Want to Sell / Auction this Eddie Bauer Hunting/Fishing Vest

I would like to sell or auction this vest off to anyone interested.

I purchased this vest through the mail order many years ago and have not worn it very much at all. It is a Mens Large Tall vest with 18 pockets in total. Made of 100% cotton with inner mesh for breathability, a zipper on the front and cinch ties on the sides, this vest would be perfect for hunters, fishermen, and especially photographers (I think).

I tried to sell this on Yahoo Auction but someone complained that I didn't give enough information and the system asked me to remove it. So now I am offering it here.

Will anyone offer me $5.00 plus shipping for this?

The total weight is about 1.1kg and I can send as a small package to most places in the world for $25 (unregistered), or via EMS to N.A. for $30 (trackable, one week).

Paypal charges 7% + for me, so $5.00 would cover the paypal charges and leave me with enough to buy a can of tea after going to the post office.

Anybody interested? If you would like to place a bid, as I have also put this on Flickr for people over there, please visit Flickr and bid over there. Thanks for looking.

Cam

Mayu's Got Crabs!

Yesterday, as I explained in one of my recent videos, Mayu went off to meet two of her former coworkers for dinner, and an overnight stay at an onsen restaurant in Miyama. It was a brief 30 minute drive to Miracle-Tei which is on the other side of the mountains that you see in so many of my photos, behind my house.

She met her friends about 5:00 in the afternoon. They talked, had baths, had late dinner, she gave them massages, they had baths, talked again, she gave more massages, they ate, they ate, and they ate. She said she got three hours of sleep.

The meal consisted of a large variety of traditional foods, including tempura, sashimi, some other various dishes, sukiyaki, soba (buckwheat noodles), mashed rice dango (dumpling), grilled fish, kani (crab) rice, frozen kani "pickles", dessert, and more. Then the chef brought out that crab you see at the beginning of my story. Mayu thought it was for all of them, but the other women told her that it was JUST FOR HER! So after many mouthfuls of crab after crab after crab, she was absolutely stuffed!

But look at the size of what she ate!!! (the photo above doesn't tell the entire picture.)

Apparently the seas are not "giving" their bounty nearly as freely as they used to. The kani that come from the seas off of Fukui (known as Echizen in the Edo period) are called Echizen gani. They are very well-known across the lands, and command a very high price. One this size at a restaurant usually costs over $100.00 for the crab alone!

Well, apparently the chef at the Miracle-tei restaurant could not get the Echizen-gani, but he was able to get one from the prefecture next door to us, Ishikawa. They are the same crabs, but when they come from NOT off of the Echizen coast, they are less expensive. It's kind of like getting Kobe beef. If it is kobe beef it is very expensive here, but if you get it from across the waters where they grow it, it is less expensive as it does not have that name.

After jumping into the early morning onsen bath and soaking at 7:00 in the morning, Mayu got ready for work, and headed out to a full day (including the evening volunteer work at the hospital hospice where she massages and talks with terminally ill cancer patients).

So, Mayu lucked out and apparently the chef was able to serve an even larger kani than originally planned for the price that Mayu's coworkers had booked for her!

Holy Kani, Batman, that's a whole lotta crab!

I love you!

Cam

Ootnaboot on Labour Thanksgiving Day Holiday

Labour Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday here in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23rd. The law establishing the holiday cites it as an occasion for commemorating labour and production and giving one another thanks. Events are held throughout Japan, one such being the Nagano Labor Festival. The event encourages thinking about the environment, peace and human rights.

Labor Thanksgiving Day is the modern name for an ancient rice harvest festival known as Niiname-sai, believed to have been held as long ago as November of 678. Traditionally, it celebrated the year's hard work; during the Niiname-sai ceremony, the Emperor would dedicate the year's harvest to kami (spirits), and taste the rice for the first time.

