A quick update...

The job is going well. More spreadsheet work than I expected, but it is certainly not an all day thing and is forcing me to learn some more areas of Excel, some of the few we did not cover in Professor Canella's modeling classes.

All of my financial aid is confirmed for next year. I very much want to get this done now and get my funds, because I'm not going to be around to handle any problems in person. Let's hope this works out.

I just sent off my final paperwork to Waseda for the fall. The package included my housing forms, funding, and my visa applications. I'm hoping they can turn around the visa certificate before I leave for Asia. Right now it is looking like a close thing. Worst case scenario is I'll have them hold it and enter Japan on a tourist visa, then switch over to a student visa.

Well, I hope that's the worst case scenario anyways.

A scenario arose with housing that could have helped one of my fellow students. He is going to Keio, a different school in Tokyo and his wife is going to go with him. Unfortunately for him Keio does not offer housing for a spouse, so he is going to have to find his own apartment. Waseda, on the other hand, does offer housing for married couples. Had we knows this before accepting our school assignments, we simply could have switched schools.

I'm going to let the head of Student Services know about that as I'm sure it will arise again at some point in the future.

Dave is finally back in town and flush with ca$h from working, so we're headed out to the Porter Exchange for noodles. I have to start weaning myself off of beef and pork and eating more fish instead. I don't want all the Asians thinking I'm a funny-smelling American (I've heard this is true because we eat so much animal fat in our diets.)