I was in a hotel room in Kyoto Japan when a children’s show was airing. There was this adult person in a Barney like suit but more less a giant duck. He (or she) was teaching the kids basic Japanese. It appeared the giant like duck was teaching the children different ways to position their fingers. Out of the blue, these children simultaneously stuck up their middle fingers! The big duck said something like “Wakamakasui!!!!!!!” and they all repeated “Wakamakasui!” or something like that and stuck up their middle fingers. I nearly crapped my pants!

At the time my Japanese friend was at work. So I decided when she returns I ‘ll flick her off and see what her response would be. Sure enough she smiled and said “You number 1 too!” So I guess finger jesters are something only western society can relate too. Although I heard that touching your nose is very offensive in mid eastern societies.

January 10th, 2008 celebrates my 10th straight year living in Tucson, Arizona. I was just rummaging though some dated back checks and pay stubs then came across my old Amtrak tickets. The ticket stubs dating back to Jan, 10th 1998, making it 10 years and one month since my arrival to this hot bed.

Here is a photo I took of the hotel I stayed at for the first 2 weeks here. Having no idea that the hotel was a dive, but at 20 bucks a night it wasn’t bad. The rooms were relatively clean and they had cable TV. At any rate I am really getting sick of Tucson. I would love to relocate to another destination before I turn 40, but who knows what will happen?

Yep, I won a free pair of shoes last month. At my job I supposedly sold the most Kenneth Cole shoes in my department and won a free pair of my very own. I was very optimistic about them actually ever arriving to my address; but after a long six, or seven weeks the Kenneth Cole company finally sent them to me. Hey, getting a pair of $120 shoes for free feels pretty good.

Hey, the shoes don’t feel too bad, however they were very uncomfortable the day I decided to wear them with two pairs of socks on each foot. I discovered that they are much more comfortable wearing only one pair of thin socks, unlike my older shoes which feel better with thicker socks.

Anyway, I thought the world really wanted to know just how they feel, so there you have it folks!

I have finally discovered my favorite beer of all time, it is called Blue Moon. Always after trying to polish off a 6 pack I without fail get sick of the brew after the 3rd or 4th beer, but this was enjoyable all the way through the entire 6 pack. I was even contemplating on getting more, but it wasn’t worth the DUI charges. I would advise anyone to pick up a six pack of this Belgian style white ale. It is damn worth the 8 bucks.