The modern holiday was established after World War II in 1948 as a day to mark some of the changes of the postwar constitution of Japan, including fundamental human rights and the expansion of workers rights. Currently Niiname-sai is held privately by the Imperial Family while Labor Thanksgiving Day has become a national holiday. (taken from Wikipedia)

It's weird... for an entire week plus now every day about 3pm I start to get a headache in my sinus cavity above the left eye. It gets pretty intense. I used to get a lot of sinusitis due to my deviated septum that we never bothered to correct when I was young (my brother did his). I can't figure out what it is...

The other day when I was on the floor doing some abdominal workout, I saw the huge amount of dust under the piano. As you likely know, Pianos are notorious for being nearly impossible to move. And as this one is very low to the ground we have not been able to vacuum under it. When I saw what was under there I went on a dust mammoth cleaning rampage and coerced Mayu into helping me while I lifted, pulled, pushed and dragged the piano so that we could pull out the carpet tiles and clean off the half inch of accumulation. I thought I had the problem solved, but I got another headache.

I usually sit here most of the day at work, but last night I was also sitting here until about 1am because I wanted to finish a book I was reading. I started to get that exact same headache again... the first time to get one so late. I thought then that perhaps it was the mildew odour of the old kimono that I put in the drawers here in the office a few months ago when I got them. That would coincide with my two plus months of congestion. When I went to bed, the doors were all open so the fresh cold air came into the bedroom, and I really cleared up quickly.

This morning I took all the kimono upstairs and boxed them away in the spare room. I then took all the drawers upstairs as well and will let them air out naturally for a few weeks. I disinfected the inside of the chest, and have left the doors to the cupboard where the drawers are, open. For most of the morning, and early noon I felt clearer than I have in a long time.

After pulling out all of the kimono and taking them upstairs to put them in the spare room so that I am not sitting here all day breathing potential mildew, I decided to go out for some fresh air and to clear my head.

I went out to Katsuyama to the home center to get some cat food. I LOVE going to home centers (and kitchenware stores - Robin will attest to that). I could spend hours in them! I just like to go and wander the aisles, looking at everything from plumbing, to toilets, to tires, to pvc piping to plants, to pet supplies, to furniture... and let my mind try to come up with ideas. I treat myself by exercising my mind at these kinds of places because I never know what I might find that I didn't know existed!

I also got a tube of toothpaste, a little ring of ... can't explain it well in English... things that keeps the drain from getting all slimy when water and food particles after washing dishes go into the aluminum cage that sits in the drain (we empty at each meal, but still...).

In addition to that, I picked up a special (but cheap) omelette-making frypan as well. It was a good visit to the home center. I did go looking for plastic tanuki, but they just don't seem to exist! I keep checking on the auction sites, and the internet, but ... nothing! It is almost like my plastic garden tanuki should not exist because nobody knows what I am talking about, when I tell them that I want it in plastic!

When I had spent enough time at the home center (Komeri... the logo is a giant red chicken or rooster, so I like to call it "Chicken Home Center") I went across the "highway" (Japanese highways are not anything like North American Highways... you will see when you visit me)... to the supermarket and did the shopping in that ice box. Why they make supermarkets so icy cold here, I really don't understand! When you are here for a visit, I will surely take you to some supermarkets so that you can experience the bizarre phenomenon of icebox grocery shopping! I did my regular purchasing of vegetables, meats, dairies, and even got an Asahi "Ginger + Beer" to see what it tastes like. Maybe tonight...

When all that was done, I headed over to Curry House Coco Ichiban and had a very good hamburger salad (hot hamburger in cold salad - pretty tasty!), with a side of curry roux (sauce) that had melted cheese and spinach in it. I skipped rice that always comes with curry here. I also had a pork cutlet and an onsen tamago. In total it was a very reasonable JPY 1300 for lunch. Not bad at all, considering I eat for two. When you come to visit me, I would like to take you to this restaurant to experience a curry meal. I think you will like it.

Does anybody need a frozen squid?

I love you!

