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by JamesAfternoon Run πͺ
Burning off some cookies that came in from America earlier today.4.5km
30.1min
22m climbed
156.7avg bpm
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by Jamesπ― Afternoon Run π
After 3 years of trying and failing, I found a way that works for me to run consistently this year. This run marks my goal for 2024, 100 runs. Woo!4.5km
32.7min
48m climbed
142.2avg bpm
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The Week #234
by James- π¦ We went to watch the new Lion King movie in Sakuragicho. The movie was really good and the animation looked so real. Hard to believe it was all CGI (except the whole animals speaking English bit). We saw it in Sakuragicho because the theater I praised so much for having subtitled movies with their original audio track when we saw Moana 2 only had dub versions of the Lion King. Either way, it was good to see that area at night. Makes me want to stay like we used to around this time of year during covid.
- πββοΈ I ran twice this week, one time with Yumi! It was our first run together and it was a lot of fun. This is the first time I've run with someone where I'm the more experienced runner as well. We did a loop along the river with a mix of running and walking (mostly running). The wind was so strong and cold, but if you were in the sun it was warm enough.
Just across the river - π In addition to running twice I also did a 3 15-minute supersets with the kettlebell. Lifting heavy this repeatedly is very much a different kind of hard β you can't just slow down and you really feel the burn. Zero plans to become Schwarzenegger, but a bit of functional strength can't hurt.
- π³ The Yokohama subway (and growing number of other lines) have started to accept tappable credit cards as payment, in addition to IC cards (suica/passmo). They're doing this because it's easier for tourists, but I also imagine because it's less proprietary. With credit cards you don't run into issues with a lack of semi-conductors making you ration your IC cards, there's no extra hardware required for managing balances etc..., and because they're not loadable, you don't need to manage cash balances, so feels less risky. I road the subway using my credit card and it just worked. Perhaps more importantly, I can earn points on my credit card when I do this, whereas charging my suica gives me zero points.
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Checkin to Yokohama Burg 13 (ζ¨ͺζ΅γγ«γ―13)
The Lion King. So good. -
by JamesLunch Run
A bit sore from the kettlebell yesterday but gotta crack on.4.0km
26.7min
23.8m climbed
149.9avg bpm
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π Rick Steves Is Still Discovering the World and Himself
by JamesI love a good Rick Steves interview. His words always encourage me to maintain curiosity about the world and travel with an open mind. -
The Week #233
by James- β° In an effort to return more balance intention to my daily life, I started leaving my phone downstairs (again). I've experimented with this a few times this year. Each time I've done it I sleep better and because when I got to bed I go to sleep and when I wake up I don't dive straight into social media and slack in bed. I have a calmer mind in the morning and throughout the day.
- β²οΈ Without my phone next to my bed, I am unable to turn on the heater downstairs and warm it up before heading down. a) That was a manual thing I had to do with my cellphone b) After turning it on with my cellphone I'd have to lay around in bed for 15 minutes for it to actually warm up. This week I took advantage of the timer build in to my heat pump to turn it on automatically 20 minutes before I wake up. It's not a low tech way of solving the problem, but it's a better less tech way.
- π₯ I saw a post on Mastodon about kolaches (bread with sausage or other ingredients brought to Texas by Czech immigrants back in the day)Β and breakfast tacos...and it made me miss Texas a bit. Wishing I could go to a donut shop at 5am and get freshly baked kolaches and donuts... but breakfast isn't a thing like that here. Alas. I did the next best thing and baked my own. They turned out pretty good. How lucky Leo is to have homemade koalches for breakfast. Definitely the only kid at his school doing so. Either way, it hit the spot.
Sausage, Sausage and cheese, bacon, bacon and cheese kolaches - π‘ Our neighborhood had its annual mochi making day at the association's building. On offer was 3 kinds of mochi: red bean, kinako, and plain, as well as large bowls of ton-jiru soup. All of it was super tasty. I imagine this event, with everything being cooked outside using propane tanks, is half-community event and half-disaster prep (ensure all the outdoor cooking equipment works and a group of people knows how to use it).
- πΉοΈ Leo's been getting into Minecraft. We keep it on creative mode but it's blowing my mind what he's making each day. Mostly building still. This week he made himself a nice house, then me and house next to it...and connected them (β€οΈ) . The next day I comeback and he's built my wife a house and underground bunkers. Really tempting to get myself a switch so we can make things together.
- π§ On my headphones this week has been No Obligation by The Linda Lindas. I really like the first 2 tracks, but the entire album rocks. The other, by way of a toot was Chappell Roan. I don't usually listen to pop music (or at least current pop), but she is great. Two polar opposite recommendations to end The Week at the start of the week.
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by Jamesπ₯Ά Frosty Morning 5k
Running hoodie made its debut this season.5.1km
33.1min
32.2m climbed
155.9avg bpm
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The Week #232
by James- π©Ί I went in for my annual health check. Frequent readers might realize it's actually my second one this calendar year. But it's my first fiscal year (April - March). Good news is that it went well. All of my numbers were in within range. I even got a "wonderful" from the old doctor at the end. Since it was on offer, I finally got around to getting my flu vaccine as well.
Unrelated to my health check above, I got a Garmin Index S2 smart scale. I wanted a way to automatically track my weight and bmi (and muscle mass, fat percentage is a bonus). A year or two(!) back I made a way to track my weight into Tanzawa, and while it was easier than a google sheet, it's still something I've got to manually type in.Β I must say, it is really nice to be able to just hop on the scale, get off, and it goes into Garmin/Apple Health. - ποΈ We went and saw Moana 2 over the weekend. The movie itself was good. I think I liked the music from the first one more, but the story itself was solid. It was our first evening movie together as a family and my first time seeing a movie at the new shopping center that opened near our house. We're close enough to the city center that kids movies are shown in English with subtitles and dubbed versions, rather than just dubbed.
Leo seems to get confused about his English ability. He thinks he's like the rest of the kids in his class, when that isn't the case. He doesn't realize that all of his classmates could not just casually go and watch a movie in English and understand it all. Good news is, he spoke a few more words of English in the car after the movie. Really need to find a way for him to spend weeks abroad in an English environment... - π¦ Last week I created an account on BlueSky. I'm still not certain if I like it yet. Discover feels full of the outrage posts I do not miss from Twitter. I am glad I can disable re-posts (like I do on Mastodon) to keep the most sensational stuff out my feeds. As I reckon I'll use it at least in the medium term, I felt like I should make it as easy to post to from my site as Mastodon is. So now Tanzawa has a button just below to the Send to Mastodon Button that Sends to Bluesky.
- π©Ί I went in for my annual health check. Frequent readers might realize it's actually my second one this calendar year. But it's my first fiscal year (April - March). Good news is that it went well. All of my numbers were in within range. I even got a "wonderful" from the old doctor at the end. Since it was on offer, I finally got around to getting my flu vaccine as well.
