| -12/1 |
Japan Trip 4
Central Japan International Airport |
| 12/2 |
Woke up at 6:00am, snow is stopped but still
cold, 27F outside. Went to work on time. Drove under snow. Stayed until
8:30pm, headed home, went to bed around midnight.
 The
pond in front of my apartment is ice covered... |
| 12/3 |
Woke up at 4:00am, fell back to sleep but next
time when I woke up, it was already 8:00am, oops. Stretched my body then
headed outside. It was partly cloudy but otherwise fine. Went to work
and stayed until 9:30pm. The outside was snowy but not so bad. Come home,
relaxed and I went to bed after midnight. |
| 12/4 |
Woke up at 1:40am, then woke up again at 6:00am.
It's 30F outside but then the daily high expected be around 28F, with
evening of 19F, meaning that temperature will decline through out the day.
Stayed at office until 7:45pm, drove home but decided to stop by at Meijer
for gas and groceries. 20F when I go to bed at midnight. |
| 12/5 |
[U.S. Labor Department reported the job loss for
November is 53,000, total of 1,250,000 since September this year.]
Somehow I woke up again around 1:00am. Went to
bed despite of having heater ON, the room was a bit chilly when I get up in
the morning. Snowed a bit over night, and I had to remove it from the car.
Drove to work, and when I got there, problem awaited me so I spent most of
the time over the day working on the issue. So I was hoping to goo home
around 7:00pm but ended up staying until 8:00pm. Drove to LTF for workout
for the first time this week. Drove home. Went to bed around midnight. I did
not turn off the heater since it's going to be a cold night... |
| 12/6 |
Woke up at 6:00am once but I did not feel like
getting up from the bed. I finally decided to get up around 9:00am. The
outside was snowing, and the temperature is around 20F. Went to swim at a
gym from11:00am. Driving under snow was a bit tiring because I have to drive
with extra care. I come home but stopped by at a Japanese grocery
store. After lunch, I drove to a nearby shopping mall to get my hair cut.
One of the lady at the store was a new but used to work at a barber so she
fixed up my hair with no problem. I came home, decided to take things easy,
and I also don't want to do anything outside due to snowy weather. Things
got pretty gusty in the evening after eating dinner. I will see what's going
to happen tomorrow. Called home in the evening and chat with my mom and dad
for a while. It's been a while I get to talk with my mom over the phone...
Going to bed around midnight. |
| 12/7 |
Woke up at 6:00am but did not get up until
9:00am. Sunny but pretty gusty so makes me feel like I don't want to go
outside. In addition, it's 15F outside... Went for a workout before noon at
LTF, stopped by at Burger King (not many people there around noon, why???).
Stayed at office until 6:00pm, drove home but stopped by at Meijer. The good
thing was that most of the road was dried by now. More snow expected
tomorrow... Going to bed before midnight.
 Pretty
cold morning. I cannot see the pond because it's snow covered |
| |
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| 12/8 |
Woke up at 6:00am, it's 20F outside. Went to
work on time but the commute was a bit hard. Stayed at office until 8:45pm.
When I went to outside but must had some snow.must have fallen during the
day. Drove home, and just as I was walking toward the apartment, I felt
something like rain. Later I realized it was a freezing rain, I had to go
back to my car to grab an ice scraper. Went to bed around midnight... |
| 12/9 |
Woke up at 6:00am, it's warmer than last night.
It was already 36F with raining outside, but expected to be coming down to
26F over the night with rain turn to snow. Went to work on time under rainy
weather. Stayed at office until 8:00pm, drove to LTF for workout. I had a
good one. Drove back under rain. It must have been raining whole day,
Weather forecast was expecting it to turn to snow sometimes over night |
| 12/10 |
Woke up at 6:00am, the outside looks a bit cold
but around 20F. Got out of the apartment and see the ground is covered with
ice. I removed some from my car, then started to driving to work. The road
was frozen at some places, so I had to drive carefully, so took about 1 hour
to get there. Stayed until 10:20pm after eating dinner from Jimmy John's.
Come home around 11:00pm. Cooked rice and get ready for tomorrow. Went to
bed around midnight... 14F already. |
| 12/11 |
[Japan's Yen reaching 88Yen to $1, the last time
we had this exchange rate was 13 years ago (about the same time as I came),
the lowest was 79Yen recorded in April '95]
Woke up at 6:00am, realizing it is 12F. No
wonder it's pretty cold. The passenger side door was frozen so I had to put
my stuffs from driver's side. Drove to a dentist and get my tooth cleaned.
