Early!

Woke up relatively early today, and went to school relatively early.  As usual I was busy, considering that I wanted to finish a lot of stuff before TPU closes on Thursday, the 12th of August.

I went home for lunch and stove-grilled/fried the frankfurters and made a couple of perfect-looking sunny-side-up eggs.  I really wanted to eat frankfurters because I regretted not having to eat some during the Hanabi festival last Saturday.  I have forgotten what frankfurters taste exactly but these to me tasted like Japanese-style frankfurters.  Nonetheless, they are just what I needed.  Or rather, wanted. :-D

And last night I heard that Mara enjoyed Rodic's tapsilog, and wow, I want some too!  I had to have some silog of my own.

Anyways, the secret to my perfect-looking sunny-side-up eggs was an egg shaper.  But, actually I wasn't able to find one for use when frying eggs.  Instead I got me a microwave egg shaper.  Pretty convenient.  Two minutes in the microwave and voila, I have me two perfect sunny-side-ups.  Wasn't uniformly cooked though.  The outer part resembled more like soft-boiled egg while the inside was cooked egg just right.  Anyways, the one thing I like about this is - no cooking oil! :-)

And then a busy afternoon yet again.  Tuesday is usually basketball day but I thought, no more basketball - I have to be well rested for our Mt Fuji trip on Thursday.  But, the boys wanted to play.  So, I thought, what the heck.  I <3 basketball.

When we got to the gym, Kim-san, the Korean basketball superstar, wasn't there yet.  And when he arrived he said that he can't play anymore because his girlfriend was at his apartment and he had to attend to her.  So, Okada-san joined us instead.  A little bit thankfully though that because there was no Kim-san, there was no "betting," and so it was a relatively light and easy casual game of basketball.  It was China vs the World (i.e. Japan and the Philippines).  And then suddenly, the women's basketball club using the gym approached us and said "We are closing the gym now."  Yikes!  So off we went to the 4th floor to do some running instead.  The whole time running, we were all thinking of how we can go down by rope from the 4th floor to the gym floor (2nd floor) just to be able to play basketball.  I probably ran already about 500+ meters when one of the guys checked the gym door if it was "accidentally" left open by the women's basketball club members.  It was.  So back to basketball it was.  Yahoo!  It was a really fun, relaxing game of basketball.  For some reason, I just did so much running though even during the basketball game supposedly to "confuse" the opponents.  But, that was too much running for a day.  But actually it was good endurance training for our Mt Fuji climb.

For dinner I ate the BBQ ribs again.  I also prepared a Ceasar salad again, with lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon bits as usual.  The ribs tasted a little better than yesterday.  I think some were just better marinated than others.  Or maybe better cooked than others.  Maybe the basting had something to do with the taste.  I don't know if I just over- or under-basted some which didn't taste as good as the others.  Anyways, it was my first time to "baste."  It was probably also my first time to marinate and "grill" BBQ ribs.  Nonetheless, I loved it.  Like yesterday, I went back to do some more work at the office right after dinner.

Busy + Bball

Busy day today, though I got to the office a little late.  I woke up late and so I had lunch first at home before going to the office.  For lunch and dinner, I ate my 2nd and last batch of steak and eggs (or "steakalog" - steak, kanin, and itlog - as Mara would call it), and finally gave a chance to my nilagang baboy.  Not bad.  After four days of waiting, my nilagang baboy was happy that it finally realized its purpose: to meet my stomach.  :-D  We also played basketball today, where we won only 1 of 3 games.  It was so hot (and the gym is enclosed), the air-con can't function that well, it was more difficult than usual to play.  Anyways, I was gaining some momentum in the work I'm doing and so I stayed in school until 1am or 2am already.

And it goes on and on and on

This has been happening since Sunday; I can't sleep not until past 4am already.  But last night was worse; I slept not at all, not until 9:30am this morning.  And so I woke up already at around 2pm.  And yep, I missed my class.  Maybe subconsciously I really did not want to attend that class; it is a very difficult class.  Anyways, I didn't really intend on missing class though.

I did have breakfast at around 7am when I already gave up trying to sleep already.  But because I slept past lunch, I first bought lunch at the convenience store and ate them at my desk.  I bought a rice bento meal with burger, chicken, sausage, potatoes, and egg, and a red sauce spaghetti with sausage and eggs.  People were surprised that I got me two orders.  I always get that.  I ate lunch already around 3pm.

5pm came and it was basketball time.  I played it a little easy the whole time.  The first game was a 3-on-3 and I forgot who won.  I think no one did because one of our players got injured.  On the 2nd game it was just 2-on-2 but my teammate, with the intention to stop our opponent from scoring, unintentionally hit him on the face and sent his glasses flying down.  Our opponent didn't like it and so he ended the match.  We were one point away from victory though, and well, so because our opponent ended the match, we did not get the opportunity to win.  Oh well.

And then as usual after basketball and a shower, I went home, hung up my wet clothes and towel, and drank a lot of water and sports drink (Aquarius, Coke's Japan version of Gatorade).  Because I ate lunch very late plus the lots of fluid intake, I felt full and decided not to eat dinner just yet.  Instead I brought my dinner to school, so that in case I feel hungry I could eat.

Today was warmer than yesterday, and it was so hot and humid inside the gym and even in the locker room.  My sports clothes were drenched, and even after showering, I still sweat a bit.

