• The Week #269

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    • 🕹️ An hour a day and we've almost beat Mario Odyssey. It's turning out to be a much easier game than Mario 64, Sunshine, or Galaxy. Maybe it's because we can play 2 players (with me as Cappy (Mario's hat)) and that extra bit of help makes the bosses a bit easier? Or maybe the game is a bit easier than the others? 
    • 🫛 It hit #1 on the AppStore, so this isn't a hidden gem of an app, but Focus Friend is faantastic. It's a timer to help you focus by having a little bean that knits socks while you focus. If you use your phone while he's knitting he loses all of his work and looks really sad. But if you let him finish, you get socks, which you can exchange for decorations for his room. It's free and there are not any ads in the app. I will probably subscribe to it to support it so that it doesn't get ads.
    • 🏠 It feels like a new season (of life, not weather – summer isn't going anywhere 😩) is rapidly approaching. I'm starting to think that next time this year, we might not be in Izumi. As a physical structure, our house is fine and it has been great for these early years of Leo's life, but I'm not certain it matches me. I'm not a handy person nor am I interested in becoming one. I'd much rather pay a fee and let someone else think about and manage these things.

      More than the structure, I think it's just the location. Our focus when we bought this place was, we want a bit more space, being close to a primary school, and not being too far away from the in-laws so they could help while Leo was little. We nailed all of those, but it was the wrong optimization. Or at least it feels it now. Being somewhere closer to things, somewhere I could at least walk to a coffee shop when I need to get out of the house. Or be able to take out the trash whenever. A bit of actual convenience.

      They say (at least in the US) people typically own a home for 8 years, and we're on 6.

  • The Week #268

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    • 📝 We made a deal with Leo to motivate him to come back from behind and get his summer homework done. Once he finished it all, he could get a new game at Nojima (using the points I got from replacing the AC). After a brief period of just wanting to get the game now (nice try, kid!) the carrot worked. He finished all of his homework over the next few days and on Saturday we went to get a new game.
    • 🕹️ Watching kids try to decide which game to get at the shop gave me joy. No matter the game he picks, it's gonna be a good one. But to be in that position, lucky boy. Leo went with Super Mario Odyssey. The game is a lot of fun. In this game Mario's hat is actually a ghost name Cappy. 2 player mode lets the second player control  Cappy, which is a lot of fun.
    • 🏃 I went for a 5am run club run this week. My first run in 3 months. It felt good to just go and really potter about listening to Roderick on the Line (Want other things) . I will endeavour to start making it out on a regular basis again. Doubt I'll hit 100 runs this year, but we'll see how we go. There's 19 weeks remaining in the year and 75 runs to meet that mark. Very low probability.
    • 🗣️ I've now listen to my second episode of Unpacking Japan, so I reckon that makes me a regular. This time it was with economist Jesper Koll and the bullish case for Japan and it has me convinced. Fascinating listening. Some interesting factoids like rather than stay in elite jobs at the Ministry of Finance or elsewhere, the younger generation are quitting and starting companies. Average age of inheritance in Japan is 62. Give it a listen (or a watch).
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    5am run club
    It’s been too long.

    3.0km

    22.6min

    18.4m climbed

    156.3avg bpm

  • The Week #267

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    • ☔️ It rained for the first time in at least a month and with that the temperatures dropped for a few days. It was actually pleasant outside around 6am. Unfortunately it seems like the heat is back on schedule for the coming weeks.
    • 💨 The air conditioner in my office decided to go kaput mid-workday. Thankfully it was on a Friday, but still not ideal. I think it failed because I (purposely) left it on to help regulate the temp in my office (where my home server and storage live) while we were in London. Nothing extreme either, keep the temp at 28c. I think just being on for that length of time is what did it in.

      Costs to repair ranged from "That makes sense" to "May as well just buy a new one", so rather than pay for someone to come out just to say "actually, I'm just going to replace it" (sunk cost fallacy perhaps?), I went to the local big-box electronics store and bought a new one. This time I went with Daikin a) they're the best, b) a buddy works there, c) it cost, after installation, what I was expecting. As the temp as dropped, I haven't really been able to test it out test it out yet, but the app to control it remotely is super responsive (and in English! A rarity for domestic appliances).
    • 💰 Interactive Brokers started offering NISA (retirement) accounts where, as a US-person, it looks like I'd be able to save in a tax advantaged way for retirement, rather than my paying taxes as I go route... (at least in the growth part, tsumitate remains off limits because mutual funds are PFIC).  I am probably unreasonably excited about this.

      👆 This prompted me to start thinking about budgeting and conscious spending plans and it's been quite cathartic (especially after having a major appliance fail immediately after a trip to one of the most expensive cities in the world (💸💸)). Re-thinking where money flows each month, how it could serve me and my current priorities better and how I can re-deploy existing capital to better prepare for the future is really helpful. I should do these reviews more than once every 5 years 😬.
    • 📺 I watched most of Ramit Sethi's How to get Rich (Rich in the sense of living a rich life, not in the sense of money, though financial stability is often core to that). Having read his book years ago the general advise (automate monthly savings (so it happens consistently) into tax-advantaged accounts at a low-cost provider like Vanguard and buy index funds and forget about it) is old hat to me, it's good reminders and it's fun to follow along as people sort their financial house to help them reach their goals. You can't help but root for them.

  • The Week #266

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    • 🦁 We went and saw The Lion King show at Lyceum theatre. It was fantastic. The opening where they sing the Circle of Life was just...wow. Well worth the price of admission.
    • 🍻 I can't visit the UK without a visit to the pub. This time was no different, except it was a day-time visit with the family for a meal. We had the usual pub-fare fish & chips, pies and mash, and some draft cider / beer. Leo had a burger and fries. I had a brief moment of dread when I saw his bun had poppy and sesame seeds on it, but he didn't have a meltdown or even say anything and just ate it. A first. He also dipped his chips in mayo – another first.
    • 🌳 Everyday this week we went to a different park for Leo to play for an hour. The quality of the parks and the playground equipment is super impressive. Yes, it is probably the best of the best as it's central London, but I feel like playgrounds in Japan don't compete. Compacted dirt, few trees, and perhaps a swings/slide vs Shade trees, bark/proper beachy sand/other soft materials, and various kinds of things to climb and play on.
    • 🛬 The flight back was smooth as could be and I quite enjoyed flying with British Airways. Although we arrived 2-hours before our flight, family checkin was delayed so we had  to rush to the gate. I was hoping for 15 - 20 minutes to check out duty-free or perhaps enjoy a coffee, but alas.
      Our flight path back to Japan

      I managed to watch a couple of films, both of which I enjoyed / recommend (A Man called Otto with Tom Hanks and BeatleJuice BeatleJuice (2024)).
    • 🏁 A few finishing remarks on the trip. Not having a strict schedule so we just could go and enjoy parks was definitely the right decision. Leo's listening and speaking improved. I'd ask him to listen for the station where we were heading to tell us when to get off and he did it. On the flight out he was so shy when he asked for apple juice the cabin attendant couldn't hear him, but on the way back, he ordered without hesitation. All in all, a successful trip and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.
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