January
Happy New Year!
1/20/2025.
My husband introduced this lady on internet to me.
https://www.lindsaychervinsky.com/
I got an interest in her and got curious very much. Because
1. I actually had no idea about presidential historians.
2. It seems she sounds so intelligent, smart plus elegant.
3. I believe her speech has to be very accurate, full of precision and fairness.
There are still more things that I can learn at age 51 in the world. True.
1/19/2025.
In honor of my father’s birthday coming (on 1/25), here are some photos of him. This year 2025 is “Year of the Snake” according to Chinese zodiac system. And my father was born in Year of the Snake! So this year is HIS year.
Did I write this before?
In Japan, this Chinese zodiac system/ signs are very popular to everyone. Every single person knows which animal symbol is their own one. Yes, every single person in Japan! Interesting, isn’t it? Wait, everyone in the States knows theirs, too?? How about you? Do you know your symbol of Chinese zodiac animal?
I think it’s an Asian thing. Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and more, we love horoscope by Chinese zodiac, I assume. And you know? We, Japanese love horoscope by Western Astrology (western zodiac), as well. Ask your Japanese friends around you if they know their own zodiac symbols both Western and Chinese. I bet they can answer both right away. (Wait, do you know your own Western zodiac, don’t you??)
https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/snake/
It might be fun if I make notes of my family’s Chinese zodiac animals here.
My husband. Ox.
Our son. Horse.
My father. Snake.
My mother. Monkey.
My brother. Rabbit.
Father in law. Dog.
Mother in law. Ox.
My husband’s younger sister. Rabbit.
My husband’s younger sister. Sheep.
My husband's niece. Rat.
Myself. Ox.
1/18/2025.
I just added two new pages as kind of "summaries". One is for Handcycle full marathon races. One is for Mono-ski. It's like "Notes for myself". But you might want to refresh your knowledge as well, maybe?
Handcycle full marathon.
Moni-ski.
Entry#350. 1/18/2025.
If your husband informs you that you have a paraplegic guest in your house, you will be excited very much. So I was.
It started like this.
My husband was planning to get a “power meter” in his racing handcycle. (I had no idea about a power meter. I will write about it later.) He has been researching about it, seeking the way to install it in his machine.
He found the sales person finally. In fact he knows the person from the Air Force Marathon handcycle races. Yes, he is a paraplegic athlete, a veteran skilled handcyclist, a legend (!) (to me) and he just started his own company (Creative Ability Solutions, LLC). (I’m fascinated with his career. He had worked for Bike-On, Top End and so on.)
https://bikeon.com/pages/about-us
It was a great finding and timing as well to have him as my husband’s salesperson of a power meter indeed. (Because he uses his power meter in his machine as well, he knows every details of it and he has great recommendations, too.)
Then I was amazed and surprised to know the fact that he was coming to visit us to install a power meter, driving down to our town from Michigan (!!) He is a paraplegic and a fulltime manual wheelchair user. My brain was working with quick speeds. I was curious, you know?
My thoughts were like these:
1. Wow, he sounds so casual about driving over 5 hours. Is it going to be a 1-day trip or 2-days trip?
2. It seems he installs a power meter by himself. Does he do on the floor? He will be off the wheelchair?
3. Does he take parts off and on by himself with no problem?
I was very excited to have him in our house. I made sure that our driveway had an enough space for him to get out and into his car. I made sure that the room inside had enough space as well. I was a bit worried about our dining table’s height, hoping his knees wouldn’t be blocked.
I was excited more when he arrived with his partner and their puppy.
Then the installation started right away. I awed every single minute literally. He brought a “special” workshop table with him. This.
Then he put my husband’s handcycle on the table. Yes, put it on it. My eyes were wide open so as my mouth. This setting allows him to work from his wheelchair. He doesn’t need to get off from wheelchair to a floor. He does everything with his tools moving around the handcycle. It was smooth procedure. Of course, we helped some parts with his calls.