I'm being invited tomorrow to watch some fireworks in an annual festival held at the Sumida River in Tokyo.  Next week, the annual festival held at the Sagami River which bisects Atsugi will also feature fireworks.  There will be lots of street food, people dancing and singing, and lots of people!  There are many big and small festivals all around Japan, all featuring fireworks usually during the summer.  Can't wait to see one!

Tired

Woke up a little late, had pork steak lunch and a little cleaning first before going to school.  5pm came and it was basketball time.  It was 3-on-3 this time, which was better for me.  Not yet 100%, but I managed to stay a little competitive.  No betting though.  We played a total of 3 games, I think.  And I think we won only one game?  Or none, I forgot.  So as usual, right after basketball and a shower, I went straight home for my first adobong manok dinner.  It was perfect.  Ate it with steamed pechay.  After that very nice dinner and a little cleaning up again, I felt so tired, I decided not to go back to the office anymore.  I hope to sleep earlier today and be early to school tomorrow. :-)

Usual Friday?

...Nope.  Not until around 5:30pm.  I went straight to class, had lunch, back to work, then off to the gym to play basketball.  The score was 1-0 when... bam!  I injured my ankle again; this time the right one.  This time a little bit worse than the last.  I am getting too old.  Subconsciously I seem to think there are things I can still do that I used to be able to 5 years ago.  While the mind can think of the many different things I can do with a basketball in my hands, the body cannot follow as religiously as before to the mind's wishes.  Mind over matter almost doesn't matter anymore, not in this case.  Not when the body is truly incapable of what the mind can perceive.  This is similar to trying to finish a 42 km marathon in 10 minutes.  No matter how much the mind wills it, the human body even of the most athletic human on earth cannot ever do it in 10 minutes, or at best, not without any undesirable consequences to the body or the mind.

Unlike the last time I got "injured," which healed after a 5 minute break, this one did not.  I was so sad about not being able to "exercise."  I can't move.  I can still shoot, but I can't run after balls.  The pain is really more than the last time.  So after seeing that the resting wasn't helping "heal" the pain unlike before, I went straight home.  It was difficult, of course.  I had dinner.  Then right after dinner, lights on and table not yet cleared, I fell asleep.  I think I needed the sleep though.  When I woke up in the middle of the night, maybe around 10 or 11pm, my ankle felt better.  Although maybe, chatting on Skype also made it feel even much better. ;-)

Busy?

Yeah.  Usual thing.  Woke up, went to school, did some work, back home for lunch (finished the last ni-pizu of my chicken from Sunday), back to work, basketball, dinner (ginisang giniling with pechay - yummy!), then back here again for a little more work.  Nothing new today, except that a new visiting researcher/professor started here in TPU today.  No betting in basketball today, because our opponent's teammate went to the beach last weekend and did not put any sunblock on.  It was a fun, easy basketball game.  Just right for me.

I did post something new on another blog of mine.  Check it out at this link: http://coachpotato-consumerwatch.blogspot.com/2010/07/philippines-bureau-of-customs.html

3 months

Today marks my 3rd month since leaving home and, of course, it hasn't been easy.  But it's not very, very bad; "I'll live."  Some problems are here and there, unavoidable, and just needs managing.  Aside from today's "monthsary," nothing is special.  Went straight to class, got home, ate my yesterday-bought convenience store ulam (burger, chicken, sausage, potato balls) with ready-to-heat-and-eat frozen veggies and the last batch of my own cooked rice.  Did a little work.  Played basketball.  Forgot my knee braces, but I was still fine the whole time.  Got a little bit of my form back.  But, one typical "injury" in basketball: landing on someone else's foot!  This causes a kind of ankle sprain.  But I'm a (self-proclaimed) "veteran" of ankle sprains now and I knew what to do - hold them high and apply pressure (tighten your shoes) to keep it from swelling; i.e. let the blood flow out of there!  After a 5 minute rest I was almost back to normal and shooting just as well as before the mini-incident.  No one won the "betting" again.  That's probably 3 weeks now since anyone has won.  Anyways, as usual I showered after basketball - like everyone does.  Well not straight from after basketball, I rested a bit and let my sweating come to a halt first before I went into the shower.  It feels good to shower after sports!  Yeah, I know about the Pinoy myth that you shouldn't shower right after sports, but why is swimming an exception?  Anyways, I looked it up and it's safe, mga kababayan.  The important thing is you take a warm shower.  Not a hot one because you could get burned (duh!  but actually because your body temperature is warmer than usual, you might think the water is 3 degrees cooler).  And definitely not a cold shower, because that could cause muscle cramps, which is fatal.  After shower, as usual I went home to park my basketball stuff but since I didn't have any food to eat, I went to the convenience store to buy my ban-gohan (dinner; night food/rice).  But I actually didn't eat any rice.  I instead got a salad (I really liked this one), two kinds of pasta (baked ziti with shrimps, and the usual red sauce spaghetti), and apple iced tea.  Very nice dinner.  I think the last time I had pasta like these was still back in Manila.  On my trips to the "Italian restaurant" tabehodai place, there wasn't any pasta on the buffet menu.  You have to order it separately.  Of course as I mentioned, last time I went there, I ordered pizza (with a very good crust).  And then I find myself back here, typing away on the computer.  Tomorrow is another day.

