‮‮nedaF lraC yerffeJ

And then he got hit by a car

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:29:33 GMT

It's been half a year since I updated my journal, so I thought I'd give a recap to those who've either been in the dark, or following me on Twitter and have as bad an attention span as I do when it comes to keeping track of what is actually happening with people's lives.

In summary, my life has changed a lot and gotten much better since the beginning of the year. In fact, I'm almost in awe that so much good stuff has happened in the duration of half a year. Major changes include moving into an apartment in the city, getting a new job, and selling my car.

One day, my good friend Margot notified me of a friend of ours looking for a new roommate, in a room with amazing rent and in a neighborhood where I wanted to move. I jumped on it and confirmed the room by the end of the day. It's in the Tenderloin, which is known as the "worst neighborhood in SF", but it's where I wanted to move because of its proximity to so much good stuff. Nob Hill, Chinatown, Union Square, Downtown, and the Civic Center are right next door. The homelessness and drug abuse on the streets concerns me, but it doesn't affect me. I feel safe. And my roommates are wonderful people. My room is huge. I couldn't ask for much more.

I quit Diabetes Health in May, and got a new job doing web development at Linden Lab. So I get to walk around Second Life as a robot and get lauded by residents just because my avatar's last name is "Linden." The office is sweet, and it's a 10-minute bike ride from my house. Just this last week I got the nod that I'm going from contract to full-time. Some of the stuff I've put together at LL is already online. And I'm making much more than I spend, so I don't have to worry about money at all. (And buying drinks and stuff for friends without fretting about the cost is an added benefit, too.)

I sold my Prius within less than a year of buying it new, taking a substantial loss - but at the same time, glad that I bought a car and drove it around for almost a year instead of watching the money disappear even faster on the stock market. My primary method of transportation is my bike, and I'm loving biking through the city. My health insurance at DH just ran out at the beginning of this month, so it's a good thing I'm going full-time at LL, so I don't have to worry about cars becoming crashed into me.

Other bits of goodness include: making and maintaining friends through Something Awful, local bars and hangouts, work, and old friends from high school and college who are still in the area. Dating nice girls. Being within BART's reach, so the rest of the Bay Area's within reach (and so is my mom's place). Living in a city that I thought would be out of reach for at least a few more years. Using the Internet a whole lot less, and constantly being surrounded by friends without feeling overwhelmed. Oh and I also went to Europe earlier in the year for a week; I realized I never told LJ about that. So there we go.

So that's my life in a nutshell. All good stuff, no bad stuff. The only bad thing I can think of is that I haven't budgeted time to go to the gym, but that can be remedied. Sorry for neglecting you, LiveJournal, but at least for now, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook are my venues. Goodbye for now!

24 Hour Comic

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:16:26 GMT

Sophie, Kane and I each did a 24-hour comic this weekend. Here's mine:

http://jatw.us/memes

The comic's only 10 pages and I did it in 10 hours. I stayed up another 8 hours and made another 13 pages of random autobiographical crap. Then I went to sleep. This is the first comic I have drawn on paper in 5 years.

Can you name all the memes in the comic? Here's the cheat sheet under the cut:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

Page 4:

Page 5:

Page 6:

Page 7:

Page 8:

Page 9:

Page 10:

SF Bay from Memory

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:21:09 GMT

Done by me. I'm from San Rafael; can you tell?

Do one of your own area! No looking at maps, names, or anything.

Doing a stupid meme

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:38:54 GMT

~~MAH~~ MY ICONS.

default	oldest	newest


saddest	happiest	angriest


cutest	sexiest	funniest


fave ship	fave fandom	fave animated


best quote	best textless	best stolen idea


use the most	use the least	favorite

HOW MANY ICONS DO YOU HAVE: 62
OUT OF HOW MANY AVAILABLE ICONS SPACES: 195
IF YOU COULD BUY SPACE FOR MORE, WOULD YOU: No
DO YOUR ICONS MAKE A STATEMENT: I am an internet nerd
WHAT FANDOM DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: [besides myself,] beatmania IIDX
AND THE SECOND MOST: Dogtato
WHAT SHIP DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: I can't believe I'm doing this quiz
ARE YOUR ICONS MADE MOSTLY BY OTHER PEOPLE: No
DO YOU MAKE ICONS: Yes
ARE THEY ANY GOOD: YES
ANIMATED ICONS ARE: YES

~~DO THE MEME.~~ DON'T GIVE HIM THE STICK
Coding can be found here

Vacation worth it?

