こんしゅうのしゅまつ

おととい、ぼくは　じゅじごろ　おきました。　じゅじよんじゅっぷん　にほんごの　じゅぎょうが　ありました、　そして　きんよびの　ひる　ねました。　　きんよびの　ばん、　ノートの　りょで　パーチイを　しました。 ごぜん　さんじごろ　ねました。　きのう、　じゅいちじはんに　おきました　（はやいですね？）。 じゅにじごろ　ぼくは　ひるごはんを　たべました。　チキンの　サンドを　たべました。 ろくじ、　ぼくは　バイトが　ありました。　そして、　いぎりすの　へやで　ええがを　みました。　じゅにじ　アパトで　パーチイを　しました。　ごぜん　よんじごろ　ピザを　たべました。　　きょう、　じゅにじはんに　おきました。　NDHで　ひるごはんを　たべました　そして　にほんごの　しゅくだいを　しました。　あした　ユニットテストが　あります。　だから、　ぼくは　いま　ねます。

In the process of slaking my insufferable thirst for quality music, I am subjecting my ears to the filth that these are capable of spewing forth. As such, I've decided to take a leap of faith and leave the cave: I'm buying my first set of cans. Granted, they're not exactly an audiophile's dream, but it's the first step in a long journey. In any case, I can barely contain my excitement for Armin van Buuren's arrival in Chicago on Oct. 9th.

listening to:

NTT Docomo

It looks like one of Japan's most popular cell phone service providers, NTT Docomo, is looking to expand the services they offer in the US. As a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, they would use existing infrastructure, most likely that of AT&T or T-Mobile. Many hope that NTT Docomo will pick up the iPhone in the US and offer much more reasonable rates.

After doing a bit of research, I was somewhat surprised to see that Japan mostly uses CDMA technology in lieu of GSM. Basically, for those studying abroad, don't expect to be able to pop a sim card into your quad-band BlackBerry and be ready to go. You'll have to buy a pay-as-you-go phone once you get there. As you can see here, SoftBank's offerings in terms of pay-as-you-go phones are pretty weak, but hopefully that means they'll be reasonably priced...However, considering it's quite difficult (at least from what I've read) for non-citizens to get phones, I'm sure ND's study abroad program has something worked out already.