Cam

Experimental Me

I love being experimental.

Tonight, as an experiment, I made and ordered two different kinds of business cards from VistaPrint Japan as a test. They had a special offer in the Amazon.co.jp package that arrived today with the new digital camera I bought (time for an upgrade). I have run out of my real biz cards, and had a hard time digging up three with my last interpretation job two weeks ago. I was seriously worried that I wouldn't have any cards to give the Americans who were there auditing the client...

One of the name cards I made has my full address (in English) here at this address, with a simple address in Japanese on the back. Amazon offered a "special" of JPY 100 for 250 cards so I thought I'd try. I paid a bit extra and put Japanese on the back (in greyscale, as full colour on both sides would have made them much more expensive, but still cheap as heck). So I can hand it out in both languages. (You can click it if you want to see it larger, but it isn't really necessary.)

I also got "free" sticky labels and a JPY 100 ink stamp with my address on it so that I don't need to hand write any envelopes anymore. I chose the slow delivery which will take 3 weeks (NOTHING takes three weeks to go anywhere these days except the slow boat from .... oh yeah... China!). The shipping and the "process fee" of course ended up costing me about JPY 1800 which is obviously mostly free money for them because that little stuff never costs that much to ship from anywhere anymore, especially in 3 weeks delivery. But still... for 250 business cards (in colour), and 140 address labels, and a plastic address stamp, a total cost of JPY 2,500 is peanuts! It used to cost me JPY 2500 for 100 business cards.

I think that those 250 cards will probably outlast our living here at this address (not much work here these days, not enough to be handing out 250 business cards that's for sure) And of course, if we make a move, those cards, the labels and the stamp will no longer be any good.

So, after dinner, a brilliant thought came to me, and I made, then ordered another much simpler "global" card in black with a globe on it.

All I wrote this time was Intrmarket Solutions / Cameron Switzer / email address / business website address / and a catch phrase: "Bridging the gap between Japan & the World". And that is it.

These cards I can use internationally anywhere I go after leaving this house, and I think it is kind of cool. After all, who needs a fixed address when your business can travel through the net, right? And telephone numbers are always changing, so no number, either. I have to admit that this was not an original thought; when I visited Texas and met the Y.E.S. Supplements CEO for the first time, his business card had the company name, his name, and his email address. And that was it. And I thought... "that's really smart because everyone has email these days." Also, with this kind of thing, you cannot always answer your phone, but you can always access your email and write back when you have the time. This is how Ken described it to me, as he is often in meetings and unable to take phone calls. "Hmmm.... I thought... very interesting." And I tucked that thought away for a future day (one when I thought I might be as busy as he).

I chose standard templates from VistaPrint to keep the price down to the minimum. The one with the address... it struck me at the moment, having some colour, but not being too outlandish. The fixed image of the earth on black sky background worked out well for my concept of my business. I chose matte finish as well to keep the price at the JPY 100. It doesn't matter if it's not good quality. I just want to test it and am willing to pay the JPY 1300 for these cards as an investment to try out a technology that I know many other people (Jen and Stefnee for example) have been using for some time now. 250 cards for JPY 1300 is a really cheap price (JPY 100 + JPY 1200 for shipping and "processing" fees).

I realized when I saved these low res images that I forgot to include an F: by the fax number, but it allows me to chat with the recipient a little bit more. Again, I don't mind. Most people will figure out that the 090 is my cell number anyway.

Just a little experiment that I thought I would do with some of my free NOW moments yesterday.

I love you!

Cam

And you think...

... that I'm overexaggerating when I tell you how truly fucked up Japanese society has become...

Mamma mia...

This country needs a LOT more Unconditional Globalized Love, let me tell you!

I love you!
And unconditionally, to boot!

Cam

P.S. Maybe the cumulative pressure on the anus due to the jet washing unit of the ubiquitous Toto washlets has caused some altered reality in the psyche of Japanese, making them angry all the time... angry that their asses are always "getting kicked" (by Toto)... Maybe they are finally lashing back. Could this be a manifestation of a new kind of anger we might term "toto rage"?