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:07:28 GMT

Big problems in vacationtown. First, a little background...

Last year, I canceled a flight to Israel. I had assumed that I was given credit through British Airways to redirect the flight wherever I felt like within a year, but it turns out that there was a misunderstanding.

Today it was confirmed by both British Airways, and my booking agency Vayama, that the flight is only good for SFO to London to Tel Aviv. Oh goody.

I no longer have much to do in Israel. Visiting Shiranne would always be nice, but it's not worth taking a week out of my work schedule to do. I had originally planned on using the credit to book a flight to Paris, where I'd hang out with Hannah for a week in February while she's off from the Sorbonne.

But if I were to do that, turns out it would be an extra $500 plus another ten hours on a plane, as I would have to go from SFO to London to Tel Aviv to Paris (and back), at best. I'm not so sure this is worth doing anymore.

This is a week of unpaid vacation. By not working, I would have been losing less money than I had already spent on this ticket, but with this extra cost and burden of going through yet another airline and expecting flights to go as planned, I no longer think this is a good idea. But I feel pretty bad about already having spent over a thousand dollars on travel and having it go to waste.

And if I were to decide to go to Israel, it probably would be en route to somewhere else. So why not Paris now? And since I was thinking of spending extra time in Paris because Shiranne would possibly visit, why not spend that extra time visiting her in Israel instead, since I kind of have to go there?

So in summary:

If I go:
$1000+ credit used
$500 extra spent on ten extra hours (not counting airline transfer time) for a round trip flight from Tel Aviv to Paris
At least an unpaid week
Hundreds spent on hostels and other accomodations
Fun in Paris and perhaps elsewhere

If I don't go:
$1000+ credit lost (or used some other time in the next half year to still go to Israel)
No work schedule interruption
No visiting Hannah, etc.

Hey LiveJournal! What do you think I should do!!!

Yearly Meme #6

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:33:45 GMT

Sixth year doing this meme. I wonder who originally wrote it? Are they in HEAVEN? Here are last year's.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Bought a car, got hired for a full-time job, went to Japan, ~*SOMKED WEED*~.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year's was to get a full-time job, so yep! Next year is to be more superficial, and move out of my dad's place. (Should happen early on.)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Don't think so.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My stepmom, Betty, died in February.

5. What countries did you visit?
Japan

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
My own place.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 1, when Lily called me up and told me my stepmom had brain cancer. I was walking through UW campus and walked home, talking to my roommates, considering dropping out and leaving within a month (which I did).
February 14, when I woke up and was informed by a few friends and my sister's blog that Betty had died.
March 8, Betty's funeral.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Creating a forum from scratch.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Dropping out of grad school and losing half of my money (that I didn't already spend on my car) in the stock market.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I still have that ingrown toenail from last year, despite getting surgery earlier in the year. I also got surgery for a pilonidal cyst, which is now gone. Had the flu once or twice.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
The price for the trip to Japan was totally worth it. The Prius was the most EXPENSIVE thing I've ever bought, but time will tell if it proves to be "the best."

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Barack Obama, although I didn't celebrate much on election day.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Israel's, the Bush administration's, Fox News... no one especially local, though.

14. Where did most of your money go?
My car. Runner up: thin air.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I can't think of anything that especially excited me. Japan was wonderful but not exactly EXCITING, I can't call myself EXCITED to be back in the Bay Area... I did have trouble sleeping last night, though, because I am looking forward to New Year's festivities.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Party Ben - Single Ladies (In Mayberry)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner overall. I've been gaining a bit this past month, though.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer by a LOTTTTTT

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I dunno, I did so much. Socialized, traveled, moved, learned, dated, created, exercised, gamed, relaxed. Maybe more flirting - that or establishing more deep friendships.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Less paying for school, in retrospect! But hey, I thought grad school would actually amount to something.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I didn't celebrate Christmas for the first time in about 10 years. I spent it at home playing video games. It felt kind of like a long overdue period of mourning for my stepmom. I did celebrate Hanukkah with my mom as usual, though, and that was charming as always.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No.

