The Horie email scandal ended just as predicted: MP Nagata resigning, the Democratic Party in chaos — a follow-up to my earlier authenticity doubts.

The “Horie Email” disclosed by the DPJ The email disclosed by the Democratic Party, allegedly instructing a transfer of funds from Livedoor to LDP Secretary-Ge…

· BoA — “everlasting” If this goodbye is a departure I’ll give you all my smiles · Undergrøf — “Tsubasa” In the sky of departure, meetings and farewells Painti…

Bought a Lenovo desktop for the part-time workplace — ¥89,250 — plus a cash drawer and receipt printer. The register program? Building it myself in Visual Basic.

Komeda’s new beef stew, tested via staff meal: good beef, irresistible melted cheese — but two slices of French bread isn’t enough, and ¥880 is steep.

4:35 p.m.: ‘Please cover my 5 o’clock shift!!’ — 20 minutes, 10 km, one expressway sprint later, I clocked in at 4:55. Apparently my buffer time has buffer time.

Thesis done, I rented the DVD labeled ‘NANA’ — 54 minutes long. Turns out it was a character introduction disc. The actual movie releases March 3. ¥250 well wasted.

Today was my master’s thesis public presentation. After weeks of being up until around 3 a.m.

Today I rewired the home network. The server had been in my room, but the noise was bothering me, so I moved it to the hallway where no one usually is.

Recently someone named “Abe” has been sending relentlessly annoying spam. Nice to meet you. Sorry to contact you so suddenly. My name is Abe.

Flets Hikari Premium installed: upload speed jumped from 1 Mbps on ADSL to around 50 Mbps — exactly what a home server needs. Now about that electricity bill…

Jan 31: Master’s thesis first draft submitted Feb 3: Abstract submitted Feb 10: Thesis presentation Feb 20: Final thesis submission Almost there.

January 17 — the day of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and for me the anniversary of my grandmother’s passing an hour before it struck. Plus some complicated friend drama.

December 19’s snow left Nagoya’s Nishiki-dori deserted under 23 cm — the most I’d ever seen, yet only half the city’s 49 cm record. Winter tires earned their keep.

Happy New Year… though it’s already the 16th. (Embarrassed.) Various things came up at the end of the year and start of the new one, so I couldn’t write.

Found a mysterious Flash “mind reader.” http://blog21.fc2.com/v/vipgazou/file/psychic.swf First, think of a two-digit number.

I’ve been using Mixi lately, and a “baton” chain post came my way — so here goes. This one came from Natalie-san. ○ Your Mixi name?

There was a “faulty motherboard and CPU” sitting around the lab, not needed for research (was going to be disposed of), so I got permission from my supervisor …

I job-hunted twice — in the worst market in recent memory, and again two years later. The offer-rate graph confirms what I felt: grad school was the right bet.

A friend brought me souvenirs from Okinawa. · Drinkable Luxury Rice: Miki · SPAM Two items. This SPAM — not spam. Spam (lowercase) refers to spam email.