It’s always joyful and delightful to have paraplegic friends at our house. I can learn from them more and more. Our time passed so quickly. I could chat with them more. I wanted to chat with them more. Hopefully we can meet again soon somewhere. I am hoping so.
See photos below? This wonderful paraplegic sales person and his partner were with my husband. I keep cherishing our friendship forever, I will. And I bet my husband’s handcycle race goal would be reaching out to the level of Mr. Chapman!
1/17/2025.
I'm working on writing about my husband's mono-ski (sit-ski). Before I finish it up, I learned something new and I'd like to share it here with you.
It's called "Power soccer" or "Powerchair soccer".
I've not paid attention to this because my husband is a manual wheelchair user. He never had a chance to ride or see any electric power wheelchair to use/touch. I had no idea what the actual game of Power soccer looks like. And once I saw a game video, I was amazed and impressed how they move quickly. Their speed!!
You know, it looks most of them are more limited in body movements. (Quadriplegic and others). It's great to know about this sport really to myself. Then I got curious. (I need to search.) Can Manual wheelchair users play this soccer??? What do you think?
1/17/2025.
My husband introduced me this interesting online tool. It’s a fascinating tool that can pinpoint your English accent in just a few seconds. Especially for non-native English speakers. You might want to try it.
https://start.boldvoice.com/accent-oracle
You just push the microphone button and read the paragraph.
You know, my English = Japanese accent obviously. No matter how hard I try, this tool says “100% Japanese”.
The very interesting part was our son’s turn to try it. He had 60% of EnglishG, 35% of Japanese, 5% of Spanish, one time. (He tried several times though.) I was relieved feeling “Oh, good. His English is surely good enough.”
There are amazing online tools in the world nowadays indeed.
It makes me re-realize that my speaking skills are still remaining on a plateau, sadly. Well, that’s a reality. Let me know what result you got.
1/17/2025.
I'm so late but it's "better late than never", I assume. I'm sending a tiny cheer to the local high school Mock trial teams. Their first official trials (competition) will happen today, Friday. I was not able to reach out to team crews this year to ask "How's it going?" "How do you like the case this year?" "Is it related to AI generator?" "Do you have two teams to compete this year?" and so on.
So I have no details about them this time. Still I am curious and want to cheer them from distance.
There is a chance to watch their trial with my eyes, you know? If they advance to State championship, they will do live stream on YouTube! So I keep thinking about them and hoping that will happen. I am excited for them, even though I don't know much about them and they don't know me. Still I do love their commitment and enthusiasm.
1/16/2025. My Christmas cactus update:
Yes, it's still blooming. How about yours?? I am giggling.
1/15/2025.
I have a question. You might have an answer.
Our town, Oxford, had about 8 inch of snow. Temperature was low (too low this morning) until today. Forecast says it will warm up in 2 days and possibly rain. Under this scenario, I had to think about my roof and gutter. At first, I cleaned up (shoveled deep snow) around a downspout of the gutter in case of tons of melting ice/snow = lots of water.
Then next to my roof.
The East side of the roof. I can do nothing because the roof is steep. Looks okay to me. Only my concern is that icicles are building up.
The West side of the roof (2 stories). It is nor steep at all, so the whole area is covered with 8 inch of snow (1st floor roof). I started cleaning with a plastic shovel. I have several "vents" on the roof. The vents shouldn't be under the snow? Or I can leave it until the Sun melts all the snow and ice?
I've never done roof-snow shoveling before. Because we hadn't had this much deep snow in these years. (Last time we had deep snow, I didn't even think about my roof at all. Bad me.)
The 2nd floor roof looks okay because I see vents out of the snow.
So do you clean the snow on your roof? Or it doesn't need to be done at all???
Anyway, it took over 2 and a half hour to clear the roof. I am exhausted. Oh, and I shouldn't forget about my driveway. Once snow melting starts, it gets flooding. And that would be very bad to my husband's wheelchair. There are many things to take care of. Yes, I need to be careful.
