• Checkin to Starbucks

    by
    in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
    Probably 15 years since I’ve been here. Lovely terrace seating is new (to me).
  • by
    Lunch Run
    Short and windy 🌬️

    3.0km

    20.9min

    19m climbed

    157.2avg bpm

  • The Week #251

    by
    • 🌎 Happy Earth Day! 18 years ago when I was an exchange student is when my interest in the environment really started to take hold. I was literally out seeing the world, watching movies like Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and reading books like Lester Brown:s Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.Β  ( This book is readily available in PDF from

      It all made sense to me. I tried (and failed) to gather a group of us to visit Earth Day Tokyo that was being held in Yoyogi. So I went by myself. I had a good time visiting the booths and being around people that cared about similar things. I wasn't alone. But I still had no idea how I could get involved professionally and "help the cause".
      Then and...

      This year I finally went back (with the fam)! I wouldn't have guessed that 18 years ago I'd be building the tech that is central to combating climate change and powering one of the main sponsors of the festival: Octopus Energy. Somehow I managed to find a way to help the cause.

      Back to this week – the Octopus Energy booth was really great. There was a bicycle you could pedal to generate electricity. I think it does a really good job at conveying just how much energy is required just to light a single bulb. Leo gave it a go but the bike was a little too big for him.
      Now

      Next year I hope to go again and maybe spend a more time at the booths, getting better connected to local environmental activities and to reinvigorate my granola-eating, Birkenstock wearing self.
    • β˜€οΈ Fossil fuels fell below 50% ofΒ  US electricity for the first month on record (source). Further evidence that renewable grids will only accelerate. It's not only the morally right thing to do, but it's also the economical thing. Happy days when the moral and economic choice is the same.
    • πŸ“ž With Skype shutting down in a few weeks, I ported my inbound number to a US carrier and an eSim on my phone. Slightly sad that I'll have a monthly $5 dollar charge instead of a yearly $23 fee, but alas. However, as the number is now connected to an actual cell carrier, I wonder if this will enable me to receive SMS and such like from banking applications now?

  • Checkin to Yoyogi Park (δ»£γ€…ζœ¨ε…¬εœ’)

    by
    in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
    Earth day! 🌎

  • Checkin to Starbucks

    by
    in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
    First ice coffee of the year. Too early.

  • Checkin to Craft Beer Server Land 血坂見附店

    by
    in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
    Cheers

  • Checkin to hario cafe ζ³‰ε±‹εšε€ι€¨ζ±δΊ¬εΊ—

    by
    in Minato, Tokyo, Japan
    Lunch coffee and think
  • by
    Lunch Run
    Getting in the nice spring lunch runs before the heat turns up.

    4.4km

    30.1min

    19.2m climbed

    153.8avg bpm

  • The Week #250

    by
    • πŸ‹οΈβ€β™€οΈπŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ My first double emoji. I lifted three times and ran one last week. Not major progression in the span of a week, but trying to keep things consistent. It keeps me off the screens as well, which is good.
    • πŸ“Ί In an effort to bring more balance within our household, we rearranged our living area so the TV is in our tatami corner. This makes it so the TV is no longer visible from the dining table nor straight ahead from the sofa. Growing up we used to have a TV near where we ate, and I didn't like itΒ  – the focus becomes what's on the screen and not the people directly in front ofΒ  you or even the food (which make it easy to overeat...or in certain kid's cases, get distracted every other bite). It's only been a couple of days but yeash what a difference.
    • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ At Shonan T-Site they had a US-themed "Garage Market" where a lot of area vintage stores brought out their US goods and setup outside. Lots of clothes, Pyrex, and little toys including some classic McDonalds Pancake transformer toys, gumby(!), and mario (US-editions?). It felt like being in an antique store in Alvin.Β 

      It was nice to remember for a minute that the US has some redeeming qualities. There's this country out there whose culture is popular enough that people emulate the people's dress,Β  organize buy/trade its artifacts, and admire its ideals. This isn't exclusive to the US, Francophile and people really into the UK all exist, butΒ  scale that you see this for America is unmatched.

      It's easy to get caught up in all of the stupid stupid stupid things going on there now and forget that despite them being "in charge", the majority of people disapprove.Β  And to think that it will be this stupid forever, but it won't.
    • 🌺 We took Yumi's mom out for dinner at a Hawaiian place nearby. It made me really want to visit Hawaii again. Maybe some place with a bit more green. The exchange rate is certainly going in the right direction. That said,Β  with our experience with immigration last time and all of the stories you read, I'm not even confident I, an American citizen, could get in without hassle.

  • Checkin to Lucy's Bakery & Kitchen

    by
    in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
    Mexican burger and Hawaiian Sun, while I can still get goods from the US.
1 of 348 Next