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favourite TV program?
Superjail.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
N/A

25. What was the best book you read?
The Complete K Chronicles by Keith Knight. One of the actual books I read was Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, but it kind of sucked.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Xploding Plastix.

27. What did you want and get?
A car, a job. I feel like I've answered this question five times already. Stupid meme.

28. What did you want and not get?
A place in the city, and all the social perks that go along with it. But I did well socially anyway.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
Wall-E. That's two favorite films in a row being by Pixar...

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 23. Went to Sacramento, met up with my two lesbian transgendered friends, got high, watched the Fifth Element, drove down to San Francisco and watched my sister's band's reunion concert.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not losing all that money, not being kind of a douche while dating Margot.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
A few more fancy shirts and less jeans; slightly less worrying about my receding hairline.

33. What kept you sane?
A well-executed balance between regular socialization and gaming.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Patrick Stewart.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Elections. I remember having a good argument with my grandparents about how Obama isn't the anti-Moses if you support Hillary. I got kind of pissed with Israel in the past few days, too.

36. Who did you miss?
Seattle friends. I will return to visit someday!

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Margot.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Calmness is a virtue, and I'm lucky that it comes so naturally to me.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
No

Charity.

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:43:35 GMT

I know it's navigating into rocky territory when I start criticizing a charity, but I'm going to do it anyway: Child's Play is a gross misallocation of resources, and those who contribute toward it should give it a second thought.

What you're doing when you contribute to Child's Play is buying toys, games, and books for children mostly in long-term care. It's an admirable gesture as people in hospitals must be bored as hell and in need of some good entertainment. But still, I don't like the idea of gamers giving games to future gamers.

It reeks of consumerism. It's no wonder why Microsoft, Sony, Blizzard, Valve, etc. all give thousands of dollars to the cause every year - it's great PR. It creates new customers. Furthermore, if I remember correctly, the reason Child's Play was started was to give off a good image of gamers, and to shove that in the face of politicians who would claim that they're violent, unbalanced individuals. Well that's great guys! You sure can buy video games. You sure showed them.

Here's the most important part: Child's Play doesn't save lives. I guess you could give a lot of excuses and pass them off as arguments: "the more money we contribute to entertainment, the more hospitals can pay for medicine!" or "kids won't die... of boredom!" But that's bullshit. Kids don't die of boredom. Kids die of hunger, disease, violence, and a whole lot more. Video games won't save them.

Look, it's great that you're bolstering an entertainment industry while giving toys to children in first-world hospitals (oh, and one in Iraq), instead of buying the same things for yourself. But please consider donating to charities that will actually work toward curing actual ills. They're very easy to find.

I'm open for arguments as to why I'm off base about Child's Play, but it probably won't deter me from my main argument that there are much better ways of giving away your money.

PS In Child's Play's favor: according to the Wikipedia entry (but not the official site?), cash donated does go toward "paying for pediatric research, facility improvements, etc." If true, that's great.

Fetish musings.

