We visited a prison today...

There was a makeshift gift shop setup for us.

Enough said.

The Election in Japan

When the polls first closed in the US, it was 9AM here. I had an 11AM class, but after noon I was free to keep an eye on everything.

The campus had a room setup especially for the election coverage, having CNN available on all day in a room that could hold about 150 people. Most of the day the number hovered around 30, peaking at the Obama speech at around 60-70.

The call on CNN was made at 1PM; though it was obvious to us that it was guaranteed, we all still needed the visual to be sure. There was a good amount of cheering going on, and many people (myself included) at least shedding tears, if not more.

For me, though, my main thought was about in the summer of '07, I can't remember who I was talking to, but my honest opinion at that time was that I would be lucky to ever see a non-white president. That thought still hasn't sunk in yet, as I'm sure it hasn't to many people around the country.


EDIT: I did send some pictures I took in to CNN, and it's posted here: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-138714
Apparently, they're going to send some stuff back home as appreciation for sending in stuff for them to use :)

The other thing, though, was that I saw and watched friends who I've made around here crying because McCain lost. I could use some of the paragraphs above to describe them in the same way, and the only difference would be the tone.

It still seems odd saying this, but this is the first major election I've not been in Madison for. One professor I talk to frequently called Madison something along the lines of a "socialist stronghold", and even I talk about it to others as the San Francisco of the midwest. Eau Claire seems like it's close to a 50/50 split, and though here it seems easily 80/20 towards Democrats, that a large difference to a high school where you could come close to counting the number of Republicans on a pair of hands.

Money updates

Here are the numbers back just under a week ago...

USD: 92.79
Canada: 71.625
Britain: 144.43
Australia: 58.481
Euro: 118.164

Checking now, this is how much they've moved:

USD: 99.30 (+ 7.02%)
Canada: 83.041 (+ 15.938%)
Britain: 161.065 (+ 15.177%)
Australia: 67.584 (+ 15.566%)
Euro: 127.67 (+ 8.044%)

Many people here are getting relieved that there wasn't a crash. (Though, if it get's up to 105 again, I may just play it safe and transfer plenty over to a local bank account we needed setup here)

Random addition

I've got a youtube account going which I'll probably start posting videos to, instead of Picasa. (which cuts away from how much space I have for photos)

I had my camera going going from one of the supermarkets in the area back to the dorms, so that's what's on there right now.

EDIT: Maybe I should link it. http://www.youtube.com/bradleyjx

Story of the week

This is second hand, but there seems to be quite a few people around here who don't keep track of what day of the month it is, so many people needed to actually hear that 9/11 was this past week.

A couple people who I talk with around here was telling me about when they were visiting a small shrine around the area where we are staying. While they were around, they saw an old Japanese man coming and were worried that they shouldn't be there. (for some reason or another; not many of use can read signs...) He began talking in Japanese to them, though only one of them knew enough to really be able to converse. The rest understood some of the conversation, but were mostly just listening; they asked after the old man left.

He was apologizing and sending condolences to the Americans for what happened 7 years ago.

When the rest of the people I was with and myself heard this, we were quite surprised; compared to WWII, we were feeling that happened 7 years ago was nothing compared to what Japan lost in the 40s. It's just kind-of the response to everything we have been experienced when it comes to how the people around here are; everyone is so nice around here, but sometimes it's just amazing how compassionate.

Catching up (Part 1)

Well, I'm going to be posting some daily writing I've made in the last couple days. The internet is still not working around here on personal computers, despite asking some questions and getting advice. (most of it being "that was given in [document name here]; wait, it isn't?")

A thought occurs...

- Brett Favre is now a member of the Jets.

- Madden '09 has him on the cover in Packers colors.

- Interesting? Nah.

Random Update

I have a brace on my right knee from a dislocated patella last Tuesday, my mouth is almost back to normal from getting my top wisdom teeth out last Friday, and I had a persistent kink in my back Monday and Tuesday this week. So, I'm just ready for the next day to begin 2 days before it comes...

Japan's getting almost there; 2 small things left on the things-to-do list, then it's just clothes shopping.

Reformatted my laptop to set it up for Japan. Those that know my computer know I don't normally run any antivirus or spyblock software, as they just slow down the computer beyond any desire I have to use them. I tried putting Symantec Endpoint on, and it pretty much began a cascade of problems, including disabling automatic updates and preventing me from installing some of my more ... grey ... applications. So, I had to start from scratch again and I'm just leaving the antivirus off for now, at least until I get _everything_ on it. I know I'll lose some of my crackers, (Symantec doesn't like AnyDVD, ophcrack, and netpass, if you know what those are) but I'll live.

