Month: February 2016

こんばんは！Brrrr…. it’s cold tonight! ❄️

As you can see in the photo above, we were at the baseball fields. Koa’s new team (The Rockies) had its first game, and it was super chilly out. The kids wore undershirts but of course they were still cold. I even had extra clothes on (a sweater, two jackets, thermal leggings under my jeans, a scarf, and a lined ski cap) and I was freezing!!!

But the game itself was fun and Koa did well. ⚾️ That is him pitching in the photo and he didn’t give up any earned runs. He came into the game as a relief pitcher, with the bases loaded and got out of the inning only giving up one run (on a throwing error). I was so proud! 👍

I am glad that Koa likes to pitch and can go up in the spotlight and do well. I know it can be nerve-wracking! I used to pitch in little league as well, and I don’t really remember much of it, although I think I was pretty good. So I guess pitching runs in the family.

I am finally starting to warm up and I think it’s time to hop into the cozy bed. Talk again tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

-B 

こんばんは！Hello! How are you doing?

Wow, today was such a windy and chilly day here in central Texas. When I left the office, it was in the 40s and my car was getting blown around the lane on the drive home. Not fun. Plus, I drive a Honda Odyssey and that car is like a giant sail.

Once again, I had a busy day at work. But this week, I’ve been using a tool to track the time I spend on each task. It’s called Toggl and it is a free web app which is super-easy to use and has some great features. I know that I am pretty much constantly working throughout the day, but couldn’t recall exactly what I spent my time on. But with Toggl I can easily start a task, giving it a name and associating it to a project or category. It starts a timer and keeps it going until I either click stop, or switch tasks, in which case I just enter in the new task name and it will start timing the new work task (while saving the old task). If I switch back to a task I was doing earlier in the day (or any previous time actually), I can click that task in the timeline and Toggl will start the timing the task using the old settings (name and project). It is so easy!

I can also see a running count of how long I have worked that day, and there are some simple reports to view everything in easy charts or tables. Surprisingly, I spend a lot of my day scoping out tasks and emailing… today I spent over 1.5 hours doing those two things! I’ve found that I use Toggle constantly now… the only time I hit the stop button is when I take a break or go to lunch. Otherwise, I am either working on a task, or switch over to task scoping, or email, or if I have to go into a meeting, I will also track that. It’s actually very interesting!

Okay, enough about work stuff.

So, today’s photo is completely about recreation. It’s another photo of the Pinky:st character, Maki. I think it’s a cool figurine! I have also been tweaking the black and white settings on my X100T, and now I am pretty much set on using the Yellow filter, with +1 to both highlights and shadows, and +2 to sharpness. It gives a nice contrasty look, but the skin tones are still natural-toned. I like it.

Well, it looks like it will be cold overnight here. I will put an extra blanket on. Take care and stay warm!

おやすみなさい！

-B 

こんばんは！Hello! How was your Monday?

Today for me was pretty good. I am so busy at work, but I did get a lot accomplished today and I am feeling good about the rest of the week. Yes, it’s still early on I know!

Anyways, today is National Cat Day in Japan and I’ve been seeing a lot of cat photos in my Instagram feed. This is the first time in 19 years that we haven’t had a cat in the family… I miss Miki a bunch. When I typed my nightly blog posts, she would usually keep me company. But I know she was loved and felt loved so I am happy to have had shared the time with her.

Today’s photo is of our little Hinamatsuri display that is in our house. Mariko put it on display last week and we’ll keep it on the table until after Hinamatsuri is over. I think this display is pretty cute. It’s a compact version of the more elaborate displays that many Japanese families have but I like it a lot.

Well, I just had a big yawn so that means I should get ready for bed. I want to sketch a little bit tonight too… I have my sketchpad and pencil in my bag and I want to start up again with the art! It gets me thinking about if I can do photography and freehand art at the same time. You know, splitting the creativity… will I run out of the creative spirit? I guess there’s only one way to find out! Onward and upward!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン