Reviews and More

I have a couple of friends who live in Texas and they absolutely rave about that state. They love the weather, the schools, the job market, and the way that big cities and vast rural expanses are both within reach. Whenever I talk to them, they make Texas sound like such an ideal place to live that I invariably end up checking out potential homes and jobs.

Today I checked out Jim Olenbush’s Austin real estate market database and was completely impressed not only by the wealth of information presented, but also by the various search parameters that I could specify in order to pinpoint the best properties. Unlike other real estate databases that run searches just by price range, Mr. Olenbush’s database takes the following into consideration: property type, city, county, school district, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, garage space, acreage, and more.

After inputting all the criteria I wanted, I was then able to view detailed search results that included photos and additional information, such as the tax amount from the previous year, square footage, and exterior features of the home.

Overall, I found the database on JimOlenbush.com to be one of the most comprehensive that I’ve ever come across. It’s very easy to search through the thousands of property listings that Mr. Olenbush has on his site, so if you’re thinking of relocating to Austin, you simply must check out JimOlenbush.com first.

I learned of the Foreign Buyers’ Club (FBC) way back in 2001 when I was living in Japan for the first time. Like most Westerners, I was completely assailed by culture shock upon arriving in Japan, and this pervaded nearly every aspect of my life, including my eating habits. Prior to moving to Japan, I knew I things wouldn’t be the same as in the U.S., but I didn’t quite realize what I was in for.

I am a picky eater to begin with, so not being able to buy my favorite foods really began to take a toll on me. I checked out every grocery store in a 20-mile radius (that’s not an exaggeration) to see what I had to choose from, but they all had the same limited selection. Finally, I asked some other Westerners for help, and they pointed me to FBC.

FBC has an extensive list of items that can be purchased and shipped directly from the U.S. There are a couple of drawbacks to the system, but believe me, when you’re living in a foreign country and want food from home, these drawbacks hardly figure into the equation! First of all, most of the items in the General Store catalog must be purchased in bulk. So for example, you can’t just get one box of Cheerios (or whatever), you have to get 12. That might be fine for a family, but it’s very difficult for a single person to eat all that food in a reasonable amount of time.

A second drawback is that when single items are offered, they usually are a lot more expensive than you’d normally expect to pay. Yes, I realize the FBC needs to make a profit, so I can give them some leeway there. But some of the prices are so high that I simply can’t bring myself to take the plunge.

Other than those two points, the FBC can be a God-send for people who crave a few comforts from home. As I said above, the selection is rather extensive, and if you want an item that’s not in the catalog, you can send in a request to have it added! I actually did that once and my item was approved (Stove-Top Stuffing, in case you were wondering). Plus, the FBC’s shipping fees are UNBEATABLE: ¥490 for orders up to ¥10,000; ¥990 for orders up to ¥30,000; and free shipping for orders over ¥30,000! It takes 30 days for General Store orders to arrive, but for those prices, who could complain?

The FBC also has a limited selection of items available at their Kobe store location. This is called The Deli, and items from there ship to anywhere on the main island in 5 days or less for ¥490.

Overall, the FBC is a fantastic option for Westerners living in Japan. If you want some comfort food from home, this is the website to use. I highly recommend it!

Even though it’s the middle of February and still freezing cold outside, I’m already trying to look for a new swimsuit for summer. In addition to our annual trips to the beach, this year we’re also going to be vacationing in either Okinawa, Japan or Guam in June, so I definitely need to find something great to wear before that.

Of course since we’re still out of season, my best chance of finding women swimwear at this time of year is by shopping online. I checked out a couple of sites, but didn’t see anything really interesting until I visited Swimsuits For All. I’m a one-piece girl all the way, and I have to say that I was pretty happy to see such a wide selection of colors and styles on the Swimsuits For All website. There’s no way I’d find that many choices at a traditional store because those all seem to favor bikinis, which I would never wear. Plus, I thought the prices at Swimsuits For All were very competitive, so I might even have money left over to buy a cover-up or sarong as well.

In my opinion it’s never too early to start thinking about the beach! I can’t wait for this deep-freeze to end so I can enjoy the sun and waves once again — hopefully in a brand-new swimsuit this year!

Last night’s CSI episode was called “Monster in the Box,” and in it the writers manage to extend the miniature model murder mystery for at least another week.

The show begins with Gil finally opening the huge package on his desk that has been sitting there since the day he left for his sabbatical. Once he sees that it contains yet another miniature model, he rushes off to alert the rest of the team. While inspecting the details left by the killer, Gil discovers that a newspaper in the scene is dated two days from the current time. That means there’s still a chance to save the intended victim’s life, so the CSIs and police officers kick into high gear to find the woman.

Using other clues in the miniature scene (mainly takeout delivery maps), Grissom is able to find an approximate location of the woman’s apartment. Everyone then sets out on foot to try to identify the building based on what the model looks like. They eventually do find the right place and are relieved to see that the woman in question is still alive.

From there, Sophia sets up an all-day watch with a police officer standing in place of Barbara Tallman, the intended victim. Even though the cops watch the scene for hours on end and are 100 percent sure that no one enters the apartment, the police officer ends up dead. The subsequent investigation shows that the killer had set up a timing device in the fireplace that closed the flue and prevented carbon monoxide from escaping, thereby poisoning the victim to death.

