• ☔️ 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.

• 🦁 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.
  

  

  
  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.

Motherfuckin wind farms

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