Random thoughts

A couple of random things I would like to see happen in my lifetime and some I would like to hopefully be a part of:

Wind farms in the midwest.

Bullet trains and commuter trains across the midwest and up the coasts.

Requiring businesses to turn off their signs an hour after closing until an hour before opening for business (if they are not open for 24 hours, why spend the energy?).

Affordable electric cars.

Alaska and Hawaii independence.

An end to U.S.A. military bases in foreign countries.

No more lobbyists.

to be continued . . .

the many projects of the pete

ok, just launched a project i sort of stumbled into with one of my other blogs. a new game review site which can be found at the following address:

http://www.gamebrainspew.com

now that i have that one well underway, time to buckle down on my other forever ongoing project, an online publishing site, which can be found at the following address

http://www.publiss.com

we're hoping to be going to beta soon with Publiss (soon as in March-ish). once that one is tidied up, i should resurface long enough to speak about another project site that should be well on its way to existing.

in the meantime, go play a game or read a book. i recommend Hist Dark Materials series for the books.

oh, and down with the two party system and the electoral college! let's go back to counting all the votes and the person with the most is president and the runner-up is vice president. i mean, what if no one turned out for the primaries or caucuses? the two parties would have to throw better parties and get over themselves is my guess.

More photos

can be found here

hope everyone is having a great holiday.

Atsuta Shrine

Shinto Buddhism is different than Buddhism and has shrines, not temples. Don't get this wrong! (there will be a test).

The best bar ever!

Noby Style. I recommend the vodka martinis.

Nagoya: city on the go!

More pictures of Nagoya around the hotel: these first two are from my window on the 8th floor.

here we see a tree growing in a stairwell.

signs to keep you on the correct (left) side of the street

our morning breakfast of comfort food from home has different offerings for eats, but the decor is nothing new to seattlites (or anyone else in the world, evidently).

this particular one has sliding doors with touch panels so that people walking past don't trigger the door to open.

and last is a view from the towers at Nagoya Station of the roundabout in the roadway. and you thought the roundabouts in seattle were annoying . . .

the hotel (continued)

starting with the first picture, you can see the tiles that are in the sidewalks to help the people that are seeing-impaired to know where they can walk, where to stop, etc; some lead them to the handrails on stairs, some are across the busiest streets with 6 lanes. most of the time these are yellow cement forms but at some hotels, particularly the one i'm staying at, the classed it up with some chrome making it almost decorative.



the bathroom (second pic) has a sink, toilet/bidet combo, soaking tub and a heating element behind the mirror over the sink so that area never fogs up. the other two images should be pretty obvious.

there will be several posts in a row just so i can get as much of this finished before i leave nagoya. had a nice relaxing day now that all the sight seeing is finished so hopefully i'll get half of the images up tonight.

again, if you have questions about a particular image along the way, just ask about it in the comments.

the pictures thus far . . .

can be found here

i'll be talking more about them here, but if you have questions about any picture in particular, post it in the comments

More from Nagoya, Japan

Checking in again from the noble country of Japan. Things are well, but my feet have decided that it's time to splurge on buses and subways (we walked about 10 miles Sunday in the city of Kyoto . . . more on that later).

Let's start with the hotel. Staying at the Richmond hotel, which is for business sorts that just need a place to sleep. (the beds feel like box springs, by the way)

Here's the second cool thing on our tour (the first is the stacking parking garage which I will get a picture of later.) In order to operate the lights and thermostat in the room, your card (or a card) must be inserted into the little plastic pocket switch. It's a convenient location to keep your card and when you take the card out, all the lights and thermostat shut off in about 30-60 seconds.

The next two items of sweetness are the lamp and the bed controls. The lamp has a large metal disk on the base and to operate it takes a simple touch (not a push) on the disc.

The bed has integrated controls for the two lights in the room, a dimmer for the light on the bed and a clock and alarm. There's also a flashlight for emergency situations.

There's a lot more but I'm getting really frustrated with trying to get the pictures up on any website. So, stay tuned. This will take a bit of effort to blog about, but the pics will be up asap (As Soon As Programs-stop-being-stupid).

From Nagoya, this is das pete.