#wordcampdx hashmark takes over Twitter

The most retarded mascot I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of terrible mascots:

Mmmm, Swag. I took so much…whoops

This is Robert. He’s normally not serious / terrifying looking. This picture tells a different story, though…

You won’t see a newer version of Wordpress 2.7. It was being worked on as it was being demoed. Things were changing every time the lady refreshed.

Never knew there was so much to RSS, until I learned about it from this guy. Recognize him? He’s pretty big.

Beer!? Aww, too bad I had to drive that night.

Hope to see some of you at Wordcamp PDX 2009! I’ll definitely be there. This one was a lot of fun, good for networking, and I even managed to learn a few things. Rockin.

]]> http://www.boxedtofu.com/2008/09/28/wordcamp-pdx-is-overtime-to-go-home/feed/ http://www.boxedtofu.com/2008/09/27/at-wordcamp-portland-2008/ http://www.boxedtofu.com/2008/09/27/at-wordcamp-portland-2008/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:27:44 +0000 koichi http://www.boxedtofu.com/?p=107 Yes, I am a tech / blogging geek. That is why I’m spending the day in a sketchy part of Portland, listening to people talk about Wordpress (an awesome blogging platform). If you’re looking to start a blog, it is what you should probably use (open source, plugins, community support, so good).

There was this lady who did the keynote address…I don’t know who she is, but apparently she’s pretty famous. All I know is that she called herself the fairy blog-mother (and normally doesn’t dress like this for these sorts of things). She’s a pretty cool frood, though I’m not sure she knows where her towel’s at.

I’ll post a few more times on Wordcamp as it goes along. I love a place that encourages you to blog while listening to people talk about blogging :)

That’s ice in those baggies, by the way.

Now, granted, it doesn’t actually work all that well. The air goes from hot air to not quite as hot air, though that’s still more bearable.

So, what are you doing to keep cool (if you live someplace super warm)? Using an air conditioner doesn’t count. Anyone have any special strategies for staying cool in the summer? I’m dying to find out, and my freezer shouldn’t be opened too much anymore today :)

That line goes back farther than you can see. Couldn’t even get ahold of my Bacon-Maple donut (if you get the chance, you should make one. Just a maple donut with bacon on it-Seriously, the best donut you’ll ever have). Here’s what it looks like:

Speaking of tasty, today I accidentally made Egg Flower Soup. Wasn’t even trying, just happened to turn out looking like and tasting like the real deal. I was surprised!

Of course, the Spam only makes it tastier. On a side note, I really need to get bigger bowls. Anything interesting you’ve eaten this week?

Besides a couple of potential projects (i.e. trying to get a potential client to say, “yes, I’ll pay your rent this month!”) I have very little to do since returning to Oregon. I’ve got a few things I want to do (maybe), but nothing that needs to get done, which is really nice. It’s a chance to improve on a skill, or do something that isn’t really important, but I’ve still put off for a while. If everything goes well, I should only have 5-6 days of this, but it could go on longer.

Anyways, Here are my choices, maybe you can help me decide?

Tofugu Newsletter:
I need to get back into the swing of things for this, it’s been a while since the previous one. Problem I always have is that the “exclusive” content I want to put in the Tofugu newsletter is always stuff I want to put on the website too. Any ideas for special content that can go on a newsletter that isn’t too special?

Learn me some Flashy Flash:
Flash is always something I’ve wanted to jump into a little bit. I don’t want to go crazy all-out with it, but I’d love to know and understand how it works and be able to have fun with it. I know a tiny bit right now, like how to make things move, etc, but after that I’m at a loss. Seems like it could be a lot of fun, though.

Get Back into learning Japanese again:
This is the one I probably should be doing. Writing more Koichiben posts, doing more Youtube videos, and reading more articles in Japanese. I need to set up a schedule for myself, and paste it on my wall.

