http://www.ducsu.com/index.html These are the latest blogs to be posted at ducsu.com-weblog Wed, 8 Sep 2010 19:41:39 GMT en-us http://www.ducsu.com/blog/27/why-i-love-japan-.html Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:06:03 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/27/why-i-love-japan-.html Ever since then, I wanted to learn Japanese. I managed to enroll myself in a Japanese course at a Jr. College. I must admit; I had a tuff time comprehening this language. My problem was that I speak English fluently and when I translate from Japanese to English, the meaning doesn't make sense. A student in the class told me that I cannot think in terms of English and do not translate word for word. Read the sentence and think how the context is related to that sentence. Advise well spoken. One year later, I wanted to experience what it would be like to live in Japan. I have searched the Internet and read numerous sites about what to expect as far as living conditions and jobs were concerned. Having an Asian background, the living conditions were not a shock to me; finding a job however is. Further searching on, I stumbled upon a site which talked about working as an ALT in public schools. What better way to learn Japanese than to live in Japan and interact with the people themselves. With some basic knowledge of the language, I packed my bags, said goodbye to my family and friends, and bought a one way ticket to Japan. My wife was so excited; she didn't have to think twice about the idea considering she is a Japanese national herself. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/26/here-we-grow-process-of-building-a-mansion-up-close.html Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:17:30 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/26/here-we-grow-process-of-building-a-mansion-up-close.html This building, when it was in operation, used to be a bank. It was owned by Korean investors until the bank went belly-up. Ever since then, it was just an empty lot. Why did it went out of business? Well, let’s see. If I had to guess, I may say that this bank was in a residential area on a side street away from the main street. I can’t image anyone would be able to see this bank hidden inside a small community. I wished we had a say in this matter whether to build a new building in our area or not, but we don’t. I am not too thrilled about this either. For one, our town-house is practically covered by other surrounding mansions. In turns, this mean we have few hours of sun shining through our house. This new apartment will only decrease the sun’s ray even more. As if this is not even, our street will be a construction zone. Delivery trucks, construction workers, generators blasting all day long. To make matters worse, our house is in the front-line. I will update the progress as time goes by. It will be interesting to see the before, after, and anything in between progress. You can view more photos at Scenic From Afar. July 01, 2010. A temporary gate has been setup. This marks the beginning of what will be a long phase of constructing a new mansion in front of my house. July 29, 2010. They've been at it for the past 2 days making a really deep hole. Any time now, they will either strike oil or strike a Chinaman on the head. Aug 05, 2010. Removing the old power panel and placing a temporary power pole. Aug 19, 2010. Scaffolds and temporary walls going up. The beginning of a noisy year. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/25/ramune-drink-for-the-kid-in-all-of-us.html Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:53:00 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/25/ramune-drink-for-the-kid-in-all-of-us.html I do believe Japan has some of the best snacks (okashi) around. Their taste is quite different compared to USA. If you have tried them before, you know what I am talking about. Being a snack junkie myself, I love them all. One of my favorite in particular, is a drink call Ramune. This clear carbonated drink taste like Sprite cola. I think it taste more like bubble gum to be exact. Ramune was not originated from Japan. It derived from America in the form of lemonade drink with the bottle coming from the United Kingdom. Japan than packaged the product like so. Now it is enjoyed by young kids with a sweet tooth all around. What distinguish this drink from the rest is its glass bottle and a marble inside. The marble is actually the cap. To open the bottle, you would just push down the marble with a plastic tab included with the drink. I was very surprised that not all Japanese knew there was a correct way of drinking it. If you noticed near the top, there are two indentation. Those marks should be pointed to your mouth. Why? If you drink from any other side, the marble will block the opening; thus, not allowing the soda to pass through. Make sense doesn’t it? This new version of the bottle was introduced in 2006, as many people trying for the first time had difficulty drinking it. Ramune comes in several different favors. Watermelon, Lychee, Wasabi, Apple, and Muscat to name a few. The original favor is call lemon-lime. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/24/far-from-home-weblog-found-a-new-home-ubuntu-server.html Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:07:19 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/24/far-from-home-weblog-found-a-new-home-ubuntu-server.html I finally got around to installing Ubuntu server on my spare pc. I am done configuring the essential to have my web server up. Everything seems to be running fine and my test sites are viewable, including ‘Far From Home’ blog. Over all I am happy with the install besides the little hiccups along the way. Coming from a Windows GUI base OS, I was a bit leery about using a Linux base box. The server is 100% cmd text and 0% GUI interface. What that meant for me was learning a new language all over again. I am grateful for the Internet. Finding answers and tutorials were just a click away. Prior to Ubuntu, my web server was running on my personal computer. It is an intel Core 2 Duo processor. Not the fastest but it is great for my needs and the programs I and using. However, when I installed the web server on my Windows, I had several different clients and applications running in the background. It slowed my pc down quite a bit. I had to get it off or risk the life of my cpu. Since I had an extra mobo/cpu laying around, I figured I would use it. Running a server doesn’t require a high end processor. In fact, all I needed was a 300Mhz x86 processor, 128MB of RAM, 1GB disk space, a video card (640x480), and a CD Rom. My old P4 had all that and then some. When I got all my preparation done; I was ready to install it. I found this great tutorial on how to install Ubuntu server with added security. The process took about 2 hrs as predicted in the guide. Unfortunately, I had issues that I couldn’t quite figured out until recently. The server would run fine for a day or two and all of a sudden, it would crash and my cmd prompt would not function anymore. The screen would either froze or it would print out a never ending list of computer language that I could not understanding. A reboot would fix it for a short while, but the problem would come back. The first thought was maybe I had a corrupted copy of the CD. I downloaded another copy and reinstall the server. That wasn’t the case. My second thought was maybe the latest version had bugs on my particular computer. I downloaded a lower version of Ubuntu and begin the install again. Nope. At this point, I was frustrated. Each of the install takes about 2 hours to install all my applications and uploading my test websites. This was becoming a pain in the butt. I was ready to throw in the towel and install Windows XP in its place. Windows has never failed me before. During the time of installing and reinstalling the server, I was searching for answers as to why my server was acting the way it was. I stumbled on an off topic thread and this poster mentioned about corrupted ram. A flashback purged through my mind at this point. I remembered this computer had an error message before about bad ram when I had Windows XP installed. Whenever I do a ram test, the test would just froze 15 minutes in. That maybe the cause of my problem. Without even thinking any further, I remove one of the ram chips that I think was bad. Turned on the server and let it run. Two days have passed. No signs of freezing, locking up or random scripts running in the cmd text box. All seems to be running normal at this point. My server is golden. All this troubleshooting lasted about a week and a half. It was a tiresome experience but ended with a positive result. I will be adding more features to the box as time goes by. Besides Apache, I would like to have a mail server and a VPN. I know it doesn’t look much of a computer, but with my limited space area, I think it serves the purpose just fine. Edit 01 Every since my server became live, I have been adding applications to serve my needs. It was pure exhaustion; nevertheless, I am thrilled to report my funky server is 95% completed. All is left is to fine tune the applications and beef up the security. Here is what I have added. Squid+Privoxy+Tor VPN Mail Server >>This was a huge challenge. Dependencies apps Edit 02 My server was overheating due to the weather being hot and my old dinky cpu fan. I upgraded to this one. Much quieter and cooler now. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/23/is-living-in-japan-expensive-.html Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:43:32 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/23/is-living-in-japan-expensive-.html ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/22/who-must-file-a-tax-return-from-aboard-.html Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:00:47 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/22/who-must-file-a-tax-return-from-aboard-.html Apparently any US citizen living aboard must file IRS forms taxes according to Uncle Sam. I don’t see the point since the foreign income exclusion for 2009 was $91,400. This means a person can exclude up to that amount from US taxation. I had the luxury to filed my online income tax return this year from aboard. It was not fun, than again filing taxes forms never are. My question is. How do I know if the IRS did received my tax forms? I did include a return address; however, I seriously doubt they will sent me a courtesy letter since my address is international. I’ve read that anyone who doesn’t file their taxes are reliable to pay for back taxes. Should I be concern? ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/21/lights-camera-action-you-are-live-.html Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:08:38 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/21/lights-camera-action-you-are-live-.html This is not related to Japan, but I thought I’d share this service with you. A friend of mine ask me if it is possible to broadcast a live feed with a rally he will be participating. I don’t see why not, I told him. He also told me a person he knew was doing just that. She showed him a live video via the Internet where she can monitor her dog 24hrs a day via her computer. The service she used is call Ustream. I did a quick search and found out this service is pretty cool. Ustream allows you to broadcast your live feed using a webcam over the world wide Web. Anyone can tune in to your channel and watch you over the net, live! All you need is a webcam, computer, and Internet connection. The process is very simple; anyone can set it up in just 10 minutes. The first thing you need to do is to sign up for a free account at ustream.tv. After which, you create your own show name. The name you choose will be yours only. This will be the name you tell the world to watch you on. When you have created your name, click on Broadcast Now. That’s it. Ustream offers hardcore users their application version call Ustream Producer and Ustream Producer Pro. This application allows you to stream video in high quality with some added feature that Ustream website doesn’t offer . The Producer version is free to　download and the Pro has a one-time fee of $199 price tag. You can see a side-by-side comparison chart what both applications have to offer. Both applications are supported for Mac and Windows OS. As if this is not enough, Ustream also offer their mobile version applications of viewing and broadcasting from your mobile phone. If you have an iPhone, you can download their uStream viewer and broadcaster applications. One views selected iPhone broadcast feed and their other can broadcast from your iPhone. Other mobile phones are supported such as the Android and Nokia Phones. You can click here to find out the types of mobile phones Ustream supports. I mentioned early that only selected iPhone broadcast feeds are available, which I think is unusual. This means we are limited to watch feeds that are picked from the developer only. So your new feed will most likely not show up on the iPhone. Hopefully, future updates will allow all broadcast feeds available for search. The applications for mobile phones are free to download. I have setup my account and will be experimenting with it from time to time. Check back to see what you may find. Channel: FarFromHome-Live ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/20/do-your-part-it-starts-with-you-recycle-.html Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:58:59 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/20/do-your-part-it-starts-with-you-recycle-.html I have to admit; I was not an ECO friendly person in the past, but Japan has changed all that. I was used to having two big trash bins outside the house provided by the city and all we need to do was to put all trash in the black bin and all greens in the green bin. Then, we take the bins out once a week to have it empty. Simply as that. Japan is quite different. Every household are required to recycle their trash and throw them out on certain days. Anything is not consider regular trash. We have to separate paper, plastic, PET bottle, metal, aluminum, and glass bottle individually. Let me explain. Papers can be anything from junk mails, school papers, magazines, newspapers, to cardboard boxes. Within these mix of papers, we have to sort the newspapers, and cardboard boxes from the regular papers separately. Tie them up with a string and carry them out on the appropriate day of collection. Plastics are anything that is made out of plastic. It is fairly easy to distinguish plastic; however, some materials maybe in question. Thankfully, the manufactures are kind enough to imprint a Pura logo on the content itself. Some example of plastics are candy wrappers and soda bottle caps. PET bottle are usually soda or water bottles. It is made out of plastic but we don’t combine them with regular plastic. PET bottles are collected separately. The correct way of recycling PET is to separate the bottle cap and the label that wraps around the bottle. Those are consider regular plastic. Not everyone will do this; however. Metals are easy to distinguish. It is a little heavier than aluminum and it sticks to magnetic. Just like PET, we have to separate anything that is not metal. Can food is a good example. We need to separate the label that wraps around the can. It is considered paper. Aluminum are cash for us