Running Bear's December 2022 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter Chrιstιaη
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Honestly, almost all of it is treatable, but his health insurance refuses to pay for any of it. And a lot of it is very expensive. He's cut down on his carbs and is eating as much veggies as he can stand.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
The ACA, aka Obamacare requires all health insurance plans to treat diabetes, although it doesn't require payment for insulin.
Boris
Beach Bum
Good evening. 39° with increasing clouds. Today's recorded high was 67°, a far cry from last weeks Artic Blast. Today was the last business day of 2022. Hopefully, 2023 will be better. My portfolios paper loss for 2022, was about equal to the paper gain in 2021. Realized gain was decent though. Looks like I'll still have to make a generous contribution to the 4th Quarter Estimated tax payment...
I acquired a Walthers Proto PRR plan 4131 PS 6 double bedroom, Buffet, lounge Pullman, from the "General" series announced in 2021. This is a new tooling car, that will allow me to model another PRR long distance train, with extras purchased from the first release Broadway Limited. I have NKP sides for the plan 4132 1 Drawing room, 3 double bedroom, buffet lounge Pullman, and I plan on using one of my original 3 double bedroom, barber shop cars from the Broadway as a core. (assuming proper fit). ambitious plans for 2023.
As a year end treat, a Pair of GG1s lead WB passenger through Harrison, NJ - Photo by Martin Bernard
I acquired a Walthers Proto PRR plan 4131 PS 6 double bedroom, Buffet, lounge Pullman, from the "General" series announced in 2021. This is a new tooling car, that will allow me to model another PRR long distance train, with extras purchased from the first release Broadway Limited. I have NKP sides for the plan 4132 1 Drawing room, 3 double bedroom, buffet lounge Pullman, and I plan on using one of my original 3 double bedroom, barber shop cars from the Broadway as a core. (assuming proper fit). ambitious plans for 2023.
As a year end treat, a Pair of GG1s lead WB passenger through Harrison, NJ - Photo by Martin Bernard
Boris
Beach Bum
Health Insurers are a real problem, but many of the medicines are generic and cheap. Surgical solutions are expensive, but there should be an appeal process with the insurer. Hope he can resolve this.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Any idea when this photo was taken>
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Yesterday was just shopping. Getting ready for our trip home next week. First my Sis-IL took us to Costco (which is like 1 mile away as the crow flies but takes 10 min in traffic). They were worried about the crowds and parking since New Years in Japan is like Christmas in the US in terms of holidays and importance and people shopping and getting ready and traveling. But it was pretty easy in and out. Crowded but not unmanageable. The Sis-IL needed a few things for the NY celebrations and the wife wanted a few things to take home (mostly snacks but also some non snack food items). I ate a "Bulogi Bake" at the food court. It was awesome actually. About $5 and like a chicken bake but with korean style beef and sauce inside instead with cheese. Also cheese baked on top.
We then went home and got ready and we all went out. My son and I went down to "Den Den Town" in Osaka, which was over an hour on transit and walking. 3 trains and I think 3 subways. "Den Den Town" is like the Osaka "electric" town. Not anywhere near as big as Akihabara in Tokyo but similar. Lots of electronics and similar stores (appliances etc), plus maid cafes or similar, some anime, and that sort of thing. Basically a many block long section of a street with this stuff plus some side streets. I wanted to go to "Super Kids Land", a specialty store run by Joshin Denki. Joshin Denkin is you standard Mall and stand alone store like a super best buy but they have these specialty stores in Den Den Town. Super Kids Land is 5 stories of Gundam and similar models, models, a floor for Tamiya (Tamiya World), R/C, Airsoft, and a floor for model trains.
The son wondered off and looked at stuff and went to a different Joshin with videos games and stuff and then went and got himself some curry. I spent a good 90 minutes in the train store. Mostly N, though some H0 and some Z. About 5 or 6 aisles about 50 ft (rough guess) long. Mostly Japanese trains but they also had a section for Euro trains (mostly KATO, Fleischmann, Minitrix/Trix, and Hobbytrain) and also a section for US trains (mostly KATO though they had a bunch of other random freight cars and stuff from others).
