• The Week #199

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    • 🍖 We had a BBQ with a couple of friends at friend's house nearby and it was a lot of fun. They've got a large chunk of land (probably what would fit 6 or so Japanese houses?) so they actually had a nice chunk of grass out back. They're close enough that I was able to load up a wagon and pull our contributions. On the menu was chicken tacos (corn + flour), roast beef, onions pulled directly from the garden, and craft beer and more. Excellent fun and good conversation.
    • 🏃 I got two runs in last week, which rather happy about. The running itself isn't the hard part, but rather finding / making the time. Even a 30 minute run takes an hour when you factor in changing, showering, and a short warm up walk. Technically I have the time shortly after I wake up most days, but it's not quite hot enough outside to necessitate 5am runs. 
    • 🎉 Episode 16 of Inside Octopus Energy podcast is focused on Kraken. Worth mentioning on this blog because it includes a few couple of shout outs to my team in Japan for the AI / LLM product work we've done over the past couple of years. Always nice to get shout outs from the top.

  • The Week #198

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    • 🏫 Leo had his first full week of primary school. He seems to be getting along well with everyone and enjoys the after school program. I haven't a clue what he's actually doing in school each day as he doesn't say...but he did write his last name.

      But it wasn't all roses. Leo's been low-key stressing about school lunch (as he's a picky eater 😢). The first day of school lunch the moment he woke up he started crying he didn't want to go to school. I had to drag him outside and to the meeting point (crying the entire way). And I had to walk with him all the way to where he entered the building (crying). When he came home he was all smiles and happy. "How was lunch?" "Good 👍". All that crying and effort and stress for nada.
    • 🍱 Since Leo's now eating school lunch, I no longer need to make bento every morning. Which is quite nice as it took a bit of time. But also a bit of a problem as it means my lunch isn't made already either.
    • 🏃‍♂️ I managed to get out for a run. This cold had been persisting for a while and some medicine from the doc helped me get well enough to run. It felt good to get out there again and just boat along.
    • 📺 I started watching Franklin, which has proven to be quite interesting. I like that the French people speak French, unlike in Napoleon. It's also made me think I should probably add a biography  or two to my kindle.

  • The Week #197

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    • 🏫 Leo is officially an elementary school student. We all got dressed up and attended his entrance ceremony – it was a first for both of us. Before entering the school, we received the class list and Leo is in the same class with his good friends from his pre-school (🎉). We immediately left him there and went to the gym where they had chairs setup for parents and students and it was decorated with some nice flowers.

      The ceremony itself was short and sweet. They (someone, not the students) sung the national anthem and the Yokohama city song. One thing I really liked was that it wasn't just teachers, parents, and students in attendance. The local neighborhood association heads also attended, which really gives you the sense that education, at least at the primary school age, really is a community thing. 
    • 🌸 Cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Yokohama and Tokyo this week. They were later than they have recently, but more inline with when they "should" be blooming. Bonus points for the rain holding off so that we could get  photos in front of cherry blossoms during Leo's entrance ceremony all dressed up with his friends.
      Cherry blossoms lit up at night near the office.
    • 🤑 When I lived in the US, while I wasn't into churning credit cards to maximize points / miles, but I at least put everything on a decent card and the miles paid for a number of international and domestic trips. Points on Japanese cards aren't nearly as good, but I know I can do better than the Amazon card and getting Amazon points (that can't be converted to anything). The "best"-ish card seems to be the Marriot Bonvoy AMEX, as you get a free night per year, the points don't expire, and they can easily be converted to miles for any airline. 

      Unexpectedly, I was approved! This is the first time I've been approved for a credit card that I really wanted in Japan. It only took me having PR and a gold license to prove I'm a trustworthy gaijin.
    • ⛺️ Later this month we have some plans to BBQ with some friends at their house. Leo's quite excited about this and wanted to BBQ at our house tonight...with 5 minutes notice right at dinner time. We came to a compromise that we could eat outside on the balcony. We took out our camp chairs and tables and enjoyed  dinner, just before it got dark.

      I must say, it was a nice change of pace. The weather is warm up now days that it's also feasible. It reminded me quite a bit of life during the pandemic as well – finding ways to be outside and socially distanced and just something to break up the monotony. We should do this again...but with twinkle lights!

  • The Week #196

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    • ☀️ The weather warmed up significantly in a week with a high of 26 - 27 degrees in Kanto. Perfect weather, but also record heat for March. It caused some cherry blossom trees to panic and fully bloom in a single day. i.e. Morning they were closed and by afternoon they were in full bloom (usually it takes a couple of days).
    • 🚲 But that wasn't the case everywhere. I rode my bicycle to Shonandai and back (with Leo on the back 1-way (dropped him off at the in-laws)) and all of the trees along the river/cycle path were yet to bloom. It was perfect weather for cycling.
    • 🍞 Since moving back to Japan we've been using our microwave/convention oven combo's toast mode to make toast. It's not exactly the speediest way, but it worked. Leo eats toast for breakfast just about everyday and using this method, but he can't make his own breakfast, he depends on us. So we bought a toaster and it toasts the bread much faster, using less electricity, and it tastes better. Yay toast.
    • 🏫 Leo had his first day on his elementary school campus. School starts next week, but this week he is able to attend the afterschool care all day. His start time has moved up by about an hour - instead of leaving at 8:30-ish he needs to be at school by 8ish. Last week he was still slowly eating breakfast, watching cartoons under the kotatsu still in his pajamas at 8am...but first day and he woke up early and immediately went to the toaster to make his breakfast. He left early and had a great time! He was even able to reunited with some of his friends from pre-school who are a year older than him. 💪

  • The Week #195

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    • 🛰️ In Japan, even the smallest elementary school students go to school on their own. They all go together so there isn't much risk. On days where they don't have after school care, they just come home. Leo certainly knows his way home, but once he has his independence...you never know...he might get sidetracked. We got a popular GPS unit that also allows him us to relay voice recordings to each other.
    • 🎥 I'm on a "classic" movies kick. Leo and I watched 3 Ninjas (1992) together. He usually doesn't make it entirely through live action movies in English, but he made it through this one. I also watched Short Circuit (1986) (my second favorite movie with Fisher Stevens) – so good.
    • 🛂 I made an appointment to get Leo's passport renewed. I didn't realize the US embassy was literally next to my usual subway exit when going to work. I've started looking at plane tickets to visit Seattle this summer and...$6,500 usd for just tickets....and when combined with the weak yen...ouch...for a week? Hmmm....

  • The Week #194

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    • 🎓 Leo graduated pre-school. While technically the main event was watching each kid walk up to the front of class and receive their diploma, the real main event felt like the thank you party immediately after. You see, Yumi has been preparing for a "thank you party" the past ~6 months...and it is finally over. The gifts were delivered and the videos / presentations we made played on the projector without issue.

      For most of the kids at Leo's school they're finished with the school for good. Lucky for Leo, he can still go through the end of the month when my wife and I are working, so he'll be able to meet his friends that will attend other elementary schools for a bit longer.

      After the ceremony itself we went to McDonalds with a couple of his friends and their family – I'm sure this will become one of those long-term memories.
    • 🎥 I watched two movies this week: Napoleon (on Apple TV+) and The Greatest Night in Pop (about the making of We are the world(Netflix)). I had heard a bit of hype about Napoleon, but it was just okay. On the other hand, The Greatest Night in Pop was a real fun watch. I'll sometimes listen to "We are the World" song when I need a pick me up and the world seems like it's going to shit. It was fascinating to see how quickly the entire song / thing came together. I'm starting to feel like good work demands tight time constraints to ensure focus....
    • 🌸 It was a beautiful 20 degrees out over the weekend. Spring is coming and I can't wait. I know in summer I can't wait for winter, but really I just want ~20 degree weather to come. t-shirt and perhaps a jacket.
    • 👓 With all the flowers and trees blooming, there's heaps of pollen floating in the air. We bought Leo a pair of glasses to protect his eyes and ease his allergies. When he's wearing his glasses and a flannel he looks like a clone of me.
    • 🤒 Between work being super busy with a buncha new responsibilities and my personal life packed with kids stuff...I've had minimal/no time for "fun" (though I did get some cafe time this week, which was nice). Either way, my body finally had enough and is forcing me to rest with a 39 degree fever. Thankfully that's the symptom. Here's to resting, also an important job.

