Typhoon outside of Tokyo

Came home early from work– left at 7pm– due to "Banyan," typhoon #7 ("台風7号" in Japanese). It's not uncommon for these hurricane-like storms to interrupt train service due to high winds and flooding, so most of the folks at work left before the typhoon could strand them far from home. Fortunately the storm ended up heading out to sea and just dealt us some rain.

Had lunch with Ken, Peter, and two co-workers at Bob's Lounge, Ken's favorite bar. It's an interesting place, run by Bob, a middle-aged Japanese man with a penchant for Texas and cowboy hats. During the day they serve an average curry spiced at an unsual 30 different grades. In the evening they provide conversational English teachers for those interested in improving their language skills.

After having my workstation (Intel 3 ghz Dell, Windows XP) taken away to be shipped off to a customer last week, I was excited to receive a replacement machine (2.5 ghz beige box, Windows 2000) today. Anything's better than the elderly device I was using before and after the XP machine (SPARC 500 mhz, Solaris 9). Although I don't like using Windows, the Solaris windowing environment is exaspertating, and the hardware was way too slow. Also since all the other developers are using Windows, it only makes sense for me to be on the same page as them.

I'm feeling a bit ill today. Had a sore throat on Sunday and Monday, but that's gone away this evening, to be replaced with a general tiredness and malaise. Signing off for an early bedtime tonight.