Finally, after being in Japan for more than a year, I went to my first shrine sale this weekend. I picked a doozy as my first, too. I went to the Togo Shrine Sale in Tokyo, probably the biggest regular shrine sale in all of Japan.
For those of you not familiar with the shrine sale, it is like a flee market or swap meet, but it is held at one of the local Shinto shrines. Vendors set out their wares along the paths and open areas around the shrine. The items for sale vary from used toys and old dishes priced at under 100 yen (about $1) to fine antiques and pieces of art going for several hundred thousand yen (sever thousand dollars).
We arrived early (a little after 6 AM), and got a great parking spot. We were there so early, that not all of the vendors had set all of their stuff out yet. We spent about the next three hours wandering around looking at everything, and making a few purchases. I personally bought four Ainu Bears, ten kokeshi dolls, and a small household shrine. The total for all of this was just about $100.
We were home by 10:30, and my wife was mostly fairly please with my purchases (she didn't care too much for the kokeshi dolls I chose).
Monday, November 08, 2004
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Election Night Day
One benefit of living in Japan (and the 13 hour time difference from the East Coast of the US), is that all that election night stuff happens during the day over here. SO while people in the US are staying up until 4 AM trying to find out who won, it is just 3 in the afternoon here. The down side is, we watch hours upon hours of middle of the night election coverage...
So here is my analysis. The news media (at least the ones we get on AFN over here, which were CNN, NBC, Fox, and CBS) was plenty happy to call races in various states all day (or night in the US). This happened up to where Bush got just enough electoral votes to not quite win. CNN and NBC called Ohio for Bush, to give him 269 electoral votes, and FOX and CBS called Nevada, to give Bush 254 electoral votes. They then refused to call any more states (as that would have given Bush the solid win), and began into their "too close to call" coverage. It almost seamed like they were trying to make this election another 2000, and act like the whole thing was really up in the air. When you looked at the numbers, though, it was clear that Ohio and Nevada (and probably New Mexico) were clearly Bush wins, and the media simply refused to call them, because that would end the drama they were trying to manufacture. After all, who watches the election news after the winner has been declared (especially at 4 AM US time)?
So, the news media are a bunch of F**king liars (which puts them in good company with Kerry/Edwards), manufacturing controversy and indecision where there isn't any. At least Kerry/Edwards finally saw through all that in the Morning, and were good enough to admit defeat, rather than whine and complain about how unfair it was that they lost (a la Gore in 2000) .
I read an interesting blog about Kerry yesterday while I was watching election coverage. It proposed that Kerry was not a flip-flopper, but was rather a panderer (a point Saturday Night Live has also made). He does not have changing positions, but rather he holds no positions, and simply tells the group he is speaking to whatever he thinks they want to hear. I don't know why the Bush campaign didn't do a better job of establishing this.
At least in the end, no matter how close it was, Bush won...
So here is my analysis. The news media (at least the ones we get on AFN over here, which were CNN, NBC, Fox, and CBS) was plenty happy to call races in various states all day (or night in the US). This happened up to where Bush got just enough electoral votes to not quite win. CNN and NBC called Ohio for Bush, to give him 269 electoral votes, and FOX and CBS called Nevada, to give Bush 254 electoral votes. They then refused to call any more states (as that would have given Bush the solid win), and began into their "too close to call" coverage. It almost seamed like they were trying to make this election another 2000, and act like the whole thing was really up in the air. When you looked at the numbers, though, it was clear that Ohio and Nevada (and probably New Mexico) were clearly Bush wins, and the media simply refused to call them, because that would end the drama they were trying to manufacture. After all, who watches the election news after the winner has been declared (especially at 4 AM US time)?
So, the news media are a bunch of F**king liars (which puts them in good company with Kerry/Edwards), manufacturing controversy and indecision where there isn't any. At least Kerry/Edwards finally saw through all that in the Morning, and were good enough to admit defeat, rather than whine and complain about how unfair it was that they lost (a la Gore in 2000) .
I read an interesting blog about Kerry yesterday while I was watching election coverage. It proposed that Kerry was not a flip-flopper, but was rather a panderer (a point Saturday Night Live has also made). He does not have changing positions, but rather he holds no positions, and simply tells the group he is speaking to whatever he thinks they want to hear. I don't know why the Bush campaign didn't do a better job of establishing this.
At least in the end, no matter how close it was, Bush won...
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
SCUBA in Saipan
My wife is going to travel next week to Saipan with the Yokota Finatics dive club. They leave on Nov 11th, and return on the 14th. They will get in 7 dives, and it should be amazing. Both my wife and I just got new gear, and this will be her first chance to use it outside of the pool. I wish that I could go, but someone has to stay behind with the kids. That's OK, that just means that it is my turn next time (hopefully Phi Phi island, Thailand).
Professional Engineering Exam
This weekend I took the Professional Engineering (PE) exam for the first time. It was a butt kicker. It consisted of two four-hour multiple choice tests, 50 questions each. Lots of math, and lots of terminology I have never heard of before...
For those of you not familiar, the PE is THE registration for Engineers. Once you get it, your set for life, no need to take the test again. I don't think I passed, though, so I will probably be taking it again next year.
For those of you not familiar, the PE is THE registration for Engineers. Once you get it, your set for life, no need to take the test again. I don't think I passed, though, so I will probably be taking it again next year.
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