• The Week #209

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    • 🌴 I took a day off work, my first day off that wasn't for taking care of a sick kid since probably...the start of the year-ish? Far too long. Naturally, it rained real good. Not one to be deterred by some rain I went to Kamakura, which thanks to said rain, was quieter than normal. This enabled us to get lunch at Oxymoron, which usually as 90 minute wait. Afterwards we dropped by Patagonia to look around and ended up buying some new running shorts for myself and a swimsuit / UV shirt for Leo.
    • πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Running continues. This week one of my runs was a proper "LSD" run ((Long, slow, distance) this maybe a Japanese running term???) where I ran for an hour. I've run for an hour in the past, but not in the last few years. A weekly long run sounds like a worth goal I should have, but for now "every so often" is sufficient. Lowering the barrier for a run such that pace, time, and distance do not matter is what keeps me getting out there.
    • πŸ—ΊοΈ Back when handheld GPS units started becoming a thing, I always wanted to try Geocaching. Geocaching is a game where someone hides something at some geocoordinates and you go find it. I never had the money for a unit in high school so I kinda forgot about it – until this week.

      Leo and my bonding time is usually on the weekends and I've grown tired of going out to the Aquarium or hanging around the house trying to kill time (that one is actually kinda stressful). Historically Leo has been the type of kind to walk 10 steps then "get tired", but lately that isn't the case.

      I asked Leo if he wanted to go on a treasure hunt with me and that according to this app, someone left something over at a local park. He got his backpack, put some snacks in it, and walked, uphill, the entire way to the park. In the end we were unsuccessful in finding the caches but he kept in good spirits the entire time. He even said he wants to go treasure hunting with all 3 of us.
    • 🚲 I rode bikes with Leo both days this weekend. The second and longer ride we went to Ito Yokado. This is the same place we went a few weeks back for Leo's longest ride and he did it again like a champ. While there he didn't have a meltdown about not being able to play the crane games (successful communication ftw!). On the way back we went a bit further to our local family run Onigiri place and bought lunch. I don't have a basket on my cross-bike, so Leo put them in his and carried them home.Β  Riding bikes with the boy is super fun.
      Picking up rice balls
    • 🚲 This ride above was also the first one with my new grips on bike. Replacing them was easy-peasy. Peel off the old ones and a bit of alcohol to clean the bar and slide on the new ones.

  • The Week #208

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    • 4️⃣ years of the week! Pretty wild that I haven't missed a Tuesday post the entire time (Tuesday as defined as Tuesday for me, wherever I may be). At some point I should take this and turn them into a paper archive. Maybe for year 5.
    • β˜•οΈ My coffee machine has been a bit on the fritz. Not that it's not brewing, but for some reason it started flowing over. I think I've fixed it, but I've grown tired of monitoring the machine while it's brewing to see if it's gonna make a mess or not (kinda defeats the purpose of using a machine). So I've been making pour overs instead.

      Making pour overs has been a good change of pace. A bit of zen in the morning. I also haven't been downing as much coffee, which is undoubtedly a good thing.Β 
    • ❀️ Unrelated to drinking less coffee as it's technically one from a couple of weeks ago, my Apple watch gave me a notification about new trends in my resting heart rate going down (I forget the exact number, but I think it was 41 bpm). Lower heart rates (to a point!) are generally indicative of stronger hearts (fewer pumps required to make appropriate volume of blood go 'round), so I take it as a sign that my consistent running over the past 5 or 6 weeks is starting to make a measurable difference.
    • 🚲 Riding my bike is a happy place for me. It seems like it's turning into one for Leo as well. ( I say turning, but in the past he's told me he wants to go ride bikes because it makes him feel happy). This week Leo wanted to ride some place he hasn't ridden before, so we rode along different streets to the park I've been running at lately.

      There were a couple of short sections where there aren't sidewalks and the roads are a bit narrow, but he navigated really well.

      Inspired by Probably Riding, I've decided to ride my cross-bike more. However, the grips have gotten a bit grody and the cheap wirelock I bought has grown legs and gone on walk about. So I ordered some new grips and a U-lock from Blue Lug. When they arrive, I'll attempt to change the grips myself (which shouldn't be hard (famous last words)).
    • πŸ—‘οΈ Leo, with me coaching him through it, beat Queen Gibdo in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom! Beating this boss was quite difficult and took us a few hours of attempts (over the course of a couple of weeks), but we did it! The main that let us beat the boss was sleeping at an inn in one of the pricer beds so that we had a couple of extra hearts and (more importantly) a bit of extra stamina, so we could run away after a melee attack. 4 bosses down just a couple to go...we'll be ready before the new Zelda game comes out in September (just before my birthday πŸŽ‰!)
    • 🌞 Summer has official arrived. There was a day this week with a high of 33. I think my runs are going to need to be starting at 4:45am for the next couple of months.