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:59:22 GMT

<JeffreyATW> noser i need help transforming my internet likeness into some weird thing that could be passed off as a personal fetish
<JeffreyATW> maybe i will be Wrenchy, the wrench
<JeffreyATW> and draw wrenchporn
<Noser> what do you mean
<Noser> back up a step
<Noser> isn't CAR a fetish comic
<JeffreyATW> it's boring being a human on the internet who is attracted to women
<JeffreyATW> not unfulfilling, just boring
<Noser> but you're attracted to men too, if it's road head.
<Noser> that's your fetish
<Noser> auto eroticism
<JeffreyATW> that was ONE TIME
<JeffreyATW> and only in my COMIC
<Noser> you said internet likeness
<JeffreyATW> that's true i guess
<JeffreyATW> i don't know if my comic is my internet likeness
<JeffreyATW> that jeffrey seems to be a different jeffrey than the jeffrey on twitter and livejournal and facebook
<Noser> well yeah, that's your carsona
<JeffreyATW> a jeffrey who is too simple to fancy himself a wrench, and fancy wrenches
<Noser> lots of carries are different when they draw themselves in cars
<SamDoug> awesome
<Noser> wrench-on-car action!
<SamDoug> VOLCANOES
<SamDoug> HOLY FUCK
<Noser> I haven't played with magma
<SamDoug> shit just got epic
<SamDoug> brb forging The One Ring
<JeffreyATW> is there a volcano in upstate new york now
<JeffreyATW> good
<Noser> apparently it's really easy to destroy your entire sector of the world with a magma pool, bauxite, a mason, and a mechanic
<SamDoug> just the way I like it
<SamDoug> Playing with death and poor AI
<JeffreyATW> hey i'm a wrench, i love mechanics
<Noser> I don't totally get the bauxite thing being so obscure, the game should mention it
<JeffreyATW> they know just how to handle us wrenches
<SamDoug> also Jeffrey, jog on
<Noser> what kind of wrench
* You are now known as WrenchyATW
<WrenchyATW> torque
<WrenchyATW> just you wait
<WrenchyATW> i'll start this off as a joke
<Noser> can you point to a picture of your wrenchsona
* SamDoug is now known as CARDoug
<WrenchyATW> but then i'll start making comics about wrenches
<Noser> are you a specific model of wrench
<WrenchyATW> and eventually it will be like, maybe i really DO like wrenches In That Way
<CARDoug> metric or standard
<WrenchyATW> standard :( i AM american
<WrenchyATW> searching "torque wrench" on GIS for my wrenchsona
<WrenchyATW> safe search is off
<WrenchyATW> http://news.thomasnet.com/images/large/486/486650.jpg
<WrenchyATW> oh god
<WrenchyATW> this manual torque wrench
<WrenchyATW> it has a universal round shank head

My Problem With Ham.

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:49:21 GMT

So I was just reading that a friend of mine was enjoying a ham and brie sandwich. Sounds tasty, right? I certainly wouldn't mind one, but then again, if I was given the choice of any sandwich, it'd be way far down my list. Here's why.

The problem starts with ham. Ham's great. It's from a pig, which makes it pork, and pork's tasty. Even better, seeing as I'm Jewish and the thought of eating ham and sending a big "fuck you" off to my heritage just heightens the pig-eating experience even more. Bacon, carnitas, pork chops, you name it; if it's from a pig, it will go in my mouth. But ham? Ham is probably the last kind of pigmeat I would put in my mouth.

I think it stems from a broad history of lunchmeat sandwiches. Throughout elementary school and middle school, my lunch would be either chicken breast or turkey breast sandwiches. Ham was, in fact, seen as a real treat, since I'd only get it in my sandwiches once or twice a month. So ham climbed up the ladder of the Meat Hierarchy and stayed there for a while. Even though it was really just like the poultry breast I was eating, although slightly pinker.

Sometime afterward, though, my tastes started becoming refined. In came steak in all its cuts - ribeye, sirloin, tri-tip - not to mention my growing affinity for all things shellfish (yet another delicious Jewish taboo). Lunchmeat became a thing of the past, and ham was unceremoniously grouped along with it.

Pork is very versatile. When it's in all the forms I've come to love - pork chop being all steak-y, carnitas being all cheesesteak-y, bacon being all... well... itself-y, I'll eat the hell out of it. But when it's in its ham form, all it does is remind me of the monotonous days of lunchmeat lunchmeat lunchmeat... and I just can't bring myself to pick out ham as a "good" type of pork.

Now don't get me started on Canadian bacon, though. I think that's some sort of American ploy to get people like me interested in ham again, and it won't work. Canadians, it's not your fault! I don't blame you!!!

Throwing out a bone.

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:32:52 GMT

So I live in San Rafael which is a social deadzone. There are invisible borders around Marin which repel the majority of Bay-dwellers, rendering it inaccessible to anyone lacking private transit.

HOWEVER, I haven't thrown an event at my house in quite a while, and it seems that at this point not too many people have concrete plans for New Year's celebrations. That, and my birthday's on the 26th, and it's always nice to be able to throw the party sometime around then, instead of, like, March.

