Archive: October, 2007 @ Irrational Exuberance

archive / 2007 / October

Title: Defining Your Web Aesthetic
Tags: design
A quick test for helping designers discover a little bit more about the preferences of their customers.
Title: Introducing my Japanese Kitchen
Tags: JET japan
Series: JET: Survival
A quick overview of the kitchen in my apartment. It has accumulated two decades worth of stuff... but still doesn't have a rice cooker. Damn.
Title: Hiking Tengaisan
Tags: JET hiking japan
Series: JET: Living
Some pictures from a recent hike in nearby Yamanomura, part of the Kamioka section of Hida city. Also some pondering about the consequences of modernity on Japan and America.
Title: Reliable Mealtime Friends
Tags: food japan
Series: JET: Survival
A look at a few of my favorite meals for myself in Japan. Nothing fancy, but dependable friends in times of need.
Title: Grocery Shopping in Japan
Tags: food japan
Series: JET: Survival
(This entry contains a number of pictures and may load a bit slowly on some connections.) I spend a lot of my day thinking about the next meal. In conjunction with that I do a lot of grocery shopping. Here is an annotated pictorial of my groceries.
Title: Getting Cold in Kamioka
Tags: japan
Its starting to get cold. I am wearing long underwear (thanks Mom!), and its the middle of October. The thought of the approaching winter leaves me in tears.
Title: Teaching Adult English Classes
Tags: English adult education japan
Series: English in Japan
A collection of my thoughts and advice from my English conversation lessons taught to an adult class. A handful of ideas on topics, and awkwardly generic recommendations.
Title: Getting started with Shoes on OS X
Tags: Shoes ruby
Shoes is a GUI toolkit worth a look. Simple design, brief code, and Ruby make for a pleasant experience. As long as you can overlook the minimal documentation and unpredictability that comes with young projects.
Title: Expectations and Reality for the lowly ALT
Tags: JET japan
Series: JET: Culture and Communication
When you apply to the JET program you have a lot of expectations. Then you talk to a couple of people who participated in the JET program before, and you get a new set of different expectations. A true JET veteran would tell you that Every Situation Is Different and to stop predicting because you're never going to know.
Title: FAQ about JET
Tags: JET
Series: JET: The Beginnings
Answers to a bunch of questions about JET that I get asked frequently. If there are any questions that I didn't answer throw me an email and I'll do my best to answer them.
Title: A Few Quick Updates to Site
Tags: blog
I have made a few technical updates to the website. The consequences should be more stability and a better visual appearance for Internet Explorer users.
Title: Back in Action
My life is finally settling down, so you can look forward to Irrational Exuberance no longer being a ghost ship. It will be, at minimum, a skeleton crew instead. By the way, I apologize for any crappy Halloween humor, I have been teaching elementary kids in Japan about Halloween for a week, and it looks like I have three more weeks to go.