OnMyMind

It is raining at 2 AM as I pack up my bags to go. I had hoped to sleep about two more hours, but my daughter had a different plan. So after getting her back to sleep, I find myself wide awake and without good reason to stay in bed. Today is the day that I say goodbye to Shimane, West Nowhere, my home for the last six years. It was here that my wife and I shared our first home, where our two children were born, our familial hometown. But now I load my car and prepare for eleven hours on the highways to reach Yamanashi, our new home. Although we will miss Shimane, it will be a good move for us. We will be closer to family in both Tokyo and Hida-Takayama, and just closer to civilization in general. I leave now for a month on my own, a month to scout while the rest of the family packs up the house. Somehow they have to find a way to fit the contents of our large eight-room home into a small old 3LDK in Kofu. I think that I may be saying a final goodbye to some of my belongings as I leave this morning…
So I am off, it is 2:19 AM and I have spent enough time here. It is time to go. From West Nowhere to the Doorway to the Japanese Alps, I am off…

In my time living here in Shimane Prefecture, A.K.A. “West Nowhereâ€?, I have never heard of a monkey attacking. In the six years that I have been here, we have had numerous bear attacks and wild boar attacks, but this is the first I have heard of aggressive monkeys. Usually, the bears or wild boars wander into somebody’s farm and attack them randomly, occasionally we hear of some Oji-san (old man) who gets attacked while looking for mushrooms in the mountains, but mostly it is close to home. I often find myself wondering what I would do if a bear or wild boar attacked while walking the dog, or while walking with the kids down the quiet mountain roads. Should I climb a tree? Jump in the river? Release the dog and hope that she loves me enough to attack a wild animal? Should I send the kids running to the nearest house while I try to stare down and/or fight the wild animal alone? Scary thoughts, and probably foolish, but I have them nonetheless while walking the quiet overgrown roads out here. I generally try to hold to the “not meâ€? philosophy on this point, that these kinds of things always happen to “other people, not me.â€? Foolish, or statistically sound? Either way I am sure that my mental exercises of wild animal defense strategy will continue as long as I live out here…

Although I have heard from our neighbor that there are monkeys in the mountain behind our house, I have never seen one in Hamada myself. The monkeys around here are fairly elusive. I have seen a number of wild boars around here though, and I actaully have a great video somewhere of one coming right up to greet our dog in the backyard. This little baby boar took shelter in our backyard for a few hours one day while all the people in town were running around trying to find it. They were all talking about how delicious it would be in there stew, or on their grill. We gave it shelter, and kept it’s secret while it rooted for snacks in our leaf-covered yard. We also often see wild boar on the roads here, and have had more than a few close calls. We love to see them on the roads, as the way that they run is just plain cute. Entirely different from the graceful gait of a dog, they seems to skitter in an awkward cloven prance. One can’t help but smile at the spectacle of this powerful wild pigs skittering down the tarmac as they run from oncoming cars. Oddly enough, they often choose run straight down the road rather than jumping off to the side. They choose the easier, yet more perilous path…

While the wild boar a fairly visible, the bears are more elusive. I have never actually seen a wild bear in Shimane, but I have seen many signs of them. A friend of mine brought me up to an old abandoned farm on a mountain top that bears had claimed as their own. We saw many signs of the bears hibernating there, but thankfully no actual bears. On another day, my wife and I were hiking with our then one year old son. He was strapped to my back in a baby backpack while we climbed Mt. Kanagi (I think that was the mountain’s name…). We were about half-way up the steep trail when we came upon what appeared to be bear droppings. It certainly was too big to be from a dog… We deliberated for a while as to what to do, and then I decided, perhaps foolishly, that if the droppings were cool to the touch, that the bear would be far enough away for us to safely continue. So, diaper wipe in one hand, I buried the second knuckle of my other hand into the pile and found it pleasingly cool and dry. A few moments wiping later and we were on our way to the peak. In hindsight, we probably should have returned to the car, but it did turn out to be a wonderful hike.

Anyway, it was a monkey attack that brought me here, so let me share the link to the story that appeared on Crisscross News Japan today about an attack in Hamada.

Monkey attacks 7 women, man in Shimane; hay fever blamed
Friday, March 10, 2006 at 07:26 EST
A flush-faced monkey attacked seven women and a man in Hamada town, Shimane Prefecture, on Wednesday and Thursday, police said. The first attack occurred Wednesday morning when a woman in her 80s was bitten by the monkey while she was picking flowers. Six women who live in the same area were also attacked Wednesday afternoon, while a man working on a farm was bitten Thursday morning.
Locals said that monkeys have been more evident since last autumn, but they never attacked anyone. Police think the marauding monkey might be suffering from hay fever because of its flushed face and violent behavior. Local hunters and police are currently searching for the monkey.