Anyways, in other news, Hawaii was pretty nice. Rained the last four or so days (and yes, as an Oregonian, I loved it), but I got to go to all sorts of really tasty places. I wrote about some of those places over at Koichiben - at the very least you can see the pictures. Erin’s got a lot of the Hawaii trip pictures on her photo blog too, so check them out.

In more news, I’m going to try to write something here 5 days a week. We’ll see how that works out, haha. Thanks to those of you who are reading!

Soooo thirsty...

I’ve been in Hawaii for the last week, and have a week to go (though I wouldn’t mind another after that). Been hangin out with Erin, my host family from Japan (from 5ish years ago), and most of my family, who also live here. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also really hot. I’m one of those people that likes things to be 50 degrees and drizzling. I suppose that’s why I live in Oregon.

One thing I’ve discovered on this trip, though…I think I have an internet addiction. My access to Internet is patchy at best (thank goodness some people don’t know how to secure their wireless networks), and right now I even shelled out the $9.99 for a day of T-Mobile hotspotting, just so I could get all my BestPlaces work done. Whew. Now all I have left is to respond to hundreds of emails sitting in my inbox…many of them will probably have to wait. Paradise, though, I suppose is worth it.

Today we’re taking my grandpa to the heart surgeon. He had mitrovalve replacement surgery a year ago, and everything was going well until somewhat recently, when he lost all his energy and started losing a ton of weight. Turns out, another one of his valves needs reinforcing. Right now it’s not closing all the way (or something), which means nutrients aren’t getting very far, since blood isn’t moving too well (or something). This next surgery will be a lot less invasive since all they need to do is put a ring around the valve, rather than cutting it out and replacing it. Looks like he’ll be coming back to Washington where my mom lives and get the surgery there, probably next month (we hope). He can be stubborn about this sort of thing, but usually I’m pretty good at convincing him to do things where his wife and daughter fail. bwahaha. Anyways, I hope he decides to get the surgery, because I hate to see him so weak lately. He is 80, but that side of the family tends to live pretty long, usually into the 90s without difficulty. I can only hope I manage that somehow, haha.

Gotta cut back on the bacon.

Anyways, we’re heading out pretty soon, so I’ve gotta cut out this writing thing. Ciao!

About a week ago I went organic strawberry picking at a U-pick farm near portland with my friend AdamD. He’s responsible for my part-time employment over at BestPlaces.net, a sweet website if you want to know some data about someplace in the US.

I remember growing strawberries in my backyard as a child. These strawberries were almost as good as those. I remember mine being sweeter, though, that could be a false memory. My mom claims I have a lot of those, but I know the unicorns were real.

We also made some ice cream in a big “Spiderman ball.” I’ve never seen one of these before, but it was pretty sweet. There are two containers, one inside the other. In the big one, you put ice and salt, which then surrounds a smaller container inside, where you put juice, fruits, and cream (if you want). We filled the smaller container with Odwalla and the strawberries we just picked.

It was a lot of fun, and cheap too! We got the strawberries for a dollar a pound. Since my agricultural skills were so bad (and when I say “bad agricultural skills,” I mean I was too busy eating strawberries out in the field. Ha! They should have weighed me instead of my basket), I barely had to pay anything. We did end up buying a whole extra flat of strawberries, though, and made some freezer jam.

I’m not a big toast eater, but I’m kind of excited to try it out with this jam. One thing that I learned that was good is bagels with cream cheese and jam. It’s kind of like a cake.

In other news, my roommate has discovered my copy of the PS2 game Godhand. Great game if you haven’t played it, and ridiculously cheap too (even if you buy it new). Probably the most politically incorrect game I can think of right now, though that’s what makes it so fun I think.

I came across this dog when I went to a Mariners game last Friday. Heartbreaking loss (though, with the Mariners this year, which game isn’t heartbreaking?) against the second worst team in baseball, where, of course, we are number one in that category. Still, I think this dog makes up for it. He was wearing a baseball cap earlier, but I guess it must have fallen off before I took this picture.

