Filed under: World View
Well, I have not graced this space in quite some time, but I felt the need to do a little writing.
Simply put, this weekend I acted like a slug. It started Friday when I checked the scores tot eh two World Cup games. I was excited to hear about the Germany win and the Ecuador victory over Poland threatens my bracket. I actually did a bunch of work, especially because I had to prepare for some weekend work, but my mind was in World Cup mode. Callie and I ate dinner at Alamo Grill in Gerogetown and it was great. The food was great and being full afterwards was a good indication of my weekend to come.
I woke up early Saturday to watch the England v. Paraguay match. Frankly, I was expecting a better show out of the Brits, but it was a win. My Fantasy team got a nice boost out of the play of the Englishmen, and I had a great time. I did not plan on watching any more games, but I did and it was great. The level of play was amazing and it was nice to chill to throughout the day.
6 hours of games was a lot and I felt like a slug. I vowed to not do the same on Sunday, and my weekend work was early in the morning; I figured I would miss the next day of games.
I was quick and done with my duties before the Holland vs. SMT match. Having done everything from home, I turned on the TV and caught another 3 games. My mind is still numb from all that soccer, but it has been great. I love the World Cup.
To cap it all off, I finally got a chance to see Trainspotting. I have the soundtrack and have enjoyed it since the movie came out. Netflix delivered a copy of the film the other day and I finally got a chance to see it. It was odd watching a movie and hearing all the songs I knew so well, but none of that distracted me from the story. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone.
That was my weekend…
Sunday - June 11th, 2006 at 10:37pm
Koup
Filed under: Something Personal
So, Callie and I have finally come to the realization that we cannot go to the movies on opening weekend. We did not get the hint the first 4 incidents, but number 5 finally knocked some sense into us. For those of you who have never heard our plight, I submit to you the evidence:
Incident 1:
After sitting down to enjoy
Shrek 2, an argument broke out behind us. A family decided to get into a reserved row because the seating elsewhere was cramped. The reserved row happened to be for a birthday party for some young children. The theater management did nothing to rectify the problem and the children watched the show in the aisles.
Incident 2:
Before the
Bourne Identity began, a fight broke out between two couples in the row directly in front of us. It was so bad the theater manager (who looked 17) was called in to mediate the situation. Because of her gender and apparent age, one of the arguing couple dismissed her, requesting “A real manager”. She showed them who the real manager was by having security kick them out without a refund.
Incident 3:
In the middle of
Matrix Revolution the projector stopped spinning and the bulb burned the print in front of our eyes. At the height of the movie no less. We got a refund but only saw what really happened when the movie replayed on HBO.
Incident 4:
Callie and I were invited to Frederick to see Saw. We got there and already got a bad vibe. The majority of the people there were young and the group behind us spoke through most of the trailers. Things quieted down when the movie started, but all hell broke loose when the first “freaky” scene came on screen. From that point forward all that could be heard by us was a stream of screams and shreeks as the teens behind us feared for their lives. One was so freaked out that he kicked my chair back hard enough to launch me out of my seat and almost into the row in front of us.
Despite all of this, Callie and I believed we would not be forced to use NetFlix until the end of days. We held on to hope that one day we could sit down on opening weekend and catch a movie…
Until this past weekend.
Incident 5:
Tom works at Tyson’s Corner, so we headed there to see
Silent Hill. All is going well. We are scared, the mood is right, the volume is not too loud and everyone was into it. Forty-five minutes in the projector lights dim then die. As the projector stops the lights flicker and then light up. These lights are not the normal aisle lights: the lights that come on are emergency lights. The storm that was going on outside caused a power outage and the theater cancelled the rest of the showings.
So, in a nutshell, no more $10 movies and expensive popcorm for me.
Monday - April 24th, 2006 at 12:32pm
Koup
Filed under: World View, Otakon, Something Personal, Eating Out
Cross Posted to MySpace, LiveJournal and my personal blog…
It is no big secret that GMU is where I work. I even filled out a bracket with some friends to see who thought the Final Four would be. After round two was played I had already lost because half my final four was not in it to win it, and GMU got through round 2. I thought I was being a realist, but now I am a believer.
So this is how my week started as I got on a plane to Japan. Well, first it was on to ATL. I had a 6am flight from DCA, but mechanical problems caused Delta to book me onto a 7am so I could make my connection to Narita in Atlanta. As my plane taxied onto the tarmac for takeoff the engines stop. The pilot got on the PA to notify us that ATL had initiated a ground stop oder. This meant that Jim and Mike whose plane had already taken off at 6:30am were fine, but I was stuck on the ground until the problems at ATL had cleared. I left a voicemail for Jim to let them know I might not make it. By 7:45 we were given the go ahead to takeoff. The pilot got us on the ground 10 minutes before my flight for Japan was to leave.
