As the sleep deprived mother of a 5 week old boy right now I can say that 90% of the time he could be a turnip in regards to what gender he is. Most of the time is just working on putting things in and clearing up what comes out (yes you will be peed on at some stage no doubt - but after being puked and dribbled on you get beyond caring).

A real boy won't just pop up - you might not even notice the changes in how you view things as you watch him get involved in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 12:21 AM on June 24, 2008

I have two sliders and I clean their large tank once a week. Turtles are grotty!

Also I don't handle mine because their claws are long and they bite. Mine are big now though - one of them bigger than my hand now.

On the positive side though I was surprised by how amusing they are. They splash when they want my attention and get excited when anyone go near the tank. They also like to be hand fed.

One thing to be careful of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:44 PM on June 19, 2008

Ooo ta stefanie I will look into this one - didn't come up in my searches.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 1:37 AM on May 29, 2008

For me it's because I'm working hard on eliminating bottle feeding to go to breast feeding and it's helpful to see how much of what he's drinking. Also it helps you when you come to plan your schedule if the kid is say sleeping at certain times and so on.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:11 AM on May 29, 2008

Oooo me too! If she is feeling anything like me this might be appropriate:

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" - (Shakespeare - MacBeth: Act V, Scene I).
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 10:41 PM on May 7, 2008

SMAP - Celery or Shake Shake. Karaoke classics.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 6:25 AM on April 25, 2008

Thirding. Jack Russells are bundles of energy and need to be tired out. It may pain your flatmate but she needs to be walking him as soon as he wakes up for anyone in the household to get peace.

He'll most likely calm down after a walk and if tired enough take a nap to recharge for the next round.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 4:56 AM on April 19, 2008

I third Basecamp. Makes communication so much easier and they are adding new things all of the time.

Also not a steep learning curve.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 6:31 PM on April 14, 2008

Dispair hey? (~_^)
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 5:28 AM on April 14, 2008

Toilet paper. Seriously it is never worth buying the cheapest one.

*squirms in seat*
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 3:50 PM on April 13, 2008

How about a nice piece of katsuo grilled? Or saba? Both are pretty cheap fish and both will flake well as tuna. You can also get large jars of salmon flake which might be tasty and then you can wash and put the jars out for recycling.

If you are near a fish market you can probably picked up some of the tuna offcuts pretty cheaply and just grill/fry those up and use them up over two or 3 days.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 6:28 AM on April 7, 2008 marked best answer

Depending on No-swords exact location he may not have easy access to Western food items which is why he stressed local vegetables and meats. Also it's important to keep in mind that very few Japanese apartments have ovens so any type of roasting is usually out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 6:56 AM on April 7, 2008 marked best answer

Re Japan - you do have to be a bit cautious with onsens/hot springs as some of the bath temps can be way too hot for a pregnant woman.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 7:18 PM on March 24, 2008

I like Ultrashock the best actually.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 5:05 PM on March 20, 2008

It is best to avoid Narita that day because half of Japan will be there going off somewhere.

You won't be missing out on anything going the day before - but you will be holding on to your sanity.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 7:20 AM on March 17, 2008

Thanks for the answers - I don't think they are going to be able to travel to Hokkaido or Shikoku in the time they are here - but was mainly thinking about specific places in Tokyo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 3:45 PM on March 12, 2008

Google Calendar has really improved over the last few months. And most people have a gmail account and can access.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 5:03 PM on March 11, 2008

Haiku recital?
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 6:20 AM on March 5, 2008

Some thoughts...

Loan approval is easier with a permanent residency visa (although Shinsei Bank is the exception to this I believe).

Houses are not really worth as much as actual land - and depending on the age of the house might be tricky to resell (Japanese houses don't have a particularly long life span).

There will possibly be some drama on the you being a foreigner front.

Might be an idea to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 4:08 AM on March 2, 2008

I would run screaming from Drupal, not bother with Joomla and take Brandon Blatcher's suggestion of ExpressionEngine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 3:48 AM on February 12, 2008 marked best answer

Don't like the fact that it's free, open-source, extensible, and has a large, active community?

Yes that would definitely be my issues with it. <>

Having built several sites on different platforms I've found Drupal is a confining CMS which is frequently inaccessible to both developers and users. It uses it's own confusing language to describe things whereas the others tend to use a more shared vocabulary. I'm currently... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 5:41 AM on February 12, 2008

The poor woman is obviously bored - I think you should spice things up for her by staging a fake murder.

Have a friend come over and pretend to kill them. Later that night be digging in your garden. Pick up some old clothes from a charity shop that are obviously not your size and after a slight splattering with fake blood, make sure to put them out in your trash in a clear plastic bag.

Watch Hitchcock's Rear Window to get the right suspicious... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 9:56 PM on February 11, 2008 marked best answer

Have you heard of Bill Bry... heee just kidding!

You might be interested in checking out Bondi Tsunami which was inspired by the Japanese surfing subculture in Australia.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:20 AM on February 7, 2008

Daintree rainforest rocks. Try to go on a tour on one of the rickety aluminium boats with a colourful local as your guide.

There are some beach areas which are netted off where you can swim - but you have to check the time of year when there aren't crocs around as well.

And um yeah - don't go swimming in any old creek that looks cool and inviting.... also fun is going to a crocodile farm [pic].
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:17 PM on February 5, 2008

Lettuce leaves work well as "wraps". Also you might want to try nori to hold the insides together.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 7:25 PM on January 30, 2008

Does it bear relation to the water being fresh or not? Or do you use fresh water every time?

