Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in chaset1's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, February 6th, 2010
2:29 pm	Momma don't take my PowerShot away My trusty old PowerShot S400 started having graphic glitches. Initially, it was only the display, but soon I had a photo showing the same glitch. After many years of faithful service... from something like 2004, I think... it has finally given up the ghost. It's kind of funny that it decided to do this practically the day after I sold my back-up camera (S200), and only a week after I got a brand-new battery for it. Ugh. I guess it was just waiting for the right time. With Leina around, we can't afford to not have a functioning camera at all times. I actually pulled out my Epson PhotoPC 650 (check it out... it's practically an antique) from storage. On the bright side, it gives me a long-awaited excuse to get a new digital camera, and Costco was having a sale on a S1200 with a free memory card, so I went for it. It looks like I am continuing to follow a line of Canons. For those looking for accessories for his still-functioning S100/S200/S400 series Camera, look for my eBay auction soon. Current Mood: amused Current Music: none (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
12:39 am	Rain drops, so many rain drops, it feels like rain drops... Falling from the sky... Wow. It's already February. Blogging has slowed down, especially now that I'm within driving distance from Friends and Family. Work is keeping me busy, and with the relatively long commute, it doesn't leave me much time to do much else during the week. If I could just move a little closer to the bus stop, I'll be in better shape. Perhaps when the lease is up in August... must get some sleep now. Current Mood: sleepy (Comment on this)
Monday, December 28th, 2009
12:01 am	What a fool believes The Holidays have come and gone, and 2009 is rapidly coming to a close. Man what a year it was. Too thrilling for my tastes. I hope I can settle into my job and spend the next several months uneventfully. Here's an entry I've been wanting to get to for a while. This is from an outfit that we are all but forced to entrust our financial well being. It should go without saying that I was nowhere near a correctional facility during my time in Japan (which is where I was when this was sent to me). I checked, and there isn't one in the town in New Jersey in which the mail forwarding service office is located. And yet, they or their computers somehow thought I was in prison. The sheer, monumental idiocy this represents had me just gasping for words trying to comprehend how moronic this was. How completely broken they must be institutionally to f**k up this way? Isn't there anyone minding the store with two brain cells to rub together to catch this kind of stuff? I think I set them straight in a follow-up letter, but I can't imagine how much pain it would have been if they screwed up my credit report and I had to go correct it. If crap like this can happen, I can easily imagine how a missed payment or two can spring up out of nowhere and screw people over. The credit agencies should be held to a very high standard, and here's proof that they aren't living up to them. All that power and no responsibility -- the system is thoroughly broken. Whoever is responsible for this screw-up (as well as all of Experian's officers) should have a bankruptcy or two put into their credit report (and a couple more to boot) to see how they like it. Cheesh. Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: None (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
3:29 am	R.I.P. Behemoth (1997-2009) My beloved Umax S900 Mac clone gave up the ghost tonight. The hard disk I had in there with the OS X partition started clickety-clacking to high heaven. In the process of trying to shoehorn in a replacement, I had unseated the processor card just enough to cause a fatal problem. The machine did not come up ever again. I'm still kicking myself... I didn't think Behemoth will die by my own hand. It's probably the power supply that died, which was probably nearing its useful life anyways. I could spend time and money trying to fix the issue, as there are ways to jury-rig an ATX power supply into a Mac Clone. However, I decided that it's time to move on, as higher priorities have come into my life. I guess it's sort of an end of an era for me... this gives me an excuse to clear out the computer and a whole lot of associated hardware. Upgrading that machine has been a hobby of mine ever since I got it, back when a 200MHz 604e kicked butt over any type of Pentium. The 2GB SCSI hard disk bit the dust pretty quickly, but since then, the machine has had all kinds of upgrades -- USB, Firewire, Hardware MPEG decoder (remember those?), 100 BaseT ethernet, 640MB of RAM (the machine supported over 1GB), DVD ROM drive, CD Burner, 4MB IMS Twin Turbo to 32MB ATI Radeon, 300 MHz G3 then up to 1GHz G4... I think the Clone era had some of the best machines in Mac history. It was the first "high-end" computer that I splurged on after getting my first few paychecks at my first real job. It served me as my primary computer until I got my first PowerBook in 2000. After that, it also spent some time faithfully and reliably serving my sister. The machine never gave her any problems that I didn't cause myself. The one regret I have is that I really wanted to keep a Powermac around to play all those Mac OS 8/9 era games once I retire. There are several titles that I never got around to finishing. SheepShaver and other emulation technologies seem to have mostly obviated the need to keep the hardware around, but it's still different to be able to fire up old hardware... to hear its cheerful "bong". If at all possible, I want to get it into the hands of someone with the desire and the will to resurrect it and make some use of it... but it's looking pretty unlikely.... most of the parts will be auctioned off (stay tuned for my e-bay auctions)... and the empty corpse of Behemoth will go to the recycler. On a related note, my little sister's Quadra 605 didn't survive 3 years in storage. That little guy served her and me since 1993 or so. May they rest in peace. Current Mood: melancholy Current Music: none (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
11:08 pm	Much agoo about something It's a dad's duty to extoll his daughter's absolute cuteness, regardless how true it is from an external observer. This just makes daddy melt. Current Mood: pleased (Comment on this)
Monday, November 16th, 2009
2:16 pm	Shana nanana, Shana nana na, Doo Wop! I just accepted a position at a network equipment manufacturer in Sunnyvale! Woo Hoo! I'll be employed again! This lifts a significant psychological burden on me, and let me actually take a short vacation that feels like a vacation at last! Thanks to all who supported me in my job hunt. Now I can buy diapers for Leina, among other things. There's a list of purchases I've been holding back on, like a new video card so I can play Demigods. (It's amazing that my Radeon X850 makes that game a slide show, even though it handles stuff like Left4Dead just fine) Woo hoo hoo!!!! Income!!! Current Mood: relieved (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
1:37 am	Cat's not in the cradle... ...since we have neither a cat nor a cradle... or a silver spoon, for that matter. But how time flies when one has to look after a tiny screaming blob of a human. Fortunately, she is 200% adorable. In 6 weeks, I think she's hit 5kg at least (we'll get an actual accurate weighing at he 8 week physical). The initial jaundice and body weight scare has come and gone. We've resigned ourselves to supplementing with formula, which significantly eased the stress on Midori. We have settled into more or less a routine with me taking the night shift and Midori taking the morning shift. Leina's getting close to 4-hour blocks of sleep (not quite there yet). Her favorite "word" right now is "AGOO", which she seems to repeat at every opportunity. My fate in terms of job hunt will be decided fairly soon, I hope. The last month of severance has already passed, so now I'm running on reserves. I've had a couple of more on-site interviews. I'm waiting to get definite word on both. With any luck, I'll get to CHOOSE where I'll go. Fancy that. Most days these days are spent just looking after the baby and surfing the job sites. And yet, time passes too quickly. I keep wanting to add details on what I've been doing, but really, it seems that's all I've been doing. Family and friends have visited in the mean time. It helps break the monotony and gives us a lot of parenting info. Oh, I know what's new... I went to the dentist. Looks like I need to get some of my fillings replaced, but I'll wait until I can actually pay for them. Midori also needs to fix a few cavities. Oh bother. For the relatives, contact me if you want any pictures. For others, I know other people's kids aren't nearly as cute as your own, but just contact me if you want to see any pictures. Like any parent, I have no shortage of them. :) Current Mood: anxious Current Music: Thump of breast pump (Comment on this)
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
9:47 pm	Comic II Borg Baby, being recharged. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
9:43 pm	Comic I ...um, OK. So now what do I do? Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
