3:08 p.m. My google-feeding-me-with-DNS-error situation hasn't improved. The weird thing is, this seem to happen when I'm trying to connect via public wifi in a certain coffee shop. It didn't happen when I tried connecting to public wifi in a subway station or a train station platform.

From this fact, I might be able to assume that a) there is some wifi problem with my iPad mini device or b) there is something wrong with my mobile router, including IP collisions, or c) there is something wrong with the wifi router in that coffee shop. As my mobile router is working fine when it's attached to the office modem/router with a LAN cable and, when I'm using it as public wifi router without the cable in subway stations. Which means I can cross out b).

I will have to try connecting to public wifi network in several other places, and check if I could search using Google, to be sure about what's working and what's not. That's what you call, "isolating the problem," right? Live and learn, that's what they say.

The End

Caterpillar

2:24 p.m. I wished I was in a different world. The sun beat down on me so fiercely this morning, that it made me want to give up everything. The heat is almost unbearable.

The weather gadget on Google News is telling me that it's 36 degrees today. Average human temperature. Well, slightly low, perhaps. I wonder how my friend from Scotland is surviving this heat.

The End

Caterpillar

9:29 p.m. Only 0.5 degrees lower than yesterday, I'm beginning to feel the torment of the chicken meat on skewers, being barbecued over burning coal. It's probably because of the typhoon inching up the western coast of the Korean Peninsula.

As a matter of fact, there's also another one coming right up, and is said to get close to Okinawa and Kyushu by the end of this week. That means we'll have to hold up against this heat for at least another week. Oh, brother.

The End

Caterpillar

3:16 p.m. A while ago, I've come across a message board talking about the best book one has ever read. I've scanned it hoping to find a new book to read, and discovered that some people have suggested "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom as one of the most inspiring books they'd ever read. I remembered seeing the title in the bookshelf at home, so I decided to read it. How lucky had I been!

I've just finished it this morning and, it instantly became one of my favorite books. I've read a lot of self-help books in my struggle to figure out the meaning of my seemingly useless life, but I'd never been satisfied or convinced by any of it. Now I know the reason why.

If you're about to bring that best-seller self-help book to the checker, I'd suggest you put that book down right now. It won't help you a bit. Instead, take "Tuesdays With Morrie" to the counter. It will bring you the answer to your questions; "What is life?" "How can I be happy?" "What is happiness, anyway?" It's a book to keep by your side and re-read it over and over again throughout your life. If there's someone not sure about what to do with his or her life, I'd definitely suggest this book.

The End

Caterpillar

2:50 p.m. It's 36 degrees outside. I cannot think of anything. My brain has stopped functioning.

Water evaporates in just a couple of minutes. I wonder what we're gonna do for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic games in 2020 if it goes on like this every summer? The heat will only do harm to the athletes and the audience. Comeon, Tokyo. We'd better do something. Any ideas?

The End

Caterpillar

4:43 p.m. 37 degrees, according to Google News. How come it's rising?

I've glimpsed a line saying something about London being hit by a heatwave, so I did a bit of searching and learned that they were reaching 30 degrees for the past several days. 30 degrees? You don't call that hot, well, not in Tokyo. I actually long to be in that temperature.

In this terrible heat, I've worked out a way to get to sleep a little less uncomfortably. What you need is a towel and an ice pack. Put the ice pack on your pillow, cover it with a towel and rest your head on the covered ice pack. It'll help you go to sleep. Though the problem is that it won't last till morning.

The End

Caterpillar

1:28 p.m. Erimo Chic has passed away. She was born on the same year as Air Groove or Fabulous Laughin, both great champion mares. In 1997, she won her first and last grade one race, Queen Elizabeth Cup, beating the most favored Dance Partner by a neck.

Erimo Chic was the first horse who has won me a betting ticket, and I still remember the Queen Elizabeth Cup in 1997. At the time, I didn't know the right from the left in the horse racing world, as I'd merely started buying betting tickets a few weeks earlier. But the name Erimo Chic was carved down in my memory. She was the third favored, and because Dance Partner had come in second, I didn't win much. Still I went out for a drink after the race to celebrate my first win. Not to mention I drank all my payout.

Horses end their lives much younger than us humans, so it's nothing strange having to bid farewell to many champion horses while I live. But it's always sad to see them go.

The End

Caterpillar

3:32 p.m. I wish there really was an ATM just like this: Sometimes you just want to say thank you #TDThanksYou

I often draw out money from ATMs as I usually don't carry around mouch money to avoid spending too much. I must feel much better if I'd been thanked instead of being rushed off to take my passbook or the money and leave. For once in my life.

