I've touched down in Narita after a 9-hour flight. In all honesty, this was probably the best international flight I can remember in a long time. I feel remarkably alive for pond hopping. It probably helped that I was on a 777 - flying on the 777 is always nice...even in cattle class. I was able to get some good shut-eye during the flight thanks to melatonin, eye mask and ear plugs. I have a 3 hour layover to get through before my connecting to Seoul so I will probably go in search of something to drink - it's pretty humid in the terminal!

I'll be gone for the next few weeks tromping around East Asia with the 'rents. I'll try to post updates while on the road, but no promises.

Guess who closed on a townhouse today? That's right - your humble blog author. I join the rest of the home crazy America by "owning" a piece of the pie. The local kids helped me celebrate by going out to a wine bar. Afterwards, I gave a tour of the new place, which everyone approved of - especially the kitchen. Full stainless steel appliances, gas and nice stone counters definitely have the wow factor. I'm definitely looking forward to cooking in Kitchen Deluxe (tm) as well as being able to DDR with impunity.

Right now, the place is a touch bare, but I did take photos. Hopefully I will get them up before Saturday; otherwise, you will have to wait for 2+ weeks while I galavant around East Asia with the 'rents.

Guess what kids - Futurama's coming back!

In the meanwhile, you can catch Bender harassing al-Gore.

The HD in my 12" PowerBook bit the big one a few weeks ago. Luckily, I was very smart and backed up everything onto an external drive a few days before it croaked. The funny thing about this whole situation was that I did this back-up in preparation to replace the HD.

Although I had been warned by other people, I was not aware of the true pain that awaited me: installing the new HD in the PowerBook. I would like to send a very warm "Screw you Apple!" for making it almost impossible to remove the three screws under the battery compartment. It's the same emotion that I have for the *brilliant* minds that came up with the injury-prone plastic packaging.

After much pain (and also two and a half hours), the HD is in place. Now begins the fun process of OS install. I pray I never have to go through the computer equivalent of a root canal again.