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Chorus Water, Deliciously Entertaining

April 21st, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

I opened up our fridge and found a carton of Chorus Water! Yippee! The new Japanese soft drink from Morinaga Milk is the best!

I’d like to personally thank Chairman of Morinaga Milk, Mr. Ohno, and company president, Mr. Furukawa, for delivering such a tasty beverage. I just can’t stop singing its praises!

If you can’t see the video, you can watch it here on YouTube.

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Ramsay Ramblings 4/21/2008

April 21st, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

Is the weekend over already? Time seems to be flying these days. We are well into spring and the suzumushi (bell crickets) are piercing my brain with their high pitched singing. It must be time for some more Ramsay Ramblings!

5 yen a bag, or take a box for free!

Free cardboard boxes at supermarkets near you now! Today, my mother-in-law came by for a visit, but before she did, she stopped off to buy some groceries. Now, in some parts of the country, perhaps at selected supermarkets, they are charging 5 yen for every shopping bag you use. Apparently, by encouraging people to bring their own reusable bags, supermarkets can reduce the “billions of plastic bags [that] are choking our planet” (reuseablebags.com).

Personally, I’m not convinced that shoppers will take the bait, and supermarkets will make a small fortune off these 5 yen bag sales… or will they? It turns out that my mother-in-law opted for a free cardboard box, rather than pay the 5 yen!

Yes, free cardboard box. Why pay for a plastic bag when you can get a cardboard box for free?

Mike McKinlay stuck in Seattle for 24 hours

Net Buddy 4 Life, Mike McKinlay, should have been in Japan by now on the start of his three-week vacation. However, when I opened my email box, I got this…

Hey net buddy… I’m in Seattle right now.. and yes I’ve missed my plane.. remember that snow storm in Calgary? Well that probably made our plane late which made us miss our connection… Don’t ever complain to me about high winds ruining your honeymoon flight again! Sure, you missed your connections, but this has caused me a full 24 hour delay! Actually, nothing really good happened today… more bad news that I can tell you about later when i see you!

Mike, if you’re reading this from an airport somewhere, our thoughts are with you! Be strong Net Buddy!

Watch out or I’ll spam you!

I’m a regular commentator over on Jason Irwin’s blog, but it seems I’m leaving comments without even knowing about it! In his post, Spammers Are Getting Stupid-er-er, Jason uses an example of someone spamming his site as me! Take a look, it really is amazing how far people will go these days!

Which looks better?

Don’t think for more than two seconds. Just look at these screen shots and tell me which you prefer.

Those pictures are from my Math Worksheet Wizard website. I prefer one color/logo scheme while my wife prefers the other. This is what I do with my time. I make math worksheets. I’ve finished the kindergarten section and have most of first grade done. At this pace, I should have the whole elementary school math curriculum done by the end of September. Okay, I’m not a math teacher, but fortunately my mum is, and she’s kindly helping me along. Thanks mum!

That wraps up another Ramsay Ramblings. Thanks for reading!

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The Same Old Questions

April 17th, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

No matter how long you are in Japan, you will always be asked the same questions:

Where are you from?
Do you like Japanese food?
Can you use chopsticks?

The more adventurous Japanese will ask you questions about your home country:

Is summer as hot as in Japan?
Do you have cherry blossoms?
Do you speak English in England?

All these questions were recently asked of me by the dental assistant, just before I had my teeth drilled.

I can’t take it anymore!

I understand that because I’m a foreigner, people are interested in where I’m from and what I think of Japan. I am always courteous and answer politely, with a few well-practiced jokes included, but what I really want to say is…

Oh god! Here we go again! Leave me alone already! I don’t care where I’m from, so why do you? Of course I like Japanese food, what do you think I’ve been eating for the last decade? Can I use chopsticks? Yes, and I can spell my own name, too! Hot in summer? Al Gore says it is. Cherry blossoms? Now you’re getting desperate for conversation! English in England? Well, duh!

Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but it just never ends. I could be here when I’m 70 and still be asked the same things. At this stage of my life, I am really put off by these kinds of questions, despite the good intentions of the person asking.

