+ In this weak economy, Gary's employer went bankrupt, so we had to find another way to continue to live in Japan. We applied for a Long Term visa and, with the great help of our friends here, the application was approved. Many thanks to all who helped us and wished us well! <img alt="smile" src="img/smiles/icon_smile.gif" /><br />

+ 日本語　test.<br />

+ <a class="wiki" href="http://cunningham-lee.com/tiki-index.php?page=Laurens Page in Nihongo" rel=""> 日本語のぺージもよろしくぅ☆</a><br />

+ <p><em>""From now on you must refer to me as 'Sid, Lord of the Flames'.""</em> &mdash; Sid, in Ice Age</p><br /><br /><p>&#160;</p><br /><br /><p>This is a sentence that will be a single line.<br /><br /><br />This is a sentence that is a new line but not a new paragraph. I used shift+return to start this line.</p><br /><br /><p>This line was started after using the return key alone.</p><br />

+ <div style="text-align: center;"><div style=" width:552px;"> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/old_pages/journal/outsidepan.jpg" height="63" width="550" alt="Image" title="180-degree pan of Makuhari Messe, site of Tokyo MacWorld Expo, as we arrive in the morning" /> <div class="mini" style="width:550px;"> <div class="thumbcaption">180-degree pan of Makuhari Messe, site of Tokyo MacWorld Expo, as we arrive in the morning </div> </div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><br />The Tokyo MacWorld Expo rolled into town on February 19th to the 22nd. We managed to get there on the final day. The Tokyo International Convention Center at Makuhari Messe is about a 30-minute drive from our house. This area was planned and construction was begun during Japan's &quot;bubble years&quot; of speculative economic expansion in the late 1980s. There was initially a grand design for the area as the third point to the triangle that also included Tokyo itself and Narita Airport. It was to be an &quot;new city&quot; with grand new hotels and commercial and office complexes, an edge city that offered a reprieve from Tokyo's skyrocketing property values and office rents at the end of the decade. When the bubble burst, Tokyo costs came back down and companies mostly abandoned their Makuhari Messe plans.<br /><br /><br /><br />Now the area is a little eerie, with a number of huge blocks of modern buildings, but with kind of an uninhabited, ghost town feel.<br /><br /> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/old_pages/journal/outdoorsign.jpg" height="84" width="160" style="float:right;" alt="MacWorld Expo marquee" />An exception to that ambiance is the convention center when something big is happening. Although they say the MacWorld Expo participation and attendance was down somewhat from past years, it was still bustling and a lot of fun for us.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style=" width:475px;"> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/old_pages/journal/insidepan.jpg" height="108" width="473" alt="Image" title="The view from inside the main entrance, mezzanine level" /> <div class="mini" style="width:473px;"> <div class="thumbcaption">The view from inside the main entrance, mezzanine level </div> </div></div></div><br /><br />What were the highlights? In my opinion, three things stood out. The first was the presence of the Mac &quot;clone&quot; makers--Umax, Motorola, Power Computing, Daystar and Power Tools were there, with Motorola especially prominent in a booth that rivaled Apple's in size.<br /><br /><br /><br />The second big thing was digital cameras of all sizes and capabilities, from what seemed like every big Japanese consumer electronics company, as well as Kodak and Polaroid. Epson had girls in bathing suits doing some kind of lame dance number, and they and most other manufacturers had promotions going on where you could take a picture and have it put on a t-shirt or made into a sheet of <em>purikuro</em> &quot;print club&quot; stickers or a rubber stamp, etc.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style=" width:182px;"> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/old_pages/journal/p&amp;dstrolling.jpg" height="191" width="180" alt="Image" title="Pat and Drew checking out the displays" /> <div class="mini" style="width:180px;"> <div class="thumbcaption">Pat and Drew checking out the displays </div> </div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><br />And the third big thing in my opinion was the presence of Be, Inc. and their Be Operating System, being demonstrated at the Motorola booth, at the booth of IMME, Ltd., the Japan distributor of CodeWarrior, and at the booth of Plat'home Japan, Be's Japan distributor, among other places. There were big crowds in front of each display and, as far as interest and excitement is concerned, let me just say that Joseph Palmer's <a class="wiki" href="http://cunningham-lee.com/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=338" rel="">BeOS demo</a> at the IMME booth was the only place at the Expo that I saw a crowd burst into applause and cheers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style=" text-align: right;" ><div class="cbox" id="tag-035931811390d5acfa8e7b023b473ed2-0df3f8fa6a273b5283894cce2d1e8455-300000-200000"><br /><div class="cbox-title"><br /> <img src="pics/icons/error.png" alt="Error" width="16" height="16" style="vertical-align:middle" border="0" title="Error" class="icon" /><br /> Plugin execution pending approval<br /> </div><br /><div class="cbox-data"><br /> <p>This plugin was recently added or modified. Until an editor of the site validates the parameters, execution will not be possible. </p><br /> </div><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="float:right; margin-left:5px; width:222px; height:155px"> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/old_pages/journal/duskdescends.jpg" height="153" width="220" alt="Dusk descends as we head home" /></div></div><br />