Therefore, I am forming an exploratory committee to run for host of a New Year's / birthday party, at my place. I am considering offering rides earlier in the day to those for whom transportation might be an issue. I am also considering heck of dranks, and perhaps homemade cuisine.

So, show of hands. Who might be interested in attending? Guests are allowed to bring friends to this event. Give a shout, or at least a suggestion.

Thanksgiving route

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:30:53 GMT

Point E is both the start and the finish. 167 miles; 3:34 on the road. Left at 11, got back at 11. This is the first time I've made an entire loop around the Bay, I think. At least in one day.

Less of a meme, more of a collection.

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:06:59 GMT

Fantastic Plastic Machine - One Minute Of Love (0:59)
Carla Bruni - La dernière minute (1:03)
Hirofumi Sasaki - The Least 100sec (1:40)
Orange Lounge - 100sec. kitchen Battle!! (1:44)
Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning (4:06)
Hirofumi Sasaki - The Least 333sec (5:33)
Four Tet - This Is Six Minutes (6:03)
Yoko Kanno - 7minutes (6:47)
Sundog - Seven Minutes 2 Midnight (7:40)
Télépopmusik - 15 Minutes (15:39)

Search "minute" in your music library and list any that describe the length of the song.

4'33" DOES NOT COUNT

((Not so nice?) Dream)

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:24:02 GMT

So one dream for last night was a little hazier, but here's what I remember:

My dad and I were in some middle eastern country, and we had found our way into some large tent hut in the middle of a battleground. We decided we needed to defend ourselves, so we started looking for weapons. I found a bunch of cool knives in and around the tent.

But when I re-entered the tent, I found that my dad (and someone else) had been taken hostage at the very back of the tent hut by a large woman with a gun. I grabbed a not-so-sharp knife and ran over there and tried to bargain. While doing so, I accidentally (?) stabbed the other hostage in the shoulder, to show that I was serious. The hostage looked at me, kind of annoyed.

The large woman and I decided to slowly exchange weapons, so I took her gun, and she took my knife. It turns out that her gun was cheap plastic, and I couldn't shoot her. She slowly stuck the knife into my neck and that's about all I remember!

(Nice Dream)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:45:36 GMT

I remembered a very realistic dream I had last night, so I gotta get it down before I start the day.

I was still in Japan, but this time I was with my mom and sister. We had a car and decided on our last day of our trip to drive north to Miyajima, the American country on the northern side of Honshu.

We passed through Japanese/American border control, and as we crossed we were already picking up American radio stations. We felt a little rushed for time and we were arguing about what to do so we could get back to Tokyo and catch our flight home.

Japanese America was pretty much a mix of a Japanese town and an American town - American roadsigns with a Tokyo street layout (less gridlike, kind of jagged, lots of train tracks) - but there were also some steam elements that made it feel like it was an early 20th century kind of place.

We decided to go for some American food, so we stopped off at a giant shopping center over which a train station was situated. There were very long, somewhat narrow hallways with restaurant booths on either side, where places like McDonalds, Burger King, and Pizza Hut (which also served meatloaf) had all their food lined up and you could pick them all out in a tray fashion. All the food looked better than it actually does in real life - probably because Japanese restaurants always have plastic food outside their restaurants. Most of the workers were Japanese. There was also a Japanese-style bakery (another tray-type store where you pick out a number of pastries with some tongs and pay at the end). I couldn't find anything good to eat and I remember going down that hallway for quite a long time until it was time to leave.

Somewhere during that time, though, I had gone to the second floor of the shopping center, where there were giant gymnasium-size rooms with a lot of arcade games and basketball courts scattered around in a kind of haphazard fashion. The games were modern - they had Street Fighter IV, which is only out in Japan right now - and there were a lot of DDR machines.

That's about all I remember. It was truly a Japanese-American hybrid; a good estimation (minus some weird dream impossibilities) of what an America-controlled country would be like if it bordered Japan. Okay now I'm late for work so goodbye.

