Monthly Archive for October, 2012

White Sells

Dang it, didn’t get to servco in time. They called this afternoon, their allotment of white manual FR-S’ sold out in less than 1.5 hours before I could get there. I suppose I could be different and do black seeing as how there’ll be a gaggle of white ones running around. Oh well, gives me a month to wait and get stuff like the front license mount.

Radio Jangle

Heard KORL 97.1 call sign jingle, it’s horrible. I guess since the station is locally owned, not a Japan entity, they didn’t have the connections to have someone in Japan do an appropriate jingle? It sounds like a bad American top 40 station jingle.

The Homeward Flow

I hope the trains aren’t super crowded on the way to the airport.  It should time out OK, since I’ll be headed out around 15:00, so that’s after lunch and before the pau-hana rush.  Still, I’ve found myself standing all the way to Chitose before, so today might be more of the same.

(0)

Secret Zombie Lab

Now that’s something you don’t see every day… no less in Japan!  Odd there were no security guards about, but that would just make breaching the gates easier for the sake of advancing the movie plotline.

Doesn’t Taste like Chicken

Hopefully Wayland will enjoy these, since he’ll be inflicted with them.  I guess we will all end up being victims though, unless Fabio goes incommunicado and avoids the meetup in anticipation of this.  I’ve eaten shako (Oratosquilla oratoria) once.  It was flavorless and didn’t break apart when chewed.  It wasn’t rubbery like squid, it was more crunchy like gristle.  Great.  Garlicy gristle!  Maybe everyone will be lucky and Ag or Customs will seize them.

Down to the Minute with the JMA

Seriously, how do these guys do it?  The hourly forecast called for rain last night with a clear, partially cloudy morning, followed by increased cloudiness at noon, with clearing again in the afternoon and evening.  It indeed went from blue skies with scattered clouds this morning to a full overcast at lunchtime.  I’ll expect blue as I head to the airport this afternoon.  They must have some serious supercomputing power!

(0)

Joy joy!

In retrospect I should have bought some of these for wayland.
>such amusement about town today. Also put my name in for Servco to call me when they get shipment of FR-S’ through customs, apparently it’s on the docks. Only the “tame” colors in this batch, white, black, or dark grey. I think it’s going to be white. Yes, maybe boring but I like it, I think the white looks good. It’s actually a bit pearl and seems to cost a little more. The black is nice, but I don’t want the maintenance.

20121028-173711.jpg

Beer is Good – Battle of the Black Cans

What should I find at the supermarket than two new-ish dark offerings from mainstream breweries.  Decades ago, it was “Dunk” (heck, that’s so old, it exists only in my memory and I can’t find anything about it online… did it even exist?  It had Arnold the Governator in their advertising and was product-placed on some stewardess drama) which faded from popularity, but now darks are back, albeit still on the tamer end of the flavor scale.  From Yebisu comes the Creamy Top Stout aimed to compete with the widgeted Guinness, and Asahi Dry Black, a dark lager offering.  I actually had the Yebisu Creamy Top Stout on draught at a restaurant in Okayama last year, but this is the first time I’ve tried the Asahi Dry Black. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Battle of the Black Cans’

Beer is Good – Vedett Extra White Weiss

I can just hear Fabio fighting the power!  This mild, clear weissbier is produced by the Moortgat Brouwerij (brewery) that brings us Duvel and the various “Chouffe” beers and ales from the Brasserie d’Achouffe brewery.  The Vedett name was originally used to market a lager in the 1940’s, but in the 2000’s, the brand was realigned toward a younger, upscale market with the introduction of a pilsener and the weiss I will review here.  The flavor is not as heavily citrussy out of the bottle as some other weissbiers are.  There is a hint of bitter over the moderate wheat flavor.  The carbonation is low: You can feel a hint of bubbles on the tongue, but there is no head.  It is cloudy, as a weiss should be, but has the least amount of accumulated sediments of all the bottled weissbiers I have observed.  This weiss is the lightest in flavor that I’ve had so far.  That’s not specifically a bad thing, as I’ve had a couple of microbrew or craft weissbiers where they smack you on the head with a hand drilling hammer with the amount of sediment and taste overburden they have.  The Vedett Extra White Weiss has a good balance of flavor and body, but is on the crisper, refreshing side of the scale instead of the fuller, “meatier” (meal in a glass) side. Continue reading ‘Beer is Good – Vedett Extra White Weiss’

Nyan?

20121028-155524.jpg
Just spotted this, wonder who’s deal this is? Sorry bout pic quality, was breakin the law shooting off this pic real quick while stopped at light. It’s Mobile Maid Cafe.