2009
March 8, 2009 2:00 pmRainy day. My motivation to blog lately has gone way down. Living in America is definitely different from living in Japan and it’s just not the same blogging anymore. I remember always pointing out the differences between Japan and America with somewhat of a biased preference toward life in America. Now that I’m back in the States though, that biased preference is gone. In certain ways Japan is actually better than America. Not the weather, but just life in general. The service is a lot better, and it’s so much easier to commute to various places. The only grudge I have against living in Japan is that I’ll always be the “foreigner” that doesn’t belong. And anyone who’s lived there for an extended period of time can definitely relate. Gaijin.
Here’s a picture of me and Kazuko in Chicago:
Also, it’s really nice living in Chicago since my aunt & uncle and cousin are living here. We met up last year for some food at Panera Bread and will hopefully be meeting a lot more this year. Can’t wait for the weather to get nicer.
What does everyone think of the economy?
My parents are really pessimistic, which is annoying. It may take 10 years or more for things to recover before they start to go up again, but when you think about all those stocks & mutual funds that used to be “safe investments” recovering to levels they were a year ago and then climbing from there, there’s a huge potential to make money! Instead of investing though, everyone’s pulling money out of the stock market, holding back on spending, and waiting for that green light (from where?!) that says everything will be OK. Others are just holding back until they feel the market’s at its lowest point. But when will that be?
Then again, I can understand a conservative approach with all the job losses. People just need to be patient though. A recession always brings more opportunity.
So it’s tax season again. I have the time to do the paperwork myself this year, but with getting married, changing job locations twice, and investing in various stocks, I’d rather pay $100 to have someone else do it. I’ve always considered having software do it for me, but with tax software being circulated so widely, I have a hard time believing the IRS isn’t controlling the software somehow. Maybe I’m just narrow-minded, but the IRS is evil, I swear.
Sometime in the next 4 months, Kazuko and I will buy our first home!! With the market as it is, I’m not expecting it’ll take us more than 2 months to find the perfect place. In fact, we already know where we want to live. I heard somewhere that the housing market lags the economy by about 6 months or more. If that’s actually true, then we’ll be buying our house too early. Our rent ends in July though, so we don’t really have a choice.
Last month, about 3 weeks ago, we found out that Kazuko’s pregnant! She’ll have the baby on September 25th. We’re in the process of switching hospitals so she can see someone who can speak some Japanese. Also, unlike Japan, the service in American hospitals is SH*T, which is another reason we’re changing networks. Here’s a picture of her last ultrasound:
Sometime late last year, we found out our apartment is really close to the house where they filmed the movie, ‘Home Alone’. It’s in Winnetka, which is also where they filmed ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’ The houses there are incredible!! Driving through there gives you a weird feeling where you start wondering how so many people could be so rich since every house goes for around $3 million. What the &%!* are those people doing for a living?
Greg & Mike are here working with me in Vernon Hills now. So weird. I go downtown with them sometimes to hang out in Lincoln Park. Also, we went skiing together in Wisconsin earlier last month, but it was nothing compared the skiing in Japan.
About 3 weeks ago, Kazuko and I bought a new dog. It’s a shiba-inu/spaniel mix. We picked him up from an animal shelter and surprisingly, he’s very well behaved already. He never barks and he never bothers you while you’re eating. We’ve already trained him not to pull on the leash while walking with him, and he knows how to sit, shake, and stay. There’ve been a few accidents in the apartment so far, but it hasn’t been too bad. The only problem he has is not jumping when he gets really excited.
Last weekend, Dave was in town from Hong Kong to take an ethics law exam in Chicago. I took Monday off work & Josh and Eric were able to fly in to hang out, too. It was so nice seeing them all again!
Last December, just before Christmas, Kazuko and I went on our honeymoon to the Western Caribbean. Our “Carnival - Freedom” cruise ship stopped in the Key West where we were able to get away from the snow for awhile to go snorkeling, dolphin watching, and to do some kayaking. The next stop was The Cayman Islands where we chilled in the sun on the 7-Mile Beach. The final stop was Jamaica, where we were bombarded with people trying to sell us stuff we didn’t need. We got ripped off in one of the shops and were consistently pestered by random people. One guy insisted on giving us a walking tour even though we were already walking around on our own. It was raining, so we hid under a tree for awhile hoping to lose the guy, but he continued to wait around for us saying how everyone in Jamaica is sooo friendly. Our next attempt to lose him was turning down one of the side streets on a hill, but that didn’t work either. He tried everything possible to get some money out of us, but we refused a thousand times. He eventually realized how stubborn we were and asked us to give back the wrinkled-up brochure he gave us in the start! hahahaha
Recently, I bought a new laptop. The shop I bought it from was selling it for $600 with Windows XP installed, which is something you can’t find anywhere online. It’s an HP G60-235DX with an Intel Dual Core 2.00GHz CPU, 3GB RAM, 320GB HD, 16″ screen, with a built-in microphone and webcam. It’s a huge improvement over my previous PC, which I felt was getting too old. There weren’t any real problems with my other laptop (Dell Latitude D610) and I’ll still take it around with me from time to time. If anyone wants it though, I could reinstall Windows XP Professional on it, and sell it to you for a reasonable price.
On New Year’s Eve, Kazuko and I were downtown with some friends, and Kyle and Kelsey were also able to make it into the city, which was a lot of fun. Kevin Murphy & his friends were also there, but the bar we hung out at was a bit lame. Dinner was nice though.
The snow in America is new for Kazuko, so it’s been fun seeing her reactions. Well, most of them have been negative, hahaha, but there have been a few times at least where we’ve had some fun in the snow. 
And this pretty much brings things up to date! It may be another 6 months before I blog again, so let me know you’re reading this by leaving a comment or something. Thanks dudes.
Oh, here’s a fun video of the apartment we’re living in. I took it when we moved in, but never got around to posting it.
