Putting on the Pith Helmet

 

 

Early in my career I heard the story of a software developer that had the unique practice of putting on a pith helmet whenever forced to debug his own code. I'm not sure how true the story is but it evokes the image of an early explorer trudging through the jungles of a distant continent. In my current role, I am often asked to search for system problems and help resolve them.

Last Friday I received a cry for help and immediately looked into the issue. My manager didn't like how I responded as he wanted me to find the source of the problem before bothering the group that reported it. I saw it differently as I wanted them to know that we immediately started looking at the issue and wondered if they had any more information they could provide to help diagnose the issue. Ultimately the only thing I could do was log a bug with another group in the company and have them research the root cause of the issue.

We told the group that reported the issue that we would work to get the issue resolved by Monday. Such is the luxury of working for a world-wide company like Sony. I can go enjoy my weekend and hope another team working in Japan or India has enough time to find the issue and resolve it before Monday even starts in the United States. Unfortunately sometimes an issue can be more difficult to troubleshoot and so it is important to get as much information as possible on Friday so we don't have any back-and-forth with questions.

Fortunately one of our excellent engineers saw the problem on Saturday and worked through the weekend to get it fixed. The root cause boiled down to "too much data." As this means the problem may arise again we have a two-pronged approach to solving it: The first is to monitor for larger-than-normal data sets. That will alert the operations team before the system users get a hint that something has gone wrong. The second is to modify the architecture to handle larger volumes of data.

This morning I came in and saw everything that had taken place over the weekend and could report back to the system user who noticed the problem. I could also share the resolutions that we plan to implement so it doesn't happen again. The user confirmed the problem fixed and I closed the bug appropriately.

While I like the idea of wearing a pith helmet to signify that I am trudging into the jungles of code, I am glad I have not adopted the practice. First, I work out of my home office so nobody would have any idea of the significance other than my wife who would just laugh at me. Second, I would have gotten a lot of strange looks and questions wearing the unique hat through the weekend. 

Latest Ski Season Start in a Long Time

Friday night I returned home from Japan and fell asleep right at 8:30pm. I slept all the way until 6:30am, meaning I got a solid 10 hours of sleep. I must have been tired due to having a 36-hour day because of flights and crossing the International Date Line. Fortunately I have not really had any jet lag to deal with.

On Saturday morning I woke up and got ready to go skiing at Alta with my wife. All of the resorts in Utah are hurting for snow as this is something like the worst start to ski season in 30 years. Alta has 4 lifts running and I am glad to got to make some turns. I did feel a bit rusty but quickly started carving and quickly felt comfortable.

I headed off to Japan the day before skiing started at Snowbird and Alta. While in Japan, I had a free day and looked at trying to ski somewhere there. They are set up for business travelers so that when you walk into the rental shop they will rent every last piece of equipment you could possibly need including base layers, goggles, helmets, and gloves. I checked the resorts a quick train ride from Tokyo but they won't open until this weekend. I also looked at the resorts in Hokkaido, Japan's North island. Unfortunately they had something like a 7.6 magnitude earthquake and that closed down all the resorts up there. Ultimately I didn't end up finding a place open for skiing other than an indoor area that I have already been to. Yes I could have gotten an extra day by going there but opted to do something else.

Having my first ski day on December 13th means this is the latest I have skied for the first time in the season for many years. Last season I skied 126 days. With such a late start, I will have to work to get 100. It is a noble goal and I hope to make it.   

Mobile Phone Service in Japan

This week I am back in Tokyo and glad I have an international plan built into my mobile-phone service. It is always helpful when my airplane lands in a city outside the United States to immediately get a text from T-mobile telling me I have free data and texting. Should I want to make a regular phone call, I can do that as well for very inexpensive rates. Instead I actually just find a WiFi spot, like at the hotel, put my phone in airplane mode, and use WiFi calling to talk to someone.