Japan

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:51:56 GMT

Hey LiveJournal guys! I have not ceased to exist. Here are some emails, photos, and further recap from my Japan trip.

Kiso Valley, Takayama, Shirakawa-Go, and Inuyama Castle on Facebook

The trip's been fun so far. We spent a few nights in a nice neighborhood in Tokyo. Sukkot services at Chabad Tokyo were, well, very much like Chabad services anywhere else in the world. In English/Hebrew. Didn't even feel like we were in Japan.

We took the train into central Tokyo and walked around Ginza and went window shopping. A very bright, electric neighborhood - much like Times Square.

Today was what will probably be the biggest travel day of the trip - we clocked almost 10 hours on train. Woke up early to take a train north into the mountains and took a 7km hike in Kiso Valley, which was very, very pretty. Saw a lot of waterfalls and tiny wildlife (crabs, snakes, mantises). Walked through Tsumago and Magome, two small towns which have kept their ancient air. Stayed out too late and missed all the buses, so we had a very nice local drive us back to where we started.

Now we're in Takayama, a small city even further north. We just checked in and hey, there's free Internet. We'll be attending a nearby festival tomorrow.

That's about it! Talk to you soon.

Takayama was a fun little city. We rented some bikes the morning after we arrived and went all around the city for about two hours. Then we took a bus to a small city called Shirakawa, where the Doburoku Matsuri (crude sake festival) was happening. After a confusing lunch at a small restaurant (no one speaks English in small towns), the festival got lively and everyone who attended was served doburoku - which was really half rice, half wine.

That night we went for sushi, although it was very difficult to find. We weren't really prepared for the fact that actual sushi restaurants are far and few between. There are many udon, soba, and ramen restaurants, but only one or two sushi restaurants in an entire town. Somewhat surprising, although sushi is really a western thing nowadays. The problem comes from the fact that Shiranne keeps kosher, and fish (as long as it's not shellfish) is one of the few meats she can eat. So it's often pretty difficult to find a good place to eat.

Yesterday, we took a train to Inuyama Castle, the oldest castle in Japan. We went for an audio tour and had a good view of Inuyama from the top.

We continued on to Shinjuku, which is probably my most favorite place so far. It's Ginza (where we were earlier) times two. Very flashy, very lively, and very fun. Shabbat's just about out and we're going to go for some arcade games.

Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Kobe on Facebook

Kyoto Festivals and Ninja Museum on Facebook

Shinjuku was very fun. I got to visit a Square Enix store (the creators of Final Fantasy). We went to Harajuku on Sunday, an area with a lot of fashionable kids in pretty outrageous clothing. There were a lot of clothing shops and novelty places to check out. Harajuku is right near Yoyogi Park, which even on a bright day is completely shaded by trees. Meiji Shrine is in the center of it. Walking through the park was very relaxing. On the way back, Shiranne got her hair re-dyed (it's blue!).

Our next stop was Kobe, a city with many European-style houses from traders that used to live there. A Jewish center was here and we went to Simchat Torah services the evening we arrived. The next evening, we took a cable car up Mount Rokko, a nearby peak which provided a great night view of Kobe and Osaka.

After that, we arrived in Kyoto, where we stayed in a ryokan (traditional Japanese hostel) for two nights. Simple beds on tatami mats, low-to-ground tables, and common baths. We took a trip to Iga-Ueno, a small city that played a part in the origin of the ninja. We went to a Ninja Museum where we saw lots of tools of the trade, plus a live weapons demonstration (video coming soon!) Later that day, we traveled to Nara, a city with a large park where tame deer live. We bought some deer food and they followed us around a bit... and one of them stole and ate my area map. Oh well.

Now we've moved just down the block to Kyoto Tower Hotel, which, as you can tell by the name, has a giant tower on top of it. Finding our way back to the hotel is no problem. Last night we went to the Kawaramachi district, with lots of cheap sushi places and kitschy clothes shops. There are also a lot of hostess clubs there... a kind way of saying "brothels." But amidst the brothels we found one bar that friends back home had recommended to us, called A. Really great music and cheap drinks.

Shiranne's feeling under the weather today, and it's Shabbat, so we're taking it easy today. Our next destination is Hiroshima.