Biggest complaint of this reformatting: towards the end of last semester, I started looking around for "stock images" for image work later, as I was getting tired of searching google images every time I wanted something. I eventually became a regular surfer of 4chan, because despite any criticism I've heard of it, it's one hell of a topical image repository. Many of my current wallpapers came from there, as well as now-about 60% of the total library of images I use. I was changing desktop themes and moved to a great artwork wallpaper I found over there, and just thought to myself that I wish we had faster internet at home, just so I could surf 4chan like I could at school.

Bad Legs + Injuries

Well, here's the timeline...

- Last Sunday (7/20) I was umpiring a double-header; in the 3rd inning of the first game I was getting ready for a play at 3rd when the runner stopped and started running back to 2nd. Since I was already in position for the play at 3rd, I had to run full-stride to catch up for a possible play at 2nd (or to see a tag) and pulled a muscle in my left quad area; in the end I was sore for a couple days, but the main problem was that I couldn't move much at all for the remaining 1.5 games, and spent most of my time behind the pitcher and hobbling around as best as I could.

- Tuesday (7/29) I was biking to work in some construction, and needed to get from gravel to pavement about a foot up on steep slopes. So, when I pushed down on my right pedal, my knee gave out. I found out later that I apparently dislocated my patella.

So, right now I'm in a knee brace and hobbling around. The brace is pushing pretty hard into my leg muscles, but I think it'll work out there. The only complaints I have right now is that I can't bike for about a week (I'll be biking one-legged mostly, but right now I can't even bring my leg high enough to go through the motion of pedaling without a good amount of pain) and that it just takes forever to get anywhere. (my 5-minute walk between buildings took 15 today)

Now I'll be out of action pretty much this entire weekend...

Weekend notes...

- I'm finally getting a break after 4 days of work + umpiring, and I'm just bored.

- I got a quick question from someone yesterday asking me about how their rating would be affected in a MTG event after a match, his was nearly 2000 and his opponent was (approx.) 1600. I got bored and just built a quickie program to handle something like that, but I answered him using my "in-head" method of guesstimating point swings:
> Take K-value * 50 (or K / 2 * 100 if you want something easier to do in-head). In this case, it was 400 (8 / 2 * 100). If you are ahead by more points than that, you won't gain anything by winning. (conversely, if you're more than 400 under, you won't lose anything by losing)
> If you're both even, then a win/loss will bring your rating up/down by 1/2 the K-value. If you add the above to that, you can just cut the remaining ratings into sections. i.e...
> > You are +100 rating = a win brings you + 3 points
> > You are +200 rating = a win brings you + 2 points

Yeah, it's a little complicated.

- I've been getting questions from family about if I've gotten a Wii yet; I've been looking for one pretty much continuously since last October.

Well, for me the reason was simply because of Smash Bros. Brawl. I always knew that I would love the console, and I still feel that I would. The issue now is that I also knew that I'd eventually also get a PS3 for some games, specifically FFXIII, GTA4, and LittleBigPlanet. Now I've hit a 4th game in a little game called Mirror's Edge. Seriously, watch this trailer.

I don't play FPS games, and I really don't like anything that's a Halo derivative, but I do have some games that I like from branches of the genre. (Portal, enough said) There's something about a game like that that is about technique as much as any combat that just makes me want it. It's like watching the LittleBigPlanet debut again for me, as it just has that "charm" as something different, but just something that seems so fun. I think I'll be describing it as "GTA if instead of running on the ground you needed to jump from rooftops".


- Still nothing on Japan, and I hear enough about it. I've gotten to the point where I start conversations asking if they know that I'm going, just so I can get it out of the way. I'm still not thinking about it that much, as I still have better things to do.

- Random trivia, just because I really am that bored right now. If you've heard of "Caramelldansen" or "the U-U-Uwa-Uwa Dance" (this thing), there's an interesting story as to the origin of that dance. It comes from a Eroge ("dating sim" is the easiest, though mild, way to sum that genre up) video game called "Popotan". It has an anime based on the game that I heard is very good, and I may look at it in the future. From what I've looked at in reviews, it's like Elfen Lied to Americans in that the series is actually pretty good, but because there are things in it unacceptable by american standards, you'd never see it here. If you want to see the origin of the dance, it's here; NSFW warning: It's got a lot of stuff in it against US "standards".