Director's Cut

Usually, once I've posted something on this blog I tend not to revisit and modify it. Unless I spot a spelling mistake or a particularly bad grammar faux-pas, which I know Michelle would spot and critique me for, I will let whatever I wrote stand as a marker for what I was thinking about at the time. I respect the readers of this site and would never intentionally mislead you.

That's why I wanted to draw your attention to some changes I have just made to the 'First home-cooked dinner' post from a couple of days ago. When I glanced at it this morning I realized that there were a couple of grammatical errors that needed to be fixed and then as I read further it became clear to me that not only could I raise the quality of the English but that I had just invented a whole new punch line that was even better than what I had come up with at the first stab. And then another little joke that probably only Michelle will appreciate jumped out at me - can you spot it, M? - and try as I might I couldn't resist making the changes.

So, consider the version that is up there as of a few moments ago the re-mastered version of the post, the Director's Cut if you will. It is the version I would have posted the other day had I not been hampered by budget constraints, actor's guild strike threats, and the looming deadline forcing me to make quick decisions to satisfy 'The Man'. This is the version that I always knew I could make if left alone long enough. It is this version that my legion of fans have been clamoring for ever since the original was released. Their comments are all over the internet user groups, their disappointment and frustration expressed in late night bar discussions around the world, their anger expressed in sub-3-minute-protests-so-that-the-police-can't-arrest-them-in-Tokyo outside my apartment building. And it is only now that I have been able to vent my artistic passion through this latest version that I feel I can move on to create my next piece of work, whatever it might be.

What's that? You didn't get to read the original version? Oh...

UlloaSullivan Adventures

Colosseum, Rome
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

FYI - I have now created a separate site - UlloaSullivan Adventures - where the details of our upcoming vacation/travel plans will be made available.

As of yesterday, it now features the schedule and flight itineraries for the Europe trip commencing June 9th and will be further updated later today with hotel and other informational bits and pieces.

We hope to see you on a future adventure. :)

First home-cooked dinner

Dinner
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

I finally got around to cooking myself a proper dinner last night after almost 3 weeks of being out here. Well, I've been busy. I've mostly survived on grabbing a quick bite with the folks from the office, picking up some sushi from the supermarket on the way home. or fixing a quick bowl of cereal(s). One night earlier this week I did make a fried egg on toast but I don't count that as a proper meal, because I'd already used all the equipment to do it when I made breakfast last Sunday.

So, last night I busted out the saucepan, drainer, cutting board and a sharp knife and went to town on pesto pasta with ceasar salad, a can of Asahi Super Dry and a fancy layered desert thing. It looks good in the picture, but you can believe that it smelled and tasted even better.

It's been raining pretty much non-stop here for the past couple of days. I don't mind too much as I've super-busy and in any case, I leave for Europe in just 7 days from now and everyone knows that over there it rains in Spain and mostly on the plain. Luckily we're going to Italy.

I can't wait!

Too busy to post, so...

Nippon Crow Attack

Tokyo Crow
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Something that looked just like this attacked me on the way to the office this morning. I couldn't figure out what had happened until a friendly local man pointed to the bird that was by then sitting on the telegraph pole across the street and made 'that bird flew down on to your head and flew away' gestures with his hands.

I'll have to double-check the area later on/tomorrow as my research indicates that they are only likely to attempt such an attack if they feel their fledglings are threatened, and now is about the right time for them to be attempting to leave the nest. I certainly wasn't looking to pick a fight with a defensive crow mum, that's for sure.

I was pretty freaked out at the time I can tell you, but it made a good story for Michelle and Meleena (on the phone) and the folks in the office. It was only later on in the afternoon that I realized that it had actually drawn blood on my head. I hope I don't contract some exotic bird illness, caw. I feel fine right now, caw caw. I'll keep you, caw, posted, caw, if anything, caw, untoward starts to happen, caw caw caw...

Perfection!

Perfection!
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

I have gone on record to acknowledge my appreciation for Neil's breakfast making skills and I invariably end up at his and Maya's place for at least one whenever I'm in the UK. And of course, that doesn't prevent me from also benefitting from cooked breakfast activities at other family member's houses too.

