The Talandis Family in Japan

TSC2: Ball Throwing Practice

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:15:00 +0900

Here’s another sport-related video, the second of our “Talandis Sports Channel”...

Super Chibiko Challenge 2012

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:52:00 +0900

Can you find Luke in this photo? Hint: He’s wearing red. Golden Week has rolled around again...

Wow! The annual spring winds were extra severe today. On the way...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:35:00 +0900

Wow!

The annual spring winds were extra severe today. On the way home we encountered several intersections without signals. The police were guiding traffic. In addition, power was out in a neighboring town. When we got home, we discovered that the door to our shed had been completely blown off! Wow. That must have been quite the gust of wind. In the back some roofing all was blown off the rear shed.

Hm… how are we going to fix this? I’m too busy this week!

Update (one month later): Good news! We got word that our home insurance will not only cover the cost of the repairs, but also take care of the whole fix-it job. Great! One less thing to worry about…

Live blogging my 1st day of work on the new job

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:20:35 +0900

Here’s a running account of my first day of work at Toyama University. It’s not often I...

The winter that just won’t quit Wow up this morning,...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:39:00 +0900

The winter that just won’t quit

Wow up this morning, opened the curtains, and … wow!

This will all be gone by late afternoon, but still. This winter just keeps giving and giving.

Update (8:26pm): I’ve added another photo to the two previous ones, which as taken at 2:30pm. You can see how most of the snow had disappeared by then. It’s been like this recently…

The Big Melt 2012 This amazing winter is finally coming to an...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:28:00 +0900

The Big Melt 2012

This amazing winter is finally coming to an end. Wall to wall snow from late January until March is a very rare thing around here, but it happened this year. We are still getting some flurries and hail, but that all melts quickly. Cherry blossoms are just around the corner.

Luke improvises an original melody! While Luke was hanging out...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:37:00 +0900

Luke improvises an original melody!

While Luke was hanging out at home recovering from pneumonia, we had a chance to play around with GarageBand, the music creation app from Apple, Inc. I hooked up my MacBook Pro to our old electric keyboard (via a MIDI-interface cable) and fired up one of the built-in lessons within the app. We practiced major and minor chords for a while. It was fun and simple to play along with Tim the piano teacher on the computer. At the end of the lesson was a simple song, consisting of a rhythm section to play along with. Luke had a lot of fun with that. Finally, I exported the tune into a real GarageBand project file, so we were able to tweak it. I laid down some piano rhythms, then Luke did his thing with the melody. It was a lot of fun! He came up with the simple melody all on his own, without me telling him what to do. That was the best part. He made one little tiny mistake, which I promptly showed him how to edit. I was very happy to see him having fun improvising and with learning this program. I really hope he keeps up with it.

Give his little song a listen- just click on the black “Click to play” button under the post’s title and you should be able to hear it. If you can give some feedback, I’ll pass it on to Luke. Thanks!

Update (3/21/12): If you’re having trouble listening, click here.

Luke’s 1st bout with pneumonia: Luke caught what we...

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 23:02:00 +0900

Luke’s 1st bout with pneumonia:

Luke caught what we thought was a cold last week. Although he didn’t seem overly sick, his cough and a low-grade fever never subsided over the weekend. On Monday morning we took him to the Red Cross Hospital in Toyama City, where a doctor there did a blood test that showed he was in the beginning stages of pneumonia!! Wow. Thankfully it was still early, so after a two hour IV drip, he was okay to go home again. He took a couple of days off from school and only today has he gotten back into exercise. His fever is long gone now, and the cough is nearly gone. So we feel fortunate that he dodged a bullet there… You can see the photos of his experience above.

Talandis Family News Update (February 2012)

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:48:58 +0900

February was a busy month for our family. Lots of stuff has been going on lately with all of us, so...

I went swimming today with Luke, and this photo (which I found...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:05:00 +0900

I went swimming today with Luke, and this photo (which I found on the web here) sums up how I felt. Guess which animal is me and which is Luke?

:-)

Some days I just feel like a fat cow in the water; today was one of them! Still, exercise is exercise, and it’s good.

We had to shovel snow off the roof again in the winter of 2012....

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:45:00 +0900

We had to shovel snow off the roof again in the winter of 2012. Of all the photos I took during this two-day task, this one is my favorite. I caught Shinobu flinging some snow… but where do you think she was flinging it? Right! At me! Turns out this was one photo too many! :-)

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If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.