1/13/2025.
Do you remember about "Cherry Thing-a-ling" in Batesville, IN? See 2/20/2024.
https://schmidtbakery.com/cherry-thing-a-ling/
I promised my husband last year "I will do online order no matter what". Because we were so curious about this thing and we are sure we cannot make it to wait at the door for a ling time on the president day weekend. The waiting line would be too long. So I tried to access to the online order. It said "The order form will be ready and start at the midnight 1/13/2025!" Midnight???! Well, I did my best. I waited until the midnight and finished online order. Yes. Then the website informed us "It's all sold out after 13 hours from the online order opening. 2100 dozen donuts are sold out."
Can you believe it?? 2100 dozen = 25200 donuts!! Whoa.
I am relieved right now. I'm so glad that I made it to finish purchasing it. We cannot wait to munch them on the President Day weekend!
1/12/2025.
Yes, he did it! My husband was back on the ski slope today. The 1st session in this season. His 3rd winter since he started. I can tell he was satisfied with his performance today.
1/11/2025.
On snowy cold days, I still need to be ready for my paraplegic husband no matter what. If he needs to go out, we go driving. If he goes skiing, we get ready for it. I try to do my best anyway.
Sometimes unexpected things happen, you know? That moment would scare me a lot. I would be panicking a lot. My bad habit, though. Well, that’s me. I want to be a calmer person. Hmmm.
My husband informed me “A car-key (smart-key) battery seems low.” when we arrived a coffee shop after I cleaned up (shoveled) our driveway.
Okay….. what? Here was inside my brain. “Wait. So I need to replace a battery. Got it. But what if it gets dead when we drive back home? If it’s dead, how to open a car? If it’s dead, we cannot start a car? Are we in trouble right now?”
Our car is Toyota Sienna 2019. Smart key. I was fascinated very much when we bought this mini van and figured out about starting system without actual key (no inserting into a key hole). I was a bit freaked out with fancy systems. I learned a bit by bit. However I didn’t study it deeply, so I had no detail information about a smart key until today. Bad me.
Then I learned at least two new info about Toyota Sienna 2019 smart key. I felt much better now. Wheeeew. I will replace a battery tonight. Yes.
I wonder. So everyone knows these kind of information from the beginning when you buy a car??? Do you?
Things I learned today.
1) A smart key has a tiny “bar-key” inside. Push a button then it appears (comes out).
2) I can open a car door with this tiny bar-key. A car door has a key-hole. (I should have paid more attention about it.)
3) With no-battery smart key, I can still start the engine. But not using a bar-key. I thought I had to use a bar-key to start engine. That’s wrong. I need to touch the start-button with no-battery smart key. Just touch it. Then I just do a normal routine to push break+button to start. That’s the procedure. I need to keep remembering this. Yes.
4) I should not be panicking. This one is not “new” to me, it always applies to me anyway.
1/11/2025.
I got a wonderful snail mail from my nurse-friend who has 3 kids and a biologist husband. This letter made me smile bigger and happier because she wrote "I read your blog and saw you liked a snail mail. So here it is!" What a surprise! In these days, emails are more convenient than snail mails. Even my husband asked me "Younger generations know how to use postal mail systems??" It made me wonder. They don't know?
Anyway I love receiving snail mails so much. Bonus points: Seeing stationary (paper, envelope), stamps and unique layouts or signature-stickers/stamps. It's fun.
1/09/2024.
Several stuffs updates:
1) Christmas cactus(!) I was thinking that my Christmas cactus might be all finished at Christmas time because they had been blooming for a long span (repeat blooms). But they still keep having flowers for us.
2) Campus sidewalks. We are grateful for University snow plow crews. It gets way better to wheel around with a wheelchair.