7:41 pm	Joining the party, already in progress. Joining us today at 9:55 AM Pacific Daylight Time is Leina Ikeda-Tsang (No, we probably won't do the hyphenated thing. I just wanted to make sure people don't go "huh?" to the Ikeda name only.) I'd like to note down how it all went down for posterity (which I guess means Leina), but I'm losing consciousness in front of the keyboard. This entry will be edited later. Amazing thing about this child: -She nailed her due date spot-on, just like we've asked her to. -Actually admitted at close to 2AM, delivered around 10AM. Doctors said it was fast for a first baby. -3255 grams, which is over 6% of Midori's normal weight. Big for a Japanese baby. -Positively adorable. (Midori and I 100% certify that statement. Of course we're not biased.) 9/25 Afternoon - Midori is complaining of tummy discomfort. Maybe it's what she had for breakfast. Evening - Still complaining of unexplained discomfort. The three of us (including Mother-in-law) take a walk to a nearby shopping center to pick up some milk and pasta. 11:27 PM - I'm messing with a old Celeron laptop wondering to what uses I can put it, when from the bedroom, I hear screams of "破水だ！破水だ！". Midori runs into the bathroom, and indeed, there is amniotic fluid. (Tip for expecting parents: a $8 waterproof sheet can save a $500 mattress.) 11:30 PM - I note the time, amount, color, and odor and call the hospital. The advice nurse says wait one hour and report back on additional amount of fluid. 9/26 12:00 AM - Midori is still feeling that discomfort, a bit stronger. Oh, they're intermittent? Uh... perhaps we should time those. 12:05:53~12:06:38, 12:07:58~12:08:53, 12:09:53~12:10:50, 12:13.. eh, I think it's time to call the hospital again. 12:15 AM - I explain the additional amount of fluid and what appears to be contractions coming 2 minutes apart, directions are to come to the hospital now. 12:30 AM - Rapidly get dressed and get in the car. ~1:00 AM - Check into hospital. There are several last-minute paperwork at the admission counter. Couldn't we have taken care of this when they gave us the rest of the paperwork?!? Midori is still smiling. Get sent to the observation room. Midori is examined, temperature taken, blood presure taken, and baby monitor (FHR) and contraction monitor attached. She's really feeling the pressure now. ~2:00 AM - Hospital staff says they're admitting her, and we move to the labor/delivery room. Midori is asked about the pain. It is reaching 3 out of 10 by now. One of the nurses tries to draw 3 blood samples for some testing. The third vial didn't get very full, so she looked at it funny but decides to take it because it was so darn hard finding a vein in Midori. ~3:00 AM - We darken the room and settle in to let the labor progress. It's appearing pretty painful and we sort of try the breathing like we learned. Some time in there, the nurse asks about the pain level and Midori asks for some relief. She gets some IV pain medication which puts her half asleep and it helps a little. I also get a little shut-eye, intermittently awakened by her rough breathing as the contractions hit. I also give up on trying to find a pattern in the contractions because it's been swinging back and forth between 3 and 6 minute intervals apparently randomly. Some time in there, another nurse comes in to inform us that she needs to re-take one of the blood samples because it didn't work out in the lab. Pricks her 3 times but fails to get a sample. She's trying to draw from the lower wrist and hand... hmm. ~5:00 AM - The pain medication has worn off and the pain is apparently getting pretty intense. We try to breath through it... not sure it's helping much. Some time in there, we ask the nurse if we're getting any closer -- still 3.5 cm. ~6:00 AM - shift change. The new nurse asks about the pain and Midori is basically asking for ANYTHING to make it bearable. Nurse offers epidural or more pain medication. I ask isn't it too early for epidural, and is promptly informed that they should take that part out of the prenatal classes because really you should get it any time you feel you can't bear the pain for an additional hour. Oh, ok. Let's do that. Another nurse came in at some point to take the untaken sample. Draws it from around the elbow joint and gets the sample with little difficulty. Why didn't the other nurse just do that and save Midori 3 holes. ~7:00 AM - Anesthesiologist is called. Shows up around 7:30 (I'm getting fuzzy on the exact times of this sequence), but is immediately called away on an emergency, and we wait another 10 minutes for the replacement anesthesiologist. I liked it because he LOOKED more like a seasoned veteran than the other doctor ("feelings" matter at this point, I'm sure the other