“Lumine the Yoshimoto” is the comedy theater located in Shinjuku.
MoonFlower, Mother-in-Law, and I got tickets for today and we spent time laughing... much!



This is right before the show starts... so many comedians (of course, famous ones) came on the stage to make all us laugh. Almost all were seen on TV.

No doubt that the place was surely packed!

We usually go to theaters to see plays... not comedy... but this was good. Really good.

You know, since my iPad purchase, things are dramatically changed.
Maybe you’re one of them like me?

I have to deal with numerous computers...

One from my firm. One more from client. My own MacBook Pro... and on top of those, I have iPhone4 and iPad.

This means that I have to deal with many different files for work and personal.
File and information sharing is the key for my management.

Thus, I heavily rely upon cloud services such as:

Google Reader (RSS)
Evernote
Dropbox
Instapaper

If you do not know what those are... you’re behind!!! Hahaha.
You might want to google it for your understanding.

Among those, Google Reader is the one newly added to my devices.
I know, RSS isn’t that new technology compared to rest of others... plus, this “Website Ogakijin” offers RSS itself! How come this is new to me?

Well, I really thought that RSS wasn’t that beneficial to my kind of use.
I was wrong... WAY TOO WRONG until the moment that I started using this.

Daily basis, I check 80-100 websites of others for my entertainment, information, or whatever.
I usually open so many tabs of the browser to see what’s new in those...

RSS is the one for my kind of guy surfing the Net... but I was lazy enough not trying to see how it worked for me. Now, RSS is vital technology for me. Now my favorite sites keep growing... the list is no longer manageable without Google Reader. Hahaha.



iPhone4 screenshot



iPad screenshot



Yeah of course, am checking her out in new drama...
She’s so cute.

You all know that MoonFlower and I purchased new home and moved in back in August.
Yeah, new apartment... in Tokyo.

Since then, we have been suffered from the home mortgage like everyone else.
Today, one news kicked in...



APR is reviewed every half year and we just received the 1st notice... the result of 1st review.
Well, NO CHANGE at 0.875%!

Definitely welcome this fact for both of us... same (unchanged) burden on our (only my?) shoulders.
This is really good news!

You know, I suspect that APR would go up much in 5 year range. No way going down for sure.
Even it would go up... the raise shouldn’t be much.

You know, Japan’s Economy is no longer strong and won’t gain much in short period of time, either.
That’s why the rate looks really attractive!

Probably in US... home mortgage should be a bit higher... right?

Manami Higa - actress from Okinawa Island...
She is my favorite... very stylish with beautiful face.

I wish she were with me! Hahaha! BANG! (I’m dead.)



She was the guest to the afternoon’s talk show.
Invited by the guest on previous day and pass the baton to her friend showing up tomorrow.

So cute and pretty!!!
You know what? Made my day!!! BANG!

Will be in this weekend’s special drama... and also will play primary role in January’s TV drama...
Getting more and more popular for sure!

Hi, folks!
I am quite happy to let you know... the dining set (table and chairs) is now set at my home.
Look at this:



So cool!!! I loved it.
MoonFlower actually did the all selections... surely she did a great job!

Last Sunday, the table was delivered... but another one is delivered today to replace the 1st one.
Somehow, we found several dents on the 1st table. Must be damaged on the way to this place.

Shop didn’t ask any question and ordered another one for us.
So today, the deal is finally complete.

This time, the condition was great. No complaint.

I found a great deal... a new movie coming up... it was of Wall Street.
“Wall Street” the movie from 80’s is one of my favorite for sure.
I even have copy in my iPad / iPhone!!! Hahaha.



Now, Wall Street 2... Gordon Gekko is back (actually from the prison)...
So cool... cannot wait to see that movie.
This is sure thing.

Friday... weekend is just around the corner!
Well, my Friday didn’t finish quite early. Rather, worked until 9pm or so.
This is because there was a training session... on Procurement.

This topic is somewhat relative to my topic, Logistics.

In fact, I have to give a training in two weeks and tonight’s training is right before mine in a series of Supply Chain Training at my firm.

The training was very interesting and there were 20-some consultants attended.
That means I should expect that many consultants coming to my training? Oh boy, that would be a nightmare... Hahaha.

Anyhow, after that training, went out for quick drinks.

Seven of us got together over drinks.
All familiar faces to myself... yes, they’re good friends.

Fun... because lots of laughters while having drinks like beer and champagne.

Started late like 9:30pm and made the last train for the day to go home... so only several hours... but full of fun for sure.
I should plan that kind of gathering after training for sure. Hahaha.

Finally? Already? The month of September is now ending... Oh boy, so fast and I hardly keep up with the pace of time!
Time does really flies!
Lots of paper work for me to approve from the project and my subordinates. Time and Expensive report submission, etc.

So the way to think about time...

Should I think like

Already 9 months over?
or 
Still 3 months to go?

You know the difference, right? I'd better think the latter one so that I can find more positively about what needed to be achieved by the end of year.
You know what I mean? It is important to plan things well within given time. Make it productive as much as possible.

