Archive for October, 2005After having been up continuously for a year, the machine hosting this blog crashed last week. I'm not sure why it crashed, but it simply needed a reboot and it was fine. However, the simple reboot wasn't so simple. It turns out that the BIOS option to "turn machine on when power restored after a power failure" didn't work, and so the machine sat powered off for a week until someone could actually visit the colo to power it back on. Of course, I didn't know that that's all that was needed, so for the last week I fretted about how to fix whatever [...] View full post » “Mommy, Daddy, Baby Anthony, Wallet, and Car” Anthony made this drawing at playcare. It's his first complex, well done, easily identifiable drawing, and as such, makes our heart melt in the way only a parent's can. (That's another way to say “I know you don't think it's particularly special” The original is rather large (about 20 inches across the long side). Both Fumie and I have this picture as our computer desktop image (although because I prefer a generally dark background, I use a darkened version). On the same day, Anthony also drew a solo picture of me, showing his great [...] 
View full post » The first floor of our condo has space for two shops. One has not yet been occupied, but the other has a small French cafe, Au Temps Perdu, which, according to the sign, is a “tratieur pâtissier” -- a pastry delicatessen. They've only recently opened, of course, and as of yet have only a small takeout selection in a display case. The stuff they have seems very authentically French in that I have no interest in it (most seem to involve pâté or gelatinous meats of dubious animal parts). However, they do have one delightfully refreshing item: a tomato. It's a cooked and skinned tomato served [...] 
View full post » This morning started well. I woke up this morning, as I do most mornings, to find that Anthony had been up and playing for quite some time. His first words to me were “Daddy, I have poopy.” This was a good thing. He almost always has a poopy by the time Fumie or I wake up, but normally tries to hide it (hah, as if we have no noses), and normally fights a diaper change. So, it was wonderful this morning that he announced it, and went easily to get cleaned up and into underwear for the day. Then the morning got a bit worse.... View full post » In the world of baseball this season, what's the difference between the Washington Nationals and the San Diego Padres? If you look at their records, there's not much difference. With San Diego at 82 wins and Washington at 81 wins, San Diego did better by one game (and that's over a 162-game season). San Diego, with their 82 wins, won their division (National League, Central) and guaranteed themselves a spot in the playoffs (where they promptly lost). Washington, however, with their almost-identical record, happens to be in a different division (National League, East), and their 81 wins was good enough to get them..... dead last. No [...] View full post »
Another Reader's Digest "Word Power" quiz, this time featuring words that might be found on the SAT.
View full post » Anthony turns three years old tomorrow. He's been talking up a storm for quite some time, but he's behind other kids his age. It's not something we're concerned about because, if he's got, say, 70% of the language skills as his peers, he's really got 140% of the skills (70% English + 70% Japanese). I know of other kids who have three or four languages -- a kid's brain is just amazing. I've also heard many stories of kids raised in two-language households where the kid eventually refuses to speak one of the languages (usually the father's). This can create huge issues if said Father [...] 
View full post » I love coffee, but it's hard to find a good cup, especially decaf. Particularly since I can't have a lot of caffeine, we don't drink enough coffee to make a coffee-maker worthwhile. So, what's one to do for a good cup of coffee at home? Hot Coffee Luckily, once while visiting an office, I was served a cup of coffee so tasty that I had to ask its source. It turned out to be a Brooks single-serving “drip-pack coffee”. As the image on the right (which I stole from their web site) shows, these are small packs of coffee grounds with a built-in holder that folds [...] 
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Another Reader's Digest "Word Power", featuring finance-related words.
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My file-based-posts WordPress plugin (allows you to create/edit posts with your favorite text ditor) can now handle includes. Nifty!
View full post » Just a day after 1.02, I've released version 1.03 of my “file-based posts” plugin for WordPress. It still allows you to compose/edit posts with your favorite editor instead of the tiny textarea box in a browser, but there are several new goodies with this version. I added many of the goodies while figuring out how to incorporate Y!Q into my blog. Y!Q is a service by Yahoo! which allows me to include contextual “search for more about this” links into my prose. As an example of Y!Q, consider that I'm talking about Anthony's favorite stuffed friend, [...] View full post » | 
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