one was just as competent.) ~8:00 AM - Midori is getting an epidural. I an supporting her as she leans over from the bed. I have to translate for Midori, and this lets me watch everything the anesthesiologist is doing... boy that's a long needle. That's funny, there's something strange about my senses. Am I really here? Hmm... it's getting hard to get my legs to keep standing. Keep standing, legs. Umm.. keep standing, legs. Ok, this is getting way too difficult. I tell the nurse that I need to sit down, and I sit down. The nurse took over supporting Midori. Thankfully, the chair was nearby. The doctors tell me to sit and keep my head down. They ask if I want juice, and I say yes. Keeping the head down and getting some fluid (and sugar?) brings me back to my senses pretty quickly. I guess that's what fainting feels like. The doctors and nurses tell me that expecting dads do it all the time, and good thing I had sense enough to sit down before going down and needing the emergency room myself. Phew. Midori's mom also apparently had to step away as the needle made her ill. It didn't look too menacing, but I guess there's something about watching sharp things inserted that gets to our primal senses. ~8:30 AM - Nurse declares Midori is ready to deliver and we can start as soon as the staff is ready. The epidural is mostly working now, and Midori says no pain, but the urge to push is tremendous. ~9:00 AM - They staff got ready, and maybe Midori got her first push or two in before the first doctor gets called away to an emergency C-section. (There were a few other talks of this by the staff throughout the night. Apparently, there was a baby rush of 5 babies before 6 AM, and a couple more in the morning, apparently some of them via emergency C-section) The med student is left sitting in the baby catching position looking kind of awkward. Replacement doctor shows up pretty quickly and Midori starts pushing in ernest. The epidural is in full swing by now, but Midori's tired. 9:55 AM - Pop comes Leina, after ... I lost count... maybe 20 pushes. What a relief. She gives a healthy sounding cry almost immediately. I have the video, but unfortunately, I didn't get to take any stills. Ah well, can't have everything. Current Mood: tired (5 Comments |Comment on this)
7:29 pm	Got on board the eastbound 747... Well, an interview has come and gone. I'm glad I finally landed an interview because it was getting quite discouraging to not get through to even that step. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out, but them's the breaks. It's nice to be able to visit mom and sis on an as-needed basis, but it looks like the only open prospects I have right now are in southern California. I wouldn't rule these opportunities out, but it is such a shame to not be able to take this job change as a chance to be closer to family. I thought a lot before deciding what to do about relocating back. I still don't think it was a mistake, though. Fremont is reasonably nice. Because of the weight of my future is still heavy on my shoulders, I haven't been updating the blog very much. Suffice it to say, we've settled in reasonably well now. Not a whole lot of noteworthy events other than a Baby Shower and a few family gatherings. But the biggest deal of all, is in the next posting. Current Mood: anxious (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
12:26 pm	Been through the Bay on a car with no name Spent yesterday basically circling east bay (up 880, down 680) to hit various spots and go to a relative's birthday. I ate too much at the party. The cake was good. Here is the latest picture for grandma and aunties to see: Our car has no name, but the baby does. We've settled on 玲菜 transliterated "Leina". For those that care, that's "clear sound as of a ringing bell" and "vegetable leaf, or a cuisine/dish". We wanted her to eat her vegetables. She's expected to pop out in less than a month... eek. Current Mood: anxious Current Music: None (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
5:26 pm	It never rains in California... Midori has been impressed with the utter lack of precipitation here. (Japan would be just finishing up most of its rainy season about now). Just a quick update... ... we found a place to live, and I now own a car again. Yay. (well, Boo! to all the expenses associated with that). We are 16 days into our 30 days free housing and car. So, this is good. We landed on 6/28, spent a couple of days at Mom/Sis's places, and enjoyed a couple of days in Pine Crest... for the first time in 4 years. (Double Yay!). Before moving down to San Jose for the temporary housing. So, most of the big, tedious stuff is out of the way... so now I can concentrate on the Job Hunt. Hopefully, things will settle down some more once we're moved in and I'm employed... wait, who am I kidding. The little bean is about to burst out in less than two months. I guess I won't have any peace for a couple of decades. Ah well, c'est la vie. Current Mood: busy Current Music: rattle of computer fan (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