+ Our first snow of the year!<br /><br /><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.cunningham-lee.com/albums/album03/7_G.jpg" height="180" width="240" style="float:right;" alt="Just a trace of snow on the ground" />One day (Wednesday, January 22nd) when Andrew and Pat were on their way out to the store--woa! It's SNOW! You could see it coming down and it was collecting a little bit on bushes, trees, rooftops and our stairs.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.cunningham-lee.com/albums/album03/1_G.jpg" height="180" width="240" style="float:left;" alt="Drew takes a look" />It's the bare-legged boy! (Since we weren't expecting the white stuff, we weren't especially bundled up.)<br /><br /><pre><br /><br /></pre><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.cunningham-lee.com/albums/album03/5_G.jpg" height="180" width="240" style="float:right;" alt="Drew takes a look2" />&quot;OH, WOW!&quot;<br /><br /><pre><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></pre><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.cunningham-lee.com/albums/album03/6_G.jpg" height="180" width="240" style="float:left;" alt="Drew takes a look3" /><br /><br /><br /><br />&quot;Okay, I've had enough. Let's go back in now.&quot;<br /><br /><br /><br />. . . The snow clouds were over Yotsukaido only briefly. In Tokyo, 60 kilometers away, the sky was blue all day.<br />

+ Our New Year's was pretty quiet, as we kind of spent the time recuperating from Christmas, which was really busy. But we did want to get out on our bikes. It seems like a good way to start off the new year, and it was the first time we could all ride at about the same pace, since Lauren got a new, bigger bike for Christmas.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/old_pages/journal/momndrewbiking.jpg" height="176" width="200" style="float:right;" alt="Pat and Drew" />When we first moved to where we live now, we didn't have a car. For the first year we rode our bikes everywhere--shopping, commuting, taking Lauren to kindergarten, exploring.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/show_image.php?id=797" height="120" width="160" style="float:left;" alt="Lauren on her new bike" />These days, except for Gary's riding to the train station, most of our riding is just for fun. Drew is still pretty blase about bike rides. Today he fell asleep.<br /><br />Lauren just graduated from what now looks like a really tiny beginner's bike to a 6-speed, 24-inch quasi-mountainbike. She's keen to go riding at every opportunity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <img src="http://cunningham-lee.com/show_image.php?id=798" height="227" width="250" alt="Lauren on her new bike" /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">She's quickly getting used to her new bike.</div><br />

• Starting the new year off with a bike ride

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• ((Journal-1997-First+Snow|First snow))

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• MacWorld Expo

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  • BeOS demo

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- (Not sure why the second link isn't working, but this site is undergoing a transition between two editing methods, so that might be a factor. Second set of links below.)

+ </li></ul>