I ran from terminal A to terminal E (well, took the tram when I could) and got to the gate seconds after they had closed the gate. They would not let me on, so I cut my losses and opted not to get in a shouting match. Later I checked my voicemails. The first was very pleasant: an irate Mike. Jim and Mike obviously did not get my message yet. The second one I got was more sympathetic telling me to do what I needed to do to get on my way. Luckily I was checking my voicemails while waiting for the Delta counter to free up. I was not the only one with missed connections.
To make a really long story short, I will state that I did get to Japan, but only after much confusion, a lot of running, a smattering a stress, and a connection to Japan by way of Seoul, South Korea. Yeah, that’s right, Seoul! I even got something for my Mom since that is where she is from. I liked it there and I really wish I had gotten a chance to see the city and not just the International terminal.
I arrive in Japan 7 hours later than originally planned. I missed the last bus to my hotel, so I had to get another one to Rippongi and taxi to the Grand Hyatt Tokyo. The total trip time from Narita Airport to Tokyo is 2 hours, so it isn’t until midnight when I get in. The room was super swank, but dark and Mike was already checked in and asleep. I stumbled a bit to figure out the lights then put my clothes away and slept (when it was possible since Mike snores like a chain-saw).
The next day was all business. We were to meet briefly for lunch then go off to the Tokyo International Anime Festival (TAF) for the business portion. I was out of it. I had a hard time sleeping, I had residual stress from the misconnect and my body had not adjusted to the time difference. I felt useless, but I did manage to get more in my element as the day progressed. We split into two teams and hit all the studios in an effort to build up a relationship for Otakon. We also passed out flyers for the party we were throwing that night at Le escalar. For now I will not get into the business details, but it was all very productive.
We left Tokyo Big Sight (where TAF was held) and got ready for the party. Not having time to translate the presentation (damn flight misconnect) we rushed to get that done before getting dressed. A short 25 minute taxi drive to the restaurant and we quickly got setup. The guests began to fill in and by 9pm the room was pretty full. I gave what I believe to be a wonderful presentation, but it was longer than anyone wanted. The problem with doing it through an interpreter is the need to pause every sentence or two so everyone else but the 5 english speakers would understand what was said. Next year I will most likely prepare someone to give the presentation in my place while I deal with the Q&A portion.
The meal was fantastic. It was 6+ courses of fine French food. All the tables were full of conversation and we had enough people to talk to everyone present. By the end of the dinner we had to extend our reservation time by an hour and still had to politely kick people out. Everyone was just having a great time. So much so that we were all invited to karaoke.
Karaoke in Japan is so much different than in the US. We got into a couch filled room and had all you can drink pitchers of beer delivered to us while we belted out anime themes and 90’s pop hits. Mike and I rocked out on a few songs, and our throats hurt so much we even did a song in death metal screaming to give the vocal cords a break. When we had our fill of singing (well, the place was closing and it was 4am) we hit up Mos Burger for teriyaki burgers. So good.
We all woke up the next day ready to hit TAF, or so we thought. After some calls were made we opted to instead do some sight seeing in Harajuku before meeting Maruyama-san for a tour of his studio. We had so little time at Harajuku; we had time to see a few cosplayers and Mike got a Kamen Rider toy. The train system is the most efficient way to get around Tokyo, but it still takes a hour to get anywhere, so we were a little late for our meeting with Maruyama-san. It was alright since he is a busy man and he too had other appointments that made him late. We met at TAF and shortly after arriving we left to go to Madhouse Studios.
Madhouse was awesome. I won’t say much more than that. The place is a sight to behold and it was a huge honor to be there and get a tour.
Off to dinner we went after a quick stop by Maruyama-san’s “kitchen studio” and then the restaurant he owns, Ze Bu. We were all served a delicious array of foods. I personally liked the Korean inspired beef soup and another beef dish along with this lemon “sake”. Maruyama gave me a bottle as a gift afterwards and I need to get a translation of it so I can get more.
Feeling stuffed the offer was made to go to an onsen. I wanted to go, but the car filled up before I had the chance to get in, so I went back to the hotel and got some sleep. Before resting my head I checked the Washington Post online and saw that GMU had won their game and would face off with UConn for a chance to go to the Final Four. I was really excited for GMU and I thought, “Hey, they may actually do it”. My bracket was already blown but I cared little about that. This was great news. I finally found a phone card and called Callie. It was so good hearing her voice and it made me homesick. I love to travel, but home is nice too. Tom also emailed me about his job news. He got the job he wanted after a lot of time waiting, so I was really happy for him.