I had an idea of what I wanted but overspent by a factor of 2x or slightly more. One item I wanted (a Swiss locomotive from KATO I decided to not get) and ended up with 2 of one thing where I had planned 1 and then a bunch of things I saw at the last minute and put in the basket
The first thing is one of those plastic static N-scale models that can be upgraded to be runnable. This is fro the Nankai railway, a private railway in Osaka, and has a "Sumikko Gurashi" livery. Sumikko Gurashi is a very popular, mostly with girls, line of toys. My daughter like Sumikko Gurashi and I have several other trains with it. One of which is the MicroAce Rapi:t from Nankai, the Star Wars looking train you may have seen before -- I got that last summer and now have this new one to join it. (The upgrade parts are below).
It had been marked down an additional ¥1000. I noticed that when I was at checkout they were replacing some of my items (that all had anti-theft tracking devices strapped to them) with ones from behind the counter without the devices -- I guess so they wouldn't have to take the device off mine and then replace it on a new one for the shelf.
These next two items were kind of spur of the moment impulse buys The top one is a DEC10 diesel. I already have a bunch of DE10 diesels but this is a special black one and it is used I think as a helper with a specialty site seeing steamer line. However, they use either the same or another similarly black one for another site seeing train that I have and I didn't get the DE10 for it when it was available. I think they're both in the same livery and so I will be able to use this one with my specialty train. The other is a flat car with "Yamato" delivery service containers. I have a bunch of these already but this is a newer version with the newer Yamato containers. I didn't recognize it so I got one just in case.
KATO makes a pocket line of generic small trains. With each one being in the $23 - $26 range (after tax free purchase and additional 5% discount -- explained below) at the current exchange rate, I figured a small yard electric and a generic tram wouldn't hurt to have available to drive around the layout.
I have one KATO tram at home already I got a close out deal on a year or so ago. I believe t is a Hiroshima people mover one that I already have. I found these two trams to join it (and the Tomytec one I got earlier this week). The white fancy livery one is a Hiroshima tram and the red on is a generic "myTRAM" which KATO makes without any livery in a few colors at a cheaper price. It is the same body shape as the Hiroshima ones.
I've posted about my Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Swiss narrow gage stuff before. This store had the "Gepäckwagen" (Baggage Car) for the RhB so I picked that up.
I don't do a lot of US prototypes but I do own 4 Union Pacific modern diesel electrics (SD70ACe and ES44C or something -- that is from memory) and my complete set of rolling stock is 5 sets of the 3 car KATO Gunderson Maxi IV 53' well cars and containers, and a few other well and flat cars from other brands. I've been wanting some Gunderson Maxi I 40' sets but everywhere I've looked they've been sold out in the US. They had them here. They display them in a glass case and you tell the guy you want one and he goes and checks if they are in stock and gets you one. These two shown below are both TTX (I see TTX on UP all the time so figured it was safe) and I didn't care which one (two different KATO sets with different road numbers). I showed the guy at the store and said (in my best simple English), pointing to the two sets they showed (the two different numbers) and said I wanted one of those, and I didn't care which one. He comes back with both. I thanked him and said I would take one of them. He handed me both. I said I really only wanted one. He handed be both. So I said, "I guess I am buying both" and thanked him... Language barriers can be a pain sometimes LOL.
Last time we were in Japan we went on the "Hiei" "tourist" train on the Eizan railway in Kyoto. That is a small private railway that runs two lines (single line that splits) on the outskirts of Kyoto up into the hills to a temple area and some other area. We rode this last time and I found one of the Tomytec static models in N-scale that is upgradeable. So I got that,
Of course I added to my container collection. Except for the yellow "Post" one and the "Coop" labeled one (those two are Rhätische Bahn Swiss containers and I already have the KATO flatcar set with containers, but a couple to have on the layout in the yard would be good), they are all Japan containers. Even the pink "ONE" is an ISO 40' container but made to fit to the Japanese KoKi flat cars -- Tomix and KATO use a different system for Japanese containers than is used in the US for model railroad containers on N scale.