Hay fever? If they find him are they going to shoot him with an antihistamine dart? This seems like a rather odd explanation for a violent monkey. Has your hay fever ever caused you to bite people?
Anyway, I am off to study up on proper defenses against monkey attacks…

A pure moment of web zen.
There is nothing that I can really say to add to this video, except that you should not miss it. So just click the image to the left and head over to the Google video web site and enjoy.

Via Wirefarm

(click for full size)

Today is our daughter’s third birthday, and this is the present that our four-year-old son gave to her. He woke up before all of us this morning, and ran over to her bed to sing “Happy Birthdayâ€? to her. As soon as we all moved to the living room, he took out his markers and paper and made this for her. What a great little big brother…
He actually draws about twenty pictures a day, so he does most of it on recycled paper. You could see the type from the other side of this drawing in the scan, so I replaced the background with a pale yellow. Other than that, it was all him. You can check out more of his drawings, from since he was three, at his gallery here.
In other good birthday news, we just received our final Christmas package today in the mail (thanks Dad!). Nothing like an extended Xmas thanks to the unpredictability of international postage!

I just came across this photo of His Popeliness on Yahoo news. I think that maybe the photo editor over there has a good sense of humor…
First, the downward tilt of the head, causing him to look upon us through his eyebrows, is an unquestionable sign of evil. That is how I look at the kids when they piss me off, and that is the only look the dog ever gets…
Secondly, the sneer. That is not a smile. That is the look that says “Keep looking at me while my zombie reindeer sneak up behind you…â€? or “it’s your chestnuts that will be roasting over my fire this yearâ€?, or more disturbingly, yet fitting with the current history of his church, “come sit on Santa’s lap little boy…â€?
Or perhaps…
“Are you feeling lucky, punk? I bet you’re wondering if I really have the power to smite you, aren’t you, punk? Honestly, I am not too sure myself. Go ahead punk, say ‘Happy Holidays’. I dare you…â€?

Quiz: Which of the following statements about the above photos is correct.

A. Two characters are fictional, one is real
B. All have a rather strong cult following
C. Two actively work to convert people to their cause
D. One’s heart grew three sizes in one day
E. All of the above

Frozen pipes? No problem…
I just don’t understand women… “Not relatedâ€?, you say? I think not.
We awoke this morning to frozen pipes. My wife, none to pleased with the idea of melting snow for coffee and a bath, asked me to “do something.â€? She then told me how to do it. She continued offering suggestions (orders?) while I did the two things that I thought would fix it. I turned the water heater up to 65 Celsius (Japanese houses have water heater thermostats that you can turn off/on and set to the perfect bath temperature. 65 is as high as ours goes.) and put the hot water on full blast. See, the issue was not with “waterâ€?, but with “hot waterâ€?. The cold water pipes were fine, but the hot water just would not pour forth for dish washing and back-side scrubbing. This I just do not understand. Each year our hot water piped freeze, while our cold water pipes are just find and dandy. What the fork is up with that? Anyway, so after doing my two step fix the hot water trick, I was wandering around the house trying to look busy and avoid the wife’s speech on the things I should be doing to fix the pipes:

• Pour hot, but not too hot, water on the pipes outside to warm them (Apparently “too hotâ€? water will burst the pipes…)
• Use a blow dryer on the pipes to heat them up (This involves standing shin deep in snow in sub-zero temperatures, while blow drying the outside of my house. This falls under the category of “amusing the neighborsâ€?, NOT “home repairâ€?.)
• Pull everything from under the sink to get closer to the pipes (She is probably just trying to trick me into cleaning with this one.)
• There were more, believe you me, but I stopped listening.

Suddenly, from the kitchen, “It’s coming out, the hot water is starting to come out!â€?. I stroll into the kitchen, shoulders squared, and inquire “Pardon me?â€? I see that the water is in fact now pouring forth in a healthy and steamy fashion, and I feel a moment of pride in my vanquishing of the frozen pipes.
“You know, you’re lucky you didn’t burst the pipes that way…. should of used the blow dryer….I told you…â€?
I butt in rudely: “Did I not fix the hot water?�
“Yes, you did.�
“Your welcome.� And I walk away, knowing that I did my job, but realizing that somehow my wife was still less than pleased with me.
Frozen pipes? No problem.
Women? Well… I have been told that the front steps need shoveling, and that the garbage needs to be taken out, the dog needs a walk, and my office is a mess…

Is John Stewart a Firefox user?

Did the designers of the Daily Show set borrow the new color scheme from Firefox? Not that Firefox holds the patent on blue and orange, but those shades look awfully close…
My guess is that they borrowed the colors to make the set a bit more hip. The previous colors were a bit too grey, and those stadium screens in the background were not being put to good use.
And if they found inspiration from the Firefox logo, that’s cool, after-all they certainly seem just a bit too hip to be plugging away all day with IE.