Tak's Milestone: May, 2000

May 31, 2000 =Biz Trip Mode in Dallas, TX!

Today's update is from Dallas, Texas! I came to this place for the first time in my life... City is wide spread... place called "West End" like Buckhead in Atlanta wasn't even that big... though, I really liked the atmosphere... That was where I had a fine dining for tonight.
Visiting Fritz Office called COE or "Center of Excellence" --- found lots of interesting things... Most notably thing to mention... there were about 300 people in the office working and many of them were young like my age and some of them were really CUTE! I, of course, had a chance to see all ex-Atlantian people... except Michelle/on vacation and Stan/meeting. Some of them really told me that I should come to work in COE... I should place it as the alternative choice after going back to Japan then! According to Sherry, the head of office, really told me that people were very young and very international... Wow! I definitely like that kind of stuff (you know me well by now, right? RIGHT???)

Office at COE... very nice. nice furniture and nice layout in the office!

You need to come over to here, Jonathan! (hehe)

Anyway, I had a good time over here so far and gathered quite good information... thanks to people I talked today.

For dinner, previously mentioned, went up to West End (above picture) and ate at restaurant called "Butcher Shop - Dallas" since Koji, who came on this trip with me, insisted "TEXAS=STEAK, right?"

We are staying at Staybridge by Holiday Inn. Surprisingly, the room was large!!! I think this kind of accommodation is for long term, not like one night stand... ooops, let me rephrase, one night stay... like me for tonight.

Like you can see, living room with a full kitchen and a separate bed room like that! How much? I've got a corporate rate... so I don't really know of regular price.
Man... these days lots of guests definitely needs to have access to Internet... You can have fast Internet access since room has Ethernet outlet in the wall. Hotel even stock the Ethernet card as well as cable... What you need to bring in is your own laptop! Did I try? Nope. I know, it is hectic to set up... it must be too much hassle for one night stand... Damn, I keep saying the same thing! ... for one night stay.

Coming on trip with my coworker Koji... he's got his eyes on my Palm computer... Seemed to be so interested... He may get one sometime soon. Did I do anything? Not really. I just kept using in as taking notes all day long today and he stared at my best gadget!

All right... that's about it for tonight. Am I going back to Atlanta? Yes, unfortunately. It is so nice to go out of town even on biz... Too bad that I will be sitting at my desk by 4pm tomorrow.

Bye!

May 30, 2000 =Resuming to Normal Life...

Tuesday wasn't only for softball... Went in the office right before 8am... 1 hour earlier than when I should... in order to catch up with some urgency... which was prolonging from previous week. Let's say, just it was such hectic...
Oh... I have lots of things to cover today... let me go over quickly so that I can pack for tomorrow's trip to Dallas, Texas! (haha)

First... softball game result, right?

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 T

Predators #2 1 0 1 4 1 2 6 15

Fritz 0 3 0 0 7 0 3 13

Almost!!! Almost could have kicked their butt!!! Man! this team is so far #1 in the league... so it was such great chance for us to come on top! Man, missed it so close...

Personally, we did great... almost all the best we could be in fielding... On offense part... we could have done better... why? because there were too many popup's.

Tak's personal result on batting... 1st: Sacrifice Fly to Center with RBI, 2nd: Single to Center, 3rd: Single to Left, and 4th: Double to Right (Outfielder).

Should calculate how the entire season come around by now... (may when I get a chance?)

Anyway, was great game... just too bad that victory just slipped away from our hands.

Next thing... some of my CRAZY friends are thinking to do something on me... since I am moving back to Japan... I hereby quote Bamian's writing...

Dear Committee member,As Tak Yamada prepares himself for a Japanese business community, there still remains a major concern. That is "Can he survive in the chaotic world of Japan just by eating prepackaged food from convenience stores?" As of today, none of the committee member has witnessed Tak cooking. I shall call to individual committee member. We cannot send him off to Japan without making sure that he can cook something. We need to make him cook!! There will be a gathering held soon to witness this memorable moment. We will watch Tak cook. Each participating committee member is required to prove his or her ability to cook by bringing one plate to the gathering. Then TAK will cook on the site in front of the committee. If you have any request, please reply. A detailed attend will be finalized based on everyone's schedule. Please contact Bamian at the office of Rehabilitation Program for Tak Yamada; Can Tak Do It?" for the schedule preference. Thank you very much for your time. Best regards, -Bamian

How did you think of this? Ok, ok, ok... I admit... I don't cook... Though, are they have to come onto me so tough like that?! (Oh, don't say yes here!)

Then, this caused a sort of serious (?) debate between my friends... like:

Dear Chairman of the committee,I was astonished by the radical plan which your committee came up... to somehow attempt to observe Tak's ability of survival in the harsh place so called Tokio Jungle. What a dangerous yet wonderful idea....!! However, I have come to realize the potential great danger that might be involved. Due to the hazardous nature of this experiment, should not medical back up be highly considered or at least medical insurance be provided forparticipants safety? I am sorry for the trouble, but I just wanted to raise the issue on behalf of every innocent participants. Your prompt consideration to this matter would behighly appreciated. -Foyer

Or something like...

I like your idea alot... however I think you do not need to cook in Japan.... becuase everything is expensive in Japan... like veges, meat etc.... so it is cheaper to buy Bento box at the store or hokaben-ya. Also, I do not think Tak will have enough time to cook!! He will work harder than ever.... To be honest with you, I am afraid to eat Tak's food.... I do not want to take a risk for his rehabilitation program.... It's wasting food!!!!!! (just kidding...)Well, I do not know if everybody wants to take a risk and waste food but I like your idea and please let me know what we can bring.... I love cooking anyway. I haven't seen some of you for a long time... soo I want to get together soon. -Tom2BWU

Then, Bamian comes back as response to Foyer...

Dear Tak Yamada,It is imperative that a man be able to cook in order to gain a distinct competitive advantage against other male species who bare no gold chains if you ever, and I have to stress this point, EVER wish to imagine yourself with female species. The only sound and practical solution left will be to go after male species; however, this is highly experimental and carries a high degree of risk since the male species in Japan have not seen a male with lots of gold chains to the extent of Tak Yamada's case. Inter-species marriage involving gold chains has never been implemented in Japan. The only research done in this field is related to black male species. If Tak Yamada finds this interesting, I have an experimental product called "Kutuzumi" which might help him win a female and still have lots of gold chains.Now we as a committee understand a possible identity crisis Tak Yamada may experience if he looses gold. Since "kutuzumi' is a highly experimental product and there have been no studies of side effects, the committee strongly recommends in involving Tak Yamada in a training which will enable him to gain a competitive advantage. Now this is proven to be effective and safe. However, as Tak Yamada???????????????? Dr. Foyer and a committee member Tom2BWU pointed out in the previous correspondence, any experiment involving Tak Yamada involves a high degree of uncertainty and risk. I have contacted the Center for Disease Control(CDC) in Atlanta to provide each participating committee member with a protective armor. Furthermore, the CDC agents will test the food for any sign of abnormal cellular activities and genetic defects. Arrangements have been made with all the appropriate entity to ensure the safety of participants and Atlanta residents. Also, I was contacted by CNN and they show strong interests in this experiment. This has never been done and they wanted to broadcast this experiment through the web site called Ogaki.net. Due to the nature of this experiment, no insurance company agreed to provide participants with any medical coverage. This will be strictly voluntary and the committee will be be held responsible for anything that might happen as a result of this experiment. All the committee members are requested to reply to this message with desired date and time of this experiment. Also, each member is required to bring one dish to the experiment. Please understand that this meal could be your last one. We will celebrate first and move on to the experiment.Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I will see you all there at the experiment. And hopefully afterwards...

Hey, since when I've got my personal committee? Man... what people out there! *kidding*

Some people are just unique like that, huh! So now I seemed under obligation that I have to serve some friends my first ever-cooked fancy meals... before going back to Japan...