What I’d like people to talk to me about

Normal things. Ask me if I watched that new drama, Hokaben, on Wednesday night. Talk to me about sport, politics, my favorite shopping mall… ask me about my family here and what it’s like being a dad. Ask me about my plans for Golden Week. Let’s chat about the new paper recycling rules, or what they are building by the golf course. Anything but chopsticks, natto, or a country I remember very little about.

Any of you feeling the same way?

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ESL-Kids.com Featured in T.H.E. Journal

April 14th, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

T.H.E. Journal I wasn’t planning to blow my own trumpet, but regular commentator, Keith, told me not to let pride stand in my way, so let me shout it out loud…

My site got featured in T.H.E. Journal! Whoo-hoo!

A sample of T.H.E. Journal magazine I launched ESL-Kids.com, a website offering free ESL materials, in 2006. Since then, it has had 2.3 million page views, about 400,000 visitors, and is now frequented by around 1,500 people a day. This month, it got featured in T.H.E. Journal!

The Technology Horizons in Education Journal, was launched in 1972 and was the first magazine to cover education technology and is still the largest publication of its kind with a circulation of 90,000 readers.

In the April issue, there is a five page article on English language learners by Neal Starkman. The author has interviewed a number of teachers who are under pressure from programs like “No Child Left Behind” to get their students up to an academic level within three years. One of those teachers is Linda Rush, a member of the Discovery Educator Network and teacher of 130 “mildly to moderately developmentally challenged students” from ages 6 to 22. She says,

A lot of teachers go into the classroom and close the door. Technology opens it up - it’s your school, it’s your community.”

Neal then goes on to list some of Linda’s favorite ESL websites including my own, ESL-Kids.com:

She downloads videos from TeacherTube. She chooses flash cards from ESL Flashcards. She prints out worksheets from Childtopia. She gets ideas for games from ESL-Kids. She uses ELL activities from Kindersay.

Okay, so it’s only a one-liner, but I’m very chuffed to see my website mentioned in print, plus I get a link from the online version!

Other recent plugs I’d like to thank people for…

Mike talked about my origami site, Oshibori Art, in his post, What is Oshibori Art? He also wrote about our online friendship in Peace Be With My Net Buddy 4 Life… In Japan.

Bill gave a plug for the social bookmarking site, JapanSoc, in his post, Doing What I Can’t Do. He then allowed me to guest blog on the Rising Sun of Nihon, so I wrote a little story of my origami experience before starting OshiboriArt.com.

Shane has launched her new blog, The Tokyo Traveler, and she kindly linked to this blog in her Nihon on the Net post.

Jason mentioned my Google Speed-Search Lessons in his article, The Lull Has Arrived.

Allan, who has a website for Canadians abroad, has been using my math website with his children. Glad you like the worksheets Allan!

Thanks everybody!

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Have You Got Your .JP Yet?

April 13th, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

Not so long ago, I registered nickramsay.com and pointed it here. That was just one step in helping my blog reach #1 in Google when you searched for my name… although my arch-rival, Conservative politician, Nick Ramsay, has now reclaimed that spot. Well done, Nick. Best of four?

Get a domain name in Japanese

In the comments on that post, acclaimed author, environmentalist, database magician and Japan blogger, Jason Irwin, alerted me to JP Domains, a website at which I could register two .jp domain names for just $40, and have them point to my blog with my name in katakana!

Get your name before you lose it

According to Dale Carnegie, “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language”, and he’s absolutely right! I took Jason’s advice and snapped up ニックラムセイ.jp (Nick Ramsay) and 陸人.jp (Rikuto, my son) and pointed them both to this blog.

Now, if you do the same, you can tell your Japanese friends your site’s URL in Japanese, which makes it far easier for them to remember, and if you’re lucky, you’ll come up at #1 in Google for your name in Japanese, too! Very cool.

How to register a .jp domain name

Since I think this is so awesome, I asked Jason if he would be kind enough to write a step-by-step guide on how to register a .jp domain. Not only did he happily agree, he even let me host the page right here! So please take a moment to read, or bookmark for later, Jason’s article, Why Buy a .JP Domain Name?

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Chorus Water, Deliciously Entertaining

Ramsay Ramblings 4/21/2008

The Same Old Questions

ESL-Kids.com Featured in T.H.E. Journal

Have You Got Your .JP Yet?

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