The sign in the background says “give a dog a bone”

The dog was really well trained. It would stay still until a wild group of teenagers started loving it with their petting and baby-talk. Otherwise, frozen, like a statue. What’s up with people baby-talking to dogs? I just talk to them normally. I feel like it’s more respectful, though, then again, I wouldn’t mind eating them either.

It’s funny, though, when you say “walk” in front of the dog, it’s ears perk up, making the glasses move up and down.

I also had some Kalbi at the game.

It’s pretty good stuff, though, it doesn’t stand anywhere close to the stuff Erin got to eat recently.

Here’s what I did yesterday:

Went to the T-shirt Making Store: I’m working on trying to figure out how to make t-shirts so I can sell them on Tofugu. I might make a couple of BoxedTofu ones as well. I’m a big fan of the Tofu Mime that’s everywhere on this website. Very simple and only one color, which means it’ll be a cheap tshirt to make. Man, you have no idea how expensive these things are. They tend to get you on the set-up fees. For two colors and only one design in one spot, it costs almost $100 to set up. Luckily after that, it’s very affordable. One of the tshirts I wanted to do would have cost $350 to set up. I’m going to have to reconsider that one. Here are three of the potential designs, with more on the way. I’ll probably do a poll on Tofugu to see which ones might be the most popular, and act from there. Still, I’ve got more revising and designing to do. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

I also get to play around with the idea of having different colored t-shirts besides white/black for the same cost. I need to go back to the store and see what colors they have.

Tell me, how much would you pay for a tshirt? Would you pay $20? I’ll have to sell some of them at that price in order to break even. My credit card can only take so much weight!

Coming Up with a “Goal System.” So, pretty much, I need a job…but not one until after I go to Hawaii in July (yay!). My mom’s side of the family lives down there, so I’ll get a lot of relative-chillin’ in. Erin also lives there, so maybe we can do some collab vids. My host-family from Nagoya is also coming at the same time, so I’ll even get to do some of the touristy things I’ve always missed out on! Waikiki+Godzilla mask here I come.

Anyways, back to the “goal system.” I’ve got all sorts of things I do throughout the day, despite my joblessness. Luckily, blogging pays for a tiny chunk of my rent, so I’m not doing toooo bad. Still, I have trouble focusing on a bunch of different things. One thing? No problem. I’ve been doing great focusing and working on Tofugu, but in doing so, I’ve left Koichiben behind in the dust. Anyone have a good “work from home organizational system”? I’ll be making a couple of videos for Koichiben today, though, so hopefully that will regain my focus a bit. It’s just so much harder writing in Japanese than it is to write in English, and I’m lazy, haha.

Well, that’s it for today. I have to go into town and run some errands, and then…Koichiben!

]]> http://www.boxedtofu.com/2008/06/11/oops-time-to-start-treating-this-more-like-a-personal-blog/feed/ http://www.boxedtofu.com/2008/06/05/would-you-rather-eat-a-cat-or-a-dog/ http://www.boxedtofu.com/2008/06/05/would-you-rather-eat-a-cat-or-a-dog/#comments Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:36:58 +0000 koichi http://www.boxedtofu.com/?p=32

My roommates and I often ask each other hard-hitting “would you rather” questions, most of which are too inappropriate to talk about here. Today, we had a question that I thought would be interesting to ask all of you. That question is, of course, the same one as the title, “Would you rather eat a dog or a cat?” That’s an easy question for me. I’ve already thought about this. You can find out my answer by clicking through and checking out the video.

So, as you can see, I would have chosen to eat a dog. They just seem so tasty…er…that is…if I had to eat one. Cats seem too meatless, same with ferrets. So what do you think? Let me know in the poll below, and tell us the reason in the comments section. I think dogs will win, but who knows. Let’s satisfy our primal desires to know the answer to this question by voting.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.