Man, now I need to go to Burnes and Noble to see cook books!!!

Well... hope you enjoy reading this long stuff. I am sure that my American family in Waynesville, North Carolina, love to read this and moreover, they love to witness with my friends, too (right?).

Last... finally package arrived... from Hong Kong.

^{from left> 6 different color cover for Palm and current Tak's Palm with orange cover!}

Okay, let me go for tonight... need to pack for trip! I will report stuff from Dallas, Texas, tomorrow. See you later.

May 29, 2000 =Long Weekend Ends... Golf@Sugar Creek

Wow... the long weekend is now over! Too bad, huh? It was such short time for me... in other words, I should have enjoyed myself really much.
Another nice weather with cool breeze! I really liked this kind of climate. Really appreciated it. What did I do? Well, I went out... playing golf!

Today's course was Sugar Creek... sort of south part of Atlanta... Good thing was that the place wasn't crowded at all so that I could reasonably kept myself go on my pace! Did I play well? Oh, that's another story! (haha)

I shot 108... was okay, I better add. Friend who kept me company all day long today was Bamian who shot 130. He did pretty well since he's quite beginner.

I all day long on course never ever kept my swing steady... don't know hot to swing in order to hit the ball straight... anymore! Should get a lesson? Maybe---

Afterwards, we stayed home, watching Japanese TV programs on video. Was fairly fun! I haven't see any Japanese programs for a while; so this occasion was fun and I laughed a lot!

A friend nicknamed Madam... a Japanese reader from Macon, GA --- claimed that I should have rated "Mission Impossible 2" better than I did yesterday. She said (of course, it is female since called "Madam!") that M:i2 was not as great as the 1st movie; still it was enjoyable and exciting. Remember, I gave C for this movie? --- Well, the rating is coming out of overall performance. I see the movie in order to rate from various aspects... script, cast, story, filming technique, music, etc. M:i2 wasn't equally qualified to other recent movies I saw like mentioned yesterday.

However, I am sure that it was one of entertaining movies for now!

One of roommates, Yuko, finally came back home around 9:30pm... she was gone to somewhere for entire weekend... without telling anyone around where she's gone to. The other roommate, yk110, and I were really concerned... since she's never done anything like that before... now story ended up with like "Melrose Place." --- What should I do?

May 28, 2000 =Korean BBQ and "Mission Impossible 2"

What's up?! How's your Memorial Weekend so far?! --- Sorry didn't update my page yesterday. Hey, I just needed a break, all right? In fact, I did update Japanese page... though couldn't keep up to do all... so no update in English. Pardon me...
Yesterday wasn't too big deal... Went to play golf just for a half course... shot 57... was bad enough (as usual). Then went to Chinese restaurant called "Pung Me" on Buford Hwy... gathered about 6 guys besides myself. It was pretty fun over that dinner. Lots of interesting topics were covered including things about my hometown, Ogaki.

Came home like what... 11pm or something.

Then today... oh better mention, over this weekend, I sleep a lot! Whole a lot more than usual... I sleep like 10 - 12 hours a day now! Usually I sleep like 4 to 6 hours everyday... What is going on with me?! Maybe, I just save some energy in sleeping more and more.

Anyway, this afternoon was such fabulous time... my roommate yk110's friend from Korean invited us for "Memorial Day BBQ" at his apartment (Thanks to yk110's connection... free food, man!). Korean BBQ... just awesome food I've got! I ate and ate and ate... with full of drinks, of course! Was I drunk? Not that bad like you imagine by now.

Man, I really ate... more than I could possibly eat! Just couldn't resist such great stuff! (You know what I mean, right?) Now I am really really afraid to get on the weight scale like a woman!
Perhaps, this is the best Korean BBQ I have ever had in my entire life! I definitely give A+!

At night... like many of you, went to see "Mission Impossible 2" to Regal Hollywood 24. Did ya'll like that movie? I liked it as so-so.

Usually, it is so difficult to make 2nd movie of the series better than 1st one. This one couldn't be an exception, unfortunately. Story wasn't fascinated and couldn't hold viewers' attention well. It wasn't bored, just not exciting enough.

Some of you were very curious how grade I would give to this movie... some emailed me, telling me of what they thought about that movie. Some really did enjoy and didn't mind to see it again in theater... some others said, "NG."

Okay, here's my rating... Tak's rating for Mission Impossible 2: C. C? Yes, compared to other recent pictures like "Gladiator" or "U-571," I had to rank it low... like C.

How would you rate?

Well, hope your weekend keeps you busy even for tomorrow. Me? I don't know what I am going to do yet... probably play golf if weather allows. Oh those who in Japan reading this page even in English... sorry fellow, you've got to work by now! (HEHE)

What other movies I can even check out tomorrow?

See you later...

May 26, 2000 =Car's Back Right Before the Long Weekend!

Delay --- not only business but this update... was quite tired and didn't have much energy left for this last night... yes, I am writing this in the morning... the beginning of 3-day-weekend. Let me go back to yesterday-mode.
Call after call... Everyone seemed so desperate to get the cargoes which were on the way... One of clients... in Florida... surprisingly called me, screaming for the freight! I had no clue. I didn't even know that deal was existed at that time. Found out that the air freight was coming from Japan upon different route and I wasn't notified. Even making worse was that we didn't have a clearance from Customs. They wanted to have documents to examine and didn't clear within Friday.

Actually, I received more than 7 calls from that company with 4 different personnel including the President of Company. Bad thing is that I had to update them the same thing over and over! I felt like, "Please talk each other and give me a time to check your thing out for now!" because I was simply busy taking their calls.

That company even planned to open tomorrow (Sat), Sunday, and Monday (Wow, Memorial Day!)... because of the matter dealing with this cargo. What are they bringing in from Japan? That was DRILL, weights about 103 pounds. They need this to fix machine and they have to keep production line going so that they make the deadline to their customer. Hmmmmm, very tough.

Anyway, this cargo won't make that. Unfortunately, I have to go in to office earlier than usual Tuesday morning in order to keep up with this. As soon as getting cleared from Customs, we have to do hectic operation to get it to the client with minimum time of transportation. Wow, I feel like Tuesday ain't looked too good.

At night... had a refreshing moment... my roommates (2 of them) and I went out for dinner together. Was not really often that way like 3 of us went out together... usually everyone has something and we don't do things together!

Went out to small restaurant called something (not remember) cafe on Buford Hwy... just outside the Perimeter I-285.

Looked like a coffee shop... and they had sort of Japanese-Korean mixed dishes. Quite reasonable too. I ate curry on rice and those ladies ate something different... we shared the foods since we all came in that place for the first time. Taste was okay... I guess price range was proportionate to the taste (hahaha).

Thereafter, we had a such long conversation... Talking about health... sex (wow!)... and relationship. Unfortunately, no one currently involve in any relationship... Though, I felt like sort learned something about women... about their sex. That was absolutely interesting and worth to listen. Too bad that there is no place I can practice... right? Just kidding.

Finally, my car is back!!! Man, it's about time! So I now can say that I am ready for Memorial Weekend!

Well, that was it about my day... hope everyone gets nice BBQ over this weekend and I am also trying to have a good time! Ciao!

May 25, 2000 =Kelly Roy's Last Day!

Kept working from 2am this morning... Any small problem easily pisses me off... since I didn't get much sleep like I just said. I mean that I was very cranky! Then, I've got freaked out about my client faced the plan shut down because of this morning incident - no delivery made... Man, I was quite desperate...
Today was Kelly Roy's last day. She moves onto a competitor from next week.

So we went to have lunch at Ruby Tuesday... I, in fact, almost couldn't make it since things were really, really, really tide up... Though I found something... whole department of Kelly's was going to the restaurant. One of the most critical things was something gotta be done by that department... so I grabbed cellular phone with related documents and hit that direction with Koji.

