Stephen's Meandering Missives

I do tend to ramble sometimes. πŸ˜‰

Notes of my work so far in attempting to train an ML model to convert Japanese text with kanji to full hiragana

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August 2024 NLP Research

I thought I'd summarize some of the research I've been doing into NLP topics recently.

August 2024 Site Migration

Welcome to this new iteration of my personal site.

Validating Rails boolean fields in RSpec

So I've working on a Rails app recently, using RSpec for Test-Driven Development, and I ran into what I think is a bit of a gotcha, so I thought I'd write up a post on the matter.

The case of the glacially slow computer

So, I recently ran into an interesting issue with trying to install Windows 7 64-bit on a PC. This one was quite a puzzler, and so I thought I'd share my experience, with the hopes that it will help someone else who's desperately searching for an answer.

When is a text file not a text file?

When it's in the wrong encoding, apparently.

The case of the invisible bullet

Well, I promised some posts on gotchas I've encountered when making my first game. So here's the first post in that series.

Not quite all fixed yet…

(This was a status update about having not fixed all the broken images yet, which should no longer be the case)

γ‚΅γ‚€γƒˆεΎ©ζ΄»οΌIt lives! πŸ˜„

Well, after certain circumstances outside my control caused my site to go offline, I thought I'd lost it, but I managed to find the backups I'd made last summer.

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McDonald's Japan Texas Burger

So, this year McDonald's in Japan started a new campaign, called "Big America," with a series of burgers themed after U.S. States.

Where has the time gone?

Wow, it's been almost two months since my last post. Sorry about that folks, I got busy. πŸ˜†

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Donburi

Well, I had a donburi meal at a restaurant tonight with the temporary roomate I have for orientation and his friends from SH 4.

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Yoshinoya Beef Bowl

I had gyudon (牛丼, also known as a "beef bowl") yesterday at Yoshinoya. It was heavenly!

Happy Binary Day!

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Tokyo Second Trip - Day 3

Well, here's the overdue next installment of my second Tokyo trip entries. γŠγΎγŸγ›οΌ Sorry to make you wait. πŸ˜…

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Tokyo Second Trip - Day 2

On Monday, the 28th, we decided to figure out exactly where Tokyo Big Sight, the venue for Comiket, was and how to get there via the subways.

Cover Image for Tokyo Second Trip - Day 1

Tokyo Second Trip - Day 1

So I took a second trip to Tokyo recently (the first being some months back for TGS), and was there for more than just one day, this time.

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Yodobashi Camera

So I took a trip to Yodobashi Camera in Umeda yesterday with my friend Taylor.

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Finals coming up

Well, I know the number of posts has been a bit sparse, but I did want to mention that I am still alive and well here in Japan. πŸ˜‰ Finals are coming up this week and next, and I've been very busy with end of the semester stuff lately.

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McChicken in Japan

So, McDonald's here in the Osaka area recently launched the McChicken on their 100 Yen menu.

Lost Generation

Wow, what a poignant video! Truly a great work of art, and I felt I just had to share it. (Click through to watch.)

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Windows 7 and Burger King

Burger King is running a Windows 7 promotion in Japan

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Melon flavor

It just so happens that one of the things I was looking forward to being able to readily find here in Japan was melon flavored soda.

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Studying

This is so very true.

Midterms

I've been busy studying.

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Chocolate bar Engrish

A chocolate bar with an amusing label I found at a store.

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McDonalds in Japan

I've only been to the on-campus McDonald's so far.

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First Kyoto Trip

So, my first Kyoto trip was at the beginning of the month, on September 4th, to be exact.

Gallery

Announcing the (now defunct) Gallery installation I setup along side my WordPress instance.

New Home

Welcome to the new home of my blog. (Note: This was posted when I originally moved from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress instance.)

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Opening Ceremony

So the 2009-2010 school year opening ceremony was Thursday afternoon/evening.

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Busy Week

This week has been quite busy, with orientation meetings and paperwork to complete.

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Arrival

I have arrived in Japan safe and sound!

γ‚ˆγ†γ“γγ†οΌ Welcome!

Here is where I hope to keep my friends, former co-workers, acquaintances, etc. apprised of happenings in my life during my time in Japan and perhaps beyond. πŸ˜‰