11:24 am	Do you know the way to San Jose? ...I've been away so long, I may lose my way... Actually, it was pretty easy... just take 680 South.. In any case, I'm in San Jose now... busily job and house hunting. It's exhausting. I probably haven't updated anything since before the Hiroshima trip, but I think everything will have to wait until things settle down. Anyone looking for a hardware engineer give me a holler! Current Mood: anxious Current Music: roar of the fridge (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
9:40 pm	I love your lovely little... Well, I've got a few minutes, and Midori went in for her check-up today... so for the aunts, uncle, and grandma... Current Mood: excited Current Music: none (5 Comments |Comment on this)
7:09 pm	飛べ！渡米！ Well, this is it... in less than 48 hours, I'll be on my way back to the 'states. It was fun while it lasted. The movers will come tomorrow morning, and the internet will be disconnected tomorrow evening. I have a pile of pictures to upload from the Nobeoka trip and the Hiroshima trip. Stay tuned. Current Mood: melancholy Current Music: jet flying overhead (Comment on this)
Friday, June 5th, 2009
7:05 pm	Bannana fanna fo fanna Well, the time has come to make a decision, since sticking with "big bean" is probably not going to cut it as the child goes through school. Big bean, coincidentally, would be a direct translation of the Japanese for "soybean", but anyways... Here are the candidates. I'm not using any official romanization system, be beware that vowels in romanized Japanese are always of the shortest kind unless annotated otherwise. e.g. "a" as in "Inca", not as in "cat". Also, the Japanese don't distinguish between L and R. All instances of words containing that sound have tongue position some place in between. Romanized Name Japanese Kanji Candidates Rena れな 麗奈、麗那、玲奈 Reina れいな 玲奈 Karen かれん Were thinking just hiragana for this one. Karin かりん Ditto here Anna あんな Haven't thought about it yet. Suggestions welcome. Given the above, guessing the sex of the child is left as an exercise for the reader. Latest picture to be here soon. stay tuned. Current Mood: pensive Current Music: hum of the fridge (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
11:59 am	Flu? What flu? I'm back from my final home leave. Midori got her Visa stamped - which is as good as a green card for the moment. We landed in SF on Saturday, and spent the afternoon at my sister's. That's when Sis pointed out that the rental car was leaking oil. That pretty much killed any plan of going anywhere during the weekend. Calling Hertz, the only locations that are open are airport locations. I deferred the car change to Monday morning, but Local Edition doesn't stock any cars with a nav system. So on Monday, I had to go to Oakland airport anyways to get a car I can use. http://gallery.me.com/chaset#100134 Anyways, the weekend was pretty relaxed, and was spent mostly adjusting to jet lag and hanging around near my sister's place. Monday was spent driving down to LA, stopping at Santa Cruz beach on the way. It was too windy and cold to do anything there, but I just wanted to see it since it's been so long. We met up with Antony in the evening, and dashed out to grab a bite. Midori wanted to try Chipotle Grill, which she saw on the last trip. We also grabbed an In-n-Out burger. The next morning, we were off to San Diego. We checked out the sights at La Jolla and took a look at Old Town San Diego. We spent the afternoon in downtown, at the mall. (whatever it was called) We stayed at a motel out in Escondido. It was actually a pretty good place for the price ($49). Wednesday was spent driving, and we spent the most of the rest of the time relaxing at mom's. On Thursday night, we visited Geoff. The kids were asleep, so we were able to spend a good time chatting and having a dinner... consisting of strawberry shortcake. We flew out on Saturday, and this car had a maintenance req'd light on. Can't Hertz keep their cars in order? There was a little bit of excitement after we landed at KIX. We couldn't leave the plane until everyone has filled out some forms and had their temperature taken. Team of people in bunny suits took about 20 minutes to do this. The flu thing was all over the news in Japan. Midori's parents picked us up at KIX, and we headed out to Costco in Amagasaki. We picked up roast