iPod morning commute music: N/A
With my son, Tatsu, living in the States with my elderly parents, I was hoping to figure out better ways to keep in touch. Certainly phone calls have gotten cheaper since we got broadband and IP service, but still it costs money. When we bought Tatsu a computer for his graduation present, the fact that it came with a built-in camera for video conferencing intrigued me. My friend, Tom, now in Australia, and I messed around a little with CUSeeMe when it first came out, but my ISDN just wasn't good enough for decent quality. We all remember the herky-jerky movements from those days.
I decided that we should check out iChat, Mac's conferencing program. While I didn't have a camera, I figured we could just set it up for telephone chat. It turned out that Tatsu could actually send out video from his end to our computer, which was so cool I ended up heading straight for Osaka (a 90 minute journey 1-way) to pick up an iSight camera for my eMac (I know, there are WAY cheaper cameras on the market, but I just love the simplicity of Mac products, and it looks pretty cool, too!). Once we got it up and running it sort of took on a life of its own.
It was like having Tatsu in another room in the house. We basically ran it for 3 hours straight that first day, but we weren't nailed down in front of our computers. We wandered in and out, take breaks, whatever. It was cool.
Today was even better. Alisa was home in the morning, and when she and her brother started talking I left the room. In the hallway it sounded like Tatsu was in the study with Alisa! Weird in a good way.
So I went the next step and downloaded Skype's beta version of their Mac video conferencing software. This way, I figure, I can communicate with those living in the Windows world. Skype is certainly not as good as iChat; the motion is jerkier, and there's a longer delay in the audio, but hey, it's free and works pretty damn well for that price.
So, I'm up and running for any iChatting of Skyping any of my friends would like to do. It looks like a much better way of keeping in touch.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
shave and a haircut, two bits
iPod morning commute music: Graham Parker: Passion is no Ordinary Word, The Graham Parker Anthology, Disc 1 (1993)
Yesterday morning's commute music, actually. I first got turned on to Graham Parker (and the Rumour, back then) in 1979, with his superb album Squeezing Out Sparks. But for some reason, that's as far as I went with his catalogue until this 2 disc anthology came out. My vinyl collection in the States had vanished by then, so the anthology became my sole Parker CDs, and they were revelatory! I prefer the earlier stuff found on disc 1, but the later stuff is cool, too. I finally replaced Squeezing Out Sparks with Arista's 1996 re-mastered CD which included, on the same disc, a live version of the same album, in the same order, referred to as 'Live Sparks'.
Today I don't have to go to work, as only the senior students have lessons, and I don't teach them on Fridays. Monday I'll need to go in, but Tuesday should be off as well. The rest of the students return on Wednesday, and from then on it's business as usual.
Yesterday I went for a haircut at the cheap barber located near Tenma Station on the JR Loop Line. On Thursdays, they charge only ¥1,800 (at yesterday's exchange rate) for a haircut, shampoo, mini-massage and and shave. As I've written before, I really enjoy this full treatment; yesterday, I was in the barber chair for over an hour. What's amazing to me is how in America this doesn't really exist. The emphasis is on speed, get it cut and get out ASAP. I know of no one in the States who has EVER had a shave at a barber shop. It's a shame, really, that this ritual, the shave and the haircut, is virtually nonexistent anymore.
Two bits, BTW, equals 25 cents. An old football cheer went like this: "2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar; all for Belvidere stand up and holler!"
I wonder if Americans still know what 2 bits are?
Yesterday morning's commute music, actually. I first got turned on to Graham Parker (and the Rumour, back then) in 1979, with his superb album Squeezing Out Sparks. But for some reason, that's as far as I went with his catalogue until this 2 disc anthology came out. My vinyl collection in the States had vanished by then, so the anthology became my sole Parker CDs, and they were revelatory! I prefer the earlier stuff found on disc 1, but the later stuff is cool, too. I finally replaced Squeezing Out Sparks with Arista's 1996 re-mastered CD which included, on the same disc, a live version of the same album, in the same order, referred to as 'Live Sparks'.
