Overview: I've been in Japan for over 10 years. This is my personal blog, covering a mixed bag of topics including Japan, my family, the web, programming, ESL and the occasional rant about politics and the media.What’s going on?
It’s a pretty miserable day outside my window. Gray skies, light rain and a bit on the chilly side. Rikuto has gone to the hospital with his mum to get his flu jab, while I’m trying to fight off another cold.
Making magic
Most of my time is spent working on Hotaru CMS with some great lads from the U.S, Scotland, Italy and Japan. This is something I’ve thrown myself into over the last six months, and the closer the project gets to completion, the more people are seeing its potential and signing up to help out. With a bit of luck, we’ll have a release candidate ready by February and then I’ll port JapanSoc, and probably this blog, to Hotaru.
Riding the wave
Continuing the technology theme, Shibuya246 sent me an invite to try Google Wave. This is Google’s attempt to establish “waves” as the replacement for “email”, and I must say I’m impressed so far. It’s a bit hard to explain Wave, so if you’re curious, learn more here.
Keeping fit
I’ve been feeling quite old lately, so I made the rash decision to go for a jog – the first real exercise I’ve done for about five years, and boy, oh boy, do I regret it now! My body is aching and I’ve caught another cold. Screw exercise! It’s overrated 
Told you so
I’m getting an uncontrollable urge to scream “Ha ha! Told you so!” with regards to the “Climategate” scandal, i.e. scientists colluding to fudge data in order to make a case for “man-made” global warming, and President Obama, who has continued the Iraq war, escalated the Afghanistan war, and started his own war in Pakistan. Oh, and he hasn’t closed Guantanamo Bay either. How much more will it take before people realize they’ve been duped by the establishment and mainstream media, not just on those issues, but also on the hard-to-stomach realities concerning the 9/11 attacks. Speaking of which, I’m off to Nagoya tomorrow to listen to a presentation on that very topic. How depressing, eh?
On a lighter note…
My wife is pleased that I’ve started washing the dishes. This is a major success in her efforts to make a housewife out of me (I already stay home while she goes to work!). Fair enough, “washing the dishes” in our house means filling the dishwasher and pressing the start button, but at least I’m trying! 
Rikuto is also making efforts to keep the place tidy. Like most two-year-olds, he has a permanently runny nose, but we’ve trained him to use a tissue instead of letting it flow into his mouth. He takes a tissue, touches the end of his nose with it, wipes the rest on his sleeve and then throws the tissue in the bin. If we’re not watching, he repeats this every minute, emptying a box of tissues in a matter of hours!