By the way, we don't have any seminars tomorrow, and Monday is a holiday which means it's a long weekend!  I don't know yet what I'll do though; I haven't made plans yet.  I'll ask around and see.  Have I mentioned?  The school will be closed from August 12 to 17 - as in no entry, and no electricity (so no access to our computers here as well).  Some of the PhD students here are thinking about going up Mt. Fuji.  Yikes, I haven't climbed a mountain before!  Walking for 6 or 10 hours (with stops), I can do better than running 1 hour and 30 minutes for a 10 kilometer marathon!  Of course the problem is the thin air in high altitude.  Plus, as with any long duration physical activity, hydration is important.  So I'm bringing with me some cans of O2 (oxygen) and powdered "Pocari Sweat," and some water of course.  Basically the trip starts from the 5th station, which is 2,300 meters up.  The summit is at 3,700 meters.  There is a total of 4 more stations before the summit, but as you can expect, prices rise exponentially for goods sold at each station.  And, there's a price to pay to enter each station.  But anyways, the hike up is generally easy, and climbing season is only mid-July to mid-August, I think.  But it gets as cold as around 2 or 3 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Farenheit) there in the wee hours of the morning.  The start of the climb should be timed well in order to get to the summit just exactly before sunrise, which thankfully is around 4:30am here in Japan.  If you arrive early, you'll have to endure the cold for hours! If you arrive too late, of course you miss the sunrise.  Anyways, the climb might be 6 to 10 hours, depending on the pace of the people you're with. :-D  I have maybe three weeks to think about this really hard, and to do some preparations (i.e. cardiovascular exercises).  I'll keep you guys posted.

Two lectures

Starting at 1:30pm, there was going to be two lectures given by one professor from Australia, and one from Germany.  Supposedly we should be at the venue by 1pm, because we have to arrange the tables and chairs.  I woke up, still a little groggy, at 11:30am.  I didn't get to eat lunch until after the lecture, which was at around 4pm already.  And then basketball at 5pm.  And then dinner at around 8pm because I took a little rest first, and cooked my meal.

No one won the "betting" again.  Lunch was adobo with steamed pechay.  Dinner was grilled salmon and steamed carrots.  The steamed carrots didn't come out like steamed this time; I think it was microwave cooked (or dried) and not just steamed.  I should only steam them together with pechay, which somehow traps the moisture and doesn't get microwave-cooked/dried like the carrots.  Actually, next time, if I'm thinking of steaming, I should just buy these ready-peeled baby carrots already.  One less thing to worry about.  Also for some reason, I can't estimate the proper amount of salt to put.  My salmon turned out a little too salty for me.

Busy

Isn't that the same as yesterday's post title.  Anyways, I woke up surprisingly very early today, just in time to take out the garbage before the 8:30am "deadline."  Supposedly you're not allowed to take out the trash after 8:30am, and you're only allowed to take out the designated type of trash for the day.  In our area, Iiyama, it's plastics and paper on Mondays, PET bottles and cans on Thursdays, and "nabubuloks" on Tuesdays and Fridays.  And supposedly, you're not allowed to take out the trash the night before.  As you can see, there is a very slim window to do it, particularly if you sleep relatively late and therefore you wake up relatively late.  But I heard and I see from the other gaijin (foreigners) here, Korean and Indian specifically, "it's not necessary to follow the schedule."  I still do follow the schedule but as you can bet, it's difficult.  Sometimes I would have food wastes that need to wait over the weekend and a total of 4 nights before I get to throw them.  I can't imagine what it would be like when it's winter, it's snowing, and it's freezing cold and you have to throw the garbage so early in the morning, the coolest part of the day!

Anyways, today was work, work, work.  And then play.  Basketball, that is.  Tiring as usual, but not as heavy on my knees as before.  I think I'm getting used to my own weight.  The last time I played basketball regularly and this heavily, I was probably 20 lbs (9 kilos) lighter.  Anyways, as usual there was "betting," but like the past few game days, there was no winner.  Our "rules" are that you can win the betting if you win the first two games.  As you can guess, we usually split those two games.

Anyways, I found some info on an apartment similar to the one I used to stay in: レオパレスグリーンヒルズＡＹＡ｜賃貸はレオパレス21.  Pretty interesting.

Lunch was picadillo.  Dinner was nilagang manok and steamed pechay again.  I love Filipino food the most. :-)

How to fold a shirt in 2 seconds

Hai, dozo!  Click the link.  Here's another link.

I tried doing this and sure, it's easy but it doesn't work for me because I fold my clothes 2 times (they are tri-fold), as opposed to the once-folded/two-fold.  My tri-fold clothes take up less horizontal space so I can group them into more groups.

Anyways, today is the usual Friday.  Ho hum.  Food was the same as yesterday.  Class as usual.  And I did play basketball, but only for fun.  I got my shooting back but, as people here would say, it is "no meaning," because there weren't anything at stake.  The good thing was, it was good exercise and not too exhausting.  My knee feels great now.

I felt sleepy in the afternoon - I think it's because of the heat.  But actually it's not so hot, not like in Manila.  It was as high as 29 degrees today, but the last couple of days as well as the next 5 days sees 23 degrees in the evening - no need for air-conditioning, unlike two or three couple of nights ago when I had to turn on the air-conditioning.

Long, long distance

Buzy day today.  Even got to the "office" early.  Anyways, I had Adobong Pork Chop with salad greens and tomatoes for lunch, and...  Salmon, Carrots, and Tomatoes (all grilled) for dinner! :-)  I also played basketball today, losing 2 out of 3 games.  For some reason it was difficult to make a shot today.  Too tired?

Anyways, so I'm in Japan, and Mara, my love, is in the Philippines.  How do we keep in touch????

Thank God for the Internet and 3G phones, there are so many ways to.

First up, there is Skype.  So whenever we're both free (usually most of the week), we make it a point to video chat, usually in the evenings but also sometimes on weekend or holiday daytime.  So that's FREE voice calls, FREE video calls, and FREE messaging (chatting) usually in the evenings.