I really bothered people, to be honest, with you, over the lunch. Didn't have a choice since I was told that I would be responsible for factory shutdown... (well, mistake wasn't mine, but I was the account rep.) So I finally got help out of someone in the department.

Oh let me tell you... Ruby Tuesday on Sullivan Road near the airport, really sucks. Service was notably slow and attitude by server wasn't too appreciative, rather rude! Tracy was pissed off and really went up to the manager of restaurant since we spent up whole lunch hour for just waiting... then when foods were finally got to our table... some of them were not even right orders! And most disappoint thing was... that person served us said, "Becuz computer was down and I had to do all manually --- It's not my fault!" That means no apology... really. Too bad, things were just like that!

Well, I took a snap picture at that restaurant while most of us were pretty mad and pissed up.

Some "traders" were joining us at that time. Carrie and Kristi were, as ya'll know, ex-Fritz people (now @ Expediters).

Afternoon... problems just sat there with me... didn't go away unlike to my desperate wish! So I really didn't keep up with clock and when realizing of time... it was about the time for everyone to go home... So I saw Kelly leaving... I said, "Don't I have a hug from you?" So she said, "Come on! I give it to you..." So we did have hug each other... wishing her the best! With one more snap shot like you just see here (ooops, she said, I should NOT put up this picture here).

Tonight... the night is far from over... some more hot shipments to take care of... Man, I am in like "SLEEPLESS in Atlanta" or something. Well, shouldn't complain too much since 3-day-weekend is just around the corner!!! Better think of that, rather than about job...

You know, my boss checked in with me several times... I told him, "I don't have much time to talk to you right now... sorry, I better hang up!" --- This was totally true! So I did. I am sure that he's been quite concerning about the situation...

My roommate, yk110, --- hot date? two movies over 2 nights?! Actually, 2 nights in a row... Must be nice, man! I wish I could do same...

All right, let me go for tonight... am very tired. I should plan something exciting for this weekend... contrary to the fact which I have no plans for weekend.

See you tomorrow!

May 24, 2000 =Unique Bug (Beetle) --- One More?

Hello, ya'll! How are ya? Man, it was sucked today... really did. Nightmare story began when finding out that Bob was out sick today. I had some pending issue with him for some client in South Carolina and I didn't have good feeling on it.
Well, that issue didn't go too bad afterwards... though some others kept coming up with some urgent shipments. Made a booboo... Koji kept up with Dallas Office for one entry on the most urgent shipment of the day... failed. Miserable failed. Bad. Entry was finally made around 4:45pm... 15 minutes after the Customs closed. In other words, if any document exam on this particular cargo, we come to have to wait for tomorrow when Customs reopen... It became true.

My original scenario was like: Entry should be complete before 12:30pm... see the result of the Entry around 2pm... Then I will send Koji to Customs with documents to expidite the process of clearance before 4:30pm.

Man, my story was nothing then... too bad. It took a while to get all classification of items (which were less than 10 in kinds) --- Koji kept on Dallas... saying "They told me working on it!" Did mean nothing to me!

So we failed like that. We had to call that customer for apology in delay and inconvenience... of course. We have to redo all that tomorrow. Plus, I have some other issues just emerged after 6pm tonight. Missing pallet, last free day of 6 containers to move within tomorrow, etc. I can clearly picture of tomorrow as of now! (darn)

I should plan something big for this long weekend... which I don't really plan... not my car back yet (hopefully, tomorrow) and may have to work for some shipments over weekend, too.

COOL BEETLE --- Got some more information about that unique vehicle... the day I saw the car in the airport parking... friend of mine, Foyer, saw exactly the same car in Buckhead area around almost same time --- maybe 30 minutes difference. Foyer told me today that as soon as he saw it, he came by the car and glanced at it in details (tried to find out where Japan was on the car!!!). He, in matter of fact, almost took pictures of it and send them to me for my web site... When he came home (no pictures taken) and looked up my web page... so surprised to see those pictures already on the Internet! (HA- magic)

He saw one in Buckhead area... around 6:30pm... I saw the car in the parking lot at 7pm... it must be almost impossible to drive from the place where Foyer saw to the airport within 30 minutes throughout such rush hour... so my theory is "maybe 2 cars of same kind..." Is that true? I need to call that travel agent to see if this is true or not?

Funny thing... several readers beg me to give them copies of pictures... so that they can send out to let friends know. One of the readers who deal with autos on his web page... even put up the same picture to his site! I guess, someone needs to do similar thing in Japan for "eye-catch" deal in advertisement!

Did you see Michael J. Fox's last appearance on "Spin City???" I saw part of it. How about "Mission Impossible 2???" --- At least I didn't go out for it tonight. Unlike myself, my roommate, yk110, went out with HOT date to see that movie (as of now; 11pm). Wow, hot date - Chinese guy seemed handsome... Maybe too young, though (sihhhhh).

How about me? I am totally out of that kind of fun fair... at least I need to know someone new to hang out with, right?

Ok, see you tomorrow. I may complain more about tomorrow than today... thanks for listening!

May 23, 2000 =Softball Result, etc.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 T

ACC 2 3 0 1 3 - 9

Fritz 5 3 8 1 0 - 17

Another Victory! We all played well... whenever we win, of course we play well! (HAHA) We had 5 men and 5 women... didn't have any subs for this game... no injury or anything needed...

Starting Lineup:

Dawn (RCF)
Tim (RF)
Misty (SS) - fiancee of Jay's, Kristi Hart's brother
Calvin (LCF)
Cindy - non-Fritz (1B)
Keith (2B)
Leslie - Billy's wife (2B)
Todd (P)
Gloria (C)
Tak (3B)

I was the last on the order? Well, because I had some trouble in my leg from last game... I wasn't sure that I can run 100% in the game... So Coach Keith put me last. Keith got hurt himself... then, Jay - Kristi Hart's brother arrived to the game a bit late took the spot... You know what happened? Tim came to play at the 2nd base!!! Never ever imagined of it! (WOW) I am sure that it would be last time for me to see him play infield rather than on mound or outfield... He played good out there! Impressive.

Did I play okay? Yah... 2 for 3 tonight... single to the center, grounder to 2B, and double over the center field. As holding the possibility to worsen my light injury in leg, I did pretty okay. Fielding-wise, okay too.

Most importantly, I really enjoyed the game! (as usual)

Oh, let me go back to work issue today... Sales Support Team had a big issue needed to solve for a big client... on worldwide bit... The work required to work with Asian offices and those on the deal were so desperate to make today's deadline... Some countries didn't submit the information requested. One of those countries was Japan... Toshiko - Manager of Planning and Strategy in Tokyo Office where I am going to work from this summer - worked all day long for that... Literary, ALL DAY LONG. 6am Japan time tomorrow morning (4pm here local time in Atlanta), she was still in the office working on the bid! She's single female personnel... remaining in the office ALONE! What a work she does!

I personally know her well since she used to be my counter part for air freight from Japan. She really worked hard! (Just wanted to mention...)

Oh about yesterday's cool looking bug --- I called that travel agent this afternoon... whoever the lady answered my phone talked to me nicely and told her that pictures were on my web site... She said that she would look it up later... Then, I got a thank-you email message from the owner (maybe)... She said that she was quite flattered.

Man, I really called...

Geeee, since softball game was at 9:15pm and I came home around 11:10pm (Keith, thanks bunch!) --- now actually it is 1:30am... WAY passed my bed time. As soon as finished this, move on to Japanese page, then go to sleep!

See you tomorrow.

May 21, 2000 =Final Good-Bye to Charlie! 300+ Hits Last Night?

