Monthly Archives: April 2004

Where’s the Baby?

Well, Monday was Ryoko’s due date. It came, it went, and…. nothing. Now it’s Wednesday Friday, and she has yet to have anything but the occasional Braxton-Hicks contractions (evidently they’re lighter contractions that are just the body ‘warming up’ for … Continue reading

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名前を決めること

僕と涼子はあとまもなく長女を産むから、今までよく悩んでいたのは名前のことだ。二人は同じ国籍や母国語ではないから簡単に決めるのはないでしょう。綺麗だと思う日本の女性の名前はたくさんあるからべつに日本語の名前はかまわないし、それより産まれてから日本の司令官で日本国籍を手続きするつもりから少なくとも仮名で書ける名前は必要だ。しかし長くアメリカに住むことになるから、勿論アメリカで通じ安い名前も大切だと思う。 その条件に合わせる名前は多くないから、2人でよく考えた。「まり」、「まりや」、「なおみ」などは僕が考えたけど、そべては涼子に却下された。いろいろ考え続けたが、あまり2人も好ける名前は出来なかった。2ヵ月前までこの厳しい条件の複雑さにちょっとあきたから、「玉雯」(ユーエン)という中国語の名前にちょっと気に入れたけど、ほかの名前も考えている。 そして名前を決めても、漢字も考えなければならない。勿論平仮名か片仮名にできるけど、僕の考えで名前に漢字を付けるのは大切な深みがある。 いちよう僕と涼子も気に入れる名前を考えたけど、「産んだら変わるかも」と言うことでまだ発表してない。それでも好きな名前に意見を合わせてるのに、漢字はまだ決めてない。涼子によると、日本で名前を決めることに画数なども意味があるから(涼子は「わたしはべつにかまわないけど、両親に大切からそれも考えたほうがいい」って)いろいろ複雑だ。 まあ、産んだらどうしても決めなければならないから、そのときにみなにちゃんと発表する。 Update: My brother whined about not being able to read the Japanese on this post (someone actually read my blog! He even posted a comment!) so I thought I would summarize it for him. I … Continue reading

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Liquid Armor – It’s not the Terminator, it’s rheology

I’m stealing a slashdot link here, but I thought this story was so cool I just had to post it. Besides, even if I posted a comment on slashdot, it would only be drowned and unnoticed among the flood of … Continue reading

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What does it take to be a good sensei?

My older brother and I have studied a few martial arts over the years, and recently we were discussing why some martial arts flourish and others do not. One style that we both studied while we were in Oklahoma was … Continue reading

Posted in Martial Arts | 19 Comments

Almost baby time!

Well, since my wife Ryoko is well into her 10th month of pregnancy, and the baby itself if due on Monday, we’re starting to get a little hectic. She hasn’t had any strong contractions yet, but since they could come … Continue reading

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Periodic Table Table

Here’s an interesting site I stumbled upon a while back. A former chemist by the name of Theo Gray has made a very nice wooden table that is a periodic table. Not only that, but under each square he has … Continue reading

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First Post!

I guess I can finally get the satisfaction of being the first post on something, even though it has to be my own blog in order to do so. On sites like Slashdot or Dave Barry’s blog it’s almost impossible … Continue reading

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