Email Masashi in the future!

Today, I decided to sign Masashi up for a Gmail account. I thought it would be cool to email him in the future. I imagine it won't be too long before he's using the internet, and then he (and everyone) can read these letters written to him when he was just a baby. I guess there are websites that do this kind of thing, but just giving him his own email seems to work just as well.

If you want to write Masashi in the future, his email address is just his first name (masashi) plus his birth year in digits(which is two-thousand and four) all at gmail.com

I purposely didn't just write out his email address in order to avoid giving him spam in the future!
Paul, Ritsuko, Masashi Andrews: Life and Pictures, Hokkaido, Japan. Blog

Masashi's First Baby Pictures

These are Masashi's 1st baby pictures, taken back in June 2004. There are pictures of Ritsuko, myself (Paul), and Ritsuko's parents, too. Most are of Masa, though. I'm trying a new web site for my pictures, www.Zorpia.com. The slideshows are much nicer than Yahoo's and you can click on the pictures to see larger versions. See Masashi's first baby pictures slideshow here or index here.

p.s. for some reason, each picture appears twice in the slideshow. (?)

Paul, Ritsuko, Masashi Andrews: Life and Pictures, Hokkaido, Japan. Baby Pictures

Masashi Pictures: 2006-02-25

Masashi and I spent the day out of the house. Between 9:00AM and 5:00PM, we were either out on my bike, in the park, shopping, riding on the bus, or visiting Ritsuko in the hosptial. It was a busy day! PICTURES HERE.
Ritsuko's doing fine. We brought her a bunch of fresh fruit today. Masashi and I will go visit tomorrow, too! Masa loves riding on the bus and misses his mommy, so no problem with him. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it was today.

The Good Communist

Stanislav Petrov is a name everyone should know. Say it slowly, STAH-NEE-SLAV PET-ROV, or you won't remember it. I had no idea who he was until I came upon this article in Shoutwire. Stanislav Petrov as a Russian Army Lieutenant Colonel who, in 1983, decided not to retaliate to an apparent nuclear strike by the United States. Mr. Petrov had a hunch that it was a computer error, which it was. Thank you Mr. Stanislav Petrov! You must be the only communist who actually did anything good for world. Read the whole story on here on MSNBC.

Life in Sapporo 1: A Birthday Party

As my life in Japan draws to an end, I've decided to commemorate it through a blog and picture series entitled "Life in Sapporo." The blogs will be about the fun times I had in Sapporo and the people I had them with. Of course, all the pictures are old, but through them hopefully you will get an idea of what it is like to be an English teacher (specifically and English teacher on the JET Programme) living in Sapporo. My experiences are actually pretty tame.

This first installment is of a friend's birthday party. Just food, drink, and boisterous merrymaking amongst some 20-30 people from all corners of the English speaking world and Japan. After stuffing ourselves at a 2 hour nomi-tabe-hodai (all you can eat+drink, alcohol included), the crowd thinned out and found its way to a bar. I think I ended up walking home in the rain that night, being too cheap to take a taxi usually. These picture are all from some time in March 2005.
Update 2008: Sorry, Yahoo photo closed, but maybe I'll put some Sapporo pictures up in the future. Maybe.

Asahikawa Medical School Hospital

Today was my day off. I took Masashi to daycare (we pay by the month, so might as well use it), then came home and played video games and slept. At 2PM, Masashi and I hopped on the bus to Asahikawa Medical School Hospital to see Ritsuko. Masashi loves all kinds of vehicles and had fun on the bus.
Ritsuko seems to be doing really well. The hospital and nursing staff are really nice. Ritsuko said the doctors were great as well, with the exception of a few older fellows. She said they were older professors who just kind of stood around looking important. The doctor in charge of Ritsuko is a really great guy (mentioned him in an earlier blog).
My friend Michael Knipp, a 4th year med-student at IU Medical School, mentioned to me that because Ritsuko is staying at the hospital she will probably receive beam radiation therapy, not the stuff you drink. Things must be different in Japan. Despite the long hospital stay, Ritsuko is pretty sure the doctor said shee will receive the type of radioactive iodine treatment that you ingest. I know Ritsuko doesn't like being away from here family (well, at least Masashi, haha) for 2 weeks, but I'm sure she's enjoying the rest and quiet.

