Our first "event" of 2009

Well, we made it home with no major problems (no delays at all in the airports). When we arrived home the first thing Deana did was hit the shower to wash off the plane "funk" and I commenced to hooking our Vonage modem back up and turning on our computer. Everything booted up great and worked wonderfully. We made a quick post and a couple phone calls and it was off to bed.

Next morning. Come downstairs, turn on the computer, turn on the heat, turn on the TV, turn on the coffee pot, sit down at the computer...Stare at a blank screen. WHY IS MY COMPUTER NOT WORKING??? ARRGGGHHHH!!! Apparently, the grim reaper paid my monitor a visit during the night. Computer seems to be functioning correctly (based on sounds), but nothing on the screen. Great. Just terriffic. It sure would have been nice to know I was going to need a new monitor 2 DAYS AGO.

So, I got to go shopping for a new computer monitor today. I biked down to the nearest electronics store (about 2.5 miles down the road) and stopped in to see what they had. I found some monitors in the center of the store from $300 to $500. Refusing to pay that price, I kept looking and found a small selection of monitors in the back of the store that were $150 to $250. AH HA! I had no idea if these were new, used, or broken, but I was about to take my chances. I thoroughly inspected them and made sure I was buying a monitor that was not going to blow up as soon as I turned it on in the States (different voltages in Japan - some items designed for Japan will fry when you plug them in in the USA).

The next step was to start my fine art of price negotiation in Japan. I'm so good at it that I thought I would let you in on how it's done.
First - Go find any sales person. This may prove harder than it sounds as many sales people will avoid customers that don't appear to be able to speak their language.
Second - Lead the sales person to your item of choice and point at it (if nothing happens, just keep pointing).
Third - Eventually, the sales guy will ramble something off that is completely incomprehendable. Simply respond with a smile and "Hai". If the sales guy says something else, simply repeat "Hai". For emphasis, you can even say "Hai Hai".
Fourth - Follow the sales guy to the counter and watch him fill out paperwork that reminds you of your last house closing.
Fifth - After he rings up the sale, pay what ever he types into the portable calculator and shows you

Easy, huh? I hate not being able to try to "deal" with the guys. It can be done over here if you know how. I have no know how. Oh well. What I ended up with was a "display" (a.k.a. used) 19" Dell LCD for $160. Higher than I could have gotten one back home a couple days ago, but a real steal here. I'm pleased with it anyway.

Okay, silly post, but what can I say? I'm bored, not tired, and I don't want to watch Cool Runnings on TV with Deana, so I thought I'd blog for a minute.

I hope you all have a great week.

Curtis