Nara, Kyoto, and Himeji Castle on Facebook

That evening, we visited a Japanese hospital for some flu meds. An in-and-out procedure which took something like 30 minutes total. Pretty surprising for an American.

On our way to Hiroshima, we stopped off in Himeji, which is home to the grandest castle in Japan. We walked around the castle perimeter and up to the top for some nice views, and then we headed to the botanical garden next door (pictured above).

Miyajima on Facebook

We arrived at our hotel in Hiroshima, which was practically part of the train station. Early next morning, we hiked around Miyajima Island, which is off the coast of Hiroshima. It's very similar to SF's Angel Island. We did some walking and shopping around the pier, and walked out to a giant torii which can only be accessed at low tide. After visiting a Buddhist shrine, we took a ropeway to Mt. Misen at the top of the island, which provided a great view of southern Japan. We also saw a monkey.

The next day, we rented bikes and rode to Peace Park, and saw the memorials. We went to the Atomic Bomb Museum and took an audio tour. Quite sobering! Afterwards, it was time to take a half-day-long trip back to Tokyo... which was also delayed.

We spent Wednesday shopping around Akihabara for DS loader cards and modded PS2s. The majority of electronics stores seemed to be a lot more legitimate than we had thought. But we did see our fair share of weird Japanese shit, which we were looking forward to seeing. Shiranne got a bunch of Japanese LPs of classic American movies. At the end of the day, I finally ended up getting an M3 DS Real card, but I found that it can't play GBA games (like Mother 3) without an extra piece that was missing, so I returned it.

On Thursday, we took a trip to Hakone, a nearby town and mountain range that would have provided great views of Mount Fuji, if it wasn't clouded over. Nevertheless, we took a ropeway ride up the range and hiked from one mountain peak to another. Smelled like rotten eggs along the way until we remembered we were walking through natural hot springs. At the end of the hike, we stopped off at Owakudani, a place known for its black-shelled hard-boiled eggs. That night, we headed to Shinjuku and got ripped off on some extra-expensive sushi, but visited a few fun bars.

We went to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku on Friday and got a good 360 degree view of the city. Then we headed to Harajuku and shopped around. Had to get gifts; was nearing the end of the trip. We found some great stores and ate at a Shakey's Pizza (which I have actually never seen in America). That evening, we walked to Ueno and sang some Karaoke.

The next day was my last day - we walked around the nearby Imperial Palace East Gardens, which was somewhat less exciting than we thought it'd be, mostly because of the lack of flora... not the right time of year. And that was it. Shiranne and I said our goodbyes, and it was back to the states.

Hiroshima, Hakone, and Tokyo on Facebook

Then it looks like Shiranne had more fun without me! How wude!!! >:(

140 characters

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:55:00 GMT

Started using Twitter a lot, because my life isn't exciting enough to keep a journal about. Follow here: http://www.twitter.com/JeffreyATW

Awesomelinks: The End

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:42:42 GMT

I am no longer going to be posting Awesomelinks on my journal! My LJ has always been, first and foremost, a journal. So Awesomelinks will now be posted to my Facebook. Friend me if you haven't!

Japan trip details

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:37:37 GMT

Shiranne and I will be going on a vacation to Japan from October 12 to November 3. During that time, we'll be staying in the following areas. We've got a few schedule constraints because of Jewish holidays, but hey that's cool:

October 12 - 14: Minato, Tokyo
We'll be near Chabad Tokyo and celebrating Sukkot.

October 15 - 16: Takayama, Gifu
We'll probably hike in both Kiso Valley and Shokawa Valley, and check out the Doburoku Festival.

October 17 - 19: Shinjuku, Tokyo
Chillin for Shabbat, seeing them crazy Harajuku folk, and perhaps seeing Shugo Tokumaru in concert.

October 20 - 21: Chuo, Kobe
Celebrating Simchat Torah, but probably also squeezing in a visit to Osaka Castle and Nara.

October 22 - 25: Shimogyo, Kyoto
Staying for a long time, but probably traveling to Iga-Ueno for a day to see the ninja museum. Checking out the A-Bar upon a friend's suggestion. Also trying to catch the Jidai and Kurama matsuris.

