๐Ÿ—ป James Van Dyne

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  • Checkin to ZSL London Zoo

    ZSL London Zoo 51.53571369493518 -0.1557239974346836
    Jul 27, 2025
    by James
    in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
    Visiting the animals
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 6 interactions
  • Checkin to Caffรจ Nero

    Caffรจ Nero 51.503653 -0.086179
    Jul 26, 2025
    by James
    in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
    Rest before heading to the hotel for the night.
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 5 interactions
  • Checkin to Tate Modern

    Tate Modern 51.50770408386703 -0.0994563102722168
    Jul 26, 2025
    by James
    in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
    Leoโ€™s first art museum. Semi-successful
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 3 interactions
  • Checkin to St James' Park Playground

    St James' Park Playground 51.5011191867234 -0.1383153086395111
    Jul 24, 2025
    by James
    in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
    Huge fan of playing in parks in summer and not risking heat stroke.
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 5 interactions
  • Checkin to Hamleys

    Hamleys 51.51281546465188 -0.1401427925156895
    Jul 24, 2025
    by James
    in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
    Leoโ€™s living the dream
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 6 interactions
  • Checkin to London Heathrow Airport (LHR)

    London Heathrow Airport (LHR) 51.46999605336242 -0.4589796066284179
    Jul 24, 2025
    by James
    in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
    Escaping Japanese Summer
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 5 interactions
  • The Week #264

    Jul 22, 2025
    by James
    • ๐ŸŒŠ Monday was Marine Day, where I celebrated by not going anywhere near the ocean because it's 34 degrees and as humid as it can be. Thankfully a break (for me (sorry not sorry y'all)) is coming quite soon. I wonder, is it actually that much cooler in Karuizawa? One way I'll have to go and see.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต There was an upper house election at a fringe rightwing party picked up a number of seats. I won't repeat the news, but they're a party that got their start via social media (YouTube and TikTok mainly?), which means they're targeting low-information voters and outrage. I am very much not a fan of their anti-foreigner talk. Especially that bit where if they had their way they'd strip purchased property from foreigners. Apologists claim they're only talking about Chinese or such, but that's how it always starts. I hope this trend does not continue. And thankfully I didn't see any supporter signs plastered on people's houses nearby.
    • ๐Ÿ•น๏ธ Getting ready for a long flight with kids, the thing I worry about the most, besides making it to the gate on time, is keeping Leo from having a melt down about 7 hours in. We've downloaded some shows on to his iPad and the Switch is fully charged. The new entrant is that USB SNES controller I bought 8 years ago and thought didn't work on my M2 Macbook. Turns out does work and now we've got a nice catalogue of games to keep us entertained and I get to relive my childhood playing classics like Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure.
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 1 interaction
  • The Week #263

    Jul 15, 2025
    by James
    • 5๏ธโƒฃ I missed it a few weeks back, but I hit 5 years of The Week without missing a week! Half a decade!ย 
    • โœ๏ธ I received my Supernote Manta and I am in love ๐Ÿ˜. It's hard to describe just how good and freeing digital paper is. No longer do I need to carry multiple notebooks with me. No longer do I have to decide to have a single type of paper in a given notebook.Write a note, two-finger circle it, new task managed in a central location. Flub a note, two finger on the sidebar circle to delete.

      I'm not sure exactly how my work notes will "end up" organizationally , but for starters I'm keeping it simple. Mostly I'm just separatingย  them out by product / person with an index page that lets me quickly jump between them. I haven't used the linking function much, but I've only had it for 1 work-day.

      For my personal notes, I've started doing Morning Pages. Each morning you sit and handwrite 3-pages of whatever is on your mind. Rather than having stray thoughts pinging around in my noggin, I can write them down. Then it's much easier for me to either action them, add a task to track it, or just get it out of my system. Working through why I am thinking certain things has been helpful. Do I need an e-ink tablet to do any of this? No. Does it lower the barrier to entry to nothing, yes. Starting a brand new notebook just for morning pages is a hurdle when you aren't sure you will continue while starting a new file is easy and free.
    • ๐Ÿ’” It's been a month since the Air India 171 accident and the preliminary report was released. The plane was operating exactly as it was meant until someone in the cockpit manually turned off the fuel to the engines. 10-seconds later (presumably by the other person) fuel was turned back on and the engines starting spinning up, but it wasn't high enough to have enough time to recover.

      It's tragic. If it were a mechanical failure there's at least a logical reason for the failure. But this? You don't want to accept it. Mental health is so important. We've got to check in with the people in our lives โ€“ not just a surface "how are you doing?", but "how are you really doing?".ย  And have the courage to model and be vulnerable and let them know that things aren't good when they aren't.ย  I'm fortunate that my work places a lot of effort to encourage us to take care of ourselves (physically and mentally), even having entire weeks dedicated to mental health. It's helped me tremendously this past month.
    • ๐Ÿ” A friend from uni I hadn't seen in years called me out of the blue and we went out for dinner and a coffee. It was a lot of fun. It's good for the soul to meet up with friends. I should do it more often.
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 1 interaction
  • Checkin to ๅ—่›ฎๅฑ‹ ๆน˜ๅ—ๅฐๅบ—

    ๅ—่›ฎๅฑ‹ ๆน˜ๅ—ๅฐๅบ— 35.394430011490094 139.46669749942382
    Jul 12, 2025
    by James
    in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
    Espresso iced coffee. A bit late but yolo.
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 2 interactions
  • Checkin to MOS Burger (ใƒขใ‚นใƒใƒผใ‚ฌใƒผ)

    MOS Burger (ใƒขใ‚นใƒใƒผใ‚ฌใƒผ) 35.428108 139.506934
    Jul 12, 2025
    by James
    in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
    The salads come in a paper box instead of a disposable plastic bowl. Hooray!
    ๐Ÿ”—permalink 5 interactions
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Photo of James Van Dyne James Van Dyne Japan

Web developer living in Japan.