I almost used “Stick Creap will give you a splendid time!” as my blog title, but I think I wouldn’t have been able to link to a photo of the powder creamer. 

In short: another longish drive, this time north into Ibaraki, home of natto (straight! senbei! hello kitty senbei! dried! rounded!), to give another demonstration, this time a near impossible feat of finding a tiny sample (smaller than the video resolution) on a large substrate and measuring a step height that, if found, would barely be visible through the inherent noise of the large scan instrument.  Of course we failed, but the customer understood; the measurements we made were actually very good (except for electrical noise, which this university seems to suffer from, I had that same problem at another customer at the same university; and except for not finding the step he wanted to see) and we gained enough confidence that he should send us a sample that we can measure in more controlled conditions back in Switzerland.  I used the image gallery on our homepage for the first time, and once I know which samples are where it’ll be invaluable. 

On the way there we stopped for “shogayaki,” thin pork strips fried in a ginger sauce, which apparently belongs to the routine of driving north.  I enjoyed it; my partner thought it a bit greasy.  As you can imagine, we again talked about all manner of things, how he and his brother never got along, how Janet and I met at church and that to him sounded romantic – a godsend – which I didn’t deny, but I did add that hanging out and drinking coffee is an integral part of church and what makes it a community (and more likely for a girl to meet a guy). 

When we were all done with our tasks at the university, he turned the ignition with a lusty “Let’s Go desu!” which I find neat because roughly translated that means “It’s Let’s Go!”  And go we did, a return drive mercifully without rain, and with me getting drowsy again.  Is it the car, or is late afternoon drowsiness simply the most persistent feature of jetlag when flying east?  I have no trouble getting up, but plenty of trouble staying awake around 16:00…

After some prepping for tomorrow I walked home from the office and got a good Japanese dinner of amaebi (ah-mah-ay-bee, sweet shrimp) sashimi, scallops with one half of the shell removed and baked in a mushroom-and-mayonaise covering (yes, it’s greasy, but good), baked tuna vertebra (or some such part), and potato baked in cheese, my backup in case my Japanese had led me to order something undesirable.  I decided to have my first ever gin and tonic in this Japanese restaurant, to good effect.  Stuffed, I repaired to my room, talked with Janet for about an hour, took care of work e-mails, and cranked out this blog.  Time for bed.