Short report

I think that I'll prepare a short report from time to time, to let people know what I'm up to in terms of both work and daily life. Creating such posts would not take too much time away from my other duties. I'll try to 'bundle' them together in a corner of my blog (not sure yet how to do that, though I know that it can be done).

Online work

In terms of my online activity, I'm happy to report a bit of a breakthrough with my NZ laptop yesterday. The adapter that comes with it, for converting 230V to 20, has some small print on it that indicates that it will work for 100-230 V. That means that it ought to be okay to hook it up to Japanese electricity. But they have differently shaped plug pins here, and it's not an easy matter to locate the handy little converters that Japan sells overseas; they are literally not available in the shops. But then I discovered an old TV cord not being used that I can use. I fitted eveything together last night. It seems that the battery charges successfully. Next step: Mami reckons that she can help with connecting it to the Internet.

Another idea I've had, is to compile a series of Vlogs (similar to several I've viewed about people based here in Japan documenting their lives). I would work at producing a few videos myself, explaining various strategies in numeracy and study skills that I'd upload onto Youtube. They'd be there, as well as the other Web-based resources I'd link to, and allow/require students with questions to view them, and maybe save me having to repeat the same things for the umpteenth time.

Personal life

I was dragged along to the barber yesterday for an el cheapo haircut so that Mami could observe and learn fto apply in the future. I sampled octopus for the first time yesterday and really enjoyed it. A rubbery form of chicken is how I'd describe it. I'm really enjoying cycling around in just my shirtsleeves (and no helmet!). I feel perfectly safe here - safer than in NZ. Finally, I may not visit the old country until the end of February, 2012. There's a marathon on 19th February, my birthday, around Kumamoto Castle. It is likely to be my last, so what the heck.