Before leaving the Philippines, I applied for bill rebates from my Philippines-based cellphone company, Globe.  So I'm paying just around 60% of the usual monthly rate (or around 85% of my usual monthly bill).  That's a little leverage for emergency calls and texts I need to make.

I have roaming on my Globe phone with FREE incoming texts anytime, any day.  Mara texts me there when she's at locations without internet access.  It costs her just the same as when she texts me while I'm in the Philippines.

Then there is Chikka.  FREE outgoing texts to the Philippines, anytime, any day.  Though I think there's a daily limit of 20 or 25 outgoing texts per day.  And, the person you're texting has to reply to your Chikka text at least once.  (It would cost Mara P2.50 for texts to my Chikka account.)  Now, I can only access Chikka where there is internet access - so it's usually at the school, and usually only on weekdays and some weekend/holiday evenings.  Another catch is, sometimes the Chikka service acts up, and so I am not able to send FREE texts.  For emergency purposes, for example if my roaming Globe phone loses connection, Mara can text to my Chikka at a cost though.  Chikka also works as an internet messaging (IM, like YM) service, so Mara can send me FREE messages via Chikka.

Then there is Globe's Muzta service.

Basically if you're on roaming, you pay very expensive charges for outgoing texts (25 pesos per text?), outgoing calls (60 pesos per minute?), and incoming calls (60 pesos per minute?).  So Mara doesn't call me there, except again for emergency purposes.

If Mara instead needs to call me, she calls me on my Muzta instead.  Muzta is a "softphone" - you get a virtual mobile number as if you have a cellphone and as if you're in the Philippines.  The rates to and from Muzta cellphones are the same as those for Globe prepaid phones.  Muzta works like Skype for phone calls.  So it's basically computer software that uses the internet.  Now the problem again is, no internet, no Muzta.  No computer, no Muzta.  The good thing about this though is, it's FREE incoming calls (for me; regular rates for Mara) for as long as my computer is on, my Muzta software is running, and I have an internet connection.  I've had some problems with connecting to Muzta's servers, or making calls sometimes.  Also, if my Muzta is offline, I don't think I can receive texts from Mara even when I go back online already.

Of course, there's e-mail, there's Facebook, and so on.  They're not real-time though, but good enough.  We used to use Yahoo! Messenger, but Skype is just way better for video and voice calls over the internet.

By the way, there's also Jumblo which gives me practically the same rates (very slightly cheaper only) as Muzta for outgoing phone calls (more expensive for outgoing texts though).  The good thing about Jumblo is when you load up, you get FREE calls to certain countries.  Like, with Jumblo I get free calls to any phone in the US, Japan landlines (anywhere in Japan!), and a lot of other countries.  The bad thing though is, you don't have a true phone number, so no incoming calls for you.  You would need to pay extra to get your own phone number.

And, I also have a Japan-based phone, from Softbank.  So it's incoming calls actually from anywhere in the world, anytime, any day.  But it will cost Mara maybe 20 pesos per minute.

So in summary, here's how they compare, somewhat.

1. Mara and me both in the Philippines

incoming texts - Globe - FREE

outgoing texts - Globe - 1 peso per text

incoming calls - Globe - FREE

outgoing calls - Globe - 6.50 pesos per minute

2. Me in Japan, using roaming

incoming texts - Globe - FREE

outgoing texts - Globe - 25 pesos per text

incoming calls - Globe - 60 pesos per minute

outgoing calls - Globe - 60 pesos per minute

3. Me in Japan, using all cheap methods

incoming texts - Globe or Muzta - FREE

outgoing texts - Chikka - FREE

incoming calls - Muzta or Skype - FREE (6.50 pesos per minute for Mara to Muzta)

outgoing calls - Skype - FREE

4. Me in Japan, 2nd choice options

incoming texts - Chikka - FREE (2.50 peso per text for Mara)

outgoing texts - Muzta - 1 peso per text

incoming calls - Softbank - FREE (20 pesos per minute for Mara)

outgoing calls - Muzta or Jumblo - 6.50 pesos per minute

Unless otherwise indicated, the costs for Mara would be the same as in #1.  The #3 set certainly beats the roaming (#2)!  Even #4 is better than #2!

No class!

Class was cancelled today!  Our professor has a speaking engagement in Tokyo and he had to catch the 11:25am bus from TPU to Hon-Atsugi.  And our class was supposed to start at 11:00am.  We wouldn't have time for any relevant lecture so we will just meet again next week and most probably extend into August (end of semester is in end of July).

Anyways, other than, I was a little busy today.  I had the groove, the momentum, and I capitalized.  Also played basketball with "betting."  Of the "relevant" games, the two teams won one game each (both with scores of 15-13), and so no one won the betting.

Lunch was at the by-the-pound cafeteria, and dinner was the last of my Nilagang Baboy and Pinoy food for the week.  Tomorrow is laundry, seminar, grocery, and cooking day.  Sunday is Tokyo day.  :-)

Basketball for boys

I woke up very late today, around 10:40am, and my class was at 11:00!  I only had time to brush my teeth and wash my face and off I was.  Other than that, and basketball, and no more of those bugging bugs, it is practically the same as yesterday.

I did have adobo (with leafy greens and tomatoes) for lunch instead of dinner, and tinola for dinner instead of lunch.

Basketball wasn't so competitive; we had 2 relatively novice players with us so we played just light, which was just right for me and my knee.  As in I didn't exert much effort at all.  Still I was making shots from long distance!

