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The Week #89
by James- I got boosted. This time I was able to get my shot through my job. Tokyo Gas is trying to get all employees and employees of related companies, Kraken Tech/Octopus Energy being related, boosted.
The mass vaccination site was in Shinjuku and very well run. There weren't any lines, but there was fairly constant stream of people. I was in and out in about 20 minutes, including the 15 minute waiting time.ย
Getting boosted in Japan is much easier than the initial shots were. I'm not sure if it's supply has caught up with demand or what. Even the clinic we used during summer had plenty of openings for getting boosted. Those first shots you 500 reservations would be gone in minutes.
I can't find the link, but Japan, despite getting a late start has now boosted over 30% of the population, which surpasses the US. - While the booster rate is going up and the infection numbers are going down, Leo's school was closed all last week. He started back on Monday for the last full week until spring break to fantastic 23 degree weather. Unfortunately he was wearing a sweater and began to overheat around lunch time, which the school saw as him having fever, and was sent home.
I understand being cautious about Covid, especially as all of the kids can't be vaccinated yet. At the same time, I'm annoyed that Leo was overheating and they didn't even have him take off his sweater to cool him down and went straight for the "must be covid" line of thought.
As soon as I saw him, I took off his sweater and he started feeling better, but rules are rules. - Speaking of rules, I did my taxes in Japanese for the first time. Usually Yumi's handled the leg work for me in the past. But this time I was able to file them all by myself without issue, including dividends from my accounts in the US. I have a feeling I may have forgotten something, but I imagine if there's an issue they'll contact me and I can sort it then.
I really like that I could file everything via the Japanese tax authority's website / webapp. It might be a bit clunky, but how I wish I could do the same in US instead of paying a fee and dealing with dark patterns to scare me into upgrading Turbo Tax like I do with my US taxes. It even has some great integrations like being able to use your MyNumber card to automatically import doctor visit deductions. - We've decided on a solar system to move forward with.ย The solar guys came to measure the roof and decide on placement for the power conditioner etc... We're still waiting for the final layout, but it sounds like the chip shortage is hitting them too, with installs being 6+ months after contract ๐.
- Leo was adamant about going to IKEA because he wanted some more of the Bygglek lego boxes. He even said he'd use his own money! So while mom was recovering from her booster, we decided to head out there together. We rode the IKEA bus (his first time) and ate lunch.
Leo's first ride on the IKEA bus
He proudly carried his shopping in the store (part of the way, at least) and when it was time to pay he handed the cashier his money.Walking and carrying his shopping! - I watched 1917 on Netflix while recovering from my booster. I really enjoyed it. With everything going on the world, it was hard not to imagine similar scenes playing out these days as well, however. War is dumb.
- I started playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild and it's really good. I haven't played a Zelda game since perhaps the N64 (and even then that was just bits of pieces, never all the way through). It's a great escape.
- I got boosted. This time I was able to get my shot through my job. Tokyo Gas is trying to get all employees and employees of related companies, Kraken Tech/Octopus Energy being related, boosted.
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Checkin to IKEA Restaurant & Cafe (IKEAใฌในใใฉใณ&ใซใใง)
Early lunch with Leo. -
Characters in your neighborhood
by JamesWhen you first move somewhere new each face is a stranger. But over time you get know your neighbors and they're no longer strangers, but your neighbors. You become familiar with their routines. And some of those neighbors stand out a bit more than the others.
Those neighbors have a particular quirk. They do something different. These neighbors, these... characters, are what make a neighborhood a neighborhood. And sometimes we're that character. But something is lost without their presence.ย My neighborhood too, indeed, has a couple of characters worth sharing.
One is a neighbor about 10 houses down. Like most older men in my neighborhood he's retired and I'd often see him come back from a walk when I 'm walking Sophie.
But one day I noticed he looked to be slowly stalking a cat. Odd. And a few days later, stalking a cat... after a brief chat I realized he wasn't stalking the cat, but he "walks" his cat. The cat's not on a leash, but he kind of guides it up and down the street. My neighbor, the cat walker.
Like many Japanese neighborhoods, mine has tori and little shrines spread throughout every so often. Each shrine has a kami. It's a holdover from when this was all farmland.ย
Which brings me to our next character. You can't miss him. I've seen him out running at various times. A running neighbor is nothing special, but this neighbor's route is particular. He runs from his house (I presume, I'm not sure where he lives) past each tori and to the local shrine.
When he passes each tori he stops and bows to pay his respects. I probably wouldn't have noticed this routine or payed much attention but not for his attire. He runs in dark blue jeans and a white button down shirt.