Pictures from today here.

Public Serivce Announcement (for Firefox)

Not that it really matters, but I'm shocked by the number of people who are still using Internet Explorer. See the little hit counter below the links on the right of my page? It allows me to see not just how many hits I get, but also where people are, how long and often they visit my page, and what operating system they are using. Out of the last 100 people to visit, 90 were using IE. That's just sad, people. Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against Microsoft. It's just that Firefox is cleaner looking, safer, lets you use tabs, makes it so you don't need an extra little bar that takes up valuable screen space in order to block pop-ups. Firefox is great. Download it, download it, download it!

Just the two of us

Ritsuko is now staying at the Asahikawa Medical School Hospital. She had a series of tests today, but is doing fine. As for Masashi and I, we're trying to do the best we can without mama. Actually, Masashi acts much better when Ritsuko isn't here and has been a very good boy since I picked him up from daycare. We went for a bikeride into the city and through the park, came home, ate, showered, I did laundry and dishes while he played, played together, came upstairs and looked at the pictures I took today, and then he fell asleep. All this, almost no fuss. The pictures are of 1. Kikkoman Soy Sauce Factory, Asahikawa, 2. Asahidake and Daisetsuzan (mountains) as seen from Asahikawa, 3. Masashi on the snowy remains of the snowfestival, and 4. Paul and Masashi on a bikeride. All from today.

Climbing Baby

It was a long Sunday, today. Masashi woke around seven, took a nap from 1:30 until 3:30, and finally went to bed about 10:00. It was definitely exciting. We had a ton of snow to shovel, did a little sledding in front of the house, and went to the grocery store. The most interesting thing for Masashi, though, had to have been all the climbing and jumping. Here are a few climbing picture; the jumping is all on video. Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

Pictures of Masashi 2006-02-18

51 new pictures, mostly of Masashi, are now up here. There are pictures of us digging in the snow, Masashi eating, Masashi playing, Ritsuko and Masashi, and one composite picture of Masashi jumping from his great-grandparents' table to their couch! More videos soon to come!

"The Dark Tower"

You can download my CD, The Dark Tower, from Torrent Box. If you are not familiar with torrent files or Peer-2-peer file sharing, not to worry. I suggest Azureus for downloading torrent files, and either Torrent Box or Torrentspy for finding them. There are lots of illegal things to download, movies, software, etc., but my CD is totally free! Of course, it only works if there are people seeding (uploading the files). Happy downloading!

Radioactive Ritsuko

On Monday (2005.02.13), Ritsuko and I took a trip out to the Asahikawa University Hospital were she receive her radioactive iodine therapy. Ritsuko's doctor is young (35?), can speak English, and was very friendly, taking his time to explain what Ritsuko will be going through for 2 weeks beginning Feb. 23rd.

Week 1: Ritsuko will have a variety of tests and check-ups, including a scan to look for any carcinomata in her bones (the lungs and bones are two common areas thyroid cancer often spreads to). She will also have a test to see how the radioactive iodine is taken up by her body. Ritsuko will also have been off the hormone pills she was taking for one week and will probably not be feeling like doing much of anything.

Week 2: Radioactive Iodine Treatment. Dosage: 150 mCi. That means the 5,550,000,000 atoms of Iodine 131 will be decaying in Ritsuko's body every second. Good for Ritsuko (kills the cancer cells), bad for everyone else (destroys health thyroid cells, too). Ritsuko will be in an isolated room for up to one week. No visitors, and nothing she takes with her into that room can come back out. This is serious stuff, people.

After she is out, she will have to have check-ups about every 6 months for reoccurrences of the cancer. It's a small price to pay for staying alive and healthy.

Ritsuko's visa interview (for a green card to the USA) will be April 3rd. The three of us will go down to Tokyo for the interview and then stay down there until our friend Ai's wedding on April 8th. It will be a cool wedding, and we're really happy everything worked out so that we could be there. So, after some Tokyo sightseeing and what should be an awesome Japanese-style (Shinto) wedding, we'll make our way back to Hokkaido and then to the US in time for me to begin school May 15th. Yeah!

Nikon Coolpix S3 & Masa Pictures

Got a new camera over the weekend: The 6-megapixel Nikon Coolpix S3. Small, beautiful, and takes excellent pictures. While the snowstorm in the NE USA might have been crazy, Asahikawa, Japan is getting just as much. It's just spread over a few more days. Anyway, check out the 100+ new pictures I put up to see how the Nikon CP S3 fairs.

Google Video Embedding Test

This is only a test. I want to see how the embedded video from Google Video looks. This is a clip from my friend Tim McLaughlin's snowboarding DVD, Dorb. Tim, Ben, and I took the day off work to have a kicker session (jumping practice). We got sidetracked, to say the least.

Snowboarding: Kamui Ski Links

We are getting blasted with snow here in central Hokkaido right now. Thursday night it was puking powder, so I decided to ride the local, city-subsidized hill Friday. Got on the first bus, and in less than an hour I was on the slopes. Kamui Ski Links is definately one of the best places to ride in Hokkaido (and the world?) for powder and no people. I had a solid 2-3 hours of fresh lines (untracked powder snow) ON the course! I would go down the hill and not see a soul until I was near the bottom. I even managed to find my own little wooded area that no one was going into. The trees were far enough apart to get some speed going, but there were enough downed trees, drop-offs, and other things to make it interesting. It was just me, my Creative Zen Touch MP3 player, and my board. No worrying about anyone else. With Goldfrapp, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Jack Johnson, and lots of snow it was definately one of the best days riding I've ever had.

Pictures from Feb. 10th, 2006

Pictures from Dec. 28th, 2005

The Religious Policeman & Dorb

Please read this blog entry by a Saudi man now living in the UK. Great blog, very funny.
The Religious Policeman

Also, check out my friend Tim McLaughlin's snowboarding videos at Pigstar Productions or on Google Video. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to make it into some of these videos.

Relaxing Music and Snow Festival

As craziness countinues around the globe, I'd like to take a little time out to. . . (sigh) relax. In a previous life I was a bassoonist and a composer. I still haven't figured out if I've moved up or down in this reincarnation, but I have managed to retain some of my musical abilities in this life. If you are interesting in hearing some relaxing music (or some modern classical music), please have a look at my original compositions. The most recent piece, written in January 2005, is called "Beneath the Dark Tower." If you like anything, please let me know!
I have also posted pictures from last nights opening show for the 2006 Asahikawa Snow Festival. Pretty cool what they can get a few hundred troops from the Japanese Self-Defense Force to do!

Home again

So, Ritsuko is home again. I'm excited, but at the same time it kind of feels like she was just gone for the weekend. Unfortunately, Ritsuko's not really in any condition to really celebrate. She seems tired and slightly uncomfortable. Her neck does hurt some, so she can't really hold Masashi. Doing too much seems to tire her, as well. But, she IS home, and that is good!
Masashi has been really excited about mama being home. He seems to have become even more attached to Ritsuko. Masashi has changed, though, and seems to listen to me more now. I've gotten him to fall asleep with only a little bit to drink from his bottle rather than the half-a-liter he was drinking before. Guess I'm pretty strict with him. Ritsuko tries, but I'm just scarier, I guess! In this picture, Masashi subdues Ultraman! Click here to see an Ultraman music video.

Masa's Toys

I put some recent pictures up of Masashi, click here to go to them. The two pictures here are 1. Masashi standing, no hands, on his police car (there's no parking break on it) and 2. Ritsuko's neck after the stitches were removed. She'll have to replace the tape as it weakens for about 6 months.

The Return

Ritsuko will come home from the hospital tomorrow morning after I've gone to work. Unfortunately, she will only be home for a few weeks before having to check-in to a different hospital (well, clinic) for two weeks! Yeah, that was a suprise. Today, Ritsuko went to the radiation therapy clinic and was able to get herself in as early as possible. You have to wait a month after the operation, so Ritsuko will check-in around Feb. 26th, at least as long as her blood-pressure is not too low and some hormones or something are OK. She's in the hospital for a week to prepare for the radioactive-iodine treatment, and then another week as she receives the treament (and must apparently be kept away from other people because she'll be radioactive). The clinic she will stay in is a good 30 min. bus ride away, so no going to see her everyday. Oh well, at least it will be done.