Here are the parts to upgrade the static models (the Nankai, the Hiei, and the blue tram I showed earlier this week). These are the motor units, steel wheels, and where appropriate the folding pantographs to replace the static extended ones.
Lastly I found some stickers like you see on Shinkansen or other trains. I figured I could use these to decorate my future train room.
(I ran into a "post too long" message when trying to post this so I will put the tax free commentary in a separate post)
We then went home and got ready and we all went out. My son and I went down to "Den Den Town" in Osaka, which was over an hour on transit and walking. 3 trains and I think 3 subways. "Den Den Town" is like the Osaka "electric" town. Not anywhere near as big as Akihabara in Tokyo but similar. Lots of electronics and similar stores (appliances etc), plus maid cafes or similar, some anime, and that sort of thing. Basically a many block long section of a street with this stuff plus some side streets. I wanted to go to "Super Kids Land", a specialty store run by Joshin Denki. Joshin Denkin is you standard Mall and stand alone store like a super best buy but they have these specialty stores in Den Den Town. Super Kids Land is 5 stories of Gundam and similar models, models, a floor for Tamiya (Tamiya World), R/C, Airsoft, and a floor for model trains.
The son wondered off and looked at stuff and went to a different Joshin with videos games and stuff and then went and got himself some curry. I spent a good 90 minutes in the train store. Mostly N, though some H0 and some Z. About 5 or 6 aisles about 50 ft (rough guess) long. Mostly Japanese trains but they also had a section for Euro trains (mostly KATO, Fleischmann, Minitrix/Trix, and Hobbytrain) and also a section for US trains (mostly KATO though they had a bunch of other random freight cars and stuff from others).
I had an idea of what I wanted but overspent by a factor of 2x or slightly more. One item I wanted (a Swiss locomotive from KATO I decided to not get) and ended up with 2 of one thing where I had planned 1 and then a bunch of things I saw at the last minute and put in the basket
The first thing is one of those plastic static N-scale models that can be upgraded to be runnable. This is fro the Nankai railway, a private railway in Osaka, and has a "Sumikko Gurashi" livery. Sumikko Gurashi is a very popular, mostly with girls, line of toys. My daughter like Sumikko Gurashi and I have several other trains with it. One of which is the MicroAce Rapi:t from Nankai, the Star Wars looking train you may have seen before -- I got that last summer and now have this new one to join it. (The upgrade parts are below).
It had been marked down an additional ¥1000. I noticed that when I was at checkout they were replacing some of my items (that all had anti-theft tracking devices strapped to them) with ones from behind the counter without the devices -- I guess so they wouldn't have to take the device off mine and then replace it on a new one for the shelf.
These next two items were kind of spur of the moment impulse buys The top one is a DEC10 diesel. I already have a bunch of DE10 diesels but this is a special black one and it is used I think as a helper with a specialty site seeing steamer line. However, they use either the same or another similarly black one for another site seeing train that I have and I didn't get the DE10 for it when it was available. I think they're both in the same livery and so I will be able to use this one with my specialty train. The other is a flat car with "Yamato" delivery service containers. I have a bunch of these already but this is a newer version with the newer Yamato containers. I didn't recognize it so I got one just in case.
KATO makes a pocket line of generic small trains. With each one being in the $23 - $26 range (after tax free purchase and additional 5% discount -- explained below) at the current exchange rate, I figured a small yard electric and a generic tram wouldn't hurt to have available to drive around the layout.
I have one KATO tram at home already I got a close out deal on a year or so ago. I believe t is a Hiroshima people mover one that I already have. I found these two trams to join it (and the Tomytec one I got earlier this week). The white fancy livery one is a Hiroshima tram and the red on is a generic "myTRAM" which KATO makes without any livery in a few colors at a cheaper price. It is the same body shape as the Hiroshima ones.
I've posted about my Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Swiss narrow gage stuff before. This store had the "Gepäckwagen" (Baggage Car) for the RhB so I picked that up.
