Tag: postaday

Digital Decluttering – Bookmarks

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"Blue Sky Coming" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/340 sec, ISO200
 “Blue Sky Coming” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

For the past few years, I’ve been simplifying my life in many different areas, both large and small, for instance, my camera gear, decluttering my closet, book collection, and tidying up my home workspace. But another area that I enjoy simplifying is my digital life. There are many areas of our digital lives that have gotten so cluttered and complicated, and I’m going to write about the ones I’ve identified and worked on. For tonight I’ll start with bookmarks.

I’ve been online since the early 90s, and I’ve been saving, organizing, and filing away bookmarks ever since I started using NCSA Mosaic. That’s a couple decades worth of bookmarks! Of course, I don’t keep everything, but I’d say that my collection of bookmarks has hovered at around 3 year’s worth, growing and shrinking as I find time to delete obsolete ones.

But just this past week or so I’ve been going through them and ruthlessly decluttering. First, if I look at a link and don’t know what it is by name alone, I’ll delete it. It’s obviously not important enough to keep if I don’t even know what its name is referring to. I won’t even check to see if the link is active.

For the second pass, I spend a few moments thinking about if I’ve clicked on the link within the past few months. If not, I delete. This clears out a ton of links to old hobbies that I am no longer interested in, DIY repair links to things that I’ve already fixed, shopping research for things I’ve already bought, etc.

After that, my bookmarks collection is really streamlined!

But what is the benefit of having a stripped-down collection of bookmarks since keeping them doesn’t cost anything? Well, I believe that even if a bookmark is in a hidden away in a folder, it still occupies a bit of space in my brain. But by consciously deleting the link, it frees up that space and gives a bit of closure – I know that the bookmarks folders don’t have anything obsolete or useless in them. No loose ends!

I also think that when I know I’ve streamlined the bookmarks, I’ve simplified my life and jettisoned those things that aren’t essential to me. It’s sort of a digital representation of letting go of real things that are not useful to me any longer. When I look at the folders that are lined across my bookmarks toolbar, I can see right away what’s important to me, and it kind of keeps my priorities in line. For instance, my folders are Blogging, Music, 日本語, Work, Art, Fun, Photo, Kids, Wellness, and Finances. And some subfolders are Travel, Reading, and Motorbike.

And a little technical bonus: because Chrome bookmarks sync across my entire account, when I clean up on one browser, the rest of my devices get cleaned up too. It’s like magic. Cloud magic! 😄

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Today’s photo is of the clouds breaking up to reveal clear evening skies.

I hope you had a nice hump-day!

おやすみ！

Spring Planting

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"Spring Planting" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/3.6, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
 “Spring Planting” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Can you believe it’s May already? It seems like it was just February. Or March! And the weather is warming up lately, which means it’s time to plant some herbs and peppers. 🌶️

Last year we had a couple pepper plants growing on the deck, and it worked out nicely because it was a lot easier to harvest jalapeños when the plant is just a few feet away from the door. Our in-ground gardens down below are in mosquito-land, so I avoided harvesting peppers when we used those…

So this year, we have a jumbo “Mucho Nacho” jalapeño plant, one ghost pepper plant, a wheelbarrow full of herbs, and some basil in another pot. I had planted Scotch Bonnet seeds in that pot, but Mariko didn’t realize it and put her basil in there, so I will have to plant more seeds in another pot. 😕 Oh well.

Anyways, I am hoping we have another great harvest. It’s so nice to be able to grab a jalapeño or two whenever we need some extra hotness. 🔥

I hope you had a nice Tuesday!

またね～

#1 Meal

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"Favorite Meal" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/20 sec, ISO3200
 “Favorite Meal” Cedar Park, 2018

こなばんは。 How’s it going?

Tonight Mariko went out to a movie with a friend, but before she left, she prepared my favorite meal for us: oyakodon (親子丼). I’ve mentioned it before, but the word “oyakodon” means “parent and child donburi”, and it refers to it being chicken and egg. Kind of macabre, but oh so yummy!

Anyways, Mariko prepared the chicken, onion, and broth and left the covered pan on the stove for us to finish cooking. I basically just had to add the lightly beaten eggs and cook until the desired doneness. Sometime we’ll top it with nori (seaweed) and/or scallion, but tonight, we just had it plain with a bit of hot pepper. To me, it’s a perfect meal!

When I lived in Japan I used to go to a bento place called Hokka Hokka Tei. It was fast, convenient, and inexpensive. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of oyakodon back then, my favorite dish was a similar one called “katsu-ju”, which was breaded pork cutlet with egg on rice. Mmmmm! If I remember correctly, it was one of the more expensive items on the menu, at around 500 yen. But if I was short on cash that day, the noriben was also yummy, and only something like 220 yen. I miss those days!

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In other news, I caught up with Segodon (episode 10 currently) and am still enjoying it. The character Princess Atsu (played by Kitagawa Keiko) is the subject of another Taiga drama from several years ago, Atsuhime (hime=princess). I’m going to start watching that one too, but at 50 episodes, it’s going to be a long haul. 😀

I hope you had a nice Monday!

またね～

Nihongo Update

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"Watch Bin" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/17 sec, ISO3200
 “Watch Bin” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I was listening to some Japanese pop songs that I haven’t heard in a couple years, and I was surprised that I understood a lot more than I used to. Actually, I’d rate my comprehension of the lyrics as maybe 20% of the words, whereas before it might have been 5%. But since it’s mostly just bits and pieces, and not even whole sentences that I understand, I only get the gist of what the song is about. Still, it’s fun to hear the same songs and the mystery is revealed a bit more as I study.

I’ve been using the Anki flashcard system on my computer and phone to boost my vocabulary and it’s pretty good! However, I am going to switch from kana to romaji to get in more vocabulary quicker, then maybe I will switch it up and go back to kana for a bit. There’s a mental gap that I am encountering where I am trying to memorize both the meaning while seeing the kana/kanji and it’s kind of frustrating. So to build some momentum, I am switching to romaji (and I also study my kana cards separately as a refresher) and see if I can get more vocab under my belt.

In other Japanese-related news, I have caught up with Segodon so now I can just watch the TV Japan broadcasts when they are shown. And then I am also watching a Sailor Moon episode here and there. Fun to pick up the new words I have learned.

So, some improvement with my Nihongo, and also a bit of fun with the dorama!

Today’s photo is of my watches, sitting in a Kokuyo pen case. I tidied up my desk, but don’t have a good place to put my watches so I just threw them there. I like looking at them, so I don’t put them in the drawer but it seems like they need a better place to hang out than just the desktop. 😆 We’ll find a good home for them someday!

I hope you had a good Saturday!

またねー