Computer Bldg.
I walked in to give them a piece of my mind, but the elevator button didn't do anything no matter how many times I pressed it.
Tabelogged: 寿司居酒屋 や台ずし 松阪駅前町
I want to be clear that the opinions I express here are mine and mine alone, except to the extent they are shared by others who are too scared or too smart to say them in public.
Tabelogged: やきとり家すみれ 鳥取店
Tabelogged: KAEN
Tottori Sand Dunes
So basically there's a large natural sand dune in the least populated prefecture of Japan, Tottori.
As someone who grew up enjoying Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes, I agreed to visit them after the lady seated next to me at the SoftBank SeaHawks baseball game suggested I go visit after Matsue.
Well, I did!
Here's to two more weeks of sand in my shoes I can never quite clean out.
Lake Shinji Sunset Spot
Aaron insisted that while I was in Matsue, I visit its renowned sunset spot in a park along the eastern shore of Lake Shinji.
I'm not a huge sunrise/sunset person, but what else was I going to be doing at 7:12pm on a Thursday? So I walked down and checked it out:
It was very pretty. If you're a fan of the life-giving fusion power generator that is Sol, you'd probably dig this view.
Tabelogged: レストラン 西洋軒
Tabelogged: 呉竹鮨
Matsue Castle
The first overnight stop on my tour of the north side of Honshu was Matsue. As its castle is among a handful of original castles to survive in Japan (similar to my adopted hometown of Hikone), I felt obligated to drop in and scope out the joint.
And I'm glad I did! Seriously, this is one of the most beautiful and well-maintained castles I've visited in Japan. Really glad I came.
What it's like traveling with Aaron Patterson
During our visit to Zamami Island with Aaron earlier this week, a young woman approached us and asked if we spoke English. (This is exceedingly rare. In 20 years of traveling to Japan, I don't think anyone has ever assumed I speak anything but English.) She proceeded to ask Aaron if he'd take her group's picture, so I snapped this photo of him obliging:
Later in the day I mentioned having taken a picture of him taking the picture and he responded, "oh yeah, I took a selfie!"
So I zoomed:
And then I enhanced:
Yep. Sure as shit, there's Aaron taking a selfie with this girl's camera.
XOXO is back for one last festival this August. Having always wanted to attend, I was about to buy a ticket when I thought to click through to the COVID policy mentioned in their announcement e-mail:
All XOXO participants are required to wear a high-quality mask at all times while inside Washington High (including Revolution Hall, Show Bar, and all common areas inside the venue), the reserved area for Park Pass holders in the tent, as well as at any festival event on our schedule where masks are required.
I knew XOXO was frequented by hipsters, so I'll grant that an all-N95-all-the-time policy in late-2024 is decidedly vintage.
Park Pass holders will have access to reserved seating in the tent at Washington High Park, a large, shaded, well-ventilated space for viewing the simulcast of our main stage programming. Park Pass holders are required to wear a high-quality mask at all times while in the reserved seating area.
Even outdoors, too? Pass.
Tabelogged: ちゃんぽん 蘇州林
Tabelogged: 食堂 うめぼし
Tabelogged: 磯家
It feels to me like wifi SSID passwords shouldn't be masked-by-default with asterisks or whatever. Whoever the hell is going to shoulder surf you typing in your wifi password is probably somebody you'd want to give the password to.
Zamami Island
So Aaron and I spent a couple days touring Okinawa after RubyKaigi 2024 wrapped. In particular, we were both eager to escape the urban environments of Naha on the main island, so we hopped on the fastest ferry out of town, the Queen Zamami (whose reservation website evokes some real Angelfire nostalgia).
Once you get there, you probably want to rent a bike or an electronic scooter (referred to as kickboards here) to get around the island, because the island's a bit too large to comfortably walk around—especially on a warm day in direct sunlight. To the east and west are beautiful beaches—though we both preferred the tranquil blue waters of Furuzami beach. On every corner of the island, there sits an observation deck (希望台) atop the nearest mountain, and they offer some truly breathtaking views.
Speaking of, here are some of those views:
I also cut a quick one-minute video of the island, for your audiovisual enjoyment:
Anyway, if you're ever on Okinawa's main island, you really should save a day to ferry out and back to Zamami. Definitely worth seeing. 🏝️
The XZ Utils backdoor taught me to be cautious about handing over maintenance of
open source to others, but now what the hell am I to do with OSS I don't want?
States should pass safe haven laws that allow developers to swaddle their code
in a basket and leave it at a fire station without fear of repercussion.
Tabelogged: ステーキヒカル
Extremely impressed @tenderlove and I managed to spend a day at the beach—even swimming—with zero supplies or preparation and the next day I can't find a single grain of sand in my shoes or my bag. S Rank