The next morning was going to be busy. First a trip to Akihabara to check out tech and anime and then to the Onsen with Maruyama-san. I got Callie a DS Lite and a book for Tom. The DS Lite was quite popular. I almost did not get it as the place did not accept credit cards and when I finally got money to pay for the one I wanted, they had sold out of it. Literally the place went from having two to selling out in the span of 60 seconds as my back was turned. Luckily, one of those two was sold to Kurt, so he sold it to me at face value since he really had no use for it (it would need charging and he had a plane to catch).
Feeling good at having gotten gifts for everyone we went back to the hotel to meet Maruyama-san. He picked us up and we were on our way. The drive took a LONG time. All told we were in the car for 5 hours. Traffic in Tokyo and on the beach/mountain roads were packed and we travelled a long distance. It felt like a trip to the Outer Banks. The trip was nice though — it allowed us a chance to talk about the anime industry.
Once at the onsen my whole world view was turned upside down. Whereas most of the things I knew about Japan were within the realm of western culture, the onsen is almost completely foreign. An onsen, for those not familiar with the term, is a Japanese bathhouse. The process of stripping naked and relaxing with other men surrounding you in a sauna or spring filled pool was different. Very different. The heterosexual in me wanted to leave immediately, but I did not want to appear culturally insensitive. While in Japan I had eaten lots of foods I normally would not have, and the motto of “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” filled my head. With my resolve set I got naked and tried the onsen with an open mind.
It was not bad. In fact, the baths were very relaxing and the sauna was awesome. The idea of going from hot to cold baths was new but very welcome. The only real downside to this was the fact that there were naked men around me. It may be cool for some people, but I am not sure I want to see the naughty bits of random people, let alone people I am friends with. I think the feeling was shared by every American in our party.
Feeling relaxed we left after a while at the onsen. The ride was equally as long. By 7pm we had missed our appointment with Christian (of Little Gamers) and we were no where near Tokyo. We stopped to eat at a nice place outside Yokohama. The food was fantastic and our host did a wonderful job of making sure were left a few pounds heavier than when we landed in Japan.
We got back to our hotel after midnight. I emailed Christian to see if we could meet up before our flight to the US the next morning. Then I went to sleep.
Well, we did not sleep just yet. We all went up to Jim’s room and discussed the trip. We talked about the fact we are getting [CENSORED] and the relationships we built. Then, after getting ready for our flight the next day by packing we all went to bed.
I woke up and checked my email. Christian was going to try and meet us at 9am for lunch. I got ready and went to the hotel lobby at 9am. I waited for 20 minutes before I had to go with Jim to do some final errands. Christian came by 10 minutes later, so we never did meet up. I now owe him some drinks in Balitmore (go figure 
).
We got on the bus to Narita and then it was off to ATL before I eventually touched down in DCA. The flight was long, and we all felt a little sick. Our bodies decided to last us long enough for the trip, but not on the way back. At Atlanta I checked the nearest newspaper and saw that GMU beat UConn. Inconceivable! This combined with talking to my family when I got home made the weariness of the trip melt away.
Landing in DCA was painless. It was great to see Callie at the airport and before long I was home in Georgetown. Syndey was so excited to see me and it made my homecoming a happy time.
This trip was a complete success. As perfectionists we all saw the need to improve some aspects of what we did, but we cannot ignore the generosity of the people we met and the fruits of our labor. Otakon will see many benefits of this trip for years to come. I was honored that I was responsible for making this a reality over the years. It was a lot of fun. Next year I need to just book an entire week or more.
Tuesday - March 28th, 2006 at 03:51pm
Koup
Filed under: World View
I was reading this article in the Washington Post by Mike Wise and it got me thinking… Why aren’t Americans more interested in this sport!. I personally love the biathalon. I am a snowboarder and would push my kids (0 currently) to take one plank over two 99% of the time, but I would make an exception if one said, “I dream of getting a gold in the Biathalon.” Hell, if I was young enough, I would train myself.
Mike Wise also makes some nice points about females in the sport. And Guns…
Makes me want to find a TV and turn on the Winter Games… Even if it is curling.
Tuesday - February 14th, 2006 at 12:48pm
Koup
Filed under: Apple Inc.
So, I should have posted a long time ago. The Redskins are in the playoffs, the they even beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wildcard round. Since I last wrote Christmas came and went, presents were opened, food eaten, trips taken and weight lost. Many items for me to post about that are not wholly personal: Alito confirmation hearings, mines collapsing, NSA wiretapping and such. Why am I posting now after such a long absence?
