Japanese MG source

MG, you mentioned that you miss home cooking. Are you originally from the states or somewhere other than Japan?

I'm originally from Houston, Texas born and raised but live in Dallas Tx, Grand Prairie Tx., Arlington Tx and Garland Tx. while working for IBM and US Sprint.as a Network Tech. Spent a lot of time in Atlanta and LA with Coca Cola moving their Data Center from LA to Atlanta and when I left USA for Japan back in 1986 I was living in Chicago working with Advantis installing Routers that helped made the internet become what it is today. Computers and Network Technology I know but gardening is something I'm learning.

The thing I miss most is home cooking but I enjoy eating Japanese food as it is very healty. I'm always buying dry food items off ebay and I while I was in USA the last 2 months of 06 I shipped back lots of goodies to eat.

Like my idol J.R. Ewing would say "where there's a will there's a way".

Being from Texas you must miss mexican food and chili. Do you want some taco mixes and chili mixes too? Not the same as what you were getting in TX, but at least its a change. I used to be a system administrator for a major catalog company. Sometimes I miss it, sometimes I don't. I don't miss it when the network would go down. Everyone would be sitting around twiddling their thumbs while I was making phone calls, checking servers, routers, phone lines, etc. Meanwhile, anytime I left my office, they are all asking, when is the system going to be up? I finally learned to double or triple the length of time it was expected for the system to be back up. Telling people it would be two hours and then its back up in an hour made everyone happy. It was fun but a lot of stress at times.

happytrail128 your are right about mexican food and chili. Love them both. Hey chili seasoning would be great.

I remember those day saying the system is down and we are working on it and then tell them to contact the helpdesk for updates. Yes it was fun, made good money but lots of stress. I built a small network here supporting six workstations for my classroom. It's all running off one direct DSL cable line using an internet sharing device type modem to connect the computers. On sundays I have kids over studying english and computers. Mostly ABCs, phonics and disney type stuff all accessed online. One thing I like about Japan is starting a business regarding english is easy and there's always a need for studying english and teachers. Are you interested?

I seriously would consider a move to Japan as long as the weather is better than western NY. We do want to move to a warmer climate and if there are opportunities there, why not? I've been researching North and South Carolina as a places to relocate. It seems that job opportunities all over the US aren't that great.
I love Japanese vehicles, we had a Japanese Bobtail cat for 16 years (they are hard to find in the US), love Sony, etc. I've always wanted a Nikon camera. One of my co-workers at my last computer job kept telling me that I should move to Japan since he thought that I loved Japan more than the US because I bought Japanese products. Why did you move to Japan? Computers? The opportunity to do something different? The only Japanese I know is Honda, Toyota, and Acura. I'm not even sure if Acura is a Japanese word or name; from what I understand, Acuras in Japan are called Honda. Is that true?
Why is it so easy to start a business? Are there certifications needed? I've always wanted to visit Fiji and American Samoa which are probably an affordable flight from Japan.
Its interesting that you worked on the internet in its early days. That must have been exciting. Did you think at that time that it would become what it is now? I was online in the 80s, I think it was Compuserve at the time; I was running a Commodore 128. My house has been networked for several years. Originally I had coax; now we're wireless. In some ways, it seems as if you don't need any computer skills to be networked. But I suppose that most people probably aren't really "networked", they are just running several pcs off of a router. I guess it sort of pisses me off because I had to pay my dues with daisy chains, coax, and running wires through walls and ceilings. Its just too easy today. Actually while I'm typing this I realize that I miss the "good old days"! There was such a sense of accomplishment when you're tense and holding your breath while waiting for everything to come up. When it worked, it was such a relief and sense of accomplishment.

Yesterday our group met but we did not use the computers much. The wild sample seeds will be mailed tomorrow monday morning to those who asked for them. Also we discussed a lilly looking flower called a geranium from the pelargonium species. Finally we discussed about a Water Dragon that's found Australia. A member sent us a picture in the Plant Identification Forum. After class I had to rush out and get ready for last night's live performance. I play Bass and Percussion in a Jimi Hendrix Copy band. Talk to you all later.

Happytrail128 We D-Mailed you.

This message was edited Feb 25, 2007 8:54 AM