Now, about coming back to the USA: there is 50/50 chance that we will postpone our return. Because of this radiation treament and the possibility that we could have to wait an extra week to start it, Ritsuko has to change the date of her visa interview. The visa interview will most likely be April 3rd or 4th. That would be just one week before we intended to come back to America. A little risky. Might not be until later in April or even early May. I have decided to quit my job early, though. We want to take it easy a little (as well as get stuff ready to move), so I'll finish my job March 15th or so. That will give us at least a month before we fly back over. We can pack, visit friends, do some snowboarding, just relax as a family. Thinking about it, Ritsuko and I have never had a long vacation/break together. We really need this before I start school again. Must get back on the mountain!

Forced Adoption and My Uncle Sam

I'm up, want to write something interesting or inflammatory in my blog, but I just am too tired to think at the moment. I guess my family and life in Japan are interesting, so I'll write about them.
Ritsuko is doing well and will be out of the hospital Tuesday (have I said that already?). Looks like we'll be on schedule to get back to the USA in April, if the Embassy ever sends us the appointment date. They are super-slow, a prime example of the inefficiency of government. It's non-profit-driven foundation (if you're wondering what the foundation is, it's taxes support by cops and prisons for those who don't pay) almost guarantees zero customer satisfaction. I'd be to zero already if it weren't for the fact that the whole visa thing is pretty quick overall. Robbing me of nearly $1000 (including airfare to Tokyo, the only place to do this), maybe I'll write it off on my taxes next year. Bastards! Vive la tax-evader! Most taxes are criminal in nature. While one might argue that tax reform should be pursued through completely legal channels (not tax fraud or evasion), what do you do when the laws are themselves violate your freedom to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?" How can these tax laws be constitutional when you are forced to fork over a chunk of your hard-earned cash for the benefit of someone else's life and liberty at the forfeiture of your own? Actually, I do not condone tax evasion, but all those rich, high-profile tax evaders should make us stop and think. Too bad lefties want to give your money away to social security-Sam and righties to, well, social security-Sam. Check out the national budget chart for 2004 and projected (you'll need EXCEL) here. Don't know where 2005 budget is, sorry. I didn't mention defense spending because, in 2004 and probably for the foreseeable, social security was more (though not much more). Lefties, righties, they'll all WASTE YOUR MONEY, though most of the wasted money will come from the riches, most successful individuals and companies. But, they're the ones who lobby for these wasteful policy decisions, right? Probably, but this whole situation could have been avoided if we had stuck with the limits our Founding Fathers placed on our government. Limited government=limited lobbying by special interest groups=limited taxes=limited amount of your money that you don't control. LIMITS, LIMITS, LIMITS!! Leave me alone, Uncle Sam!!

Demon Mask

I found this great Oni-no-men (Demon Mask) on the Yamaha-Motor website. While Setsubun is over, you can still scare the crap out of your kids, loved-ones, or whoever with this cool mask. It's in pdf format, color, so all you have to do is cut it out and put it together. I am a bad boy and directly linking to the mask and stealing the picture, but if your interested in Yamaha's webpage, here it is.

Two Updates

The first update is about family. Ritsuko hasn't been feeling well the past couple of days, but she IS doing well. Her stitches came out yesterday, and she goes on Monday to set up an appointment for the iodine radiation treatment. Calcium levels are normal (she finished the last of her calcium medicine today), and she'll be out of the hospital next week.
Masashi has a cold and fell asleep at 4pm today! His cough has gotten a little more congested sounding, but he doesn't have a fever and is still very active. Today is the Japanese holiday of Setsubun (day before the first day of Spring, Japanese throw beans and stuff around the house to drive out the demons and bad spirits), and Masashi yelled at the oni (demon) with the other kids, but got scared and cried when he actually saw it (the teacher dressed up like a demon)!

The second update is about this Mohammed cartoon thing in Europe. From my love of stoking large fires, I created this little cartoon. While not very good, it does depict the prophet Mohammed, and it's based on historical fact! Enjoy, and feel free to link or post this cartoon on your own website!