Yesterday I had a bit of extra time to do some sightseeing and so I left my hotel early hoping to avoid rush-hour on the trains. Nobody likes being shoved into an already crowded train and out of respect to the locals, I wanted to get to my destination early. Then I could return early and get some important work done.

I assumed I could buy an entry ticket at my desired destination and didn't worry about purchasing it online before leaving the ubiquitous WiFi of my hotel. I got to the famous Japan site only to discover I needed to purchase my ticket online. Furthermore, I needed to download a special app to display the ticket. This is where you really need an international plan for your mobile phone.

There are always lines in Japan and so I used my time in line to download the special app. This is where my limited data plan broke down. It took about 30 minutes to download the app. At my hotel it only would have taken a minute or two. This is something I wish I had known before heading out- to do some sightseeing. I waited rather impatiently for the thing to download and then purchased an entry ticket. Once the app could display my ticket's QR code, I obtained entry and could visit the site. The only casualty of the day is the extra time my phone spent sucking the life out of my battery. At the end of my sightseeing trip I returned to my hotel with only 6% of my battery life left. I quickly put it on the charger before going out and doing anything else.

I know I am not the only tourist that has drained their smartphone trying to get into this attraction. Inside they had a battery-rental service so you could top up your electricity needs. I sort of felt like it is a racket though. Let's charge people a fee to get in only to make it almost impossible and need a battery charging service once inside. That is the life of a tourist. They don't vote in local elections and so nobody opposes extra fees and taxes for people visiting the area. Don't believe me, just look at your hotel bill the next time you have one and add up all the taxes.

I Love WiFi Calling

I spent last week in Japan and once again came to appreciate the power of being able to use my mobile phone's WiFi calling feature. It allowed me to call home at will without having to pay extra fees usually associated with using my mobile phone outside of North America. Of course, your mileage may vary depending upon which carrier you use.

I have my mobile service through T-Mobile. When I landed in Japan, I got a nice message on my phone saying that I could text and use data without any additional fees. Should I wish to make calls, it would only be $0.25/minute. It is always nice to get a reminder from your carrier letting you know the limitations on what you can do while outside of your regular service area.

I got to my hotel and immediately connected my phone to the Marriott WiFi service. Then I put my phone in airplane mode being sure to keep the WiFi still on. Then I called my wife and everything worked. I know I didn't have any long-distance charges as the phone didn't have the ability to connect to Japan's mobile phone carriers. I could talk to my heart's content without racking up a phone bill.

My wife would head to bed during my lunch time in Japan. While I could have connected to my office's WiFi, I actually opted to spend 50 cents and called her for just a couple of minutes. It worked well and I didn't mind spending a little as I had been asked not to connect my personal phone to the corporate network. The Japanese pride themselves in following rules and so I try to as well when I am there.

Yes WiFi calling is a great way to call home when you are traveling internationally. If you are not sure if your phone will use WiFi or the mobile carrier, just put it in airplane mode and that will force it to use WiFi. Then you don't have to worry about incurring any additional costs on your trip.

Explaining Christmas to Non-Christians

I work for Sony and my boss is from Japan. As today is Christmas, I thought about trying to explain the holiday to him and what it really means. On the surface this must be a strange event for those that don't have a Christian foundation. The reality is that we have a lot of pagan traditions combined with Christian ones and it can be hard to figure out the source of this celebration.

Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Who is he and why is he so important? There is a lot that can be said to answer that question and it can be difficult to provide a quick summary but I'll give it a shot. Christ taught that no matter what we have done in the past, we can improve and become better people. Yes, there is a lot more that can be said, but that one sentence is something that non-Christians can understand. It is especially true for those in Japan as they have a culture of constant improvement.

As we close out this Christmas season, I hope we can all see past the commercialism that seems to overshadow this time of year and take a moment to think about why we celebrate this holiday. Your answer may be different than mine, but merely taking the time to think about why it is important is a good thought exercise. Your comments are welcome.

Moving Off Daylight Savings, Again?

