Bored of my Geocaching Yet? Loneliness Without You, in Shibuya: http://youtu.be/FyNeMEEhdrI

Just another 1,270 year old temple... http://youtu.be/5hCsl018KKY

Clowning Around

Oh the fashion one finds among youth. Half black half pink hair. That caught my attention.

Latest Serenity Video (X): Tonogayato Gardens http://youtu.be/nNTE68P98z8

Coming Soon to a Casket Near You!

Dracula is supposed to be a character out of classical horror fiction and our worst nightmare (well maybe zombies are worse). Since all the sparkly vegetarian vampires came on the scene vampires have taken on an entirely new ... romantic appeal among the youth of today. Lestat's coven (Anne Rice) had a sense of romantic brutality to them, but the fear was still there.

Which leads me to wonder in what direction the depiction of the King of Bloodsuckers in "Dracula the MUSICAL" will will take his career?

Geocaching: The Green Frog Home

Damn that was a tough one, so deceptively simple. No wonder some can find it in 20 seconds and others can't locate the cache at all!

I left Mayu's this morning about 8am and walked to her station, catching the train about 8:30. I had to make a transfer at (are you ready for it?) Takadanobaba station to get to Shibuya.

Like Ginza my GPS was going haywire here because of all the damn electronics everywhere. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if men living/working in Shibuya had damaged sperm from all the electromagnetic radiation floating around here!

So back and forth I went, trying in vain to triangulate closer to the goal. No luck. I was even right there twice this morning and once a while back with Megumi when we first tried to find this three star difficult microcache.

Finally I turned off the device and went analog, using my memory and my sense of touch. And I found it! It took damn near an hour hanging around Hachiko trying to act nonchalant (holding a weird thick bulky device in my palm) and be stealthy about my searches. A homeless and very dirty gent came up to me and signed the universal "alcohol?" sign to me. When I responded that I only had tea, sorry, he walked away.But thats OK because the bazillion "Shibuya Girls" milling about made up for it.

I think I might have four or five videos worth of footage to work on in the near future thanks to my wanderings on Saturday and Sunday morning. But first, to get home, do the cleaning, vacuuming, laundry, ironing AND most important of all the grocery shopping for the week!

Got a smarphone? Buy the Geocaching.com app and the next time you are ootnaboot with friends, add a little extra fun to your outing and see if there are any geocaches where you are going. You might just find a new and enjoyable addition to your already wonderful life!

I love you!
Cam

Serene Parks, Lost & Found Geocaches, Parks, Temples And Burgers

Whew what an adventure today! The park was great and I got a lot of video. Then I headed to the alleged cache site but when I turned on my GPS I discovered that the data didn't get transferred properly from the computer!!!! I spent time looking around the location anyway (google street view is a big help) but found nothing.

Luckily I had successfully downloaded another cache about a klick away so headed out to search for that one. And I did! It was a very neat location (watch the forthcoming video for more details).

I then recalled seeing an otera/temple mark (the reversed swastika - the way it was originally meant to be before Hitler polluted it, damn him anyway...) I got a bunch of photos of that place. It was originally built around 751 which makes it a pretty darn old place. The original temple is no longer there but another generation is in its place. It too is fairly old. I think the ruins are hidden in the surrounding woods.

Now I'm back at Kokubunji Station and going to wend my way to Mayu's but first I need 5:30pm lunch sustenance so Im not grumpy when I see her for dinner!

A great way to spend the day ootnaboot.

I love you!
Cam

The Thighbone's Connected to the Stomach

On the train headed to Kokubunji to make a Serenity video and find a geocache. I just started reading The Iliad and... ummmm... it's a tad confusing considering I don't have a Greek God Compendium in my brain. And all this talk about sacrificing bulls to gods, cutting out the thigh bone, draping it with meat and then roasting it in a sacrificial flame has made me hungry...

A Splash from the Past

Goran and I arrived in Fukui on the same day in 1991 and were sent to Ono City, a town of 40,000, to teach English in the two high schools. I stayed for three years and Goran for one (he moved into Fukui for another two and then to Kanazawa before heading to France for a bit and finally settling back in the USA).

The internet didn't exist back then really so most of us lost track of one another. Facebook brought us together again.