However, I have to say that I am quite proud of the breakfast that I just made for myself. Not only did I have to source all the ingredients myself from the local supermarket in a super high pressure forward-thinking exercise when I went shopping yesterday, but I also had to figure out what I was going to cook it with. Not such an easy task in a kitchen that is equipped with Japanese equipment and utensils - it has a fancy rice cooker but no frying pan, for example - and in a relatively tight work area. I figured out how to do it and the Flickr site has some in-progress shots for your viewing pleasure.

Still, the results speak for themselves (or rather I do, on this blog, as I have just eaten them) and I now feel confident enough to put this on the list of things I'll make for Michelle and Meleena when they come over here in July.

By the way, I will be arriving in the UK on June 7th and am now taking reservations for my attendance at breakfast on Sunday the 8th...

Made it to the weekend

Darts Bar Photo
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

It's been a crazy second week here in Tokyo, getting lots of stuff done and making tough decisions and when it came to 6pm on Friday I had had enough. So, I declared a 'Beer Emergency' and headed out for a drink with Neal and Evvie before dinner. The first bar we went to dubiously insisted they had a Japanese-only party at 7pm and so the three of us were forced to go to the local British pub (the Hobgoblin) while we waited for Hanako to wrap up her last call of the day. We made it in there 20 minutes before the end of happy hour, and when we realized that Hanako was going to be quite a while yet decided to take full advantage of it by ordering several drinks each.

After that we went up the street to a Korean barbecue place where they sit you down on garbage bin seats and grill a bunch of pork and stuff in front of you on the table. They give you protective aprons to catch the spitting and splashing from the cooking meat (Evvie was glad they did as her apron was pretty much covered in it) and large glasses of beer to wash it all down with. The place was tiny, noisy and heaving with lots of local folks letting loose and giggling and we were no exception.

From there we headed to Hanako's favorite - American Darts Cafe Monkeys - for a couple of games of darts. This photo was taken by the darts machine after one of us got a high score and just before I decided I'd had enough and escaped in order to get some sleep before my Saturday morning calls back to California.

Promotion

FHS Aca Dec Team 2008
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

I heard from Michelle earlier today that the FHS Academic Decathlon have been promoted to the 3rd Division as a result of their excellent performance in this year's event.

Congratulations to everyone involved - not least their smart and pretty coach.

Tree Down

Tree Down
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Apparently the high winds experienced in Kingsburg in the past couple of days have caused our already-leaning-heavily tree to give up the ghost and fall over. We knew it was just a matter of time before it would happen and had been talking of chopping it down anyway but I guess it's taken things into it's own hands/leaves. We're not that bothered about it actually as we didn't like it all that much and talked about it behind it's back/trunk.

Big thanks to Bill and one of our neighbors for taking care of the chopping/clean-up work. All we have to do now is figure out what to replace it with so that Michelle has somewhere to hang her Xmas fantasy light extravaganza.

Cassandra in the news

Cassandra makes it home
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Janie sent a link to this photo of Cassandra making it back to home base during this week's Miracle League Softball game that appeared in the Visalia Times Delta newspaper.

Cassandra looks like she was having a good time, in spite of playing in what must have been 100 degree plus heat during last week's California heat wave.

Japanese cats are expensive

Blue/Grey Kitty
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

This little lady costs something in the region of $1700. And she wasn't even the most expensive!

For that much money she better also not only be house-trained but also do the dishes, laundry, small household repairs and take telephone messages when her owner isn't at home.

Tokyo CRM Expo

Tokyo CRM Expo
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

So far so good over here in the land of the rising sun.

I'm now pretty much unpacked and into my routine of getting up early to check on what's going on in San Mateo, chilling out on the couch and watching Dr Who streamed from the DVR in Kingsburg to my Mac Mini attached to the TV here in Tokyo and plotting about where I am going to have lunch that day.

Yesterday was a doubly interesting day on the work front as after a couple of conference calls and meetings in the office I headed over to the CRM Expo event where we had a stand and were showing our wares. I wasn't quite ready for all the excitement of a Japanese software trade show, not least the fact that we (like many other vendors) had some nice young ladies working hard to convince visitors to come and watch our presentations.

Here's a picture of me and Tamaki san (one of our Japanese Sales Engineers that I call 'Beckham KK' - he plays soccer and kind of looks like him when he smiles) with the tallest of our 'NetSuite Ladies', as I called them. They were very friendly and it seems a shame to only have them at trade shows. So I think one of my first acts in my role over here is insisting that we have them at the office to greet me every morning when I get to work.