Early Sunday morning, those of us that live in states that play the Daylight Savings game got to adjust our clocks and gain an extra hour of sleep. That assumes that you didn't game the system and stay up an extra hour, which I did not. I went to sleep at my normal time. I had hoped I would wake up 8 hours later, which would mean my wake-up time would be an hour earlier. Nope, I slept for 9 hours and got an extra hour of sleep. It felt good.

Most of the clocks in my house adjust automatically but there are a few like the microwave or oven that need to be fixed manually. I also have to adjust the clock in my truck and my wife needs to adjust the clock in her car. It is not a big chore but it does take a few minutes.

The larger problem for me is that I work for Sony, which is a massive international company. Japan does not follow Daylight Savings and so all of my meetings with headquarters get screwed up. Some meetings that used to start at 6pm now start at 5pm. Meetings that are set up by colleagues in the United States adjust with the semi-annual time change and stay at the same time. For those with tightly-packed meeting schedules, it means double bookings and the need to revisit the calendar.

I saw an article in National Geographic about the history of Daylight Savings and why we continue to practice it. While it is merely a hassle for most of us in the United States, the article pointed out that it does cause conflict with other parts of the world. I can attest to that point. 

We were not supposed to go back to standard time this past Sunday as a bill made it through one half of Congress that would have kept the country on Daylight Savings permanently. Unfortunately the bill stalled in the other half of Congress and so we moved our clocks back an hour. We'll have to see if the two halves of Congress ever get on the same page and decide to agree on something. For now, I am not holding my breath.

The Internet Does Not Work the Same Internationally

Once again I find myself in Japan this week. When I travel internationally I try to keep my body as close to Mountain Standard Time (MST) as possible. That makes it easier to readjust when I get back to the States. It also means I go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 4am every morning.

This morning I started doing early-morning e-mail and got several from my son. He knows I am looking to replace my 20-year-old car and sent me listings for a few potential candidates. What he doesn't realize is that the Internet does not work the same internationally and I cannot see the listings. Some sites look at the IP address you are using and if you are not located in the United States, block traffic. This is a good way to keep malicious events from happening. Fortunately there is an easy fix. I cannot get my company e-mail without using a virtual private network (VPN). To external websites I now look like my computer is physically located in California even though I am on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Another thing that doesn't work as well is the Pandora streaming music service. I have written about this in the past and have to switch to Spotify when I am outside the US. It is not a big deal as I have my Pandora and Spotify accounts set up with similar playlists but it is something to be aware of.

Finally, there is a big difference with Google. Google and all of its consumer services such as the search engine and YouTube are giant advertising places. That means they need to know where you are physically located to serve you the correct ads. They also use your location information to do things like set the language and character set. When I am in London, that isn't a problem because I speak the language. In Japan it does become a problem because the character set is different.

This blog site is maintained by Google and so when I log in from Japan to create an entry, all of the instructions and buttons are in Japanese. Fortunately the placement is the same for all of the buttons in both English and Japanese so that I know what buttons mean even if I can't read the language. Google also allows you to set your language. To do so, just go to https://google.com. If you have a Google account, you will see your avatar in the upper-right corner of the webpage. Click on it and you will be able to manage your account settings. Simply click on "Manage Your Google Account" and you will find the language setting under "Data & Personalization." Now it doesn't matter what country you are in, Google won't try to translate everything into the language of the country you are visiting.

Most of the time, the differences you will experience with the Internet while traveling internationally are easily surmountable given a bit of preparation. Hopefully this little post helps.

Inventions in Japan

I am in Japan this week and it is probably the only time I ever read Time magazine as there is a copy in my hotel room. This week's cover story is about the 25 greatest inventions of 2017. I have glanced through the list and have to wonder how many of the devices will continue to be great in 5 years. I know that predicting what will be great is a bit difficult and nobody ever gets it right but that doesn't keep us from trying.