Today I don't have to go to work, as only the senior students have lessons, and I don't teach them on Fridays. Monday I'll need to go in, but Tuesday should be off as well. The rest of the students return on Wednesday, and from then on it's business as usual.
Yesterday I went for a haircut at the cheap barber located near Tenma Station on the JR Loop Line. On Thursdays, they charge only ¥1,800 (at yesterday's exchange rate) for a haircut, shampoo, mini-massage and and shave. As I've written before, I really enjoy this full treatment; yesterday, I was in the barber chair for over an hour. What's amazing to me is how in America this doesn't really exist. The emphasis is on speed, get it cut and get out ASAP. I know of no one in the States who has EVER had a shave at a barber shop. It's a shame, really, that this ritual, the shave and the haircut, is virtually nonexistent anymore.
Two bits, BTW, equals 25 cents. An old football cheer went like this: "2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar; all for Belvidere stand up and holler!"
I wonder if Americans still know what 2 bits are?
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Teaching Again
iPod morning commute music: Elvis Costello, King of America, 1986
There really was no reason why I chose this classic this morning. I was actually feeling more like listening to Dylan, but this jumped out at me as I was scrolling down the playlists. Cool stuff, and a real harbringer for the kind of vocals Elvis would end up giving us today, the Burt Bacherach side of him.
Today we had first lessons for our senior students. We weren't able to use the new LL's yet, so my co-worker in charge of the year group, Bob, suggested a writing task. We brainstormed and he made a cool worksheet based on the results. What I like about the task is that it utilizes, on one sheet of paper, the basic writing process: Pre-writing, Writing, Evaluation, Re-writing. Obviously, we're talking about paragraph writing, not an extended essay! Spread out over two classes, it looks like it should work. Today we did the pre-writing task (a mind map) and the 1st draft of a paragraph based on 1 of 3 topics.
Also at work today: Someone drank my opened Diet Pepsi! I drank about a third of the bottle between lessons and put it back in the fridge. When I came down after my second lesson finished, I couldn't find my drink. I thought I was going mad, forgetting where I put it, so I searched around for it. "Hmm, did I forget to put it back?" Finally found it in the trash can next to the sink in the break room. Whoever drank it didn't even bother to recycle it in the Pet Bottle Bin! Unbelievable that anyone would stoop so low.
After work, I met with Jo, my co-author for the TOEIC books, to discuss the second book. We need to finish it by the end of the year. I'm sure we'll manage, but it will make for a tough autumn. We have no choice, as the book we've finished (on the listening component of the test) is pretty worthless without its companion volume (on the reading component). To sell the first, we need the second.
Once we get this initial set published, we can then concentrate on getting the second level written in 2007, then the third level in 2008. It is a pace that can be reached.
Tomorrow I only have one class, 6th period, meaning I can sleep in. Always good news.
There really was no reason why I chose this classic this morning. I was actually feeling more like listening to Dylan, but this jumped out at me as I was scrolling down the playlists. Cool stuff, and a real harbringer for the kind of vocals Elvis would end up giving us today, the Burt Bacherach side of him.
Today we had first lessons for our senior students. We weren't able to use the new LL's yet, so my co-worker in charge of the year group, Bob, suggested a writing task. We brainstormed and he made a cool worksheet based on the results. What I like about the task is that it utilizes, on one sheet of paper, the basic writing process: Pre-writing, Writing, Evaluation, Re-writing. Obviously, we're talking about paragraph writing, not an extended essay! Spread out over two classes, it looks like it should work. Today we did the pre-writing task (a mind map) and the 1st draft of a paragraph based on 1 of 3 topics.
