If you ever get a chance to come to Japan, you have to try out the Ninja Akasaka restaurant.  Nothing beats good food and ninjas!

You would think that a ninja-themed restaurant would be pretty cheesy, but I found that it was designed pretty classy.  The decor had a dark feel to it and was like old world Japan with a modern twist.  Simple and beautiful.

Our waitress was a cute ninja girl who led us through a dark passageway to our table.  Every table has its own small private room that makes you feel like you’re there for a secret meeting.

I ordered the Hanzou course which came with a Japanese Saga steak and garlic sauce.  It was perfect.  The steak was really tender and just melted in my mouth!  Saga beef from the Saga prefecture of Japan and is known for its high quality like Kobe beef.  My mouth waters when I look at this photo.

How cute is this dessert?!!  The presentation of the food was so creative and it was a lot of fun waiting to see what would come out next!

The service was great also.  They have English version menus and an English-speaking staff so our guests were able to enjoy every part of the experience with us.

We went all out and ordered drinks, appetizers, and course meals so our bill for 4 came out to 68,000 yen (roughly $680).  Yikes!  It’s a bit pricey but I suggest ordering a course set if you want to get the full experience.

>>> more photos of NINJA AKASAKA

Ninja Akasaka
Phone Number: 03-5157-3936
ninjaakasaka.com

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I have been bored with World of Warcraft now for about a year so I was surprised that I actually got the expansion: Wrath of the Lich King when it came out.  What can I say, it’s Warcrack!  I played for about a couple hours of last night so here is my first impression.

I went over to the new continent of Northrend and ran around for a little to take a look at some of the new content.

Here’s me pulling into Valiance Keep:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was pretty cool to see chunks of ice floating in the water as you were pulling in.

Tip:  Don’t forget to train for your all your professions.  I was able to find some new herbs when I was running around.  All of the profession trainers are right around the keep.

They have a new “fog” feature that I don’t really care for.  Check it out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well at least I think it’s supposed to be fog… The way the fog just framed the screen in a circle looked pretty cheesy to me.  It looks more like how it should if you were in a dream state.  I think it would have looked better if it were an entire overlay of fog like what happens when you get drunk and everything gets blurry.  It was a nice try, but I don’t think they pulled it off so well.

I also created a new Draenei Death Knight.  They look fierce!  I found it funny that it was like 5:00 am in the U.S. when I was playing and there were like 20 new Death Knights running around.  Here is me posing with the Lich King (look carefully, I’m hidden!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything surrounding the death knight is just creepy!  Look at the creepy looking Scourge Gryphons:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you get on your Acherus Deathcharger, it makes this eerie screaming noise.  I love it!

They have some new unique quests, not just the usual find and kill quests hat was much needed variety to keep me playing.  I’m looking forward to trying out the new PvP stuff as well.  If you never played World of Warcraft before, now is a good time to start.  The hype is worth it.  If you’ve been playing for a while and was bored with it like me, the new expansion is worth a try.  I know it will at least keep me in the game for at least another 4-6 months.  That’s how they getcha!

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Living in Japan makes you think about when the next Big Earthquake is going to hit. I started to research online on what we need to be prepared and decided to make my own emergency kit. Here’s what I came up with.