The End

Caterpillar

3:52 p.m. Besides the grade three Kokura Kinen, there's going to be a dirt grade three race, Leaopard Stakes tomorrow. Asia Express, last year's Asahi-hai (grade one race for 2-year-old colts) champion is running, despite his huge loss in the previous Unicorn Stakes, also a grade three in Tokyo dirt 1600m.

Most of us thought Asia Express would sweep the race in Unicorn Stakes, especially after hearing his crew boasting they are more concerned in how they're winning. However, the horse has sank miserably in 12th place instead. Asia Express's competitors tomorrow seems even more lame than the Unicorn Stakes, and I hate to say this but I have a feeling that he might lose yet again. Rather, I can't imagine the horse winning after seeing his poor performance in the previous race. And the race conditions, I think, isn't getting any better.

I'll make sure to watch the race hoping I'm wrong.

The End

Caterpillar

9:39 p.m. Despite my worries, Asia Express has won Leopard Stakes without incident. Well, the horse was in an outer barrier today, thus didn't have to be squashed between other horses, and was able to lead the race into a medium pace in which he can perform best. It also must have been a blessing for him that the track condition was fast due to the rain, because it makes the condition closer to a turf race. This only seems to suggest that Asia Express can do pretty well, or even better on turf than on dirt. I cannot understand why they don't run him on the turf.

Today was the last day of my 30-day challenge by the way, to eat one apple a day. As a result, it didn't cure my pultosis or improve my health condition. Not that I realize particularly. At least, discovered my favorite apple variety. And I enjoyed eating them every day. In fact, if Jonagolds were cheaper, I'd probably keep eating them.

The End

Caterpillar

11:35 p.m. First day of summer vacation, yeah! Though I've wasted the day doing nothing, sigh.

Well actually, I wasn't doing nothing, but well, I didn't do anything worthwhile, that's true. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll get up earlier and visit the family grave.

That's only if it doesn't rain.

The End

Caterpillar

10:33 p.m. It rained. So I didn't visit the family grave. Another day wasted.

It's been drizzling on and off almost all day which means I probably cannot see the Perseids meteor shower. I had missed the Aquarius meteor shower in May, so I was counting on this one but well, too bad.

Also, another sad news has come in that Robin Williams has been found dead in his home in California. Oh, no. Such a gifted actor. Whatever that has driven him to take his own life, I hope he's released from it now. Thanks Robin, for all the wonderful time you shared with us through so many films and characters.

The End

Caterpillar

11:08 p.m. Day 4 of my precious summer vacation is almost over and still haven't done anything. Maybe tomorrow I can get to some cleaning.

I've realized in the past four days though, that when you have so many things you have to do, you just don't know what to do or where to start. It's like having a lot of information. Too much information gets you confused. Too many things to do gets your systems down. At least I've learned something.

The End

Caterpillar

9:44 p.m. It's been drizzling all day again. And tomorrow they say it's going to be extremely hot and sticky. Just when I'm going out.

I'm going out to meet some friends from overseas and I've been looking forward to it for months. But the heat is making me reluctant to get outside. It's probably not such a bad idea though, since the air conditioner in our living/dining has suddenly stopped to operate last night, and we'd probably need to replace it with a new one however, that won't happen for a couple of days as it is Obon (traditional event to visit our ancestors) when most of the nation's business close down.

The End

Caterpillar

10:58 a.m. Leaving the house to meet friends in about half an hour. Very excited and nervous as I'm meeting them for the first time. I've been exchanging e-mail for nearly a year, and we're finally meeting face to face.

Was afraid that I would be daunted by the heat and feel reluctant to go out, but there's some wind blowing in from the south. That brings my spirit up a bit. Let's go and see what happens.

The End

Caterpillar

9:26 p.m. It was both fun and exciting meeting my friends for the first time. We went to Ooedo Onsen and to a karaoke box after that. We sang Livin' On A Prayer and Sekaini Hitotsudake no Hana together which was such a happy experience that reminded me, we can get together and share a happy moment regardless of race, nationality, or cultural differences.

I might have exhausted them with a busy schedule, but I was happy just to share time with English speaking friends. I've long lost confidence in my English and I was afraid I won't even be able to keep company. But this meeting has been such an encouragement and although I was reluctant at first to meet people through the Internet, I am now grateful that I have met these nice people.

The End

Caterpillar

11:31 p.m. Unbelievable. Unbelievable and exhausted.

