Christmas

On the Christmas morning, I took Ken to nearby clinic of otolaryngology. More than 100 patients were waiting there due to after holiday weekend. As several patients were coughing through their masks, we waited our turn out of the door. But Ken asked me to go to the rest room. "Little shits, and such a big shit, all be gone !" "OK. I see, do it quickly." I picked a small amount of it for the medical examination.
He had fallen asleep when his name was called, but he woke up soon on the examination table and resisted violently. The doctor finished examination smoothly, and gave us a prescription for the antibiotics and pain reliever.
At the night, I came back home while Ken was playing with his Christmas present, Tomy Thomas and friends. I asked him whether he got it from Santa. "No", he said, "Chi-baa gave me this". He assumed that he got it from his grandmother, Chi-baa.

Christmas Eve

At first, we planned to go to "Thomas land", an amusement park of FujiKyu Highland Japan, on Christmas Eve. But it was cancelled because Mari got angry with Ken, who had been slow to eat his breakfast. Alternatively, we went to a shopping mall out of town.
This mall, opened last month, had many fancy shops. On the first floor, there was a pet shop with variety of fishes, birds, rabbits, and puppy dogs. These puppies were so cute and I understood why many people are fascinated with miniature dogs.
Next we went to a toy store on the 3rd floor. While Mari choosing a Christmas present, I went to play area with Ken. That was a pay area, so we returned to the toy section. She finished shopping and also bought a Nintendo DS Lite for herself.
After that, we came back home and had some sushi, fried chicken, salad, .. and an Australian Shiraz wine. And we ate a cake late at night.
The next morning, Ken found there was a Christmas present for him near his head. But he was displeased, because he had an acute otitis media too.

Last week

Happenings of the last week.
From Monday to Wednesday. I made a business report for the conference, and etc... .
On Thursday evening. Mari was invited to a drinking party. I and Ken stayed at home. When she came back, we had fallen asleep.
On Friday. I visited a chemical company for a meeting along with my professor. After that I did the "oo-souji (year-end cleaning)" of my laboratory and joined the "bounen-kai (laboratory year-end party)". On my way home, it was so cold, and I pulled my coat over my head. Perhaps it would be some suspicious.
On Saturday. I showed off the images of my brain in my laboratory. Then I went to an indoor swimming pool, but I felt very itchy all over. It is difficult for me to swim scratching myself. I gave up on swimming.

Bedtime story

Ken told me a bedtime story.
"Long long ago, there was an old couple in a village. He went out to the field. She went to daycare. She took a taxi. ..."

Saturday

On Saturday, I attended a Christmas party at Ken's daycare, not the conference, with my family. We enjoyed making a Christmas wreath with pastas, bingo game, and singing some songs. Ken sang no song again, as if he was determined never to sing any song in front of people.
In the afternoon, I visited a hospital to have a brain checkup. There I underwent intravenous infusion of iodine-based contrast agent, electrocardiogram, and the multislice computed tomography (CT). It was curious for me to feel hot inside my body. And then, I received a drip infusion of saline and an explanation of the diagnosis.
The doctor showed me the three-dimensional images of my head and told that my pituitary gland is slightly enlarged but there was no other abnormal sign. He recommended me to undergo an MRI if I was concerned about it. I did not wish to do, because the price for CT was very expensive. Alternatively, I ordered a CD-ROM that contains these images.
At the night, Ken said me that he had a knee pain. I guessed that was a growing pain, and rubbed his knee. He slept, and forgot his pain.

Friday

On Friday, I presented orally the results of my research at a workshop in
the conference. I tried to appeal my research work, but I could
not catch the minds of the audience. I always desire to excite the audience about my
presentation, but I fail every time.
On the same day, I met one of my friends, H. He told me that he will marry soon. I took no notice of his word, because I have not ever heard anything about his girlfriend. After that, I went to daycare to get Ken, and emailed to Mari that we could go for ramen today. There was no response. I came back to my house and had a dinner there with her.

BMB2007

Oops, I did it. I mistook my presentation day !
I attended the BMP 2007, a conference for the biochemistry and molecular biology in Japan. I mistook my poster presentation day that was last Wednesday, not Tuesday. I found it on Tuesday, and I was very confused. I dashed to Yokohama Minato-mirai (the place for the conference) as fast as I could, and just made it for the presentation.
In this conference, a hot presentation about iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cell was given by Dr. Yamanaka. His research group made the pluripotent stem cells from mouse and human fibroblasts. I heard that big projects are going to start in both USA and Japan. Will it become as common as the RNAi ? I want to do such work as iPS, but not about iPS.

Sunset in Minato-mirai.

