H, our Japanese friend, is coming to the United States! We, in the lab, are excited about it. In typical Japanese custom, he wanted to know what to bring to the United States as gifts. He wrote "What do you miss from Japan. I will bring it."
But could he really bring all the things I miss?
Things I miss from Japan:
- QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE. Sales people who care about their job and help you find my ridiculously large sizes. Waiters/tresses at Mos Burger who bring you water while you wait for your to go order. 7 11 workers that scream "thank you for your business" when you leave.
- NEVER HAVING TO TIP. Everything is included in the printed bill.
- FOOD. Steaming bowls of Tonkatsu Ramen and its fried rice accompaniment. Black sesame soft serve ice cream. Dessert at 4 pm, doughnuts, not too sweet yellow cake with fruit compote. Curry and rice. Pork chop and rice. Pretty much anything and rice. Meat/fishpaste on a stick.
- VENDING MACHINES. Vending machines for morning coffee. Afternoon tea or water at hand and never having to carry my nalgene with me. Entertaining vending machines that have live action film of your coffee beans being ground, brewed, and then poured. Vending machines with beer and sochi drinks, so I never had to go all the way to store for a buzz.
- TELEVISION. Games shows that humiliate their contestants. Lip synching contests. Dramas about the gangster that goes back to high school or the one about the love lorn stewardesses.
I think I'll have to just ask for Japanese office supplies.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Back to school
The leaves are starting to change colors. Large amounts of ragweed litters the air. The BU girls are out in their glittery half naked glory. Summer is over.
Normally, the start of a new semester is a source of irritation. New ID cards, having to get study cards signed, having to justify your existance in the school for one more year. Autumn is also the time I get that dreaded question, "So do you think you can graduate this year?" And the sad realization that I've accomplished so little in the lab.
This year, I have turned over a new leaf. I am kind of excited about the new year and the idea of being around undergrads does not give me the willies. In the spring, V and I wrote a proposal for to teach a class, and it was accepted. The only caveat is that we have to attract at least 4 students.
We attended a biology class fair on Friday, in which we gave out our syllabi and friendly smiles. Our class is about protein degradation. Next to us was a professor teaching virology and world health. I started feeling poor self esteem as hordes of students flocked to his table and ours had only a few visitors. One kid even told me our class looked "too sciencey." Yikes, good thing it was not "too englishy."
Not to be deterred, our first class is tomorrow and I am hoping to have four students that think a science class that is sciencey is a good thing. I will prepare notes, powerpoint slides, the whole shebang. No more fun in Japan. Looks like school has started again.
Normally, the start of a new semester is a source of irritation. New ID cards, having to get study cards signed, having to justify your existance in the school for one more year. Autumn is also the time I get that dreaded question, "So do you think you can graduate this year?" And the sad realization that I've accomplished so little in the lab.
This year, I have turned over a new leaf. I am kind of excited about the new year and the idea of being around undergrads does not give me the willies. In the spring, V and I wrote a proposal for to teach a class, and it was accepted. The only caveat is that we have to attract at least 4 students.
We attended a biology class fair on Friday, in which we gave out our syllabi and friendly smiles. Our class is about protein degradation. Next to us was a professor teaching virology and world health. I started feeling poor self esteem as hordes of students flocked to his table and ours had only a few visitors. One kid even told me our class looked "too sciencey." Yikes, good thing it was not "too englishy."
Not to be deterred, our first class is tomorrow and I am hoping to have four students that think a science class that is sciencey is a good thing. I will prepare notes, powerpoint slides, the whole shebang. No more fun in Japan. Looks like school has started again.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Football and pondering prickly men
When it rains, it pours. Last week it poured football. I guess it was bound to happen. It started with my ill fated fantasy team, a little BC students partying all around me after their victory and, ended with the Pats game yesterday.
So G invited me to the Pats yesterday. Who was I to turn down tickets to a game? It would be him and his boyz, basically a collection of the whitest middle aged Republican business men.... oh and me, one leftist science loving monitarily struggling evil twin.
On Thursday I receive this e-mail,
s/et#1/k:
looking forward to opening day on sunday.
TRANSPORTATION
here are some thoughts on getting out of boston. i'll pick up k say 8:45am in back bay and then we'll continue on to pick up et#1 and then s in brookline say 9:15/9:30ish. this will prob leave us at gillette at about 10:15/10:45am depending on traffic. as it will be the first game of the year, i expect the roads will be fairly full early, and therefore i would like to beat some portion of the crowd and not be in giant traffic jams (on the way there). this will give us some time to tailgate/chill out before going into the stadium. as u all know, i tend to be the early guy - i hope you will indulge me this once as i see it as part of the fun.
also, we should all be mentally prepared for a tough ride out of Gillette after the game.
