Updates

Japan 2017: Tokyo, Day Two

/ ceckman / Leave a comment

First of all, just want to let everyone know I put the live album up in the Photos section at Japan 2017. This will have many more photos than just what I’m posting in the blog!

We started the day at the original Tokyo Train Station to redeem our Japan Rail passes for the next 7 days. We’ll use them to travel Kyoto at 10:30am tomorrow morning.

Tokyo Train Station

Tokyo Train Station

After that, we took the train over to the Meiji Shrine. It was a beautiful property, with a coy pond and bonsai garden.

Look at the orange coy!

Coy Pond

Pond

Meiji Shrine

#bonsailife

I wish I could keep a Bonsai alive this long

 

Then we headed over to Shibuya district to find a small travel pack I could carry for our trip. We took a cab, and searched and searched but couldn’t quite found what I was looking for.

+ Jetlag

Cab Ride!

Shopping!

Shibuya District

 

Finally, after searching Ginzu and then heading back to the hotel, we trekked back to the area under out hotel and I found a bag I loved! There was a Studio Ghibli store right across from it, and I found a bunch of merchandise from some of my favorite anime movies of all time (Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro, to name a few). We finally decided to head to Robot Restaurant for dinner. If you haven’t checked out the Photos page, there are videos on the Japan 2017 page of this incredible experience!

So much Jetlag

On the way into Robot Restaurant

Hay girl hay!

Robots Everywhere!

On a moving float!

Taiko Drummers

The best show on earth!

Rainbow Robot Restaurant

 

After the show and fighting jetlag all night, we headed back to the train and ordered room service. All in all, this was one of the best days we’ve spent in Tokyo!

That’s all for the night… hopefully tomorrow we’ll be more adjusted to the timezone and I won’t have to fight so hard to finish the blog! That’s all for the night… see you on Monday!

-Chris

Bon Voyage Denver, Bon Appétit Sonic, et Bienvenue Philadelphia

/ ceckman / 1 Comment

I know what you’re all thinking – getting this blog update on a Wednesday afternoon. Chris is on NOT on vacation… and yet he blogs. What can this mean? How is this possible? DO I UNDERSTAND ANY PART OF THE WORLD I AM LIVING IN?
Fear not, readers. For it is true, I am not on vacation and yet I still blog. At least until I find a decent therapist in Philly anyway….
Sunday morning against a heavy swamp of nostalgia and chronophobia I piled in the car with my two best pals and my best friend and we set off on our three day road trip.

The events of which were pretty, well, uneventful. We suffered through Rob Lowes audiobook “Stories I only tell my friends”, which I THOUGHT was going to be amazing but… well…. the person that recommended it to me reads entertainment magazine on a regular basis so I should have known… YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. The dogs were quiet and obediently left souvenirs scattered across the midwestern united states. We stayed in Residence Inn’s, and gut bombed our way through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri,

Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and finally, Pennsylvania.
We arrived here Tuesday afternoon, mustered up what strength and mental power we had left (which was like, almost none. Seriously, we couldn’t even pent speakances at pat thoint) and made our inaugural mega trip to Target. Our temporary corporate housing is clean and modern, albeit a little dark and cold (perfect for playing Star Wars). The dogs are quickly adjusting, there is a dog park just for our building less than 20 feet from our front door, and all in all we’re all doing pretty well. Tim is already fully engaged in his new role, and I’m taking a few days to recover before I start going out to meetups to meet some new friends and find some things to do in the city. While we wait for our home in Denver to sell, we’re heading out Saturday and Sunday to look at potential new homes (vacation getaways for the rest of you!), just taking it one day at a time.
I’ll keep a running log of any goings on through this blog, and look forward to your witty comments (and text messages), while I embark on my new adventure and you all continue your own. Thanks for such an amazing last 10 years Colorado, and Philly – I hope you’re ready for me – God knows you all weren’t!!

Chris

Adding Social Media

/ ceckman / Leave a comment

I haven’t had a Facebook in a very long time. In fact, I’ve completely shied away from Social Media the last few years. There are multiple reasons for this, but in general its made life easier for me and I haven’t missed it. 
But now I want to blog, and I am realizing that if I am ever to get any sort of traction, I’m going to need to engage – at least partially – in social media. Sort of the whole reason I created this space was to have a way to share my life and interests without Facebook. I was spending the majority of my day on it in the past and not in a very enriching way. It prevented some relationships in my life from naturally ending because it forced constant contact. It allowed people from my past to track me in a way I wasn’t a fan of. It was a security issue (not that anything isn’t anymore). That last part in the parenthesis is confusing. I mean to say that everything you say or do online is a security issue these days. There is no escaping us, me, you, if it’s out there it’s staying out there. For now anyway. 
This is getting a little deeper than I had originally intended to go. The main thing I want to say in this post is that I’ve cleaned and updated my twitter and Pinterest accounts to interact nicely with the blog. It will automatically tweet on my account when a new post has been added, and I’m experimenting with a Pinterest board as a widget below. Additionally, all posts and special pages have now been integrated with social media sharing tools so if I post something especially interesting, hilarious, or embarrassing, I’ve made it easier for you to spread around. It’s also a shameless plug for me to get more readers. Or readers that I haven’t personally begged to come here, read, and comment. Not that those readers aren’t dearly valued, they are. Just, they can’t publish me. 

Chris