And so, we could safely say, today is a boring day.  I hope Nihongo class tomorrow is interesting!

Let's Go Lakers!

Today as many of you and my friends know is Game 7 of the NBA Finals.  Of course, it's also the World Cup, but I'm not a big fan of soccer as much as I am of basketball.  Anyways, I got to the office early enough, because I woke up quite early enough.  But, I had class!  So I missed most of Game 7.  But I was able to see what was happening the last minute and a half from NBA.com.  Whew!  The players didn't seem as ecstatic typical of NBA Champions, particularly "first-time" champions.  The way I see it, the Lakers really did pour out a lot of hard work this season, and it all paid off.  The championship wasn't given to them.  I don't know what Boston's reasons for losing this year - they certainly had their reasons why they weren't able to make this rematch with the Lakers last year.  Of course, the Lakers had some reasons why they lost two years ago to the Celtics: an inexperienced "new team" that includes Pau Gasol and an injured Derek Fisher.  But come on, Boston has four All-Stars: Garnett, Allen, Pierce, and Wallace versus LA's 2, Kobe and Gasol.  My opinion is, actually I never believed in these four Boston All-Stars: they can only win with 3 other All-Stars with them.  Now faced against just two quality All-Stars in Kobe and Gasol, they can't repeat.  I guess this Boston loss now somehow has proven my initial hypothesis.  Instead, the Lakers go for back-to-back at home in Games 6 and 7, and as NBA "World" Champions in 2009 and 2010.  Then again, maybe 4 is a bad number for All-Stars in your team.  Remember when the Lakers can't win with Shaq, Kobe, Malone and Payton on the team?  Then again, Boston's 4 players, plus Rondo, played very well compared to the Lakers' failed 4-All-Star team.

Okay, so I love basketball.  And this isn't supposed to be a basketball blog.  But I don't have a basketball blog, so pardon the rain of opinions.  I am just so happy today because of the Lakers' win.  They so deserve it.  I hope they stay healthy enough for a three-peat.  And that Phil Jackson stays one more year.  I am a Phil Jackson fan and I am very happy as well for the other Lakers players: Gasol, Odom, Bynum, Fisher, Vujacic, Brown, Artest, Farmar, and yep, Luuuuuuuuuuuke (Walton).  Actually I thought Trevor Ariza was better than Artest, because he was a better scorer and was a good enough defender.  But I am happy for Artest.  Phil Jackson knows what he is doing.  What the hell do I know?  I wonder if having a Dennis Rodman type of player on the team is a part of his strategy.  Maybe it is.

One other "win" that I see here is by Kobe in what I think is an unspoken, "who is better, Kobe or Shaq?" cold war.  Kobe now has one more Championship ring without Shaq, than Shaq without Kobe.  Well, of course Shaq is much older than Kobe so that might be a reason enough.  I just hate that people said years ago that Kobe can't win without Shaq.  Well, it's always a long road to the top of the mountain.

Anyways, there was class today.  Then I had lunch at the by-the-pound cafeteria.  Then a little bit of work.  Then...  Basketball!  Man was I smokin' hot today.  I'm not braggin' man - I am just gladly surprised about it. Maybe lucky?  Or maybe inspired by the Lakers' victory?  By the way, most of my relatives in the US - mostly based or was based in California, have been Lakers fans since the Show Time 80's.  This is the reason why I am a Lakers fan myself.  Actually Golden State should be my team because it's my "home team," me having stayed in Berkeley (just adjacent to Oakland) a number of times during my childhood days.  But the Lakers is my sentimental favorite.

Anyways.  We played a total of 4 games.  One was 3-on-2 and our team of 2 won that easily.  The next game was up to 15 and it was a close game that we lost.  The next game was up to 10, but after our team routed the other team 10-0 quite quickly (in ten minutes?), we decided the game should be up to 15.  I think we ended up 15-0!  It was very surprising.  The guy from Korea, the best baller among us, wasn't 100% well and so it had some effect on his game play (though he was still in his usual "who can stop that guy?" mode).  But for some reason, I was making a lot of outside shots!  Ah, I remember my glory days in basketball.  I'm lovin' it!  Only difference now though is that I just can't jump (that high) anymore!  I can't even touch the ring anymore.  I am too heavy now.  I should work on my jumping.

Anyways, after taking a little rest, I took a shower at the gym and went straight home to have dinner.  I had leftover Adobo (one piece of Pork) and Hainanese Chicken (now turned into Chicken Adobo).  It wasn't enough so I opened up a can of tuna.  Well, that's at least ~400 pesos and 15 minutes saved than if I had to go to the convenience store for dinner.  I feel good.  I feel like being more productive!  Actually, I usually feel more productive after basketball!

Summer is near...

They say that seasons here in Japan are so well defined.  So there's the start of spring with the blooming of the cherry blossoms in early April (or earlier, depending on how far south you are).  Then there's the rainy month from ~June 15 (i.e. today) to ~July 15.  Then "summer."  Hot & humid summer.

This rainy month itself means a rise in humidity, although to me it is still cool & comfortable.  But, the forecast temperatures for the next 5 days have highs in the upper 20s (possibly going above 30 degrees) and lows still above 20 degrees!  This is the first time since I got here when the lows are above 20 degrees.  It's Manila-in-February weather, sans the rain.  Actually the rain itself isn't like the tropical rain usually from thunderstorms that we experience back in the Philippines.  No, none of those heavy drops that could hurt your eye if you look straight up.  The rain here is like a spray of mist.  You walk 5 minutes in the rain and you won't be soaking wet just yet.  When it rains and people here need to ride their bicycles, they hold their umbrellas while cycling.