If you were to ask me my thoughts on the greatest inventions in the past half-century, personal computers would definitely make the list. There is one invention that has yet to really make its way from Japan back to the United States that I would like to highlight instead: the heated toilet seat. I don't know why I continue to forget about this modern marvel until I return to Japan each time, but I do. I constantly tell my wife that we need to redo the master bathroom so that it has a heated toilet seat but there is a lot of work that goes into it. It is not something you can just bolt on to your existing toilet. Why? Well it needs electricity to keep it warm and power outlets are not something you generally put next to water-filled objects that occasionally have the tendency to overflow.

In the middle of summer, I don't mind a cool toilet seat. It can be somewhat refreshing on a scorching-hot day. In the middle of winter a cold toilet seat can be quite a shock and downright uncomfortable. It may sound funny but a heated throne adds significantly to your personal comfort. In a world of uncomfortable situations, who doesn't need more personal comfort. I therefore nominate heated toilet seats to be one of the greatest inventions of that past 50 years and encourage you to give one a shot. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Famous in Japan

I had a visitor from Japan at my office this week as we continue to wind down a project I have been working on for the past 5 years. We went to dinner the other night and started talking about all of the people we have worked with on the project. One of my good friends in Tokyo has made quite a name for himself. He moved his family to Nagano, Japan a little over a year ago. He commutes to Tokyo every Monday and then heads home on weekends. While in Tokyo, he stays with his parents. This allows his family to have a very comfortable lifestyle in the mountains.

The business press in Japan has found out about his commuting lifestyle and has written articles about him. All the press has made him a bit of a business celebrity. One of the questions he is constantly asked is how he came up with such a unique lifestyle. His response is that there is a manager in the United States that lives in Utah near a ski resort and commutes to San Francisco every week.

I had to laugh when my associate told me this story. My friend from Nagano has always thanked me for showing that technology allows us to live where we want even though it may be far from our place of work. He seems to be doing a good job capitalizing on my example as now there are a lot of companies that admire him and want him to work for them. So if he is famous and credits me for the idea that made him a celebrity, does that mean I am famous too?

One More Trip to Japan

I am currently in Japan and every time I come here I have to ask myself if this is my last trip to this wonderful country. For the past few years I have been working on a project that is based here. Now that project is coming to a close and I find myself moving to a new one. My new project has ties to Japan but not as strongly as my previous one.

When you know you will be back to a foreign country you don't worry about how much money to exchange as you will use it on a future trip. Japan further complicates things by relying heavily on stored-value cards. If I don't think I will be back, then I need to spend all of my Japanese yen as well as bring my stored-value cards down to zero. That requires careful planning as I have a pocket full of cash and 2 different cards with a significant amount on each. It would be much easier to assume that I will just be back.

Pokémon Go in Japan

I am in Japan and have enjoyed being away from the craze of Pokémon Go as it is not yet here. I have seen one or two newspaper articles and CNN clips about how insane things are getting with the game back in the US. I understand that the relative quiet without the game in its homeland is about to be disturbed. Yesterday's international edition of the Wall Street Journal had an article about how McDonald's is partnering with the game developers to have virtual characters located at their restaurants here in Japan.

I wondered how long it would take before businesses decided to cash in on the success of the game. I figured that if you had a virtual character standing out in front of your store, people would come and visit your establishment as a course of playing Pokémon Go. One of my coworkers told me this might be a bad idea because game players would visit your store but not necessarily purchase anything. Real customers would then see the crowd and avoid coming in. I guess McDonalds doesn't feel that way. At least not here in Japan.

Using a Smartphone for Calls

Saturday afternoon I boarded my flight from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and patiently took my seat. About 10 minutes before our scheduled departure the pilot came on and informed us there was a slight problem with the plane's computer and that he was going to try to reboot it. For some reason, I pictured him typing CTL-ALT-DEL. Twenty minutes and a few announcements later, we were informed that the computer was not responding and that it needed to be replaced. The process would take 45 minutes. My layover in Los Angeles was only 45 minutes to begin with and we were already 10 minutes into that. I was going to miss my flight to Tokyo.

