Need to get better with the S-PEn

Been practicing with the S-pen. My handwriting still looks like terrible chicken scratch, but if I could write a little bit faster in cursive, I think it would actually be useful.

Adapting my workflow to use a pen seems like it would be neat, though generally the pens are more of a gimmick I feel. The commercials always look so cool with people doing neat things with the included pen. You actually get the pen in your hand, and you're like.. now what?

I did find that it is pressure sensitive, so if I use a bit more pressure, the line thickens up nicely.

More practice!

Now entering dark mode

Upgrading to OSX Mojave, with "dark mode". That's also kind of metaphoric for what my life is going to become once school starts. I'm chugging along with the excel course they want us to do before starting the program. It's pretty easy stuff, but they put some trick questions in there, so I haven't aced any of the quizzes thus far.

I think I have my omnipresent computing nearly set up. I'm going to be able to take notes adequately given I can take my work computer, this tablet and also my mac to work on whatever device has battery at any given time. They all connect to one note, google, etc.

In addition to school stuff, I am also trying to learn some R.

Gearing up for school

I have an excel fundamentals class that has opened up for me. I am supposed to complete it before classes start at the end of November I believe. I think I will get cracking on it this weekend. More maths. Fun.

The only other thing I really have to do this weekend is mow the old lawn. It's looking pretty shaggy.

The house project looks like it's going to start moving. We just got notified today that they found another engineer to work with and they are working on scheduling a time for them to come out within the next two weeks or so.

Back home

We're back home. I packed in a whopping 15 hours of sleep after being up for about 30 hours, so ... it seems it averaged out. I felt pretty great this morning. I feel a bit like I am in a fog. I am hoping that passes in a few days. Jet lag is weird.

I've got the studio nearly set up. I put the speaker stands in, sounding pretty good, but I think I need to calibrate them for the size of the room. 

Japan - day 6 : the return

We had a pretty chill last day in Tokyo. We did breakfast at this place called "eggs & things" it was a Hawaiian place that has a branch in Tokyo. It was a pretty tasty breakfast , and portions were not japanese size. We then walked around to the imperial palace and checked that out. There were some cool walls around the palace and gardens, but no historic structures because apparently the Allied forces firebombed the entire complex in 1945 , which is a shame. That palace dated back to the reign of the shogunate.

For lunch we hit up the beaver bakery (which is a bakery... I swear!) for some pasteries , and then a conveinence store for some protein and drinks. I got some natto with purple rice. I am not sure what made the rice purple, but it was more expensive than plain natto, so I sprung for it.

We chilled out for a little bit, then it was off to the airport. It's an hour or so ride out to Narita from Mike's place. Once we got to Narita it was easy-peasy to get checked in, check bags and get through security. I think the entire process was less than 15 minutes. Then we had to wander around for food. We found a place that did sushi and ramen which was a good combo to get Katie some salt and me something chill to eat.

We did a little more shopping, and now we are about 2 hours into our flight and the battery died on my switch, so now I am just going to dork around on the tablet until the benadryl really kicks in. I just had a beer and then ice cream, so it might be interesting. Today is going to be the longest day. We land in Vancouver at 11AM. (8 AM the next day in Tokyo).

Japan day 5 - the hangover

It was a rough morning. We ended up in a snack bar last night and I overdid it with the watered down whiskey drinks. I spent most of the day trying to nurse myself back to health. Mike took us to a katsu place that was pretty good. After getting some food in me,  I felt much better. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around and shopping.

We've been averaging over 6 miles per day walking. SO. MUCH. WALKING. It is going to be strange to do so much sitting tomorrow after we get to the airport.

Right now while I write, we are chilling out for a little while before meeting folks for dinner. Not sure if we are going to be doing barbeque or japanese pizza. (otherwise known as pizza)

Japan- Day 4

Today is day 4 in Japan. We explored a lot of Kyoto and were significantly dumped on with rain. We checked out the shopping district in Kyoto  which had a lot of cool things, but much of it was a bit too expensive for my tastes. We had some okonomiyaki for lunch a restaurant with some funky decor, I hadn't really seen many places with personality like that until today. Everything has been kind of bland, nice.. but muted. This places was colorful and felt very proletariat. I'm hoping to experience more of that Japan, which I am sure we will if we get more hang time with Shuhei and Shohei.

My Japanese is coming along horribly. Luckily it's pretty easy to get by without it . Today we are going to check out the temple next door to our ryokan, and then come back for coffee then check out the art exhibit being held in another part of the ryokan. Ryokan Yoshida-senso is pretty cool. Built in 1931, it is the former residence of the sitting emperor's uncle. The whole place is decked out it tatami mats (which are really nice to walk on.)  Their breakfasts are great.  Katie and I have had the Japanese traditional breakfast and also their take on a continental breakfast. Both were excellent.

I'm stiill digging typing on the tablet with the bluetooth keyboard. It seems to keep up pretty well. I think the one that connects with the pogo pins would be better. Maybe I can look into getting that on my next "spare" paycheck .

Japan Day 1

Day 1 in Japan - lots of walking, coffee in a can, and soon lunk=ch near Tokyo station. There was a cool city park that had a zillion turtles.

Tonight will be dinner, and then hangs with our musician friends in Tokyo, and a listening to the latest mixes of Escape from Garbage island.

Whoa - been a while!

Shoot  -

Am playing around with a new tablet and keyboard, and I had a big old paragraphed typed up on it, then I started  switching apps to adjust things, and I lost it all!

I didn't type much, just mentioning that Katie and I going to Tokyo tomorrow, which is going to be AWESOME!

It seems like it's probably the last time I am going to be able to let loose until I am done with the graduate program which starts in November. I can't believe it's been over 2 years since I have touched this blog. I guess I am not really one to sit here an reflect on this or that deeply for very long. It seems like I mainly do some major blogging when I am trying to test the typing abilities of new device.

I'll have to say that I do like this tablet keyboard situation a lot better than my surface, which had a bit too much going on ... and is so . so... microsofty all the time. I am hoping I can pick up on this blog more than once every 2 years. Perhaps having something lightweight and very distraction free will lend itself to more output.