Anyways, lunch was the last of my yummy Postek and those yummy caramelized onions.  I hit the jackpot this time with the Postek, though it's not as great with lemon instead of tropical lemon (or is it tropical lime?), a.k.a. kalamansi.  And the last of my romaine lettuce and the usual cherry tomatoes, Italian dressing, and bacon bits.  Dinner was Sinigang.  Yummy Sinigang.  It was really good.  I love kang kong in the Sinigang.  I put too much Sinigang mix though and it would probably be a little too sour for others, but for me, I loved it.  I just really love Sinigang.  In between lunch and dinner, is the usual study, study, study, but we also played basketball.  We had drinks at stake for our last game, which we won.  That evens up the score; a few games ago, we lost the "betting."

For breakfast, you wouldn't believe what I had.  Guess what.  Clue: there's peanut butter...  In a sandwich...  ....of crackers.....  Any idea?  It's Magic Flakes peanut butter sandwich crackers!  Imported from the Philippines, I guess.  The makers of Magic Flakes, Jack n' Jill, as far as I know is owned by Universal Robina Corporation, the same guys that brought us the 85-peso store, Saizen, and Mini Stop, which are both from Japan.  The Magic Flakes packaging has its very recognizable logo but otherwise, most other characters are in Japanese.  I bought these - 8 mini-packs in one pack - at the 100-yen store.  That gives me like 7 peso breakfast.  Cool!  Other stuff I bought at the 100-yen store includes this Nestle Bono, which I think is similar to Oreo cookies.  We'll see.

Jaa ne.

What a day

It was packed.  Class at 11.  Welcome/Farewell lunch at 12:30 for new PhD students and new researchers, and for the short-term researcher who is leaving soon.  PIZZA!  Pizza Hut pizza to be exact.  There were four flavors, carefully chosen to suit the diets of our Indian friends who don't eat pork or beef.  One is vegetarian pizza.  One is like a chicken teriyaki pizza.  One is a seafood pizza (I thought there was some tuna there, and definitely there was shrimp and squid).  One is a shrimp and crab pizza.  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  Both seafood pizzas had broccoli, by the way.  I had at least 5 slices of pizza, but maybe I had 6.  Or 7.  Let's just say, maybe 6. :-D

Aside from pizza, there were plenty of side dishes, I don't know if ordered also from Pizza Hut but maybe not.  There was fried chicken, sausages, burgers, calamari, shrimp, meat balls, chicken nuggets, some veggies and some desserts (mostly candies and cookies).

By the way, I made the mistake (and I think people noticed) of pointing to something with my chopsticks!  Yikes, that is a no-no.  Of course they understand that I "don't know" of such customs, but, actually I know!  And I forgot.  Well, it's not something embedded in my psyche just yet.

After lunch, I had to go to the post office in downtown Atsugi to encash the postal money order I received.  I learned there were two post office branches in downtown Atsugi!  So I was hoping the first one I was going to can process my PMO!  And so it was.

When I got there, there was some problem - mostly between me not being able to speak Nihongo so much, and the guy attending to me not being able to speak English so much.  Fortunately, he had an English-Japanese dictionary and so we were able to communicate.  Apparently he was telling me that because there was a blank field in the PMO, the guy he was talking to on the telephone still had to "investigate."  So finally he told me that it was okay, I just need to write down the missing info.  And then he asked for some proof or certificate.  So I gave him my "gaijin" card, gaijin meaning "foreigner/non-Japanese" but literally it means "outsider/not from here/doesn't belong here?"  Officially the card is called "alien registration card."  Anyways, it was a good thing my address is listed on the card.  I don't usually bring my passport anymore, where I have my address listed as well.  Anyways, the next thing he asked me to do was to copy this sentence that was all in Kanji (Chinese characters).  He asked me to do it by showing me the Japanese word for "to imitate" from his dictionary.  I didn't know what the Kanji sentence meant but what the heck, I just copied it onto my PMO.  After copying, I asked him if what I wrote was okay.  He read it and said it was good.  Cool, I wrote Kanji!  I just didn't know what actually I wrote.  Anyways, after that, everything was fine.  The guy was saying sorry that he made me wait and stuff, by showing me the Japanese word for "to wait" in his dictionary, and by saying "gomenasai" which means "sorry (I did something wrong)."  But yeah, I left TPU maybe 2:30pm.  Got back to TPU a little past 5pm.  Imagine that.  But it's all worth it.  I can really buy a bicycle now, because the cash I have is, by my estimate, good only until my first "paycheck".  But still I don't plan to buy a bicycle just yet - I'll use this bicycle I was able to borrow until I need to return it already.

Then upon arriving at TPU, I went up 3 floors to get my things then went to the gym to play basketball.  We played 3-on-3 this time.  Me, the Korean PhD student, the two Chinese PhD students, and then with us was the more senior Korean researcher.  And then we saw a Japanese guy (probably still an undergraduate) playing in the other court and so we invited him.  It was Korea versus China with imports.  The Korean team had the Japanese guy as import.  The China team had me as import.  As if.  :-D  Anyways, we played two games up to 15 points each, and if I remember correctly, I think we won both games. :-D  My winning shot for the 2nd game was from an alley hoop pass.  Alley... hoop! :-D

And then, Picadillo for dinner.  Ah, I love Pinoy food the most.  Wonderful day, wonderful day.  Thank God for this Friday!

