I was woken up by the phone. I was very surprised when Brett said it was after 2.00! The curtains in the hotel do a FANTASTIC job, because it was pitch black in the room! So I showered and went downstairs for some “breakfast”. I bumped in to Ange in the elevator, who took one look at my face, laughed, and hid her head in her hands. Mikiko was downstairs talking to Brett and her reaction was much the same. Surprisingly I think I looked worse than I felt!
After getting some food, we decided to go to Akihabara in the afternoon. So we locked in to talk about 4.30 and plan that. Back in the room I sent a couple of emails, but then had to lay down for a while. Brett called about 4.15 which woke me up again, and it was off to Akihabara.
As the afternoon progressed, I started to sober up, and the hangover kicked in. So I was getting worse rather than better. We found a store that sold lots of second hand mobile phones and there were a couple in particular that would make good Datascore Remotes. The fact that they were ~$60AU each made them even more enticing! So we bought a couple to test.
We went and had a drink in “Pinky’s Place” – one of the…how can I describe it….”themed coffee shops”. It was all quite innocent, but to us Westerners, the girls were dressed quite provocatively. We didn’t know what to expect going in there, and they spoke pretty much no English so it was difficult. But we’ve experienced it now.
Walking back to the train station, Brett got a call from Mark. They had just finished a 4 hour meeting which had driven them insane (apparently). The good news…they want Datascore! They will be the first paying customers in Japan. The “let’s make life difficult” news – they want it *this trip*. Which basically means install Monday morning before flying out Monday evening. Doesn’t leave much room for training, but this just re-affirmed the importance of me coming back to Japan and increasing Datascore’s presence here. This was getting quite overwhelming, but like any good Aussie, we were there to go with the flow. So while we were in Akihabara we bought a W500 tablet, laptop, wireless router, and looked for a TV bracket (unsuccessfully). We got back to the hotel at 8.45, and bumped in to the others in the lift. So we got a brief update, and decided to meet at 9.15 for dinner.
Back to the “Code Cave” – it was tidy, but now cluttered again, as I had to get things going. The priority was getting any Windows updates installed, and configuring, the W500 and the laptop, as this can take hours. So I got that as underway as I could, and joined the guys about 9.25 for dinner. We ate at a little restaurant that was part of the hotel, which was another great meal. Brett, Mikiko, Jack and I shared a table (and food), while the others shared amongst themselves (it gets difficult sharing food with 10 people, which our numbers reached as Ange had a couple of friends come and join us). Our dinner consisted of a grill in the middle of the table, and full chest sized bibs, but it wasn’t as messy as I was expecting.
Not long after finishing eating, we had a “last drinks” call. This was bizzar – it was 10.30pm on a Saturday night, and they didn’t want to keep serving us! I excused myself anyway, as I had a lot of work ahead of me, while the guys stayed and finished their drinks. Back in the room I continued on the machines, as well as configured the new remote devices we had purchased. The big one of these, while harder to hold in your hand than the X2, was very nice. The screen was large, and the system was very responsive. So we were quite happy with that one. By about 2.30 I had finished everything, and packed it all in a bag to take to the stadium. It was then time for bed.