After a long but uneventful trip, Anthony and I are back in Japan.

We took off from Cleveland a bit after 10am Saturday, and after an hour an a half in the plane, and an hour in the terminal in Chicago, we were on a flight for Osaka.

13.5 hours later, we arrived. The flight took off at about 1:30 in the afternoon Eastern time (noon-thirty Central time, as we were in Chicago, but my body was on Eastern time), and arrived at about 2am. It was a long, long flight. Anthony slept for an hour or so a few [...]
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Last night my dad and I went to BW3's in Kent to play NTN Trivia. The main game last night, played simultaneously by 10 to 20 thousand people in bars across North America, covers science, geography, "shows" (plays, TV, movies), history, sports, and the arts.

Dad is excellent with history, science, and, in particular, geography. I am worthless with everything but the occasional science and Japan-related question. We sat with trivia regulars Ted, Bill, and John, who are truly awe-inspiring in their depth and breadth of knowledge. They can effortlessly deal with questions on 1960s American TV, ancient mythology, who [...]
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I have had back problems for the last few years, and although I do a lot of stretching which seems to help at times, overall it's more bad than good. My dad has suggested that I do situps, and he reiterated it again this morning (I'm in Ohio now for the next month). He remembers reading in Reader's Digest 40+ years ago about how an imbalance between the back muscles (which get a good workout in daily life) and the stomach muscles (which apparently don't) can create back problems.

My dad is in his 70s, is arthritic, has bad shoulders, [...]
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The other day I pulled out into a three-lane (in one direction) road, and just as I'm pulling out, I realize that the car I thought was in the middle lane was really in the near lane. They were far enough away that my pulling out in front of them wasn't dangerous, but it was certainly rude, and I felt bad. I wanted to stick my hand out the window and give some kind of "I'm sorry -- my bad!" sign, but I don't know of any.

Is there any universally understood (at least, universal except for me) driver's [...]
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In a previous life (before the book, before the baby) I used to play ultimate Frisbee with friends at Yahoo. I played in the first Y! ultimate game, back in 1997, and fairly consistently for about four years. I wasn't outstanding, but wasn't too bad. Physically, I was in pretty good shape. (If you're not familiar, Ultimate Frisbee is like soccer with a Frisbee instead of a ball.)

Then, I started working on the book. With every waking moment not devoted to work going to the book, I soon turned into a blob (gaining 15 pounds over the [...]