Old Habits Die Hard

I have spent a lot of time this year reading about, meditating on, and writing about how our brains are hardwired through habits, through our ego, and through the culture and society in which we live. Believing that carbohydrates are good for you in spite of all the science to the contrary is one. Going on cholesterol-lowering drugs is another because there is so much science that shows how harmful lowering cholesterol is, and that doing so has absolutely no benefit to decreasing heart disease. "Spinning" over troubled times and having "imaginary conversations" in my head ... well, that's normal!

But seriously, we do so many of the things we do without realizing that either we don't need to be doing them, that they do us more harm than good, or that our egos try to convince us that we are going to do them come hell or high water!

We humans are lucky in a sense that we don't HAVE to be bound by our hard-wired neural network. If we become aware enough (through various methods) that what we are thinking, or believing is not appropriate, not beneficial, or downright wrong, we have the ability to CHANGE THE WAY WE SEE THINGS. This is a key point for overall well-being I have come to understand this year. In fact, it is crucial for success in most everything.

Other animals are not quite so lucky, however; they don't have the ability to make changes to their neural network. This is why, several decades ago, it was documented watching wolves swimming to an island in the St. Lawrence River that had a lot of indigenous deer on it. When the wolves got tired, they would turn around and go back. The only thing is, if they made it past the halfway point and they got tired, they would turn around and swim back. It is all that they could do because that is what their efforts programmed into them: get tired, go back. Little could they realize that if they went a bit further on, they would be on the island. If they have the energy to swim back past half way, then they would have had the energy to go on and make it to the island, for feasting. But they could not.

Keiko gave me a great example of that this morning. He has developed the nasty habit of standing up and putting his claws in our patio screen door. It makes a very nice echo in the house. I have thrown things at him, and yelled at him. Nothing works. Stefnee recommended spraying him, but that only works when the glass door is open. And in the early mornings, it is not open because it is too cool to do so.

Keiko sits there staring in the clear glass side where he watches us and meows until we go and feed him. If we ignore him for some time, he does a circle, meows a bit more, then sits in the middle of the other window (the one without the screen because he can see in). If we ignore him further, he circles, then stands on his hind legs up as tall as he can and puts his claws in the screen!

Well, I certainly do not like him doing that, but he has decided it is the fastest way to get his food.

This morning, he did that TWICE. The first time, he did it while I was just coming downstairs from waking up. I gave him his food. He wanted more, so came back and hung around again. Then when I was cooking my own breakfast he did it again! I couldn't throw anything at him or yell at him because the door was closed and he wouldn't have heard me or been bothered by it.

So... I opened up the door, petted him (I love petting the pussy), cood at him sweetly, and then took the screen door off, and put it away for winter. I have never needed to do this before, but I'm thinking that if we go to Tokyo over New Years, and come back to a screen door ripped to shreds, I will be none too pleased.

Well, as I was sitting there eating and pleasantly ignoring him, yet watching him go about his begging routine, I became quite amused. He sat at the clear window as he always does for a while, meowing... then he circled and sat again... then...

Keiko circled once more, went over to the other half of the sliding glass doors where the screen sits, stood up on his hind legs and ...

made the funniest face as his claws pressed against hard glass, and there was no screen!

God, that was funny!

Old habits die hard, so don't be surprised or disgruntled if you want to change some of your thoughts, or habits, but find yourself slipping back into the same old routines. It IS HARD! Just keep at it, and pretty soon, before you realize it, you will have re-programmed your neural network and chosen to see things differently. If I can do it, then you can too!

(It's just too bad Keiko can't, eh? heeee heee heeee)

Have a great day, I love you!

