Solve a crime. Get a taco.

Now that's what I call motivation!

Captured at out local "authentic" Mexican restaurant.  We still miss Chi-Chi's from time to time.

The new Smart.fm homepage

It is up again. Hopefuly to stay, so I can work on my Japanese. The new site offers a cleaner more organized design.  I'm curious what everyone else thinks about the change. Everytime I use this tool I can't believe I'm not paying for it.  My profile is here.

Magibon Animated?

It's not, but it was my first thought when I came across this video.

iKnow.co.jp is now Smart.fm

..but the site is down again.  If for any chance it is up again you can sign up here.


After the transition, I got a sneak peak last week of the new site before the servers went down again. It was definitely a major overhaul of the system. Navigating to the iKnow! section of the site was a little confusing at first. Once there, the homepage was completely different. Unfortunately I did not get much time to experiment with the changes before the site went down. Regardless of the new look and feel, the core of their learning system was unchanged, and is still one of the best Japanese/English/Chinese learning systems online. Hopefully it will be up again soon.

H7N6 Bird flu on Aichi quail farm

The strain of the virus was found on a quail farm in Toyohashi in the Aichi Perfecture in February. Thankfully it was not the H5N1 virus that can be harmful to humans. Needless to say I will be avoiding eggs and poultry when I am in Japan. If that is even possible... I will be in the Aichi perfecture for 2 weeks.

News sources here and here.

Don't eat that bagel!

Daio Manufacturing has a tasty looking bagel charm for your cell or portable device. There is a similar one here, but the Daio wins hands down for detail.  See the Daio bagel in action here. It is so big it doesn't look very practical.  Makes me think, "Would you like a cell phone charm for your bagel?"