Just got back from Fujisawa, where I enjoyed a healthful meal of Mos Burger's Nan Tacos after stopping in for some shopping at Tokyu Hands. When I got off the Enoden, I ran into Igu-san, who was headed toward the Campari Club.

Yesterday was a mess of a day. Lately I'd been feeling extremely lethargic, like I was feeling the effects of a cold or some serious depression. Saturday was particularly bad, and I felt like doing absolutely zero but staring at the wall. Must be what being a salaryman does to one. Anyway, Sachie and I went over to Machida and hit the Tokyu Hands there, which was having its "Messe Week" event. Since she's starting a new part-time job at a bookstore this coming week, she had to buy some supplies. That accomplished, we wandered over to Oshman's, a sporting goods place, and I bought some Savas protein powder. (I tried it when I got home and it was like normal vanilla-flavored protein powder except they seem to have forgotten the sweetener.) Then we headed over to TGI Friday's because we both were starving. Mmm, Peppercorn Burger. I really miss real burgers...and pizza. I hate paying 3000 yen (~$27) for a large pizza here, which is between a small and a medium in the U.S. If I were really hungry, I could eat it by myself. Note to self: save lots of money by learning how to make pizza.

Leaving Friday's, we were greeted by a torrential downpour. We dashed across the street to the Comme ca so Sachie could buy some more sundry goods and a 2nd umbrella. Thereafter we almost went home except we sorta decided to stop in at Yodobashi camera. I've been drooling over this LCD monitor -- a Samsung 193P to be precise -- since back in February when I saw it in Akihabara. The price really hasn't come down at all since then: a hefty 105 000 yen, or about $972 at the current exchange rate. At Newegg in the U.S. it's selling for about $750. Granted, Yodobashi's a bit higher than online prices in Japan, but I wanted to buy fairly close in case I had to return it due to dead pixels, plus I get 10% in points. However, even accounting for that, it's about $100 higher than in the U.S., plus the train fare to get there. So I was staring at it, wanting to buy it, but I didn't have the cash. The reason I didn't have the cash is because of Citibank's incompetence, but that's a story for another time. Using my credit card isn't an option, because the tax contractor for the IA told me that I don't get a guaranteed exchange rate unless I do the conversion using Citibank PBOE; and if I didn't use cash, I think only half the points apply. Well, Sachie offered to loan me the remaining, which I struggled with for about 15 minutes. (Not like I hadn't given and spent many times that amount on her, but it's the principle of the thing.) After significant agonizing, I ended up buying it. It was a lot heavier than I expected; then again, it's two 19" diagonal sheets of motherglass. With the points I got, we bought a Nintendo Gamecube, and Sachie got Super Monkey Ball 2. Between the two of us, we have all three major game machines, Xbox, PS2, and GC. Great...not like I have time to play them. Getting the stuff home was a trial, too, as the torrential downpour continued. Fortunately the store guy wrapped up my LCD panel in plastic so it stayed dry. The same can't be said for some of our other stuff. We also couldn't get a taxi from the station to home, as they "were busy" and I found out that in order to call a taxi, you have to pay an additional fee, making the minimum amount about 1000 yen.

The Samsung is pretty sweet, except right now I can't get the digital (DVI) input to work with my Radeon 8500DV. Works fine when booting but then goes blank when Windows starts. Maybe I'll have to buy a new computer =) I'm planning on installing Windows XP as soon as I get a chunk of 2 hrs spare time. Unfortunately, that's only on weekends. Been looking at the new iMac G5, too. Sachie seems to be rather taken with the Mac stuff. Wonder how many people have used their Mac hardware to pick up chicks. She wants to buy an iPod, too, and I'd buy one if they only played Ogg Vorbis. Actually, I'd buy one tomorrow if they played Ogg. MP3 sucks. (I used to use TwinVQ in the form of VQF as an alternative back in the day, but it was proprietary, slow to encode, and the support was poor.) Unfortunately, iPods use primarily Toshiba 1.8" drives, not Hitachi. Or maybe that's a good thing....

Well, just about time to head to the Campari Club. Maybe Mr. Green is over there visiting. The next few weeks of work are probably going to be interesting.