It’s very late… in fact it is 1:41 am on Saturday morning. I am writing this right before bed, but I had such a nice time tonight I wanted to share a bit about it. I went to a birthday party 🎂 for my good friend Mikey and it was a blast! The highlight of the night for me was playing the game “Cards Against Humanity”. It was so funny and raunchy. Definitely not for kids! But so much fun!
I’ll write some more later, and post my daily photo tomorrow… I am so sleepy now and I have to wake up in about 4 hours… 😴
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO5000 “Sushi-making” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんにちは! How’s it going today? It’s a beautiful day here in central Texas, with temperatures approaching 80° F!
Although I love the warmth, I am worried… I mean it’s January so it should be cold! I am wondering how the planet’s climate will be when my kids are adults, and even what the world will be like when my grandchildren are adults. I can imagine that there will be more powerful storms, sea levels will have risen, etc. It’s really a shame. But I am reminded of some lyrics from Everything But the Girl – “In the end, if you take care, you can be happy or unhappy anywhere.” I suppose this could also apply to your place in world history too. I’m sure there will be plenty of happiness whatever the future brings to the planet.
And speaking of happiness, just look at today’s photo! There’s happiness in-the-making right there! As you probably know, my wife is an amazing cook and baker, and she can roll some mean sushi too! Here you can see the fixings for some sushi rolls she was preparing for a potluck party. I “sampled” a lot before the party, so I didn’t eat much there… but really I needed to make sure I got to have a nice share of the sushi before it all got devoured! (I’m not an idiot)
If you haven’t made sushi at home, you should give it a try! Lots of places now sell sushi-grade (and safe) fish, and it makes for a really fun party. You can even order sushi fish online and have it delivered in refrigerated packaging. Very convenient!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2500 “Honey Jar” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんばんは！How are you today?
Today’s photo is of a cool Mason jar with Honey Dipper. It’s really cool, isn’t it? 🐝 It looks great and it works nicely too. I had never seen this before until the other day when Mariko was using it for one of her recipes. And I knew it would make a nice photo. I just had to find the right light, and today’s evening sun provided a nice brightness to the honey. If you think it is cool, you can get it using the link above. It’s only a few bucks!
Well, it’s almost Friday (already is for most of the world actually) which means the weekend is near! And the weather here in Texas is supposed to be fantastic. Hopefully we can spend some time enjoying the sunshine! ☀️😎
Just Another Day – Our days our organized around numerous small actions we repeat over and over. What’s your favorite daily ritual?
This is a daily prompt subject that I have answered already back in 2014, but I thought it would be good to think about it again and see if anything has changed. Although I still enjoy reading at night, I don’t do it every evening, so my new favorite ritual is something that happens in the morning: having the first cup of coffee. ☕
But before I can enjoy drinking it, there is the ritual of making the coffee. First, I’ll heat up 5 cups of water in the microwave. This is not to drink, but to get the semi-airtight carafe nice and hot. This is the key to keeping the coffee nice and hot for hours. After I fill the carafe with the boiling water and screw on the lid, I’ll fill up the kettle with filtered water, then get that going on the stove. I’ll set the kitchen timer for 7 minutes.
While the water is heating up I’ll get a paper coffee filter and put it in the ceramic filter holder, then rinse the filter under cold water. I’ll also put the coffee beans in the Coffee Grinder. When there is about a minute left on the timer, I’ll grind the beans, then put them in the Bee House Ceramic Coffee Dripper.
Just before the water in the kettle comes to a boil, I’ll empty the hot water out of the carafe, then put the ground coffee and filter holder above the carafe. Next, the water from the kettle is poured over the grounds… and soon, I’ll have perfect coffee for myself and Mariko! And that coffee stays hot for a long time in the carafe!
This is a photo I took during my last trip to Japan. We took a tour of Kyushu, the southern part of the country. It was beautiful in the summertime!