chicken, bagels, pizza, etc. and had a rather large dinner. We walked out to Himeji station on Monday... it's changed a lot since the last time we were there. They redid the building with lots of shops. Tuesday was spent mostly relaxing, with a trip out to an Okonomiyaki place to try "Doro-yaki". It's a variant in which the batter remains half cooked on the inside. It wasn't bad, but not as good as the regular kind. Wednesday, Midori's folks again drove us out to the airport. On the way, we stopped at an Indian restaurant we heard about on TV. "クスムインド家庭料理", (Kusum Authentic Indian Cuisine) which is run right in the apartment of an Indian family. It was very good, and all-you-can-eat. After checking out the mall in Nishinomiya (to use the Coldstone coupon Midori had from a previous incident), her folks dropped us off at ITM, and our vacation was done. == Unfortunately, there were no opportunities for interviews during the trip. There must be something wrong with my resume... Once I'm back in the 'States, my former employer will provide me with placement consulting services where I can have professionals look at my resume. So far, I'm batting 0 out of 10 or so. One company gets points for requesting additional information via mail. That didn't pan out, though. One company was silly enough to state in their response that they "found a more qualified candidate." My reaction to that is, "how do you know? You didn't even talk to me!" but I can't quite say that to their face. Somebody should probably go and fix their form response, though, because it is a silly thing to send to someone they haven't actually evaluated. I think that my peeve is that almost every employer assumes that I'm some sort of idiot who can't learn a new skill beyond what I've listed on my resume. I understand that they have to have some way to filter the input, but that's a very silly assumption if you're looking for best talent. I don't know what the solution to that is... but the aforementioned company with additional mail questions is on the right track, I think. == We are considering that, given the uncertainty, Midori might stay with her folks until things settle down. The unfortunate side effect of that is... Pine Crest!!! It would be a shame for her to miss it. Current Mood: anxious Current Music: Wife humming (Comment on this)
Monday, May 11th, 2009
3:30 am	Chase and the beanstalk At least one person asked how the little 'bean' is doing, and I'm sure mom would like to know, so here's the picture. (one of many, many to come, I'm sure). This is actually from the last examination. This time, the doctor didn't take a picture because it would be too big to fit in the frame. This is all too fast... I'm looking for a video camera now... it looks like they're not tape any more. Which, I suppose, is a good thing. However, they also don't have 1394... so here's another case of mediocre technology supplanting a technically superior one. USB2.0 has been significantly slower than Firewire in all of my experience--sometimes frustratingly so... and have you seen what a hack-on kludge USB3 is going to be? The way they are doing it makes it obvious the standard was never designed to do what it's being shoehorned into doing. If only consumers were clueful and picked the right tool for the job... ok, that's enough of a tech rant. In any case, if there is a hard disk based camera with a 1394 port and analog inputs anywhere in this universe, I'd like to hear about it. Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: mostly silence (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 24th, 2009
4:47 pm	Spring came, spring came, to where did it arrive? Spring is definitely here, and the cherry blossoms are almost all gone. I am madly rushing to prepare for my US trip, but I had to clear out my camera for that, so here are some pictures. http://gallery.me.com/chaset#100106 http://gallery.me.com/chaset#100122 After Igor's hina-matsuri party, there was DnC's party while Midori's friend was visiting. We took her to Mt. Aso and Fujisaki-shrine in the city. We had the chance to visit a nice park in Kikuchi city for cherry blossom viewing. Very nice, and they happened to have a dog competition (mainly catching frisbees) going on, so there was a bit of entertainment. Once we got into April, work eased up. My project got postponed, and I suddenly had a lot of free time at work. A couple of weekends ago, Miki, DnC, Dave and we went out to Oguni and Tsuetate town for a nice lunch and a view of their famous carp streamers. Last weekend was a potluck party at Hinohara-park in Ohzu town. That was fun. The weather was fabulous. To folks in the 'states, see you soon. Current Mood: rushed Current Music: Hum of the fridge (Comment on this)