Ameotoko's Roadside Assistance

Buy This Photo!

Todd — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:06:38 +0000

Green
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

After much encouragement from friends and family, I have established an online gallery to sell some of my work. I will try to add photos on a weekly basis from my archives and hopefully some new work.

This is an experiment into the world of online art sales. If I don’t make back my investment by next year, the experiment ends. Otherwise, I’ll continue and see where it goes from there.

The website of my gallery is: http://ameotoko.zenfolio.com/

Thanks for visiting, and hopefully, making a purchase that will look great on your wall!

"Rwandan Moment"

Todd — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:07:00 +0000

“It wasn’t that [Starbucks] was exceptionally nefarious or greedy; it was that the company just like any other company, was willing to do just about anything and say just about anything to move product.” - Bryant Simon John Moore reports in his excellent blog, Brand Autopsy on a book by Bryant Simon, “EVERYTHING BUT THE COFFEE: Learning about America from Starbucks”. In it, Simon reveals his “Rwandan Moment” where the ugly truth about Starbucks was revealed to him. The sheen of Starbucks has worn thin over the years, but this type of behavior confirms that Starbucks was never a company to deserve such esteem in the first place.

A Parable of Salvation

Todd — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:48:26 +0000

Reflecting on Ryuichi’s incredible testimony at his baptism yesterday, I am amazed at the depth of his understanding of salvation and God’s faithfulness. As I thought about his words, a parable came to mind.

A young family lived in a rural area on a large plot of land with a little stream running through it. The son was a five year old boy who loved to play outside and take long walks by the stream with his mother and father.

One day, when his parents were busy doing chores around the house, the boy decided he would go for a walk on his own. He knew he wasn’t supposed to go by himself, but he wouldn’t go far and his parents were too busy to take him. He followed the stream away from the house, splashing in the water, playing in the mud and having a joyous time. He had so much fun, in fact, that soon he realized he had wandered farther from home than he could remember going. He sensed it would be dark soon and his parents had no idea where he had gone. Fear set in and he sat down on the bank of the river and began to cry.

But soon, he heard his father’s voice in the distance calling out to him, drawing nearer. When the father spotted the son, his eyes lit up and he ran to his son, his arms wide open, calling his name. The boy was overjoyed to see his father, but looking down, he saw that he was covered in mud from playing along the river bank. His joy turned to guilt as he realized he should have never disobeyed his parents by going out on his own. Instead of embracing his father, he just stood there, staring down at his dirt stained clothing.

We are that boy! When we hear the good news of the gospel, God is there, overjoyed, arms wide open, ready to embrace us. But we look down and recognize our disobedience, the dirtiness from our sins and our guilt prevents us from reaching out to Him. We may wonder why God seems so far away from us, but we create that perception when the truth is He is right there waiting for us. He doesn’t judge us for our dirtiness - if we ask for His forgiveness, accept the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, He will take our filthy rags and clothe us in garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10).

This Christmas, we are reminded of the baby Jesus, God’s amazing gift to mankind. Through Jesus, our relationship with God the Father has been restored.

Fire 'Em All

Todd — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:32:22 +0000

monkey confused
Originally uploaded by easement

It's in the news every day. "The Board of [fill in the blank] met yesterday and made a recommendation to raise fees for [fill in the public service]."

This is my rant. In this brave new world of cities, counties and states teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, highly paid boards of so called experts and leaders in their fields are gathering for closed door meetings to make critical decisions to...raise fees? To be fair, some boards are really putting on their thinking caps and also making recommendations to...cut services.

Let me be blunt. Faced with an economic crisis where current revenue does not meet current expenses, even a college dropout like myself (or a robotic monkey) could come up with an idea to raise fees and cut services. I'm not an expert. I'm not a genius. Just a person with a lick of common sense. So how is it that these so called boards of highly experienced, highly intelligent people can gather together and reach the same conclusion? Yes, I'm talking to you UC Board of Regents. And you, California Transportation Board. And countless other boards throughout the state making the same dumb decisions.

(In fact the California Transportation Board came up with three "solutions" to fund bridge maintenance in the future: raise bridge tolls, raise bridge tolls and then raise them even more, or raise bridge tolls and start charging bridge tolls to people who never had to pay them before. Wow, what a stroke of genius.)

And of course there is the UC Regents who voted to increase tuition by over 30%, and for your troubles, they will also reduce your course offerings by 20%. Yes, no need to thank them for their brilliance and hard work.

Everywhere you turn today, you hear the same thing: the only solution is to raise fees. As a taxpayer and once proud resident of the state of California, let me make this as clear as possible:

If we're going to pay you a six figure salary to get together with a bunch of other people with six figure salaries to make decisions we could have made in our sleep, consider yourself on notice. Your job is to think outside the box, to come up with creative ideas to make your budget work, to innovate solutions. Quit taking the easy way out: passing the cost on to the public. We already paid for the service once in taxes; why are you trying to charge us again?

If this is the best you can come up with, in the immortal words of the billionaire with the $20 toupee, "You're fired!"

Japan - I Miss You

Todd — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:55:53 +0000

Tokyo - I Miss You
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Getting that feeling again, a perfect storm of events that make me question my purpose and place. Perhaps there are new opportunities opening up, not in Tokyo, but near it, in a place that is not unfamiliar to us. I felt a tinge of disappointment that the future did not become more clear for us after spending half a summer in Japan this past June and July. But maybe things are changing yet again?

In any case, we hope to return to Japan next year specifically to investigate this potential opportunity. This will be our first time to return to Japan two years in a row since 2001-2002. Is something good going to happen? God only knows.