Emergency Kit For When You’re On the Go
First Aid Kit: AMA first aid book, tweezers, safety pins, thermometer, sterile vinyl gloves, instant cold compress, adhesive tape roll, cotton-tipped applicators, butterfly wound closure, finger splint, various sized bandages and gauze pads, burn relief gel packs, antiseptic cleansing pads, alcohol pads, antibiotic ointment, pain relievers such as aspirin or ibuprofen, petroleum or other lubricant, anti-diarrhea medicine, laxative, antacid, eyewash solution
Large Flashlight: LED and waterproof
Small Flashlight
Waterproof matches: matches in a waterproof container will do too
Glowsticks
Rain ponchos
Multi-tool: Make sure it has a can opener, knife, and Phillips and flat-head screwdriver.
Mylar space blankets: Good for both keeping warm and reflecting the sun.
Duct Tape: Good for…well….anything and everything!
Zip ties: Useful for a lot of different things including making splints, compression bandages, or tourniquets.
Garbage bags and ties: for personal sanitation
Dusk masks: N95 face masks
Water purification tablets
Work Gloves: Leather or Kevlar
Nylon cord: at least 50 feet
Tube tent
Paper and pencil
Scissors
Whistle: to signal for help
Hand crank radio: picks up TV and NOAA bands, cell phone charger, alert siren and lights
Extra batteries
Cups, plates, and utensils: I chose melamine cups because they are strong but don’t weigh much, paper plates, and plastic utensils
High calorie food bars: Like Daytrex, MayDay, and MainStay food bars, 3600 calories per person. I thought about putting MREs in my kit, but they’re too bulky and heavy.
Change of clothing: long sleeved shirt, long pants, underwear, socks, and sturdy comfortable shoes. In cold climate bring extra layers, jackets, hats, and gloves.
Personal hygiene items: Moist towelettes, toilet paper, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation, anti-bacterial gel, anti-bacterial soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, comb
Playing Cards or books: you may need some entertainment so you won’t drive yourself crazy
Cash: $500 in small bills and coins. ATMS and credit card readers won’t work when the power is out
Important Documents: Copy of your birth certificates, marriage certificates, wills, home insurance policy, medical insurance card, passport, driver’s license, social security cards, bank records, phone numbers to utility companies, immunization records, personal contacts, inventory of valuable items
Local maps
Compass
Spare keys
Survival guide
Water: They say you should keep one gallon of water per person per day (suggests 3 days worth) for drinking and sanitation stored in your house. I’m not sure how much you should have on you if you have to leave your home, but I would carry as much water as I could with me.

Other supplies you may need depending on your situation: feminine supplies, contact lens supplies, glasses, sunscreen, bug spray, infant formula, diapers, hearing aid, prescription medications, pet food, leash, bowls, pet immunization records, pet medication

Tips:

• Copy your family photos to a DVD or thumb drive and keep it with your kit. If you have to evacuate the area, you probably won’t be able to bring all of them with you but at least you’ll have a copy to print out later.
• Put your clothes into a large sealed plastic bag and use a vacuum cleaner to take the air out to make it more compact
• Put your whistle and small flashlight on a lanyard so you have easy access to them
• Store everything in plastic zip bags to protect them from water

Emergency Kit For Home
In addition to what you have for your “To Go” kit, you should have the following:

Fire extinguisher
Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
Crowbar
Hammer
Heavy duty aluminum foil
Staple gun
3 day supply of food, canned and dried foods or MREs
Plastic sheeting
Sleeping bag or warm blankets for each person
Unscented household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper: When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. It could also be used to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water.
Tea bags: makes bleached treated water taste better
Tent
Long lasting candles
What You Need By Your Bedside
Flashlight
Crowbar
Slip on shoes or slippers with hard soles: In case an event happens when you are sleeping and there is broken glass or other dangerous debris on the floor

To Get More Detailed Information
FEMA website: http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/
Equipped to Survive: http://www.equipped.org/earthqk.htm

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Announcing the launch of my website, diyweddingprojects.com!

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iGoogle is a personalized home page for Google.  You can add gadgets to personalize the content you want to see. and I can access them from anywhere I have an Internet connection.

Here’s my setup and my favorite gadgets:

Theme
I’m using the Studio Ghibli theme.  I love Miyazaki, Hayao films!  This theme changes throughout the day and displays many of my favorite characters.  Shown below is Naushika from Kaze No Tani No Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind). They have many other great themes to choose from to spice up the look of your iGoogle setup.
I organize all of my gadgets by creating tabs for each of these categories: Home, Lists, Personal, and Business.

Home Tab
My home tab is the first thing I see when I open Google.  I use it to display items that I use most often.  I like to get a quick look at this first thing in the morning.  I can see what is happening in the news and the stock market without a lot of clicking around.  I can also check for new emails and see if I have any appointments that day.

Lists Tab
My lists tab is used to help me keep track of any short term tasks I need to take care of.  I use the To-Do List gadget shown below.

You can drag and drop the tasks to reorder them as well as assign low (3), medium (2), and high (1) priorities.  I also like that you can print from this list.  There is also a Google Maps feature, but I haven’t had the need for it yet.

Personal and Business Tabs
My personal and business tabs are used to keep track of all my random notes.  I use the Google Bookmarks gadget on these tabs to keep track of any websites I want to check out later. You can assign categories to your links and set the gadget to only show one of your categories for each tab.  For example I saved the following bookmarks to my “Personal” category and selected it from the drop down box to only show those links on the Personal tab.

