Justin

Time to get a phone

2009-08-21T18:41:42Z

Any horrible downsides to Boost Mobile?

I need a phone and I'm not sure if I want to just move back and sign a contract before I can actually try stuff out. I don't need to use twitter, facebook, or anything web intensive, as I will probably just be using it for talking and texting depending on what the people here prefer to use. The only features I would want would be some sort of easy way to connect to the phone and edit walpapers and add ringtones.

I was looking at the Boost Mobile plans, and I don't see anything really wrong with either the daily or the monthly plans. I don't plan on moving out of the Chicago area, so I should be fine as far as coverage is concerned. My only question is whether "unlimited mobile to mobile" refers to any mobile phone or just other Boost customers.

On that note, my family and fiance both are on AT&T, so there's some sort of incentive to get an AT&T phone there. I don't really care for touchscreen only, and would only want a full QWERTY keyboard if I can tilt it lengthwise, because otherwise the buttons are too small.

Decisions decisions

2009-06-24T12:56:35Z

Alright now, do I start drinking coffee,

tea,

or both?

My new blog.

2009-05-24T15:40:35Z

Did I forget to mention it here? It seems so. I decided to make a site dedicated to all of my Japanese snack reviews, pictures, and information.

JapaneseKat.com

If you want to be on the bleeding edge of this sort of thing, then be sure to bookmark that RSS feed. Tell your friends!

JT's J-Treats - Choco Banana & Coconut Pocky

2009-05-09T14:38:25Z

JT's J-Treats - Strawberry Pocky

2009-05-08T15:49:13Z

JT's J-Treats - Pocky and Men's Pocky

2009-05-07T22:34:39Z

JT's J-Treats - Pocky (coming soon)

2009-05-06T15:34:36Z

Japanesekat.com

2009-05-03T14:57:10Z

The Livejournal/Youtube combination is okaaaaay, but I wanted something dedicated, so I started up a blog exclusively for the J-Treats stuff, Japanesekat.com. Check it out!

Kay-roak

2009-04-29T12:09:02Z

Today, I had what has to have been the most diverse karaoke session since being here topped only by those had in Chicago. Usually, what "kind" of karaoke it is depends on the people I'm with. If it's a a bunch of foreigners, they all usually just sing "lol retro" stuff and goof off the whole time. Back when I was at Gakugei, the manga club guys and I would go out for 5+ hours of nothing but anime and game songs. There have been a couple times that were nothing but Hello! Project stuff either with people I met at a concert or people I knew who were also going to one. On rare occasions, it was with "regular" Japanese people, who were just the Japanese equivalent of a foreigner group, and only thought to sing top 40 Jpop. I can fit in with any of these crowds, but it's rare when there's one in which pretty much anything goes. Today was one of those times.

I told this to my friend Shinobu a couple weeks ago, and she offered to call up a couple of her friends so we could all go, and so we did. The first time, they liked the idea of just doing anime stuff, because they had never thought to try and do only that, but we ended up singing for four hours straight before realizing it. It's not like they're a bunch of nerds either. They just knew a whole slew of stuff from having grown up here. They didn't know any wacky obscure stuff, but neither did I, so it was a good time where everyone pretty much knew everything.

Today, we just sang whatever, and this time, we sang for five hours before thinking to check the time. Literally everything worked. Everyone listens to both Japanese and US music, so pop music was covered. As with before, anime was no issue. The two that I thought would have been an issue, sentai and Hello! Project stuff, were anything but. All of the good H!P stuff was actually popular with real people back when it came out, so we were all queuing up stuff. Sentai stuff worked, oddly enough, because of the background videos if nothing else. Each theme had just a bunch of show clips in the back, but they picked only the cool action scenes, so each one just made the show seem really badass. The only time we didn't sing stuff was because it didn't have the actual music video or real clips in the back.

After we finished up, they offered to take me over to Uniqlo where I bought new Megaman and Parappa T-shirts.

The only downside was that being out meant I couldn't stay at home and talk with Devin, but as long as I was actually out having fun/being productive and not just wasting time, I'm OK with it.

Also, is Acen this weekend? Maybe I should make a token Pocky episode of JT's J-Treats to celebrate... and then just talk about how much better Flan and Topo are.