Americans. We get paid $1.25 for every 1lb. of cans we collect. Unfortunately, Japan does not recycle aluminum. There is one exception. If you are a homeless, you can bring the cans to a recycling center and they will buy the cans from you. Not all centers will do this. Lastly, we have glass bottles. By now you get the idea what is considered glass. We separate anything that is not glass like the cap. Most of the time, the caps are aluminum. Now that we have all these items separated. How do we get rid of them? Easy. We put all the recycled items in its own clear plastic bag and bring them outside to their designated locations. It must be in a clear bag or the city will not pick them up. Depending on the city, the collection days may vary. For my area, regular trash comes twice a week. Plastics comes once a week. PET, aluminum, metal, glass bottles, paper and clothes comes every other week. It may sound complicated at first, but once you get into the groove, you can managed this without having to look at the calendar to see what type of collection is today. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/19/reminder-spam-scam-solicited-email-are-increasing-donocot-be-a-victim-.html Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:56:30 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/19/reminder-spam-scam-solicited-email-are-increasing-donocot-be-a-victim-.html I'm in a hurry writing this message, I need your assistance urgently. I could barely think straight at this point. I had a trip here in United Kingdom on a mission. I am presently in Yorkshire and I am having some difficulties. I misplaced my bag and other valuable things on my way to the hotel where i lodge. I feel so ashamed because i am so stranded and idle. I'd like you to help me out with a loan of $2,500 to pay my hotel bills and also return back home. I will refund the money to you as soon as I get back, I have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively. let me know if you can be of any help.I don't have a phone where i can be reached at this point. I will await your earliest response. Here is another one for your reading pleasure. I don't see the point on how they will scam you for giving them your zero amount bank account number. Hello, Thanks i really like to have a good relation-hip with you, and i have a special reason why i decided to contact you. I decided to contact you because of my situation here and after reading your profile, I am Pamilar 24 years old girl from Rwanda in Central Africa the only daughter of Late Dr Philip Desmond the Managing Director of Desmond & Sons industrial Company in the Capital City of My Country KIGALI and he was the personal adviser to the former head of state Late Dr Robert GUI before the rebels attacked our house one early morning and killed my mother and father in cold blood.it was only me that is alive now and I decided to run to the refugee camp where i,m in presently seeking asylum under the United Nations High Commission for the Refugee in Dakar, Republic of Senegal. I constrained to contact you because l don't have any relatives now whom l can go to all my relatives abscond in the middle of the war the only one l have now is Rev.Kelvin John, who is the pastor here in the camp he has been very nice to me since i came here but i am not living with him rather i am leaving in the women's hostel due to the camp have two hostels one for women & the other for men the Pastors Tel number is 00221-772572752 if you call tell him you want to speak with me, then he will send for me in the female hostel. As a refugee here i don't have any privilege to anything be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country.I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year before the tragic incident that lead to my being in this situation now took place. Please listen to this,i have my late father's statement of account and death certificate here with me which i will send to you later,because when he was alive he deposited some amount of money in a leading bank which he used my name as the next of kin,the amount in question is 5.6M Five Million Six Hundred Thousand Dollars. So i will like you to help me transfer this money to your account and from it you can send some money for me to get my travel ling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you.I kept this secret to people in the camp here the only person that knows about it is the Reverend because he is like a father to me. Regarding to the above i will like you to be confidential and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it. Remember i am giving you all this information due to confident I confide on you. I like sincere, kind, respectful, honest and understanding person, truthful, and hardworking.I love English language but I would like to know many other if God give me the opportunity but i speak English very good .However I will like you to call me because we still have allot to discuss.i put a photo of me here ok, Thanks i wait for your response have a nice day. Pamilar If you still feel sorry for this individual after reading the letter. Please look at this video. Mr. Anderson explains to you how to stand up for yourself without getting into a brutal confrontation. Although his target audiences are to foreigners who lacks the English language, native speakers can benefit from it as well. Mr. Anderson is speaking in Korean and the subtitles are a bit fast. {Credit goes to the original finder of this video.} ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/18/tilt-shift-photo-effect.html Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:57:22 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/18/tilt-shift-photo-effect.html Receding Hairline. Here are my results. Click on thumbnail to view full size. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/16/hello-my-name-is-duc-and-i-am-addicted-to-mountain-dew-soda.html Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:49:34 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/16/hello-my-name-is-duc-and-i-am-addicted-to-mountain-dew-soda.html Unfortunately, Japan thinks the opposite. I have yet to see any Mountain Dew on the shelves in super markets or convenient stores. Not even one single can. Otherwise, my fridge would be filled with 1.5 liter bottles like there is no tomorrow. This doesn’t mean that there is none in Japan. Selected soda vending machines do stock them. Fortunately, there are a few near my house. The cost is about $1.25 a can. Pretty pricy but when you are addicted, price means nothing. Well, I have my limits of course. On the other hand, it does get expensive if I have to buy them individually. Like I mentioned before, stores do not stock them at all. The only place I can get them is from vending machines. I need to do a research on why is this so. Mountain Dew is made by Pepsi Cola. Pepsi is popular here as well as Coca Cola. Why not Mountain Dew? Is Japan drawn to the myths that drinking Mountain Dew reduces your sperm count or it makes you pee yellow? They are all myths. HELLO. I will agree that Mountain Dew does have a higher sugar content than other sodas. Which is why I am reducing my consumption of the Dew to once a week. I may bend the rule from time to time because some vending machines have Price Breaker. That is all cans sold in that machine are $1. That is a bargin and I can’t pass that up now can I? ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/15/an-alternative-way-to-call-home.html Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:26:31 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/15/an-alternative-way-to-call-home.html In case you guys are wondering why your caller id shows up as a (626) area code or some long digit strings whenever I call you from Japan is because I am using VOIP. Most big businesses use it and it is the cheapest way to go. The call quality is equally the same compared to a landline connection. With the right setup, you can ditch your POT telephone at home. Why pay a flat $30 a month when you are not even using it to its fullest. If anything, you are probably using your mobile phone more often. There are many services out there that provides VOIP. I chose Skype. The plan is cheap for my situation. I pay $5.95 a month. The service includes an outgoing number, incoming number, voicemail and other features for a nominal fee such as sms text. The incoming number is what you see on your caller id. I can choice whatever area code I want. Since most of my friends have a mobile phone, the calling plan rate to any domestic number is included in the plan; thus, the number you use to call me falls in that plan too. The little drawback is that it needs an Internet connection and a computer with speaker/mic to use. If you have an iPhone, you can download Skype for iPhone for free. Instead of using your laptop in public, you can use your iPhone like a regular phone. The quality can be low at times, however. Echoes, drop calls, delays in voice transmission, etc. I can’t complaint though considering I can reach out to my friends 5,600 miles away for practically pennies. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/14/pusssy-cats-are-going-bald-this-summer.html Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:55:18 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/14/pusssy-cats-are-going-bald-this-summer.html Another thing I want to do this summer is to have my cats fur shaved. All 3 are going bald!! Their furs are long and it leaves a mess around the house. I literally have to use the swiffer 2-4 times a day. This can be costly having to buy those sheets every week. We have checked the price for the service. 8,000yen ($80) each. It might be a bit expensive, but it will keep them cool this summer and I won’t have to clean the floor every 20 minutes. Keep a lookout on their new look. Update1: We called the a specialize for an appointment; unfortunately, they will not accept my cats. Reasons being are they have never had a trim before, their age are considered old, and indoor cats are less not familiar with loud noises. I think it was more of a liability issue than they not wanting to do the service. It is understandable. My cats may go into shock from the sound of the buzzer and there is a chance they may not wake up. The other alternative is to bring the cats to the vet where than can put them to sleep. I love my cats but they are not going to be put to sleep for having their fur trim. I may have to do it myself. Update2: I have gotten around to trim my cat's hair. Not bad for using the buzzer for the first time. I couldn't do this alone, Eri had to help me hold them down. Kiki and Lala wasn't too bad, but Mefe was irritated with the buzzing sound after 5 minutes. