• Went to the office for the first time this year. Not just because it was a Friday. And not just because there was a social event afterwards (though that certainly helps!). But also because I could meet some co-workers who I haven't met before...including some of the U.K. team who were finally able to enter Japan.
• We rode our bikes to a local milk farm. This one is muuuch closer than Iiida Farm, but the route by bicycle is so, so much worse. There are no bike lanes (fine)...or even an uninterrupted  sidewalk. And once you're there's it's a complete clusterfuck for all the cars that are jockeying for parking spots. They only have a small area for bicycles, but at least we can zip in and out. I hope people noticed my #BanCars sticker 😈
  
  Compared to the other place that has bike parking, even for road bike (they hang them by the saddle?, I think?). And is along a great path along the river...you can't compete.
  
  The gelato itself was good...but I'm mixed if we'll go back. It's close enough and the parking was busy enough that I wouldn't want to drive...and the infrastructure to get there (or lack thereof) is bad enough...
• Leo had his first full-week of preschool as part of his new grade. Getting him out the door the first day back was very difficult. He threw a fit all day before we left...and the entire way there. I imagine the neighbors could tell our proximity to their house by the Doppler effect. He was coming up with every excuse he could think of trying to get me to stop. "I have a fever.", "I want to watch TV", "I'm sick", "I want to lay down". Then we got there he was holding on to me like a kola and would not let go.
  
  He must have got it all out of his system on that first day, because everyday since then has been smooth. Carrying his backpack, everything. Even niko-niko days, when he stays late because we both have work. Maybe he's getting used to it and remembering how much fun it is compared to staying at home all the time. Either way, super grateful.

The odometer on my e-bike clicked over to 4K and, rather than a general-purpose “e-bikes are great” rave, I thought I’d assemble a few concrete arguments for them, suitable for re-use with friends and loved ones in the (likely) case that you’re already convinced. With pictures.

1. Tagged with
2. bicycle
3. climate change

• I finished my time isolating and for the rest of the time I only went out in the morning for walks with Sophie. So very fortunate that my life didn't really change through the whole ordeal.
• So Friday comes and I'm excited to go out, maybe work from the local Starbucks for a couple hours in the morning...and rain. So I decided to stay home instead. It's fine though, I like my proper keyboard and monitor setup at home more.
• Leo was back at swimming. They're slowly teaching him different techniques. It was fun watching him trying to float on his back and not having any of it. I'm sure a couple more times and he'll be floating like duck...but on his back.
• After swimming I was finally able to go out and buy a new pair of jeans. I've had a pair of jeans from Muji I've worn a hole in above the back pocket. I patched it once and bought another couple months out of them, but decided to just buy another pair.
  
  One thing I like about buying jeans in the Japan is that you can get them cut to length at the store. Part of this may be an inventory thing: it's cheaper to offer fewer longer sizes and tailor them, than it is to have a zillion pairs to get every combination of length, color, and fit. This time I was smart and bought 2 pairs and made a memo of the length, so I can buy them online next time.
• On Sunday we went and rode the Monorail for a partial loop (we skipped the Enoden on the way back, thankfully). We got to ride the Ojico monorail, which has a fun wrap and when we arrived we could actually walk and checkout the shops and even walked to the island. Leo carried his water in his backpack and walked almost the entire time 🙌🏻.
  
  

  

  
  
  On the way back we even went buy Kuwaina for a burger to go (it was too early for dinner). I didn't particularly want one, but Leo did and he'd spent the past 16-ish days inside, so we went with it.
• I finished the first pass at layerizing Tanzawa and already it's making adding new features much easier. There might be a tad more code than before layerizing, but it's now super clear where the different bits of code need to go and exactly what their role should be, so overall it's much quicker.
  
  The new feature that I developed is the ability to add a "Comment by email" link to all posts in your RSS feed. This way people are invited to comment, even if it's not in a public manner. What's fun about this feature is that it's also a plugin. So now there's hooks for anybody to add whatever they want before or after a post in their feeds on a blog.
  
  I may extend it a bit further and have it add those same links to the meta section(?) of a post. Thanks to Ru for opening an issue.