A-Z Challenge – A

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Hi, this is the first day of the A-Z Challenge! (It’s my first time doing it, but was nudged along by Jamie Lyn Weigt 😄) So, without further ado…

A is for “Anime”

I often say, “I’m not a huge anime fan…” but when I do watch, I usually enjoy it. Of course it depends on the story. For instance, I don’t like sci-fi/mecha anime too much, but I do like adventure and slice-of-life types of stories.

Just recently I finished a great 13-part anime series titled “The Pilot’s Love Song” which takes place in an alternate reality, but a lot of the tech is similar. For instance, the story revolves around flying, and the planes they use are all prop-type, and they use conventional guns, but there is also some supernatural components as well. And of course, their world is a series of stepped discs, suspended in the air, with floating islands and a rainbow barrier surrounding them all.

I thought the artwork and the air combat was pretty cool. The story is interesting, although predictable, and thankfully the opening theme song (video below) and closing song are good. That’s important because they take up so much of each episode (I don’t skip forward)!

“The Pilot’s Love Song” ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, but I don’t think a second season is in the works. I hope they make one, because it was fun and I need to know how the adventure continues! You can watch the first season at Crunchyroll.

So now I am looking for more anime to watch. If you have any suggestions (especially if they are on Netflix or Crunchyroll) let me know!

– B Barron Fujimoto

#atozchallenge

Sandwiches and work

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Good evening!

Today’s weather was so warm and humid, but it felt nice to be outside. I went outside at lunch to buy some lunch at the food truck, and I was wearing a jacket even though it was in the 80s. I am not sure if my office is cold, but I feel like I am freezing while I work so I usually have a jacket on and then I just wore it outside and tried to warm up… and it helped for an hour or so, but then it was back to freezing. ❄️

Today’s photo is of a Vietnamese-style sandwich on a homemade baguette that Mariko made. It was super delicious, and the jalapeños were spicy! I love the heat. The hotter the better! 🔥

Well, tomorrow is Friday and I am looking forward to getting a lot done! I don’t have any meetings scheduled so I need to put my head down and crank out a lot of tasks. By the way, I am still using Toggl to track my work and that is going well. Once I got used to clicking on the task as soon as I start new work, it is second-nature now. I often switch between things, like I am gathering graphics files, and then I see an email come into my inbox. Before I check the mail, I click on the task in Toggl, and then check the email. When I am done with the email, I click on the task I was doing before that, then continue with the task. By doing this, I get a very accurate representation of where I spend most of my time. Yesterday, for instance, I spent 2h 36m responding to and writing email… which to me is astonishing. I would have never thought I spend so much time doing that! But I can’t argue with the data.

I guess I was getting overwhelmed with work for a while there, and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t seem to finish certain projects… I knew I was working hard, but I kept thinking that I was doing something wrong. But now I have the visibility into exactly where my time goes… and I can see that I simply have too many things on my plate right now. Although that is a problem, at least I can pinpoint what it is and not worry that I am doing something wrong. It’s a big step in improving my daily workload and estimating time!

Alright, it’s now getting late and I am going to read. Take care!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

Koa on the mound

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: SONY NEX-6, 0mm, f/0, 1/60 sec, ISO250
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello!

This evening Koa had a baseball game under cloudy skies. It has been raining off and on today but luckily the fields were dry enough that they could play. Last year, there were so many games canceled due to heavy rains and even the end-of-season tournament was called off. This season, just one practice was called off and we’re crossing our fingers that we can get all the games in!

Tonight’s photo is of Koa on the mound. I paired my Minolta 100-200 AF lens with the NEX-6 body using a cheap (~$15) adapter. There are some strange patterns going on in the background, but I am happy with the quality overall. I was going to put the lens on my A77 and have full auto-focus and metering, but decided to give this smaller combination a try just for fun. I am pleased with the result!

Unfortunately, the result of the game was a loss for Koa’s Rockies. But the tournament is this weekend and we’re hoping to do well! At least I know the kids will have fun… they almost always do!

Take care, and see you tomorrow.

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Decorating

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello, how’s it going?

Today I finally received the stickers I ordered from Red Bubble. They were a couple days late because UPS delivered the envelope to the wrong local post office. But, I am happy with the quality of these stickers, although I wish they were a tiny bit smaller – mainly because they are a little too big to put on the inside wrist-rests next to the track-pad. For the outside, they are the perfect size though!

In the top photo you can see the cover stickers – the black and white band is SCANDAL, and the purple one is a drawing based on Morning Musume’s 『時空を超え 宇宙を超え』. I didn’t know that it was from Morning Musume until after I bought it, but I like the connection – they are one of my good friend’s favorite groups.

Below is a photo of the sticker that is on the bottom of the Chromebook. It’s Yui from K-ON! It looks like she got squished, so it’s perfect for underneath the laptop! Funny, isn’t it?

Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO3200
 Cedar Park, 2016

Anyways, I am having a lot of fun with my laptop. It’s great. I love it.

Well, it’s almost mid-week. Let’s have a good Wednesday!

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto