my own personal flex capacitor

the sad part of traveling to japan is leaving on a saturday, going forward in time, arriving on sunday night and suddenly finding your weekend is over before it began. the nice thing is that when you return you arrive back in detroit a few hours before you left tokyo. all hail the curious rotation of the earth and the relatively fixed position of the sun.

"all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go"

well, that's partially true. I have a bunch of clothes and assorted travel bits tossed into a backpack, and I have a big stash of work-related items in a pile next to my desk right now so I don't forget to take anything home. I have three (!!) pairs of headphones I'm bringing. excessive? well, it would be if they weren't work related. I didn't want to hoof all this stuff myself, but I was too late sending out the fedex package, so it looks like I'll be hand-carrying it all. alas.

I think I'm one of the few business travelers who stuffs their business coat in a backpack rather than using a garment bag or something more proper like that. I mean, who owns a garment bag? I think I'm also one of the few business travelers who plans to stay in a hostel. Okay, that's actually during my free travel time after all the business is done; they do put us up in real hotels.

I'm counting on lots of work and excellent dinners, plus lots of beer and sake tossed my way. I will try to temper my appetite for the latter two, but eat my fill of raw fish. I am also counting on my melatonin pills to help me sleep past 2am once I'm there (I've had limited success kicking the jet lag in the past).

so--stay tuned for postings filled with verities and balderdash, all a product of the sleep-deprived mania that is soon to be my fate. I leave tomorrow noon, won't be back until the 15th. If you're so inclined, shoot me an email around 4pm EST on sunday as I'll just be starting my day.