ve developed an allergy to food from Applebee’s and the like. It’s all pretty much the same at most places where the food is under $20 a plate.

So here I sit in my home office, with a medium size project sitting in front of me on one of my laptops. (Yes, that’s plural. I was concerned that my back didn’t bother me nearly enough so now I carry two laptops with high hopes landing myself with a severely twisted spine at some point in the not too distant future.) I need to finish this project by next Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning I’ll present the report to a customer and ask them (in my most subservient tone) to please buy equipment from my company, for the measly sum of 1.6 million. So I have serious work to do…yet…I’m like a moth to the flame looking out my office window. The sun is shining, the weather is great, and I’d rather be doing anything except sitting here working on the report. I think this report will take me about twenty to twenty five hours to put together. Tick tock, tick tock…I don’t have time to waste unless I’m willing to swap time today for weekend time, which would make me very unpopular with Grace.

Being at home for the first few days during the work week is pretty weird. I have no routines at home for weekdays. I have a company official “office” about thirty miles from my house but I try not to go there. My productivity stinks when I go there. It’s rare for me to go there, so I end up socializing instead of working. I can be four or five times more productive at home, after acclimating for a few days. It’s these first few days that are hard. I usually end up cleaning up my desk and straightening up my home office for a day. (Mind you, it’s unusual for me to be home, so my desk gets kind of back logged with all the junk that I’ve brought home from all the trips between the last time I was “home” and “now”. Receipts that I need to file away, receipts I need to destroy, foreign currency, local currency. (I try to keep work money separate from home money.) Random reports, magazines, airline tickets….

I’m sitting here writing this blog instead of working on my report. I may as well just toss in the towel and go to the real office and flush the rest of my day and get it over with and hope that tomorrow is more productive.

Training escapades

2007-04-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

Days on the Road YTD: 41

I’ve just spent a week working with two brand new customers at my companies training facility. Typically I’ve meet and established a solid working relationship with our customers before they show up for training. In this case, I had not.

The customers were fresh out of college. Fresh as in “zero” industry experience. Now there’s a place for fresh engineers, but that place just isn’t in my training course. These customers have been on a tour-de-world training mission; my course was their fifth or sixth in a row. What a waste of my time. Five or six training classes back to back simply equates to the customers having long since passed their mental super saturation status.

While my company racked in about $10,000 from this little training escapade, I found myself just depressed to be teaching a class to students who were just too green to understand very much of what I spoke of and unable to put the information into the correct technical context. The customers own management handed them a severe disservice and they were just too young to understand the scope of the disservice yet.

Sigh.

Mystery Meat-Saitama

2005-01-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what kind of meat this was, other than some kind of ground pork. I was more amused by concept of compressed mystery meat on a stick. I insisted on a picture as we each held our meat on a stick. (While I was rather amused with the picture, my wife wasn't amused with my jacket and shirt combination.)

Doggy's Soul Bar-Tokyo

2005-01-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

A colleage and myself spent a bit too much time in Doggy's Soul Bar one Saturday evening. One interesting tidbit was that the bars in this particular area (Ginza)close earlier on the weekends than during the work week since most folks have headed home (a hour or two out of Tokyo) for the weekend.) During the work week everyone is staying in Tokyo.

At breakfast the next morning I could tell that my colleage was seeking comfort food, AKA McDonalds. I opted for this instead. It was amusing to see my co-worker suffer so much at the sight of my food!

Mirror Mirror

2005-01-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

My height is an issue when I'm traveling in Japan. In this particular hotel, I captured a picture of what it was like when I tried to use the mirror on the wall. At a different hotel, I had to kneel in the shower so that I could fit under the shower head. Strangely enough, I didn't take a picture of that experience!

Saitama-Food hang ups

2005-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

I was working in Saitama for a spell when this picture was snapped. Saitama is, uh, a bit "rural" when compared to Tokyo. The person I was traveling with had a hang up about Japanese food and was rather picky. I say, pick up the chopsticks, toss in the food and see what happens. I've only had a few bad experiences following this method of operation, and the Japanese really seem to appreciate folks that are willing to sample something other than cooked chicken.

The deep fried chicken tails were delicious.

Asakusa

2005-01-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've visited Asakusa so many times now that I could give tours myself. As a matter of fact, I do give tours. I visit this site on a regualr basis when I have customers with me in Tokyo. It's a nice morning trip. On this particular trip, I went with a colleague who was seeking (in vain) a cheap, yet authentic kimono.

I Love Wonda!

2004-12-09T05:54:00.000-08:00

If you love coffee the way I love coffee, it's hard to not love Japan. I've developed a serious relationship with Wonda. I'd like to take her home and introduce her to my friends and family!

There are drink machines all over the place in Japan. The ratio is something like one machine per each 30 people. I think the ratio is something like 1 per 2000 in the US. The machines are EVERYWHERE.

Saitamta sling

2004-12-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

So I'm working in Saitama again, and staying in a local hotel. The hotel lobby looks nice, but the rooms are another story. Non-smoking only means that there's no one with a cigarette in hand blowing smoke at this exact moment!

So there's a contraption in my room next to the window. I've never in my life seen anything like this. In the event of a fire, the entire floor should report to my room so that they can be lowered to the ground!

I've developed a favorite hobby in this hotel; I sit in the stairwell late at night and connect to a neighboorhood wireless connection and handle my email. In my room I only have a phone line, with a connection speed of 14400. 2004? How about 1975?!?

My room is on the other side of the hotel and there's no wireless connection over there. Sigh.

Tsuruhashi Fugestu-Okonomiyaki

2003-01-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

Okonomiyaki is kind of a Japanese Pizza. It's a mixture of vegtables, meat, shellfish, mayo, plum sauce, eggs, and a few things that I've forgotten. What is very important though is that it's cooked. If you're seeking a meal that's a little different, but good, and hot, then this is the dish for you. Order a beer and relax. My customer enjoyed it so much he tried to take some home with him!

Read all about it here:
http://www.ideaosaka.co.jp/web/english/okonomiyaki/index.html

Kyoto at Night

2003-01-26T15:09:00.000-08:00

Kyoto is actually a fairly large city with a population of about 1.7 million. While the temples and the temple area may be the bread and butter of the tourist business, there's a whole different (and modern) side to Kyoto.

Kyoto-Nijo Castle

2003-01-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

Nijo castle was one of my favorite places that I've visited in Japan. Time was tight, so we only had about an hour at this site. It's a former Shogun residence dating back to 1603. It was facinating to learn a little bit about what it was like to live in a Shogun residence.

Many bells like this are only rung once a year, on New Year Eve and New Years day. They're run a certain number of times starting on New Years Eve and continuing into New Year's day. I tend to visit sites like this when the crowds are nill. I've seen pictures of this place (and others like it) on New Year's Day and they are mobbed with people.

Kyoto-Hozugawa River Ride

2003-01-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

I rode the Hozugawa river in the middle of the winter with a customer. (The only way I would have rode down this river was with a customer!) The river seemed quite dirty, and there was a fair amount of trash on the edge of the water. I did see monkeys wandering along the side of the river. It was more interesting than fun. I stayed close to the heater.

I knew the boat was small, but it wasn't until the boat pulled away from the dock that I fully realized how small it was. It was (almost) laughable how much money we paid for the boat ride. I say "we" in a collective sense. Since I was with a customer, my company paid. I don't think it would be worth it to pay out of the personal pocket.

Truth

2003-01-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

Look closely at the sign. You'll notice that inside the building is the Non-smoking area. Extrapolate that information. This is why I consider Japan to be Asia's ashtray.