On the last day of my summer vacation, I was suddenly in action. Perhaps I was encouraged by yesterday's experience. I've been to the family grave, and after I came back I started tackling with my old Macintosh, Power PC 7200/90. Of course I was met with some trouble but it was an exciting surprise when it launched with a Happy Mac after maybe 10 years of blank. I thought I'd cry when I saw all those desktop icons.

The reason I made up my mind to try launching my old computer is because I decided to finally part with it and so I needed to take out the data from its hard drive. I thought I might be able to do that via home network, though things weren't so easy when you're dealing with a 20-year-old mac on one end and a 3 or 4-year-old windows machine on the other. Am exhausted and sticky with sweat after struggling with 2 machines, unable to figure out how to accomplish my mission. And work starts tomorrow.

The End

Caterpillar

1:33 p.m. Work has started and once again I'm facing a list of things to do.

But today, I feel a slightly different than usual. Let's not be driven by what I have to do, but try doing the things I can. I realize I'm seeing things in a slightly different way, and it's as though I'm starting a new life. Although this might not last for long, I wish to think this way for as long as I can.

And while I still have faith, I'll go searching for ways to suck out data from my old Macintosh.

The End

Caterpillar

2:28 p.m. New air conditioner has arrived.

Can't tell how thankful I was when I got home last night. Ahhhh, cool air. I can survive the heat with a fan while I'm in my room doing nothing, but I would appreciate it if there's an air-conditioned room where I can cool off, at least while I'm eating.

The End

Caterpillar

1:55 p.m. This heat is driving me insane.

And it's not just hot in Tokyo you know, it's the humidity that's making it unbearable. In western countries it feels a little better because the air is more dry. That makes you feel the temperature lower than it actually is. But when the humidity is high, things will be on the contrary. You feel it hotter than the temperature.

I've read the news about Taiki Blizzard, a mile champion horse, passing away in Hokkaido a while ago. No wonder considering his age and this heat. It must be hot even in Hokkaido where the latitude is equivalent to that of Vladivostok or Marseille.

The End

Caterpillar

2:19 p.m. It's 21 degrees in New York, 20 degrees in Paris, 17 degrees in London, 30 degrees in Shang-hai, 28 degrees in Singapore, 26 degrees in Seoul, while we're having another 34 degrees in Tokyo. I wonder how much longer this will last.

I needed to prepare some U.S. coins for my client and although I had some leftovers from New York which included almost all coinage, but I didn't have a nickel. They didn't handle coins at the exchange shops and banks, so I've been to a ticket broker in hopes to find one. To my regret, they didn't have any in stock either and I couldn't obtain a single nickel.

Unfortunately, I have no plans to travel to the U.S. in the near future, so the only way to get a nickel probably is either to catch an American or someone who's just been back from the U.S., and ask for an exchange. The thing is, I can't find anyone around.

The End

Caterpillar

1:14 p.m. A package has just been delivered by Sagawa Express. It says "WINE" in Katakana written with red marker!

Looks like Cow's brother has sent it from Katsunuma, Yamanashi, a place famous for brewing domestic wine. Just opened the box to find three bottles neatly packed up in separate boxes.

So when, when are we opening them?

The End

Caterpillar

2:25 p.m. Terribly sleepy.

It's been a busy and hot week after my summer vacation. Perhaps it became slightly cooler than yesterday, I've overslept and barely made it to my first meeting today.

I've seen somebody say on TV last night, that the ideal sleeping hours for Japanese is 7 hours a day, although most people, especially working people are not sleeping that much. My sleeping hours this week has been 5 to 6 hours average, so am not sleeping enough.

Accoding to that TV program, your brain gets old ten times faster when you don't sleep enough. That means my brain is probaly much older than it should be. But you never know if this information is true or not. I don't fully trust what the media say.

The End

Caterpillar

1:04 a.m. It's already Monday. I've enjoyed watching Sapporo Kinen which was going to be the last race in Japan for bothe Gold Ship and Harp Star, before they flew to France for l' Arc de Triomphe. But thtink I'll write about that tomorrow as it's getting late.

Another exhausting Sunday without success on my old Mac PowerPC. I tried to share files via its web server function and through local network, however, both attempts ended in a failure. Possibly because it didn't have web file sharing installed. I tried accessing online storage services, but discovered to my dismay, that this old machine could not even display the website home page. I even tried attaching files and sending it to my Windows machine, though that didn't work either, thanks to the ssl verification. I'll take one thing at at a time and try to come up with a different solution hopefully during this week, or at least, before the G1 series begin.

The End

Caterpillar

2:17 p.m. Sapporo Kinen was an interesting race in a while. It was a good race in the sense that it was run in a tight pace, giving both Harp Star and Gold Ship to experience some stimulation before the big race coming up.

