Last night I went to my friend’s bachelor party, and was so tired today, that I took a nap on the couch. Mariko and Bay took the liberty to humiliate me, and then take photos. You can see Bay lining up his shot with his little camera.  Among other things, I had one of Koa’s dirty diapers in my lap.

As some of you know, I have been showing some of the photos I have taken over the years at my other site, Typhoon Design. I am almost finished moving all those photos to a new site, www.barronfujimoto.com. I am hoping to sell a few of them as prints, to make a little money on the site. I am not sure if I am going to close down the Typhoon-Design site, but most likely will in a few weeks. Anyways, the new site is running on the excellent Gallery software, which makes managing the images a breeze. I still need to tweak the design and categories a bit, but I think it is looking good (and functions). 

I came down with the sickness that Bay had (and recovered from) this weekend, and was laid up from Sunday thru Tuesday… It was awful, with fever, headache and sore throat. Last night I finally had a comfortable sleep. The previous two nights were not so pleasant. I was hot, then cold, then hot, etc. I had the fan on me, then bundled up in my blanket. Plus, the nightlight we have in our room for the kids drove me nuts. And then I had to get up every couple hours to pee. I had no appetite, so I think I lost about five pounds… The worst thing about this sickness was the awful taste I had in my mouth the whole time. It made almost all the food I ate taste like doodoo. The only thing that was really good was vanilla ice cream. Today, though, I feel much better. Still have a headache lurking (it hurts my head when I cough) and a nasty sore throat.

During my time at home, I got to watch a good share of the Olympics, which was pretty nice. I enjoyed watching the Women’s Soccer matches, boxing with the great commentator Teddy Atlas, and even some Equestrian events. Besides the games, I watched some TV that I never see: Dr. Phil, Judge Judy, and Made. They were all very amusing. Well, not Dr. Phil, but it was still pretty good.

I started listening to the Dodger game last night just in time to hear Eric Gagne give up a three-run double to Lenny Harris and blow the game… Could this be the beginning of the inevitable slide of the Dodgers into second place? If the Giants keep winning, then I think that it is…

Bay has a temp of 102° today. We’re going to the doctor later. He’s playing like normal, but sometimes gets a little cranky.

I have been watching a little bit of the Athens Olympics. This was the first time I had ever seen synchronized diving, and I am very impressed. It’s so cool to watch the symmetry (or lack thereof) of the divers. The camera angles are so interesting too, especially the “chase” camera, which follows the divers all the way down and underwater. That is pretty cool. I also watched a little swimming, weightlifting, rifle, and cycling.

For me, Olympic basketball is not interesting at all. I mean, we get to see basketball all the time. I guess I’d rather see some sports that they don’t show on tv that often. Speaking of things on tv, what the hell is up with the “World Series of Poker” that is on ESPN *all the time*. I mean, is it really a sport? And why is it on every night? I though a championship tournament would last for maybe a week at longest. It seems like it’s been going on for half a year....

Austin’s Japanese market, Asahi, has moved locations, and the store has been nicely “upgraded”. I don’t think it is bigger, but it is much better organized and very clean. The old location had a charm all of its own, though. Mariko said it reminded her of the store in inaka Japan when she was little. Anyways, the new store is very nice! We really like the couple who run the store. They are always friendly and helpful.

On the way to work this morning, I heard a story on NPR about summer hanabi (fireworks) shows in Japan. It was an excellent, albeit short, piece by J.R. Reid. His description was perfect, in that compared to American fireworks shows, the Japanese fireworks shows last a long time, from two to three hours.

He also said that the “greatest love song in Japanese pop music” was “Ano Natsu no Hanabi” by Dreams Come True (Dorikamu) and played a bunch of that song. I don’t know if that is truly the greatest love song in Japanese pop music, but I remember listening to that song a bunch in 95 or 96 before I moved to Japan. It was one of my favorite songs by Dreams Come True. It was funny hearing that song, and it brought back so many memories, since it was my favorite song for a time, and I haven’t heard it in almost ten years. After I moved to Japan, I didn’t really listen to them anymore. Maybe it was because there was just so many choices of Jpop to listen to, whereas in L.A., Dorikamu cd’s were easy to come by.  I saw the disc in my collection a month ago, maybe I should put it in my cd player… Anyways, give the story a listen!

Finally there is some new information on the Konica-Minolta DSLR coming out. Their website is releasing tidbits about the camera features in installments, and right now, there is a short explanation about the Anti-shake feature, which looks really cool! Can’t wait til the camera is actually in stores!