Category: life

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Japan – Day 2

The day started with some trepidation: should I really pull the trigger and do a day at Tokyo DisneySea or listen to the voice in my head telling me it would be weird to go to a Disney park alone and that I should do something more worthwhile with my time? The art museums and cultural sites I was thinking about as an alternative don’t open until 10am and I’d already been up all night with jetlag so I resolved to just go for it.

After a series of wrong trains — and still not having cash for the JR Line — I got myself sorted and finally made it all the way to Tokyo DisneySea. A sea of people was already lined up for security at 9:00, so despite one more delay, I still got into the park plenty early.

The entrance to the park was stunning, and then things only escalated from there. I absolutely loved my whole day. What an incredible experience!

I lined up for “Journey to the Center of the Earth” first. The sign warned of a long wait.

The 140 minutes shifted to 160 minutes mere moments after I took the photo. That’s a 2-hour-and-20-minute wait! But once the ride vehicle shifted into high gear and we raced through the tunnels, I whispered to myself, ‘This is awesome.’ That’s the exact moment I felt vindication. I knew, with total conviction, I’d made the right call.

One of the things that made the day so special was the people. The civility here is remarkable. I witnessed exactly zero people budging in line or displaying any friction whatsoever. I can’t say the same for my trips to Disney parks in Anaheim. People just went about their business happily and quietly. I love it here.

I watched an Aladdin-themed magic show, which was fun even with the language barrier, and also did some shopping. I went on quite a few rides, twice on “Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure”. I also used the single rider line for the rollercoaster ride “Raging Spirits”, which features a single vertical loop after a thrilling drop. As it happened, the single rider line had just closed. The kind cast member took pity on me and let me in — not before standing me up against the height ruler, though. Onlookers chuckled as the cast member measured to see if I was too tall to ride.

The lunch I bought at The Ugly Duckling didn’t look like much but the taste was amazing! The ambiance and theming of the restaurant also made for an enjoyable meal. Some Aussies sat at the table next to me, and their cute baby spilled some water. The baby and I made eye contact immediately after, and she smiled mischievously — delighted to be keeping everyone on their toes.

By 6pm, tired and sore, I ventured back to my hotel in Tokyo. Yes, the park had finally gotten the better of me with three hours left to enjoy it, but since I had been up since 2am, I needed to get home and sleep. Once again, I took multiple wrong train lines (my ways are not your ways), but I finally got myself sorted and relished the strange but amazing shower in my tiny hotel room before I collapsed into bed.

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Japan – Day 1

Before I even arrived at the airport in Saskatoon, good fortune already fell upon me. A mishap at the drive-through caused a 10-pack of Timbits that Andrea had bought for the kids to fall onto the ground. Without missing a beat, the woman at the drive-through insisted it was no problem and that she’d get us another pack. I jumped out of the car and found the box, unopened, on the ground. When we offered to give back the replacement pack, they told us to keep both. That’s how I scored a 10-pack of donut holes for my flight. Things are looking up.

I’ve landed in Calgary and am about to board. Sitting in the terminal, I’ve been people-watching and thinking about how many people are glued to their phones. I’m not much of one to talk – typing away at my MacBook – but I do like to talk to strangers.

Anyway, at the very end of my first flight, I struck up a conversation with my seat-mate, who is going to Tokyo to climb Mt. Fuji. She’s also going to visit some of the parks around Sapporo. That’s the danger of chatting with strangers: FOMO sets in quickly. Should I also be planning a climb of Fujisan? It’s not in the cards for this trip.

On the main flight, I sat next to what appeared to be the only baby on this nine-hour transpacific flight. Luckily, he was a champ, sleeping most of the way and lighting up the cabin when he woke. He’d already flown four hours from Toronto earlier that day. His parents were kind, and we chatted about our travel plans as well as our kids. I’ll say it again: chatting with strangers is one of the things I love about travelling.

Getting from the plane to my hotel bed was next. My friends had warned me that while tap payments do exist in Japan, they’re far from ubiquitous. I ran into trouble paying train and subway fares without resorting to credit cards in the wrong currency. The roughly $2 CAD subway fee derailed (pardon the pun) my trip home for nearly 20 minutes while I figured out how to pay, because the machine wouldn’t take anything but cash or a metro card. I finally bought a reusable “unlimited” 72-hour subway card online, then used a QR code to get the machine to print it for me.

When I finally arrived, I turned on some Japanese TV and found the shows exciting and bizarre: game shows, news, and something resembling America’s Funniest Home Videos, but with picture-in-picture shots of guests predicting what would happen next. Considering the ups and downs of the journey, it was a pretty fortunate day – much better than the one those featured on the show were having.

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  1. I don’t know what the show was called, but it’s a missed opportunity if they never titled it “Ow, My Balls.”[↩]
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Fall Guy

A couple months ago we had a ferocious wind storm that toppled over our neighbours’ giant spruce tree. It was one of those double trunk trees, so actually only half the tree fell over. It still left quite the impression.

Before
Before
After
After

The neighbours had the rest of the tree taken out within the week.

Last Friday, feeling a bit ambitious, I decided it was time to clean the gutters on the garage where years of pine needles had collected and solidified. I got out the extension ladder and my new electric leaf blower and, knowing how packed in the needles are, I also grabbed some scrap wood from the garage to loosen them up.