They found a couple of small cavities so I have to come back there again.
Spent whole day at office but so much assignments. Stayed until 9:00pm, then
headed to LTF for workout. Come home, it was warmer but kept the heater on
as I went to bed after midnight. |
| 12/12 |
Woke up at 6:00am but fell back sleep until
8:00am. Oh man... I had to call a doctor to postpone the appointment by one
hour. Snowing outside most of the day, went out to eat ramen noodles with
coworkers for the lunch. Stayed until 7:00pm Drove to LTF for workout. I was
able to spend one hour there. Stopped by at Meijer for fuel, groceries. The
gas price jumped almost 20 cents per gallon... Weakening of dollar cost my
money a lot, both my spending in Japan during trips, and gasoline...Drove
home, relaxed and ate dinner. I went to bed around 11:00pm.
 Looking at
moon just(?) 221,560 miles away. (14% bigger in appearance, 30% brighter
according to livescience.com) |
| 12/13 |
Woke up at 8:00am, it was 20F, expecting some
freezing rain but tomorrow will be as high as 40F. What a crazy weather over
the weekend? Went to workout at LTF for 30 minutes swimming then headed to
the office for catch up work. I stopped by at Jimmy John's for lunch. Stayed
until 6:00pm and drove home under a bit slick condition so I had to drive
with care. Come home, had dinner, relaxed for the evening. I think I am
going to need to clean up my apartment soon... Talked with my dad and mom,
went to bed after midnight. Rain drops hitting the window of bedroom. It
might turn to sleet. |
| 12/14 |
Woke up at 8:00am, 36F already. This is going to
be pretty warm day today... No rain, no snow falling at the moment. I must
have been tired so I did not do anything in the morning. Had lunch
then hit the road around 1:00pm, stop by at Kroger for newspaper, then
headed to LTF for workout. I get to spend another 1 hour there. Then drove
to the office, stayed until 6:00pm. I tried go buy groceries but the area
where Meijer is located was out of power. Since I did not have coupons for
myself, I just decided to postpone it. I could do that sometimes over the
week... Drove back home, cooked two dishes, relaxed for the evening. Get
ready for the new week, went to bed by 11:00pm. Wind advisory in effect until
tomorrow evening, the temperature also rise to lower 40s, but expected to
dive down again to 17F over the night...
 No
power at Meijer nearby my apartment. |
| |
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| 12/15 |
Woke up at 6:00am, went to work with outside
temperature of 43F, rainy and windy. The sky was clearing as the day passes
by. I had to drive out a FJ Cruiser for testing but realized the outside is
sunny but as cold as 20F in the afternoon. Drove home after 8:30pm, pretty
cold, and flurries a bit. The temperature came down to 17F, and going down
to 14F by tomorrow morning... Also snow is coming too. Went to bed around
midnight. |
| 12/16 |
[Two major Detroit newspapers Detroit Free Press
and The Detroit News to limit daily delivery sometimes next year, only on
Friday, Saturday and Sunday]
Woke up at 6:00am, 14F outside so it's pretty
cold. Weather forecast is predicting snow accumulations of between 2 and 4
inches. Went to work, had to be at outside for most of the day until
evening for vehicle testing. The snow started around 4:00pm and kept falling.
Left office around 8:30pm and headed out to snowy road, which already had
about 1 inch of snow. Drove slow on freeway and arrived to a bookstore to
buy some magazines, then headed to LTF for a short workout. They had their
gymnasium closed already but there are some people working out at machine
room. Drove back to the apartment around 11:00pm since I cannot go fast.
Went to bed around midnight, |
| 12/17 |
[Japanese car manufacturers, Suzuki and Subaru
to announce they are withdrawing from WRC]
Woke up at 6:00am, 20F outside and could seen a
lot of snow. News on the radio is reporting traffic accidents but no problem
going to work today. I only had to remove half inches of snow from the car.