  • The Week #207

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    • πŸ‘¨πŸ» Happy Father's day to all of the dads out there. For father's day, Leo gave me him taking a 2.5 hour nap that I also partook in a bit. Having a good nap is one of those things I should do more often and never appreciate in the moment. Update: When Leo sneezes there's stuff coming out his nose – that nap may not have been a present, but rather the start of a cold.
    • 🚲 I found a new favorite channel on YouTube: Probably Riding (and Insta). Basically this guy takes videos when he's out riding his (sweet ass) bike around Seoul, getting coffees, doing shopping and he narrates over it. It's pure weekend vibes.
    • πŸ‘† I generally like where I live: it's comfortable, we have good neighbors, it's quiet, good connections to city via rail. But sometimes I wish I lived more centrally so I could easily access a variety of hip coffee shops with a short bike ride. There are some kissaten (which have their own charms), but are often smokey... and I think how sweet would it be to be able to easily pop in to a variety of airy, brightly lit specialty coffee shops?
    • 🚲 After writing this, I took my acoustic bike to Starbucks to work for a bit and it was just what I needed. I always forget how much fun it is to ride my acoustic bike, so to encourage me to ride it more I've moved it from the side of the house to the front, next to my mama-chari.
    • 🎢 In a polar opposite recommendation for music from last week, I've been into Alex & The Moondaze (Apple Music), especially this track The River from LINDA (Apple Music, YouTube). Weekend Vibes. ✌️

  • The Week #206

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    • πŸŽ’ For years when going out on the weekends I've been using the same holds a 15" Macbook Pro with ease - 32L capacity day tripping backpack that I use during the week. The size has come in handy more than once when Leo was younger (you need more things on hand when kids are little). It's a great bag that I've been using for 10 yearsΒ  and will continue to use for years to come.

      And for the past couple of years I've been thinking "I should get some smaller bag that can carry a couple of things", and I'd look a bit when we out and about, but nothing screamed "this one" at me. This week I said I did the sensible thing and looked at a website dedicated to packs, found their rankings, and picked one near the top that I liked / I could buy in Japan. All of this to say, I bought aΒ  black Patagonia Atom Sling 8L and it's great. Wearing it aroundΒ  town and I noticed that slings are standard Dad uniform in Japan – makes sense they are quite practical.
    • 🍌 It's getting warmer out and I remembered a wholesome moment last year where I went with Leo to get some ice cream at the bench 7-11 near...and thought to myself, self – we should do that more. So we did. I had a banana bar and Leo had a gari-gari-kun ice block.
    • 🚝 We did the half-loop to Enoshima and the aquarium. It was crowded af. We made it in time to watch the dolphin show, but even arriving 20 minutes prior and there was nowhere to sit in the stadium. We watched the first 5 minutes of the show and left. Half-loop because we went back the way we came (monorail instead of odakyu)
    • 🎡 Thanks to Max asking a question on Mastodon about where our protest music is (there's a lot to be angry about with climate change, fascism , wars etc....), I discovered 2 new German punk bands and they're incredible. The first is Todeskommando Atomsturm (Death command atomic storm). Clicking around their apple music I discovered F*cking Angry. Both are perfect for those times I need to write JavaScript.

  • The Week #205

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    • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ Guilty on all 34 charges. Unanimously. We'll see what sentencing actually brings, but justice seems to be working. Curious how the 3 other trials go. Completely unrelated, can felons vote in Florida?Β 
    • 🚲 Leo and I rode bikes to the local Ito Yokado. He did good – though I need to work with him more on traffic safety. I can keep him on the left side of the road most of the time, but when he turns right, he kept on trying to hug the corner...which is a good way to getΒ  hit by an oncoming car.

      Besides making a trip to the big-box we've also been going around the neighborhood to the bench 7-11 and local co-op.
    • 🍣 A couple of co-workers of mine and leaving Japan and moving to Europe (😭). We had a going away party at an Izakaya near our old office in Ningyocho and (part of me misses the lack of polish compared with roppongi...sometimes). We had sukiyaki and other nibbles. The finale though class. Heaps of the shop's specialty came out, a maki-zushi that instead of fish had green plant in it. We all konpai'd with it and that plant was WASABI. Soo good. Safe journeys and I'll see y'all in Paris (πŸ‘€).
    • πŸ₯– The other week my father-in-law gave me about 15 onions. If I had known he was going to give me onions, I wouldn't have bought 4 the day prior. So I'm on the lookout recipies that use heaps of onions (and despite the name, onion soup doesn't use that many onions). I also realized I had some fresh thyme that was starting to dry out a bit.

