The Symphony of Science

My friend Amber, posted one of these "songs of science" to my Multiply guestbook.

I was stunned by how amazing it is, how the creators of this project have compiled all of these talks into music!

I grew up watching Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" early in the morning in Physics class. My friends Brad, Rudy, Kulwinder, and others will remember this time....  "Cosmos" was a "stellar program" teaching us about science in a fascinating, and captivating, or "compelling" way. Many of these amazing scientists have left us now, as their time to move on into the cosmos has come. But their stories, and their scientific discoveries are still with us.

I wish to thank all of the scientists "out there" who are able to present confusing and often incomprehensible scientific discoveries in exciting, and understandable ways.

To you, Ladies and Gentlemen, I raise my Cosmic Cup in Salute!

Take a look at this science, reworked into music. Teaching us.... about the Cosmos. Wow!

Then visit their website and be prepared to have your molecules scattered to the far ends of the cosmos by the awesomeness of it all!

http://www.symphonyofscience.com/

I love you!

Cam

Well, I've uploaded all of my BW Heaven photos onto Flickr, so feel free to head on over and take a look at what the store has in store for you! And like I said over on Facebook, if you've seen sexier and more exciting gotch than this for men, ... post it, cuz I wanna know! http://tinyurl.com/bw-heaven

God's Kitchen

I must admit that it has never really occurred to me to consider what kind of kitchen cleaning cloths God would use in Heaven's Kitchen...

Not until now, that is.

Which brings to mind a Crashtest Dummies favourite of mine, "God Shuffled His Feet"

I love you!

Cam

P.S.
Do you think that they used these to clean up the mess after Jesus' 'Last Supper'?

Welcome to the Future, Chuck!

You may recall a while back how I was talking about the new Converse sneaker design changes... Unfortunately the two pair of traditional Chucks give me such bad knee pain that I end up limping for weeks in recovery.

Don't get me wrong; I love them both. They are designed for the standard North American foot which is narrower and has a much higher arch than the standard Asian foot. They fit my feet perfectly. I actually am a "perfect 10" when it comes to shoes. Europen shoes don't fit me as well as the NA ones.and the Japanese shoes, although of excellent quality, arew designed for flipper-footed Japanese with wide heels and thick feet. I have never bought a pair of Japanese shoes that have fit. Not true... Mizuno volleyball shoes I used in the gym for many years were a perfect fit, but apparently they are not popular among Japanese due to their narrow fit. Fancy that. Even the NA brands that are made for the Japanese market are EEE size and they do not fit me at all. I am a 10D.

The new Chuck Taylor Converse have been dramatically improved in one big respect: there is a removable sports insole designed into them. This makes a HUGE difference as the traditional Chucks are very flat and very hard. They have next to no cushion in them at all. This is what kills my knees.

Also, if you think of most other shoes, whether for sports, leisure or dress there is some slight to large rise/inclination in the heel. The only shoes I can think of that are not like that are cheap flipflops and Jesus Sandals. Other than that, I have never owned a totally flat pair of shoes. Except for my Beloved Chucks. And I have never had the kind of knee pain I started experiencing except for while wearing my Beloved Chucks. I can wear them for short jaunts, but if I am out doing any walking, like yesterday ootnaboot for six hours, I have to live with a week of knee aches.

Although I don't need another pair of runners, the frustratingly reprodicible knee pain in my Beloved Chucks combined with my great curiosity to experiment with the newly engineered Chucks-with-insole (note: these are not just an insole added as an afterthought to the old design, but designed to have one built in properly and still fit) led me to purchase this pair of six-coloured Japan-only models and see what would happen!

I spent the entire day walking in these yesterday, and you know what? Knee pain begone! This morning I was worried about waking up and having to limp over to the dresser to put on my new and uber sexy yet oh so retro popart designed (artist collaborated) BWs, but there was not a single twinge at all.

I must say I am veritably impresses with the change in fit with the new insoles, not to mention the great six-colour design on these babies.

If you are in the market for a new pair of Chucks, and you can find a design that suits your fancy, I highly recommend you give these newly designed, technologically modernized Converse Chuck Taylors a try. They are different.