I don't do a lot of US prototypes but I do own 4 Union Pacific modern diesel electrics (SD70ACe and ES44C or something -- that is from memory) and my complete set of rolling stock is 5 sets of the 3 car KATO Gunderson Maxi IV 53' well cars and containers, and a few other well and flat cars from other brands. I've been wanting some Gunderson Maxi I 40' sets but everywhere I've looked they've been sold out in the US. They had them here. They display them in a glass case and you tell the guy you want one and he goes and checks if they are in stock and gets you one. These two shown below are both TTX (I see TTX on UP all the time so figured it was safe) and I didn't care which one (two different KATO sets with different road numbers). I showed the guy at the store and said (in my best simple English), pointing to the two sets they showed (the two different numbers) and said I wanted one of those, and I didn't care which one. He comes back with both. I thanked him and said I would take one of them. He handed me both. I said I really only wanted one. He handed be both. So I said, "I guess I am buying both" and thanked him... Language barriers can be a pain sometimes LOL.
Last time we were in Japan we went on the "Hiei" "tourist" train on the Eizan railway in Kyoto. That is a small private railway that runs two lines (single line that splits) on the outskirts of Kyoto up into the hills to a temple area and some other area. We rode this last time and I found one of the Tomytec static models in N-scale that is upgradeable. So I got that,
Of course I added to my container collection. Except for the yellow "Post" one and the "Coop" labeled one (those two are Rhätische Bahn Swiss containers and I already have the KATO flatcar set with containers, but a couple to have on the layout in the yard would be good), they are all Japan containers. Even the pink "ONE" is an ISO 40' container but made to fit to the Japanese KoKi flat cars -- Tomix and KATO use a different system for Japanese containers than is used in the US for model railroad containers on N scale.
Here are the parts to upgrade the static models (the Nankai, the Hiei, and the blue tram I showed earlier this week). These are the motor units, steel wheels, and where appropriate the folding pantographs to replace the static extended ones.
Lastly I found some stickers like you see on Shinkansen or other trains. I figured I could use these to decorate my future train room.
(I ran into a "post too long" message when trying to post this so I will put the tax free commentary in a separate post)
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Here is a continuation of yesterday's shopping post:
--
So most stores offer "tax free for tourists". Sometimes you have to take your purchase to a special "tax free" office in the mall, shopping area, or store to get a refund, but usually the store just does it for you at the register. You have to buy at least ¥5000 (before tax) at once and you have to have a foreign passport with short term visitor visa/permit in it and you have to take the stuff out of Japan within 6 months. You can buy both non-consumable items (for example the above trains) as well as consumables (food, cosmetics, stationery, etc). Non-consumables you just take with you and you cause them while in Japan as long as you remove them with you when you leave. Consumables they actually pack into special sealable plastic bags and you are not to remove them from the bags until you've left. For example, my daughter bought some cosmetics yesterday, which are safely tucked away in there plastic bags. This saves you the 10% sales tax. (Most stores now show a tax-included price on the item or they show both prices). So we always buy tax free as much as possible. Not everything we've gotten has been done that way but the toys, 2 new suitcases, cosmetics, in the past food items, etc we always do as much as possible.
Joshin Denki also has a 5% discount for tourists who use certain forms of payment including Visa. The others are Chinese cards and stuff not applicable to westerners. Yodobashi Camera used to have the same discount but didn't this time around. Anyway, I got another 5% off everything above in addition to not paying the sales tax. And the exchange rate is quite favorable at the moment. So overall I justified my splurge on the savings achieved . We also bought a few games (Monopoly using Japanese locations, UNO for New Years entertainment, some game the wife wanted), and a bunch of stuffed animals and other toys at Yodobashi. For some reason they put all those items in the "don't open until home" plastic bags even though they didn't need to (and no other stores including Yodobashi in Tokyo put non-consumables into the bags). We've opened the non-consumables bags and will redistribute them in our suitcases. The consumables of course not.
Supposedly all the stuff is inspected when you leave and you have to pay the tax if you don't have the items but we've never had them actually inspected. In the past we've just handed the customs guy the special tax-free paperwork that the stores would staple into the passport (which is after checkin of bags so the stuff is already out of our hands anyway by the time customs gets involved). Now they've made it all electronic. The store scans your passport and it appears they pull it and your visa/permit up from some government computer (I didn't see the screen but saw how they looked at it and were confirming things). They then attach your purchase to your passport electronically and don't give you the paper tax-free receipt any more -- just your normal receipt. I assume we'll hand our passports to customs on the way out and they will scan them and everything attached to us will be marked as exported. I assume they won't want to see the actual stuff since it is already checked in and it will be similar to how it was in the past. Despite stores having signs warning you to be early to the airport so customs can inspect all your loot.
Today, the 31st, is a sit around and try and pack as much as possible day. Otherwise nap, post here, and do some family games. Wife and her sister are going out to do some last minute grocery shopping for tonights NY festivities. Things they forgot earlier this week.
--
So most stores offer "tax free for tourists". Sometimes you have to take your purchase to a special "tax free" office in the mall, shopping area, or store to get a refund, but usually the store just does it for you at the register. You have to buy at least ¥5000 (before tax) at once and you have to have a foreign passport with short term visitor visa/permit in it and you have to take the stuff out of Japan within 6 months. You can buy both non-consumable items (for example the above trains) as well as consumables (food, cosmetics, stationery, etc). Non-consumables you just take with you and you cause them while in Japan as long as you remove them with you when you leave. Consumables they actually pack into special sealable plastic bags and you are not to remove them from the bags until you've left. For example, my daughter bought some cosmetics yesterday, which are safely tucked away in there plastic bags. This saves you the 10% sales tax. (Most stores now show a tax-included price on the item or they show both prices). So we always buy tax free as much as possible. Not everything we've gotten has been done that way but the toys, 2 new suitcases, cosmetics, in the past food items, etc we always do as much as possible.
Joshin Denki also has a 5% discount for tourists who use certain forms of payment including Visa. The others are Chinese cards and stuff not applicable to westerners. Yodobashi Camera used to have the same discount but didn't this time around. Anyway, I got another 5% off everything above in addition to not paying the sales tax. And the exchange rate is quite favorable at the moment. So overall I justified my splurge on the savings achieved
. We also bought a few games (Monopoly using Japanese locations, UNO for New Years entertainment, some game the wife wanted), and a bunch of stuffed animals and other toys at Yodobashi. For some reason they put all those items in the "don't open until home" plastic bags even though they didn't need to (and no other stores including Yodobashi in Tokyo put non-consumables into the bags). We've opened the non-consumables bags and will redistribute them in our suitcases. The consumables of course not.Supposedly all the stuff is inspected when you leave and you have to pay the tax if you don't have the items but we've never had them actually inspected. In the past we've just handed the customs guy the special tax-free paperwork that the stores would staple into the passport (which is after checkin of bags so the stuff is already out of our hands anyway by the time customs gets involved). Now they've made it all electronic. The store scans your passport and it appears they pull it and your visa/permit up from some government computer (I didn't see the screen but saw how they looked at it and were confirming things). They then attach your purchase to your passport electronically and don't give you the paper tax-free receipt any more -- just your normal receipt. I assume we'll hand our passports to customs on the way out and they will scan them and everything attached to us will be marked as exported. I assume they won't want to see the actual stuff since it is already checked in and it will be similar to how it was in the past. Despite stores having signs warning you to be early to the airport so customs can inspect all your loot.
Today, the 31st, is a sit around and try and pack as much as possible day. Otherwise nap, post here, and do some family games. Wife and her sister are going out to do some last minute grocery shopping for tonights NY festivities. Things they forgot earlier this week.
chadbag
Well-Known Member
I've written about Japanese freight in the past. Like in most places in the world, most freight is now containerized. Containers in Japan are usually much smaller though they do also have 20' and 40' ISO containers in use. Due to loading gauge the larger containers are limited on where they can go. There are also larger Japanese spec containers but most you see are these short ones in various models and specs. You can fit 5 of them on one flat car. They use big fork lifts to take them off the trains and put them on trucks. I posted a a pic earlier in the trip of a truck on the city streets with 2 containers on it.
