Category: Slice of Life

A nice walk

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"Food Truck" USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/60 sec, ISO2000
 “Food Truck” USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you today/tonight? I hope you had a nice Saturday.

Mine has been a long one… Saturday mornings are similar to weekday mornings in our family because our sons attend Japanese school, which starts at 8am and ends just before noon. This means that I wake up early as usual, then make coffee and get breakfast ready, then wake everyone else up.

Today I took them to school, and my wife and her friend had a “garage sale” at our house. Actually, it was held inside and was advertised to the local Japanese community. Apparently the house was packed, coffee and snacks were enjoyed, and many things got sold! Sounds like a big party, doesn’t it?

But while she was busy doing that, I had a nice relaxing walk around downtown Austin. I actually parked at my favorite book store, BookPeople, then walked all around. Instead of walking on the major streets, I tried to take the alleyways between the streets which are much more interesting to me! I stumbled across the food truck in the photo above, which was painted by Pee Yellow of Peelander-Z, a band we have seen a couple times. Pee Yellow is an acquaintance of ours (a friend of a friend) and his artwork is very recognizable! It surprised me when I came across the food truck, but I guess it was in its normal overnight “nesting place”.

I really enjoyed my morning photo walk, and was happy that I could have a few hours to decompress and get some exercise. Very refreshing!

Tonight is pretty cold, getting down to the 30s in our neighborhood. ❄️ Stay warm wherever you are!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン

Friday Night Relaxing

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"On the drive" USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/80 sec, ISO200
 “On the drive” USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you tonight/today?

It’s getting late here but I am happy that the weekend has arrived! As the title of this post indicated, I had a relaxing evening. One of Bay’s friends is visiting and they played video games while I catched up watching a week’s worth of Asa ga Kita. It’s a good story so far!

For dinner we had a pizza from Costco, which is one of my favorites! During my have bachelor summers (when Mariko and the kids go to Japan for a month or so) I always eat a lot of Costco pizza. 💗 🍕 It’s tasty, cheap, and easy to prepare.

After dinner I watched “I Hate Tokyo” (上京ものがたり) which was just ok. There wasn’t anything special about the movie but there was a nice message of following your dreams and persevering. I can’t really recommend it though because there are many more movies which are more worth your while. But still, it was relaxing to watch and sip on a glass or three of nice red wine! 🍷

Today’s photo was one I took while driving in to work. The sun was just rising and there were some pretty clouds in the sky. I don’t really compose these photos since I am driving, but I point the camera in the general direction, and snap away and hope I get a nice shot. I am pretty happy with this one! I also took another photo which I posted on Instagram that I like. Please take a look!

Well, I have to wake up early to make breakfast for the kiddos, so I will call it a night.

おやすみなさい！Let’s have a great weekend!

-B

Blue shutter release

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"Blue Shutter Release" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO1000
 “Blue Shutter Release” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you doing? I’m well, although I have developed a cold sore on my lip. It’s been several years since I’ve had one, so it was a surprise this morning!

Today’s photo is of a nice shiny blue “Blue Metal Soft Release” that I purchased for my X100T. I have a convex black soft shutter release, but I thought this blue one might look nice on my black camera and since it was only about $5 I figured I would give it a try. The quality and the color of the button is nice, but it is a little too small for the X100T… and also I think the black button I have on it now looks better. So I put the blue button on my wife’s X-T10, and I think it looks great! It also matches the size of the X-T10’s release mechanism almost perfectly! Happily, my wife also likes it and so I have put a little Loctite on it to secure the button onto the threads.

By the way, in an earlier post, I explained that I was going to start using a “Personal Documentary” category to designate my posts with the daily photos. But it turns out that I am also posting daily (or nightly) and including the photo, so I am not sure the separate category is needed. Therefore, I have removed the “Personal Documentary” category. I have been including my daily posts in the “Slice of Life” category in case you are keeping score.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that this has been a tough week in which both David Bowie and Alan Rickman have died. I’ve been a Bowie fan since high school (I remember listening to Changesonebowie in my room with a bunch of friends one night), and I saw him in 1983 during his Serious Moonlight tour. What an amazing show. And I’ve admired Alan Rickman’s acting, specifically his portrayal of Severus Snape. He really stole the show in the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, didn’t he?

On that note, I will end this post. I hope you have a great Friday!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン

At home today

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"School Bus" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO400
 “School Bus” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you today?

On Wednesdays I usually work from home. It’s nice because I can wake up about 20 minutes later than usual, delaying my normal shower until later in the morning or lunchtime. And in the afternoon, I can pick up Koa from his bus stop and give him a ride home.

The bus stop is actually really close to the house (less than a 10 minute walk) but he has some band gear he has to carry and it can get pretty heavy. Today I decided to walk to the bus stop and meet him and then walk home together. As you can see in today’s photo, we had very nice weather with plenty of sun and fresh air so I enjoyed the walk! (I think Koa would have rather me picked him up in the car, however)

The week is more than half way over, and I am already looking forward to the weekend. Hope you have a great day tomorrow, and I hope it is sunny where you live! ☀️

おやすみなさい！

-B

New Backpack

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こんばんは！

How are you doing? I guess I am ok today.

As I have mentioned a couple times in the past, I am a bit crazy for bags, backpacks, and messenger bags. Tonight I was shopping online and came across a great deal on a cool mid-sized backpack. It was on sale, and also I had an REI dividend to use so I got a great price on this JanSport Hatchet Daypack. I love the design! It looks like it will be a nice addition to my small collection of bags. Its 28-liter capacity seems right between my Patagonia Minimass messenger bag and the cavernous 41-liter capacity North Face Router. I like the Router backpack, but it does get huge!

The only thing about the JanSport is that I am not sure exactly what color REI will ship to me. The website says “Grey Tar/ Shade Grey”, but those are actually two different colors. Both look nice to me, but I am hoping that the darker “Grey Tar” is the one I get. It has a bright blue interior which makes finding things easier.

Today was another cold one, with another frozen windshield. The layer of ice this morning was a little thicker than the last one, but still it melted away quickly once I got some warm air coming up from the dashboard.

"Frozen" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/90 sec, ISO6400
 “Frozen” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

I think I am ready for some warmer weather already. I am truly a summer person! 😎

Stay warm tonight!

-B