Also at work today: Someone drank my opened Diet Pepsi! I drank about a third of the bottle between lessons and put it back in the fridge. When I came down after my second lesson finished, I couldn't find my drink. I thought I was going mad, forgetting where I put it, so I searched around for it. "Hmm, did I forget to put it back?" Finally found it in the trash can next to the sink in the break room. Whoever drank it didn't even bother to recycle it in the Pet Bottle Bin! Unbelievable that anyone would stoop so low.
After work, I met with Jo, my co-author for the TOEIC books, to discuss the second book. We need to finish it by the end of the year. I'm sure we'll manage, but it will make for a tough autumn. We have no choice, as the book we've finished (on the listening component of the test) is pretty worthless without its companion volume (on the reading component). To sell the first, we need the second.
Once we get this initial set published, we can then concentrate on getting the second level written in 2007, then the third level in 2008. It is a pace that can be reached.
Tomorrow I only have one class, 6th period, meaning I can sleep in. Always good news.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Back in the Land of Wa
iPod morning commute music: Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited, 1965
Without a doubt one of Dylan's (and Rock 'n' Roll's) greatest albums, the one where he went electric for good (or at least until after his motorcycle accident), the album opens with Rolling Stone magazine's #1 greatest rock song ever recorded, Like a Rolling Stone. I'm reading Greil Marcus' book, Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, so it seemed like a logical choice.
I got back home from the States late Tuesday night, back into the heat and humidity of the Land of Wa (as opposed to the cool, beautiful summer of the State of WA). It was a busy 3 weeks. Good but frustrating news was that Tatsu should be considered a Washington State resident since I should be considered a Washington State resident ("should" because we still have to wait for the paperwork to be approved). It turns out I was basically right all along: By keeping my WA driver's license and voter registration at my parents' address, I retained my residency. Tatsu still will take a year off, and will probably attend my first college, The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, though Western Washington University in Bellingham is still an option. The problem is that Western won't give much credit for Tatsu's IB Diploma, while Evergreen looks like they'll give a lot (45 credits, though again we won't know until the paperwork goes through).
Along with Tatsu's university dramas, he was/is learning how to drive. Our friend, Holly B., is a certified Drivers' Ed teacher and is giving him free lessons. Kaoru and I basically just let him drive us around everywhere, giving him chances to practice. His longest road trip was to Ellensburg, where we stayed with another friend, Mitch W. Had a chance in the 'Burg to visit a whole slew of the family who lived across the street from us. Tatsu's driving is getting very good, and hopefully he'll take his driving test at the end of August in North Bend, where my brother Mark lives.
Cliff and Holly from Alaska came to Vashon for a few days to visit. They were pretty stressed out over trying to plan back to back weddings for both their children, but I think we helped to relax them (all the Costco beer, wine and food that they brought with them contributed greatly to that cause). We also met my late friend Bob K.'s sister and fiancee for lunch and had a BBQ party at my cousin Juila's and her husband, Craig's place, where we got to see my ailing but improving Aunt Vera and my other cousin, Stacia, whom we hadn't seen for several years.
Nan W. took us to see a Seattle Storm (women's basketball) game. My friend since high school, Nan is an artist who has helped Tatsu over the years with her advice and guidance, and who recommended Evergreen's art program as one to be considered. Before the game, we made signs which, when put together, read "WE'RE STORMIN' MAD! Save our teams!" protesting the potential move of both the Storm and the Sonic to Oklahoma, and which got us on TV for a moment of glory.
Craig B., Holly's husband and one of my oldest and best friends (since 1972, when we were both 18 and in our first year at Evergreen) sailed back from Lopez Island to Vashon Island following a Latitudes and Attitudes party on Lopez. It was my first long sailing trip, and aside from hurting my ribs in a fall, damn near getting sick in the Straits, and getting the worst sunburn I've had in recent (20 years!) memory, I had a great time.