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/13/collecting-coke-bottle-caps-to-win-.html Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:07:38 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/13/collecting-coke-bottle-caps-to-win-.html This is my Coke bottle cap collection I have started to save a couple of months back. I seen others have done it in the past, so I want to give it a go. Actually, there are more. The picture was taken before I wrote this blog and it is in a plastic container now. I didn't want to built that pyramid again. For me, I have a purpose of collecting them. Coke is having a FIFA World Cup game where you collect points and use these points to buy online vouchers to see if you win. Unfortunately, I have played all my points thus far and I haven’t won anything. No surprise there. I have yet to win anything in my life. Played the Lotto a couple of times back in the states and I can’t even pick one number out of the 6. The game is not over yet. I may still have a chance. Of course, I prefer money over these shirts or a PSP game console. I am not even a soccer fan or a sport fan for that matter. I have yet to decide what to do with the caps. I may built Pokemon with them like Legos. Better yet, Doraemon since he is my favorite.]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/12/iphone-4g-are-you-in-or-out-.html Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:06:24 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/12/iphone-4g-are-you-in-or-out-.html The iPhone 4G has been revealed and the release date is set to June 24th. I won’t bored you with the specification details since you can search that on the net. The available colors are the traditional white and black with storage size of 16 and 32GB. The price is $199 and $299 respectively. Steve Jobs announced at the WWDC that the iPhone 4G will be accessible in US, UK, Japan, France, and Germany on June 24th with a pre-order date of June 15th. The rest of the 18 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland) will follow by July, 2010. No news about the actual price for residence of Japan. I can assure you that the new iPhone 4G will not be 20,000 and 30,000yen. I am so in!! {Video courtesy of guardian.co.uk} ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/9/what-i-wouldn-t-give-for-a--survey.html Wed, 9 Jun 2010 09:04:02 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/9/what-i-wouldn-t-give-for-a--survey.html contact me link above. Please indicate if you are or have been living aboard in a different country. Thank you very much! ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/8/not-all-is-lost-jet-program-to-the-rescue.html Mon, 7 Jun 2010 00:36:59 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/8/not-all-is-lost-jet-program-to-the-rescue.html I have heard about the JET Program vaguely in the past and have not thought about it much let alone visited their website until recently. For anyone who doesn’t know about this program, let me briefly explain. The JET program stands for The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. JET is conducted by local authorities and other organizations of Japan in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Foreign, Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Affairs. The objectives of the program aims to improve foreign language education in Japan and to encourage international exchange at the local level by fostering ties between Japanese youth and foreign youth. Currently, there are 3 job titles an applicant can apply for. Assistant Language Teacher (ALT), Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), and Sports Exchange Advisor (SEA). Please visit the official JET website for more details of each title. As of July of 2009, there are 36 countries who are participating in the JET program with 4,436 participants enrolled since the launched of the JET back in 1987. Enrollment occurs twice a year. The dates of enrollment varies depending on the participant countries. Check with your local JET website for actual dates and deadline submissions. Unfortunately, the application deadline for myself has passed. I will need to wait until fall. The criteria for me is a bit different, however. I read the guidelines and I do qualify, which I am happy to say. Being selected is another. JET program is like taking a MBE (Multistate Bar Examination). There will be many applicants but only selected few will be chosen at the end. I am up for the challenge. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/7/sayonara-qb-house-japan-hello-oe-oaaoaeoe-oaaoa-oeaoa-oa-cut-station-.html Sun, 6 Jun 2010 07:11:57 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/7/sayonara-qb-house-japan-hello-oe-oaaoaeoe-oaaoa-oeaoa-oa-cut-station-.html I have been going to QB House for my monthly haircut ever since I came to Japan. I am not into the fashion trend and I have no preference in having my hairstyle to look a certain way. A nice clean cut is all I want. No shampoo, no gel, no shaving, and no messaging of my hair. Simple and fast. QB house was the answer, however. QB House, which stands for Quick Beauty, is like 7 Eleven stores. You can find one almost anywhere. Local malls, train stations, bus stops, at a corner streets, etc. QG Houses were established for the busy individuals who don’t have a lot of time and money to spent. You get in, buy a voucher at the automatic dispenser machine (usually located in front of the main door), wait in line to be called, get your cut and you're done. Their slogan is 10 minutes Just Cut. How is that for fast. There is even a stop light signal outside the store indicating how busy that store is. It is colored coded in red, yellow, and green. You get the picture. The price of the cut is a flat 1,000yen ($10.79) which includes tips. My hair glows like a wild fire. In 3 weeks time, I am due for a cut. This is the time where my hair gets to be unmanageable. If I delay my trip even further, I will look like a monkey roaming around the city. There is no set location for me, wherever I am at, if there is one nearby, I am there. However, if I am at home, I go to the QB house located one train station away. I like to go there early in the morning just to beat the crowd. On this trip, I have decided to try a different place. I found a barbershop that is one block away from the house. It is a small shop with 2 seats and one barber. What the heck, let’s give this a try. The worst that can happen if I don’t like it is be bald for a month. We go in there and my wife explains to the barber how I want my cut. Since we were the only one at the time, I was up on the seat. He started to do his thing. Mind you, this was my first time visiting a small barbershop. I was used to electronic clippers and the what number I want for the clipper extension. I had no idea what to expect. Well, this particular barber didn't use a clipper; he used his pair of scissors the whole time, spot checking often to see if all were in the right order. After the cut, he used a shaver to cut my side burns and lower neck area. Then, he wrapped a hot towel on my head, gave me a quick hair message, and styled my hair with mousse. Now that is a royal service. During the cut I was thinking to myself, this service has got to cost a fortune. I didn't bother to look at the price on the window before coming in and the position where I was sitting on the chair blocked the front window display. I had no idea of the price but I knew how much money I had brought. To my surprise, the cost of the cut was 1,000yen including tips! What a deal for the service I’ve received. This could have been 2,500yen easy elsewhere. I do believe I have found my regular barber from now on. It is call カットステーション ! I might even offer my service to design a website for him :P Sorry QB, your service was great while it lasted. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/6/language-learning-with-rosetta-stone-is-great-but.html Wed, 2 Jun 2010 10:16:00 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/6/language-learning-with-rosetta-stone-is-great-but.html I am using Rosetta Stone to learn Japanese and I must say the technique used is quite impressive than other software and online Japanese courses I have used in the past. Their technique is interactive by immersion you a language rather than translation and memorization drills. I have been using the software on an off for the past three months and my progress has been improving. However, it does get boring and repetitive at times which is why I wrote this subject. Rosetta Stone may have realized this and their picture flashcards explain all. I believe Rosetta Stone had secretly added a bit of humor in their training DVDs so their students will show more interest as they are learning. Wouldn’t you agree? Take this picture on the left for example. I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would dress up in a cape suit while riding on a public transit bus, unless they are from Hollywood, CA roaming up and down the street in front of Grauman's Chinese theatre. If you don’t know what I am referring to, stop by your local movie rental shop and pick up a copy of Confessions of a Superhero. It is a classic documentary if you ask me:P By no means am I endorsing Rosetta Stone or promoting their software. However, if you ever wanted to learn a new language, give Rosetta Stone a try. Learning a new language online couldn't be easier. Schools, organizations, and government agencies use it. That has got to mean something? ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/5/gaint-sinkhole-in-guatelmala-city.html Wed, 2 Jun 2010 00:50:23 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/5/gaint-sinkhole-in-guatelmala-city.html I was surfing the net today and found this on the headline news. Real or fake? Looks pretty real to me. This sinkhole was believed to be created by flooding caused by tropical storm Agatha last Sunday, May 31, 2010. The hole measured approximately 200 feet in depth and 60 feet wide swallowing a three-story clothing factory and leaving one man missing. This season’s tropical storm has taken over 150 lives in the Central America region. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/4/life-size-gundam-spotted-in-odiaba-japan.html Tue, 1 Jun 2010 14:08:18 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/4/life-size-gundam-spotted-in-odiaba-japan.html A bit of old news but worth mentioning regardless. Last year in July of 2009, I had a chance to check out the famous Gundam robot. The life-size robot stood 18 meters (59’) tall over looking Tokyo bridge in Odaiba. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Gundam was open for viewing in Odaiba island for 2 months. The admission was free of charge. The highlight of the statue was its’ moving head and lights emitting from the body at predetermined time. Gundam was built using fiberglass-reinforced plastic over a steel frame for easy disassembling after the 2 months exhibition. More photos can be viewed at Picasa. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/3/how-to-obtain-japan-drivers-license.html Tue, 1 Jun 2010 09:32:23 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/3/how-to-obtain-japan-drivers-license.html gaijin (foreigner) has it’s perks. That is if you are a legal foreigner and have a valid foreign driver’s license, you qualify to convert your license to an official Japanese driver’s license. This process is faster and much easier* then having to go through a driving school. Applying for International driver licenses are quite simple. You fill out a form that proofs you do have a driver’s license , take a true/false written test (consist of 10 questions with several different languages to choice from), pay a fee of about $50, and take the driving test. There is no need to apply for an international diver permit. Simple and cheap right? There is one catch as noted with the * above. During the driving test, only 4 people can be in the car. Which is the instructor and 3 other applicants. The instructors are actual police officers by the way. The course is held within the facility monitored by cameras and controlled signal lights. Thus, the feel and look if you were in the actual road would be the same. To make the rules fair for Japanese citizens who are getting their license, all driving test are held in Japanese. For example, the instructor may say something like this. ‘Number 3, turn left’ or ‘Number 56 turn right.’ Just like the driving test in US, the instructor will not say anything during the test other than to instruct you to move the vehicle. At the end of the test, he will tell you the results. Passed or failed. Think you can handle it? I actually took the test and failed the first time but I returned the following week and passed with flying colors. Keep in mind that I have never drove in Japan, the driver’s seat is on the right side and my Japanese level was below basic. I still am :D To be honest, I should have passed the first time around. I failed because I turned on the windshield wiper instead of the blinker during the test, twice. It was a great experience and I do want to upgrade my license in the near future so I can drive either an automatic or a manual transmission vehicle. Since I took the test in an automatic, I am only allowed to drive such type. It said so on the license itself. Having a car of my own would be a plus as well. Borrowing the car from the in-laws can get pretty old fast. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/2/slingbox-pro-hd-review-watch-cable-tv-from-anywhere-in-the-world.html Mon, 31 May 2010 13:19:57 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/2/slingbox-pro-hd-review-watch-cable-tv-from-anywhere-in-the-world.html I just picked up this awesome device call SlingBox Pro-HD by Sling Media. What this device does is allows you to watch TV on the net from anywhere in the world. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection and you are set. The best thing about this is that there is no connection fee or a monthly fee. You simply purchase the unit, set it up and you are ready to go. The price ranges from $190 - $300 depending if you want to view the programs in HD quality. Keep in mind that you do need at least a 1.5MB upload speed to be able to stream video smoothly. Anything lower, the quality will be choppy and lags. Slingbox is perfect for me since I do not have access to US TV programs from where I live. My friend back home was kind enough to hook me up with his cable lineup. It gets better. Sling Media also developed SlingPlayer Mobile. For those who owns a mobile device that supports Windows Mobile, Plam OS, Symbian OS, BlackBerry or the Iphone/iPod, you can purchase SlingPlayer Mobile and watch Tv over the internet right from your mobile phone. ]]> http://www.ducsu.com/blog/1/far-from-home-blog-initial-start.html Sun, 30 May 2010 06:07:52 GMT http://www.ducsu.com/blog/1/far-from-home-blog-initial-start.html ]]>