October 26 - 27: Minami, Hiroshima
Stopping off at Kurashiki, and visiting Miyajima Island.

October 28 - Nov 3: Chiyoda, Tokyo
Our last stop; staying for a week. Probably doing a lot of traveling, a few destinations being Himeji, Hakone, Akiyoshidai, Hiraizumi, Mashiko. Also try to go to the Meiji Shrine fall festival. We'll be staying really close to Akihabara, which should be some geeky fun.

So that's the skeletal structure! How expensive!!! If anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw 'em out there.

Here's our shit on a map!

Awesomelinks #67

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:56:06 GMT

Lookit dat dawg!!!

Excited teapot.

Filled-in country maps.

My ankles are broke.

Bear Creek Apartments.

Digsby, the best IM client (Windows only for now).

Present for Paolo

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:29:00 GMT

I got Paolo 3200 Xbox Live points.

Looked a bit better printed out. Didn't spend a million years on it. I didn't include the Official (Microsoft?) Seal or anything, because there was already a big sticker on the DVD case.

Inspiration, if you don't know already.

The DVD case originally housed the PS2 game Oni, and I included that as well. What the hell. I was going to throw it away, anyway.

CAR

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:59:40 GMT

CAR'S BACK

car_comic

Updates M/W/F!

Awesomelinks #66

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:20:33 GMT

Who I Am and What I Want.

Lyrebird.

Paper roll methods.

8/8/08, 8:08, 8lbs, 8oz

Biplane wedding.

Cursor*10.

Some Zombie images

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:38:28 GMT

CIMG3031
Originally uploaded by rhiannoncharisse

Eat Brains_0086
Originally uploaded by extramatic

IMG_3912.jpg
Originally uploaded by anmoyunos

Zombies!
Originally uploaded by damnstraight79

CIMG2992
Originally uploaded by rhiannoncharisse

GGGGRRRRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!!!

Jeffrey come on!

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:08:22 GMT

What have you been doing besides posting dumb links to Internet things and looking at pictures of yourself!!!

Well as you can see from a few posts back, I now own a brand-new Toyota Prius. It just passed the 1k mile mark. I'm so proud. <:) I am totally tryin some of that hypermiling nonsense, but apparently failing, as my MPG is only 47, which is one MPH above EPA estimates.

I'm also hanging out with Margot from time to time, who lives in San Francisco and is totally an animator. Her cat Bucket is also cool because he's a giant asshole. With their help I am actually starting to learn about the giant urban center that I grew up near my entire life but only entered a handful of times.

I'm laying the groundwork for a trip to Japan with Shiranne this October. We've bought plane tickets and have just started to make hotel reservations. (The credit from my cancelled Israel trip was not used because it would be ridiculous to fly to Japan through London, which is the downside of having British Airways credit.) Within the space of three weeks, we are planning to go to Tokyo, Takayama, Kawagoe, Kobe, Kyoto, Iga-Ueno, Hiroshima, and Tokyo, in that order. Suggestions on places or other things (like places to stay, specifically) are welcome.

Work is starting to slow down a bit, because all the stuff I've been developing is starting to go live! The biggest accomplishment is the release of Diabetes Health Forums, which runs on a forum backend I coded entirely by hand (minus the use of TinyMCE for rich text editing).

It's got some cool features like being able to post one thread in multiple forums (with a cool JavaScript forum selector), but I think I might be rolling that back and just reducing the amount of forums we have. (We have over 100, it's freaking crazy.) Only a few posts so far, but that will change once we announce it in the general email newsletter this week.

Also working on Diabetes Health Solutions, which isn't live yet, but is basically a miniature wiki that I also programmed from scratch. It will only be available for healthcare professionals to edit, but that just makes my job easier because I don't have to police it for especially dumb crap.

So that's about it. Friends, vacations, work. Also sleep! Goodnight.

Awesomelinks #65

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:45:51 GMT

Lookit dat dawg.

Lookit dat car.

Dinosaur.

Bert and Ernie rap.

Malwebolence.

Customized RSS feed for album releases from your favorite artists.