May 1, 2012 - Two Teachers Talking on iTunes
Two Teachers Talking is now up and officially at the Apple iTunes Store - as well as on the T3 website.
April 29, 2012 - Two Teachers Talking Launches
Launch! Yes, the Two Teachers Talking podcast has launched. Right now there's an intro episode and one "regular" episode, with more to follow soon, at the rate of about one very two weeks. Have a listen, and share your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions and tips. Please help spread the word. よろしくお願いします. It's been submitted to the Apple iTunes Store and should be available there before too long. Just need to fix that "clean" tag.
Else-wise, it's just a day to day struggle to keep from getting buried under the ever growing mountain of work. Luckily, I'll be having something of a real Golden Week next week, and it's never been needed more. Most years I wish it came in June, but this year, glad it's here. (Damn, that was a FAST four weeks.) School work, taxes, house chores...that's what holidays are for?
Of note, I have found what may be the perfect sounding in-ear monitors: Grado GR-10. The fit may be a problem, as the cords interfere a bit with getting the buds all the way in, and there are no in-line controls for the iPhone. But, the sound. Perfect. For the more rartional, the ME Electronics CC-51P-s are a much more economical choice. For a more laid back sound, the Etymotic hf5-s are mighty fine, too.
Oh, and those Camboia-Vietnam pictures? Soon, I hope.
March 31, 2012 - Back from Cambodia and Vietnam
And here we are, back from the Asia jaunt, noses to grindstones. Classes kick up in no time, and the fates have smiled on me, if a bit sardonically, bestowing on me another class, which means some additional much needed cash, but also a lot more work. A big class, 40+ kids, all of which will need to write longish papers each semester. Now it's up to 18 classes. My reward will be a new MacBook...but I'll need to see what Tim & Co. offer with the lineup freshen later in the year.
No matter. Love the teaching. Encouraged by the very positive results of student surveys of my classes I stumbled onto when loading data related to the new class on the university's web site. And other projects, too, AS YOU CAN SEE AT THE RIGHT. Notice the new section of projects and shameless self-promotion. Hell, it even looks interesting to me. Books, presenting in Japan, Russia. And it's me doing it. Huh. Who'd a' thunk.
I'm especially excited about the podcasts, as it's a nice combination of tech and sharing. I think the podcasts will have stuff definitely worth sharing. The Teacher podcast is shaping itself to quite high standards, and I'm very happy with what Charles Wiz and I are producing. The other podcast, Rita Men, will be something of an oral history of my and several close friends/classmates' Catholic high school experiences in the late '60s and early '70s. Tough, gritty, funny, incredible, and true, I have very high hopes for it. I expect it to slowly expand to quite an opus over the next few years.
The trip was great, but if you were hoping for pictures, you'll need to wait a while. Lots of prep for the new academic year pending, and my Japanese income taxes are way overdue, but I'll get to the pics when the brain begins to fade mid-afternoons in this coming week of balls-out work. Speaking of which...
Oh, and yes, spring training is underway, the season openers are right around the corner, and these colors are a tribute to the great game of baseball. Cubs be damned. (And note the fonts on this page...)
March 16, 2012 - Between Vacations
Happy St. Pat's to all, and hopes that everyone back home in Chicago is making the most of the glorious weather blessing the city. Drink responsibly and drive safely.
OK.
You might be busier than I am. Sorry if you are. Really, very sorry, because it has to be very hard.
Tomorrow Alison and I embark on a quick trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Why, yes, I just returned to Japan from a trip back home. Sweet, right?
This is what life will be like when I return.
I will clean out files from last year's classes (~20 lbs.) and prepare for a new academic year. Five different universities, five different sets of rules, policies, calendars, and the rest. Most of the information is in Japanese. Four of my classes will be using new textbooks, meaning lots new prep, and I'm doing major changes to another four. How many classes do I teach? Seventeen. Seventeen 90-minute classes each week. Twelve discrete preps.
School days, which are Monday through Friday, I usually pop out of bed around 4:30 am, check the mail and Twitter, tend to basic hygiene, make the coffee and wake the wife, and I'm out the door between 6:30 and 7:00, depending on the day and school. My commutes take from 1.5 to 2 hours door-to-door one-way, depending. I never go out to lunch (As in never. Really, never.), and use the time to "catch up." I'm home around 6, maybe some grocery shopping on the way home. I balance simultaneous preparations for dinner and next day-classes until Alison gets home around 8. I may have 10 minutes to read a magazine if she's running late. We eat. We talk. We collapse. At 4:30 the next morning it starts again.
Wednesday nights I have a private lesson, but it's easy, and my doctor student brings dinner for all three of us.
Weekends are usually spent at home. Laundry, grocery shopping, other house chores. Work on several irons in the fire: podcast launch in April, presentation on said podcast in Shizuoka in June, writing book (now at 30%) on Japanese meetings, two presentations in Russia come August.
Maybe time for a movie on Alison's iMac come evening. It will be like that until the end of July, when classes start tapering off.
So, yeah. Two vacations.
