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The Week #286
by James- πΉ We went to the skate park in Yamato again with one of Leo's friends. Leo started learning how to ride on the half pipe going up a little ways and learning to turn around. I started practicing how to pump on the half pipe, which will probably take a couple more sessions to get it. I wish I had access to skateparks and especially half-pipes growing up as a kid. I think I would have gotten properly hooked on skating if that was the case.
- π₯ I watched Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off and really enjoyed it. Like many kids who grew up skating, Tony Hawk was one of my favorite skaters. I seem to recall having one of his decks in silver for a period as well. Seeing the determination and drive to try and try and try until he landed a trick was inspiring.
- πΆ Sophie's routine has changed as of late (since I went to Aus last month). She'll gulp down all the water when you refill. And as a result she's up around 3:30 - 4am every morning β either needing to go out or being super thirsty. We took her to the vet and her numbers are about where they were 5 years ago when she started drinking medicine. Her cortisol levels put her in the grey-zone for having Cushings, which tends to crop up in older dogs. Ganbare Sophie!
- π€ Which also means my sleep has been all over the place. Just in time for me to upgrade to the new watchOS / iOS and get scores on my sleep each night. I've been wearing my Apple Watch to bed since I got it to track my sleep, but I didn't really review it but once every couple of months. Now with the notification / score each morning it's helping me correlate how I feel when Sophie decides it's time to get up and how I'm feeling so that at night I am preparing better.
- ποΈ In preparation for my mom's visit in the coming months, I moved my home office into the smallest room so we can turn that room into a proper bedroom (that will become Leo's at some point). I'm excited to have a backdrop with a lot of Kraken / Octopus Energy plushes, so I am properly on brand at work.
- πΆ This Boiler room set by Underworld is incredible. So incredible that it now lives on my iPod. Absolute legends.
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The Week #285
by James- π₯ We saw Zootopia 2 in IMAX. While the movie was really good, my intent was not to watch it in IMAX, but rather to watch it at a reasonable time (English showings were only at 9am or 9pm) and IMAX showings as 11am showings. However, in my rush / distracted state while purchasing, I managed to book the Japanese dubbed version of the film π€¦ββοΈ. Be that as it may, we all enjoyed the film.
- π³ I showed Leo the Leidenfrost effect (where water beads up and bounces around the pan) on our stainless fry pan and he thinks it's a hoot. So much so that he's asking after I've done the dishes if he can put water in the pan to see it. At least he's in the kitchen....
Cooking with stainless is far superior than non-stick. - π€ I read this older article on Rolling Stone (I've maybe linked to it before?), "Life After βDeth: How Megadethβs Marty Friedman Became a Japanese Superstar (archive.is)", and I was taken back to when I was exchange student, watching TV from the loft of my LeoPalace before bed and it was Marty Friedman teaching English via music lyrics. It also worked to help me learn Japanese.
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by JamesAfternoon 5k
Listening to Running Commentary followed by some Underworld.5.0km
37.1min
28.4m climbed
151avg bpm
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Checkin to 109γ·γγγΊγγγδΈ
Zootopia 2 in IMAX -
The Week #284
by James- βοΈ The espresso machine came and I pulled my first couple of shots. They tasted fine, but I can tell there's going to be a learning curve to really nail it. The machine itself works great, but it is more plasticy than I was expecting. I can already see the number of rabbit holes I can jump into is going to be fun.
- 𧱠Growing tired of buying things from Amazon, I decided I'd try to go out in person and buy a milk pitcher and thermometer for steaming milk. I visited the Kalita store in Motomachi, and while it was full of coffee paraphernalia and Kalita themed wares (the stickers for your journal were super cute), they only had drip coffee goods. In the end, I gave Bezos a few more bucks, because I ain't got time to go all around town looking at shop after shop.
Visiting Motomachi with all of its fancy shops during Christmas was quite nice though. Super nice clothes that one day I will be old enough to wear. - π I got my flu jab (better late than never) as my usual place a station over. I did it because it's what you're supposed to do to project the herd, but also because I had to take Leo to get his second jab. A show of solidarity.
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The Week #283
by James- π¦πΊ They do not lie that the coffee is a thing in Melb. A local let me that I should try a "Magic" coffee, a Melbourne / some places in Sydney coffee. It is a double ristretto served in a 5-6 oz cup, topped with steamed milk. A coffee with milk where you can taste coffee. They're great.
View from the office
Happy/sad I flew back from MEL via SIN on Thursday. I look forward to visiting Aus again. Hopefully next time it's for more than 3.5 days. - πΉ We went to the Sky Hiroba in Yamato, a public skatepark. It's much much smaller than our usual park in Enoshima, but also it's much closer and most importantly free (entry and parking). Leo rode the box (while holding my hand) and up a bit on the quarter pipe. This park will be a better place to practice by yourself as it's much lower traffic.
- β«οΈ I took part in a couple of Black Friday sales, my first time. One was moving from a monthly subscription to a lifetime subscription to Plex (media server software so I have my own Netflix) and the other was an entry-level espresso machine. I've probably opened a rabbit hole with the last one, but I'm looking forward to trying to make a Magic at home (but not on day one).
- π¦πΊ They do not lie that the coffee is a thing in Melb. A local let me that I should try a "Magic" coffee, a Melbourne / some places in Sydney coffee. It is a double ristretto served in a 5-6 oz cup, topped with steamed milk. A coffee with milk where you can taste coffee. They're great.
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Checkin to ι«ι倧師ζ©
Almost hoooome -
Checkin to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
Quick transfer on the way home π -
Checkin to Gate 18
See ya later Aus -
The Week #282
by James- π¦πΊ I traveled to south of the equator for the first time to Melbourne. It seems like a pretty great city β though the lack of a train from the airport to the central business district is a shame. Having your (my) introduction to the city be taking an Uber along a massive highway to some massive 7 lane roads really reminded me of being in Houston more than London. Living in Japan and mostly visiting places with excellent public transit, going to a car centric city is always a shock to the system.
The trams do exist, but the barrier to riding them as a visitor is quite high. They're free within the central business district, but if you leave then you need to pay using a transit card. Which you'd then need to charge or something. They're in the process is upgrading so you can use a credit card / your phone, but it's not there / everywhere yet.
Food and Coffee has been great though. I am looking forward to drinking as much coffee as I can while I'm about. - π¦ I have yet to see any kangaroos.
- π§ I charged up /synced my iPod Classic and so glad I did. Traveling with your entire library on a device that works without internet access is so good. On the plane listening to Green Day's Dookie album reminded me that I did the same exact thing as a kid flying between California and Colorado. Except the only album I had with me was Dookie and it was a (not Sony) Walkman. I must have listened to it 3 times in a row. The opening of the album remains my favorite of all time.
- π¦πΊ I traveled to south of the equator for the first time to Melbourne. It seems like a pretty great city β though the lack of a train from the airport to the central business district is a shame. Having your (my) introduction to the city be taking an Uber along a massive highway to some massive 7 lane roads really reminded me of being in Houston more than London. Living in Japan and mostly visiting places with excellent public transit, going to a car centric city is always a shock to the system.
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