• The Week #311

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    • ๐Ÿ› Leo had a field trip to Children's Nature Park nearby in Asahi-ward and he liked it so much we went again on the weekend. What an incredible park, absolutely massive. I had seen it on maps for years, but never went because it was usually the middle of summer and existing outside in summer in Japan is sub-optimal at best. The park is so large and green you can't even tell you're in Yokohama any longer. Seems like a fantastic place to go for a run.

      We rode down a big rolly slide that cuts through a playscape. Afterwards we went to the small...petting zoo? It wasn't really a "petting zoo" petting zoo, but for a 10 minute block, we'd sit in our assigned space and they brought out a basket with a guinea pig that we could pet.ย 
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง As part of Leo's intensive English class this summer he had to take a short online speaking placement test. 3 minutes before he started writing down what he was going to say in katakana so he didn't forget. He was able to answer a few of the questions, and but he seemed to go blank when they used the word "describe" (not a word that I use very often with him). So while he'll likely go to the beginners class, the tl;dr is that they're going to re-test on the first day. But this experience has been huge for Leo's motivation to learn and use English. Immediately afterwards he was like "I need to write a book to show how good I am". So we'll see if we can surf this wave for a while.
    • โŒš๏ธ I splurged and picked up a Casio GBD-200 after thinking about it 4 months or so. It's halfway between a regular G-Shock and their full-needs-charging-every-couple-days smart watch. I settled on the GBD-200 rather than a G-Shock with multiband-6 or similar because I wanted the super-legible memory-in-pixel display, big easy to press buttons and multi-timezone support. The fitness tracking (step counter and run tracker (without GPS, unless paired with your phone) are bonuses. Is what I wanted to write, but the seller on Amazon has not shipped it for whatever reason (and hence has missed the 2-day prime).

  • Checkin to ใจใ‚Šใงใฎๆฃฎ

    Big ass rolly slide ftw!
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    5am run club
    Get some while itโ€™s cool. I really should go to this coffee shop once before they retire and close up.

    5.0km

    33.3min

    56.7m climbed

    avg bpm

  • The Week #310

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    • โ˜€๏ธ I signed Leo up for an intensive English class this summer. It's only a week, but it will be full of kids like him. Classes in the morning and activities in the afternoon. I am quite curious to see how much progress can be made in short, intensive sprints.
    • โ˜•๏ธ Many moons ago when we were at T-Site Shonan, I remembered seeing a kid with his dad at the Starbucks and I looked forward to that day coming. And for the past couple of years it seemed like it wouldn't. But try hard enough and it does. We got to spend a solid 30 minutes together drinking coffee and reading. Sometimes dreams do come true.
    • ๐Ÿ“– I started reading The Engineering Executive's Primer, which has been good. I feel like I should have read it a year ago, but better late than never. It also feels like one of those books I am going to read through once, then skip back and reference the relevant parts as things crop up.
    • ๐Ÿฟ Leo's taken after me and start popping his back and everything he can. I think it's hilarious. My wife, not so much.
    • โŒš๏ธ Since switching back to my Casio G-Shock, I've been on the fence about upgrading to one that has solar/multiple timezone support. I still haven't decided, but was at Bic Camera (again) so decided to browse. While looking I remembered that I have a theory that, perhaps one thing that could help Leo with time management would having the time in a digital form with him would help because it's easier to read. And if it looked like Dad's watch, he would be more willing to wear it because kids tend to emulate their parents.

      Unfortunately he's too small for me to "just" upgrade and him have my old watch. And the G-Shocks for kids were a bit much, especially as I can imagine him not wanting to wear it once he realizes it says "Baby G" on it. I settled on a Casio F-91W for a cool ยฅ1,500 ($9.37/ยฃ7) and it seems to be working?! I showed him how to use the timer. Then without prompting when running home from a friend's house he timed himself. And we used it to see how long it takes to do kanji homework. If only they allowed kids to wear watches to school....
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    Morning Run
    Get some!

