So since it was Equinox Day, and therefore no one was going into the office today, I slept in until about ten, and then got up since Venus decided she was hungry. For a cuddly dog, she can still squirm a whole lot at night!

Anyway, she's cute, so she gets away with it ;) We went to make breakfast, and I discovered that 'peanut cream' here, is really not the same as peanut butter, which is what I was expecting. It's really hard to describe, and actually tastes fine when under jam, but the closest I can come up to as a comparison is that its literally like peanut butter - so if you ground in a bunch of peanuts and sugar with butter this is what you might end up with. It doesn't have the slightly salty stick to the roof of your mouth taste that's essential in PB&J! Maybe I should try making it into PB cookies, I bet it would be good in there!

Anyway, I took advantage of a day off when Mom wasn't at work, and called home to catch up, so we had a good chat for just over an hour, about anything and everything, as usual...now if only her article selling would rub off on me ;).

After that I spent most of the afternoon working on my next script for the TOEIC podcast... It was about 'cool biz' which is a government campaign to lower greenhouse gas emissions by raising the temperature of offices in the summer (keeping the AC to a lower level). In exchange, employees are encouraged to leave the tie and jacket at home, and wear just a dress shirt. This seems to be occurring to mixed reviews as some people feel awkward or embarrassed without their suits. Incidentally, the temperature the offices are being set at? 28C/84F... that's sauna-tastic!

I also spent a couple of hours doing proof reading for BAB - I managed to get almost everything read that I had to, and can make the changes tomorrow. Since I got my Weekender stuff basically out of the way already it should be fine, not a major time emergency...yet! This whole holiday in the middle of the week thing is very bizarre though... I got very excited thinking there should be a new metpod out tonight, and then freaked out that I hadn't emailed my end of the week report to the kids' dad. None of which, of course, happens until tomorrow!

Had a chance to take Venus for a walk, and finished my This American Life podcast on the way (so great!), before meeting Sarah in Omotesando. We were originally going to go out with some of her friends and then decided to bail and do our own thing, which ended up being dinner @ . Pizza Express (that's the British site, but all about the same I'd guess). That was one of the first places I went with Peter since I got here, actually maybe one of the first times on the train and everything as well, I remember him trying to explain to me where that big GAP is... Actually, I think I randomly went to Yebisu Garden Place first, and then met him there...I'm pretty sure I tried to get on a JR train with a metro ticket!

Anyway, we had a nice dinner up there, and then when I got back, Peter and Hitomi were home from Hawaii. They were actually given the option to stay again (or go to another island for a couple of days), but they figured that was pushing their luck a little bit, so they decided to make their way back here ;). Sounds like they had a nice trip! We spent a bit of time catching up (and eating imported cereal, very exciting!), before they both crashed after their long trip. Since I have to be up in 7 hours, I'll be heading to bed fairly soon as well I should think...

nite!
D