Anyway, as we were headed to Osaka to spend lots of money on model railroads, a parallel track to the one our train was on had a freight train running. I didn't count the cars but for Japan it seemed pretty long. Maybe 20 or 25? It was an EF210 electric locomotive with a long string of KoKi flat cars (KoKi -- コキ) is the name or term or wagon classification for container flat cars -- they have these names or classifications for all rail wagons -- whole system is used to name them. We passed the train and then stopped at a station where we got off to transfer to an express. The freight train then rolled through on the other side of the platform we were on where I got some pics of it passing through. Our Rapid showed up a few minutes later and off we were. When we got to Amagasaki station, were we had to transfer to a different line, this same freight train was parked on a neighboring track. So I got some more pics of it at rest. Then it started to leave the station while we waited for our next train. Its as kind of interesting to see it up so close in operation. Quite different then the 100 mile long, 10-15 minutes to pass you at slow speed, UP freight trains I see in SLC made up of a billion cars going really slow.
This was the locomotive as we passed it.
This was one of the containers on its flat car as the train passed us while we waited for our Rapid in the station. You can see the platform gates.
Here are some shots while the train was at rest at the next station we stopped at.
Anyway, as we were headed to Osaka to spend lots of money on model railroads, a parallel track to the one our train was on had a freight train running. I didn't count the cars but for Japan it seemed pretty long. Maybe 20 or 25? It was an EF210 electric locomotive with a long string of KoKi flat cars (KoKi -- コキ) is the name or term or wagon classification for container flat cars -- they have these names or classifications for all rail wagons -- whole system is used to name them. We passed the train and then stopped at a station where we got off to transfer to an express. The freight train then rolled through on the other side of the platform we were on where I got some pics of it passing through. Our Rapid showed up a few minutes later and off we were. When we got to Amagasaki station, were we had to transfer to a different line, this same freight train was parked on a neighboring track. So I got some more pics of it at rest. Then it started to leave the station while we waited for our next train. Its as kind of interesting to see it up so close in operation. Quite different then the 100 mile long, 10-15 minutes to pass you at slow speed, UP freight trains I see in SLC made up of a billion cars going really slow.
This was the locomotive as we passed it.
This was one of the containers on its flat car as the train passed us while we waited for our Rapid in the station. You can see the platform gates.
Here are some shots while the train was at rest at the next station we stopped at.
NYC_George
Well-Known Member
I picked up a subscription for my wife a few days ago and the pharmacists said it's a $1,004.00 for those 16 XARELTO pills. With our insurance we only paid $47.00.
Swal
TLOC
Well-Known Member
My Ozempic (weekly diabetic shot) is supposed to be over $1000 a month for the 4 shots. With our insurance I also paid $47.00. But,12 months of use in 2023 will push me into the dreaded donut hole. Thankfully we are in a good position to handle it.
MikeInHubCity
Living the life in the heart of the Dairy State
It's what was Baltus, before they sold out about 4-5 years ago. Now owned by an investment group out of Va that owns gas station/c-stores across the country.
I wish the trip to Mass was for leisure. My uncle passed away this week & his wishes were to have his ashes spread in the ocean. His family had a beach house(house is no longer there) near Fall River & that's where his Dad's ashes were spread. He had the same wish. I looked into the train & we can take Amtrak from Tomah to Boston for roughly the same fare as flying out of Milwaukee or MSP, with half the driving distance to catch the train. His passing was not unexpected, as he was 85, fought 3 different cancers in the past 2 decades. Side effects from the chemo treatment for abdominal cancer did a number on his body. He was hospitalized with bilateral pneumonia since Thanksgiving. He wanted to die at home, so he was discharged on hospice & passed away the next day. I looked at rail vs flying & there's only about a $20 difference for roundtrip from Tomah vs MSP or Milwaukee. With the train, we would take Empire Builder to the Windy City & then Lakeshore Limited to Boston. 80 minutes vs 2-1/2 to 3 hours drive to catch a flight.
The picture below is from his IMDB(Internet Movie Database) profile. In addition to being cast in Hannah & Her Sisters and Wall Street, he was also an extra in Crocodile Dundee. He was in the scene where Dundee checked out of the hotel where the newspaper out him up. A taxi stopped at the hotel, the passenger exited the cab & went into the hotel. The camera picked up Mick as he was coming out of the hotel. My uncle filled the role of the taxi passenger. At the time, the family did not know that he was in the film. My sister saw it in the cinema with her boyfriend. She noticed Uncle Dick & exclaimed, "hey- that's my uncle!!". Her BF reacted with a "pfft- yeah, riiiight" look. That Thanksgiving, UD confirmed that he was, in fact, in Dundee.
