Well on Saturday I joined up with a group that was riding to the Kirin beer factory in Yokohama. A friend had put me in touch with this group because they were supposedly pretty laid back about cycling, not riding in a pack on bikes that cost more than my monthly salary. It was supposed to be about 60 km out there, take the train back. Sounded like ( Read more... )

Good grief it is snowing like hell in Tokyo. Probably 5 cm in the last 3 hours. Rode my bike home very gingerly--everyone was sliding around on the roads. Of course no one has any idea how to drive in snow here cause it never snows. It's really pretty--all white and stuff--but tomorrow the mush will be frozen and the roads will not be madness. Big

Other than the usual daily 5-10 km commute during the week, didn't have time to take any long rides until Saturday. I usually take the train to tea ceremony practice, because I'm either wearing a kimono or a skirt. However, I couldn't spend the whole day at tea and not get some riding in. My tea class is west of Tokyo on the Keio train line. It ( Read more... )

So one of my goals before leaving this part of the world was to spend more time in SE Asia. I had in mind Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos--and was half-heartedly looking around for a bike tour in that area. A couple of leads fizzled out--either the timing was wrong or they cost too damn much. Then a friend of a friend forwarded an email from ( Read more... )

Today's NY Times had an article about the legalization of low-power FM radio stationsOne of the weirder episodes of my misspent past (can't really say "youth" as I musta been 25 by this time) was the winter I was involved with Rebel Radio, a low-power pirate FM station in Albuquerque. My friend Brett, AKA "Captain America" was one of the main ( Read more... )

Happy 2011, folks. Sorry to be late with that...I'm still not sure where December went. Nor most of January, for that matter ( Read more... )

Spent a weekend in Hong Kong for reasons that were, let's just say, complicated ( Read more... )

Today, I used algebra!

...for the first time in probably 25 years. And nothing exploded and nobody died. Fantastico!

today is totally fired. finished the workday by losing the file with half the day's work in it (damn you, "save as" function and stupid overwrite? y/n in japanese message!!!). Then went to the dojo to punch things only to find out it's closed for some stupid seminar. Then everyone on the street had the painful stupids on the ride home and now my ( Read more... )

Today I found out why mouthpieces are a good idea when you are sparring. And also? Girls are much more willing than guys to hit a girl in the face. Makes sense, I guess.

This bulletin brought to you by my fat upper lip, which my teeth nearly went thru. SEXY.

**Special to podle: Obtainination of Socks has been Accomplished. The Package will be on its ( Read more... )