Introducing the Talandis Sports Channel (TSC)

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 02:40:00 +0900

We’re a sporting family, plain and simple. I’ve been wanting to be share highlights more...

Papa's driver's license renewal

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:49:00 +0900

I’m at the Driver’s Education Center in Toyama, getting my license renewed. I’ve...

Live-blogging Luke's swim meet

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:22:00 +0900

We’re at the Toyama Shimin Pool for the annual All-Toyama Youth Swim Meet. Luke is...

Happy Setsubun! Today (February 3rd) is Setsubun in Japan, the...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:47:00 +0900

Papa & Max get ready to work

Max at her desk

Max's teacher explains what to do

Max making her oni mask

Voila! Max's oni mask

Grrr!

Too scary!

Cute little devils!

Happy Setsubun!

Today (February 3rd) is Setsubun in Japan, the day of the national bean-throwing festival. On this day around the country, people throw roasted soy beans out the window or around the house to expel “demons” of sickness and misfortune. While doing so they yell “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!” (demons out, good fortune in) Then you’re supposed to eat a number of beans equal to your age in order to cement this good fortune.

From a western perspective, this is kind of strange, but the roots of this custom are quite interesting. There is also a lot of symbolic meaning behind it that makes a lot of sense when you look closely at it. According to “Japan from A to Z” by James and Michiko Vardaman, this festival originated in the imperial court of China on the last day of the year in order to prepare for a new year of good luck. When it came over to Japan, this custom became an expression of hopes for good weather and a plentiful harvest in rural, agrarian Japan. These days a lot of people observe it. You can find news on TV of people (especially kids) throwing beans, eating special sushi made with beans, or sumo wrestlers performing special ceremonies.

Last Saturday, I went to Max’s kindergarten for a parent-student event. Parents and their kids spent the morning doing an arts & crafts project, namely to make oni (demon) masks out of an old paper bag and some string. You can see from the pictures above that we had a nice time. These oni masks were then used during the Setsubun celebration today at the school.

Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!

Here’s hoping you have a year filled with good fortune!

Today I finished teaching classes for the 2011-12 school year!...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:32:00 +0900

Today I finished teaching classes for the 2011-12 school year! My Intro to
Research & Presentation students have just finished their final
presentations. This school year is toast. It’s all done. Water under the
bridge. History. Been there done that. That’s all she wrote, Th-th-that’s
all folks!

Yataa!

I made it.

Now on to work-at-home mode until April. I have several big projects and
some other duties to complete, but it will be nice to be on my own
schedule. Interesting job…

A shaky day at work

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:12:00 +0900

A shaky day at work: I’m on the “shink” to Nagoya, where I’ll be teaching...

Favorite Family Photos: Kids in a net This photo was taken in...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:03:00 +0900

Favorite Family Photos: Kids in a net

This photo was taken in early summer of 2011 at a new park playground near Toyama Station. They have this cool super jungle-gym thing that has nets and rope ladders for kids to play on. Here Luke and Max share a fun moment inside one of the nets. I took them there during one of my “carpe diem” weekends during work periods when I’d be away from home all week. I tried my best to make the most of my time with the kids, so I’d often be taking them to parks and stuff to play.

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If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.

Favorite Family Photos: Kids riding bikes Max learned to ride a...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:04:00 +0900

Favorite Family Photos: Kids riding bikes

Max learned to ride a bicycle during the summer of 2011. We got here this little bike with training wheels, and she rode it with enthusiasm. Here’s a shot of her riding on the street in front of our home with her older brother. I really like this photo because it captures the kids’ smiles very well. Luke’s hand on his little sister’s shoulder is also a beautiful thing for me, signifying his love and support for her. Sure they squabble a lot, but in the end they are really close, something which shines through in this photo. I like this one so much that I’ve been using it as the wallpaper for my laptop and iPad.

Note: Color effects done with Colorsplash on my iPad.

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If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.

Favorite Family Photos: Max under a cherry tree Max’s...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:01:05 +0900

Favorite Family Photos: Max under a cherry tree

Max’s grandfather took this one of her in the spring of 2011, as the cherry blossoms were blooming in our neighborhood. It came out really well and brings up one of the things I love best about our neighborhood- the plentiful presence of cherry trees. There are a bunch right in front of our house and hundreds more that line a bike path around the park in front of our home. They usually bloom in the first week of April. That is a really really beautiful time of the year.

Note: Color effects done with Colorsplash on my iPad.

__________

If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.