Talking Baths

Talking bath monitor
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

I'm currently sat on the couch and watching the sun rise over the city on the first morning of living here in Tokyo.

After taking care of all the paperwork upon arrival here yesterday afternoon I set about setting up the Mac Mini so I could listen to some tunes and immediately realized that I had the wrong monitor cable to connect to the tv. And I was also starting to get hungry. So, I set off up the street and discovered a cool 24 Hr grocery store in a new building complex less than 5 minutes away - yes, I bought a Sushi dinner and some Special K for breakfast this morning. I also spoke to a nice lady in a Sanyo store who very nicely used sign language to tell me where to go to get the cable I needed.

So, armed with Sushi, a male-to-male (think about it) vga cable and something for breakfast I headed back to the apartment and got myself organized.

I then decided that before I fell asleep I should try out the bath. The nice lady from the apartment company had shown me how to work it all before she left me to my own devices yesterday but I was still in for a shock when I started it up myself. Not only does it heat (and maintain) the water at a pre-defined temperature and fills the bath to a specific level automatically, but it tells you that it's going to do it and lets you know when it's ready too! And if that wasn't enough, there is another control unit in the ktichen that talks to you while you're over here in case you can't hear what it's saying the bathroom. Yes, it scared me the first time - what can I say? I had jet lag!

This place is filled with all kinds of electronic Japanese-speaking wizardry that I know will take me a while to figure out. Fortunately, the washing machine has English instructions and if all else fails they've shown me how to request the laundry service too.

Sushi diet starts today

Sushi
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

er, hold on... I'm getting deja vu...

Sushi diet delayed a day

747 Takeoff
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Well, it looks like the Sushi diet will have to wait for another day as I am still in California 4 hours after I was supposed to have left for Tokyo.

Actually, we did actually try to leave and took off shortly before 12pm but it turns out that the plane had a problem with the landing gear cover that caused us to have to return to the airport. They quickly realized it would take too long to get it resolved and so they re-scheduled the flight until tomorrow morning at 8am and sent us off to get hotel and meal vouchers and stay overnight.

So, here I am at the Best Western in South San Francisco wondering feeling very hungry and wondering if I can get a disposable tooth brush to use in the morning (they kept all my checked luggage on the plane).

Sushi diet starts today

Sushi
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Well, technically it starts tomorrow once I arrive in Tokyo to begin my assignment there. We'll see just how quickly I can lose a few pounds in order to be slim and muscular for our European vacation in 4 weeks time.

I'm excited about my new adventure but of course sad to leave Kingsburg and my lovely wife and cats for longer periods. Hopefully they will get along just fine and not argue about who I love the most.

I'll keep you posted on my Tokyo experience over the coming days/weeks.

Mothers Day - Part 2

Recording Studio
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Thinking of you, Lupester.

With Love,

Craig and Michelle
Cornflake and Miko

Happy Mothers Day - Part 1

Mum and Gran Buckerfield
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Dearest Mum,

You are the mostest Mummiest of all. And that's that.

Happy (American) Mothers Day.

With love from the UlloaSullivan Humans and Cats alike.

Happy 40th Anniversary!

Chuck and Janie
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Congratulations on reaching such a fantastic milestone, Chuck and Janie.

We hope you enjoyed ther party. I know we did!

Anna's Magical Birthday

Mike and Anna
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Letty and Jim joined us for dinner with Anna, Kyle, Bandie and Johnny at a Japanese restaurant in Fresno on Friday night to celebrate Anna's birthday on Friday night. Anna, Bandie and Kyle work with Michelle at Fowler High School and Johnny is Bandie's husband.

As a surprise for Anna, we took along Mike Guisti (our Magician friend - remember him from our Anniversary party?) who spent half an hour or so with us doing some magic for her at the table. He bent forks, managed to avoid impaling his hand on a spike protruding from a wooden block, and did amazing things with some (foam) balls.

Seen Toby?

Baby Ginger Monkey
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

It's been a long time since we received any photos or updates on how he's developing. For all we know he could be 5 feet tall, have a full beard and talking in fluent Cockney rhyming slang by now.

And no, the quick glimpse of a tiny photo on Neil's mobile phone in his car while in the UK a few weeks back doesn't cut it.

Do his other relatives get stuff that we don't? Perhaps his parents need to step things up a notch. After all, his birthday is coming up and you don't want to be the ones to have to explain why his Aunt and Uncle in America forgot all about him...