Jockey Kawada rode Harp Star in an ideal way. True the tight pace was an advantage, he started to move up before the third corner, and kept sweeping up the outside. That's how Deep Impact's sons and daughters run best. The key is to not get them squashed inside. Though I heard later that Harp Star wasn't in such a good shape, so am a bit worried that she might upset her condition.

Sapporo Kinen also served as an ideal step race for Gold Ship, too. I wasn't so surprised when he dropped to the last at the start, as the distance was shortened from the previous 2200m. It was natural that he'd do that. What surprised me was how Nori Yokoyama had kept the horse focused on the race. He gave a whack on the horse's sholder to remind him not to give up the race, when they were halfway through the backstretch. After Gold Ship has been reminded, the horse charged on powerfully and kept fighting after he caught Harp Star. The gap at the wire was for the weight and the difference of position between Harp Star.

Additionally, Gold Ship probably performs better after a close race. As I've said before, the results of this race does not matter as the true goal is the Arc. Really, I couldn't have hoped for a better prep race.

The End

Caterpillar

3:41 p.m. It started pouring just about five minutes ago. Now the rain is nearly stopping. Thought we're going to have some rain in a while, but perhaps it's going to go on like this throughout the day. Strange weather.

Haven't had much time to come up with solutions for sucking out data from my old Mac hard disk drive. There still might be a few options, such as linking the Mac to my Windows machine with a cross cable, or connecting the SCSI hard disk drive directly to my lap-top either with some cable or from a hard disk case. I don't want to spend so much money, so the cross cable idea seems to be practical. Though I'm not really sure if that works. I mean, am I supposed to plug the cable in the Mac's Ethernet socket or somewhere else? I've been wanting to find that out but in vain.

The End

Caterpillar

2:38 p.m. Another tragedy has happened in Judo World Championship 2014. Judo World Championship 2014 Men's 60kg Class Semifinal

In the semifinal of the men's 60kg class, Naohisa Takato was taken the lead in the beginning by Beslan Mudranov with a yuko. Later, Takato turned over the match with a waza-ari, though the point was quashed and replaced by a yuko. At this point, Takato was levelled with Mudranov. In the later half of the match, Takato scored a yuko but again, this point was overruled as no points. Finally, the main judge has charged Takato a penalty shido, presumably thinking (or not) that Takato has deliberately got off the tatami. Eventually, the defending champion lost the match by a shido.

The judo judgings have always been incomprehensible as much as that of figure skating. And I think the athletes should deserve a plausible explanation of what has happened behind the scenes, and a rectification and appology and if necessary. Yes, it really makes me sick to see such absurdity in an international competition.

The End

Caterpillar

5:38 p.m. Meantime I was met with a tragedy at home.

Our water heating system has been behaving strangely for a few weeks now, and when I got home last night I was told not to use hot water because the heating system had broken down. According to JoOusama, the bath water didn't come out when she tried to fill the tub (in a while) yesterday, and she called up some repairing company. However, after close examination, it transpired that the problem was not just caused by the heating system, but also by a leak, possibly leaks in the hot water tube. I've been hearing some running water noises for some weeks now, whenever I used the hot water taps and have been wondering what it was. So that was it.

Due to the banning of hot water taps, I'll have to drop by a Sento on my way home. It will cost me some money and time, though I wouldn't mind that since I enjoy big tubs. But I'm wondering what is going to break down next, the washing machine or the fridge.

The End

Caterpillar

2:24 p.m. The repairmen have done a great job and hot water was already available when I got home yesterday.

It took them a couple of hours but eventually, the repairmen have located the leak (thank god there was only one), which turned out to be a pinhole, cut out the ruined part of the water pipe, replaced it with a new pipe, and burned the edges to connect it with the original pipe.

I am grateful for what these men have done in just a day, and in such drizzly weather, but I still enjoyed the big tub at the Sento. Wish I could go there every day. If only, the prices were more cheaper.

The End

Caterpillar

2:19 p.m. I was half dozing writing this Murmur yesteday afternoon, when a Google street view car passed by.

Of course I've heard of it, but it was actually my first time seeing one with my own eyes, and it kind of shook me out of my sleepiness. Since I'd seen a street view car pass by, I'll probably be able to see myself dozing from the open office doors on Google Street Map in say, a couple of months.

The End

Caterpillar

2:58 a.m. Monday, actually.

Have spent more than half the night just to learn that my old Mac is virtually unaccessible from my Windows lap-top. What a waste of time. I'm going to sleep. I got work tomorrow.

The End

Caterpillar