My guess is that little by little they will be fazing out the old manufacturing and building the new technology into all of their great retro designs. In fact you may not even realize it but you might be wearing one of the newly-engineered models right now! Want to know a quick way to check? Reach down and run your fingers over the ALL STAR logo on the heel; if you can feel the logo raised off the label, you are wearing the new design. Apparently this is another engineering change they recently did. The old printed rubber labels wore off too easily so they chose to make them out of a mould in bas-relief. There was one more subtle engineering/design change they made but I cannot recall it at this moment.

And that is it for the Chuck Taylor Converse All Star talk that I had been wondering if I would ever be able to do.

The price? They are a bit more expensive than the old models but not inhibitively so. As you likely know there are so many different models and designs out there now (it seems that they are really good at innovation and design and now they are owned by Nike they have the marketing power to go with it) and the prices are all different, so before you turn your nose up at a pair that is more expensive but looks exactly the same as the cheaper ones, take a closer look. You may be paying more for the newer tecnology and not just the design.

Have a great weekend.
I love you!

Cam

P.S. Look in the background... is that necktie awesome or what!?! I should get it and wear it to work... to push limits. Just for fun.

Today I died and went to BodyWild Heaven. OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD! (photos and blog to follow...)

My Toshiba Dynabook came back today from the repair station at Toshiba. They replaced the fan, and now it runs as quietly, and as cooly as ever. Sweet!

This. Is. Wasabi.

For all the sushi lovers out there...

This is what the wasabi root actually looks like before it is ground into the green paste we all love between our raw fish and vinaigred rice.

Prices are attached to each (in Yen).

Ride Me Hard, Baby!

Yesterday I picked up the telescoping seat pillar for my Dahon bike. As Stefnee knows, it was always just a bit too short for my just a bit too long legs so the riding pleasure was diminished. I have been trying for several years to find a solution to this issue that has decreased my folding bikeriding pleasure.

FINALLY I got a call from Y's Road Shinjuku telling me that the telescoping seat pillar, my last possible option, was no longer available from the distributor and that Dahon had stopped selling the part. This was of course after a few years of attempting to find a seat adaptor for the silly i-Beam system they used on the seat/pillar of this model. If I could get a nice cushy thick seat that might be enough to do the trick, but the proprietary clamping system prevented that.

Then I found an adaptor for the i-beam which would allow clamping regular saddles onto the pillar. When I went to buy it, all excited and uki-uki I discovered that Dahon had changed the i-beam system so that this adaptor was not designed for MY i-beam. Argh!

That is when I saw the telescoping seat pillar in their latest catalogue. There wasn't enough data in the catalogue to know if it would fit my bike tubes or not. Makers constantly change designs and use different diameters of tubing so I could be out of luck.

They researched and said it would fit, so I ordered it. A few days later I got a call saying it was not available. That's when I started checking the internet stores. I found several listed but every one, when I checked, said that the product was unavailable.

On Saturday night while enjoying a bath at my gym, Y's Road called and said that they found one at one of the other stores!!!!! So on Sunday, in spite of the rain I rushed down there and got it. Yes!

Before picking it up, I was at Tokyu Hands getting a new deck of cards for my cribbage game. The game is nearly 25 years old now and the cards, although worn, soft, looked fine; however they stunk so badly of mold that I couldn't stand playing with them anymore. That is how humid Fukui is... playing cards go all moldy (invisible mold)! I got the cards, but as I love Tokyu Hands I wandered the other floors.

There is a great sporting goods floor and I found the saddle that I wanted to put on my new telescoping seat pillar IF it fit my bike... So I went to Y's Road and got the pillar. It was raining too hard to go back for the saddle and I knew I could go today on my wAy to Kobuchizwa. So I did.

And this is it!

It seems I'm riding my folding bike a lot more in Tokyo than my other babies... but it's just easier to open up, ride, fold up, park, etc. I miss riding Grey and Mikan-chan and Grey is getting rusty outside all the time (in spite of being covered up and under a lean-to parking area) but there are no easy access locations to ride here and serious city riding or road riding has absolutely no appeal to me when all you get to enjoy is cars, buildings, traffic lights and people. I'd rather just toodle around in my jeans on Dahon than get all suited up for Grey. I sure miss Fuui mountains for that reason...

