Going through some old pictures, I came across this one from a year ago January, when Anthony was three years three months old. When he wakes up and first ventures out of his room, he brings the "friends" he slept with. He brings them to the couch in the livingroom, and in this case, I caught him enroute.

This time he's got Papa George (in blue striped jammies), Shimajiro (yellow tiger), Stubby (big bear behind Shimajiro), George (sticking out from under Stubby), and his bear-face pillow. There's also likely another George in there somewhere.

(Sorry for the [...]

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On the drive into the mountains the other day, we were on a twisty mountain road and came across the surreal sight of a bridge leading directly into the rocky face of a mountain.

Taking this bridge would mean a really short trip.

Of course, it's a work in progress. A tunnel will certainly follow, thereby cutting off a long and dangerous segment of the current road....

I expected the road to become dangerous, but what followed the Bridge to Nowhere was actually fairly pleasant, and not narrow nor at all dangerous. A shockingly short 1/3rd mile (500m) later, we [...]

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I mentioned two weeks ago that I'd post some cherry-blossom pictures from last year, as we await this year's season, and so today I begin. To help get me in the mood, I'll start with a picture from my balcony of the trees across the river, and then two from ground level. These were taken on April 7th last year.

I'm not very confident of their color balance -- they seem to have a redish tint to me -- but the sun was heading down, so perhaps it's deserved.

I like these because they show the fluffy, cloud-like nature of [...]

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I just realized that with Vista™, there are now enough major releases of Microsoft® Windows® for the desktop (as opposed to PDAs and servers) to put out a "Top 10" list, so without further ado....

The Top 10 Worst Major Releases of Microsoft® Windows® for the Desktop:

10.Microsoft® Windows® 1.0 10.Microsoft® Windows® 2.0 9.Microsoft® Windows® 3.0 8.Microsoft® Windows NT® 7.Microsoft® Windows® 95 5.Microsoft® Windows® 98 4.Microsoft® Windows® 2000 3.Microsoft® Windows® ME 2.Microsoft® Windows® XP 1.Microsoft® Windows Vista™

As one would expect in a "top worst" list for Windows®, it includes all the major desktop releases.

The list is in [...]
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The Japan Times (the major English daily in Japan) has an amusing article this week....

The full article at the Japan-Times website goes on to explain in detail.

The article is by Alice Gordenker, whose writings I always enjoy, especially her "What the heck is that?" column. She can dive quite deeply into the most obscure little things, and you come away from one of her articles really feeling you have the complete poop on whatever subject is at hand.

In this case, she talks about a good luck charm, 金のうんこ, which can be translated in any number of amusing [...]

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