We ended up getting out of Kyoto a half an hour late, and lost another hour due to traffic jams on the highway, of unknown origin. We would have been much later still if our timing would have been a bit less lucky -- after finally getting out of the hour-long holdup, we came across a 10-car accident, apparently about half a minute or a minute after it had happened. Two cars in front seemed to have had a minor rear-ender, and then behind them were eight cars were accordion'd together. I guess they were following too close (as most [...]

I really don't care for flying. It's not that I'm scared of it, or anything like that -- it's just that I'm sick of it. I used to fly a lot when I worked for Omron -- mostly 9- to 11-hour flights back and forth across the Pacific and the US.

Just on United Airlines, which I have tended to use the most, according to their Mileage Plus point record for me, my "Lifetime United flight miles" is 391,730, which is equivalent to more than 72 trans-Pacific flights. And that doesn't count the miles I did before I signed [...]
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Truly, the cherry blossoms are quite pretty around where I live (map), thankfully neglected by the majority of both tourists and locals alike. While sitting with Anthony under some blossoms yesterday, I thought about how many have tried to put the feeling into words, and how they certainly must have failed. Not being one to pass up a chance to fail miserably, I've given it a go myself:

            Oh humble Cherry Tree             Passing the year in quiet slumber             Alive after the long winter             Heavily laden with Spring's finest glory             Beauty beyond the grasp of words             Not retarded crap like [...]