But now the Dahon should be perfect for even me to ride and I won't have to over-extend the seat pillar into the "Do Not Insert Less Than Here!!!!!! Zone" just to keep my knees from hurting but potentially damaging the bike due to the leverage....

See how The Universe always gives you EXACTLY what you need as long as you make your need perfectly clear by doing everything in your power to obtain your needs on your own?

Thank You Universe!

Cam

P.S. Now if only I could use the line in the title of this thumb-typed-on-cellphone blog with a really sexy woman dying to have sex with me! Hmmmm.... I hear the Universe giving me a hint.... I better get to proving how much I want that, eh?

I uploaded a new video to my Channel on YouTube on the Weekend, called "Another Typical Monday". If you are interested in checking it out, please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmyjk3S6XBk

Just called Toshiba and they are going to pick my Baby Dynabook up at 10am tomorrow morning. I'm past warranty, so costs will be a few hundred dollars because they charge an inspection fee ($125), plus parts. One fan is about $40, and the main fan is about $220 so it might all come out to too expensive to repair if the total repair cost is above getting ... a new machine. Or maybe I'll just live with PhoEeebe and do everything from her. That would be a challenge methinks (would have to get an external keyboard). But it is worth having it checked out because I don't want to lose this if I don't have to. It's a great computer, as everyone who has ever owned a Toshiba Dynabook knows... But fans are "shomohin", or parts that wear and tear normally like brakes and tires of a car so need to be replaced in time. That's expected.

I decided to give Large Tall (boring ugly Japanese) Men's shirts and ties a try and bought 5 shirts + 9 ugly ties set for only JPY 7500 online. Even if I give away all the ties that's still only JPY 1500 per shirt, so when they go yellow (and they will), I can toss them away with no regrets! I hate having boring ugly shirts, but since $100 shirts go yellow just as fast as $15 ones, I might as well save some Yen...

Friday Night Update

The week is done. It's been a long one. I got home about 10:30 tonight. What a long day... And it was hot today, too...

So it feels quite pleasant sitting outside on the balcony with the cool evening breeze caressing my naked body... enjoying a triple bedtime espresso preceded by a glass of wine (and shopping for three more half-sleeve dress shirts and a brown belt, then toothpaste and other stuff, then a 30 minute walk home after a bath in the onsen and grilled fish dinner, the week's laundry done, the grease cleaned out of the kitchen range fan (major job there...), everything unpacked, and all the damn trash that goes with men's dress shirts tossed out...)

Have you ever noticed how much garbage it takes to package up men's dress shirts? Oh my God! The paper and cardboard and plastic and pins... it's unbelievable! And when you undo three of them in one shot...

I got off at Mizue tonight to see if I could get any half sleeve work shirts that might fit. As the Japanese have gotten dramatically larger (fatter) over the past 20 years girth is not the problem. The biggest issue is length: sleeves (impossible) and body. I got slim fit large and it is just right in the body but I would have preferred longer. We will see if they stay in my lowrise dress pants.

But they had a sale on the $50 items: if you buy any four it costs $100 so that's a 50% saving bringing each item down to a reasonable $25 instead of the $80 I have paid for all the great shirts (tall) my mom sent me over the past year and a bit. The only problem is now I an dressed just like all the other Japanese guys: boring! The colours and patterns are too basic so I don't really like the. But considering how fast my sweat turns stuff yellow I guess I can live with the boredom...

Ahhhh naked on the balcony....

I'm looking forward to figuring out how to sleep out here once it warms up some more. The only problem with that is that the sun comes up about 3:30am and I really don't want to be blinded and baked awake at that hour... especially since I can't seem to get to bed before midnight or 1am these days/months since moving to Tokyo. So much to do every single night and so few hours left to do it (compared to Fukui). Thank God I have my Y.E.S. Supplements PEOs (EFAs).

Well, time to brush the old teeth and head off to bed.

