poke


poke
Originally uploaded by renfield

daddy's day

Crappy weather for most of the weekend; rainy and humid. But the rain cleared up enough that could do some practice bike-riding. Ton is getting slightly better on her new Mighty Steed, and Mo is unstoppable (literally) on Ton's old / his new red training-wheel machine.
Rode all over the neighborhood, me running around trying to keep up with her and simultaneously keep him out of traffic.
Ended up having cupcakes for lunch, then I got to hit the barber shop for some much-needed shaving.
Mo finally crashed out in the stroller and Ton made me take her to the bookstore so that she could buy me a surprise father's day card. I had to promise not to tell, too.
Then she made me write on it "Happy Daddy's Day" and she wrote "To Papa" and signed it.
Of course, it's now the day after Father's Day and I am yet to actually receive the card...whenever I receive it will certainly be a surprise!

Working hard


Working hard
Originally uploaded by renfield



I am not the kind of person to talk endlessly about something without taking action (though I am the kind of person to talk endlessly in general, but I digress...)
My dad taught me, when I was a wee little thing: "Anything worth complaining about is worth doing something about."
The corollary is: shut up if you aren't willing to try and fix it.

So instead of having more discussions about Bring Your Kids to Work Day, I simply: brought my kid to work.
Ton-chan started at a new Kindergarten this week. Mo-kun had his 3-year health check up today.
So since my wife had to take Mo to his check-up, I had to pick up Ton at 2pm when school ended. The plan was to take her to the health center so that mom could then take both kids home.
As I am wont to do, I changed the plan. Instead, father and daughter got in a taxi and came back to the office. After getting sorted with a sufficiently sugary beverage from Starbucks, I brought her up to the office, walked her down the trading floor, introduced her to the folks in the general vicinity, and sat her down at the empty desk next to me.
She was given an ample supply of colored markers and I printed a couple of black-and-white pictures of her current favorite anime characters to color.
She got to work immediately, and I caught up on emails then ran to a meeting.
After about an hour, mom called and we all met downstairs, son happily sleeping in the stroller. Handed off Ton with a hug and a kiss, and that was that.

Not entirely sure what HR Regulations I flexed, but I am glad to report that everyone was extremely helpful and supportive, and I don't think she was terribly disruptive for the hour she spent sitting at an empty desk coloring and playing with an iPad. Actually, for the other working parents around me, I think it brightened their day to see her, and for everyone else, who can't help smiling at such a cutie as my awesome daughter?

Maybe if more people randomly brought their kids into work for an hour at a time throughout the year, it would be more fun and effective than an official "Bring Your Kids To Work Day"?

basashi - raw horse. so. good!


basashi - raw horse. so. good!
Originally uploaded by renfield

nasa napping


nasa napping
Originally uploaded by renfield

west and east


west and east
Originally uploaded by renfield

looks so easy...


looks so easy...
Originally uploaded by renfield

maguro


maguro
Originally uploaded by renfield

no seriously, this starbucks is amazing


no seriously, this starbucks is amazing
Originally uploaded by renfield

architectually coolest starbucks evar


architectually coolest starbucks evar
Originally uploaded by renfield

torii


torii
Originally uploaded by renfield

dazaifuku


dazaifuku
Originally uploaded by renfield

Barely

So apparently there is such a thing as too much running barefoot on rough concrete. Today at lunch I took advantage of the beautiful weather to run around the emperor's palace. Barefoot. Knocked out an easy six clicks in about half an hour, but when I was done I realized I did some proper damage to the bottoms of me feet. Big blood blisters on the balls of both feet that burst kinda messily, plus smaller blood blisters on a few toes, and a couple of regular blisters on other parts of my foots just for good measure. Oops. I lanced open most of them to get out the unpleasant juices, and patched it all up with bandages, but still feeling a bit sore. Will take it easy for a few days to let them callous up more, and do more shod training I guess...

Monday bodyplant


Monday bodyplant
Originally uploaded by renfield

Trying to make up for the weekend!

successful weekend

First, on Saturday, after making a careful sock selection, we headed over to Tokyo Station. Took a bit of a wander around the Marunouchi area (nice, not crowded!) before getting on the open-roof double-decker bus.
Nothing new, but driving under Tokyo Tokyo, across the Rainbow Bridge, and through Ginza in the brilliant weather was actually really cool. Only took and hour, and Mokun zonked right out after the first 20 minutes.
Carried him out and headed to Marubiru for some sushi lunch. He woke up just as we finished, so we took the subway to Ginza and bought Ton a new backpack (purple! Fjallraven!) then hit the old stand-by Ibaraki Cafe for some familiar snacks and treats.
Then we walked back to Shinbashi Station, with a stop at the Lindt shop for some chocolate before getting the bus home for dinner.
Then, on Sunday we got soba for lunch in Azabu-jyuban before taking the subway up to Yoyogi Park. We rented a bicycle (pink hello kitty!) and in about an hour Tonchan was riding on her own. Big Mo was napping and when he woke up he got his own bike (with training wheels) and did a lap before riding on my shoulders as I jogged along with Ton on her victory lap.
Vids #1, #2, #3.
We stumbled through the crazy crowds in the park and finally got some killer gelato in Harajuku, then checked out the awesome outdoor deck at Starbucks in the newly opened Tokyu Plaza. After taking the subway to Shibuya we loaded up on sashimi and gyoza and Vietnamese food for dinner and took a taxi home to eat.
And then this morning we all woke up early to check out the eclipse!

End of eclipse


End of eclipse
Originally uploaded by renfield

Watching eclipse


Watching eclipse
Originally uploaded by renfield

Eclipse zoom


Eclipse zoom
Originally uploaded by renfield

Eclipse


Eclipse
Originally uploaded by renfield