Goran came to Japan for a two week volunteer holiday, he spent the time working and cleaning up in the tsunami zone. We met tonight for dinner and a good long talk. It has been almost 20 years since we last parted ways but it was so good to see one of my old friends from the times when we were truly strangers in a strange land.

It was a great night.

The only drawback was seeing all the frothy, vomit patches along the long underground corridor to my line home. I have a weak tummy for that kind of stuff and there were more than just three or four instances when I had to engage "the far sight" and practice my walking meditation and breathing. I had no desire to leave my semi-digested yakitori around for the homeless...

Enough. I'm starting to salivate.

Thanks Goran! It was fantastic to see you again. I love you, man!

Cam

Cesium Detected in Shizuoka Prefecture

Definitely NOT good news, considering that Tokyo lies BETWEEN Fukushima and this location… It seems the French may have initiLly correct...

Radioactive Cesium Detected from Incineration Ash at Its Fuji-Gotemba Research Lab: Chugai
( Aug.22 )

Chugai Pharmaceutical announced on August 19 the detection of radioactive cesium from ash of RDF (refuse-derived fuel) chips incinerated at its Fuji-Gotemba Research Laboratories, which is engaged in basic antibody research. Although the radioactivity levels detected were significantly lower than the landfill requirement limit, Chugai suspended the operation of steam boilers used to incinerate RDF chips. According to the company, the suspension will have little impact on the operations of the research laboratories.

This article was excerpted from an article published (in Japanese) in the daily Nikkan Yakugyo and is not its full-text translation.

GIVING PAULA a BONE

On Friday after my failed attempt to find the TV STARS cache (I'll be back!), I was heading to Gotanda Station and saw this sign that IMMEDIATELY made me think of the most beautifl woman I know in Arizona, Paula! For those of you who don't know, Paula started a pet patisserie called Poochie's a few years ago. It didn't go over well, which was very unfortunate, but looking back I think that Paula can say she learned a LOT from that (mis)(ad)venture. 

The funny thing about this photo, is that although you cannot see it, the shop doesn't look ANYTHING like a bakery. It looks more like an office; a very cluttered, crowded, Japanese business office. With one overweight Japanese middle aged guy sitting behind a desk crammed full of papers, staring at me as I took this photo. In spite of looking around the entire office, there was not a single piece of pet paraphernalia, nor food, nor cooking utensils, nor even a stuffed toy dog to be found. 

So one has to wonder whether this business is so successful that it needs a separate office of this size, or if the signboard is a throwback to a former store, or if it is the name of a business that has absolutely nothing to do with dogs and baking? I don't know. But this is Japan/Tokyo, and nothing surprises me here anymore, though I have developed strong forehead muscles from all the eyebrow raising I have done these past 20 years...

So for you Paula, I salute you with... a bone! To our experiences in life! May we continue to learn a LOT from them, especially from the hard ones.

Anybody's Guess

An ad in the train for a video game. I think. Can you imagine the theme by this strange title? Neither could I. Until I went up close and read the fine print (in English to boot!)

Nobody can say that Japanes game titles are not unique... or weird.

I'm NOT a Muggle After All!!

The temperature and humidity dropped from yesterday and it has been raining all day, so I finally had a good sleep, my head is not itchy today and my hair is somewhat straight. Life is good. It's funny how it can be raining and the humidity is down to about 60%. Most people think that because it is raining the humidity is "100%" but such is not the case.

In spite of the rain Megumi and I decided to do some geocaching around Shinjuku. In Shinjuku Gyoen (Park) there are six caches (two in the free space) but because we arrived at closing time we could only confirm that one of them was on the other side of the fence. Log those for next time. If you look back to my Seeking Serenity videos you will find one on Shinjuku Gyoen; it is a gorgeous (and huge) park right in Shinjuku (\200 to enter). We'll be back for those in good weather.

Next we walked to Raiden Inari Shrine and while Megumi zipped off to the restroom I immediately found the microcache where it is supposed to be. I took a photo of the cache in front of the stone pillar with the shrine's name and chatted with the young priest who came out of the shrine after freshening it up and to lock up at 16:30. Megumi returned and showed a long face when she discovered that I had found it while she was away. We wrote in the log, added a little decal and hid it again in its spot with an uni sushi eraser (not in the microcache - too small for that).

Megumi was hungry (I'm always hungry) so we found a Freshness Burger shop (remember that restaurant, Stephanie?) had a bite to eat and headed out for the next challenge.