Stayed at office until 10:00pm due to a meeting we had. Come home, and went
to bed by 11:00pm since I have to get up early tomorrow morning. |
| 12/18 |
[Winter Storm Warning in effect, expecting up to
12 inches of snow... but snowing in Las Vegas is more surprising. last time
was almost 30 years ago]
Woke up at 6:00am, another 20F outside but the air seems to be dry. No
frosting on my car. Since I had an appointment with a dentist in the
morning, I had to leave without having a breakfast. All the work done by
7:45am, so I drove to work. Stayed until 9:30pm, drove to LTF and also
Meijer. I wanted to buy a book of stamps really bad but they only have the
holiday one. Oh well, I guess I have to take it then. Drove home around
11:00pm, went to bed around 1:00am when the snow started to fall... The
temperature dropped to 17F. |
| 12/19 |
[The U.S. President George Bush approved $17.4
billion load to GM and Chrysler]
Woke up at 6:00am, snow fell about 4 inches so
far. It was not too bad except still snowing. Drove to work which I left 15
minutes earlier than usual to cope with the snow outside. Arrived at office
on time. Not many people showed at so far. Still snowing around noon, our
company had a small lunch party so no one needed to go out but I brought my
lunch for myself. Oh man... Stayed at work until 6:00pm, went to a Japanese
restaurant for end of the year party. Stayed until 8:30pm and then hit the
gym. I worked out for about one hour then drove home. I was stuck in snow
for about 5 minutes right before reaching to the apartment, as well as
having hard time finding a place to park. I was too full so did not feel
like I want to go bed so I was up until 1:30am.
 7
inches of snow fall until the morning. |
| 12/20 |
Since I went to bed late last night, I woke up
around 9:00am, still some flurries around with 14F outside. Went out to
workout at LTF before noon, but I only get to do half of that. I forgot my
swim trunks... Drove to the office and had lunch from Burger King. Probably
the last time before I go home. Stayed until 3:30pm then headed home. I
stopped by at carwash, it might freeze the doors but better than coated with
all the salt. Weather report is expecting some snow over
night, and blizzard in the afternoon tomorrow. The temperature is also
expected to drop to 6F by Monday morning... Called home, and went to
bed around 11:30pm.
 Sunny
after snow storm. |
| 12/21 |
Woke up at 7:30am, 21F outside with 30mph gust.
I drove to Kroger to buy newspaper, and donate all the pennies I saved. Only
187 of them... I was disappointed. After that, Headed to workout at LTF and
I worked out for about one hour. Drove to One World Market, Meijer before
coming home to do grocery shopping. The wind chill was almost like 5F. Come
home around 2:30pm and had lunch. The temperature dropped to 7F with wind
gust of 40mph (wind chill of -17F). The sky becomes cloudy from 4:00pm.
Cleaned my apartment for the evening. Cooked a few. Report of 1F by 9:00pm,
With not much to do, I went to bed around 11:00pm. Outside is still gusty.
 Gusty
wind carried snow to a overpass, as well as making traffic signals hanging
with an angle... |
| |
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| 12/22 |
Woke up at 6:00am, it's 6F and wind stopped. I
can feel the room temperature is low despite of heating. Went to work with
no problem but many accidents at freeways... Not many people at office today
because of our customer. At 15F around noon. I had a meeting so stayed until
9:00pm, and come home around 9:30pm. I drove while snowing lightly again.
The temperature come down to 3F around 11:00pm. Another cold night... |
| 12/23 |
Woke up at 6:00am, 6F again. Expecting snow up
to 10 inches until tomorrow night. I had to remove snow from my car before
heading out. Must be around 1.5in over night. On the way to work, the rail
road crossing bars were lowered and causing a big congestion. I had to drive
through it. Went to a Japanese restaurant with co-workers. I had Katsu
Curry, which is one of my favorite in their menu. Spent afternoon just as
usual and left work at 5:30pm. The snow is still there so I had to follow
the slow traffic, and took almost 1 hour to get to LTF. I worked out for
about one hour, then drove home. I went to bed around 11:00pm when the
outside's weather changed from snow to drizzle, still 30F and gusty.
Railroad crossing by office had an issue |
| 12/24 |
Woke up at 6:00am, 34F, I cannot believe it is
that warm this morning. No sign of snow except the ones already fell
overnight (1in), but foggy. Left home around 9:00am to go to LTF for
workout. I spent about one hour then headed to a Running Fit store, then
REI. I tried to purchase a pair of snow shoes, but they are like $300.
Hmm... The weight of them are 3lb so I guess I have to train myself for that
for the next spring. Stopped by at Boston Market to get a dinner dish around
noon, that's about the same time when the rain started to fall like crazy. I
finally stopped at Meijer before coming home. I come home around 1:00pm and
cooked lunch. Spent afternoon packing, washing clothing, and cleaning. I
checked the weather since it was still raining and it says 42F at the moment
and gusty, like 45mph! In the evening, relaxed but the outside it pretty
windy, I even had hard time walking outside to dispose trash because of the
wind. The temperature dropped to 31F by 10:00pm. I think the wind won't die
down for another while.
 |
| 12/25 - 1/4/2009 |
Japan Trip 5
 |