I am also using the Sticky Note gadget.  It works like post-its!  I like this tool a lot because I can quickly jot my thoughts down like a paper post-it, but it’s a lot more organized.  My notes are categorized by whichever tab they belong to.
On the personal tab, I keep notes about things like when my magazine subscriptions are ending and how many frequent flyer miles I have.  On my business tab I keep notes about business ideas and articles I plan to write in the future for my blogs.

Here is another similar tool called the Web Stickies Mod v3.1 gadget. I used to use this one instead of the Google version because I liked how you could place them anywhere and they overlap.  It broke when I upgraded to Firefox 3 though and I’m not sure if it was ever fixed.  I guess that is one of the risks you take when you don’t use one of the gadgets by Google.

Gadgets List
Here are the links to all my favorite gadgets.

• Google News by Google
• Google Finance Portfolios by Google
• Google Calendar by Google
• Gmail By Google
• Weather By Google
• World Clocks By Jerome Mouton
• Google Bookmarks By Bas Hennekam
• Google Reader By Google
• Currency Converter By Rick van Twillert and Creatonic
• To-Do List with Google Maps By Mahin
• Web Stickies Mod v3.1 By Bonstio
• Sticky Note By Google

Although these tools are really great, they can sometimes break.  I usually only add gadgets that have good ratings by the users or created by Google.  Also make sure you check out the iGoogle backup and restore features.  This has saved me a few times.

I’m curious to know what your favorite gadgets are and how you use them.  If you’re new to iGoogle, give it a try!

How to set up iGoogle: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=25551

Filed under: Geek Chic, Lists | 2 Comments

Have you all read Timothy Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Work Week?  If you haven’t, then I highly recommend it.  Don’t read it unless you want to quit your job though.  The book even has that warning in bold letters on the back.

For the past 7 years I’ve been focusing on trying to make more money because I thought that would make me happy.  I thought if I make more money, I would be able to buy lots of stuff, travel, pay bills without worrying, and that would make me happy.  A few years ago, I got everything I wished for.  My husband and I were given the opportunity to move to Japan where we both got better jobs.  Our bosses and coworkers are cool, the work was interesting, and the pay was great.  We never had to clip coupons when we went grocery shopping and we paid our credit card bill balances off in full every month.  We were able to fly back and forth from the U.S. and Japan at least twice a year and even went to China for vacation last year.  So why was I still unhappy?  I felt really guilty that I was so lucky to have this great life, and it still wasn’t enough.  I felt tired all the time, gained weight, and just felt trapped.  Trapped in boredom.

The 4-Hour Workweek helped me realize that no amount of money was ever going to be enough.  Tim Ferriss talked about how he started a very successful company that was making $40K per month, but was working 12+ days, 7 days a week, and was miserable.  I knew I didn’t want to head down that road either.  I realized I was focusing too much on money and not enough on the type of lifestyle that I wanted.  Tim Ferriss now has the lifestyle he wants and spends his time traveling all over the world and doing the things that he likes every day without ever having to work a typical 9-5 job.  He tells you how everyone can do that in his book and I was completely inspired.

I’m not sure about what I would be doing every day if I only had a 4-hour workweek, but my dream is to have what I describe a “Slacker Lifestyle”.  My sister and I talk about how some of the best times in our life was our summer vacations off from school where we would sleep past noon, then sit in front of the TV laughing and eating Triscuit Sandwiches (Triscuits with a slice of cheddar cheese in between…I love cheese!).  We were total slackers, but we were happy.  I don’t mean I want to just sit around now everyday and be lazy, but I want to have that feeling of freedom again.  I want to go explore different countries for months at a time if I want to without having to save up vacation time.  If I don’t feel like working and I want to play World of Warcraft all day, I don’t want to have to call in sick and feel guilty.  I want to spend time with family and friends without needing to schedule out every spare minute I have.  When I am working, I want to work on things that are fun and I believe in without obligation.

I know it sounds impossible, but after reading the book I really believe I can have this lifestyle.  His book tells you how to free up time to do more of the things you like and automate income.  Tim walks you through a step by step process for reinventing yourself and provides some real tools for achieving this lifestyle.  I know it sounds all dramatic, but he really changed my life!  The 4-Hour Workweek inspired me so much that I cut my hours to part time so I can dedicate more time to do things that I find fun like starting up this blog.  I would love to hear from all of you out there too.  I hope you enjoy!

Check out The Blog of Tim Ferriss

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