You know, my firm sets me a quota to meet within this fiscal year. Yes, I need to sell business... better say, "businesses" (in plural form).

So for given three months, need to plan carefully via AIDMA model... need to take the first step into "A" - Attention.
Need to take names from whatever the source of information available. Hahaha.

Back to old days... I used to sell LOGISTICS business. Selling isn't quite (?) my speciality... but I cannot afford any luxury and need to do that without bitching about it. Hahaha.

Since MoonFlower was working late in the office, I told her that I would pick up something to eat so that I wouldn't bother her for fixing summer for both of us.
So I ate favorite noodle place like old days when I was single.

Well, once MoonFlower returned home. Popped up a question to me... what kind of soup the noodle dish was.

Hmm.

I have no clue. I just ate. Seriously...
I told her that man sometimes doesn't really pay attention to what he is doing... (this was my excuse!) and she never bought it.
Is this usual thing happening to any married couple???

Please advise.

I do not know if this is popular outside Japan or not. Can be... because it's not technology issue... if there is a certain level of demand exisits, business can be there.
What am I talking about?

-Scan the books and make PDF files
-Read those books in PDF files on iPad

In Japan, there are a number of vendors provide such services out there... at very cheap rate.
One whole book, say 300 page long, can be done for a dollar bill or two. Seriously. Service is totally depends upon how quickly the PDF can be yours and how many books and pages you request for such services.

Think about this way... if you have so many books in bookshelf... all those can be gone and you can use that space for something else.
I know, that's pretty much dream or imagination. However, you can take a huge book with you to anywhere you go. You can take more than several books or even more at a time!

Just tested one book and I will start reading... to see there is a future for doing this or not...
Can be better in Kindle for long hour reading? Do not worry, I won't spend reading for long hours. Rather, I do more often and repeat short reading sessions. Hahaha.

I probably keep doing this for all work-related books because good reference on-go.



My supper... it was late. I came home late --- that’s why.
I am usually very cautious about time to eat... 10pm is the limit... tonight, I had to make it exception. Oh my fault.

It’s Saturday... I made one decision. Simple decision.

Want: “Website Ogakijin” data to be recovered (worth 10-year diary!)
Condition: Hard drive dies. Target mode between old and new Mac computers was unsuccessful.

Decision: Ask for help to data recovery professional

So I went to Akihabara to look for that vendor.
(Actually, there are lots of such corporations in that region... hahaha)

I dropped by a company in old building... meeting room was SO small.
I described what happened and what I tried to do with that piece of machine.

Diagnosis began... and I was told that symptom is not good at all and that can be worst case.
Meaning that data will be recovered at high rate of charge.

How much???

About 400,000 yen... or 4,000 USD.

No way... so I gave up on this last plan.

Now it is clear that I exhausted all options.

Was it because of jealousy?
Bad news... awful news came to the reality tonight.

Confirmed fact... my MacBook, which has been in use since 2006 while I was at Thunderbird for MBA, is now dead.
Came to be true with huge hard drive crash.

Unfortunately, I do not have backup... lots of photos and personal data are now gone.
This includes all data of my past home page. Seriously? Seriously.

Well, now I’d better think about recovery plan.

Should I switch to Windows? If remaining a loyal Mac user, which model to replace died MacBook?

Surely no other way to recover the data from dead hard drive for sure???

Hmm.

Wow, I made a big purchase today!
Why now? Why this?

Call me crazy! I was totally up to this recently.

Bought iPad 64GIG WiFi+3G. Now I can go anywhere with this.





Beautiful screen!!!

Now I have to carefully think what kind of scene to be best for using this.
I will study more about this piece of equipment...

So excited to have and use this anywhere I go!

Already? Wait... when is the moving? Hahaha.
Well, the moving is scheduled on 26th... a week and half ahead or so.
Plenty of time... so I thought.

MoonFlower thought differently... she has started packing already.
I guess, the gap about how easy / difficult the moving can be.

I have lots of experiences about moving to different places from Japan to US, etc.
On the contrary, MoonFlower has none.

I probably need a couple of days right before 26th to be ready.
Well... however, today it is for packing. Hahaha.
You know, I should get along with all, right. You know what I mean?

Books and magazines... all business related... were take out of the bookshelf and put in the boxes.
In addition, all documents and textbooks from MBA programs were also moved.

Hmm, should I keep all docs from the school?
There are quite tons of paper and books... taking up lots of spaces for sure.

The question is... whether I am going to use some of those in future?
I keep them because I think “just in case.”

Does that kind of case really come up? Hmm.

My (tentative) conclusion is that I keep them for a while to see how tight the space for books can be in new house. Before the end of year, I should come to another consideration.

No other major events for the day...

Made a beer can open during the supper. Just one... no more than that. Hahaha.



Eggplants... very good stuff. I like them.
No meats for supper tonight. All healthy stuff. Must be good for me.

Usually, no beef dish at home... hahaha.