Next we walked to Shinjuku East Exit and using our GPS homed in on the spot. There were a bunch of muggles hanging around the location so we had to wait a bit. But finally I reached out to where I thought it might be (magnetic) and immedialy my fingers found it! I took the photo of it with the Studio Alta building in the background. We wrote in the teeeeny log book and just as I was about to return it, a woman brought her really drunk boyfriend right to the spot and sat down. I thought he would throw up but he didn't. I had to wait a bit and then I nonchalantly stood beside them. When she was looking at him and he was examining the concrete under foot I stealthily reached above them and put it back.

Megumi looked a little pale but she wanted to challenge the cache hidden at Shinjuku South Exit so we walked around the station and went to the location noted on the GPS. Again Megumi excused herself to find a restroom (apparently what she ate yesterday while out with her friends - yakisoba and takoyaki, tons of carbs doesn't agree with her so well since she started eating less carbs). While she was gone I got really dirty hands wandering around the location and touching, rubbing, poking, prodding anything I could find. Alas, I ended up with nothing but very grimy hands. Then I stood back from myself for a bit and took a different look at the area from a third person perspective... and tried something different. And I found this business card holder in a close but very different spot from what I had originally suspected. Can you see my happy face reflected in the mirror finish? I signed the log and left a little decal with a curry rice eraser, showed Megumi where it was and
put it back in the rain. As we walked away I checked to see if it was visible from a distance; if you know where it is you can barely see it's shape but you have to know exactly where to look and what you are looking for.

Yesterday was one for five but today was three for three.

Now we are havinc coffee at a Segafredo and then will head home for the night. 5:15am comes early.

I love you!
Cam

Kanda River. Departure

After finishing for the morning at Gotanda I headed back to HigashiNihonbashi for the afternoon. There was a bit of support work to do but I spent most of the four hours packing up my Educational Training Department books and documents for the big move to Gotanda next week.

As I didn't finish until about 18:30 it had turned to dusk but I was determined to find the one geocache in this area. So I changed into shorts and a t-shirt and shorts and headed out.
I had to walk for about 10-15 minutes to get to the location where the cache was supposed to be. Sumida River is one of the very old rivers that the Tokugawa Shogunate used for transportation to and from Tokyo during the Edo period. It is a famous river as it has many bridges crossing it. You can take day and night cruises down this river, starting from Asakusa, and see Tokyo from a totally different viewpoint. In fact, when Mia came to visit me for two weeks we took a cruise; it was a great experience!

The cache was supposed to be at the confluence of Sumida River and Kanda River so I headed there. When I turned on the GPS it took a while to lead me to the right spot, but since I'm getting a bit better at thinking like a hidden cache I was able to find it! It was quite a good spot where it was hidden; muggles would never find it accidentally. I doff my hat to the cacher who hid it!

Here is a picture of the cache with the brand new Sky Tree in the background. That tower is the tallest radio tower in the world at about 660m in height.

Now I'm enjoying a beer and some yakitori in celebration out behind my office. Ahhhhh it was a good day.

Tomorrow I think I'll try that sneaky microcache that is hidden in Shibuya right around the famous Hachiko (Hachi) statue where tons of people congregate. This really is a fun hobby!

I love you!
Cam

No Stars in the Sky!

After work I went to the location of the "TV Stars" geocache. I spent an hour staring at a very big, very old tree, overturning loose rocks and rummaging in the dirt. I am sure it is there as the hints lead directly to that tree. I found the stone carvings of Pikachu, Doraemon and more but not the cache. I did see something a little suspicious but as looking further would have put me in the owner's garden, right under the owner's eyes, I decided that prudence was the best course of action. I couldn't find the microcache. The owner of the shrine came out and started watching me hanging around his tree so I figured that between him and the horde of mosquitoes I was fending off I had best take my leave. It is an old shrine dating back to old Edo so there was a nice bit of history written along with some information about traditional japanese pickles made in the area from seeds that originally came from Kyoto in the 1600s!

I had to walk back to Gotanda Stn to go home and if you recall I had vowed to find the geocache there called "Platform in the Sky". I was back at the same area with fresh batteries in the GPS. I then thumbed through the settings and found a calibrate option, which I used. Then I tried again and this time I was able to get down to 0m distance! (As it turned out I was about 3m away from the cache...)