I love you!
Cam

Koromogae or "Cool Biz"

"Koromogae" or the change of the season, doesn't officially begin in our company until June 1st. Actually they are calling it "Cool Biz" these days for the business community. Cool Biz is a thing the government developed to try to keep the country's energy use / carbon footprints down. The marketing efforts of the government tries to convince Japanese businesses that it is OK not to wear a necktie and full suit in 300 degrees Kelvin weather (you better google that for your own local temperature conversion).

Why they didn't figure this out 20 million years ago is a mystery to me... Japan seems to be the only Asian country left that wears full suits in this tropical swampweather that hits all of Asia for about four to five months. China, Korea, the other Asian countries have all gone to open neck, half-sleeved, no suit, no jacket business attire, but Japan sticks to the tried and true "full sweated jacket" style. I guess they figure they are "more business-like" or "cool" or something. Well, in this Land of the Rising Temperatures, with Tokyo Heat Island, it ain't so no mo'. To be cool, you gotta BE cool, yo!

For us at our company this means we must wear long-sleeved dress shirts, ties and jackets until that day. So we sweat in the office, and we sweat to and from work, and we sweat going outside in the sun heat and humidity (no sweaty crotch syndrome reference here, D).

Today is the first day this year that it is going up to about 30C/90F (probably higher as it is almost there already at 7:45am) with high humidity. We have another week before we can switch to no ties, and half-sleeve dress shirts.

Time to go and get ready for work.

I much prefer sitting here in a no-sleeve t-shirt and a home-made kilt...

Have a good day.

I love you!

Drippingly Yours,
Cam

The Memory of Waking Up

A couple of months ago I realized that I can never have the memory of having fallen asleep. Why? Because I am asleep when the event has occurred. My brain is no longer in a condition to have waking memories. This is different from remembering your dreams (I think...)

However it is possible to have the memory of waking up. This would be the indication that we must have fallen asleep because you cannot wake up from sleep unless you have previously been in that stage. One is incapable of quitting smoking unless they have previously smoked. We may take this concept for granted and say, "Well duh! That's obvious." But is it really obvious? If it were that means everyone would have the memory of thinking about this at some time in the past. It is a very interesting thing when you think on it. We naturally say, "I fell asleep watching the movie." But why can we say that? Because we have the memory of waking up.

I have the memory of waking up on the exercise mats at the gym tonight after a really hard workout. I was counting to 10 with deep breathing for relaxation after my exercises and stretches were done. When the memory of waking up came to my mind, I noticed that the clock had continued forward by approximately 30 minutes in time.

I have the memory of waking up...

Have a good night.
I love you from my tonkatsu and kara-age dinner!

Cam

Every Thought's a Chain Reaction

When I think about rain, I think about singing,
When I think about singing, it's a heavenly tune.
When I think about heaven, I think about angels.
When I think about angels, I think about YOU!

What are your thought triggers?

What chain reactions do you get when ordinary things in your life cause your mind to activate, and bring back memories? They may be good, they may be bad, but more than likely they simply are.

In my note that I retitled, Paula asked me a nifty question that triggered a bunch of thought reactions, or triggers in my mind: "What are your thought triggers, Cam?"

I am sure that everyone has their own triggers that bring back memories of people and events. I would love to hear what some of YOUR thought triggers are. What chain reactions go on in your mind when you think about something?

Here are a few of my thought triggers:

* Wine bottle corks make me think of Jen.
* Converse sneakers make me think of Stefnee
* BWs make me think of Scott (ooh!)
* Dog cookies & Japanese postmen on scooters make me think of Paula
* Sandy beaches make me think of Kayak

I could list a whole slew more, but I have to put on some clothes now and get ready for work. (Writing a blog in the buff is kinda fun!)

Here is a song by Jaime O'Neal called "When I think about Angels". I love this song.

And I love you!

Cam

Picture This

I love this combination of photo and comic. It shows so well how the old Japanese houses were built.

One of the women in my class at Kobuchizawa lives in a house like this. Do you see the guest is entering and the floor is made of mud? That is actually INSIDE the home. Look how much higher up the rest of the house is from that "Do-ma" or earthen-room. Also you can see how everything was so open; there was no glass for the windows back in those days so they had wooden slats to block the elements. The inside doors were sliding and they had paper on them to let in some light and block some of the wind. But it must have been really cold in there in winter...