Missing my flight was not an option. I was scheduled to arrive at 10:30pm Sunday evening and I was hosting a conference at 8:30 am the following morning. Any delay would seriously jeopardize my attendance at my own event. An event that I had spent the previous 6 months planning. I immediately got on the phone with Delta using a special number given to their platinum-level customers. My mobile number identified me and there was no need to enter my frequent flyer number. I thought that was a nifty feature. Soon I was connected with a real person who immediately knew why I was calling. He told me to get off the plane and run to another flight headed to San Francisco. While I ran, he rebooked me on a different itinerary using another carrier for the leg from San Francisco to Tokyo.

I ended up sprinting through the Salt Lake airport and immediately boarded my new flight. Then I landed and sprinted through the San Francisco airport to the international terminal. I got a new boarding pass with my seat assignment and had the luxury of experiencing TSA security for the second time that day. Yes, that last sentence was dripping with sarcasm. For those that don't know me, I hate going through airport security as I do it twice a week, whether I want to or not. I sprinted to the gate and boarded the flight to Tokyo. Yes, I was stuck in a middle seat for the 10-hour flight but I was going to make my conference. In fact, I landed only a few minutes later than my originally scheduled flight.

Yes, Delta has a smartphone app that I could have used to help with my travel. However it wouldn't have booked me on a different carrier. Unfortunately my unique situation required human intervention. At those times, it is nice that a smartphone can also be used as a phone. After all, that is why I carry it.

Video Game Review: The Walking Dead, Season 2

It is Monday morning here in Japan even though the time for this entry is posted as Sunday. That is what happens when you cross the international date line. Another thing that generally happens is that you get to spend a lot of time on a plane as I did last night. That gave me time to finish up Telltale Games' The Walking Dead, Season 2 on my PlayStation Vita. I know I wrote that I wasn't going to continue with the game series but when I found I had a copy for my hand-held console, I thought I would give it a try.

The game plays like an interactive movie and the experience I had on the Vita was a bit different than on the PS3. Both versions have a tendency to pause unexpectedly but it happened a lot more on my Vita. Sometimes it was distracting and game-play suffered. It was also very difficult to tell how to interact with the characters. The Vita has a touchscreen and so sometimes you would use that while other times you would use the controller buttons. I missed several choices because I was pushing buttons instead of touching the screen or visa versa. It was somewhat frustrating.

The game continued where Season 1 left off and it was like catching up with old friends. I was told I wouldn't like Season 2 as much as Season 1 but they didn't take into account that part of the story takes place at a ski resort. I love ski resorts and so that part of the story resonated with me. As can be expected with a game that mimics a television series where they hope to continue the following year, the game ends with a cliff-hanger and it has me wanting to play Season 3. Unfortunately I will have to wait until 2016 as it is not expected until then.

The Walking Dead, Season 2 has an ESRB rating of M for Mature because of strong language. I would not recommend this game for children or even teenagers because of this.

Expense Reports

One of the downsides of traveling a lot for work is that I often get stuck doing expense reports. When I was at Oracle, I was forced to do them every week. Fortunately I can now do them once a month but it is a painful process. My company uses a Software as a Service (SaaS) expense reporting solution. I hate it. I am fairly certain it was designed by someone that never ever had to fill out an expense report. Especially someone that never had to fill out an international one.

It takes me a while to get through my expense report and when I finally think I have done everything correctly, I get to deal with our accounts payable department. There are a number of little rules that we have and it is tough to keep them all straight. For instance, we have a daily food maximum of $100 for some cities and $125 for others. We also have the rule that the highest ranking employee pays for the meal and so I often get stuck paying the bill. This maximum food allowance carries through for people all from the same company. However if there is someone who works for our parent company, but not the US branch, then the expense item goes from a "meal" to "entertainment" and any limits on food go away. That means I have had expense reports kicked back because someone at the table was miscategorized as an employee when they should have been a guest. This delays payment by at least a week or two.