But I persevered... and then I found it! Inside was a logbook, pen, small charm, and teeny little paperclips that are designed as clothespins. I wrote in the log, added my small hotdog eraser, carefully put everything back so nobody would see what I was doing, (forgot to take a photo in the darkness and my excitement) and left.

I'm hungry! I spent about 1.5hrs after work on these caches, but as the gym is closed today for summer holidays I had planned to go a caching after work.

I 'll keep looking for the TV Stars cache, but as I kind of stand out here, and was watched for and talked with the people ther for some time, I'm going to have to be more stealthy the next time around.

I love you!
Cam

Fw:Summer Heats Upin Japan

I think I have mentioned in the past that we get a lot of heat stroke illnesses and deaths in the country. Add to the traditional trouble this year we have been asked by the government to raise our temps, and use less energy in order to avoid blackouts due to power under-availability (thanks, TEPCO) from the lost nuclear reactors, and we are seeing quite a spike in related illness and death.

http://tinyurl.com/HeatStrokeNews

It doesn't help, as one commenter said, that the government has asked us all to conserve energy, because the elderly people continue to turn off their fans, close and lock their windows, and turn their living space into a sauna. Traditionally people here don't use AC at night. Even at this modern office when I ask people, they always say they only have it turned on for an hour after they go to bed, but then turn it off otherwise they get too cold. I've tried that, and I wake up at 3am in a steambath because the windows are closed (to prevent the cool air from escaping... )

Even now I sleep at over 30C but it forces me awake every hour or so because the back of my head is soaked. If I drink a lot of water during the night and keep the fan running it's OK for now, but I admit that to sleep in the living room with the AC running would be more comfortable. But I'm not 70 years old, either. Note that a large proportion of people in this story have died IN THE NIGHT. That's when they usually end up overheating because they close everything up and turn their place into a sauna. The problem is the humidity, not so much the heat, as I have mentioned in the past. If you look at the humidex on the internet, you can get a good idea what it is like: 31C + 75% humidity + no breeze...

We have at least one more month of this kind of weather. In the morning when I wake up I have to wipe myself down (full body). Then before I get dressed for work I have to wipe myself down again (full body) because the sweat is just running, and the oils on the body make one quite itchy. At least at this new office it's nice. But even just the elevator ride up to my apartment makes me dripping in sweat. Last night, because nobody else was in the elevator with me, after coming home from a COLD shower at the gym, I took my shirt off and rode up to my home. Still... I was sticky!

Google Wants in Motorola's Pants

The other day I shared news about Amazon battling Apple with their cloud iApp for Kindle reader on the iOS. Today we have something even MORE astounding: Google plans to buy Motorola!

This is going to be a very VERY interesting battle, and will wind up possibly pushing Microsoft to acquire Nokia.

What's going to happen to Sony-Eriksson?

I love technology battles!
Cam

P.S. Starbucks VIA brand instant coffees are great! I've tried four to date and love them all.

P.P.S. I now know why everyone in the US, calls their Android-enabled smartphone a Droid: It's because that is the brand name that Motorola used when they put out their first Android smartphone! Pass me another Kleenex, will you?

Google's patent play: $12.5B for Motorola Mobility - Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Googles-patent-play-125B-for-apf-1291863061.html?x=0

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Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/

The Mystery of the Suspicious Sucking Sound

I always enjoy wearing out my clothes to the point of being able to throw them away. It's a little perverse pleasure I have had for many years.

Mayu and I bought these Coach shoes maybe 7-10 years ago but they were never comfortable so they slept in a box. When I moved to Tokyo I took them to the office and wore them in the building every day; however I did not commute in them so they rarely saw the outside pavement.But because I wore them daily I was able to stretch the leather enough to have them conform to my feet. They feel good and are no longer rubbing my baby toes uncomfortably.

When I moved to this new building I noticed that my left shoe was always making a weird sucking motion, almost as if there was tape or gum stuck to the sole. Much to my joy I discovered that I had actually worn a hole into the left sole.

Mystery solved! So not only am I happy to discover the origins of the Suspicious Sucking Sound, I also get to indulge (soon, not yet) in my perverse little pleasure of throwing out some item of clothing that I have finally worn out! Yaaaay!!

I love You!
Cam

Tainted beef leads to grocery recalls in Kansas

Here is a bit of news that is likely not making our friend Stephanie in Stefnee, KS, very happy...