March 10, 2012 - See you again, soon, Chicago
The fading sunset of a too-short trip back home. Starting this at the kitchen table in the house where I did much of my growing up, will likely continue this in one airport or another (unlikely the econ class seats will allow room) on the way back, and may not finish until I'm back in Japan…and that with the upcoming Cambodia-Vietnam hop looming. Strange how the truncation of the trip cut out so much of what makes the trips home so much fun. Strange and sad. Likely the same will happen this summer if I'm not careful; need to take care travel doesn't impinge on vacation.
What did pan out was an ad hoc gathering of the 1972-1975 UIC(C) Pier Room rabble, the friends that defined my undergraduate world. Oddly scheduled a Wednesday lunch for the convenience of one of the principals who, as it turned out, didn't make it; all the others did. Quite magical. Wonderful stories and memories.
Of course, enjoyed the usual gathering of the order of old farts, the Rita men, Class of '71. Shudder. Sad an beautiful to mark the years as they race past, and these guys are among the best to do that with. Come to think of it, I think the Rita Wikipedia page needs a bit of revision. We'll time that for the next visit.
Plenty of good car fun with the guys from the old Fiat X1/9 Club, but describing them that way shortchanges us all. They're much more than that. And, no, I haven't remembered how to drive, though I did re-learn a few things on the last laps of a marathon kart racing session. Sure, I haven't been "driving" for over 20 years, but that excuse doesn't change the lap times nor make me feel any better.
On one of the few shopping forays I did make, I came upon a real Wienermobile, if a modern iteration. No Li'l Oscar, but a couple of attractive university students in charge who didn't seem to be enjoying themselves or be aware of the historical (nostalgic) value of their vehicle. I remember when one of its forebears made it to our neighborhood what must be 50 years ago; there was also a Silvercup Bread truck, too, if I recall. Anyway,the Wienermobile back then had it's own Li'l Oscar: a little person in costume and all.
Finally tried the bacon-cooked-in-the-oven trick for one of my midnight super-breakfasts with my brother, and it works wonderfully. It helps if you can buy real bacon at the grocery store…which we can't in Japan, sadly. Among the many treats I can enjoy here.
Usually, weather is not among those treats in February and March, but this trip I didn't touch a shovel once, and enjoyed at least five days in the sixties, including these last two. Warmer here than in Osaka, amazingly.
So, here it ends. A last day of last-minute shopping and chores, dinner (BBQ!) with some friends, a sleepless night of laundry and packing, and an early Sunday morning car drop-off downtown, and a limo to O'Hare's Terminal 2.
Here we go. (But still one 60° day left to savor…love you, Chicago.)
February 12, 2012 - The School Year Ends
So ends another academic year. Later today I'll be inputting grades for my last classes and that will be it for 2011-2012. Always bittersweet, a bit harder this year, as I'll be saying goodbye to some very special students. We've gotten to to know each other well, and I'll miss them a lot. So it goes. One mitigating factor is the virulent spread of Twitter (and Facebook), and it'll be good to stay in touch with them and watch them grow. Love this job.
What comes next is a short breather before trips to Chicago and then Vietnam and Cambodia. It'll be nice to exercise the Nikon a little, and it's always great to get back to sweet home Chicago and the special friends I have there. So many of my fellow ex-pats here in Japan have very little "home" outside of Japan left, and in that regard, I am truly blessed. On the work table is a book on Japanese meetings and a possible revision to Us & Them (Lulu / iTunes).
In 1972, mine was the first cohort group to have none of its members drafted into service and the Vietnam War. I was very lucky, and knowing that makes me feel for our young men and women trying to readjust to life stateside after tours of duty in the mideast. Let's not forget them.
No surprise that another of my hot buttons is education, and watching the eroding quality of schooling in the US is both heartbreaking and infuriating. Whether it's budget cuts or class sizes, we can't get it right even when clear examples of how are right under our noses.
As for the idiocy that is the Republican primary circus, what can I say? Here's what the leading fool would have in store for us. Instead of:
Unemployment since 2009? A steady decline.
The Dow? Steady progress.
Nasdaq? Yup.
God-damn Democrats, amirite? But, seriously, we can only hope that sanity will prevail. Please do what you can to keep a Republican out f the White House for the next four years.
On to tech. Listen, I'm in love with Dropbox. Part of the reason is explained by fellow nerd, John Gruber. I've also had incredible service from these folks, responding quickly, and often with free storage thrown in the deal. For syncing files between devices (computers, iPads, iPhones) and safe backup of critical files, they're hard to beat. Find out more and get an additional 250GB storage free.
OK, ready for fun? In case you haven't seen them yet, these awkward stock photos are truly bizarre. Try to imagine the need for these shots. Amazing. And what fun would it be to be a kid with an unlimited supply of stickers in a white room?
January 1, 2012 - Goodbye 2011
Goodbye 2011. Hello 2012. I'm cheating a bit, starting this a few days early, on my birthday (12/30), but it's not too early to say goodbye to another rough year: the passing of friends and meaningful others; the economy hurting at a national level and really dumping on folks very close to me; our departure from Iraq bringing, yes, many of our troops out of that specific hell, but exposing other troops in others, and dooming the forsaken desert of Iraq itself to the chaos caused by the absence of a stabilizing, if detested, presence. The list could go on, but let's just close the book with one last goodbye to Susan, Saul, and Steve, and best wishes to all the survivors.