Speaking of photos, I have created a page called “Personal Photo Documentary”. Since I started taking daily pictures, I thought it might be nice to put them all in one gallery. So now if you don’t want to read the daily post, you can just go the the photo page and see the latest pictures that I have made. You can get to the page using the navigation at the top of the site, in the Photography drop-down menu. I hope you enjoy!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2000 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんばんは！Hello everyone, how’s it going? Hump day is over!
Today was a super-busy day again at work, but thankfully I enjoy my work quite a bit. As I go about my day, I try to make a mental note of the new things I am learning. It’s surprising the things I pick up, or how the way I work evolves. For instance, my organizational skills have improved quite a bit (out of sheer necessity). I have so many task and projects to do, so I spend the first part of the day planning out what tasks I will focus on and the priorities of those tasks. Then at the end of the day, I set aside time to regroup on what I accomplished and think about what I will do the next day. Basically, I review things so that when I leave the office, I don’t mentally take work projects home. I can rest assured that I’ve taken care of what I need to take care of and can hit the morning fresh. That work/home separation is important and makes my time at home focused on family. (and I sleep with a more relaxed mind 😴)
Okay, that was quite a bit of rambling about work… and I rarely blog about work! But there’s a first for everything, isn’t there? 😆
Today’s Daily Prompt was another fun one. They are on a roll! Here goes:
Quote Me – Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
I don’t return to quotes again and again (like how do you do that?) but I do remember several quotes, and this one by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites. At the end of vacations I used to always be sad that they were over. I would wish that I could turn back the clock to the beginning of the vacation. But I learned to instead be thankful that we were able to take vacation and make some good memories. It helps to drive the blues away and actually gets me looking forward to the next opportunity to enjoy good times, whether that be an upcoming vacation, or simply the next weekend. It’s nice how positivity leads to more positivity!
Today’s photo is of some homemade bread that my wife Mariko made. I guess she is getting ready for Valentine’s Day! As a guy, I often forget about this holiday coming up. I guess this is a not-so-subtle reminder isn’t it? 💘
Well, I think I’ll read a bit before going to bed. Take care of yourselves and have a great Thursday!
I posted the photo below to my Instagram account and it got me thinking about why I pared down the amount of camera gear I use. It’s kind of a shift in thinking for me that has taken place the last year. I am now completely satisfied with “good enough”.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 26.5mm, f/6.4, 1/55 sec, ISO3200 “My 2016 Camera Kit” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
I have already blogged a bit about the benefits of simplifying the amount of camera gear I use, but one of the reasons why I can do it (and still be happy) is that the cameras in the photo are “good enough” for what I want to photograph. Specifically, the size of the images is more than enough for me. When I was using my Konica-Minolta 7D DSLR, I was already satisifed with 6 megapixels! My wishlist for future cameras just included low-light sensitivity.
When I upgraded to the Sony A77, the 24 megapixel images were huge, especially when I started shooting RAW! I realize now that it was overkill for my shooting style. And that is the important part… each person’s shooting style should dictate what camera they should use. For instance, I don’t shoot sports so I don’t have need for high-frame-rates. My X100T can shoot at 6 FPS which is “good enough”. I do not photograph wildlife or birds so I do not need a long telephoto lens. If I need to get closer, I have my legs. That is “good enough”. My photos will not be used on billboards so I do not need a 50 megapixel sensor. My cameras have 16 and 12 megapixels. And that is more than “good enough”.
So, what is the benefit of settling for “good enough”? Well, in the case of the camera, I am no longer suffering from “GAS” which stand for “Gear Acquisition Syndrome”. I don’t need to think about upgrading any longer. Sure, it is still fun to see the new cameras and technological advances, but now all of these new things do not have the pull on me that they once did. I actually think to myself how nice it is to NOT have the desire for the newest gear. I really feels great! And it is nice for my wallet too!
So now that I have experienced that with my camera gear, I am trying to think of how to apply the “good enough” philosophy to the rest of my life. I haven’t thought too much about it yet, but I am excited to see what unfolds.
I believe everyone should think about what is “good enough” for themselves, and not worry about maximizing on everything. Just use what makes you happy, then let go of the desire to buy more stuff. Enjoy what you have!
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