I made sure to check that the ladder was secured — but I guess I must have extended the ladder at the very last minute — and then headed up hands full.

I was about two thirds of the way to the top when as I stepped, I suddenly felt the extension half of the ladder come sliding down crushing my foot under my own weight. I pulled up on the outside wrungs enough to slide my foot out only to have the ladder continue downward on my other foot. Once again I wrangled my foot out and once again the ladder came crashing down on my other shoe.

It was at this moment I acted too hastily and decided I needed to get both feet out at the same time (somehow). I feel so stupid — here I am still holding on to the leaf blower and scrap wood in my hands — what was I thinking? Surely I could have had the presence of mind to ditch it but no, I was determined to make it up the ladder.

I ended up not being able to get my foot out right away and the next thing I knew I had lot all contact with the ladder except for my stuck foot and felt myself falling backwards off the ladder. I felt that existential dread as I wondered how hard the ground was going to feel from a two meter drop straight onto my back.

As much as the fall hurt, I could tell right away that it was my foot that was most injured.

So a week later and I’m feeling mostly recovered. It’s still a bit black and blue in places but the doctor said she didn’t think it was broken and that with sprains, you can walk on them but to just take it easy and try to keep it elevated and on ice occasionally. The eaves are still not cleaned and it’s going to be quite some time before I get back on the ladder.

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Three Seconds Everyday 2025

The 2025 edition of our Three Seconds Everyday video is up. This year I didn’t render out a one second version, but it’s surprisingly watchable at double speed, if you don’t mind the audio.

I have to thank Andrea for picking up a few of the days that I happened to miss.

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Overheard

My wife, talking to the kids, explained the basement is a complete mess and they need to clean it up.

Ian responded: Everyone in the family has to help clean up, not just the bad cleaners. It’s not fair that only the bad cleaners have to do all the work.

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New Puppy and a New Camera

This weekend Andrea and Nesslin went on an epic road trip to the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan to pick up the newest member of the family… a puppy! They haven’t made it home yet but I’ve seen photos and videos and I’ve got to admit, it’s as cute as promised. It’s a black Maltipoo (half Maltese; half poodle) and they got it the very first day the breeder declared it old enough to go.

Also on the first day it was available, I just pre-ordered an iPhone 17 Pro. The last iPhone I bought was the 13 Pro four years ago and while it has been my favourite so far, I’m really hankering for the upgraded telephoto (200mm equivalent) that these new phones have. There are a ton of other upgrades too but the camera is what’s driving this purchase for sure. Apparently it’s even better at lowlight situations. I’ll be sure to see how it does on the dark fur of our brand new puppy.

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First Day of School

It was the kids’ first day back at school today. We started a tradition of interviewing and creating a poster for each of our kids identifying their favourite things1:

The kids seemed to have enjoyed their first day back but by the time dinner was on, they were both losing their dang minds. Stress from back to school is a real thing and although I don’t remember it myself, according to Andrea, the same thing happened last year.

  1. They are mostly the things they’ve most recently experienced.[↩]
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Peanuts in Coke

While doing the crossword this morning, I found this clue to be a bit mystifying: Peanuts in ____.

After solving the puzzle, I hit up Wikipedia and learned that peanuts and coke are a snack that gained traction in the southern United States in the 1920s.

Peanuts and coke, sometimes called a “miner’s Coke” or “farmer’s Coke”, is a snack originating in the coal-mining regions of the United States that later became popular with agricultural and other blue-collar trades. It is made out of peanuts soaked in Coca-Cola.

The most common variation involves pouring salted peanuts into a bottle of Coca-Cola before drinking them. Traditionally, glass bottles of Coca-Cola are used. The snack’s appeal is often attributed to the combination of sweet and salty tastes, as well as the crunchiness of the peanuts. Other variations substitute different nuts or sodas. The combination has been called “the working man’s strawberries in champagne.”

The recipe is simple enough: put some peanuts into your ice-cold Coca-cola. Enjoy!

I was talking to Andrea about how bizarre it is for it to be a thing and simultaneously thinking who would want this when my son exclaims, “Well I absolutely couldn’t take THAT to school!”1

  1. At school they live in a peanut free world which is a moot point because at home our kids lives in a cola free world. [↩]
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A Quick 5K

My Apple Watch alerted me that if I wanted a fancy sticker for global running day I would need to run five kilometres on June 4th.

It’s been over a decade since my last “run” but yesterday I figured since I didn’t swim that day and I was feeling a bit antsy and out of sorts anyway1 I should go for it.

It took me 37 minutes.

My legs are a bit sore today but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The award on my watch, however, didn’t show up. And here I’ve gone and done exercise merely for the sake of feeling good and making myself healthier. Maybe it’ll arrive in the next day or two, otherwise, well, I guess I’m still happy I did it but I’d like that award.

Update: It showed up without a notification. I just had to go looking for it:

  1. probably about the job I didn’t get[↩]
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Job Interview

I had a job interview last week. I am extremely qualified and was quite looking forward to getting it.

The vice principal called me today and said, “they are ‘going a different way’ from the interview”. Which in my mind translates to, we already had someone picked out for the job and it’s not you.

I’m disappointed but if my hunch is correct there isn’t anything more I could have done.