David Chart's Blog

Author: David Chart

  • New Computer

    I have a new computer. Specifically, I have one of the new metallic iMacs from Apple, the 20″ one. (Wait long enough, and that link will point to the newer versions, but for now, it’s the one I have.) It arrived Tuesday morning. It’s really nice. Big, bright, clear screen, really fast processor (2.4GHz), enormous…

  • Clinically Speaking

    Another clinic visit, another chance to spend twenty minutes listening to Yudetamago’s heartbeat (which is fun, especially as she was being lively and moving round), and more blurry ultrasound pictures which we are assured are a face. But no sign that she’s getting ready to be born yet. I think she might need a bit…

  • Ghouls

    Ghouls is a book for the World of Darkness, specifically for Vampire: the Requiem. It concerns humans who are given vampire blood to drink. They become addicted to the blood and, fairly quickly, come to regard the vampire supplying it as the most important being in their world. The blood also gives them access to…

  • Once More Unto the Clinic, My Friends

    We had another obstetrician’s appointment this morning, so we walked over, because Yuriko needs the exercise. One of things she was told during the appointment was that she needed even more exercise, so I will have to encourage her more strongly to get out and walk over the next few weeks. On the whole, things…

  • Koshien

    High school baseball is really, really popular in Japan. It’s not just that lots of boys play it, although that’s certainly true; the annual national competitions are televised live, and are often the main news items while they are happening. There are two, one in spring and one in summer, and the summer one is,…

  • Caring for Your Baby and Young Child

    Or, as I like to think of it, “Paranoid Parents’ Problem Primer”. Seven hundred pages of things that could go horribly wrong with your child. OK, it’s not quite as bad as that. The first chapters are all about normal development, and thus much less paranoia-inducing. They do talk about the things that can go…

  • Back to the Clinic

    We were at the clinic again today, for the “Final Period Check-up”, so we must be entering the final stretch. This involved a blood test, to make sure that Yuriko isn’t anaemic, and the non-stress test. The non-stress test involves recording the pressure in the womb and the baby’s heartbeat for twenty minutes, to make…

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    I ordered this book from Amazon Japan, and it arrived on the day of release. The packaging had a sticker on saying “Deliver after 8:01 am on July 21st”, so that it would be after midnight London time, but it didn’t reach me until about 1pm. This is clearly discrimination. I did still manage to…

  • Still Warm

    Yesterday, the highest recorded temperatures reached 40.9 degrees, in two places; that’s the highest temperature ever recorded in Japan. Today seems, to me at least, to have been a bit cooler, although maybe I’m just getting used to it. Maybe tomorrow morning the news will tell us that it reached 41 today. The news this…

  • It’s a Bit Warm

    The first item of news on the morning TV show this morning was about the weather. Temperatures in the Kanto area (around Tokyo) reached 40 degrees Centigrade (that’s about 104 Farenheit) yesterday, and were predicted to be similar today. Yesterday saw the seventh highest temperature recorded in Japan since records began. It is, indeed, a…