Last month I was in Japan and then I was in San Diego at the beginning of last week. Guess what that means? Yep, I am in the middle of doing my expense report. Nope, I don't like it.

Spotify Scores a Point

I am currently in Tokyo, Japan. Yes I know I was in London last week and No I didn't just keep going East. I actually went back to Utah for the weekend and then caught a Sunday evening flight to Tokyo through Seattle. I have to admit I am doing amazingly well considering the jet lag I should be feeling.

This morning I woke up early and went to use the hotel gym. I find music very inspiring as I ride an indoor bike for 30 minutes. In the past I have tried to use streaming music from Pandora. Unfortunately it is only available in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Today I started out listening to MP3 music loaded onto my iPhone. Then I thought I would see if Spotify works in Japan. Yes it does and so I finished my workout listening to streaming music.

There are a number of differences between Pandora and Spotify and I have favored Pandora in the past. However if it works in Japan, I will have to start listening to it more often. Now I feel bad for not listening to it while I was in London last week. While I enjoy the songs I have on my iPhone, there are a lot more songs available through any of the streaming music services than I could ever hope to own.

Late Nights and Early Mornings

I have spent the last 3 days in Tokyo, Japan and now I am at the airport headed back to Salt Lake. I have two hours to kill before my flight and I am having a tough time staying awake. When I arrive in Japan, I always try to stay as close to US time as possible. That means I try to wake up early and go to bed early. Unfortunately this trip has been rather different. Normally I am here for 4 days and that keeps me pretty busy. One less day means that I have been busy from the time I wake up in the morning until I go to bed at night. This trip had me going to bed late every night.

All of the work I have been doing means I have been spending an incredible amount of time on my laptop. It has performed flawlessly the entire trip. Unfortunately it is rather old and everyone keeps commenting on how I need to replace it with one of the new MacBooks that were recently announced. I know they are right and that I will be able to do more with a newer computer. However that means backing up my old one, getting used to the new one, and figuring out what files I want to keep around. That sounds like a lot of work and so I am holding off as long as possible. Besides my old computer seems to be working fine as indicated by the past few days.

Waiting to get a new laptop probably sounds stupid as my company has a policy about being able to replace your computer ever couple of years. Some may be thinking that a new computer every few years would be like Christmas. I know that I will eventually have to replace this old workhorse. I just want to put it off for a few more months. If I can wait until September then it will have been used for a solid 4 years. What a good computer.

Time for a New Android Phone

Recently my office decided to upgrade my old Android phone to a new one. I really liked my old one as it did the job very well. It wasn't anything special but did have one or two limitations due to the low-cost processor included. My new phone is a significant upgrade and I am sorry to report that the difference is very noticeable.

Smartphones are those devices that should do one or two things very well. The most important thing is that a phone should be able to make calls. My Android phone has always been a better phone than my iPhone. My new Android phone does not disappoint in this area as it is even better than my old one. The second thing that my smartphone should be able to do is give me information when I need it. Most of the time I can just use the phone's browser and search the Internet. There is relatively no difference in this area between my new phone and my old one. Or with my iPhone for that matter.

The third thing that a smartphone should do is keep me entertained. As I write this I am at the Los Angeles International airport waiting for a flight to Tokyo, Japan. My new phone has a significant number of applications that run much better on the eight-core processor vs. the two cores in my old one. There is also a lot more memory on my new phone and so everything just seems to work. I didn't notice this with my old phone because I didn't really have much to compare it with other than my iPhone. In the past I have been fairly evenly split as to which phone I like better. Now I have to say that I am beginning to prefer my new Android phone.

Oh there is one more feature with my new phone that is really amazing: it is waterproof. As someone who spends a lot of time standing in snowstorms, a waterproof phone can be rather handy. It is also pretty cool when you drop your phone in your water glass at a restaurant and then have someone call it. Try that with your iPhone.

