Growing up in Las Vegas and the things you just don't realize...

Funny thing growing up in Las Vegas... I'm talking to a customer support gal who, mind you, was pretty cool and troubleshooting my GPS device. It was having problems looking up cross streets. She thought it was because I had old maps. I mentioned it was only having issues looking up the second street, even by flipflopping street names.
So she asks me:
"Ok, give me two street names that you know are on your map."
At first, I was going to reply w/ some street names in the state I was in, but I'm so new to the state, I have no idea what crosses what. So I reply w/ the major cross streets in Vegas that I grew up near:
"Flamingo and Rainbow"
Without skipping a beat, she responds:
"Well that's kinda fruity."

I bursted out laughing... It had never even crossed my mind.

I lived near two of the two 'fruitiest' named streets ever in Vegas and never even realized it...

Otsukaresama (お疲れ様）

So the wife sometimes calls me at work in the middle of my day. I'm doing my thing, while she talks to me on the phone about something. (Yes I am paying attention) She asks if I am still working, I say, "yeah" and she proceeds to respond with "Otsukaresama"... Now mind you, I am second generation Japanese born here in the US so I consider my Japanese second rate at best. My wife is 1st Gen born and raised in Japan.

To me it sounded strange for her to say "Otsukaresama" to me while I'm working... To clarify, "Otsukaresama", from my understanding, is used after you've finished something. It's a term that is used to acknowledge someone's efforts or show your appreciation for the trouble that they have gone through. So I mention to her that is sounds strange for her to use "Otsukaresama" while I'm still working. According to her, it's used to show appreciation for the work I am doing... Still, even after she said that, it feels strange for me to hear the term used in a fashion that I've never been introduced to.

I'm calling shenanigans on my wife!!! (hahahaha, just kidding wife...she is so going to kill me) In all seriousness though, I simply want to make sure I sound intelligent in conversation in the Japanese business world if I were to ever be presented w/ the opportunity. So because it sounds strange to me in her usage, I need that confirmation.

Chinese Language Pronounciation

Just to preface, this is in no way meant to insult the Chinese language. Just a curious uneducated observation.
A friend and I were talking one day and he happened to mention that he is starting to learn to speak Cantonese. I speak Japanese and learned some phrases in Mandarin so I mentioned to him that I think Chinese is a very difficult language to speak. To me, the idea of having to pronounce a vowel w/ 5 different intonations (he says Cantonese is 9) is absolutely absurd to me. I feel like I have to be choir boy to pronounce anything correctly.
So he and I were on the same page with which we came to the following epiphany:
How in the world is it possible to make song or sing songs with out totally screwing up the intonations? (Total White Guy Quote)
Crescendos, DeCrescendos, and many other classical methods of writing music deal w/ intonations. Yet, I've heard Chinese pop stars singing and it all sounds fine to me. Maybe because my ears on uninitiated in the language, but GEEZ. My friend and I are totally baffled by Chinese.

HD-DVD Dead

If you haven't already heard, Toshiba, the big buy behind HD-DVD has called it quits. They plan to shut down their HD-DVD manufacturing by end of March. Time to sell those machines or if you've been waiting, go ahead an buy yourself a Blu-Ray player. I personally recommend the Playstation 3 even if you don't like games. It's probably the most cheapest, yet most comprehensive player out on the market.

You could almost consider the Playstation 3 a computer. You can use it browse the internet, read your digital camera's pictures and print them by hooking up an Epson printer(. It can also copy your CD's music to it's hard drive to play over your home theater system. Play your DVD or Blu-ray movies, and lastly play games. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

Ridiculously cute picture.

I was browsing Engadget.com when I came across a story that had this cute picture. Also, in relation to ridiculous cuteness, Hello Kitty is coming out w/ an *MMORPG. A friend and I were joking about this one day... and it's finally happened... Who knows how this is going to work, but I bet girls all over the world are freaking out about this news.

*MMORPG = Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The most popular relations to this type of game are normally "World of Warcraft" and "EverQuest".

Spyware, Trojans, Viruses, and the free tools to help you...

There are 3 free tools that I personally use to keep my PC systems free of the garbage that the internet can produce:

1. AVG Free - A free Anti-Virus tool that is quite popular and does a fine job of keeping viruses off my computer and updates itself automatically.
   
2. Spybot - A free Anti-Spyware tool. This works well to immunize your computer from known bad websites and helps to rid your computer of trojans and spyware if you do get infected. If your computer does get infected with something, the best way to run spybot to get rid of those nasty infections is under Windows *Safe Mode.
   
1. Spybot does not have a automatic update method, so you will need to run it periodically and run its update task. I would recommend to run it at least once a month to update it.
   
3. Spyware Blaster - A free Spyware Prevention Tool. This tool is simply meant to augment Spybot in further in its immunization task.
1. Spyware Blaster does have an autoupdate function, but requires you to pay for it. Otherwise you have to update it manually by running it and clicking a button to run the update process.

The easiest way to get rid of most spyware, trojans, viruses, and whatnot, is to utilize the Windows XP System Restore tool. It's normally enabled by default for most computers, but some people may turn off this **function to save on disk space and speed up computer response. You can find the system restore tool under Start --> All Programs (or Programs) --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Restore.
All you would have to do is select a day when you think your computer was not infected.


*To boot in Safe Mode, follow the below steps:

1. Restart your computer
2. After hearing your computer beep (your computer might not beep depending on your make and model) once during startup, but before the Windows icon appears, tap the F8 key continually;
3. Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu with options should appear;
4. Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode, then press "Enter".

**To check if your computer has the system restore function turned on, follow these steps:

• Go to Start --> Control Panel (or Start --> Settings --> Control Panel)
• Depending on your view you either double-click the System Icon or Select System Maintenance, then select system.
• In the System Properties window, select the "System Restore" tab. In this view, you should be able to tell whether it is turned on or off.