(Possibly helpful link , slightly self-linky)
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 6:35 PM on January 30, 2008

armage has the right idea - her best bet would be to try for full time Japanese study and a student visa which allows her to work 20 hours a week.

Not having Japanese is a disadvantage certainly - as is being outside of the country when applying.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 3:47 AM on January 30, 2008

There may be a knack - but the easiest way is to make sure that you bake in tins or dishes with a loose bottom so that you can release the sides and have no barrier to do the lift and cut.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 3:50 AM on December 24, 2007

You may also find this new tea blog interesting - it focuses more on Asian teas, with some stories thrown in.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 4:09 AM on December 22, 2007

Japan should be ok - but yeah New Zealand is probably a lot stricter about any food stuffs containing plant seeds.

You can send me some here in Japan to check if you like (^_~).
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 4:40 PM on December 20, 2007

Japanese yen makes sense to me. Why doesn't every else change and ditch all this dollars/pounds/euro cents/pence messy business?

Hey why don't we just use all the same currency all over the world?
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 9:50 PM on December 2, 2007

*Note: you can only watch episodes online if you are in the actual country. Outside regions are not allowed access.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:59 PM on December 2, 2007

mct honey you need to hook yourself up with one of these: car shower.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 9:32 PM on November 29, 2007 marked best answer

Take an acting class and learn what you face is doing and how to make it do something different.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:42 AM on November 27, 2007

Pop into a convenience store and pick up a bottle of Fibre-Mini (will be near the genki drinks).

I tried to find a pic but could only find this old ad for it - at least you can see the bottle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 9:56 PM on November 24, 2007

Oh thanks misozaki - I was spelling it wrong! No wonder I had trouble trying to find a pic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 12:22 AM on November 25, 2007

The one all the older Japanese ladies go crazy for is Winter Sonata (fuyu no sonata in Japanese).

Trust me if she has not seen this she WILL go wild for it. It's guaranteed. But I suspect she probably has seen it.

My Japanese mother in law has the dvds and rewatches them regularly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 9:15 PM on November 23, 2007

The problem with picking up secondhand furniture is that in 3 months time you'll have to organize to get rid of it - might be much less hassle to rent what you need.

Salisbury is pretty far out from the more exciting areas and you will be at th mercy of public transport to get around.

Lots of different companies do wine tours through the Barossa - it depends how much you want to spend as to which ones. Someone else might be able to recommend a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 12:44 AM on November 20, 2007

Pregnancy is not the time for dieting - but it's not the time for going out of control either.

I am eating enough calories according to my doctor to be healthy for both me and the baby. It's also not good to gain too much weight at this time.

What I am looking for are small snack ideas to keep me going between meals.

Like I said I'm already eating fruit. I refuse to force myself to eat chicken if the idea makes me gag.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 7:59 AM on November 15, 2007

I certainly appreciate the answers given - I guess from my perspective food like sushi, onigiri and burritos - even sandwiches are not snacks but rather meals.

I assumed that by using the word "snacks" in my question that we would all be thinking of small items of food which could be consumed in between meals, such as the examples of carrot sticks and fruit I listed.

As I've never really been a snack eating type of person so it's been... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 10:46 AM on November 15, 2007

Thanks for the thoughtful answer divabat.

OMG if I let my Japanese in laws feed me I'd end up the size of a house!

The savoury Pocky (known as Pretz) are already something I've been having now and then, and those chocolate covered chips are both foul tasting and very unhealthy.

As for water - yes this is a common issue but I've been drinking lots of water.

Luckily I just received a care package... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:35 PM on November 18, 2007

Do they often a white-listing service so you can set it up to receive mails only from the addresses you have approved?
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 7:44 PM on November 11, 2007

Time for you to start exploring Shimo-Kitazawa, Koenji and Kichijoji.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 10:39 PM on November 4, 2007

I have always just liked to wander around and walk into interesting places. Don't forget to look up at 2nd floors or in lower floors because street level isn't always the most interesting.

Have always been keen on Mothers Ruin in Shimo Kitazawa for a late night drink, but tricky to describe where it is because it's B1 in a backstreet....
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:01 AM on November 5, 2007

Can get ouchies a little around the ankles, the bikini line is the worst bit though if you are going for the full leg.

Legs hurt less than upper lip which can sting quite a bit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 12:28 PM on November 3, 2007

It seems that you have taken positive actions towards solving the issues (counseling) and that you do care for each other.

While I think it's fine for couples to have different interests, for the both of you this seems to be another source of conflict.

The petty fighting and conflict - although it has improved - is a warning sign. It shows that you aren't able to communicate how you feel about things, and are probably a means of avoiding the big... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 10:08 PM on October 31, 2007

Even though it doesn't have caffeine I find peppermint tea to be a real pick-me-up. Bit of variation is always good.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 12:01 AM on October 29, 2007

Glad you are ok!

Now next time let's try it for 4 hours and see how that goes!
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 2:51 PM on September 28, 2007

Shimokitazawa is always a neat area to check out - also Koenji or Kichijoji.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 7:42 AM on September 27, 2007

Yes there is a huge variety of furikake. On the other hand finding the ones you like could be an interesting new hobby.
posted to Ask Metafilter by gomichild at 8:01 AM on September 19, 2007