A great injustice

2009-04-28T03:56:45Z

The McDonalds location in our town finally started selling regular and double quarter pounders on Monday BUT BUT BUT, for some reason, in order to start selling those, they had to stop selling both the teriyaki burger and the McPork in a move I'm sure both Scott and June would highly disapprove of.

JT's J-Treats - Guest Review - Hokkaido KitKats: Grilled Corn and Potato

2009-04-22T23:04:40Z

A special guest review courtesy of my good friend Tim over at "I am a viking". Check out his blog at:
I am a viking.com
I have been asked about these two flavors by a few viewers, and Tim was fortunate enough to get his hands on them.

JT's J-Treats - Rose KitKats

2009-04-18T15:15:49Z

JT's J-Treats - Cafe Pringles - Gratin

2009-04-17T15:24:46Z

JT's J-Treats - Cherry KitKats

2009-04-09T14:08:20Z

JT's J-Treats - Espresso Coffee KitKats

2009-04-08T14:53:42Z

Tokyo-ness

2009-04-03T15:07:32Z

So today was pretty cool, but I can't upload pictures until I get home on Sunday, so just some points for now.

The final Sky Theater Power Ranger show with every red ranger that performed on that stage was cool as always. I still put the final Boukenger show on top, because it had the actual actors from the show as well as people running around in suits.

For the heck of it, I stayed for the handshake event afterwards, which was better and lamer at the same time. I originally figured that you would be allowed to meet/shake hands with only one red ranger that you were randomly assigned. That was not the case. Instead, they all lined up, and you got to walk down the line and "meet" them all. As a result, they had to keep the line moving because of the couple hundred people needing to go through, so there wasn't a chance to pose and take a picture with someone. I took lots of pictures and videos. The dance party at the end was neat.

The arcade in Tokyo Dome City was average, and they only had one game not working. Unfortunately, it was their DDR 4th Mix Solo machine. =(((((
On the plus side, I won a squishy bread bun!!!!

I picked up a Uniqlo Pheonix Wright shirt.

Pokemon Center's Meowth festival goods aren't that great, but I got a Magikarp strap that looks like it came from a shrine. They have a lot of new T-Shirt designs including a black version of the sleeping Pikachu that I would have much rather preferred.

After that, I had time to kill, so I walked to Tokyo Tower just because I could see it. All the while I was thinking about Scott and TF's trip to Japan. I think I ended up going to Yasukuni shrine as well without knowing it.

Tomorrow I have no idea what I'm doing. I might meet up with someone from my Gakugei days. Maybe I'll go to Ueno park and see a thousand people and a couple cherry blossoms. I might finally go to the Guhroovy store just because. Whatever I do, I'll be walking a lot. I'm staying until Sunday so I can go to the Kanamara Penis Matsuri one last time.

It's so nice and warm in Tokyo.

Espresso Coffe KitKats. Review coming soon.

JT's J-Treats - Cafe Pringles - Napolitan Pasta

2009-04-03T01:05:52Z

JT's J-Treats - Whole Wheat Cookies+ KitKats

2009-03-31T22:28:24Z

JT's J-Treats - Curry Monterey Doritos

2009-03-29T23:12:18Z

JT's J-Treats - Sprite 3G

2009-03-27T07:15:41Z

Here's an older one that I shot back in November and never got around to editing. This was the video that got muted earlier, because I had a Bee Gees song in it. Not anymore.

JT's J-Treats - Melted Cheese and Wasabi Mayo Gourmet Doritos

2009-03-24T08:11:42Z

Some classy stuff right here.

JT's J-Treats - Men's Hard-fried Doritos - Salt and Pepper

2009-03-18T22:33:23Z

JT's J-Treats - Custard Pudding KitKats

2009-03-17T14:11:06Z

This one's short.

I called it

2009-03-17T11:46:31Z

This is about the equivalent of predicting spring coming after winter, but still. When I was reviewing the custard pudding KitKats (coming soon), I said that I had to work fast, because there was probably a new one coming out tomorrow (now today), and sure enough:

Whole Wheat Flour Cookies+ KitKat

Also, check out this cute power shovel:

JT's J-Treats - "Spicy Chicken" and "Cheese Carnival" Pringles

2009-03-16T16:10:04Z