Weather-wise it is great also - 27 degrees max and it is still around 22 degrees at a little past 11pm!  One of the guys said today is going to be the last good day.  Rainy season will (probably) start tomorrow, as it usually does in the middle of June, and will last until middle of July.  Then summer.  Hot & humid summer.  To tell you the truth I'm looking forward to summer.  But I don't know, I can't imagine it yet, how hot it can be here. What I can't imagine further is winter!  I can't imagine how cold it will be.  And what snow fall would be like!  But, I can't wait for these experiences.  And to share these experiences with Mara, soon enough.  :-)

Basketball, and then some

Woke up the usual time. Got to class just in time. Left class to go back home for the last of my Nilagang Baboy for lunch. Got back to the office around 2pm. Then guess what. The short-term researcher had some snacks to share for everyone! The invites were sent around 2am (so I was sleeping already), and since I wasn't able to check my mail early enough, I missed it! Well, no, not really. There was still some leftovers and it was pretty good.

Anyways, I played basketball though I was a little cautious because of my knee's condition. It turned out that not exerting so much effort helped - my shooting from long range was greatly improved!  We won 1 of the 2 games, and almost won the other game.  It was 29 points going for 30, and the other team was just 22 or 23...  but we still lost!  But it was a good game.  Competition is heating up.  We've got bruises and all that each - I have my knee, and another guy got hit a number of times in places you don't hit...  But it was fun.

During class, the discussion was about improving indoor thermal comfort by natural and mechanical ventilation as well as air-conditioning and therefore contributing to work productivity.  But the professor cited a report where it shows that the Japanese are working as much hours as the Americans - longer than many Europeans and Canadians - but among the group (US, Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Canada), Japan has the lowest work productivity.  He mentioned that he spent a year in the US and he noticed that people were at the office only from 9am-5pm from Monday to Friday, and sometimes they would work 9am-7pm but only from Monday to Thursday.  The professor is puzzled about this, what could be one reason why the Japanese have a low productivity and yet work more hours, and so he started a discussion during class.  I shared what I think but the professor believes it has to do with the "system," i.e. that in the US there's a hierarchical-system who gives out instructions to everyone, so everyone tends to focus on their individual tasks while in Japan it's a "flat" system where everyone gathers regularly and discuss with each other to determine what to do and stuff.  So those "discussions" part take up a lot of time.  He also mentioned that typically Japanese people, particularly here at the university, would go home at 9pm (work hours officially start at 9:30am), and cited examples of people staying at their office 4 days a week every week!  Anyways, as somewhat of a homework, he asked us to think of how we can be productive during our PhD stint here and graduate in 3 years.

Now I've been a little bit surprised about all this, just a little bit.  Japan?  Low productivity rate?  Well, they are creative and innovative.  And as I always say, there's a reason why "creative" or "innovative" is spelled differently from "productive."  There's a difference.  Before this morning's lecture, one of my Filipino friends who I've met up with in Meguro after Sunday mass twice now, a former PhD student here in Japan himself and now working for a French company here in Japan still, told me how some Japanese guys tend to relax during regular hours then do most of their work after regular hours - when they're paid overtime.  Sounded so familiar.  Same case in the Philippines - well, depending on who's above and where people are from.  Right here at the office, I am able to observe at least one Japanese guy who on regular occasions I would see playing an online game or watching some movie!

I personally think it's all about attitude and "culture".  And it's difficult to teach attitude; no, not to adults.  To toddlers, sure.  And definitely, it's difficult to change culture.  As someone in charge, the best you can do is to try to motivate.  If you have the privilege, you should choose your men well.  Read Jim Collins' Good to Great, and that other book of his.

Anyways, I think having a "no-overtime policy" works; i.e. encourage work-life balance.  And encourage task accomplishments only during the specified working hours.  No ifs, no buts.  But this requires good managers.  Like if you have a bad manager who always says yes to the client's requests, overtime almost becomes always necessary.  Of you might have a bad manager who, after you've done Task A, will ask you to do Task B and Task C, only to say later that Task A is sufficient and no need for Tasks B and C.  An engineering-related good thing about this "no-overtime policy" is you save energy!  And therefore cut down on costs!  Of course, one downside here is, again if you have bad managers, you might be forced to work at home - so actually the company's costs are only transferred to you.  Blessed are you who have good managers.

I don't know why but for some reason haven't Japanese heard of the 8x5 (8 hours per day, 5 days a week) working hours limit for good health?

Another engineering-related thing that I haven't observed here is that no one's regulating the temperature!  In the Philippines, the building code says that the standard temperature for air-conditioned offices should be between 23 and 26 degrees.  Here, everyone's uncomfortable already at those temperatures!  Except me!  Anyway, what happens is the air-conditioner is on and yet we have the windows and doors open!  Again, because people have control over the windows and doors and stuff.  There has to be a standard agreed to by everyone.  Again, energy and cost savings are the drivers here.  Okay, so maybe 23~26 degrees is not applicable here.  So let's set it to 20 or a maximum 23 degrees.  Anyways, in the Philippines, I've had experiences with having officemates who feel that 26 degrees is so cold already!  So they put the temperature up to 27 or 28 degrees.  UNCOMFORTABLE, man!  Come on, I can't take off my clothes to become comfortable.  Meanwhile, they can put on some jackets or what so that we can have 26 degree temperature.  And that's the maximum as per the building code, i.e. the law!