Though the big picture is pretty gray, I have to say that, with all due respect to the possible jinx, things here in Silva-ville are pretty damn good. Health concerns are all mere irritants, work is steady if not booming, my students are wonderful, and I never have to worry about where the next meal is coming from or where I'll be spending the night. Where I spend the nights ain't bad, either. The nearby earthquakes have been rather small. Typhoons in our part of Japan the past year were few and mild. I begin the sayonara festivities with what has become an annual ritual on the day: Kobe Steak. Insanely expensive, insanely good, guaranteed the best you've ever had. Guaranteed.
Looking ahead,I may be optimistic in thinking I'll crank out a new mini-eBook, and still manage visits to Vietnam and Russia with Wifus™ in addition to my usual pilgrimages to Chicago. I resolve to drive more in Chicago, too, perhaps trying a number of fun-to-drive cars under $30,000 at local dealers under the guise of a potential buyer. Oh, the potential is there, just not for a few more years. There'll be competitive driving, too, as last year I broke down and bought myself a new helmet that needs more breaking in.
Just some cleanup and stuff to share. The SOPA thing is far from resolved, so do what you can, please. Something I will not have the time to contribute to, but could be great fun if more old-timers get involved, is a site devoted to cars people drove in high school. Would love to have my memories up there: 1963 Chevy Impala, 1969 Mercury Marquis, and finally, in college…1969 Fiat 124 Spyder. Yes, red. Loved that car. Looking back, a collection I've linked to before, some wonderful images of 1950's Chicago, and the the main web site. One little kick at my host country about its duplicity in reporting on events surrounding the nuclear meltdowns following the earthquake and tsunami in March. A reminder about yet more good Obama has done, and finally, a little humor.
So, happy birthday to me. Good riddance 2011. Best of the new year to you all, and thanks for reading.
Archive of 2011 entries
Archive of 2010 entries
Archive of 2009 entries
Archive of 2008 entries
Archive of 2007 entries
Archive of 2006 entries
Projects:
Us and Them - Buy my book!
Two Teachers Talking - Podcast with Charles Wiz focusing on teaching English in Japan, and on education and learning in general.
ELT Teacher Journeys Conference, Shizuoka, Japan, June 24, 2012. "From Creation to Design: Two Teachers Talking," co-presenting with Charles Wiz.
The Japanese Meeting; A Quick and Dirty Guide to Survival. In progress, publication target, Fall 2012.
Good morning, Москва. "The Japanese Meeting," and "Topics-Based English Classes in Japanese Universities." Two presentations to be given in Vladimir, Russia. August 2012.
Rita Men Podcast. An ongoing oral history of our days at St. Rita High School, 1967-1971. WAY more interesting than you think. Hope to have the first episodes up in September.
Follow @tonyinosaka
on Twitter
friends' sites (in no particular order):
Irv
Pavlik
John
Dean Blog
Hirose先輩
/Miura Dojo
David Stepanczuk
Davina
Robinson
Kunio
Kise
Natsuki
Yamamoto
Greg Lowndes
if you were i (just some stuff I find
interesting):
a&l
daily
dilbert blog
the pour
japanese study
それから、もっと日本語
boing boing
joy
of tech
geoffrey chaucer
blog
worth1000
tour chicago
on my iPhone (music
& words):
Bottle Rockets
Jackson Browne
Guy Clark
Marc CohnRy Cooder
Dengue Fever
Steve Earle
Zoe Keating
Junior Kimbraugh
Robert Earl Kean
Paco de Lucia
Michael McDermott
Low Millions
Muddy Waters
The National
Poco
Rita Men playlist
Leon Russell
Andrés Segovia
The Stax Story (thanks, bro!)
Joe Strummer/Mescaleros/Clash
Them Crooked Vultures
Neil Young
Townes Van Zandt
Wilco
This American Life Podcast
Japanese lessons (wishful thinking)
Lin's Bin WXRT Podcast
MacBreak Weekly Podcast
Mac Observer's Mac Geek Gab Podcast
NPR CarTalk Podcast
Spanish lessons
Slate Podcast
Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson
books being read or I wished were:
Chronicles Vol. 1, Bob Dylan
The Coast of Chicago, Stuart Dybek
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Quicksilver,
Neal Stephenson (yes,
still...)
Mind Hacks, Stafford & Webb
Mexico, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides
The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi
Working, Studs Terkel
Various Historical Chicago Photograph Collections
amazon.com
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better in theory
- Ripping up a parking ticket*
- Bjork*
- Riding your bike to work*
- One more
- Topless beaches
- Couscous
- Forgiveness
- Revenge. No, I take that back.
- Martini bars
- Blue Man Group
- Quentin Tarantino
- Crossover vehicles. Including the Cayenne. Please.
- Low-fat
- "Mission Accomplished"
- Harleys
- Audiobooks
- Room service
- Indoor pools
- Showing him/her/them who's boss....OK, maybe not.
- Pretty good for the price.
*Stolen from Esquire
