A big shout out to the Chicago MOTly Crew! I had a great time again this year.

One really important last minute change to my schedule prevented me from driving to the Dragon with my CMMC friends. No problem. Gota have my cake and eat it too So I booked a flight for Friday afternoon from Chicago to Atlanta and around 9pm I was in my Flexcar (a brnad new MINI Cooper Cabrio) headed for Fontana Village.

I really liked the whole Flexcar experience. After a background check, Flexcar sends you an card with an RFID chip embedded in it. It’s the key that unlocks any Flexcar!

The coolest best part about Flexcar is that gas and full insurance are included in the price of the rental. If you run below a 1/4 tank and fill it up, there is a gas card in the glove box for you to use. They’ll even deduct a small amount from your bill as because it was an inconvenience to
you

All in all, if I’m visiting a city with Flexcar, I’ll look them up first. Chances are I won’t need a call the whole time I there.

I’ve enjoyed this week what I’d consider some of my most memorable meals. It’s all bitter sweet in a way; I return back home next week.

Well maybe not that widespread – only 3 have caught fire with a handful of others only going up in smoke.

If you’ve been to Japan, there’s a good chance that you’ve experienced the wonders of Japanese automatic wash and dry toilets. Yes, toilets with automatic seat covers, heated seating surfaces, warm water, fans, music… and probably a dozen other things I’ll never know about because I can’t read the Japanese on the Saab like array of buttons and dials attached to the toilet.

So I was a little surprised (and perhaps worried??) when I saw on local Tokyo news tonight that 180,000 warm water-spraying toilets were being recalled. Yikes! A Toto spokesperson is quoted as saying that, “fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries.” That’s a good thing, as I’d hate to explain to friends that I suffered burns and injuries while sitting on my toilet!

Ok… so I should have taken the picture before I started eating! This shop is right around the block from my apartment.

The shop is located here.

One of the many hidden gems located throughout Tokyo.

It’s always good to have one with you on the road! For some reason I can’t recall, I think these charms have to replaced each year. Not too sure on that.

Picked it up the other day at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

With more than 100 million mobile phone subscriptions in Japan, I’m always surprised by the number of pay phones throughout Tokyo. In Chicago (and probably many other parts of the US) it’s increasingly more difficult to find a pay phone.