The Monday Read: Merry Xmas
Heading into the holiday season It’s the last day of classes at my wife’s school today. Tomorrow the winter holiday begins and we’re not back at work until January 7th. I really enjoy this time of year. I started cooking Christmas dinner in 2004 after we got married (mainly because I missed it!) and I’ve […]
The Monday Read: Impostor syndrome
You have to grow into things Was not expecting to get my purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu this month. I don’t particularly feel like I deserve it, and had been expecting to train for at least one more year as a blue belt. But now that I have it I will just have to train […]
The Monday Read: Winter is coming
Low single digits in Sendai, still pretty nice out though The photo is Nara seen from the hills above Nara Park. We were there last weekend and it was so warm we had the AC set to cold in the hotel room and the car. Today in Sendai it was 4 degrees with a nasty […]
The Monday Read: Meeting in Person
Zoom is great, but nothing beats a live audience I just finished a presentation at Nara JALT’s conference, in the middle of the beautiful city of Nara. The JALTCALL SIG kindly sponsored my presentation, and we had a great audience -lots of questions and engagement. Had some good conversations before and after too. The pandemic […]
The Monday Read: Snow!
Hoping for a good ski season I spent a couple of days in Appi ski resort this week, not for skiing but for a quick getaway with my wife. The hotels up there are much more reasonable out of season, so we were able to stay somewhere we really couldn’t afford in February. It’s also […]
Japan’s New Health Card System: Benefits and Drawbacks
Health insurance cards are going away for better or for worse After December 2nd this year health insurance cards will no longer be issued in Japan (although current ones will remain valid until their expiration date or December 2025, whichever comes earlier). At that point you have two options: register your health insurance details on […]
The Monday Read: No Sign of Winter
Don’t remember such a warm November before It’s been a gorgous November. In fact, it was 21 degrees this Sunday afternoon, which is pretty wild for November 17th. I am hoping to go skiing this year, so hopefully temperatures will come down a bit and we’ll get some snow. But I don’t hate this. I’m […]
The Monday Read: Arcs
Found a great new board game I ordered a copy of Arcs a while back after seeing some enthusiastic YouTube videos about it. It arrived last week, and I finally managed to play half a game with my granddaughter. Wonderfully nuanced. I got the gameplay completely wrong in this first game, instinctively trying to dominate […]
The Monday Read: Getting Away From It All
A change of air can be as good as a change in circumstances Sometimes it’s good to get away. For my wife and me, a quick trip to the edge of Miyagi, just past Ishinamaki and opposite the holy island of Kinkasan, is our favourite way to do that. What’s your favourite staycation? YouTube Thank […]
The Monday Read: Mental Models
You need to update them from time to time I was in the supermarket the other day and noticed something curious: the two items in the basket have almost the same number of calories -the cinammon roll has slightly more! I would not have thought that before I went on a diet this year (since […]