It is awesome that there is a whole comic about UI and usability design, but…

H’s work’s kid’s dad designed the awesome new Uwajimaya bag!

I made a bell. I will call him Jon.

Metallophagophobia: fear of eating metal. Brought to you by @omnigroup holiday brunch.

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

Someone forgot to bring scratch paper.

This root beer has different ingredients depending on which country you are in.

My @fieldnotesbrand notebook doesn’t seem to be working properly.

…I was attacked by a sign.

Been enjoying the copy of Mother 2 (Earthbound) that @seaspicy gave me. Fourside is the coolest town yet.

This place seems kinda shady…

These stairs continue for quite a ways, up up up to Piroko’s relatives’ house. We spent a lovely evening there, and I think I may have played my most immersed, inclusive role in a Japanese conversation yet. Something about evolution, religion, and UFOs.

Xenogears GET

How to tell with 100% certainty that something is junk mail.

Sick day:

The new Life-Savers package design is good. (Until you add a bunch of junk.)

I don’t know if I ever broke a bass string before.

Trusty mini-pen RECOVERED! Never leave my side again.

And commence disc 2’s Fei-in-a-chair storytelling technique.

For the scholar who has everything.

Rite Aid. Maybe stop advertising a location on Google Maps when it enters Store Closing Everything Must Go mode.

I ended up with Field Notes, by the way.

Oh, Cosmopolitan has gotten obnoxious enough that they are displaying it pornography-style at the grocery checkout.

I enjoy slicing. (@ienjoy)

Japan has a lovely selection of soft and sweet breads; our favorite is [Miyabi](http://miyabi-web.co.jp/). Of course, I don�t think I�d give up the [Dave�s Killer Bread](http://www.daveskillerbread.com/) we get here in the Northwest for anything.

Our second replacement spoon arrived. This time it is the right one. (They were both shipped like this.)

Daikon, negi, & toufu soup is on. Mazegohan is cooken. Sunday night dinnermaken. (@raintea’s sounds good too!)

Installing curtains is a harrowing ordeal. I think they turned out pretty okay, though.

Grate

Tonight,

@raintea Nothing, now!

:(

Okay, anyone want to adopt one of the spawn of Abaddon the Breadstarter tomorrow?

I fed Abaddon the Breadstarter some flour, sugar, and milk. He seems pretty happy.

His & her curries

I guess it’s… okay to use with microwavables?

Quick test of a company’s care for UX: do they think including ™s and ®s is worth making their text unreadable?

@grimeysnacks @tgrimes Where do you go when you want name-brand spatulas at a fraction of retail cost?

I will name him Abaddon.

This Wine Away stuff really works. Here is what the giant red wine stain on my white rug looks like now. SCIENCE!

Now I have two Original Pancake House mugs.

Persona “Official Strategy Guide… Get!”

Kthxbai

I always thought it was weird that Tony Levin was one of the major bad guys in Xenogears.

Painting my white living room white.

Hooray for anthropomorphic Korean fridgey guy! Boo big meany mean sun guy!

I guess the Samsung guy couldn’t find the checkmark Unicode entity. #✔ #√

These odious drinks ape Starbucks� logo and invoke the volcano visible from our home city. In a pinch, I tried one; next time I will just accept the caffeine-withdrawal headache.

@ienjoy I enjoy our new lamp.

Outrageously huge monitor with a preposterous number of inputs GET!

Dryer GET; epic installation involved guy removing pocket change & belt, sprawling over the top to access the back.

Say what you will about Ikea; I love their wordless documentation.

Witnessing Ikea’s transition from Futura to Verdana firsthand. I will particularly miss those classy 9’s.

I made donburi

Took some layering, but all of my media is now shelved.

Perusing some reasonably-priced antiques

Cheers

Neighbor’s cute kitty chilling right outside our back door

@emarley is the coolest for finding a way for us to liven up our new house keys!

Shmancy washer GET!

Our diminutive temporary fridge.

In memoriam Copora, our super old rabbit cushion thingy.

Keys get; house get!

Controller assembled and working. I am still terrible at Gunbird 2, though.

Joystick and six buttons wired:

Xenogears on the giant theater screen, because I can.

Buttons and joystick fit pretty well.

Hardest part of arcade controller, drilling the plexiglas, is done. Thanks to @someolddoor’s guidance.

Cupcake Thursdays continue. This week’s selection: Cupcake Royale.

Tea-time in this French-style cafe with Piroko and her aunt was one of the most pleasant memories from this trip. Something about the careful design and quiet ambience of this place made me want to stay there for a very long time. We did, enjoying little cakes, cafe au lait, and Mariage Frères tea.

Xmas Eve. My dude went on a date with Fuuka. Then loaded from the last save point and went on a date with Chihiro.

Arcade controller is coming along. A little more sanding, then it will be ready to glue.

More cupcakes~

I am at my house. Landscaping get!!

Yellow Leaf Cupcakes at the office, thanks to @mokare

I am at my house. Carpet, sinks, mirrors, lighting, and almost everything else GET!!!

Made some excellent progress on arcade controller, thanks to @someolddoor.

28 days later, arcade stick parts gettttt!

At my house. Thermostat get! Warranty notice is written in Chicago, one of my favorite typefaces!

We made brunch

Portillo’s hot dogs and chocolate cake shake

About to do Rose’s ultra combo.

David Hockney was a PC

Culver’s. Butterburgers and curds get!!

Hugecat is huge

Walking Betty’s dogs and eating peas right off the plant.

Wisconsin GET!

Gas station on I-90 near the Wisconsin border has Shikigami no Shiro 2, for some reason. Too bad I already own it.

Chicago

Arrived safe and sound. I get the weirdest presents here.

At BK you can win one million dollars dollars.

I’m at my house. Most of a kitchen GET!

This is crazy… playing BlazBlue on PS3 via PSP remote play, while H watches TV.

BlazBlue GETTTTTTTTTTTTTT

I’m at my house. Insane exterior colors GET!

Cafe Flora

I love when we ship new software. Congratulations @omnigs! Thanks @dmessent!

I went and met up with Piroko in Tokyo, for my tenth trip to Japan. We visited the huge, futuristic, impeccably-designed shopping malls of Yokohama. Here are some of the huge, futurustic, impeccably-designed office buildings of the area. Walking around here, it’s hard to argue that I’m perfectly happy and just as culturally stimulated in Seattle as I would be in Tokyo.

At my house. Paint get!

Performing the Dvoraking ritual on my new MacBook Air.