Anyways, another experience I have is having high ceilings and generally spacious working areas (of course, not too spacious) helps in work productivity.  Here at our office, if we all extend our arms outward, we'd be touching each other.  Cleanliness is one other thing.  Because of smaller working areas here, you would tend to not see which areas need cleaning and stuff.  I wonder how the indoor air quality levels are here.  That affects health - including mental - and the ability to be productive.

Anyways, speaking of health, I haven't been feeling so well since Saturday.  As I've been mentioning, there's my knee which is still not yet 100% but it's better now (heck, I played basketball with it).  But there was something I was not able to do last Saturday morning because again we were asked to be at the bus meeting place at 9am "or else" and yet we left at 9:30am.  And starting Sunday I've been doing that once a day but I think there's still something that needs to go, but it just doesn't go!  It is so annoying.  I also wonder why this is so when I eat lots of fiber everyday anyway.  To tell you the truth, this is affecting my productivity.  And my general well-being.  Oh well, this too shall pass.

Usual

Usual Friday (with 1 class, and playing basketball) except...

I had something that tasted like squid.  Frozen dinner.  Ate them with rice of course, and side veggies.

Basketball was very exhausting today.  Usually we'd do two games, maybe one game up to 20 points, the next game up to 10 points (total of 30 points).  Or three games, usually one game up to 15, the next up to 10 each (total of 35 points).  But today we did two games, one up to 30 points, the next up to 10 points.  Very tired now.  Anyways, my teammate and I won the first game.  But the 2nd game mattered more, because 140 yen was on the line for each of us (140 yen being the cost of one 500 mL PET bottle of Pocari Sweat, one of my favorite Japanese drinks, which I find more thirst quenching than Gatorade!).  Unfortunately I was so tired already, and we lost.  

Have to sleep early tonight because tomorrow I have to be up early, we're going to this TPU-organized trip to Hakone for the foreigner students.  We're leaving from Hon-Atsugi station at 9am.  So, I have to take the 8:30am bus at the latest.  The bus ride is 20 minutes, plus there's some walking, and of course a little bit of waiting, and contingency.  But I have to be ready to go by 8am, ideally.  Now my problem is, my normal getting-up time here is 9am!  Yikes!

Anyways, Hakone is famous for...  its "onsens" - hot spring public baths with everyone in the nude - men separate from women, of course (I don't plan on going to one, not in Japan, or other nude-only places)...  for Lake Ashi(noko)...  There's a cable ride called "Hakone Ropeway" that goes down from one of the hills/mountains there...  and depending on where you are and the weather, you might have good views of Mt Fuji!  There's also I think one famous shrine/temple (there's a difference).  And more.  But nature is more of the attraction at Hakone.  We only have one major activity on the intinerary tomorrow: to learn how to make traditional Japanese pottery!  (Actually we'll be making some traditional Japanese coasters.)  I don't know what else we can and will do tomorrow.  We'll see.  But first things first, I have to wake up early!  

Until then...

Busy

Far away I am

But you are not, for my heart

beats your voice always

A haiku for you, my dear. :-*

Anyways, today I was able to prepare (finally!) the draft manuscript of my Professor for submission to a certain journal.  Actually he already has a paper ready, with two versions: one presented in 2006 and the other in 2008; both published in unrefereed conferences - and so now he would like to publish to a refereed journal.  So actually the effort wasn't that much on my part.  It just took me practically one (long) whole day.

Other than that mini-accomplishment (next step for that is a discussion meeting with the Professor), today is a usual Wednesday.  Lunch by-the-pound.  Basketball.  Picadillo dinner.  Nothing new.

Oh, in basketball, one of the more senior Korean researchers joined us and so we played 2 on 3 basketball.  Of 3 games we played, I won in 2!  Yay!  :-)

Spring

Felt like the real spring weather today.  Not too warm, not too cold.  Little bit rainy from around 12:30 to around 7:30pm.  And other than that, it's the usual day.  School stuff.  Basketball.  Busy.  Lunch at the usual place.  Dinner as usual: my rice, veggies, and frozen dinner (burger "chunks" actually :-D, ate them with Heinz tomato ketchup).

Basketball was 2 against 3, me and Mr. #1 Basketball Player from Korea (we all think so), against the two guys from China, and the girl from Italy.  We beat them in the first game, but they were scorching hot from the outside in the 2nd game where we lost.

After basketball, I checked out my weight and I registered at 86kg (189lbs) - 1kg (2lbs) lighter than my usual when I was in Manila!  And I was wearing shoes, jeans, and two layers of clothes.  But I'm still "overweight." :-(  My BMI is bordering around 25, and assuming 23 is a good BMI to maintain, I still need to lose 5~6kg (11~13lbs)!

I was supposed to eat my dinner at my desk, but I forgot to bring my eating utensils!  So after heating my food I had to bring them home and eat there.  Not a bad thing to do, to eat dinner at home away from the work-work-work environment at school.

On my way home, being so thirsty after basketball, I bought a drink from a vending machine.  I thought a Coke or Pepsi would go well with my burgers. It's a good thing the vendo on the way home did not have any.  So I thought I will buy one of my favorite drinks, a thirst quenching drink only from Japan: Pocari Sweat.  The 500mL bottle was 150 yen, 10 yen more expensive than from the vendos inside the campus.  I thought I should just try out the other brands.  I tried this drink called "Calpis Soda" - I don't really know what it is but it tasted great.  I guess it's soda - but what flavor, I don't know.  At some point I thought it might be milk soda...  Is there such a thing?  But well it quenched my thirst.  That together with 500mL of another thirst-quenching drink only from Japan: Atsugi Water Company's tap water.  :-D