FOOD
as far as the tailgate goes, all of you have offered to do something. thanks. maybe i could ask each of you to do just one cool food thing. don't overdo it. there's only 4 of use and i find that my eyes are usually bigger than my stomache for these tailgates. i will bring about a couple of six packs and a couple of bottles of wine. if you want to bring some other beer/wine, be my guest. chips/dip etc. are also welcome. i have a good-sized cooler which we can prob stuff your food into if it needs chilling. k's tailgate axiom: you never have enough ice!
ok, i think that is it. let me know if you have any questions.
g
I realized that these boys, knew nothing about tailgating. Luckily, they have me, who has friends like B and S. A little after midnight on Saturday, I went to B and S apartment to pick up some camping chairs. Now where you might be asking yourself am I going with this tangent. Well, it is this: my friends are awesome. And perhaps because of that I have high expectations for other people's friends.
The next morning I woke up, not very bright eyed and bushy tailed. I fried up some chicken fingers, as my "one cool food thing," and went for a short run as they cooled down. I showered got dressed and was ready to go. Just in case I misunderstood the "one cool food thing," I packed some chips, baby carrots and guacamole, the last two things being foods that need to remain cool.
The boys were on time and we were on schedule for our little road trip. Foxboro was a traffic mess. We were supposed to meet some people in a different parking lot. So G made an illegal u-turn across the cones. "Get back here, " we heard on the loud speaker. A very angry large African American police officer told us to pull to off to the center of the road that was blocked off by cones. G started to freak out. I, on the other hand, started laughing. The worst thing that could happen to us is that G gets a ticket. Please, I could do worse things in my car going to the grocery store. Apparently, the boyz did not find the whole situation as funny as I did. The cop let us off with a warning and we decided to just park in a far away lot not risking the wrath of any more police officers.
I should preface this by saying, I have never met S before in my life and K dislikes me a great deal. But I made the best of our little tailgate. Of course, that is also to say I was the first person to crack open a beer which may be how I made the best of it. We sat on B and S's chairs, chatted, snacked on foods. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and autumn breeze was blowing in the air. It was obvious after a while that K clearly did not want to be there. He was a little cranky, a little tired, and a little pouty. S is kind of a blow hard, droning on about some nonsense about an ex-girlfriend. (According to G, S was not really a friend of his, but he was part of their group so an obligatory invite)
And then I realized something. I never have to worry about my friends. For the most part they are always in a good mood and since I lack any kind of filter those people I dislike have distanced themselves from me. I felt bad for G. He was a little stressed out. He had bought these tickets, organized an outing, and really wanted everyone to have a good time.
We made our way to the stadium and got separated as I went through the very efficient women with purses line. I sat in my seat and got to see the first touchdown scored by the Buffalo defense. Okay, admittedly I am a ditz sometimes, and I was sitting in the wrong section. By the time I realized it, it was 2 minutes into the game. I made my way to my real seats and saw G waving (he seemed happy to see me). We had some new friends join us, and so guy bonding commenced. Well sort of. We were surrounded by massholes, who were die hard fans, and I was with the yuppiest group. G's boyz wore polos, khaki pants, and sweaters tied around their necks. (Credit to G who had the sense to wear a Troy Brown Jersey with jeans.)
I start talking with guys behind me. The older guy was receiving scores on his phone for all the other games. He would tap me on the shoulder and give me the occasional update. We high-fived during key points. G looked over at me and laughed. He whispered in my ear "Do you think K will drive us home?"
Knowing K would drive home, G went for a couple of beers. He relaxed. He started to enjoy the game. G bonded with the two sitting in front of us wearing Rodney Harrison jerseys. He kept shouting nonsensical things, like "wow that was a great kick from Viniteri," just to see if he could get a rile out of the people. He and I go up each time to yell "First down!" We had ... fun.
After the Pats scored a surprising safety in the 4th quarter, the game was becoming a nail biter. However, S and K wanted to go home. At which point a slightly exasperated G (who had shelled out some scratch for his friends to go see this game) said, "Sure whatever you want, although I don't think it will get us out any faster and the game is so close."
We stayed until the end, filing out with everyone else. Our friends being in another parking lot, went their separate ways. The four of us decided just to sit still and wait in the parking lot for a while probably because there was no other option. A boy from a couple of cars away started to throw a football our way. I was banned from throwing the ball after I hit the black SUV next to us.
By the time we hit the road, the traffic was still a nightmare. It took us an hour to move less than a mile. G fell asleep. S dozed off too. So I was left making awkward conversation with K as he drove. His wife called him every five minutes with updates on the US Open men's tennis finals. He clearly had nothing to say to me. I was relieved when G woke up, because at least then it was not so weird. I let the boys gossip about their friends.