A big surprise... very big... I told you a couple days ago that there was 140-some hits over a night... Man, it gotta be kidding now... it was more than 300+ hits last night. This is because one of the most popular Palm sites made a link to my page since I dealt with iMac-style Stylus Pan for Palm device on 5/9/00 (Please go back to that part if don't recall).
Thanks to that, the counter (on Japanese version) kept winding up like I just said.

Hope I may grab more frequent visitors out of those people just came for the information. I know, more than 100 hits per day on one personal page seems miracle... though, it is NOT impossible, I believe now.

The like was made by "PalmFan.com" --- sorry, Japanese only.

Today... Charlie's take-off to NYC! Finally! I cut my work short and made to airport around 5pm... I was expecting my roommate's pickup at the office around 4pm... ended up with no show-up of hers since she got lost somewhere nearby the office. Noy (Sales Support) gave me a ride (thanks!).

Like as consumer satisfaction report tells, Continental did a great job... 2 delays for the flight what Charlie really catches...(Continental is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction of all other American carriers!) so I really got a plenty of time to get to talk to Charlie in the Concourse D.

^{from left> Tak, Charlie and yk110}

^{from left> Charlie and Mr. Hara (who came to say good-bye to Charlie)}

Still cannot believe that Charlie is no longer here in Atlanta with us... He's been such good friend of mine since last August... yet feel like we'd have known each other for years... Good luck, Charlie! I definitely come up to NYC to have fun with you! Just look around the town and search for the best entertainment place (besides Adult Ent. kind places = kidding!).

When yk110 and I came out the airport... in the parking lot to be exact... I saw something so unique and had difficulty to let it go without taking some pictures! Looooook!

It is BUG (VW Beetle) with WORLD MAP on it!

Oh, travel agent's company car! Still WAY TOOO COOL!

"TVLBUG" ???? Aha... "Travel Bug!" COOOL!
Have you heard "O'Dowd Travel?" Man, I really want to meet the one owns that place! He/she must be so cool! Have you seen this vehicle around before? I may call that travel agent tomorrow, just let them know that their vehicle's picture on the web!!!

May 21, 2000 =Weekend Ended!

How was your weekend? Hope ya'll had good ones! I didn't do much anything special... except feeling still sort of dizzy... I really don't know what causes this! My muscle ache became much better... though, overall I am downwards.
My 3 day weekend, from Friday, is now over just like yours... Golf was fun... 1 movie, no special dinner or anything... Though, good thing is... next weekend is once again 3 day vacation... following Monday is Memorial Day! (Please note, if you don't know yet)

Hey... no one showed up in my message board yet? Shame on you! (crying...)

I guess I should register my website to Yahoo or other major search engines, huh?

Oh, "Mission Impossible 2" is open this week (Friday?) --- cannot wait! I definitely won't miss this.

Maybe, I may spend next weekend in North Carolina to see my American family... if they will remain in town over there...

My leg injury from last softball game... still remain with a bit of pain... I may not be able to play this Tuesday...

My car gets finally ready tomorrow? So I heard. Will see if that's true or not.

Charlie is finally leaving us for NYC tomorrow. Too bad, I cannot show up in the airport to say good-bye to him because of no car. Though, this NEVER be final farewell... definitely see him in NYC before going back to Japan!

Man, very severe thunder storm! Better shut this computer down soon! Will see you tomorrow! Ciao!

May 20, 2000 =Message Board Started!

As ya'll wanted (who, do I mean here?) --- I finally installed BBS in this domain, Ogaki.net!!! BBS... yes, like you see, Message Board where you can write in! Oh, don't hesitate, will ya? Please take a look at HERE. I would like to get any comment out of ya'll --- any topic is always welcome!
Actually, started Japanese version BBS a couple days back, too! It went so well... I used to hang around Yahoo Japan's BBS --- couldn't stand anymore since the system kept kicking new messages out! I guess, too many users try to send messages at the same time and system cannot take all! Though, this kind of dysfunction really bothers users like me and makes me feel like "Need to go somewhere else..."

Then, I came to have own BBS on this domain for both English and Japanese.

Please come and join me! I just started a new topic asking you how you think of this page --- Of course, you can create your own topic! Can start off with any topic you like --- Question about Japan, Fritz (where I work), Movie, etc... I may take some personal questions, too!

I've got heavy muscle ache from yesterday's golf... I don't know why so... I play softball every Tuesday --- believed that sort of being in shape... Was I wrong? Oh maybe, I changed my golf swing and it really took some burden in my muscle.

Plus, didn't feel well much. Just saw movie "Keeping in the Faith" (Tak's Rating: C+) --- That was it. What was girl's name in that movie... JENNA ELFMAN was so cute in that movie... I wished I could have a girlfriend like Anna whom she acted. It was comedy and you can laugh a lot... though, toward to end of movie, it became a bit serious and made me think the value of relationship... Overall, I liked it. Those who have boyfriend/girlfriend, it is fairly good idea to see this movie together.

Still don't feel well... What did I eat? Chinese (Dim-Sum) and some Sushi... in Phipps Plaza... that gotta be it!

Anyway, let me go for tonight... I am going to rest!

Don't forget!!! --- new Message Board!

May 19, 2000 =1st Day Off of the Year!

How's your Friday? Hope everyone got easy day today... like me who went out and appreciate the sun all afternoon!!! I've got quite tan as my roommates surprised saying, "Geeeeeeee!!!!"
Don't be surprised about that on me Monday, okay?

Like I told you yesterday... I went out to play golf today! Charlie, Foyer, and I went to Fieldstone Country Club in Conyers. It was nice weather, actually hot, sort of... With lots of winds... very windy.

It was the first time for me to play golf for 3 entire months!!! You know, no practice, no plays whatsoever... hitting ball straight became such unfamiliar thing then... Cannot hit balls well... that was all what I've got struggle with all first half! Hit 64 for half 9, already! Lost... ooops, better say "DONATED" some balls also. You know, it's charity.

Last half, good thing was that the way hitting ball wasn't remaining around myself much anymore. Starting hitting straight and farther!!! Scored 50! This was pretty good, actually. So total 114... was bad as my regular score... though it was okay as first PRACTICE round for 3 whole months! (my excuse, right?)

Anyway, I really did enjoy the time being with those folks and this is the last time to play with Charlie, at least, for a while. Either he flies back from NYC with his golf bag or I visit him for next opportunity...

Let me continue things about Charlie. He almost finished packing everything and, you know, when some people move out of town... they have to determine what to take and not to take... I've got something from him... Actually two things.

NEC MultiSync 3v (computer monitor) --- 15 inch monitor. I have been using 14' Apple monitor which I could view at 640 x 480... this is out of date kind of monitor size nowadays... Now 15 inch screen with 832 x 624 --- same or bit larger than my laptop PowerBook screen. So now I can more comfortably see Internet or images caputured by digital camera! Great deal!

Another thing...

Fujitsu FMV-Biblo (laptop computer - Windows 95) --- First Windows-operated laptop computer I've ever owned! You know, I am famous (!) for Apple-crazy computer guy... Now have another laptop so that I can have fun on Windows, too.

This is not recent computer... In other words, it is pretty slow... in fact, Pentium 133 MHz in it. Only 1 Gig hard drive... He didn't mind too much giving it to me since he's given newer laptop taking to NYC.

Anyway... you know I like toys. Man needs to have many toys, never satisfied with certain number of toys... keep wanting more and more (like me) !!!

Thanks to Charlie, I have better desktop environment on this Mac and now I have Windows laptop... Awesome!
Yesterday's 15000th hit of counter on my Japanese page... there is a person claiming... Actually, it was anonymous --- that person didn't want to get a prize... just personally wanted me to know and even asked me to keep it as secret... So there is no prize... That person excused himself/herself as some people were very desperate to get that moment for prize... I just don't want to appear myself that way...
I sort of understood... not completely... I am not giving a big prize or anything... so...