3) Snail mail to Portugal. Well, I tried twice to send letters (1 regular card and 1 tiny parcel) to Lisbon, Portugal. I failed (it's kind of funny). So, guess what? I'm going to give it a try one last time, my 3rd try! Let's see if it reaches to the destination. Hmmm maybe 2 weeks after? See 12/17/2024 a story about my lost-package(!)
4) Mural in my husband's biology department building. During the break, his building gets so quiet (no student). Looking at the mural during the break is quite a nice moment. You should try that. I love it.
Entry#349. 1/08/2025.
I have a question about New Year’s Day. Most of us in the world do “countdown” to midnight 12AM on New Year’s Day. Yes, we do. And I can tell you that Japan does 12 chimes at shrines, banging a bell at 12AM. I do remember. 12 chimes.
My question is “Do we have 12 chimes at 12AM on New Year’s Day? Clock towers in the States chime 12 bongs at 12AM??” I’ve never thought about this before. Strange. I was always focused on countdown and excited to shout out “Happy New Year!” at 12AM sharp. How about you?
Well, I realized that I was totally WRONG about 12 grapes of Spanish tradition. I wrote about it lastDecember in 2023. We had fun anyway.
This year, Dec 2024, I learned something new about Portugal, about Portuguese tradition, New Year’s Eve (or I should say New Year’s Day) tradition.
It was because we had a Japanese ballerina friend (she is a high schooler) who is now attending to National ballet school in Lisbon for 2 years. So we asked her “How was the countdown in Lisbon?” My husband guessed it must be similar with Spanish tradition. And we knew about 12 grapes in Spain (because we had a Spanish Postdoc long time ago).
My husband guessed right!! In Portugal, they eat 12 raisins instead of fresh grapes. When we learned about this from ballerina friend, we jumped in joy really. It was fun to know that.
Then I realized the fact that we did totally wrong last year with 12 grapes.
In Spain, in Portugal, they have 12 chimes (12 bongs) at 12AM on New Year’s Day. Yes, at 12AM. People eat one grape at a chime, 12 times. Because it’s 12:00, 12 chimes, 12 bongs, 12 bells. 12 (number) means 12 months = 1 year. You can wish 12 wishes at each munching grape (raisin in Portugal). So you don’t need to be in rush so much to eat it up. Just follow the rhythm of clock tower chime/bell.
So now I’m thinking. If we, people in the USA, want to try Spanish/Portuguese traditions for New Year’s Day celebration with 12 grapes/ 12 raisins, how do we do? Do we have 12 chimes at 12AM on New Year’s Day by clock towers??? Hmmm.
Funny, isn’t it??
Here are websites about each Spanish grape tradition and Portuguese raisin tradition.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-years-grapes-tradition-spain-under-table/
https://www.aportugueseaffair.com/portuguese-new-years-eve-traditions/
photo by ballerina in Lisbon
Entry#348. 1/07/2024.
I love snow. I love winter wonderland. It was much easier to just enjoy snow simply before. Before our SCI (spinal cord injury) life, paraplegic life. We are okay. We are getting used to it. But still..... Today, snow day #2, my husband needed to be at his lab for his insects (fruits flies and red flour beetles). He and his students use insects as their research model animals. Taking care of living things is time sensitive sometimes. (I know some because I used to take care of flogs. You know? We were responsible for their lives.) So he went out anyway. I tried to clean our driveway as much as possible. Smooth and possible dryness. However we cannot expect an okay-surface in snow days at the college campus. It was harder than we thought.
My husband wants to go out in the snow casually if possible. He has an off road tire wheelchair which he uses at ski time. It's much steady and stable. But when he goes into his lab, he prefers to use his daily wheelchair. He uses a front-wheel (extra attachment gadget), but it got stuck in the snow. This great gadget also depends on the surface conditions. Well, he did it anyway. Snow is tricky.
1/06/2024.