HandiCAM

I also purchased a video recorder on last October, because Mari wanted to record the activity of Ken in a sports festival at his daycare. I used to capture Ken's daily happening using a cell phone with camera, and the image was not so good. But I satisfied it, because I made it as for myself, living away from my home. Now I live with my family, and need not to record it. Even so, I bought a video recorder, Sony HandiCAM , which can store data in a hard disk drive.
Ken made his debut in my personal video on Oct 27. He did not show any action in the festival: he lay on the floor throughout it all. I stored the data on a DVD disk without modifying, and watched the boring DVD on the TV.
Next, I recorded our travel aboard a steam train "ban-etsu story" from Aidzu-wakamatsu to Niigata. Ken enjoyed the sight of the steam train, and watched the DVD again and again.
I would like to make a lot of video using this recorder with my family.

DVD player

I am not well to catch the trend, so I usually follow behind it. I believe this is a smart strategy, because valuable things may survive after the trend.
I bought a DVD player and personal computer with DVD drive at the first time this year. I found that these DVD players support the closed-caption data. Furthermore, these players can display English or Japanese closed-caption at any time. In Japan, most TVs do not support the closed-caption data unless a third-party decoder is installed. I know it now, and regret why I did not buy it earlier.

Kusaya

Mari does not hesitate to eat smelly durian, whereas she hates the odor of fish or meat. She gets off such as organ meat and num pla, a fermented fish sauce in Thailand.
Yesterday, I wanted to drink sake and eat kusaya, a dried horse mackerel that dipped in fermented fish sauce. I like it but I have not eaten it after my marriage. I readily cooked it, and she made a great fuss. "Stinky, stinky !" She opened all windows and doors and kept herself in her bedroom. No matter what she says, I think no other fish is tasty than kusaya.
Surströmming, a fermented herring, is a food of north Sweden. It is known as the stinkiest food in the world. I got no chance to taste it, and I would try it once.

Cherimoya

Last month, I purchased cherimoya, a fruit originally come from Andes, using internet shopping. I got four for the price of three, I guess the reason is probably due to the late shipping or their relatively small size. I placed them in the room and waited for a week until ripe. I tasted it today, and thought that it was not as delicious as when I had tasted it previously. Mari did not like it, and complained to me about my wasting money. She favorites mango among the tropical fruits, and I know that she had ordered "mangos in the world " via internet shopping. I favorite durian among the tropical fruits and I often buy it from a supermarket, Jasco. Of course I love Japanese fruits too, but I would like to taste them only in season.
We can enjoy colorful four seasons and a variety of fruits in Japan. It looks like mikan (mandarin orange) have a good season this year in Japan. That is good news for me, because it was too expensive last year.

Swimming

I swim twice a week to reduce my weight. I started it this spring, and now I swim about a mile in an hour. One says that swimming refreshes oneself, but I do not think so. I do it only for my health, and I wonder if I enjoy swimming truly.
I foget to enjoy myself ? Adults accept more bitter than sweet. Perhaps I enjoy myself near the end of my life, like when I enjoy snowboarding.

Chocolate and coffee

Since a few years ago, extra-dark chocolate is trendy in Japan. I liked it before it became popular. My favorite is a 99% cacao chocolate (product from Meiji Seika). None of my friends like it, so I worry whether it will be out of production.
On getting to my laboratory, I make a strong drip coffee and drink it black. My favorite brand is Mandheling, and I have taken it for 15 years. This brand is not so expensive, but Mari grumbled to me for my to much consumption.
I heard a presentation in a Japanese conference that the Mandheling and Brazil Santos have an awakening property, whereas Blue Mountain and Guatemala are preferable for relaxing. It is reasonable to drink Mandheling before I start, isn't it?

Wash your hands well

"Mom, I washed my hands.", Ken said. "Don't tell a lie. Wash your hands well." my wife Mari answered. I found that the Japanese phrase meaning "Wash your hands well (chan-to teo alae)" sounds "Don't tell a lie."

Kaki (persimmon)

Recently, Ken sings a Japanese child song "takibi". It begins "Kaki ne no kaki ne no ...", and he believes it concerns a sweet fruit, kaki. However, it concerns about hedge (kakine), but not kaki.

Power shovel

My son, Ken, loves to watch power shovels. When he finds it, he always shouts to me that there is a power shovel. "A blue power shovel !" he tells me, "Blue power shovel, not working" "A yellow power shovel, stone !". At the same place, he always shouts "I found a yellow power shovel !" before he sees it. And he goes on talking, "the yellow power shovel shits in the toilet".

S got a job

One of my friends, S, got a job in a chemical company. He visited our laboratory to tell us about it. In celebration of his new job, we went to a sushi-bar for lunch.

The first entry

This is my first personal blog entry. I want to improve my poor English : )