Tainted beef leads to grocery recalls - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/tainted-beef-leads-grocery-recalls-203748704.html

Tokyo NoNo Chiba Geocaching 110814

http://youtu.be/zGFdgB_AxiA
The second geocache attempt on Monday...

Myoden Park Geocaching 110814

http://youtu.be/zYgPyp70vgo
The first geocache attempt on Sunday

Last Week's Non Discovery Location

This is a photo of last week's search spot where I ended up with a ton of cuts and scrapes that of course were tremendously itchy and went puffy on me. This gate was completely obscured by this overgrowth which I cleaned away in search of the cache. The gate comes to my waist so, for those of you who know how long my legs are, you can envision the mess here...

DNF Myoden Park Cache

Another cache we couldn't find! Megumi and I got to within a 3m radius. Considering the location we figured it had to be under the train tracks running overhead. So we spent about TWO hours touching and feeling everything possible under there. Nothing!

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon smelling all of the BBQs and listening to everyone out along the river get drunk in the summer heat.

And eat grilled meat!

At least I know my olfactory senses are working at peak performance!

I love you!
Cam

One Down, A Half-Million to Go

Megumi and I went bikini shopping in Ginza (found a really good one), geocaching in Ginza* (didn't find =DNF), bumpack huntinting in Shinjuku (discovered a good one for me) and geocaching in Shinjuku (found it!!)

This cache was hidden very well in an extremely popular place (Southern Terrace) with a ton of muggles** around enjoying beer, wine, food and discussion. We had to be quite stealthy getting it out of its location so we could see the contents and write in the logbook. Then Megumi had to run interference while I slipped it back in its location. I added a sushi eraser to the treasure cache.

After that I left Megumi, hopped on a train (Chuo Line) and headed out to Ogikubo to meet Mayu at Akiyoshi's (a yakitori place originating from Fukui). They were closed for two days of summer vacation! So we hopped on the train again and headed over to another one in Nakano (yaaay! open!! - we called first). We spent a few hours chatting, catching up and so on. I told Mayu about geocaching and how since she has a smartphone and her boyfriend is a really outdoor surfer dude kind of guy that she might have fun trying it with him. She seemed interested so maybe something will come of it.

It was nice to find that cache since I have now found three and not found four (Shibuya, Ginza, Edogawa, Gotanda). A good way to spend a bit of the day. There are a lot of homeless men living in the Ginza park where we searched. One fellow was watching me for some time root around in the shrubbery (a glorious word made popular by Monty Python)so I finally went over and explained what we were up to and told him about the concept of geocaching. He laughed and wished me the best of luck.

I love you!
Cam

P.S. **Muggles are what geocachers call ordinary people who have absolutely no idea that there are hons of hidden treasures right under their noses. I have to admit that until I started doing this it never occurred to me that in all these places jam-packed with people there are a ton of hidden things waiting to be discovered!

* This is a photo of the clock tower in the park at Ginza where the microcache we DIDN'T find is located. We plan to go back again and keep looking.

How Amazon Gets Around Apple Restrictions (for now?)

Here is an interesting article, though I wonder how different things will appear by using this cloud app, compared to the downloaded app? --->

Greg Lamm on Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 7:02am PDT
Amazon unveils Kindle cloud app in response to Apple restrictions

Amazon.com has a new web application that allows Kindle readers to access their books from the cloud or download them for future reading.

The app works with PCs and tablets, including the iPad. The Kindle Cloud Reader comes shortly after Apple put restrictions on apps sold through the Apple App Store.

The Cloud Reader HTML5 app allows Kindle customers to read Kindle books with their web browser - online or offline - with no downloading or installation required.

Included in the new Kindle app is an embedded Kindle Store button for the web browser to allow users to purchase new books.

Earlier this year, Apple put restrictions on apps sold in its App Store, requiring Amazon and others to strip their apps of links back to their app stores. The rule is designed to ensure that Apple gets its 30 percent cut of the sale prompted by the app.

Read more here: http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2011/08/amazon-unveils-kindle-cloud-app.html?ana=e_pft

Life in the Flame

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations."       