Who are some of the characters in your neighborhood? -
Checkin to ใใซใณใฌในใใฉใณ ใใฃใณใซใค
I missed this place. Glad theyโve made it through the pandemic. -
Checkin to Shinjuku Park Tower (ๆฐๅฎฟใใผใฏใฟใฏใผ)
Trying Moderna this time. ๐๐๐ -
The Week #88
by James- We made it through an entire week without any closures or Leo's school! ๐ย We were also notified on Saturday that it will be closed all next week ๐. You win some you lose some, I guess. Most schools in our area aren't as cautious / having nearly as many closures as Leo's. You can complain, but it's probably the right thing to do, even if it is inconvenient.ย
- I did the legwork to proper organized al of my trades/dividends of my US accounts using the exchange rate of the day so I can report them the city and not be committing tax fraud. Getting it all organized into excel sheets has been a huge relief. For a while now I've know that I need to collect the data, but I never could what format or exactly what information would be required, so I just put it off.
Thankfully there were some helpful posts on /r/JapanFinance that had a screenshot of a header of the document that they use to organize their trades, which was enough to get me over the hump. Now that I have the format decided upon, it should be much easier to update each year.
As a bonus, because it's less than ยฅ200,000 (roughly 2k usd), I shouldn't need fuss with updating/finalizing my national returnย and my "End of year adjustment" is enough. Probably. Will confirm when I visit the city tax department. - We celebrated baba's 78th(!) birthday! I can't imagine what it will be like to be 78, but I do hope it will be in the same manner as baba's birthday: with delicious sushi and all of the kids/grandkids.
- At work I managed to get the second of two big PRs across the line for review. Two big features that will (eventually) be used worldwide. I felt a bit bad throwing not one, but two 1,000k+ line pull requests over the wall. But there's one critical difference that makes it possible: each commit matters and each commit in the PR is expected to tell part of the story of that PR.
This means no commits like "fixed bugs" or "fixed bugs, for real this time". But rather you're expected to squash those bug fixes into the appropriate commit before asking for review. It makes for such a cleaner history.
Sometimes you mess up and you commit things together that shouldn't be. And you have to rebase and split them apart. And it's a pain for a couple of a minutes. But thinking about your PR at that lower level helps you create higher quality code because you're forced to ask yourself "does this change make sense in isolation and how does this bit of fit into the grander scheme of this PR". And cleaning up your commits can also be incredibility therapeutic. That level of fit and finish that only the craftsperson sees and knows about.
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Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ
by JamesDonโt like filling up at 5 bucks a gallon?
Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ
Stressed by all your time in a metal box?
Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ
Want to stop the countless wars perpetratedย by petrostates?
Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ
Want real energy independence and security?
Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ
Want a healthier and more vibrant local community?
Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ
One more time for those in the back!
Fuck the Oligarchs, Get off Gas! โ -
by JamesI think I've just about got the Tanzawa uWSGI docker image about where I want it. The auto-configured server is getting close too. Getting close to being able to run Tanzawa with minimal technical skills.
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The Week #87
by James- We made it through an entire week without school closing due to Covid ๐. And indeed we are officially peaked as cases have been on the downward trend for what feels like a couple of weeks now (but you know how time is a lie in covid).
- There was an event at Leo's pre-school where has on display some of the things they've made this year. It's fun to look at the work of students just a year or two older and see how much more capable they become.
The coolest part was in the hall where the oldest students (due to become elementary school students in April) build interactive toys? games? with cardboard boxes collected by the families. Things I've never imagine making like castles, 3 washing machine boxes high, or a roller coaster, or a climbing wall. The biggest hit though was the hot springs, with water made of torn up newspaper. Why was it the biggest hit? Because you could take the newspaper and toss it at the teacher (and vice-versa!). - At Leo's birthday celebration earlier this month at school, when asked what he wanted to become when he's big he said "Shinji" (from Evagelion). When he got his haircut this week we asked the stylist to cut his hair, as requested, like Shinjis. He did a great job. They might start mistaking him for the real deal at school.
- I signed up for the Vox Meat/Less newsletter course. I've been learning a lot and hope to start implementing the advice soon. "Vegan before 6pm" sounds doable most of the time.
- We ran out of storage on our 200GB iCloud account. It's mostly photos. Upgrading to the next tier (2TB) would increase storage to $10/month. Since I got my AirpodPros a few months ago, I've been on a 6 month trial for Apple Music. While it annoys me sometimes, it's much better for music than cheapskating with YouTube. So I'd been mentally preparing myself for the 10/month cost to start paying for it.
But adding on Apple Music to my current AppleTV+ /(presumably upgraded) iCloud storage would bring my total monthly cost to $25/month, for just me. For an extra $5 / month, I could get Apple One Premier, which willย allow our entire family to access everything: AppleTV+, Apple Music, News+ (just as I had been thinking of subscribing to the New Yorker โ it's on there!) and Fitness+.ย
Writing this all out has made me feel a bit better about signing up, but it's a big jump from $8/month total to almost 4x as much. I guess you don't become a trillion dollar company by giving this away for free.