Later on, the CSI team receives another call. This time, Barbara Tallman really did die, so there’s another investigation to go through. It would be far too tedious to repeat all the details here, so I’ll just give the end result. The real miniature murderer is still at large, and Barbara was killed by her brother as more of an assisted suicide than anything else. She had been suffering from Parkinson’s and they figured it would be an easy way to put an end to the situation while blaming someone else. It didn’t work, though, as the CSIs realize what happened.

My Reaction: Although this was a pretty good episode in and of itself, I’m not exactly thrilled that the “mystery” continues. Plus, I get the distinct feeling that the writers are setting Hodges up as a prime suspect for the actual murders (or maybe I’m just reading too much into certain details) and I wouldn’t like that “twist” at all.

I think I liked this episode because it was so different from typical CSI eps. Most of the time, they’re working on a murder after the fact, so there’s usually not a lot of tension involved. But in “Monster in the Box”, they were trying to prevent one, and my eyes were positively riveted to the screen as I tried to figure out how the killer would manage to pull this one off with everyone watching.

Well, all I can say is that I hope this particular storyline ends soon. I never watch previews, so I don’t know what next week will bring, but I hope there’s closure here. It’s the end of February sweeps, so there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll get my wish!

My husband and I have made a commitment to spruce up our home this year, and part of that commitment involves brightening up our plain walls by hanging more framed photos and prints. I’ve been looking for some unique and affordable decorating ideas for some time now, and was pleasantly surprised to discover something called a “photo canvas.” I’d never heard of this before, but after reading about it on the Maine Coast Canvas website, I think it sounds like a wonderful idea!

What companies like Maine Coast Canvas do is transfer your original photographs (digital or film) onto canvas in order to turn them into true pieces of art. There are various techniques by which these transfers can be accomplished, and the results are highly dependent on which technique you choose.

As I said before, all of this was completely new to me, so I was happy that Maine Coast Canvas provided such in-depth information about the process and quality sample images of their work, thereby allowing me to see exactly what the finished products tend to look like.

I have to say that I’m thoroughly intrigued by these canvas prints and am seriously looking into getting something like this done! My family has never had a formal portrait taken, but we have some very nice group pictures from Christmas and other gatherings. I think it would be great to have one of these photos transferred to a large canvas so it could be displayed prominently in our home.

If I go through with this, I’ll let you know how it turns out. And if you’re interested in doing something like this for your favorite photos, check out Maine Coast Canvas today!

Last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy was Part 2 of a special three-part story arc centered around a ferry boat disaster. We pretty much pick up where we left off last week, so I’ll just give a quick recap of what happened, and then jump into my reactions. By the way, this episode was called “Drowning on Dry Land.”

• Izzie didn’t give up on the guy trapped under the car. She called Chief Webber and told him about the situation. He then advised her on what she needed to do: drill a couple of holes through the guy’s skull (right there in the field) to relieve the pressure on his brain. She manages to get it done, and when they arrive back at the hospital, the chief tells her to scrub in on the surgery because she’s no longer on probation.
• Karev still had to deal with anxious family members waiting for answers about their loved ones. He wasn’t getting timely updates from the outside world so he took matters into his own hands by going around and photographing all the unidentified patients in the operating rooms and the morgue, then posting the photos on a bulletin board in the clinic waiting room.
• George continues frantically looking for the missing son of Bailey’s patient. He spends most of the episode agonizing over the kid until he finally sees some promising info on the surgical board. It turned out that Callie had been operating on the kid the whole time.
• Meredith, of course, was knocked into the water at the end of the last episode. She seemed to be in there for an extremely long time before the non-talking girl led Derek to the spot. Shepherd jumps into the water to drag Meredith out, then performs CPR nonstop until they arrive at the hospital. Once there, the chief and Bailey take over and kick Derek out of the room. Later, Addison and Burke also go in to lend a hand
• While everyone works on Meredith, Sloane waits in the hall with Derek and squeezes his arm in a show of support. The interns also gather just outside the double doors leading to Meredith’s room. George freaks out and is afraid that Meredith is going to die, so Izzie launches into a speech about how they just have to believe that their friend will pull through.
• The final scene shows Meredith sitting up in what’s clearly a dream world only to see Kyle (from the bomb squad episode) and Denny in the room with her. She asks, “Am I dead?” and the other two nod.

My Reaction: I thought the first half of the episode was pretty boring. For example, did we really need all those scenes of George wandering around looking for that kid? Couldn’t they make the speechless girl say one damn word?? She looks like she belongs in a Stephen King movie, not an episode of GA. And while I know Izzie’s procedure out in the field was supposed to be Tense! and Exciting!, I just found it gross and unwatchable.

The episode did pick up when Derek was in the ambulance with Meredith. My God, she looked B-L-U-E and I have no idea how they’re going to make her survive this. Because y’all know she’s gonna survive, right? It is called Grey’s Anatomy, after all.

So we can pretty confidently eliminate death as the outcome of this accident, which leaves us with two alternatives. A)She survives with no lingering effects; and B)She survives but has brain damage or needs physical therapy, etc.

I don’t read spoilers, so I have no idea which way the writers are going to go with this, but I can tell you right now that I don’t like either option. On the one hand, Meredith was under water for so long and she has been unconscious for so long that no one’s going to believe it if she just wakes up and is fine. On the other hand, if I have to sit through stupid physical therapy scenes where she has to re-learn how to eat, talk, and wipe her ass, then I’m going to lose patience pretty quickly. If the writers throw in amnesia for good measure, who knows what I’ll do!!

Anyway, I thought “Drowning on Dry Land” made last week’s episode seem a lot better and more coherent. Let’s hope that Part 3 wraps things up quickly and neatly.