I grew up in a snow town. I have many snow memories from my childhood. Plus I made many snow memories in the States 2001-present. Today's snow storm was something, though. Because I got old or I am old. I will write more about snow-shoveling later. Here is a photo. It looks funny, maybe. Since I have a LOOOOONG driveway, I pretty much know how to shovel, so I have my own strategy of "how to start shoveling". See? I do zigzag shoveling from my house to my curbside. Then I shovel around mailbox first.
Entry#347. 1/04/2025.
I wrote about my inspirations (4 of them = paraplegic advocates) before, here Entry#193 (12/16/2023).
Justin Levene.
Sophie Morgan.
Quinn Brett.
Sasha Rabchevsky.
They are still my inspirations pretty much. Recently I read the latest update of Quinn Brett. Then I was shocked, terrified and worried.
It’s related to hand warmers (foot warmers/ toe warmers). You know? I love a hand warmer very much. I use it pretty often in the winter, especially when I ski.
We, able-bodied people, don't think deeply about the "risk" of a hand warmer much because we can re-position it without any thinking when it gets too hot. Yes, without any thinking.
One time I asked my husband “Do you think you need to use a hand warmer putting in somewhere (maybe in a pocket) during sit-ski (mono-ski)??”
His answer was NO. It’s always NO for a hand warmer anyway. He gave me a lesson about the risk of low-temperature burn. He doesn’t take any risk of it no matter what. But I still have a bit of concern about “what if his legs/feet get too cold?”
Then Quinn Brett’s sad news.
She noted “Can’t feel my feet. Worried they get frozen while a ski, I sometimes use foot warmers in my boot. This time, the foot warmer laid upon my socked foot and nestled just right to warm, warm, and burn straight through most layers of skin beneath. Of course it blistered and I wasn’t sure the damage until a few days later.”
I borrowed her photo of her foot. See the hole? I cannot stare at it.
This size of skin damage. This size of a hole. I cannot imagine how many days, how long it takes to heal up until new skin is covered up.
Paraplegic people like my husband, they try to prevent these burns (skin damages) as best they can for their entire life.
Can you imagine? Once you get skin damages, you need to be patient and take extra care for infection. Uneasy, fearful, stressful days continue.
I will pray for Quinn Brett. There are several fears in paraplegic life, indeed.
Entry#346. 1/03/2025.
Sometimes, well, quite often, I feel my Japanese language brain gets shrinking. At the same time, my English language brain freezes up, stops functioning because I don’t use it at my work place anymore. I just try to keep using “both” as much as I can.
I have several American friends who love Japan and Japanese culture/language. They even lived in Japan or still live in Japan. I was lucky that I had chances to talk to them before.
They always wanted to talk to me in Japanese. So they did. Funny part was I answered them in English(!) As you can guess, it was always jumbled up with two languages, Japanese and English. That wasn’t what we wanted.
We all laughed together at the end.
Today was great though. I met up with young lady friend who lived in Japan (2 years now. She will live in Japan 3 more years). She teaches English at the local school (3rd grade through 9th grade) in Akita. We’ve been friends for a long time since she was in high school in this town, here in Oxford, OH. We had Summer Japanese language sessions in my house a long ago.
So I am very proud of where she is now, what she accomplished and what she is aiming for in future.
We tried to have conversation in Japanese today. Guess what? It was so smooth, natural, casual and pleasant using only Japanese. Then we just switched two languages depending on the topics. It all worked pretty well.
We will keep in touch for sure. I will keep sending cheers to her. To foreigners, Japan is a great, wonderful, amazing country to visit. But Japan is a bit tough, hard and tricky to live for Foreigners. So she is definitely brave and strong. I admire her.
1/02/2025.
I'd love to show you Zwift videos. (I've written about Strava, but not about Zwift, yet. I will.) I thought you'd love watching "how my husband and I pedal together in virtual world". Here, try to find a handcyclist first. That's my husband. Then try to find me who wear purple jersey on a white bicycle. This is the virtual world where we do indoor bike training.