Cam

Sweet Dreams Delivery Service

Today was a work day. Yes. I had work. Amazing, that there was actually something for me to do... these days, thanks to the sub-prime, and wall street collapse, work has been... scarce ... is a kind word. But today I went to a customer's business in Sabae and did some interpretation work as a very large American pharmaceutical company is planning on having a part made in their factory and wanted to do an ISO9000 audit inspection.

I think that things went fairly well, and it helped my client to become a little more global than before. They were given some observations, and suggestions on how they need to improve their ISO processes in order to meet the customer's rigid specifications for document control (that is what ISO 9000 is all about). It was an 8am to 8pm day, and I was glad to get out.

I have two videos that I plan to be making in the very near future. One... is a secret so I'll let that one be because it would spoil the fun. The other one... I think I can tell you a bit about.

I have a few videos on doing various things with futon. One describes the importance of drying out the futon as often as possible rather than letting it sit on the floor as one would a mattress. Because there is no airspace between the futon and the floor, they can get mouldy in a short matter of time. If you haven't seen this video yet, you may visit it @ Japanese Traditions: Futon Hoshi.

The other video is called No More Lonely Nights, and in that one, I introduce the futon kansoki that I sent to Jenny. She loves it as it keeps her bed toasty warm whenever she is alone on those long winter nights.

I have received a variety of comments on the Futon Hoshi video. One of them is a bit of correspondence from a Canadian Lad looking for information on how to care for the futon. Actually he wants one, but is having trouble getting them. He has found some manufacturers in the USA but the cross-border taxes make them more costly than his budget will allow. After a bit of talking, with him and with Mayu, she and I agreed that we would be more than happy to ship him one or two of our futon if he would cover the shipping, and the paypal surcharges to receive the payment. He agreed so in the next few days I am going to try to figure out how to pack a futon, and then determine what the costs will be, and let him know.

We have three or four futon and rarely use all of them. Of course we need to keep a couple here for when people come to visit, but we do not need them all. The gentleman was more than happy to accept one of our used futon.

So I thought I would just make a simple video documenting what I am doing, and tell the story so that others out there can once again see the Globalized Love Community hard at work making other people's lives even happier!

And that is what I am thinking this night as I sit here sipping hot water and slowly get a little more sleepy as the hours pass (did a heavy workout last night and then was up at 6:00 so my body is rather fatigued still...)

I hope you have a great day, whether it be sunny, rainy, snowy, windy, cloudy, morning, afternoon, evening or night!

I love you!

Cam

Autumn Laughter

The leaves that rustle

under the stroke stroke stroke

of the brittle plastic rake

in the waning light

of the crisp autumn afternoon,

they laugh like you.

*****

Today is the first day of late autumn that actually felt as if winter was approaching. I can see the snow on Mt. Hakusan waaay off in the distance. As the day progressed, the temperature slowly dropped so that now we are below 10C and I can see my breath.

I spent a few hour doing one more "comprehensive weeding" of the yard in hopes that come spring, there will be less fresh weeds to battle with than we had this year. Also, I tied up the fragile branches of my "freedom bonsai" for the winter, as we never know when snow might come now.

The ambient temperature was about the same as that outside all day (13C outside, 14C inside), but it dropped down to 10C in here this evening. I am considering turning the heat on to warm it up for Mayu when she returns from Tokyo. My fingers are numb, as they get every winter, and my toes as well.

I know that when I go to the sento tonight, the water will feel extra hot on my digits as I sink into the pool for a much needed core-heating soak. And, of course, when I walk out into the chilly night, my body will steam because it will have been warmed far more than the normal body temperature, and it will need to let off some of the excess heat through our ultra-efficient heat-exchange system we call skin.

I am sorely tempted to start a fire in the chiminea, don my hat, and sit outside enjoying the chill of the night with a Woodford Reserve bourbon melting the ice into a perfect blend of autumn wood smoke and oak, while pondering life to come and what the next NOW moment will bring...

I love you.

Cam

Celebrating with 'Shrooms!