    5.1km

    33.5min

    58.4m climbed

    avg bpm

  • The Week #309

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    • ๐Ÿ˜ฉ I made this post on time, but rushed when hitting save and forgot to move it from Draft to Published. 308 weeks without missing a Tuesday and I didn't realize until almost 311. I've edited the timestamps so it appears in the correct order.
    • ๐Ÿ““ Leo had school on Saturday and we could observe a couple of classes. Rather than regular classes, his schedule that day were... I don't know what, but I'm mixed. I loved seeing the games they built designed, but also I would have loved to see an actual academic class. This said, thanks to the chaos of it all, I was able to chat with the other foreign dad and exchange LINEs. Only took us 3 years of being in the same class to you know... talk to one another.
    • ๐ŸŽถ Arashi, a popular boy band in Japan, disbanded and had their last live at Tokyo Dome after 26.5 years. I watched part of it and they know how to put on a show. While I don't listen to them regularly, they do have some catchy songs and their music is everywhere. Huge success, but equally impressive is you don't often see a group stay together for that long, let alone with the original members. Props. ๐Ÿ‘
    • ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Boyo has been speaking a bit more English. And for the first time he's actually said can speak English. This is a huge shift from his previous stance of "I don't know English", despite being able to understand movies and everything I tell him. Bit-by-bit we'll build his confidence in his abilities.
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    Evening Run
    Thankfully still cooling down in the evening.

    4.6km

    30.0min

    17.8m climbed

    avg bpm

  • The Week #308

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    • ๐Ÿฉบ We went to a local university festival and it was a lot of fun. It's not a regular festival (though there is yakisoba!) as there are a lot of educational / experience opportunities and the money you do pay (when required) acts as a donation. The first big standout thing we did this year at the Yokohama medical association where Leo and I got to wear the white doctor's coat, then practice our electrocautery skills on an eggplant.
    • ๐Ÿซจ The second standout thing was this big earthquake simulator truck. Inside the truck they had a table and 4 chairs setup, then they play the earthquake alert noise and it starts shaking like a shindo-7 quake. Because it's a simulator it's not scary at all, but if one that big came out of nowhere it would be quite frightening.
    • ๐Ÿค– I decided it's time I start really using the family computer for programming and such and installed OpenCode + local models to learn, but also start getting things done on Tanzawa again. It's an older model so it's not quite as useful as the new ones, but it is fun to look at activity monitor, see the ram completely filled, and hear the fan turn on on the otherwise silent iMac.
    • โ˜•๏ธ It's getting quite hot lately and the AC unit at the jikka is old and undersized โ€“ a winning combination for keeping cool. I went with my FIL to Fujisawa to check out some new ones. Good news is we decided and it's done. Bad news is it won't get installed until July. Hopefully the current one doesn't break before then... Afterwards we got a coffee and had a chat โ€“ I always enjoy these catchups and learning what it was like growing up in post-war Japan with enough siblings to field a baseball team.

  • Checkin to Saza Coffee (ใ‚ตใ‚ถใ‚ณใƒผใƒ’ใƒผ)

    Waiting for the trains to clear.

  • The Week #307

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    • โ˜€๏ธ It's the middle of May and it's already 30 degrees out. The few short weeks of spring are never long enough. At least it's still cool in the mornings and at night.
    • ๐Ÿจ One of my credit card rewards is a free night stay at a hotel. That free night was about to expire, so rather than let it expire I booked a guy's night at a hotel in downtown Yokohama for me and Leo. The overall day was a huge success but....
    • ๐ŸŠ The hotel's website says they have a fitness center and a pool. Naturally, I assume this means we can use the pool, there's no restrictions or anything written on their website โ€“ not even on the pool detail page. I tell Leo there's a pool and we bring our stuff. We arrive and... no kids are allowed in the pool. I know it's a losing battle, but I had to express my deep disappointment (politely) because we literally stayed at the hotel because they had a pool. Their logic was that because the rules are written for the fitness center, and you have to enter the fitness center to get to the pool, the rules apply to the pool and it should be obvious.ย  I get why they would want to limit it to older kids and agree it's probably the right call given the setup, just make it explicitly clear on your website or include a map so you can maybe deduce that it might be an issue. It felt like a very Japan-logic and the entire experience has me considering dropping Marriot for IHG.
    • ๐ŸŽก Not to let no pool get in our way, Leo and I went off to Minatomirai to have fun at Cosmo World. And as soon as we arrive I look at some of the rides โ€“ they aren't moving... and is that plastic covering the seats?!. And there's a construction crew?! After no pool, I can't do Cosmo World being closed for renovations.
    • ๐ŸŽข But it turned out only half of the park was closed and not the area where we wanted to go. ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ Leo worked up the courage and we rode the long ride together ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿป I wish they sold photos of of the drop like most places do as I would have bought one โ€“ feels like they're leaving money on the table.
    • ๐ŸŽค We saw some 2-seater karaoke booths. Literally like aย  large phone booth with a Karaoke machine shoved in it. Even better it's pay as you go, ยฅ100 per song. After dinner we dropped by and Leo sang We Gotta Power, the 2nd theme song for Dragon Ball Z and he smashed it. All in all, a successful guy's night and I look forward to doing it again.
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