  • The Week #193

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    • 📱 I've realized there's a few different habits I have from growing up without a whole lot. One of them is using things until they're falling apart... and then some. It's good because it means you're not always out spending money on things you just want and don't actually need. But sometimes using things for so long begins to introduce some (big or small) stresses and annoyances into your life that you just kinda get used to.

      Enter my iPhone XR. I bought it when it came out in 2018 to replace my iPhone 6+. I only bought the XR because of hardware fatigue on my 6+. One of the pins broke so I was no longer able to charge it...it was bitter sweet using it for it's final charge...knowing that it wouldn't wake up.

      It's been 5.5 years since I got my XR. I've replaced the battery on it...at least once and the current one is almost in needs servicing territory. As you can imagine software hasn't gotten any nimbler since its release. Launching the camera from the lock screen used to be instant-ish. Now it takes seconds, if it even works, causing me to miss opportunities or introduce some unneeded frustration and or friction into my day. Searching for apps takes ages. Every interaction on it has gotten slower.

      But It still technically works just fine. I can make calls on it and it charges. I don't need to worry about a pin breaking to charge it (I usually use a charging pad). It must be under-clocking itself because of the the battery health, so another new battery would probably eek out another couple of years on it.

      But I've noticed these aforementioned habits of mine and I'm going to try and change them. Buying a new phone isn't a financial burden (thankfully 🙏🏻). I don't even want a new phone, I'd be happy if my current phone just worked like it did when it was new. Either way, it is causing me stress and 'tis the season to use some of my hard earned yennies to remove stress.

      This is a very long-winded (public) justification just to say I ordered a yellow 256GB iPhone 14. I considered a t 15, but that yellow was not nearly yellow enough. I'm curious to see how it compares to my yellow XR. 
    • 📡 Removing more stress, I'm looking at changing cell providers as well. I currently use OCN Mobile ONE. Two phones, both with voicemail and 10GB of data is around ¥4,000 a month. But it's an MVNO, so data is frequently slow during rush hour. We also run out of data towards the end of the month (you may remember a bullet point dedicated to this on our last visit to Disney in December). Whenever I go aboard I have to buy a sim card/e-sim and deal with that. 'tis the season to use some of my hard earned yennies to remove stress.

      I'm looking at switching to Docomo's ahamo. It will work out to be a bit more per month, but whatever. It has more data, the same docomo network quality I'm accustom to (excellent), and international data included, so I'm never without connectivity abroad.
    • 🏢 I've been promoted to the global Head of Engineering for Comms (inbound/outbound emails/sms/phone calls etc..) at work. I'm excited by the new challenge of leading a much larger  team. Though this does mean my number of pull requests will likely significantly decrease...maybe more energy for Tanzawa? (Probably not)
    • 💈 In preparation for graduating pre-school Leo got his hair cut. The barber asked me if I wanted them to shampoo his hair...my response was the same as usual, ask Leo (it's not my hair/head). To my surprise (and hence why it's being included), Leo got his hair washed for the first time while getting his haircut 💪.

  • The Week #192

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    • 👨‍🍳 Rather than cooking 2x-3x a day as we usually do, last week I did a bit more cooking either in advance (2 lasagnas instead of one) or also cooked dinner when I was making Leo's bento in the morning. It made the evenings so much easier and less rushed. I should try to do this every week.
    • 🥖 I've been wanting a good chewy wheat bread for a while and I can't find it in these parts, so baked bread for the first time in ages. It turned out great. It's so easy to make bread that tastes 10x better than what you can buy in the store, why do I ever stop?  This time around Leo helped me weigh and mix the bread. I hope to continue getting him involved in baking so when he's older he has the confidence in the kitchen to give it a go...and maybe remember those days with Dad baking bread.
    • 📘 I usually buy ebooks from Rakuten. The site's horrible and search sucks, but I can download the epub files (strip DRM) and load them into my Kindle. That way I'm not entirely locked into the Amazon ecosystem. I wanted something new to read and after deciding on the title, I thought how to get it. I briefly considered immediately sailing the seas to get it, but instead decided to buy it, expecting to be able to download it as I always have been so I'm "doing the right thing".  And for whatever reason they've removed the download button from the books page...so I ended up having to sail the seas so I could load the book I purchased onto my kindle 🤦. 
    • 📕 Reading before bed has helped turn off my brain, allowing me to rest better. I tried to read some non-fiction ( Supercommunicators (the book purchased above)), but it kept me thinking about worky things. Rather I'm finding fiction (Lord of the Rings, currently) better to read before bed, even if it's just a couple of pages. I think this is important as I usually don't make time for reading fiction. That and I can slowly join the ranks of "people who've actually read the book and not just seen the movies", for whatever that's worth.