But mostly it was about family: My mom and dad both turn 80 this year; Kaoru, taking care of them while she was there; my brother Mark and I sharing wine on his back deck at night; long conversations with his wife Ann after Mark went to bed; Alisa, off to the Global Young Leaders Conference; Tatsu, staying behind with my folks for a year, realizing he will need to cook for them. It was hard to say goodbye to Tatsu when he and Mark saw me off at the airport. He turned 18 at the end of July, but it is difficult to acknowledge a child becoming a man. Our last few days together were spent with me trying to be a daddy one last time, to show or teach something to my son one last time, to try to make him see how much I love him one last time before flying back to the heat and humidity of Wa.
Without a doubt one of Dylan's (and Rock 'n' Roll's) greatest albums, the one where he went electric for good (or at least until after his motorcycle accident), the album opens with Rolling Stone magazine's #1 greatest rock song ever recorded, Like a Rolling Stone. I'm reading Greil Marcus' book, Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, so it seemed like a logical choice.
I got back home from the States late Tuesday night, back into the heat and humidity of the Land of Wa (as opposed to the cool, beautiful summer of the State of WA). It was a busy 3 weeks. Good but frustrating news was that Tatsu should be considered a Washington State resident since I should be considered a Washington State resident ("should" because we still have to wait for the paperwork to be approved). It turns out I was basically right all along: By keeping my WA driver's license and voter registration at my parents' address, I retained my residency. Tatsu still will take a year off, and will probably attend my first college, The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, though Western Washington University in Bellingham is still an option. The problem is that Western won't give much credit for Tatsu's IB Diploma, while Evergreen looks like they'll give a lot (45 credits, though again we won't know until the paperwork goes through).
Along with Tatsu's university dramas, he was/is learning how to drive. Our friend, Holly B., is a certified Drivers' Ed teacher and is giving him free lessons. Kaoru and I basically just let him drive us around everywhere, giving him chances to practice. His longest road trip was to Ellensburg, where we stayed with another friend, Mitch W. Had a chance in the 'Burg to visit a whole slew of the family who lived across the street from us. Tatsu's driving is getting very good, and hopefully he'll take his driving test at the end of August in North Bend, where my brother Mark lives.
Cliff and Holly from Alaska came to Vashon for a few days to visit. They were pretty stressed out over trying to plan back to back weddings for both their children, but I think we helped to relax them (all the Costco beer, wine and food that they brought with them contributed greatly to that cause). We also met my late friend Bob K.'s sister and fiancee for lunch and had a BBQ party at my cousin Juila's and her husband, Craig's place, where we got to see my ailing but improving Aunt Vera and my other cousin, Stacia, whom we hadn't seen for several years.
Nan W. took us to see a Seattle Storm (women's basketball) game. My friend since high school, Nan is an artist who has helped Tatsu over the years with her advice and guidance, and who recommended Evergreen's art program as one to be considered. Before the game, we made signs which, when put together, read "WE'RE STORMIN' MAD! Save our teams!" protesting the potential move of both the Storm and the Sonic to Oklahoma, and which got us on TV for a moment of glory.
Craig B., Holly's husband and one of my oldest and best friends (since 1972, when we were both 18 and in our first year at Evergreen) sailed back from Lopez Island to Vashon Island following a Latitudes and Attitudes party on Lopez. It was my first long sailing trip, and aside from hurting my ribs in a fall, damn near getting sick in the Straits, and getting the worst sunburn I've had in recent (20 years!) memory, I had a great time.
But mostly it was about family: My mom and dad both turn 80 this year; Kaoru, taking care of them while she was there; my brother Mark and I sharing wine on his back deck at night; long conversations with his wife Ann after Mark went to bed; Alisa, off to the Global Young Leaders Conference; Tatsu, staying behind with my folks for a year, realizing he will need to cook for them. It was hard to say goodbye to Tatsu when he and Mark saw me off at the airport. He turned 18 at the end of July, but it is difficult to acknowledge a child becoming a man. Our last few days together were spent with me trying to be a daddy one last time, to show or teach something to my son one last time, to try to make him see how much I love him one last time before flying back to the heat and humidity of Wa.
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