      Trying to avoid waste I did something I've never done before. I thinly slice half an onion browned them with said thyme diced up and a splash of balsamic vinegar...and mixed that in with some pizza dough (shaped as bread) and it was amazing. As toast or sandwiches to savory is off the charts. Definitely doing it again.
    • πŸ“£ On Monday morning the Earthquake alarm went off... which is weird as I turned those things off. So it went off, but the quake never came for us in Kanagawa. It was a strong 5 at the Noto peninsula (where the large one occurred on January 1st. No point in this bullet point, other than it happened.

  • The Week #204

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    • 🏫 We had the opportunity to observe two of Leo's classes. Unfortunately it means all of the kids have to go to school on a Saturday. I have no idea the students could concentrate with all of the parents standing around / in the back of the class.

      Leo did well, at first. He's participating, which is good. However as class went on, he motioned for us to come sit by him (we can't). After the first class there was a 20 minute break where Leo showed us around the school. However, with it being a Saturday, he was ready to go home and started complaining and getting upset he couldn't go home when we did. That in turn distracted him for a large portion of the second class as he tried to calm himself down and hid between his textbook to wipe away some tears.

      It got us thinking a lot about education and the school Leo should go to. For now, a Japanese public school is fine. But long-term should we try to get him into an international school?Β  They're stupid expensive, but I think they'd better prepare him for the future. I don't want him just to memorize things...
    • πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ/πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Speaking of international, without urging from us, Leo has been expressed desire to take Eiken (an English proficiencyΒ  exam). He's been studying for it at home and he's crushing it. On one the listening tests he got 19 out of 20 questions right. Go boyo!
    • ㉀ The annual Totsuka festival was held at Meiji-gakuin in Totsuka and we attended it. When in uni, I went to this campus for a year on study abroad and it hit me right in the feels. Mostly a mix of nostalgia and thinking about that alternative timeline where I continued on and became a professor of geography (so so glad I didn't).

      The campus is far enough away from the bustle of Totsuka and surrounded by green that can really think out there. That part I did miss. Sometimes I wish I could visit and just study in the library (granted, need the time to study first).
      Looking around campus. All the green.

      We ran into one of Leo's pre-school friends at the festival, so Leo had a friend to hang out with. This festival itself is focused on the SDGs (sustainable developer goals), with booths related to NGOs that work with developing countries and displays to learn about electricity usage (and the importance of conserving electricity).
      The grounds keppers. No fossil fuel and noise required to keep the greenery in check.

  • The Week #203

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    • 🚲 Leo and I have been riding bikes together more. He's getting stronger and rider further up the big hills. It's really good to see him rest midway up the hill and try again. This week we rode towards the big road to the station so he could get his hair cut. As a parent it's really scary having him ride there, even with me around, because there's so many things that could go wrong. But experience navigating is important and best learned at a young age.
    • πŸ“Ί We've started watching The Simpsons together during the evenings. I love it because...it's the early Simpsons episodes, so classics, but it really really reminds me of growing up and watching the Simpsons with my dad.
    • 🎢 Car-dependent societies have one advantage over places with good public transport like Japan: you can ample opportunity to force your kids to listen to your music (as you're stuck in the car together). I've been on a Aquabats kick lately and put them on the home pod mini while playing with Leo. Good news: He really digs their song Magic Chicken and sings bits of it to himself. :success-kid:
    • πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ I ran 3 times this week again. That's 3 weeks in a row of 3x / week. Go me!. I've noticed that my shoes are worn out and ordered a new pair of shoes (New Balance 860). I'm really looking forward for running around in a new pair of shoes – I haven't bought any running gear since I was in London a couple years back. Getting new gear / things related to your "hobby" (is this a hobby or just trying to maintain my health? A bit of both maybe?) is a good way to keep motivation when internal motivation has a lull.Β 

  • The Week #202

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    • 🎳 Summer is quickly approaching so we've gone searching for entertainment indoors. I quite enjoy bowling (2 semesters in college, still not great) and Leo enjoyed playing last summer when we stayed in Odawara.

      We went bowling at Shonan Tokyu Bowl and it was a lot of fun! I'd been there once before probably 6 years ago and nothing had changed. My favorite parts of the bowling that day was seeing Leo get hyped up and that we could choose a mario theme (SNES era) for our score board. The background change each frame and it was great fun.
      Mario bowling
    • 🍝 Eating out for dinner has been a challenge these past...since Leo was born. It's mostly been Denny's and other family restaurants and I'm so burned out on them. The menus are practically the same and there's always some shit by the registers that kids want to buy that makes entering and leaving a total pain (I'm looking at you, personal gumball machines) .

