Things that go Beep.

As I was filling my bathtub this morning and checking my email, something in the house started beeping. As I walked through the place, trying to locate the origin of the sound, I ran the list of possibilities through my mind:

• The fridge that beeps if you leave it ajar
• The microwave/convection/oven/toaster that beeps when it's done
• The rice-cooker that beeps when it's done
• The washer-dryer that beeps when it's done
• The kids' alarm clock that they may have improperly set
  
• An alarm clock that Jeff left behind and set (improperly) for the middle of the night for a US eastcoast teleconference
• A car backing up outside
• The smoke detector that goes off for steam
• One of the many electronic devices laying around (GameBoys, computers, MushKing Tomagatchi, etc.)

But it was none of those things. It was the hot-water-controlling panel in the kitchen. The bathtub was overflowing and the hot water had overloaded again, but this happens all the time. It's OK if the tub overflows, since the whole room is a shower. The flashing error message and hot-water dysfunction is something I've learned to live with (though I have complained to the manager a few times and they are aware of it). I don't know why it was beeping and I don't know why it was the kitchen panel and not the bathroom panel (they are connected). I will never understand the damned thing. I know I can control the water temperature. Sometimes. When it doesn't freak out and stop heating the water. I also know I can heat up the water once I have filled it with cold water when it does freak out. Which is most of the time. But there are like 8 buttons on the thing that I think could be really cool if there was a manual and I could read kanji. Like automatic shut-off when it's full. Some sort of auto-fill on a timer. Things that would enable me to walk away and do other things instead of coming back to check on it every five minutes so I can turn the hot water back on when it shuts off and blinks "E06" at me.

Alas.

However, the accidental configuration of my breakfast on the plate this morning did make me smile.















And for those of you who think Japan is expensive, I say Nonsense! You can get a whole box of cherries for a mere (approximately) $56 US!




















I've read about people who will buy a box of perfect cherries or strawberries as a gift for someone and then eat cheap noodles all week to compensate for the expenditure. I guess it's no weirder than buying a dozen long-stemmed roses that are going to be dead in under a week. At least you can eat the fruit, right? And just for fun, how about a $20 watermelon?




















We eat lots of bananas. Sigh.