Month: September 2006

Wordtank Comparison Link

A couple people have asked for Wordtank buying advice the past couple months. Here’s a handy link I just stumbled upon:
Compare Canon Wordtank Models
I’m thinking of picking up this one before I go to Thailand. There are certain instances when I’d take a Wordtank instead of a laptop, especially in situations when I didn’t have a net connection. Sounds like those situations will increase in frequency in Thailand, since I basically have a broadband implant here in J-land.

Long lost

Yeah, so yesterday I called up a great aunt who lives up in Sendai whose existence I only learned about recently, through correspondence with my mom. I was kind of apprehensive at first just cold calling someone and saying, “Hi! Me gaijin! Me from America! We related!,” but that’s exactly what I did and it turns out she’s a totally cool lady. 88 years old, but she doesn’t sound like it at all. In fact, I was kind of surprised when she told me that she’s too old to travel around much anymore. I told her it’s cool, because I want to go visit you with my parents in October, so will you be around?
So that’s that. I’m finding more long lost relatives in Japan, and it feels extremely gratifying. Hell, if things work out, I might even be able to meet more in Hokkaido and Kyushu – man, my family is really spread out all over. Since I’m always saying I came to Japan to find my ancestral roots, it’s nice to be able to finally meet some of the actual people. I have great relationships with pretty much all the relatives I have met so far, and there are a few cousins around my age who I will really miss hanging around with when I embark on the next leg of this journey called life.

Guy Gabaldon

This post over at f*ckedgaijin reminded me that I hadn’t posted about Guy Gabaldon yet. You really should read that last link, some of his exploits were seriously amazing. My mom sent an e-mail informing us of his passing which I quote below:

“Sometimes, life is seemingly unfair and we don’t get what we want. Guy did not get his medal of honor while alive, however we shall see what happens in the near future. I called his family in Florida today and Aiko, his daughter, said that Guy will be cremated and half of his ashes interred in Saipan and the other in Arlington National Cemetary. They asked if I could attend his funeral and of course I said I’d be honored.
Steve Rubin, the war and history film maker and producer, said that he got permission from Universal to re-release “Hell to Eternity” so that it can be packaged with the new documentary on Guy’s life (amazing footage, including one of Guy lobbing a grenade into a cave on Saipan). When it comes out, I’ll be given a copy so that anyone of you may see it, if you’re interested.”

Of course, all of us kids saw Hell to Eternity several times because our mom was in it (both our mom and dad were in war films, mostly in minor “Japanese” roles), but I never got to meet Guy. I wish I had. And it goes without saying that I think he should have been awarded the MOH. 800 prisoners! How many lives did he save?

Semantix

A deaf man with no eyes was arrested for driving in Smethwick, England.
His defense is quoted as stating, “the question is not whether his driving was dangerous, but whether being blind makes it dangerous.”
Sure it is.
Just like the question is not whether lawyers are crooks, but whether getting paid to rabidly felch each other in courts of law makes them crooks.
………..
In other news, this is funny: The Ultimate Blog Post

What do you do?

I’ve been compiling a task list at work to hand off my replacement, if they can ever find one (I may be *ahem* hard to replace). The thing is, I’ve always done a lot more at any job than what I was originally hired for, and it’s hard to quantify exactly what I do. Regarding my current job, this is also compounded by the fact that I work on a sensitive project and even as I type this, a post-resignation NDA is waiting to be filled out on my desk (were all the previous NDAs not specific enough, or what?). So for the purposes of describing my duties during the past six years, I always have to be very general about what I do.
Sometime I’m envious of people who can say, I’m a doctor/lawyer/Indian chief, because there’s a certain image attached to such professions (respectively: make people better/lie, cheat, and steal/serve on BOD of major casino) that, if not exactly accurate in every case, represent at least a fair guess in the right direction. Many corporate titles, however, tend to serve less purpose when used outside of the specific organization where they are used. What is a Liason? An Officer? Or for that matter, a manager? These are fairly broad terms. Plus, they tend to sound over-important to people who matter.
I need to think about this a bit more. I mean, I’m not going to embellish retroactively or anything, but I need to be able to describe clearly, without sounding like I’m trying to bullshit – I have done the time and I do have marketable skills, but I’m obligated not to describe what they have been used for until now, which is unfortunate. So, for the inevitable question, “So tell me about yourself,” I need a strong answer. Some possibilities:

  • If you enter Chuck Norris Justin Yoshida as your character name in Oregon Trail, you will never die, because cholera is for pussies.
  • Jack Bauer Justin Yoshida does not sleep. He waits.
  • Crop circles are Vin Diesel’s Justin Yoshida’s way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie the fuck down.
  • When in Justin Yoshida’s presence, Chuck Norris urinates sitting down.