The imagery is stunning. I have seen examples of these kinds of homes with straw thatched roofs when I went to Shirakawa-go (remember, Stefnee?) Amazing.

The train has arrived, so toodleoo!

I love you!
Cam

Thought Triggers [Topic Change]

A Nice Way To Travel

Since I don't seem to have much opportunity to get into the sun with my new lifestyle, I've decided to catch some rays wherever and however can.

So today, instead of dressing in my work clothes and carrying my usual heavy black bag to the trains in Shinjuku I decided to go in shorts and a t-shirt.

I would rather get all sweaty in my t-shirt and change at Kobuchizawa station than arrive all sweaty and have to work like that into the evening. I sweat enough at work as it is so not having a dripping wet shirt from carrying my pack will make a big difference.

Plus, as I rolled in this blog with the title on sunshine, it allows me to come here a little bit early, grab my lunch and sit in the sun for 30 minutes.

I think next month we start with cool biz which means we don't have to wear neckties until October. I am looking forward to that for sure!
On the way out of the station and down the stairs I helped a really good looking Peruvian/Japanese guy who was cartoing tons of jewellery on a trolly to set up and sell. We exchanged small talk and went about our day.

As I was typing this a young third year university fellow in a suit came up and started chatting me in English. He's out looking for work so that next year when he graduates he will have a chance. That's how they do it here... start interviewing a year ahead of time. We chatted a bit as I sipped my ice coffee and I wished him all the success in his drive to start the next phase of his life.

And now I guess it is time to head down into the depths of the earth to catch my train to work.

Have a great rest of youlr day!

I love you!!
Cam

Stereotypes

Do you like learning the meaning of words?

Well, HotForWords is probably one of the better places to go when you want to really understand what a word means.

For example, on Jen's recent comment about how much she loves all the wildLIFE in her yard these days, David posted a very interesting video about racoons.

I don't use YouTube very often so I forget that some of these sites are out there. Well, anyway, when I saw who was presenting the racoon story, she reminded me of her other videos. So I clicked on one that was floating by at the bottom of the screen, and got this one on Stereotypes...

Feel... like... meditating...

I feel like ... meditating... no idea why.....

I just uploaded three new videos to YouTube. If you are interested in seeing them: Serenity Rising IV: Kiyosumi Teien @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9BwSfTT9z0&feature=channel Ameya Yokocho: Amazing Shopping in Tokyo @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=todHzrRT9_Q&feature=channel Kamakura: Enter the Buddha @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDglIVghSRM

I just made ice espresso with my brand spanking new electric moka pot at the office. No more machine/instant for me!

Universal Fatigue

Whew... tired.... It's been about three weeks since I've been to the gym. Mia was here for a wonderful two weeks and we walked like crazy for up to eight hours a day some days and usually five at least. But although that is great for overall ... whateverish, it doesn't prepare one for the fatigue that comes when one goes back and pushes again.

That in no way means I'd rather go to to the gym than host a visitor! No way! The same thing would happen on business trips to Europe in the past as well. I have learned over the 11 years I have been going to the gym that a break longer than two weeks and my body drops tremendous strength and endurance! It is just one of those things I guess...

Wow... talk about tired tonight. That was a GOOD workout!

I love this feeling! And I love that I have the strength and energy to make it through the workout as well.

Tomorrow is another busy day at work so I must eat my tonkatsu teishoku with a side dish of kara-age and head home to bed!

Night Beautiful Universe.
I love You!

Cam

For those of you from the 360 days, you will be likely as shocked and saddened to hear the news my Dad gave me this morning: Our beloved PK passed away at the end of this past April. I found her multiply page and saw that someone had written a slight note in her comments section. That is all I know. Farewell PK. I love you! Cam

Mia is on the train to Narita, on the beginning of the end of her Japan adventure. I'm getting ready for work, putting on a tie and dress shirt and pretending to be a "corporate (sweaty-crotched) monkey" again. I had a great holiday with Mia, and I am so glad that she did too!

