It finally happened to me....

I read about it... I have even had it happen to one of my friends... and well... I'd never thought it would happen to me but my 3rd or maybe 4th generation
(bought it 2004) Ipod finally died on me. NOO!!!!!!!! 20 gigs of memories all gone. Well, most of them at least...

The video store

Near my apartment, more precisely about a 2 minute walk from my door is a DVD rental store. This place is bigger than a mom and pop shop but is smaller than a major rental store like Tsutaya, which is the equivalent of a Blockbuster or Hollywood video store back in the states. Almost everyone and their grandma that lives in at least a one mile radius goes to this place, which is a lot of people since this is Tokyo. The reason why I know is when you rent movies from there, they give you a very distinct blue nylon bag to carry the videos and I've seen people haul that bag everywhere. Anyways, that place has been frustrating me the past couple of times I've been there. When new movies come out like Rush Hour 3 and even somewhat new films like Ratatouille, they are always rented out. The frustrating part is the reason why its always rented out is because they only have a few copies of the popular movies. I can understand if they have 3 copies for a new released Wesley Snipes film entitled "Me against the IRS", but I struggle to even rent the movie "300" which has been released here since last year because of the limited supplies. Its gone so bad, that I'm starting to stalk the workers there when they come out to put the recently brought back movies back on the shelves, hoping that they would put back the movie of my choice. The longest time I've spent stalking is about 30 minutes to see if they would put back the newest Harry Potter flick. I even had to try to jock for position at the Harry Potter portion of the shelves against my like-minded competitors. It took me a few attempts like this to finally get the movie. Its sad I know.. the feeling is exactly like trying to find a parking space in B or A parking Lot at GMU. Why do I keep going back there you ask... well the price to rent a movie is dirt cheap and like I mentioned before its 2 minutes away, so I can literally fall out of my door and still be in front of the store. LOL. On a funnier note, I found "One night in Paris" (Yes that one night in paris) in the new release drama section of the store the other day.....

Work and the cold

This past week including the weekend was spent working, working some more, and oh yeah.... working. Its really busy and it doesn't seem like it will let up for another month. Other than that, its really cold in Tokyo. I have put my jogging on hold until it gets a bit warmer. Last time I ran in the cold, my ears were in excruciating pain from the freezing temperature and I got sick. The point of my running is to get healthy and not become sick. I still have yet to find a convenient gym for me to go to though I must admit, I have not really tried that hard. I do some old school training at home, so I'm not slacking that much. Well, the Packer/Giant game is about to start. Though I don't really care about either teams, if I had to pick one of the other, it would be the Packers. I'm going to miss the NFL season....

A Crabby Birthday

It seems I talk about food too much.. and actually.. I've been eating like crazy this past winter holiday. Its really hard to control my food intake in this country. Everything is just so damn tasty in this country. I really need to get back on track in my workout routine in order to control my indulgences.

On a more frustrating note, I just finished watching the Dallas Cowboys lose to the NY Giants. I am so shocked now. I honestly thought the Boys had a near perfect chance to go to the Superbowl, I was not to sure if they could beat the Pats there, but to play in the biggest game of the year, I had no doubt. They were 13-3 in the regular season, one of the best records in the NFL and in franchise history since the 90's when they won multiple world championship titles. Well, the Cowboys choked once again, and I hate to see what will come out of the off season from this loss. There goes my plans in wearing my Dallas Jersey out on the town for today...

Pictures from winter holidays

As promised here are just some pictures from the winter holiday. Credits are from Jody's facebook and my keitai.



Jody and I at typical Japanese Izakaya (pub like place) at Takadanobaba. I don't know why but it was so hard for me to say "Takadanobaba", but now I can say it like a champ. This was also the disappointing night at Club Ageha.



Again, Jody and I in Roppongi Hills.



Christmas Illumination at Tokyo Midtown.



View of Tokyo from club Mado-Lounge at Roppongi Hills



DJ Kaori spinning at club Mado-Lounge.



Madoka, Jody, Jim, akiko and I tried to get Mt. Daisen's famous soft ice cream but the place was closed for the winter. All we got from this trip was this picture and the pungent smell of cow crap.



Movix next to Jusco. I saw two movies this past winter holiday here. Though I never took a picture of this place because I've been here countless of times, especially when I used to live in Yonago, but I'm sad to say that this place may be closing down (like my favorite Sushi Benkei next to Jim's old apartment). They will close their doors on January 15th and may re-open in October of this year. I think it all depends if the developers decide to use the movix space to expand the shopping plaza. It will be sad if this place closes, as my friends and I had great times here.




One of the best things about Tottori-ken is the food, especially Matsuba kani. Madoka found a real goldmine near Sakaiminato port. This lunch set only cost around 1,300 JPY, which is like 10 bucks.





It snowed continuously around new years in Tottori-ken and the rest of the prefectures by Japan Sea. The best part of the snow was going to a piping hot outdoor onsen while the snow is falling down on your head.



Yep. the picture is the actual onsen I went to. The only part that sucked was going outside and maneuvering myself in getting into the hot bubbling water while trying not to let my birthday suit get frost bites. I was not a big fan of bathing in the nude in front of male strangers at first, but I quite like going to good quality onsens now.

Thats all the pictures for now. Life in Tokyo is going fine now. Its actually quite warm nowadays. I'm busy at work as two of my projects are evolving. My birthday is coming up this weekend, so I'll see what happens, possibly more pictures will be posted. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this entry.