Munich (2005)

Another great movie. Great music, tries to makes you think, though a little drawn out at the end. The question it raises is "Should force always be met by force, or will it simply lead to an endless cycle of violence?" My answer, yes and only if one responds with too little force. No, I'm not supporting Bush and his war in Iraq (Saddam didn't do anything to America), but I do support one's right to defend one's self from aggression. Unfortunately, deciding who is right or wrong in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is impossible. Maybe I'll take this up another time, when I'm not so tired.
Masashi was a good boy today and we played in the yard and at the park. Ritsuko wasn't feeling too well and had a fever. I'm fine, just a little tired. I made dinner tonight, and the whole time I was thinking about how nice it would be to have a little counter space and a decent size cutting board. The things you take for granted in the good ol' U.S.A, I'll be glad to get them back. Yeah, I guess there are trade-offs and you just have to make the best with what you have. The need not be so, though. These trade-offs are a result of mixed economies and their systems of tariffs and import restrictions. I paid $3 for a head of lettuce today simply because I can't buy anything except Japanese lettuce (80% mountainous terrain. Can you grow lettuce in the mountains? Well, probably, but not a lot). Now, I KNOW China grows lettuce and I'm sure it's cheaper than $3 a head, even after shipping and all. Move to free trade (laissez faire capitalism) and everyone can buy anything cheaper. You might make less money, but at the end of the month you and everyone else comes out ahead.
I can take this one step further and say that the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a result of the lack of laissez faire capitalism. Jews want to buy land in Palestine, the Ottomans and British won't let them (force), so Jews respond with terrorism (force) and "win" their country from the British. If it would have been a free economy, Jews would have paid Palestinians for the land. Palestinians get rich, Jews get land, everyone's happy. Unfortunately, Jews couldn't buy much land, and Palestinians weren't allowed to sell it. Simple, but true. Open up markets and borders and we'll see a better world.

Taxi Driver (1976)

I know, three blog entries a day is just too much. But, with Ritsuko in the hospital I just don't feel like doing too much after Masashi's asleep. Anyway, Taxi Driver (1976, Robert De Niro), great movie, just finished watching it on my computer. There is absolutely nothing bad I can say about this film; it was just really cool. You have to see it. I also want to give a special shout out to FRANK AUO for taking on the role of "Angry Black Man." That's a pretty tall order.

An open letter to a friend

Dear Friend,

It's great to hear from you! I know your especially busy now, it means a lot that you could write.
Yeah, Brokeback Mountains was pretty good. I'll probably see it again on the big screen (not in Japan though, don't think it will be showing here) just for the beautiful mountain scenes. I said it wasn't anything special on my blog, but thinking back on it, I guess that's what all the big stink is about. It's a gay love story but still moves people as much as any other love story (except Gone with the Wind, hahaha). You should enjoy it.
The libertarian thing: that happened after I read "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. Maybe about a year and a half ago. I don't really read anything other than Rand's books, though I do sometimes search for other objectivist writers or groups on the internet (Cato Institute, Bureaucrash are usually good). It really got me going, to say the least. I don't really know if the Libertarian Party is really all that great of a party to put my precious vote in, though. They seem to have taking the whole drug thing under their wing, in essence isolating themselves from a lot of self-respecting people who don't want to be identified with American drug culture. The Republican Party would probably be the best bet if they could get off the war horse and leave religion to the people who actually practice what they preach. It's all such a mess, but Rand's books really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I even manage to refrain from telling Masashi about all the starving kids in Africa when he doesn't want to eat all his food. I mean, really, even if I did pack up his dinner and send it over there, it would more likely than not go to feed some sub-Saharan child slaver or some equally oppressive individual. How can I get my child to eat by threaten to support dictatorships in Africa?
I was just over at the hospital today, and it looks like Ritsuko will probably be out of the hospital soon. Her calcium levels are going back up (which is good. I wrote that they need to come down in a previous blog, mistake). She's off her drip and hopefully able to be released next week! Very happy!
I'm glad to hear that you guys are all doing well. Hopefully we'll be able to see you guys this spring! Talk to you later!

Paul

p.s. I want to make this an open letter on my blog, but I'll change your names to generic nouns or pronouns to alleviate you of any association with my other ramblings! hahaha