The MacBook Pro!
As of this writing, the Apple Website has not been updated, but I used Mac Rumors to get updates as Steve Jobs presented his keynote, and from what I have read… WOW!
Intel Laptops running Mac OS X… This is the stuff of dreams. I just with I had the money. I know Callie will kill me if I ask for this, so I will have to bide my time. I don’t like to buy revision 1’s of any product, so lets see how things are around my birthday 
Tuesday - January 10th, 2006 at 01:47pm
Koup
Filed under: Politics
I like to think of my self as a slightly left-of-center-but-still-open-minded person. It is because of this that I have to state that I hate fundamentalism. Namely religious fundamentalism of the type that brought about Intelligent Design. Case in point is a WashingtonPost article about reaction to the judgement of Judge Jones. Some of the comments I read were ludicrous:
…Richard Land, who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and is a political ally of White House adviser Karl Rove. “This was an extremely injudicious judge who went way, way beyond his boundaries — if he had any eyes on advancing up the judicial ladder, he just sawed off the bottom rung.”
I don’t know about this. The judge wrote clearly his justification and basis in law. Also, a judge is supposed to be driven by career choices and not the law? How about:
Steve Fuller, a philosopher of science at the University of Warwick in England, whose politics tend to the left, said he worries that Jones’s decision will drive an intriguing if still half-formed challenge to Darwinian theory out of the academy and into the theology schools. “The judge’s ruling really puts the burden on the intelligent-design guys,” Fuller said.
The burden should be on intelligent design and it proponents. They were given the opportunity to present their proof during the trial, but they failed in that. The case opinion makes a great case for why intelligent design is not an appropriate topic for a science class. Science is based on observable natural phenomena while ID’s foundation is the supposition of a supernatural being. This is not science and so not fit for the science classroom. Prove the supernatural being in ID is observable and testable and then it will turn into a viable theory.
Thursday - December 22nd, 2005 at 04:18pm
Koup
Filed under: Politics, Tech, Something Personal, Redskins
So, I have not posted in some time. The main reason for all this is that I have been busy with classes and work. So, here is a quick recap:
Learning Ruby on Rails and AJAX
Programming lots of Perl
Dieting
Baked some Apple Pies
And on the Redskins side, I saw the Redskins whoop-up on the Cowpunks.
Also, on news of the world around us, I saw this great analysis of the Dover, Intelligent Design case. I have been reading the judge’s opinion on this case. Very good.
Wednesday - December 21st, 2005 at 09:45pm
Koup
Filed under: My Photography, Something Personal, Apple Inc., Eating Out
So, looking at this place got me thinking… “What do I want for Christmas?”
I don’t want to sound greedy at all, so please post as comments (all 2 of you readers) what you have on your wishlist. It does not have to be obtainable. It is just that time of year and it appears I am not the first. I don’t expect anyone to get me anything from this list (hell, skip this post). I only hope my parents read this
Now, the list:
- XBox 360 (standard) - Something that uses my TV…
- Aperture - to edit photos taken on last year’s present
- Dual Core G5 PowerMac - To run Aperture
- 30-inch Apple Display - One is good, two is better
- 15-inch Powerbook - Intel one would be cooler… not for some time
- Honda CBR600RR motorcycle - For when I learn how to ride…
- 200+mm Nikon Mount Lens - I have a 200mm lens… I would like something a little longer, like a 400mm or 500mm (link is info on a Sigma)
- Nikon SB-600 AF Speedlight - So I can take better night and low light photos
- Gift Cards - Best Buy, iTunes, Chipotle (for after the diet), Starbucks
- Flying Lessons - A lifelong dream
- Clothing - Anything stylish… I like these Oakley Pants… (for the winter), but anything nice… I hope to lose some weight before I buy clothing
- DVDs (all Widescreen ) - Lost - Season One, Sin City, Batman Begins, Hitch, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Battlestar Galactica - Season One, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban, and so on…
- Kitchen Remodel
- New Bathrooms
- Good Redskins Tickets - What I have a good, but they are not real season tickets
Tuesday - November 22nd, 2005 at 04:14pm
Koup
Filed under: Callie's rare posts
There is justice in this world! Kung Fu Hustle wins at Chinese Oscars. But it would have been better with Kevin and Amy…. well, maybe not 
Monday - November 14th, 2005 at 09:09pm
Cheato
Filed under: World View, Something Personal
Despite your beliefs about the war in Iraq, no one should minimize the work and dedication of our troops. On this Veterans Day please take a few moments of your time to pay homage to them.
Friday - November 11th, 2005 at 09:35am
Koup
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