• Mon, August 3rd: arrive in Tokyo
• Tues, August 4th: Toyko
• Weds, August 5th: Tokyo, travel to Takayama
• Thurs, August 6th: Takayama
• Fri, August 7th: Takayama, travel to Kyoto
• Sat, August 8th: Kyoto
• Sun, August 9th: Nara, Osaka
• Mon, August 10th: travel to Hirojima, Miyajima
• Tues, August 11th: Miyajima, travel to Hakone
• Weds, August 12th: Hakone
• Thurs, August 13th: Hakone, travel to Tokyo
• Fri, August 14th: depart from Tokyo

A simple yet interesting way to visualize the places I’ve lived, courtesy of my current employer.

Answer: 960 kWh per household per month was the national average in 2005, but it varies quite a bit based on geography. In New England the average was 620 kWh per household per month.

…

”Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century,” Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said. ”This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy.”

The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation’s financial system.

…

”I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930′s is true in 2010,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota.

…

”The concerns that we will have a meltdown like 1929 are dramatically overblown,” said Senator Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska.

– CONGRESS PASSES WIDE-RANGING BILL EASING BANK LAWS
New York Times – November 5, 1999

The first visible change is a new address. My home away from home on the web is now www.andybash.com. Please update your links and feed readers accordingly. Thanks.

DJ Earworm’s seamless blending of 2008′s top pop songs in a single mashup is flat out brilliant. There’s more where this came from, go grab his full catalog at djearworm.com and youtube. Because Girl Talk is so 2008.

From: XXX <XXX@google.com>
To: andyb@mit.edu,
Date: Mar 26, 2001 10:35 PM
Subject: Google…?

Hi Andy,

We received your name from XXX at MIT and he
mentioned that you are graduating this year – Congratulations!

We’re hoping you might be interested in talking with Google
about opportunities here….? If so, we’d love to talk with you.
Please feel free to contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Or, if it’s
more convenient for you, I am happy to give you a call if
you could send me your phone number.

Thanks — I hope to hear from you soon!

Back up on the auction block: help my Jetta find a new home!

• 6:00 am PT (9:00 am ET). Wake up in Curry Village, Yosemite National Park.
• 9:40 am PT (12:40 pm ET). Oakland International Airport. Almost catch a 10:15am non-stop flight to Boston, but thwarted by the long security line.
• 12:05 pm PT (3:05 pm ET). Plane takes off for Dulles. Watch the Eagles beat the Vikings and the Patriots crush the Redskins. Finish reading Into the Wild.
• 5:00 pm PT (8:00 pm ET). Land at Dulles and hop on another plane for Boston. Every passenger is fixated on the game, and the flight is punctuated by spontaneous cheering.
• 7:10 pm PT (10:10 pm ET). Land at Logan after the fifth inning, Red Sox up 2-0. The cab ride home is an adventure. Police near Kenmore Square are blocking the normal routes to my apartment.
• 8:00pm PT (11:00 pm ET). Throw my luggage down and dash back out to the closest bar I can find. My Harpoon is poured just in time for the seventh inning. Red Sox are still up 2-0.
• 9:00pm PT (midnight ET). Jubilation. High fiving and hugging random strangers. We collectively swear to name our first children after Papelbon.

Can’t wait to see Papelbon and Youk’s next dance routine!

38, 38, 38, 34, 34, 48, 49, 52

Through eight games, the Patriots scored 34 points in their worst offensive performance.

An offense in the NFL is averaging over 40 points a game. This is madness.

Two series down, one to go. Bring on the Rockies!

Only two days left on the deal of the century over at Ebay Motors: help my Jetta find a new home!

Wow, it’s been a week and I’m still reeling from the Eagles-Giants game last Sunday. It still hurts, but at least now I can look at the game objectively. A few days ago this post would have been nothing but expletives…

The game in a nutshell: the Eagle’s starting left tackle, William “Tra” Thomas, was out with an MCL sprain. His replacement, Winston Justice, was making his first NFL start. I haven’t read The Blind Side yet, but the end result was painfully obvious – a three hour sack fest.

To top it all off, LT was watching from the Giants sideline. You know he was dying to join in on the party.

“Suave,” says my shampoo. “All-purpose solution,” says my contact lens cleaning fluid. “Total control,” says my styling gel. “Cool,” says my antiperspirant. I am not living up to the expectations of my toiletries.

– Love Monkey by Kyle Smith

The next season of Beauty and the Geek begins September 18th. Go Jughead!

I am coming to terms with this disease and my first step is to admit the sad truth. I read I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER every day. Religiously.

I tell myself that I am a fully grown, well educated adult.

I tell myself that I should have outgrown this sort of thing years ago.

Then I see Kitteh has broken an axle and I laugh for five minutes straight. How can anyone not love the brilliant juxtaposition of lolcat with The Oregon Trail?

I know these things and I fight the unholy urges. On some days, I prevail. On other days, I am utterly defeated.

A forgotten love was rekindled today, and I was crushed beneath its 3900 pound frame.

Why, oh why (!) must this mechanical beast consume my thoughts?

Perhaps another man puts it best:

It’s hard to describe how fast an M6 set to P500 Sport really is; I could try using words, like “maniacal” or “hellish” or “diabolical”, but they really wouldn’t live up to the job. It’s almost as though the car doesn’t move, but instead grabs hold of the horizon and drags it closer, in a feat of biblical proportions.

Maybe I should start reading those books?

Today I realized that the halfway point of my three month sabbatical has come and gone.

The first month, February, was packed – Boston to Australia to Lake Tahoe to Virginia and finally NYC. During that month I flew enough to circle the globe (almost 30,000 miles) and spent a grand total of four nights at home in SF. More about those adventures later!

The month of April promises to be just as dense – Whistler, driving cross country from SF to Boston, and finally settling in to my new (old) home!

Which leaves the month of March. Nothing to do but kick back, relax, and enjoy my remaining lazy days in California. Like this orangutan. Ahh….