Curt- I worked at a 7-11 many years ago that was right next to a public school & a Catholic one. Between the 2 schools, the RC church & since being the only c-store in town, we stayed quite busy. This one is the busiest store of our chain in town, since we only have one competitor within a couple miles.
Chad & Patrick- One of my sisters & I are a year and a 1/2 day apart. When Mom went into labor with me, she says she kept telling me that
I had to wait til midnight. When we were kids, on her birthday, my sister would tease me that she was 2 years older than me. Now that we're older, I throw it back at her("ha ha, you're 2 years older than me").
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chadbag
Well-Known Member
That's cool. My kid share a birthday but 5 years apart. The timing (big picture) for the kids was not planned at all but when the doctor told us what day they wanted to do the daughter's C-section birth, a week before the due date to avoid natural labor and issues expected, it was the day after my son's birthday so I asked if we could move it up a day and they said sure (they were doing a C-section as my son needed an emergency C-section as he wouldn't fit out the chute and the daughter was a little bit larger they said so figured they'd have the same problem).
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Someone earlier in our trip asked about Christmas and New Years customs over here. I've explained a bit about Christmas, maybe in a haphazard way, but New Years is the holiday in Japan, I think. Non essential people are all off work for several days and everyone travels to their family homes or visits family or whatever (and the Shinkansen are all 150%+ capacity and its hard to get seats). And all sorts of for are eaten. There are some people who do things all traditionally and some who just have big special feasts. Its only 4pm on the 31st here but we had a special soba for lunch.
This is a tempura soba with a hot broth and its traditional to eat soba on New Year's Eve. The Tempura on my bowl is a type of shrimp tempura with small shrimps breaded together in the disk shape. It was good. We also often put spices 7-pepper chili spice on it to make it a bit hot. And of course always green onions.
Here is an article on the tradition. Depending on region and family different kinds of soba are eaten but always soba (buckwheat noodles). Cold or warm.
livejapan.com
This is a tempura soba with a hot broth and its traditional to eat soba on New Year's Eve. The Tempura on my bowl is a type of shrimp tempura with small shrimps breaded together in the disk shape. It was good. We also often put spices 7-pepper chili spice on it to make it a bit hot. And of course always green onions.
Here is an article on the tradition. Depending on region and family different kinds of soba are eaten but always soba (buckwheat noodles). Cold or warm.
Toshikoshi Soba: Why do Japanese Slurp Noodles on New Year's Eve? | LIVE JAPAN travel guide
Toshikoshi soba is one of Japan’s unique New Year’s customs, and the delicious buckwheat noodles are enjoyed directly on New Year’s Eve. The history of this curious tradition dates back around 800 years, to the Kamakura period, and it is said that it all started at one Buddhist temple that gave...
livejapan.com
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Just read about an open source DCC decoder on another site. You can download PCB and firmware and make your on changes or just make your own, but there is a company that makes KATO compatible boards (N scale) here in Japan (and quite inexpensively). I ordered 4 different ones to try out though they will not arrive at my SisIL house before we leave so I'll have to have her send them in our next care package.
I'm excited to try them but also download the PCB design to adapt to my own needs.
I'm excited to try them but also download the PCB design to adapt to my own needs.
troyphoto
Snarky Old Fart (in training)
Well, morning there internet peeps
Been up since 0300
The bursitis in the knees, and a headache let me know a front is passing through. Nothing nasty like storms, but enough rain and pressure drop to kick up the ailments.
Ibuprofen kicked in. Going to try to hit the pillow again. See you in a bit.
Been up since 0300
The bursitis in the knees, and a headache let me know a front is passing through. Nothing nasty like storms, but enough rain and pressure drop to kick up the ailments.
Ibuprofen kicked in. Going to try to hit the pillow again. See you in a bit.
- Status