I was the last one to be dropped off. G admitted it had been a slightly more stressful day than he had expected. He and K had gone to the Red Sox game the night before. K was a little tired. I told him that he never needs to apologize for friends. If K did not want to go he should have told him. But then G said something that made me a little sad, "Well, I went to K's baseball game last night and he felt obligated to my game today. And as for S, when you are old and single, you to hang out with anyone you can."
Well, I had good time. It is only retrospect that I realize how prickly and PMSy men can be even at the most manly of past times, football.
PS
I don't mean to be insensitive, but as a truly evil person I am choosing to ignore the historical significance of this day with my drivel.
So G invited me to the Pats yesterday. Who was I to turn down tickets to a game? It would be him and his boyz, basically a collection of the whitest middle aged Republican business men.... oh and me, one leftist science loving monitarily struggling evil twin.
On Thursday I receive this e-mail,
s/et#1/k:
looking forward to opening day on sunday.
TRANSPORTATION
here are some thoughts on getting out of boston. i'll pick up k say 8:45am in back bay and then we'll continue on to pick up et#1 and then s in brookline say 9:15/9:30ish. this will prob leave us at gillette at about 10:15/10:45am depending on traffic. as it will be the first game of the year, i expect the roads will be fairly full early, and therefore i would like to beat some portion of the crowd and not be in giant traffic jams (on the way there). this will give us some time to tailgate/chill out before going into the stadium. as u all know, i tend to be the early guy - i hope you will indulge me this once as i see it as part of the fun.
also, we should all be mentally prepared for a tough ride out of Gillette after the game.
FOOD
as far as the tailgate goes, all of you have offered to do something. thanks. maybe i could ask each of you to do just one cool food thing. don't overdo it. there's only 4 of use and i find that my eyes are usually bigger than my stomache for these tailgates. i will bring about a couple of six packs and a couple of bottles of wine. if you want to bring some other beer/wine, be my guest. chips/dip etc. are also welcome. i have a good-sized cooler which we can prob stuff your food into if it needs chilling. k's tailgate axiom: you never have enough ice!
ok, i think that is it. let me know if you have any questions.
g
I realized that these boys, knew nothing about tailgating. Luckily, they have me, who has friends like B and S. A little after midnight on Saturday, I went to B and S apartment to pick up some camping chairs. Now where you might be asking yourself am I going with this tangent. Well, it is this: my friends are awesome. And perhaps because of that I have high expectations for other people's friends.
The next morning I woke up, not very bright eyed and bushy tailed. I fried up some chicken fingers, as my "one cool food thing," and went for a short run as they cooled down. I showered got dressed and was ready to go. Just in case I misunderstood the "one cool food thing," I packed some chips, baby carrots and guacamole, the last two things being foods that need to remain cool.
The boys were on time and we were on schedule for our little road trip. Foxboro was a traffic mess. We were supposed to meet some people in a different parking lot. So G made an illegal u-turn across the cones. "Get back here, " we heard on the loud speaker. A very angry large African American police officer told us to pull to off to the center of the road that was blocked off by cones. G started to freak out. I, on the other hand, started laughing. The worst thing that could happen to us is that G gets a ticket. Please, I could do worse things in my car going to the grocery store. Apparently, the boyz did not find the whole situation as funny as I did. The cop let us off with a warning and we decided to just park in a far away lot not risking the wrath of any more police officers.
I should preface this by saying, I have never met S before in my life and K dislikes me a great deal. But I made the best of our little tailgate. Of course, that is also to say I was the first person to crack open a beer which may be how I made the best of it. We sat on B and S's chairs, chatted, snacked on foods. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and autumn breeze was blowing in the air. It was obvious after a while that K clearly did not want to be there. He was a little cranky, a little tired, and a little pouty. S is kind of a blow hard, droning on about some nonsense about an ex-girlfriend. (According to G, S was not really a friend of his, but he was part of their group so an obligatory invite)
And then I realized something. I never have to worry about my friends. For the most part they are always in a good mood and since I lack any kind of filter those people I dislike have distanced themselves from me. I felt bad for G. He was a little stressed out. He had bought these tickets, organized an outing, and really wanted everyone to have a good time.
We made our way to the stadium and got separated as I went through the very efficient women with purses line. I sat in my seat and got to see the first touchdown scored by the Buffalo defense. Okay, admittedly I am a ditz sometimes, and I was sitting in the wrong section. By the time I realized it, it was 2 minutes into the game. I made my way to my real seats and saw G waving (he seemed happy to see me). We had some new friends join us, and so guy bonding commenced. Well sort of. We were surrounded by massholes, who were die hard fans, and I was with the yuppiest group. G's boyz wore polos, khaki pants, and sweaters tied around their necks. (Credit to G who had the sense to wear a Troy Brown Jersey with jeans.)
I start talking with guys behind me. The older guy was receiving scores on his phone for all the other games. He would tap me on the shoulder and give me the occasional update. We high-fived during key points. G looked over at me and laughed. He whispered in my ear "Do you think K will drive us home?"
Knowing K would drive home, G went for a couple of beers. He relaxed. He started to enjoy the game. G bonded with the two sitting in front of us wearing Rodney Harrison jerseys. He kept shouting nonsensical things, like "wow that was a great kick from Viniteri," just to see if he could get a rile out of the people. He and I go up each time to yell "First down!" We had ... fun.
After the Pats scored a surprising safety in the 4th quarter, the game was becoming a nail biter. However, S and K wanted to go home. At which point a slightly exasperated G (who had shelled out some scratch for his friends to go see this game) said, "Sure whatever you want, although I don't think it will get us out any faster and the game is so close."
We stayed until the end, filing out with everyone else. Our friends being in another parking lot, went their separate ways. The four of us decided just to sit still and wait in the parking lot for a while probably because there was no other option. A boy from a couple of cars away started to throw a football our way. I was banned from throwing the ball after I hit the black SUV next to us.
By the time we hit the road, the traffic was still a nightmare. It took us an hour to move less than a mile. G fell asleep. S dozed off too. So I was left making awkward conversation with K as he drove. His wife called him every five minutes with updates on the US Open men's tennis finals. He clearly had nothing to say to me. I was relieved when G woke up, because at least then it was not so weird. I let the boys gossip about their friends.
I was the last one to be dropped off. G admitted it had been a slightly more stressful day than he had expected. He and K had gone to the Red Sox game the night before. K was a little tired. I told him that he never needs to apologize for friends. If K did not want to go he should have told him. But then G said something that made me a little sad, "Well, I went to K's baseball game last night and he felt obligated to my game today. And as for S, when you are old and single, you to hang out with anyone you can."
Well, I had good time. It is only retrospect that I realize how prickly and PMSy men can be even at the most manly of past times, football.
PS
I don't mean to be insensitive, but as a truly evil person I am choosing to ignore the historical significance of this day with my drivel.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Laborious Labor Day
Labor Day is normally a day of rest. That day before summer ends and school begins. A day to reflect on a job well done. The last day to wear my white linen pants and white sandals. Okay so I don't really own those, but if I did yesterday would be the last day I could wear them.
In reality, Labor Day is not relaxing for all. For instance, the sales reps at Best Buy seemed harried from the crazy mobs of incoming college students and their overtired parents.
I rolled out of bed late, made myself some breakfast, and watched a little Regis and Kelly. I fell asleep in front of the television, before motivating to make an appearance in the lab. At the lab I called my mother, split my cells, and avoided all eye contact with my advisor. Then it was off to Best Buy and Staples to buy some school supplies. Fighting off the crowds was tiring work so I walked a nearby deli to get a sandwhich. At the deli I found Vitamin Water for sale, so I bought 10 bottles. I loaded all my wares in my trusy backpack and trekked home. It was a little heavier than expected.
At home, I convinced my roomate C to help me tidy up a bit. I rode my bike to B and S's apartment to pick up some Polish vodka. Back to the apartment, to which I saw C had cleaned quite a bit. This cleanliness spurred on the desire to wet mop/vac all the floors. I cooked dinner, feat onto itself, and ate it in front of "Two and a Half Men." I showered got ready for bed, and was getting ready to do some paperwork when I realized I had not pre-orderd my picks for my fantasy football team. I stressed about it for an hour and realized I was just screwed so I picked my top 25 and let the autodraft do the rest. (which by the way was a huge mistake). I did a little bit of paper work and went to lala land.
Whew. I need a non-labor day.
In reality, Labor Day is not relaxing for all. For instance, the sales reps at Best Buy seemed harried from the crazy mobs of incoming college students and their overtired parents.
I rolled out of bed late, made myself some breakfast, and watched a little Regis and Kelly. I fell asleep in front of the television, before motivating to make an appearance in the lab. At the lab I called my mother, split my cells, and avoided all eye contact with my advisor. Then it was off to Best Buy and Staples to buy some school supplies. Fighting off the crowds was tiring work so I walked a nearby deli to get a sandwhich. At the deli I found Vitamin Water for sale, so I bought 10 bottles. I loaded all my wares in my trusy backpack and trekked home. It was a little heavier than expected.
At home, I convinced my roomate C to help me tidy up a bit. I rode my bike to B and S's apartment to pick up some Polish vodka. Back to the apartment, to which I saw C had cleaned quite a bit. This cleanliness spurred on the desire to wet mop/vac all the floors. I cooked dinner, feat onto itself, and ate it in front of "Two and a Half Men." I showered got ready for bed, and was getting ready to do some paperwork when I realized I had not pre-orderd my picks for my fantasy football team. I stressed about it for an hour and realized I was just screwed so I picked my top 25 and let the autodraft do the rest. (which by the way was a huge mistake). I did a little bit of paper work and went to lala land.
Whew. I need a non-labor day.
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