Tag: postaday

こんばんは！Hello! How was your Saturday?

Mine was great. Since Mariko is resting up after her dental surgery, I took the boys to Japanese school this morning. While they were in class I had about four hours to myself and since I was downtown, I decided to take some photos near Town Lake. The above photo is the best one I took (in my opinion) but I also took one a few seconds before that included more of Austin.

As you can see, the weather and light were amazing! I got lucky with the timing on these… but like I said in the previous post, you need to have your camera with you in order to have that kind of luck. What do they say? “Luck favors those who are prepared.” Or something to that effect. Anyways, I had my X100T with me all day so I had a good amount of photos, but these two are my favorites.

After shooting these, I went to Caffe Medici for a cappucino and some reading time. Thankfully my wife told me about this new location, and it is convenient and comfortable!

I spent an hour reading “The Alchemist” which I am enjoying quite a bit. The setting of the story really clicks with me, and of course the lessons that the main character learns are thought-provoking. Very interesting so far!

After Japanese school, I took Koa to baseball tryouts for the Spring season, and right after that, he had a birthday party to attend. The party took place at a paintball facility and the kids had a ton of fun! If you don’t know, paintball is sort of like a wargame, but the guns shoot little balls that are filled with non-toxic paint. The kids all wore goggles and face shields, plus jackets so that the paint balls didn’t hurt too much. I think the party was a huge success, as all the kids had huge smiles on their faces by the end of the party.

So, that was our busy Saturday! (Oh, we also went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant… yum!) I hope you also had a nice day as well. Looking forward to sleeping late tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

-B 

こんばんは！How are you tonight?

We made it to the weekend! As expected, it was a busy week for me but a good one! I got to meet with and hang out with colleagues from our overseas offices. The team I am a part of consists of three in Austin (myself included) and four in Stockholm. Last summer when the team was just five of us, we all met for three days in Sweden which was awesome! Now our team is larger by two so it might be a little more difficult to coordinate another full team meeting like that but I am crossing my fingers that it will happen. As I may have mentioned before, I really like all the people I work alongside with. It makes it easy to go into the office! 😄

Today’s photo is #8 in my 365 project. Even though I have been taking daily photos for a bit longer, I joined a 365 Flickr group 8 days ago so I will continue until February of 2017! It seems like a long way off, doesn’t it? But I like the challenge and I know it is something I can succeed at since I have done a 365 project before (actually 366!). The trick I have found is to always have a camera with you 📷 because usually something interesting will come along during the day! And if not, it’s fun to look around the house for new things to make photos of.

I listen to several photography podcasts and one subject comes up quite often, and that is that the type of camera you have doesn’t matter. That if you have the skill and passion, you can make good photos with any camera. While I think that is true, I also believe that having the right camera plays an important part in taking photos. If you don’t like your camera, you’ll leave it at home, or not take it out of the bag, and thus, no photos!

For myself, I use my Fujifilm X100T which I think is a beautiful camera to look at, and is a real pleasure to use. Therefore, I enjoy bringing it with me almost wherever I go. If the camera you have is too big, or too heavy, or there are other negatives… I believe you should sell it and get a different camera. Woody Allen said “80 percent of success is showing up.” If you don’t have your camera with you, that’s like not even showing up. Anyways, find a camera you enjoy using, and you’re more likely to make photos! Life’s too short to use a camera you don’t love.

The weather the past few days has been beautiful and warm. ☀️ I hope you are enjoying life wherever you might be!

おやすみなさい！😴

-バロン 

こんばんは！Thursday is over! How was yours?

As you can see from the photo above, I went bowling with my coworkers after work. It was a lot of fun hanging out and having a bit of friendly competition. I really like my colleagues a lot, and I also love the type of work I do each day. It makes me happy and I know I am fortunate to have had the opportunities that have been given to me. It is my wish that everyone would be able to make their own way in the world, and not be held back by circumstances beyond their control… one day perhaps that will be the norm… I truly hope so. 🌈

Okay. On to other less deep issues… my bee sting is getting better! It still looks awful – swollen and red, but at least it doesn’t itch. Tomorrow I am hoping it will be even less noticeable. And I hope it will be another 35 or so years before I get another bee sting! I’m just thankful that I am not allergic to bee stings. I can’t imagine!

Well, the weekend is almost here. Just one more workday! Let’s do our best tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン 

こんばんは！😄 How’s it going?

Today’s photo is of Suu, a Pinky:st character and one of the only typical otaku things I own. I guess the other items would by my Totoros, but not nearly as otaku! But, I do like the Pinky:st characters even though they are many years old. My favorite is Suu, because she looks less cutesy than most of the other characters, plus her grey hoodie is pretty cool. I just ordered two more characters from Ebay that I’ve wanted for a long time and they will arrive next week. The first is a character wearing a summer yukata. I think it’s pretty cool! And the other one is another less-cute character. I don’t remember their names, but I’ll be sure to take some photos when they arrive.

So today my bee-sting was really itchy and swollen… maybe as much as yesterday. I have tried to not put any medicine on it because I don’t want to put chemicals into/onto my body. But last night I kept waking up with the urge to scratch the bite… and so this morning I put a bit of Neosporin on it. Frankly, I don’t know if it is the right thing to use, and I don’t know if it helped or not, but right now the bite seems okay and not as itchy as before. I am guessing (and hoping) that tomorrow it will be better.

By the way, I bought a new book today: The Alchemist. I’ve heard so many good things about this one so I am excited to give it a read. So… that’s what I am going to do now!

I hope you have a good evening, and a good Thursday!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン 

こんばんは！Hi everyone, how’s it going?

As you can see from the photo above, it was a beautiful day here in Austin. It felt like the temperature got into the 70s and the sun was super-bright. Could winter be over? It’s certainly possible with the way the climate has been changing.

It has been a week since Miki passed away, and I still miss her. When I wake up in the morning, I still get out of bed gently because I am used to Miki being next to me and I don’t want to accidentally bump into her. And when I come to the bedroom in the evening, I am expecting to hear her meow to greet me. 🐱

The kids haven’t talked about Miki at all this past week. I wonder if they miss her as well? Or perhaps they are just so busy with school, or maybe Lani (our dog 🐶) fills their attention. I don’t know. It’s only been a week, so maybe after a little more time, it will be easier to talk about Miki.

In other news, I have been thinking about getting a new car and selling my Honda minivan. In fact, I visited the car dealership on Saturday and test drove the car I wanted (Subaru Crosstrek).

It was pretty much the perfect vehicle for me! But when we looked at the car payment amount, it became less attractive, whereas my aging Honda started looked pretty good. 😝 I really don’t want to start making payments again! Also, I really love the “Quartz Blue” color of the car I test-drove, but everyone else in the family thinks it is lame. Oh well… I guess I will get the silver one when the time comes.

So I decided to stick with my Honda Odyssey for a while longer… I need new tires for it so I am getting a set of four installed this weekend. Those should last until the car finally goes kaput. I think there may be a few more repairs down the road, but hopefully, it still has a year or two left! 🚐

Well, tomorrow is hump day. Let’s do our best!

おやすみなさい！

-B