cat /proc/claus | java

For some reason, Murphy has been particularly evil to me these last two weeks. First, I lost my cellphone (that is why my cellphone number changed). Next, Delta Airlines misplaces my bags during my flight to Atlanta, and I go two days with only one set of clothing. And today, when I finally arrive back at my lab after the week-long trip, the HD on my Desktop crashed - and with the HD crash it seems I have lost all the .tex files from my work in 2007 - including my master thesis (I have PDF backups, though :-/).

This really sucks, I hope my Karma is negative enough by now that I’ll start to see some good luck coming the following weeks.

For those who did not get an e-mail from me: I changed my mobile phone address! Mail me so I can send you the new phone number, okay?

1. Where did you go Sky Diving?

I went skydiving in Fujioka, Tochigi prefecture, by Advanced Air Sports Inc. At their webpage, you can get all information needed about how to make a reservation, payment, how to get there, testimonials from other clients etc.

2. Is it expensive?

It costed around 25.000 yenes (250 dollars), 38000 yenes with the recording. Seems expensive, but a quick search will show that the prices are pretty much the same worldwide.

3. Weren’t you scared? Isn’t it scary?

Actually, I am quite afraid of heights. I feel kind of funny when standing near windows in tall buildings. In the helicopter, while it was going up in the air I was quite afraid.

That said, the jump itself was surprisingly non-scary. After you jump out of the helicopter, you completely lose the sensation of “fall”. The ground is so far away that it doesn’t move, so you feel you are floating in the air.

So no, it is not scary at all.

4. Isn’t it dangerous?

Not really. In your first time, you have to jump together with an instructor (Tandem jump). You are linked to the instructor in 7 different points in your uniform, so there is no danger of falling from him.

Also the instructors themselves have more than a thousand jumps in experience. So no, not dangerous at all.

5. Was it worth it?

Hell yes!

6. How does it feel?


Like I said before, you don’t actually feel you are falling. It seems like if you were still in the air. You feel a very strong wind current all over your body, similar to what you feel when you stick our arm out a window of a fast moving car.

The most impressive thing is the sound of wind rushing past your ears. It feels great.

7. Are you going to do it again?

I hope so! I don’t want to do just another “experimental” jump, so if/when I do it again, I want to actually go for the 7 jump course which is needed to take the certificate for solo jumps. However, that is too expensive to do right now.

Ok, the title is horrible, but that is actual name of a exhibit we saw in Shibuya today. A number of famous places in the world were reproducing using Lego pieces. The reproductions were actually very well done, and if the place were a little less crowded, I feel I could spend hours staring at some of those.

My only wish is that there were MORE models :-).

Marilia put some pictures in her Picasa repository. Make sure to check them out!

Recently, Marilia told me I was smelling cigarette smoke. It is that kind of thing that, while you absolutely can’t notice before someone point it out to you, after they do you can’t take your head from it.

So, in fact, my coat and my shirt were smelling strongly of cigarette. And that is the mystery:

I don’t smoke, no one in my laboratory smoke. When I go to a Cafe to study, I always sit in the non-smoking area. My RPG partners don’t smoke. How the hell my coat got infested by that strong cigarette smell?

Hmmm… :-/