So, how do you think about this?
Entry#345. 1/02/2025.
Our son is so lucky because he has 2 sets of wonderful grandparents in Japan. Thanks to them, he keeps trying to “write” in Japanese to keep in touch with them. (Otherwise he is lazy enough to excuse writing emails in Japanese.)
My husband’s parents sent him very special gifts last week. Then we learned something new, thanks to them. I sometimes feel bad for our son because of my lack of knowledge about the latest Japan news. But his grandparents always educate him. I am thankful.
The great topic we learned this time is “the secrets of the new Japanese banknotes”.
https://www.npb.go.jp/en/n_banknote/index.html
I’m embarrassed. I totally lost track of this amazing news that happened in July 2024(!)
To me personally, the most amazing part is “The Notes have 3D hologram”. This technology is for the FIRST time in banknotes IN THE WORLD! Japan is the only country that has 3D hologram banknotes.
Then how about Luminescent ink? U.S. banknotes become luminous under UV lights? These Japanese new banknotes do. (Wait, I need to make sure if old banknotes do or don’t?)
Lastly, it says “Japan began circulating its first new banknotes in 20 years on July 2024.” For the first time in 20(!) years.
I’m proud of Japanese high technology very much. I think our son should be proud of it as well. Are you curious now?
Then I remember I wrote about Mongolian currency before, when our son visited Mongolia. See June 2023. Find 6/12/2023 Entry.
Entry#344. 1/01/2025.
I’m originally from Japan. So as my husband. Our son was born in Manhattan, KS. He is, of course, Japanese, as well. Ask him about Japanese foods, he’d love to explain many of them. He hasn’t visited Japan much, just couple of times. But he is comfortable with most of Japanese food, I think.
The other day, he mentioned about a fish-dish. He told his friend that he ate Japanese fish “Shisyamo” ししゃも often. And it is a whole fish including a head and bones. It sounded his friend didn’t believe it. I was surprised and curious. I didn’t even realized that eating this Japanese fish Shisyamo could shock American people, I didn’t think about that before. Very interesting.
So here are facts about ししゃも Shisyamo.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/grilled-shishamo-smelt-2031542
“Grilled shishamo (smelt) is a popular Japanese dish that the entire fish, from head to tail, tiny bones and all, can be enjoyed as an appetizer, side dish or entree."
Are you interested in it, now? We love it very much. So as our son. He tried to explain to his friend compared with a can of sardines. Then he realized that a can of sardines didn’t have their heads. Oh well, he made me realize that, too. Until he said that, I even didn’t think about any heads of sardines in a can. He made me wonder and smile at the same time.
So is there no fish you eat the entire fish, from head to tail including bones, in America??
Shisyamo is definitely unique and “special”, isn’t it?
photo: It was on our dining table.
Entry#343. 1/01/2025.
Winter outside cycling is tricky for my husband (handcyclist) same as rainy-day cycling. If he wasn’t a paraplegic, we wouldn’t mind about it. During winter, we cannot miss a tiny chance of “sunshine with warmth”. If we see the Sun in the sky, we say “Let’s go!”.
We always use an app “Strava” to keep track our cycling records. Strava story is here Aug 2024. See Entry#293(8/19/2024). It can say statistics, like a yearly distance (mileage). It’s very useful and convenient. My husband’s yearly distance reached over 2000 miles a while ago. It was exciting really. I was behind. (He does a full marathon and other races.)
We were able to go outside rides on the day before his birthday and the day after his birthday, yes, both! That was just great!
Then my Strava yearly mileage said “1984” on 12/30/2024.
We did indoor Zwift cycling together last night on New Year’s Eve 12/31/2024. (Indoor bike trainer story is here Entry#342.) My yearly mileage finally HIT 2000!
I think it’s a wonderful start of 2025. Don’t you think? I believe I gave you a good laugh now on the New Year’s Day. Happy New Year!
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