Anyway, that was just happened.

Everyone now gets into WEEKEND-MODE... Have fun! Have great foods! Have good sleep! (hehe)... See you tomorrow.

May 18, 2000 =Who Got It? So Far No Claim!

Too much... ate too much tonight... I am so full. My roommates fixed a big dinner for Charlie who's leaving for NYC next Monday... Really big dinner. 4 of us got together home tonight; Tak, yk110, Yuko, Bamian, and Charlie --- Ooops, actually 5 of us.
Not only eating a lot... but also drinking a lot... wine, beer, etc. Don't remember much about it... my memory is sort vague since... don't know.

Oh, the Japanese page's hit counter now showing more than 15000 hits. Who got it? Somehow, somewhat... there is no claim so far! Just like when reaching 10000 hits (no claims then, either!)... I think that someone didn't know anything about it and moved on to another page or something... so he/she missed it...

Anyway, if you're the person saw the counter showing just "15000," please come forward in order to get a prize! Don't forget!!!

I know, Bamian got the 15001st hit... don't know should or should not give him a prize, instead, yet.

Anyway, it's so great that lots of people keep coming back to read my stuff... As ya'll know that it takes a quite bit of time to do all every darn single day like this!

Lunch... today's lunch, went to Subway... happened to see Beth, ex-Fritz (in Sales Supports)! She seemed very happy working for another company after Fritz... even though she said that she was awfully busy... Good for her.

I am somehow getting liked Subway sandwich...

Tomorrow... NO WORK! Actually, I asked my boss for a day off... so that I can play golf with Charlie who desperately wanted to play another round before leaving here, Georgia. What a guy! So I go with him since he's good friend of mine and I really want to play it with him one more time like that.

So ya'll should not expect me to be in office tomorrow! Happy TGIF and have a wonderful weekend! (oh, too early to say so since I still do update this page tomorrow) --- Well, my weekend begins NOW! (hehe)

May 17, 2000 =15000 Hit in Japanese Page SOOOOON!

This morning, one thing really got me and astonished me a lot... the counter on the Japanese page of this "Website Ogaki-jin." You know why? Becuz there were148 visitors on a single day! I had never seen any more than 100 hits a day before for my website. What a change!
You may NOT know yet about this... I am offering a prize on the one who gets 15000 hits if he/she brings up a proof to me (i.e. screen copy attachment with claim email!). In fact, I did the same twice before... for the "Lucky" 7777th hit and the 10K hit! The 7777th was got by "ChanKen" from my hometown who was my father's friend. Then what happened for the 10k anniversary... someone in Fritz office hit and didn't claim it to me since that person must have had no idea about it. I know Briellen tried to get and she made the 10004th hit... she so missed.

Prize? I will determine it depending upon who that person is (male or female, etc.) For ChanKen who got the 7777th hit, I sent him "Year 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuits Calendar" since he was around my age who didn't mind this kind of stuff (Am I correct, folks?).
So in case you hit the 15000th hit of Japanese page by accident, DO NOT FORGET to either print out or save into some graphic format and send it to me! You may get something fantastic! (you know, I am broke --- right?)
I, after that, will come to offer another prize on the 1000th hit on this English page, too!

Work... usual. Oh, Dorie Hardy called me from Washington, D.C. in the afternoon. I was so happy to hear from her! She is ex-Fritz in there and she left the company at the end of March. I really coworked with her for one particular account out there and she was such a great person to me! She just called me to say hello and wanted to see how I was doing. She's now head of an office and seemed so happy. She really made my day!

Another person made my day... Kack. Kathy, Kack and I went out for lunch together in order to eat Vietnamese noodle, "PHO" with (small) Nicky (ex-Fritz, too). Man, we really had fun conversation. Apparently, women NEEDed to insult men... Kack kept harassed me so badly as usual. I misjudged the reality... because I had thought that she was nice lady... hehe.

Anyway, 1 hour didn't make me feel enough to have pleasant moment with those fellows... too bad. I will go out with them to have lunch again!

Woops, I should've taken my digital camera with me!

Well, that is it for tonight... will let ya'll know how gets the 15000th hit with what kind of prize later on. Keep tuned.

May 16, 2000 =Baby Shower & Softball

I wrote that I was so sleepy yesterday... though, somehow I didn't sleep much last night... actually I almost didn't sleep at all! Don't know why... maybe I am getting a sick (& tired of what?!).
A baby shower was thrown for Melanie, our Sales rep (=picture). Her due date on baby boy should be sometimes next month or after that... her tummy is like boosting so much and seemed ready-to-go, so... Anyway, the party was well prepared and was certainly fun with delicious foods around. Lots of presents were there for her, too. I am sure that she really liked it.

Foods... that's what you want to know, right?! hehe... Good dishes and good desserts... plus big cookie cake afterwards. I believe, those who were there at the party left the place with big tummy like Mel's!!! (or maybe more like mine?!)

Oooooops, who spelled wrong as "Melaine"?!?! Come on, Jonathan! You need to take a grammar class again! (just kidding) Talking about him... he must have had most fun... since he was nowadays the man for entire socialization in the office, with which I used to deal the most... Congrats, Jonathan! That is your job, right? hehehe.
That big cake is the thing I pitched some money in... Oh, I better ask First Union (where my bank accounts are) to loan some more money!

Here's the group picture (as usual...):

So weird... I am in the picture... usually, I am the one taking pictures and should not be in there... thanks to Briellen who was busy doing all... eating, talking, taking video, etc. I guess, she deserve something like:

When she was busy throwing all foods into her mouth...

According to everyone's prediction in terms of eating cookie cake, we should come to throw another baby shower for Karen (Rodriguez) later on. Will see that happens or not.
Softball result:

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 T

Village Church 5 3 0 0 0 0 8

Fritz 1 1 4 5 0 X 11

Won!!! Good game, too. Today's victory was grabbed in terms of great plays by Misty (non-Fritz) and pitching with patience by Todd. They both did so beautifully and led the team to winning the game!

Me? Sucked. As usual. As result-wise, I did well... as 4 for 4 with 3 RBI's. Though, I wasn't really into playing hard... maybe lack of sleep from previous night or eating too much before the game... (Had chicken sandwich with a glass of cerveza!) Anyway, I wasn't really myself playing for all game long.
As good example, at the 1st at-bat opportunity, I hit a double letting Dawn on 2nd base in to score... I hit a really high ball which I usually never even intend to hit like that; even though I hit the ball over the outfielder... I could have done better.
So was my fielding... including some errors with a bad throw. I really didn't care of where the ball goes after slipping off my such small hand.

Anyway, I will do my best... more in next game.

For your information, here's the starting order:

Dan (RF)
Dawn (RCF)
Tak (3B)
Misty (SS) - fiancee of Jay's, Kristi Hart's brother
Calvin (LCF)
Cindy - non-Fritz (1B)
Todd (P)
Leslie - Billy's wife (2B)
Keith (RF)
Karen (C)

<Correction> I kept misspelling Kristi's last name as "Hearts." It is "Harts." I hereby correct all mistakes with my apology.

Oh, Kirk was missed tonight... he was quite swamped tonight... he is also expected to miss next game too.

One last thing before closing...
My Dad in Japan just emailed me, informing that my sister-in-law Mami just had had the 2nd surgery on her throat cancer. The operation was taken place in Jyuntendo University Hospital. I hope that she will be cured soonest and that I can have pleasant conversation with her when seeing her next time. I hereby want to express my deepest caring feeling for her.
That is about it for tonight... I really need to sleep... I do. Hope I get a good sleep tonight (no one next to me? --- How sad!) See you later, alligator!

May 15, 2000 =Happy Monday? Nooooo, Sleepy Monday!