Waiting for E-mail

It is a little after 6am here in Tokyo this morning and I am busy going through my morning ritual. One of the best ways I know on fighting jet lag is to try and stay on your old schedule as much as possible. So in Japan that means waking up at 4 or 5am and going to bed fairly early. The time difference is as much as 8 hours from home and so that is not a foolproof way of dealing with being a third of a way around the world, but it does help.

I have been up since 4:45 this morning and running through my daily routine. I start by trying to sleep as long as possible. Then I sit in bed and read the daily newspaper that is delivered to my hotel room. English papers in Japan are only about 10 pages and so that is a quick read. The stories haven't changed much since I was last here about 2 months ago. After the paper I sit down and read e-mail. I start with my personal e-mail and even though I received about 45 messages, thanks to a good spam filter, there were really only 2 or 3 messages that were important to me. Then I log into my work e-mail and that is where I am now.

Unfortunately it takes a while for Microsoft Outlook to sync with the servers and so I am patiently waiting for my e-mail to download to my laptop. Once that is done, I can attack all of those things from the office back in the States that have been happening while I slept. After all, it is a little after 1 in the afternoon back there and everyone has had an entire morning to flood my inbox with inquiries and requests. Perhaps now is a good time for a shower.

Cyber Monday in Tokyo

Once again I find myself in Tokyo, Japan. This is the fifth trip this year and just happened to occur over Cyber Monday. Due to air travel and crossing the international date line at just the right time, my Cyber Monday was all of about 4 hours long. That means I didn't really get the chance to partake in all of the online shopping deals. I'm not really sure I missed much as most of my Christmas shopping is already done. However I am starting to realized the breadth of deals being offered online at this time of the year.

My e-mail inbox filled up with a number of advertisements related to travel deals and I feel I may have missed some of the best prices of the year. I know my dad took advantage of the low airfare as he forwarded me a message for a trip he will be taking with my mom in February. For someone that commutes weekly between my home in Salt Lake City and my office in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm wondering if it is too late to cash in on some cheap flights.

I also enjoy taking my wife on quick vacations every quarter and wonder if there were some spectacular destination hotels having jaw-dropping deals. I already have my long weekends away booked for the first two quarters of the year but am vacillating on what to do for the third one. Perhaps I will log into some travel sites and see if there are any great deal on Alaskan cruises or a trip to Hawaii. Holiday deals associated with Black Friday used to be restricted to toys and things that could be wrapped to put under a Christmas tree. Now everything goes on sale and can be had a discounted price. What a crazy world we live in.

Back in Japan

I am back in Tokyo, Japan once again and have taken advantage of a few technologies that have always existed but I haven't used until now. The flight from the West coast of the United States generally takes about 10 hours. Fortunately there are a lot of technologies that help make the trip go more quickly.

I have known that underneath the seat in front of me contains an outlet capable of charging laptop computers but have never bothered using it until now. I didn't print out my itinerary for the trip and so as I was filling out my customs and immigration paperwork, I plugged in my laptop and pulled my hotel information from it. As my laptop was plugged in, I could use it for other things during the trip without having to worry about draining my battery. I also plugged in my iPhone to the USB port on the plane. That kept my phone charged for the trip so I could do important things like play games.

There was nobody in the seat next to me for the flight and I appreciated that a lot. I left the US on Sunday which puts me into Japan late Monday night because of the International Date Line. So my first day in the office will be Tuesday. Most people like to fly to Japan and start the day on Monday. So if I left on Saturday, the flight would have been full. My flight was relatively empty and I was able to re-purpose the screen in the seat next to me. Instead of using it to watch a movie, I had it display our position on a map of the Pacific Ocean. When I would wake up from a quick nap, I could instantly see how long I had been asleep. It was kind of nice to keep up.

At one point during the flight, I had 3 displays all going at once and they all kept me entertained. I had a movie in one, our position in another, and information on my laptop in another. It was kind of nice and I passed the time nicely during the flight.