On Sunday, Mayu and I went to Heisenji to take photos and video of the koyo, autumn leaves. It was too early. You can see the results in my recent video.

So on Monday, in the mist, I suggested we drive way up into the mountains, all the way up to Izumi-mura (35km from here, but 1.5hrs to get there) through some of the more rugged yet beautiful terrain in the prefecture. I used to work up there every Thursday when I was working for the School board. It was an absolutely wonderful place to go, a village with a population of about 500 people at most (including those in the cemetery!)

Unfortunately.... the leaves aren't quite ready up there yet, either, as you can see in these three photographs I took:

There are a few photos more on Flickr if you care to see, but the colours aren't there yet. Don't mind the turkey... it was a homing-device "gift" from a friend of yore...

But! On the way down the mountian we took a detour through the mountains up a river and to a village that is known for it's historic refuge of ronin samurai and their families who were escaping the Tokugawa Shogun's fall from favour as the Shogun was busy absconding with land and doing what it is that all dictators love to do (enrich their coffers).

Apparently the families of the local ruling clans that lost battles to protect their lands here had to run for the hills and run they did! Hiding up in the Kamiono area must have been an amazing feat before there were any concrete roads, highways and tunnels up in THOSE mountains! It is said that even now, some samurai swords can still be found when land is overturned as everyone hid their clan background by pretending to be simple farmers just in case the Shogun's army might happen upon them waaay wayyyyy deep in the mountains.

There also happens to be a deep mine up there and tourists can take a ride into the closed mine (for money, of course).

We didn't go there for the history. Nope. We didn't go there for the mine, either. We went there because we wanted mushrooms!

There is a mushroom factory up in that area, and we figured that since we were "in the neighbourhood" (only about 4km away) we would head on over and pick some up.

I LOVE Japanese mushrooms! There are so many varieties here, that Japan truly is a 'shroom-lover's paradise! Why just yesterday in the supermarket I bought five varieties alone!

In Japan, we may not be able to get butter, we may have a run on bananas due to crazy banana diets, but can we get mushrooms?

YES WE CAN!

I love you!

Cam

Gallery Max 2008.11

I visited Masaki and his family today. Every year around this time they display their art in a coffee shop/art gallery.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with their art, they work in paper. Everything they do is made of Japanese washi. They make their frames out of wire, and then begin layering on the paper, shaping the product as it goes along. Each and every piece of hair or scale is an individual piece of paper that has been pre-made, then glued on. Once the form is complete they colour it with a natural lacquer from grasses, trees, persimmon trees and the such. Then they use a natural finishing lacquer to give it the shine, the depth, the shadow and the glow.

Carrie, Jen, and Paula have seen their work first hand. I hope that more of you one day will have such an opportunity to see, touch, smell, and be amazed at the work they do.

This year, Masaki created these battling bulls that you can see at the top of the page. The colouring base is persimmon tannin that has been fermented. There are approximately 10 coats of this persimmon coating, followed by many more coats of special lacquer from the Japanese lacquer tree (which is highly allergenic).

Prices of product vary from $50 to $3,000 depending upon the size, and complexity of the product. Some may think that smaller means much cheaper, but due to the complexity of the work, that is not always the case. For example, the smaller the dragon, the more finely detailed the scales, etc. must be, thus the work becomes more complex.

If you would like to see more photos, please visit my flickr by clicking on the image below and following the link.

I love you!

Cam

P.S. I have asked this in the past, but if anyone is connected to an art gallery or some rich person who likes to work on this kind of thing as a philanthropic gesture, by all means please introduce us!

I really wanted to put their work on Etsy, but I am not allowed to do so. Masaki would have to do it himself, without a representative, but with no English skills whatsoever, it just isn't possible. I guess I could become him... but he needs an email address and these days, Max doesn't even have an internet connection! And he doesn't care!! Yes, he really is THAT analogue.

Click here to view their artwork in slideshow format.