      But with Leo trying more foods each day (finally!) at primary school, he's feeling a bit more adventurous. Leo and I went and got Indian curry together because he wanted to eat nan. And we were able to go to a place that my wife and I really enjoy for the first time with Leo. Slowly the range of restaurants we can go is expanding.
    • 🌹 For Mother's Day we didn't buy flowersΒ  (Japanese mom's don't want them). Instead Leo and I went in to Yokohama to Tonoji and bought some really nice, handmade bento. Maybe it's the fact that Leo has his own passmo now (i.e. it costs money for him to ride public transit), but going is getting so much easier. He walks, doesn't moan (too much), and doesn't goof off in the train.
    • πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ I ran 3 times a week for the second week in a row. Go me!

  • The Week #201

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    • πŸ… Golden week continued this week, which meant a 4-day weekend. I gotta say, it was nice to have 4-days off in a row. The weather was fantastic the entire time as well (too warm for this point of the year, a tend that continues unabated). We kept a rather low profile most of the time.

      We rode our bikes to the local kids log cabin and played with Leo for a couple of hours. Life has been so busy with primary school starting and work and being an adult generally that in the moment I was able to really appreciate just being and hanging out.
    • πŸ› Part of this just hanging out and being has been including Leo more in what we're doing around the house. Teaching him the essentials of cooking and practicing his knife skills. We all made Japanese curry and miso soup. I think getting him more involved in the kitchen will be both a good thing for him and a way to bond. My dad and I cooked together growing up and it's one of our goto topics – what have you been cookin' recently?
    • 🏫 School still remains a challenge, but he went every day this week without a meltdown. School lunch is going well and he seems to be eating a greater variety of foods. At home he's even started trying to practice with regular chopsticks. After school Leo's doing his homework so he doesn't have to do it at home and can dive into Zelda.
    • πŸ—‘οΈ Speaking of Zelda, we got Leo a Zelda shirt a couple weeks back with the idea that he'd be able to advertise to his classmates that he likes Zelda automatically and maybe make some Zelda-friends. He's seen a couple of kids around with Zelda shirts and he talked with one! Not quite Zelda-friends yet, but I reckon they will be before we know it. The plan is working.
    • πŸ™ŒπŸ» Protector of Takao, fellow Gaijin, and runner Derek Wessman (🐘) made a post on his blog. I quite enjoy his posts, but this one stood out to me. It reminded me of how I used to blog "back in the day". Here's a thing that happened over a period of time with some photos interspersed. So much of my blog is micro-posts (checkins and runs) or "The Week" I don't leave the time to let a story like that build up. Maybe I should try?

  • The Week #200

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    • πŸ’―πŸ’―. I never thought when I started my weekly blog posts in a whim in 3.8 years ago, I'd continue doing it for the next 199 weeks. Around 100 weeks ago I had flirted with the idea of maybe not doing the week every week. This time, no such thought occurs.
    • 🐨 Golden week started this week. It's a bit of a miss year because instead of having a nice string of days off in a row, there's effectively a 3-day weekend followed by 3 regular days, thena 4-day weekend. But as it's Golden week a lot of stores were prepared for massive crowds.

      The Pokemon center in Yokohama was as well. Their website said you'd need to get a reservation ticket and you could only enter to shop during that reserved time. I needed to get out of the house, so we decided to go and see what happens. As it turned out, we arrive 2-minutes before they decided to open the store to everyone without any reservations. It was still massively crowded, taking us 20 -30 minutes to check out. The entire way home Leo held on to his Mew plushie and it was super cute.
    • πŸ– We celebrated Showa day by having a BBQ at another friend's house. Instead of tacos, this time we made ahijo and I brought some fresh baked bread. It was a lot of fun.
    • ✈️ We bought tickets for a trip to the US this summer. Direct flights to Seattle (or anywhere in the US) from Japan are expensive. It's about $2,000 cheaper if we fly through Hawaii and take a domestic flight to Seattle. We've never been to Hawaii before, so we decided to split the difference and stay for few days in Waikiki. I'm really looking forward to the trip to see my Dad (it's been almost 8 years?! 😱) and for him to meet his grandson for the first time.
    • πŸ’΄ While the trip (as a whole) is gonna be fun, the exchange rate is giving me a bit of a pause. The strong dollar sent the yen down to Β₯160 /dollar - rates not seen since 1990. One one hand, I can't control the exchange rate so it'll be what it'll be...but also ouch.
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