Cannot believe myself... I fell asleep while "Ally McBeal" was on which had a new episode!!! What 'n the world was I doing?! Ally McBeal comes to its season finale next week... which will be the last show I can watch in the US. Man, I cannot believe that I missed most of it! Hope rerun of this particular episode will come up soon.
This Monday, better say TODAY, wasn't too great... I missed Karen's ride to work since I didn't remind her to do so last Friday and it was too late when realizing of it. So I had to take 2nd option... asking Charlie to do the same. Thanks Goddess that I didn't have trouble to get to work place like that.

My car wasn't ready when checking in this afternoon.

I am so sleepy... Come to think of it, I woke up so many times last night... after going to bed around 2am, woke up at 3:40am and 5:20am as long as I remember. No wonder that I am so sleepy like this. No dreams like usual nightmare problems last night, though.

Oh, I've just obtained a picture from Ogaki Annual Festival... took place in my hometown this weekend... There were 280,000 people came to enjoy the festivity over 2 days (between Sat. and Sun.).
This page's recognition... during the office hour, I told lots of new people about this page since putting up lots of pictures from last Friday's picnic. Hope many of them got interested in viewing this page and keep coming back...
Some people asked me, "You do things like that everyday?" My answer is "Yah." Then asked "How come?" --- How should I answer? I started all in Japanese, Japanese only... nowadays have 60-80 visitors per day... some of friends who can see only things in English told me, they wished that they could see things in English as well... So I started.

It is pain to do both everyday... I am NOT translating or anything. I type both pages from scratch. Lots of work! Though, I believe it's worth in order to keep myself closer to each of you who is my dear friend! Got it? So wherever I go from here, you always can see how I am doing like this!!!

Heard from several people who went to see movie, "Battlefield Earth" over weekend... all said it was sucked! Wow, I am so glad to hear that since I went out after 30 minutes! I knew that I would never like it.

Friend Charlie who is about to move to NYC due to his position, he will give me a computer... laptop! I asked him if he didn't need it, just give it to me... so it will happen! That laptop isn't latest one or anything; in fact, it's rather slow one (old too, of course). It was Fujitsu computer and very small with 1 Gig harddrive and 120 MHz Pentium. Though, I am so excited since this will be my 1st personal Windows laptop! Cannot wait!

All right, am still sleepy. Better update Japanese page promptly in order to secure enough sleep. Adios, amigos!

May 14, 2000 =Mother's Day with 2 Movies

Such wonderful weather!!! I am sure that most of ya'll enjoyed Mother's Day... doing BBQ outside, going shopping with your mother, drinking with mother, etc.
Well since I skipped updating this precious page about my life yesterday... today's deal includes some recap of yesterday, too.

3 movies this weekend... actually 2 and a half... I really wanted to see "Center Stage." This turned out pretty well... I liked it with its music and it really made me want to see valet live. I've seen opera, orchestra, musical, etc... never valet. I will try to see it, maybe Atlanta Valet?! Tickets must be expensive, huh?! Will check it out. Anyway, it is neat to see! I give B+ to this movie (from today, Tak's rating changed to be based upon ABC grading rather than points --- easier!).

2nd movie... in fact, I went out the theater... since didn't interested me much... better say, really bored me... John Travolta's "Battlefield Earth" was NG--- really. Did you see that movie yet? If not, you don't miss much, I believe. Will check people in office tomorrow who saw this movie... I stayed in my seat for 30 minutes... nothing could keep my ass in that seat at all then!

So, moved on to another movie... last week's No. 1 movie, "Gladiator." According to Yahoo Movies, this movie, once again, hit the No. 1 spot for this weekend. It was long! That's the only complaint that I could possibly find... 2 hours and 45 minutes. Story was pretty good and picture was awesome!

Tonight, before updating this page, I finally solved the problem on AppleTalk which I could connect my laptop to desktop Macintoshes! So I am now typing on desktop Mac for the 1st time since last weekend! It took me for 3 days or 4 days to pinpoint the problem... I knew that I could solve the problem... always stayed optimistic about what I do.
2 roommates... where are those ladies for now?!?! (@12.27am/Monday, still not being home!) I guess, they have much more fun than I do? Possible.
Mother's Day... did leave a message with Mon in North Carolina (not real one --- yet) Otherwise, I didn't do anything special. We call someone like me, "Bad Son."

In my hometown, Ogaki --- this weekend Ogaki Annual Festival took place. I heard that weather wasn't too great on Sunday... It is always hectic in any festivity when weather wouldn't cooperate much... Next year when I will be in Japan... should be able to tell you more about this festival with pictures.

Ricky Henderson@Mets was fired? Wow... it's about time to retire, huh! He didn't show many good play to gain respects from fan nowadays... so it must be about the time...

Last Prime Minister, Keizo Obuchi, was passed away... finally. He had been in comma after some brain attack... then, he had to leave the Cabinet after being defined as incapacitated. What a life!

All right, better close this for tonight... see you tomorrow. Hope this English page will get smash hit on the counter since there are some more people out there wanting to see those pictures from Friday's General Staff Meeting...

May 12, 2000 =Fritz BBQ with General Staff Meeting

TGI Friday! Wow!!! Couldn't wait for this weekend... just like other Fridays, right? Weather was nice and it was just perfect day for NO WORK... which was, of course, dreaming... (Get a life, Tak!)
1st time ever wore shorts to work! It was just so comfortable... I like working like that (not always, I meat here... just for casual Fridays).

General Staff Meeting was held around noon... unlike my expectation, nothing really big was announced. Though, this was rather good surprise.

There was award presentation for 5 and 10 year employees... (Tak? Currently 4th year!) with recap of biz situation. Other than that, we just enjoyed the meal by Speedy Pig (I think).

Eating lots of foods? In fact, I was quite busy taking pictures around! Like this:

I am so sorry that I am not gonna mention of each individual's name!

Funny thing... I was asked the same question over and over... "Tak, are you going to put pictures on your webpage???" What else would you think?!?! (hehe) Then some of those people overheard of the question and said, "Tak, do you have a website?" If you laugh at this for now, you must be the first comer to this page... WELCOME! You eventually came up to Tak's Secret Page where you can know all about me! (Aren't you interested?!)

And... here's the team served the good Southern BBQ for us:

(Maybe I can charge them for this special ad on Internet!)

Well, I cannot leave this behind... today's special feature... One person kept being out of my sight in order not to be taken any picture during this event... Who is she? (wow, she's smokin'!) This is English page's exclusive (not shown in Japanese page)!!!

Hey! Taking picture isn't taking your soul out of you, man!

Bye! (Thanks millions to see all pictures after taking such a long time to download theeemmmm!)

May 11, 2000 =Greed Is Good? Really?

One of the winners of recent big lottery... was in fact first time player! --- I was talking to Karen = coworker = who gave me a ride to office in the morning... Man! Just one play hit a big jackpot? What a luck!
Karen, I believe, yesterday told me that one get a girlfriend/boyfriend when LEAST expected. Just quit looking around...

From those things above... I would say,
"Is greed really good? Better say no, huh!"
Do you remember of movie, "Wall Street???" Millionaire Gekko said famous phrase... "Greed is good." We should not listen then.

Okay, if you want something, don't want too much... this is my new policy from today on! Don't you agree? (maybe)

Anyway, greed doesn't help much...

Work was hectic as expected. Good thing was that I didn't mess it up! I guess, most important thing to keep up is that we go through without any problem! --- So today wasn't that bad.

Lunch: Subway

Supper: home (noodle)

Boss came back from Japan... the purpose of going to Japan for such a short time, actually 3 days, was nothing but taking promotional exams. Within traditional Japanese company, you cannot be easily promoted to be a manager. Everyone will go up to certain level in salary... though, you have to pass the exams to be QUALIFIED to be a manager in future. You should notice here that passing exams doesn't guarantee to be a manager... It really depends upon what manager position is vacant and your background/qualification/specialty needs to match to that position description.

