You probably already noticed, but there is a big thermometer planted in the upper-righthand corner of this site. It's a link to the Donors Choose site where people can donate to a wide array of teacher-initiated projects.
The concept is simple and brilliant. Teachers write up proposals for projects that they would like to do in their classrooms and then post them on Donors Choose. Some teachers want to buy projectors to help make their classes more interactive, while other teachers are just looking for better calculators for their math classes. There are also plenty of schools looking for outside funding for their libraries. Then people like you can peruse the proposals and donate specifically to the project(s) that you think deserve support.
It is possible to search for projects that come from schools in very high poverty areas; one could also elect to send their money to hurricane battered school districts. The choice is yours.
I have assembled a short list (also known as a challenge on Donors Choose) of some of the projects that I think are worth supporting, and the list can be accessed by clicking on the thermometer at the top of the page or by clicking here.
Many school districts are woefully underfunded, and this is one way to reach the teachers who are truly trying to do more for their students.
NOVA appears to have gone belly up. The company has filed for government protection under Japan's Corporate Rehabilitation Law.
The official line is that NOVA is in the red to the tune of about 44 billion yen, but Japan Economy News' Ken Worsley estimates that the company's debt is even more astronomical (perhaps as high as 55 billion yen).
This picture was taken at the Takadanobaba branch at about 5 p.m. today. The customers in the picture were somewhat taken aback that the end had finally come. I heard several comments about how many "points" and how much money (thousands of dollars) had been lost.
"So is the money gone?" they asked somewhat rhetorically. At least the questions seemed rhetorical.
I wish that I had had information about a class action lawsuit that was underway to give them.
Is there one?
Labels:
business,
consumerism,
education,
Japan Economy News,
news
Former Nippon Ham Fighters general manager, Shigeru Takada (62), appears set to accept the head coach position in Tokyo.
He replaces outgoing player-manager, Atsuya Furuta.
Labels:
baseball,
sports,
Tokyo Swallows
The last time I wrote about exercising at Tipness, I concluded the post with a story about a man who was treating the locker room like it was his private bathroom.
Here's another one.
Maybe people are just tired after their workout, and their brains sort of shut off once they reach the locker room. That's where I most often witness extreme cluelessness when I'm at Tipness.
Today was no exception.
Between the lockers and the showers are the sinks. Six of them. Some guys like to plop down on a stool in front of the the mirrors and start their regimen of grooming after getting out of the showers. Q-tips, tissues, hairdryers and soap are provided, so it's not uncommon for four of the sinks to have a half-naked guy perched in front of the them at any one time.
The hairdryers get a pretty good workout themselves. Some guys like to use the hairdryers to dry off more than just their hair. Chest, back, and pits are all fair game. This was happening so often, apparently, that Tipness felt it necessary to post a sign saying that hairdryers are not supposed to be used to dry one's chest, back, or underarms no matter how hairy said body parts might be.
The gentleman at the sink closest to me when I was getting ready to take a shower was technically following the rules. He didn't have much hair up on top, so I was a bit puzzled to see him pick up the hairdryer. But he didn't use it to dry his wet torso. No, he went a bit further south and stuck the dryer directly between his legs.
The sign on the wall doesn't say anything about that body part.
For the first Tipness Oddballs story, click here.
DeOrio and I just posted another podcast dealing with Japanese baseball over at TPR .
This podcast deals with the Central League (the league that our beloved Tokyo Swallows play in).
I encourage you to read the article and listen to the podcast. The content differs quite a bit between the two...which is probably due to the fact that we were drinking when we recorded it.
I've been talking about food a lot lately, so I might as well stick with the theme.
Tonight we went to a new restaurant in Takadanobaba called "B side". Big Box, the concrete behemoth that stands guard over Takadanobaba train station, received a makeover this summer and reopened on October 19th, 2007. Those of us who had been there will recall that the place was dingy and had very little going for it. I used to use the toilet there on occasion, but that was about it (the toilet paper was clean).
Well now Seibu has smacked fresh wallpaper over all the dinginess, so everything should appear clean for a year or two. The elevator even apologized to us by flashing the message, "Sorry, this elevator is crowded." Too true.
Up to the 9th floor we went to have a look at the new tenants. They now have a couple of izakaya's up there which is an intelligent switch from the large, 70's era conference rooms that probably got very little attention. Takadanobaba is a town chock-full of students, and cheap eats are the way to go. Big Box finally figured that out.
We opted for the non-izakaya place that is up there. As mentioned before, it goes by the name of B side and it occupies the south side of the building, so you can see lots of apartment buildings and the JR line tracks from the seats near the windows.
Other positives? Let's see...they have Gargery Stout on tap! Gargery is a Japanese microbrew (?) that isn't half bad although I prefer their Estella (yes, the glasses are really shaped like that. If you need to take a leak while drinking a Gargery, just put the glass in your shirt's breast pocket).
B side is striving to be one of the pricier options in town. The Gargery was reasonably priced at 700 yen per glass (it's near 1,000 yen at my local watering hole), but nothing else was. There were so many things wrong about the place that I don't know where to start...
This was my dinner, beef stew. It set me back 1,800 yen. Wouldn't mind the price so much if it came with something. It didn't. A la carte doncha know. Had to pay extra for bread. And just to give you an idea of the portion I was afforded, I positioned my bread on the edge of the plate. Yeah, I found the bottom of the bowl pretty quickly...
Wouldn't mind the price so much if it tasted better than instant stew. It didn't.
The presentation was nice, but I was shocked by the flavor. The beef stew at Jonathan's family restaurant chain is twice as good (and half the price).
And Yong-nam's pork was about as good as I usually make it. Which begs the question, "Why should we come to your restaurant if you cook about as well as I do?" (The answer should be obvious to those of you who have sampled my cuisine.)
What gets me is that this restaurant obviously hopes to be a fancy alternative for the business people of the area. They got the jazz music right, and everyone is dressed up really nicely, but they serve soft drinks with straws and the expensive cutlery is teamed with paper napkins (much like at our place). And the cherry-colored wood ceiling near the windows? Nope, it's just wallpaper. I could go on, but I already sound foolish enough...
So all together, we spent more than 6,000 yen on McDonald's-level food and two glasses of beer. I recommend giving them some time to sort things out; maybe they'll figure out how to cook in a year or so.
Even then, I'd highly recommend taking your wallet and your stomach to Shakey's Pizza which is just up the street.
Labels:
food,
out and about
The same two teams will battle it out in the Japan Series this year.
The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters from the Pacific League will take on the Chunichi Dragons of the Central League later this month.
The Fighters (not the Ham Fighters) won the series last year, and are favored by this observer to repeat in 2007. Fighters manager, Trey Hillman, recently accepted top job with the Kansas City Royals in the MLB, so this will be his last bit of baseball in Japan for a while.
However, Chunichi is a force to be reckoned with. They moved through the CL playoffs without dropping a game. They swept the Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants in 3 and 5 game series, respectively.
The Fighters won the stronger Pacific League berth by winning a five-game series versus an impressive Chiba Lotte Marines team that won the title in 2005.
