• I turned 37 years old. Last week at our friend's house we celebrated two birthdays with a larger cake, so on the actual day-of, we opted for individual slices. I took the day after off (so Leo would be in school until mid-afternoon) and we made a quick trip to Kamakura. Yumi bought me a nice new long sleeve shirt from Patagonia and I bought myself a beanie for winter. I bought some bread next door of Patagonia and it turned out to be legit sourdough, I haven't had that in years. Finally we got lunch at Oxymoron, this great curry place which has huge lines on the weekends, and not so much on a random Thursday.
• We got an email from our solar installers and they got everything, so we're ready for install on October 17th and 18th. Unfortunately it's past "prime time" for the year in terms of generating electricity, but it should still help us save quite a bit of money as the fuel adjustment costs continue to increase.
• It looks like this past weekend was the last warm weekend of the year, so we went to the beach to play in the water. Usually it's just me and Leo making unplanned trips by subway-train-monorail, but this time all 3 of us by car. The beach is so much better (as a quasi-local) without the beach houses up.
  

  

• I'm experimenting with putting my phone in monochrome to reduce its desirability. I must say, I think I like it more in monochrome as the entire experience is so much more calm. I can't say for certain if it will be a long-term change, but so far I really like it. 

Kate Bellingham reports that an exciting new interconnected world - a world where every word ever written, every picture ever painted and ever film ever shot...

I like watching these clips about the early internet as presenters try to explain the internet. Who could've guessed it was such an integral part of modern life 30 years later. Also really like the setup with all of the old Mac desktops in various states of screensaver or not.

1. Tagged with
2. video
3. nostalgia
4. computing

• I changed the top page of my site from being a list of posts to being a more "curated" view. With just the latest 3 statuses being shown (and no next button to easily view older ones), they feel less permanent/easier to write. I've still got a few "widgets" I'd like to add to the front page before it's "complete", but that's requisite on getting the data into my site first.
• Japan announced it's going to opening up to tourist and visa-waver travel again from October 11th, provided you have either 3 shots or a negative post prior to boarding. After 2.5 years closed, I imagine it's going to be quite the cluster at the airport as they re-learn how to deal with actual volume again. I'm also curious how things are going to go when people who are used to mask free life come, en masse, to largely still-masking-at-least-in-the-shops-trains Japan. Clash of the cultures?
• We had a public holiday on Friday to celebrate the first day of autumn. We met with some longtime friends for lunch at their house, which was a nice change of pace. We hadn't seen this set of friends in about a year. Because we're usually the ones doing the hosting of social events, it's nice not to have to get the house looking presentable just to have it messed up a couple hours later.
• Leo took a test at swimming. Before he went he told us "I have something important to say" and he took my wife to his room where he said "I'm gonna do my best on the test later". For his test he had to push off from the edge and glide for 3 meters while keeping his head underwater for 5 seconds. He passed with flying colors. What's more is, after the test, he received a special recognition from Y.M.C.A. for embodying their core values: caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. This wasn't an "everybody gets a medal" situation either, only one person class could receive it. I'm really proud of him.