Tag: postaday

Extra Device

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"Close to Winter" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/120 sec, ISO400
 “Close to Winter” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

It’s another cold one here in Austin and tonight it will get down to just above freezing. I think next week it will warm back up with Wednesday’s high back into the mid-70s! I’ll be happy to have the warm temperatures again since I can’t stand too much cold.

The other day I started up my old Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet, which is a device that I don’t use much anymore since I got my Chromebook. For a while I used the tablet thinking it would be a great blogging device but it’s just too small, and even with a bluetooth keyboard, the typing experience was lacking. It’s a nice tool for consuming information, but not creating.

A while back I upgraded the OS from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, and while successful, there were a few problems. The battery life suffered and the performance wasn’t so great as compared to Windows 8.1. Also, Windows 10 took up so much space that it only left me with about 1.5 GB free on the 32 GB internal drive. This is not enough space to apply the regular Windows maintenance updates!

So, I decided to downgrade the OS back to Windows 8.1 and I am so glad I did. The speed is back, and the tablet experience of 8.1 is much better than 10. I have to admit that on of this little tablet’s best features is that the lockscreen can display saved photos. It’s a pretty sweet-looking digital photo frame!

Honestly, though, my other devices are much better for the type of things I do, for instance, my Chromebook for blogging/typing, the Kindle Paperwhite for reading, and the phone for browsing Instagram. I think it may be good for Netflix since the screen is so nice, but it’s a shame that I don’t have much more use for it.

Have a good evening!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Freezing

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"Calming" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO500
 “Calming” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Here in Austin the weather has gotten even colder! Temperatures barely made it into the 40s today, and tonight it will drop below freezing. ❄️

My oldest son likes to keep his door closed and so the heat doesn’t flow into his room. It’s like an icebox in there! So tonight we bought him a new oil heater and now his room is nice and toasty. 😄 I joked with him that I should sleep in there with him and he just rolled his eyes like teenagers do…

Speaking of temperatures, my office is always so cold and today was extra chilly. I noticed that more people were wearing jackets and scarves while working. Eventually it warmed up a bit, but for myself, it’s a constant battle. My body temperature is so low it seems.

In a bit of good news, the TV near our desks is showing a nice fireplace scene with Christmas stockings. It looks warm, but I feel like it’s mocking me! 😩

Well, I hope you had a nice day, and stay warm wherever you are!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

A brief bit of sunlight

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"Morning Light" Austin, 2016
“Morning Light” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today was another cold day, but it started out with clear skies and when I arrived at work, the sunlight was streaming in from the east side of the building. It looked so cool that I had to take a photo of it.

Lately I’ve been having a bit of wanderlust, since I enjoyed our road-trip so much and I’m looking forward to traveling more in the near future! We have a few trips planned, which reminded me of a bit of advice I heard last year… It was something like, “Always have something to look forward to.” I didn’t really know what it meant, but I think I am starting to see how it can be a nice way to keep yourself motivated.

Or maybe it’s not so much motivation, but just keeping yourself in a positive mindset. I’ve always thought that my days and years were spent trying to achieve a certain goal, and once I reached that goal, I could just coast. Kind of like I would dread doing my taxes, and I thought when I finished my taxes, then I could rest forever! But of course the next year’s taxes come again… and again.

So now as I get closer to 50 years old maybe I realize that it’s just an ongoing journey, and that it’s the journey itself that’s important, not the destination. Or maybe just shifting my thinking that the destination isn’t an endpoint, but more like a milestone and to look forward to the next milestone. And things do get easier, the more you go through.

Eh… I have no idea if that made any sense or not, but I’m pretty sure I am not articulating my thoughts well. But I’m not going to go back and edit this. You know, life’s too short to spend too much time going back to edit.

Anyways, I do think it’s good to have some things on the horizon to look forward to. Make some fun vacation plans and put them on the calendar!

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Tis the Season

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"Hat Shopping" Austin, 2016
“Hat Shopping” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going? Have a good Monday?

As you can see from today’s photos, Koa and I did a bit of holiday shopping. Specifically, we went out for Christmas hats that he and his percussion-mates will wear during their holiday concert in Chicago. 🎅

It seems that each section of the band is supposed to have matching hats so I took Koa to the party supply store to pick up hats for his section. It’s interesting (to me, at least) that Koa was able to take photos of the different hat choices, then share via group chat with his section-mates, and they all decided on the antlers and Rudolf nose in a matter of minutes. Kids and their technology!

I think it looks pretty good, and the nose actually lights up too. 😜

"Rudolf" Cedar Park, 2016
“Rudolf” Cedar Park, 2016

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Recovery Day

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"Sunday Pose" Cedar Park, 2016
“Sunday Pose” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?

Today I was a zombie… I guess you could say I had a mild hangover from last night’s pie party. And the weather today was rainy and grey and I just wanted to sleep… I felt like how the cat looks in the photo above.

But we had things to do, so I soldiered through it all and helped decorate the Christmas tree, put up some lights, took Bay to get his haircut, visited the grocery store, enrolled in my work benefits programs, and then cooked dinner. Around 5 PM, when dinner was almost ready, I was just about back to feeling normal. 😄 Unfortunately, now at 10:39 PM I have a headache coming back. I need to sleep! 😴

But before that, here’s a photo of the spaghetti dinner I made for the kiddos. It turned out pretty good, I think!

"Simple Dinner" Cedar Park, 2016
“Simple Dinner” Cedar Park, 2016

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Party of Pies

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"Pies" Austin, 2016
“Pies” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Tonight we all went to a friend’s house to attend his annual Pie Party. This year’s collection of pies included two that I had not tasted before.

The first was a brisket and french fry pie, which was just what you’d imagine… I think it was simply a bunch of shredded beef brisket in a pie shell, topped with french fries. And it was delicious!!

The second new pie was a buffalo chicken wing pie, which as far as I could tell was boneless chicken in buffalo sauce, and maybe ranch or bleu cheese dressing in pie shell. It was also yummy. 😄

Also of note were a shepherd’s pie, lamb pie, pizza pies, and some empanadas. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t eat any of the dessert pies, but there were many! I’d say it was split 50-50 between sweet and savory pies this year, which is perfect, in my opinion.

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto