Leaving on a jet plane

It's my last night in Tokyo. For this trip, at least. I'm heading back to France tomorrow evening. I really didn't do much interesting stuff the whole time I was here. Lots of work, sleep. That's about it, really. I plan on doing some actually interesting things next time.

I'm told that we have curtains now at home. And a phone! This is a big deal as it means that I can finally get a decent connection to the internet at home. In Ireland, the best connection I ever had was about 512kb/s. Not too bad. In France I can get 18Mb/s! Quite a difference. Not that ESPN.com is really that different with an 18Mb connection...

I've added a link on the sidebar to Andrea's Marques's blog. She and her husband Mark have a site with blogs and pictures and other things. Andrea is a huge fan of all things Tokyo. There are lots of interesting pictures and anecdotes on Andrea's site. Have a look. She gave me lots of tips for things to look at in Tokyo, but I haven't had a chance to do much of it left.

I had a nice proper Japanese meal last night. It was me and four Japanese from ANA who had decided that I needed to try a proper local meal. So there was lots of fish. Most of it raw. Surprisingly very nice, though. And I'm getting more adept at using chopsticks now.

Anyway, it's very late here, so I'm going to head off to sleep now. C y'all later...

Jet lag

I've now been in Japan for three days and I'm still suffering a bit of jet lag.

I spent most of Sunday asleep, on and off, from the time I checked into the hotel (which, incidentally, is great. I have an enormous room, nice tv, great bathroom...) I pretty much slept until Monday morning. I took a little break to get something to eat, but I really didn't do a whole lot.

I did watch 'Men With Brooms' starring Paul Gross and Leslie Neilsen. Paul Gross is the movie king in Canada. He co-wrote, directed and starred in the movie. It wasn't bad at all. Certainly better than I would have thought for a curling movie. You may remember Paul Gross from the brilliant 'Due South' that, unfortunately, lost it's American backing. It's a pity that so many good shows are ignored by American TV audiences. Apparantly, 'Veronica Mars' might be cancelled! For those of you who don't know it, buy an NTSC tv, multi-region DVD player and get season 1 from PlayUSA.com. Great series. Best thing on tv not created by Joss Whedon.

Anyway, on that note, I'm going to head off to do some work. It's 8.49 here, so I've got a little over an hour to make it to the office. Shouldn't be a problem (he says before the train strike...)

Preparing for Japan

Well, I've been in France for almost two weeks now, so just as I'm settling in I'm heading off to Japan. Ah well. I got to move my job instead of having to find a new one, but I have to go to Japan as a result. Three times for two weeks each over the next three months or so. At the time it seemed like a great thing, but now I'd rather stay here. That's a good sign, I suppose.

Lots of things to do to prepare. I have a load of books to bring out of the office today, as well as bringing the laptop that I'm currently using back to the house so I can actually do some work in Japan. Unfortunately, today was also the day that I first took the train into Paris in the morning. Normally my girlfriend (Sidonie - she'll probably crop up from time to time during the blog) drives into Paris for work, and I head in with her, but today she's got things to do in Picardie, so I was train-bound.

There isn't that much actual work stuff to do, though. Except that I'm moving office again. When I arrived in Paris, I was put in a nice office. At the end of the day I was told that I'd need to get a new one the next day. Two days later I was moved again! (That's three in four days, for those of you who are counting). So I've been nice and settled here for a week. This morning I was informed that they're going to need this one, so I'll be moving all my stuff that I'm not bringing with me into the second office that I had. It's all fun...

I've added some links to the sidebar of the blog too. One's for my home page, one's for Guardian Unlimited's football site, which I highly recommend. And I've also added a link to John Madden's blog. He's my best friend and tends to talk about alt-rock and, occasionally, hockey. Oh, and his cat. Enjoy.

Well, I'll see if I can get some posts in from Japan.

Bienvenue

Bienvenue à mon blog.

I'm sitting in the SITA office in Paris, writing this first blog before I head off for the evening. I've been in France now for 11 days and have settled in pretty well. I've got a house, furniture, use of a car... I also finally got a French mobile and bank account, although I won't have my CB until next week (or possibly longer, seeing as I'm going to Japan on Saturday for a fortnight). And, for some reason, my mobile phone won't let me ring foreign numbers.

So anyway, hello and welcome. Bonjour et bienvenue. Je suis au point de rentrer chez moi, alors je vous dis bonne soirée...