[tlug] "Ubuntu - A Good Time was had by All"

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

I just wrote an off-list letter to Alain about what happened after the 
Ubuntu Round Table meeting at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel - which is 
situated just behind the Roppongi Hills tower (name dropping, ho-ho!) 
and it occurrs to me that it might be useful to send as a prompt for 
participation in future events!

I got started on my letter by this sentence from Alain:

"I was late getting to Shinjuku but things went alright afterwards I hope. "

And here's the reply that I sent him:

After that, Malcolm invited us to lunch in one of the hotel restaurants 
and events went basically like this:

1) We walked into a nice, but still semi-casual atmosphere (perfect for 
the group I think) and were given three tables.

2) Someone asked if they could be pushed together, and I was not 
surprised to see the waitress indicate that that was not allowed.

3) I sat at a table with Josh and Jun Kobayashi.  I looked at the menu 
and noticed that it indicated a set price of something like Y3,500, so I 
asked Josh "Are we paying for our own lunches or is Ubuntu covering 
it?"  He said he didn't know, so I suggested asking Malcolm.  Josh 
looked horrified by this proposition, but over to Malcolm I went, and 
when I asked him "I'm embarrassed to ask this, but are we each paying 
for our own lunch?"  He (polite man that he is) almost hid a look of 
"Who is this cheap idiot?" and politely said "It's on us'.

4) I went back to Josh and Jun and informed them that it was being paid 
for by Ubuntu.  They both gave me a look that was half-contempt for my 
crassness and half-relief that the expensive lunch was free!  Crass me, 
I laughed at their uncomfortable pleasure in learning of the monetary 
savings!

5) At the table, as Josh and I tossed some English back and forth, I 
looked over at Jun and asked him which would be better - English or 
Japanese?  He said he couldn't understand our English, so we switched to 
Japanese.  (If you want to give Josh a bad time, ask him about his 
statement "tatemono-ga-nai" in referring to me!)

6) Soon after consuming mass amounts of extremely good-tasting food 
(seriously, it was really good and I really did eat a lot - half was 
ordered and half was laid out and available on an 
"east-as-much-as-you-like basis), I turned around and began talking 
to... um... I think his name is Susuki?  The outgoing guy who explained 
a lot about the local scene....  As we talked about Shibuya and days 
gone by, Josh and Jun gravitated over to Malcolm's table and talked 
about something else - presumably computers.  All the while, poor Mr. 
Uchiuji (the ultra-quiet guy who sat to my left during the round-table), 
looked lost and unhappy - caught between streams of rapid English he 
didn't seem to understand on one hand, and "in the old days" talk (in 
Japanese) about Shibuya on the other hand.

7) We finished up, I had a very nice tasting cup of coffee, and as 
Malcolm (at the door) ogled the stunningly beautiful woman who saw us 
out of the restaurant (she was definitely a beauty), I looked back at 
her beautiful visage and back to Malcolm, who commented "That woman is 
really beautiful..." and I looked back for another look and muttered 
"Yes... I'd like to take a picture..." - at the tail end of saying that, 
I turned to see Malcolm's beautiful and friendly assistant (what was her 
name?) looking half-confused and half-displeased.  I (and maybe Malcolm 
too?) felt properly ashamed and then everyone said their good-byes and 
vanished into the Tokyo jungle.

8) Out in that jungle, I went with a few of the Japanese guys to sit in 
front of the Roppongi Hills tower ("I feel like I'm in the news" the men 
from Osaka commented) and then later to a coffee shop next to Suntory 
Hall where we discussed Ubuntu Linux in particular and Linux, Mac and 
hardware in general.

So... yeah, it went well I think.  The food in the restaurant was the 
best I've had in... in... months?  Years?  I wish you had come - there 
was an empty chair at our table.....

Lyle

PS - Now that I've written all this down... maybe I should sent it to 
TLUG to show what everyone missed out on?  I think I will!  Anyway, off 
it goes to you first!

PPS - and here it is......