Boss told that exams was consisted from writing composition (essay) and interview by board members.

He thinks that he did well on interview, not on composition. Well... we'll see how this turns out later on (probably, announcement of who passed exams will be made in early June).

Tomorrow, our management calls general staff meeting... over lunch. It already arranges BBQ catering... Wait! General staff meeting usually takes in July? So this one must be irregularly-scheduled one. About what, then? Last meeting took place in November... with announcement of Dallas centralization... which became pain of all imports mess for now. Another big change? Possible. Maybe exports centralization? Will report to you tomorrow.

Oh, that luncheon is to be held in parking lot... yah, outside. So we were wishing to wear shorts for casual Friday... it became true. So I am definitely going to dress comfortably! (you too, right?)

What is wrong with my laptop? After USB (Universal Serial Bus) upgrade, I have a problem to take advantage of LAN via AppleTalk. Cannot hoot this up with desktop Mac now... cannot transfer large files now... this is bad! I want to transfer all data of this website back to desktop so that I can type more easily and comfortably... though, I can't do so yet.

I will find out the problem soon.

All right, let me close for tonight. Thank you for reading. Remember, "Greed is bad for you!"

May 10, 2000 =Free Lunch?

?Como estas? --- Man! It was certainly long day. I couldn't get out of office until like 7:30pm! Was I swamped? Yah, plenty of things to handle.
You know what? I had a free lunch. Let me mention again... in order to emphasize... FREE LUNCH! Look at this!

Ya'll call lunch box. We call "Bento" in Japanese. Who made it? You know, first thing to come around as your clue is, "Has Tak got a new girlfriend?!" You're normal to think that way. However, the truth isn't that way. The Bento box was prepared by one of my roommates, Yuko. When I came back from softball (even though we didn't get played), Yuko was occupied the entire kitchen area which was sacred to me who wasn't able to cook... She was fixing lunches for 4 people... I found it later on. She has set 3 different lunch boxes with a plate. They went to: herself, her boss, me, plus a plate for my another roommate, yk110.

Tasty? Sure, it was awesome, man! I was so grateful that she made an extra just for me and the food was excellent.

I, as single, really do appreciate this kind of stuff with such warm thoughtfulness. I better say, I am so lucky to have roommate like her!

Oh boys, don't be so envious to me! HA!

While I am updating this page, I am watching a video, "Out of Sight" with Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney. Mmm! This movie is produced by Danny DeVito? No kidding!

I thought that this movie was involved in more action type scenes... which I was totally wrong about. So what happened to Jennifer afterwards... being with Puffy at shooting sight (not "Out of Sight" then!) in NYC. She doesn't show up before media much anymore. No national tour?

Found funny thing recently on coworker, Brian. He is a father of some daughters, I believe and he really astonished me when he found a picture of Britney Spears on my PowerBook's desktop. With a distance, he really easily recognized of her on it! I told him, "Wow Brian, you really know well, huh!" Then, he knew all kinds of gossip type stories for teenagers. He is what --- closely 40 or possibly at 40's? He responded, "I really need to keep up with such stuff --- Make me young!" He's right. I hope I will be just like that!

Question on me about having Britney Spears' picture? Well... I didn't go on Internet to search for it or anything... Another coworker Jonathan sent it to me! (Yah yah...)

Apparently, he knows where to go to look for any kind of wallpaper for your desktop... will come with a good site soon so that I can put up lots of interesting photos.

Tomorrow, boss will be in for the first time this week. Just came back from Japan tonight. I heard that his mission - taking promotion exams - was completed well. I guess, he will pass it.

My workload will remain as heavy... will go through...

Hasta luego!

May 9, 2000 =iMac Color Stylus Pens?

Yoho--- good day for you today? It was CERTAINLY not for me! Day started with 2 hot shipments... after lunch, had received tons of messages screaming for hot ocean containers. Man, I really had to stick with my darn phone all day long!
Tomorrow, expectation is worse situation than today since I already know I have to deal with anti-dumping matter, more hot shipments, plus...

At least I did have a good time over lunch... Kirk, Charlie and Foyer got together to have lunch with me in Thai restaurant nearby office. Since Charlie is leaving here so soon, we have been intending to do things with him. We talked about golf, Thai food, Japanese society criticism (which I have to face from this summer), what else... like that... various topics.

It was such nice weather again... some of people, no-tie people must be enjoying playing golf under sun... while I had to deal with hectic matters. So... what about scores, folks? Heritage? Nice, expensive course to play, man! I, in fact, played once... paid $100 for a round.... oh, it was actually company's expense.

^{from left> Foyer, Charlie, and Kirk}

^{from left> Tak, Charlie, and Kirk.}

Foyer brought some souvenir for us to take home with. Looked so cool! Colorful and useful, too. What are they? Pens. You know, I like pens. I am a big fan of Montblanc (German pen)... Anyway, what I got for today is:

Aren't they cool, huh?

They are 3-pen-combined pens... black, red and Stylus pen. Do you know this? Left picture above shows what it looks like. There is a special kind of pen required when tapping Palm's screen. So when you use this pen, you don't have to switch pens or whatever writing instruments using...
See, I really had a feeling that I wished I didn't have to switch pens in order to write on paper or write in Palm computer. I am suddenly given an ultimate solution. What easy way to find, right?! hehe...

So I now can lay one of those on my desk and just use it! Actually, I lay all three pens I've got on the desk!
This Tuesday is the day for $325 million jackpot! I bought 2 tickets ($2)... Did I win whole freaking thing? Haven't check the winning numbers yet.
Tuesday is ALWAYS softball date... you know what? WE DIDN'T GET A PLAY! We had two female players short in order to play game. So the game was called off without playing a bit. Shocked! Disappointed!
I, as from personal reason, didn't want to miss any game like this! I only can play another 5 games before my departure to Japan in summer. So just too bad.
Oh, better mention of her... from today, I get a ride with Karen! She lives in my neighborhood and didn't mind to give me a ride to office. Since she came to ballpark to "ALMOST" play tonight, she kindly gave me a ride back... Thanks, Karen!

Oh well, she is going to do same tomorrow morning, too.

Where are all the cowboys gone? --- What in the heck is my car now? I hope the shop is really working on my car... rather than leaving it behind or even forgetting about it. Will call the dealership once again to see what would be like.

I see 007 movie on TV... It is "Moonraker." I thought 007 marathon is happened in December all the time! I always like James Bond... especially saying "I never missed."

Oh, that movie is now over... so I should close this for my beauty sleep! See you tomorrow then.

May 8, 2000 =Camera Is Back!

Finally, my camera was back! --- Being waited for such a long time... My dad emailed me, saying package was sent out on 5/1... then it came in the office today, 5/8... took a while week via air? Doesn't look too impressive.
Well... I shouldn't complain too much since I got it without any damage.

Today, this update began around 9:20pm; still watch TV too... Yes, "Ally McBeal" with new episode. Today's subject "cyber sex."

I am going to miss this show much after leaving here for Japan in summer... I know, "Ally -" is still aired in Japan... in the matter of fact, "Ally -" is broadcast on Japan's National Channel! I heard that it gains quite number of popularity like here... though, the series stays like one season behind.

Oh, I know lots of happenings already! HA!

My boss left for Japan on Sunday and won't come back 'til Thursday... Hope this would work out well... like trouble-free work days.

Today just became perfect... very light, easy day. That's why I could leave the office on time (5:30pm)!!! Haven't done so for a long time!

Another news... I seem to have two moves... one in June, probably at the end of June and another one to move back to Japan... in August. What happened was... the house where 2 roommates and I live is going to put on the market after leaving the place... yk110 decided to move to new place at the end of June...

You know what? She has decided where we would live already! Quick huh! I am, in fact, so surprised of this sudden change and decision! I haven't had a chance to take a look at the new place where we are moving to. Heard as very close to where we were. Will report when seeing that place for the first time.

