Sunday, August 17, 2003 Tinkering I forgot to mention some important stuff: as of Friday, I have ADSL access from my home. Hooray! No more relying on the office network for high-speed access. There are other reasons why this is significant, but at the moment the one I'll mention is that I'll probably be spending a fair amount of time monkeying with the look of this weblog. I may (once I figure out the Radioland system) create my own template, so the look of this may change radically, sometimes minute by minute, as I try out things. You have been warned. 11:06:41 PM    Comment on this post! [] Riding the Rails I sometimes mention train travel and train stations around Tokyo on these pages. Them what live outside Tokyo might be confused, but I've come across a partial solution, a real anorak's handiwork. http://hisaai-hp.hp.infoseek.co.jp/JREast/index_eg.html What this fellow's goal is, near as I can tell, is to chart the entire Tokyo railroad network system by traveling to each train station. Taking photos, making notes, and even recording the sounds of the melody played over the PA system (like this familiar-sounding one played at Takadanobaba Station). My line is the Chuo Line, and my station is Musashi-Sakai (about halfway down the page): Musashi-sakai From Tokyo: 25.7km Departing Melody: Track No.3, 4, 5, 6 Date of opening: April 11, 1889 Location: Musashino City, Tokyo Transfer for Seibu Tamagawa Line   1:52:02 PM    Comment on this post! [] A Change in the Weather Finally it stops raining. Seventy-two hours straight of steady rain (okay, no monsoon, but still), all on a holiday weekend. It's still overcast, but a relief nonetheless. Looking out down out my kitchen window, I can see my landlady in the garden, wearing straw hat, apron, and rubber boots, bailing out the pots she's using to raise fish. Goldfish or carp, I assume, but they're too small to tell. The temperature is mild and very slightly humid, and the cicadas have started up their ear-splitting chirping again. Summer may be back soon. 9:19:52 AM    Comment on this post! []