  • The Week #191

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    • 🌨️ The first day or so of this week felt like spring. 20 degrees out and sunny. It was great (except those days occurring in February causes worry). As if to make up for a couple of nice days, the remainder of the week was cold (2 - 8c) and wet. 
    • 🌴 We had another 3-day weekend this week and it was cold and rainy 2 of the 3 days. On the first day Yumi was sick, so was in charge of boyo. We went to the local Ito Yokado so Leo could buy some balloons 🎈. He had learned how to blow them up a day prior at pre-school and wanted to show us. I'm loving watching balloons fly around the house....Sophie 🐶, less so.
    • 📺 I finished watching Get Back and it was brilliant. Their approach to developing an album is quite similar to how I feel good software products should be built. It was blowing my mind the entire...8 hours...which is to also say I've got a blog post that I need to write.
    • 📚 A couple of weeks ago, my old kindle stopped holding a charge. It was the base model (with ads on the cover) from probably 2015 or so...so not a surprise. I want to read more books and was quite happy I re-kindled (🥁) my reading habit last year...and having a dead-enough kindle was putting a hamper on that.

       I replaced it with the Paperwhite Signature edition. I went with the Paperwhite because it's (apparently) the best e-reader. It being lit allows me to also read it in bed / low-light conditions. Last night I read about 15 pages of Lord of the Rings.  I went with Signature Edition over the ads/non-ads version because we had a wireless charging pad I'd like to use it with. The plan is to leave my cellphone downstairs on the charger when I go to bed and just take my kindle (which is the opposite of when I thought I lost my Airpods and just went to sleep along with Leo, but reading feels like a better reason to stay up ~30 minutes, rather than YouTube (have you seen the algorithm doing its thing during a US election season...ugh, not before bed (or ever, please)))

  • The Week #190

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    • 🎂 Leo turned 6! It feels like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital (with me thinking "wait, they just let us take him, but we haven't a clue!")...and now he's 6. As we did gifts and cupcakes the weekend prior, we kept the celebration very simple: a slice of cake and a singing of happy birthday.
    • 🦷 As if on demand Leo lost his firth tooth (bottom incisor) .  The tooth fairy also exists in Japan (or at least it does for kids who watched peppa pig) and does not keep up with inflation or nor exchange rates. For his tooth he got  ¥100, analogous with the quarter - $1 I used to receive growing up.
    • 🐟 We did the loop to Enoshima to visit the Aquarium and grab a burger. It's been a few months since we've done it but this trip was probably the best and least physically demanding so far! He walked the entire 95% of the way, including the km trek from the monorail  to aquarium. What's more he didn't have any meltdowns and managed to turn his tooth fairy money into a plush from the crane game. Best of it there also were not heaps of people at the aquarium itself, so we could actually see the fish! 
    • 🎥 Leo has gotten really into making movies with the iPad. Before he had only used it for Kahn Academy Kids or Hiragana apps, but this week he's been opening iMovie and we've been making movies together. It's a lot of fun and a sneaky way for us to make home movies with everyone on camera, naturally.
    • 🎵 I started watching Get Back and it's fantastic. The way they make music reminds me deeply of the way we (should) make software products...or any other creative process really. You talk, you riff off ideas...and eventually, as a team, shape it into the final product. George had this line, which I don't recall well enough to quote, but he was writing a song and he expressed how he has to sculpt his songs. That's exactly how it feels when I'm writing a pull request...sculpting code.
    • 🐙 I met Chad, an internet buddy for lunch. It's always a treat to meet people you interact with online in person. We had a good conversation about schooling, climate jobs, and this particular moment on the web (including Tanzawa 🏔️). I hope we can have another one again sometime soon.
      Me and Chad at the Kraken/Octopus Energy office in Roppongi
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