 - George Bernard Shaw

"To serve, and make life enjoyable for others in any way I possibly can. To share my wonderful gifts with the world, and those with whom I interact. To let everyone who desires it, enter my flame, and share my burning desire and love of life, and to gracefully enter the door to the lives of those who wish to have me enter. When I die, I want to die spent, having used all of my energy to improve the love and happiness that flows in the energy and mana of Mother Earth. And with no regrets at all. That is my idea of a full, enriching life."   

- Cameron James Switzer

"Brother stand the pain Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do. Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun. Turn away from the cave of your sleeping. That way a thorn expands to a rose. A particular glows with the universal." - Rumi

WalMart Gives Up

Here is a great article about WalMart that will make Paula very very happy!

Wal-Mart will close its digital music store
http://tinyurl.com/WalMart-Digital
Have a happy day.

I love you!
Cam

P.S. At 5am this morning it was 37C and 70% humidity on my balcony making it an effective (jungle) temperature of 58.2C or 136.8F! Lovely, eh?

Child Imai Traffic Park Geocache

Today I went out with Megumi to the Child Imai Traffic Park about 5km from home. It was a very hot and very humid day so whenever we stopped, the sweat started pouring. Riding keeps the sweat from pouring so it's best not to stop in this kind of weather. 

We went to this great park that is only for kids; it is designed like a driver's school with lights, crossing signals, traffic lights, bridges, roundabouts, intersections and more. The children ride rented vehicles around the area (bikes, little cars, etc.) and practice following traffic rules. There is even a monorail that runs through the park, and a place to play on swings. It's a great little park.

There is a geocache here. We were using my new garmin oregon 450, and Megumi's iPod Touch with her new external GPS device. Both arrived this morning so we wanted to test them out. At first we found an old rusted zippo lighter, but that wasn't it. Then we found some old, rusted tools. Nope. Not those either. Then we looked and looked and got really dirty feeling under things, behind things, etc. It was pretty disgusting.

We had gotten to the point where both of our GPS devices said we were at 0m from the cache, but we just couldn't find it! Then Megumi was able to get a street view, and suddenly we knew exactly where it was. 

This is what was in the geocache. If you ever wondered what geocaching is all about, check out http://www.geocaching.com for a great site that people all over the globe use to find and hide treasures around the world.

Hm. Now that I have Google+ I think that Multiply will get less of my musings. I kind of enjoy G+.

I'm Your Number One Fan*

Yesterday as I was walking between stations to get to the second train that brings me home, there was a gentleman wearing a shirt that I have seen advertised in my Nikkei Weekly "New Goods" section. I took a photo, but didn't hit "save" at the time. My bad. The phone didn't save the picture. So, all I can do is give you my words, and let you use your imagination.

The shirt is a business-casual-style shirt, made of a cotton material. It has a collar so can be worn for work during "cool biz" season. Down around the waist, right about where the kidneys are, on each side, is a built in battery-operated fan, about the diameter of a Starbucks coffee Mug. The fans run, and pull air into the shirt, effectively ventilating the body in an attempt to keep it cool.

I know that from a NA perspective, it may seem ridiculous, or "crazy", but over here, where we have to wear suits and ties in this brutal humidity, you do what you gotta do. This is often when I envy women because they can wear minimal fabric on their bodies (and a hot bra, of course) that allows air under the clothing. (Also, if you are sitting at a desk, you can spread your legs underneath and let some air circulate; something that doesn't happen when we guys spread our legs in slacks). We have to wear long pants, socks, shoes, (a necktie) and tuck our shirt in. This fashion is not conducive to good air circulation. The air doesn't circulate, and the heat "vents" are limited to the head, the armpits (or wrists) and the tiny gap between shirt collar and neck so the body really does heat up something fierce.

The interesting thing about this shirt was that the guy looked a little bit... "puffy".

I love you!

Cam

* The name of a favourite song from The Beautiful South 

Thought of the Day: Inflation

It strikes me as strange that the owner of this Hummer-branded bike would ride it to this location on a regular basis in such a condition. I have seen this bike at this intersection nearly every morning I come to work and every day both the front and rear tires have been completely flat!

Many people here ride their mamachari bikes with very low air pressure in their tires; they don't seem to know or care that properly-inflated tires on bikes, as on cars, dramatically increase "fuel economy" and safety by reducing friction and rolling resistance. Having properly inflated bike tires makes a world of difference whether you are grinding up hills, screaming down them, on an epic ride, or simply zipping to the station.

Let's embrace inflation!

I love you.
Cam