Tea & Sake (no Sashimi)

This morning I woke up with my back frozen... it has been some time since I got my "sleeping on the floor" back. But moving around always loosens it up. We had breakfast, checked out, visited Higashi Honganji Temple (East Honganji) and walked to the metro. We went two stops, got off, found the place for the tea ceremony, then went for coffee.

The tea ceremony was great; the sensei explained it all in English for Mia (write tea ceremony on your list...). Then we went one street over and visited a sake/beer brewery where we learned of their 120year history and had a small tour ending in a tasting. *hic*

Now we are walking back to the station in glorious weather, will get our Shinkansen tickets and head back to Tokyo to meet our former optical clients for shabushabu dinner!

But first... Lunch!

I love you.
Cam

Kyoto, Nara & Deer Sashimi (Raw Deer)

Apparently the god of the area here in Nara came down the mountain on a white deer so all of the wild deer here are sacred and wander around freely, mooching food from the tourists.

Mia and I took the morning Kyoto Sightseeing Tour. It was pouring so we all got soaked. Nijo Castle (Tokugawa Shogun's Kyoto Residence), The Golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji), and the Emperor's Kyoto Palace. I think I've been to these five or six times now...

On the way back to Kyoto we stopped at Nara Stn to drop off a seven member family from India. Thank God! They have been so damn noisy the entire time... talking on their multiple communication devices... wow. This morning there was a different Indian family and the parents let the daughter and young son run around playing, chasing, pushing in and out of the crowds... I was not particularly impressed with their parenting efforts.

We visited Nara in the afternoon and are heading back to Kyoto for the end of the tour. Then a tea ceremony tomorrow and home to Tokyo.

Todaiji in Nara houses the largest wooden structure in the world...

The bronze Buddha inside is huge...

Todaiji burned several times in its 1250 years of history... and was rebuilt based on the fancy of the times so the structure changed. There was one gate that escaped the ravages of wars and it is still standing as originally built 1250 years ago.

Big breath... wow... 1 2 5 0 years in the past and still in use...
All in all it was a great tour and I enjoyed being Mia's papppparrrrazzzzzi again.

I guess we won't be dining on raw deer tonight...

I love you!
Cam

Horse Sashimi & Whale Tongue @ SHIBA

I'll keep this one short as the battery on my keitai is running low...

What? Cam... Short??? Impossible!!!

We walked to Nishi Honganji Temple, then another 30minutes to Sanjugendo Temple which houses 1001 buddha statues each representing 1000 arms... each arm representing 35 worlds... I wanted to bring Mia here as I have come many times with friends. It IS impressive.

Then we walked another hour to the Gion area looking for a bar... finally we found Shiba near the Kamogawara River.

So now we are enjoying great conversation with the owner who was the 1971 Japan Grand Prix F3 Champion! Very cool... he has also been running this tiny candlelit restaurant for 40 years and has changed almost nothing in that time!

So we are having horse sashimi (raw horse), okonomiyake, lamb shabushabu and probably whale tongue! It is all delicious! Sea Shepherd eat your fucking hearts out!

Kampai!

I love you!
Cam

Mia Munching Makunouchi Bento

We wanted Mia to experience the obento on the shinkansen...

So she is!

And you know what? I think she likes it...

Vegetables...
Rice...
Fish...
Seafood...

Go West! Go Kyoto!

Hi there.

Well we are taking a classic camcation...

We decided to catch the Hikari Superexpress Shinkansen from Tokyo Stn @ 11:33. W got to Bakuro-cho and bought our tickets with 33 minutes to spare. Tokyo Stn was only a four minute ride on the Sobu Line so I figured we had plenty of time.... Little did I realize that the trains run infrequently at this time of the day!

We got to the platform thinking we would wait five minutes only to find out that the next train would not arrive until 11:18!

Tokyo is a big station so upon our arrival we had to hoof it up about five log escalatored flights of stairs but we made it with three minutes to spare!

When we finally entered the train, Mia told me that Tokyo today at about 25C was like a very nice mid-summer day in Denmark and now she is thinking about wanting to go swimming!

