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Ikoma Rina has announced her graduation from Nogizaka46. I first read rumors yesterday morning and had to wait for Japan to wake up in order to get the official announcement. Today's link is straight from Ikoma herself. She's moving on, but she'll still do entertainment. I'm hoping that to see her have a stellar career.

Idol graduations are inevitable. They still are surprising though.

http://blog.nogizaka46.com/rina.ikoma/2018/01/043108.php

Labels: idol, lotd, Nogizaka46, you'll need babelfish

Fan vote for Nogizaka46 best song. Get your vote in and get heard. You have this chance. It'll be part of some NogiChu episode or such later this year. Offer expires January 28th.

https://goo.gl/forms/WDkrS7OKL1NvWUC02

Labels: lotd, Nogizaka46, polls

This past Christmas I was fortunate to hold the final number in our annual Kris Kriminal game. Apple AirPods had been revealed already so I stole 'em. Luckily, I ended up the night with them. Most likely the best Kris Kriminal present I had chanced into. So, with that, you know this review will be mostly positive.

Once they were officially mine, I opened the box, pulled them out of the charging case, put them in my ear, and pressed play. Music came through smoothly. I was mostly amazed that the pairing happened almost instantly. It wasn't as quick as my description lets on, but it wasn't a hassle. I didn't even have to open the Blue Tooth settings to start the pairing. It just happened.

I really only tried it that night once and left them in my gift pile for the next few weeks. It wasn't until the new year that I decided to put them to the test. I have kept them in my pocket for the last two weeks. I don't use them every day, but I do pull them out once in a while to listen to Nogizaka jams during work. I am always in amazement that they fit in the ear just right and do fall out. Admittedly, I have not exercised with them in but they feel snug, never loose or ready to fall out. YMMV.

I love the carrying case. It fits in your pocket and also doubles as the charger. You can keep it forever in your pocket, ready to deploy at a moments notice.

My only problem so far is pairing with other devices. I believe you have to erase its knowledge of the previous device in order to add a new one. I think. I didn't read the directions.

Anyhow, it's pretty neat and should make up for the lack of input jack on the newer iPhones.

Labels: computing, review

I'm posting this, but it is danger of becoming another dead YouTube video in my blog because of Japan. But I don't care. You need Nanase in your life. I would like to have gifs made of some of these scenes. They are already gifs, but they need to be converted from YouTube video to a gif file. Off to find a gif maker!

Labels: idol, Nogizaka46, you'll need babelfish

I may have had some New Year's resolution, but some things stay the same. BOOKSTORE HAUL! BEGINS AGAIN!

I believe I bought the first volume of this manga series a while ago. I only started reading it over the winter break. It was good enough that I want to read the rest. I believe they are up to three volumes released in the US. So here's the second one.

They've also done a drama series based on this manga in Japan. Let's find the torrent.

Erased Vol 2

Labels: bookstore haul, manga

Sitting in my freezer for weeks on end are a bunch of frozen stuff. There's frozen fruit for smoothies, frozen chicken breast, a frozen pork belly, frozen soup stock, and some frozen salmon. One of these days I'll use all of them. Today it's the salmon.

I made salmon in a bag for dinner. It's a simple recipe so I just threw it together real quick with whatever I had in the cupboard.

In a parchment paper, I sliced up a fingerling potato and some carrots and onions. I layered them in the paper with some olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Overtop went one salmon fillet. Then some more olive oil, pepper, and salt. I closed up the paper into a bag and cooked in an oven pre-heated to 375F for 20 minutes.

Voila! Easy-peasy dinner.

Was it delicious? Somewhat. It needs some herbs the next time. O, there will be a next time because there is still some frozen salmon in the freezer.

Labels: cooking, mmm

No 5 star movies. Mainly 4 stars. Although, to be honest, Your Name should be five stars. And perhaps Jedi and Spiderman should be demoted to three. Beyond that I think most of these were pretty good. Surprising that there's a few super hero movies here. Sadly, the state of the industry is such that only super hero movies are being made.

You should check out both Lady Bird and 20th Century Women on a double bill because they deserve to be seen back-to-back.

Blade Runner will again become a beloved classic. Thor: Ragnarok as well.

Here's my list of the best films I saw in the theatre for the year 2017.

Lady Bird
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Spiderman: Homecoming
Thor: Ragnarok
Blade Runner 2049
Your Name
Get Out
Logan
20th Century Women

Labels: lists, movies, review, year in film

Well I am a glutton for punishment so here we go again...

Am I set up for failure this year? I need to not think in those terms. I will do it. I WILL do it. It will be done.

Health

Target weight 210 lbs. Again. Today I stepped on the scale and weighed 222.2 lbs down about 6 lbs from last year. I think this may be my natural weight, but I want less. The goal is the same as last year, but the amount to lose is less.

Lower my blood pressure. I don't know what it is now, but it is still high. I need to eat better and exercise to help lower this. Losing weight may help, too. 120/85 target same as last year.

Exercise

Hit the same amount of walking exercise as last year: 142. Spread it out over the entire year as during summer it disappeared.

Bike 100 miles. Get on this.

Row 30K. Hopefully I don't fuck up my shoulder.

50 straight pushups. 75 straight squats. I want to break this down throughout the year. Half way there in the summer. Fully there by October. Hopefully I don't fuck up my shoulder.

Professional Life

Be the UnitTest guy at work. Do some pair programming. New job? Yes! Learn another programming language. Swift and release an iOS app.

Personal

Keep up with the Japanese learning. So that I can go to Japan to see a Nogizaka46 concert.

Read more books.

Clean up the home. Give away and donate 50% of the clothing in my house. Get rid of some books. Tidy up.

Fix up the bathrooms 15 years in and they should get some updating.

Cut the coffee spending in half. This means joining the coffee klatch. I need to buy a kettle for the home.

Cut the dining spending 25% again. But for real this time. Need to make healthier lunches.

Less meat. More vegetables and fruit. Eat at least one of each each day.

Labels: get off your butt, resolute