<Ally McBeal> Ally was arrested? Again? She had cyber sex with 16 years old boy ---

On the Internet... I usually show up on BBS (Bulletin Board) to communicate with some of cyber friends... Actually, most of those people are my friends whom I know in person... Well of course, there are some other people don't know me in person too... They all talk each other... some of my friends give away of my image like what kind of person I am... some told others that I like Versace clothes... do you think I can afford that kind of expensive thing?

Only I have ties by Versace! (HA!)

For those who don't know of this brand... Versace is basically Italian brand... the legendary designer Janni Versace was killed in Miami a couple of years ago or maybe more. The color coordination in clothes is very very very vivid... like not suitable to normal attire, ordinary people think.

I only like ties from that particular brand! I want another one ($110).

Do I pay lots of money for clothes/personal items? You judge (if you know me or if you can see me in person)!!!

Hope tomorrow will be as good/easy as today... Let's keep our fingers crossed.

May 7, 2000 =Tak's Back in Town!

Hi, fellows! Hope ya'll had a great weekend! Did you go to "Midtown Music Fest?" which I have NEVER been to. I am sure that it was wonderful event... had a couple cans of beer with a little dancing with some strangers just me in the concert... right?
I told you yesterday of sleeping on floor, right? I really did. No other choice, etc. I slept okay... didn't hurt me much or anything!

We all woke up around 7am... had breakfast in the hotel lobby... then checked out and moved on. We left hotel like 8:30am. Had to leave around 12pm or 1pm in order to make it back to Atlanta around 8pm or 9pm... so we only had a few more hours to sightseeing in New Orleans area.

We then decided to go on "Swamp Tour" to say "Hey, ya'll" to some alligators there!

10am Tour wasn't too crowded...

Did we see some alligators?

Can you see a face of alligator (circled)???

Guide man had such strong accent in his Southern English...

Tak's was busy taping the alligators... then,

Tak feel asleep since the guide's English put me into...

Anyway, the tour was quite interesting... lasted like one hour and 45 minutes... Probably, I was sleeping for a half of the whole time...

This is because the guide's English, plus I slept on floor last night? Maybe...

So after that... we hit back home... no casino! (because I am winning that $300 million bucks this week)

Came home, finally, after 7 hour drive... it wasn't that bad... now Tak's home. Ready for another week? No way!

See you tomorrow!

May 6, 2000 =From New Orleans, LA!

Decided not to win $200 million last night since I knew that I could get extra $100 million... which I really didn't mind to wait for a couple of extra days! Will come around later on...
Charlie came to my house for pick up quite late... originally planned to leave for New Orleans at 7am... he slept in... then finally showed up around 8:30am...

Took us about 7 hours to get here, New Orleans! Yes, I am updating this darn page just for you from Sleep Inn, New Orleans! As previously informed, came for Jazz Fest! Wow, lots of people here!

Tons of people, thousands of people... we saw, Lenny Kravitz, Diana Krall, Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, etc.

Wait! Lenny Kravitz for Jazz concert? I don't care much about this... It was the first time for me to see his performance... I liked him.

More importantly... Diana Krall is the most favorite jazz artist for me... I couldn't see her too closely... though, I finally came up to her live performance. It was nothing but great!

Did I drink a lot? --- Sorry, folks. NOT.

While being in the concert area for Lenny Craviz, I saw lots of people doing drugs... not a few... but lots of young guys! Man! What is wrong with America, huh!

Charlie!

All programs were ended at 7pm... came back to hotel, Sleep Inn, where the worst kind of service you ever imagined on earth... then walked into French Quarter for dinner and more music!

Yuko -my roommate #2 & Charlie

French Quarter was PACKED as expected! Had a Cajun food as our supper tonight and it was pretty good.

Should explain the "worst kind of service" by Sleep Inn hotel... Charlie prearranged an extra portable bed in this room where we spend a night here... Inn explained that all were gone. So, a room with 2 beds for 3 young adults... too bad.

So I am not ending up with sleeping floor tonight. In fact, they are already asleep at this moment... while I am writing up in this page!

Tomorrow, another 7 hours back to home! Before hitting home, we try to do one more thing to accomplish within the trip... so I will give you more update by tomorrow.

Too much drink... not really. I had 2 glasses of Banana Daiquiri tonight and I don't even feel "drinking" a bit. Well after updating Japanese page, will go bed.

May 5, 2000 =$220 million?!?! I NEVER Miss!

Thank God... it is really Friday... Effects from Japan's "Golden Week" really came up finally today. It was so light in work. I've done lots of backlogged work! My desk is now clean... I finally see the surface of my desk, too!
220 million bucks? Did I hear right? Yah, Two hundred twenty million dollars! Here's my winning ticket!

It's not 11 o'clock yet as of now (in fact, 10pm now...), though I know, this is the one. I am so sorry for those who in the office gathered money to buy tickets and share the winning money... because this ticket is the one for that money! (hehe)

Just in case... I joined the sharing thing with Sales team... 9 people put a dollar each together... to see what happened. I heard that some other group in the office did the same for 17 people or so.

Man, cannot wait!

Can you read my numbers? They are: 05/09/25/35/49 /// 14(BIG)!

In this morning, Star94 Talk Show was talking about number 25 is the most winning number in lottery history... Yes, I've got one in them!!!

Tonight is the night for me!!! Finally comes!

I am quite busy tonight, preparing for a trip to New Orleans! Doing laundry... update this page and then transfer all data of this domain to my laptop so that I can update from there tomorrow night, and something else...

I am so excited to get out of town!

Oh, I shouldn't forget to get a access number in New Orleans! Otherwise, I will be out of hope tomorrow about telling ya'll that I become a multi-millionaire! (ha)

What will I do when getting that big bucks... Probably buy houses here and in my home town Ogaki, respectively... Then, buy a private jet which get used to travel between those houses... Car? Of course... I would go for Bimeer (=BMW). What else?

Anyway, I will give ya'll more details tomorrow on after making sure that I am the winner of the lottery.

See ya'll from New Orleans tomorrow!

May 4, 2000 =Japan: Special Non-Working Holiday

Forgot to put this up on this page... my birthday card from 2 good friends of mine who were dating each other... so I scanned and put up hereby...
Loot at this! Any comments?

Wow, it said... "rip MY clothes off..." - very strong language! (I must say, "PLEASE DO!")

As I said, this is from two friends dating each other... not SINGLE FEMALE FRIEND.
In case of a single girl (has to be cute, of course) sending this kind of stuff... I have NO guarantee of what I am going to do... right? hehe.
By the way, my web page is NOT porn-related. NEVER! This is just for fun! (nudes could be fun? I don't think so)

The card is sent from Bamian and his girlfriend. What friends I have, huh!

By the way... this girl is a bit skinny...

Japan... "Special Non-Working Holiday" today... sounds great, doesn't it?! Well, next year's "GOLDEN WEEK" will be the first long holidays for last 8 years or so since I live outside Japan for that long time... I wonder what I will do then... just going home? going out of country? maybe.

No many faxes from Japan on job... actually only a few... so my day should be light like I said yesterday... it was not. Too much trouble to keep up with. Koji, in fact, really got stressed out with those headaches.

For this weekend, Charlie (tkoich), my roommate - Yuko, and I are going to New Orleans, skipping Midtown Music Fest... just for Jazz Festival taking place in New Orleans. I went to New Orleans like 5 years ago? or something like that. We will drive to get there. Since I haven't got out of town for a while - at least for several months, I presume... this weekend should be as exciting as last one! Or possibly more!

Too bad my digital camera hasn't arrived yet (according to my Dad, the package was sent on 5/1 as airmail).

It's called "New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival" and its official site is below:
http://www.insideneworleans.com/ent