We will arrive in Kyoto at 14:15. From there we will wend our way over to the Shimizu Ryokan where we will stay for two nights. Mia is excited as it will be the first time ever for her to sleep on the floor.

In the afternoon we will try to visit some places on our own and then get to the Gion District (famous for Geisha in the olden days) to walk around in the evening, have dinner and drink a bottle of wine.

Tomorrow is a morning bus tour of Kyoto and an afternoon visit to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. I wonder if this year tours to Nara will be different? Apparently Nara is having a year long festival this year that they have only once every 1300 years... Since we are only there for an afternoon it might be difficult but we will see...

Mia is in a skirt, bare legs and a t-shirt but she keeps wiping her forehead and neck because the train seems unbearably hot... I am training myself to wear pants in the summer so I have my jeans on. And Im used to my crotch always being wet from sweating at the office so I dont mind so much.

We just passed by a great view of Mt Fuji with lots of snow on top but as I was engrossed in thumbing this blog I did not take a photo.

Shikata ga nai!

Have a great Thursday.

I love you!
Cam

Off with Mia to Kyoto and Nara for the next three days.

We just got back from another great adventure to visit an 11.4m, 850 ton, bronze Buddha statue, constructed in 1252. It was very impressive! Video and photos later...

CoffeeGasm Extraordinaire!

Yesterday Mia and I went all over the place. We took trains and did a huge amount of walking.

We had to change trains at my office station so I showed her where I work (closed, so couldn't go in, but secure so I wouldn't be able to take her in anyway). Then we went to Asakusa (google that) and walked through tons of shops where she bought a bunch of souvenirs (problem: her suitcase is full now and her clothes are all hanging, or in my drawer...). We saw one of the most famous temples in Japan, an old attached shrine, and more.

In one section of the area in which we visited, there is a 700m street section that is filled with about 1500 stores entirely devoted to everything household/kitchen/restaurant... it was amazing!

Then we went to a lunch in a traditional Japanese cafeteria-style place (about 4pm), and off to Kappabashi-doori which is what I will explain next. 

Unfortunately is was just around closing time for most of the shops so we couldn't enjoy much more than seeing some blow your mind knife stores filled with thousands of every knife imaginable, and other things.

We DID however find a coffee paraphernalia store that was open still...

And when I saw all of these mokka pots, I had a coffeegasm! WOW!

This photo contains the traditional Bialetti mokka pots for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 15, 18 cups. It was amazing!

On top of that, I bought myself ANOTHER mokka pot (3cup). But this one has an electric base so that it does not need fire! I decided that enough was enough with drinking really shitty instant (or even drip) one-cup coffee at work so I bought it!

Now I am sure when I take my coffee breaks down on the 6th floor, people will come wandering in as the scent of real coffee essence wafts its way up and down the stairwell...

Japanese coworkers... eat your heart out, cuz this coffeegasm is mine!

After that we walked all the way back to the start, got on a boat and cruised down the Sumida River for 40 minutes, watching the night settle in and all the colours come to life. Seeing Tokyo from the rivers was fascinating... it was a totally different world.

We landed, and walked all the way back to Tokyo Tower in the beautiful night air. On the way we stopped and had a bottle of wine. Then we continued on, and took the elevator up to the 150m 360 degree observation deck. The night was perfectly clear for this so Mia (and I) got the perfect night view of The City. It blew me (and her) away. I took a lot of photos.

After that we walked back to another station, and came home. Then we had dinner around midnight, and headed to bed about 1am.

Off to do some grocery shopping. Mia is not used to eating "Camfast" as she usually only has bread and coffee, but she's loving having MEAT MEAT MEAT, vegetables, cheese, eggs, salads, soups, yogurts, toast, tea, coffee, water, for breakfast. It keeps us going until 4pm or so (and then I die, of course, as I did yesterday).

Have a great weekend.

I love you!

Cam

Flashback: When I stayed with Mia in Denmark six years ago, we drank a bottle of wine a night. I'm staggering down memory lane these two weeks... Apparently she and her husband drank a bottle every night for 20 years. Wow... Those crazy Europeans!