BIGmog's BIGblog

Grocery stores interest me. The logistics and distribution required to keep us supplied with food from all over the world is incredible. I also find foreign grocery stores a window into that culture. New products are exciting and I make it a goal to buy something that I’ve never bought before.

Over the past 2 decades, I’ve been a customer of the Kroger / King Soopers chain. It’s nearby, has decent prices, and a huge selection. Lately however they have been testing my loyalty with some changes. Their app is now necessary to get certain discounts being my primary complaint.

Along with the increases in grocery prices, I considered exploring some other options. Within view there are 3 other stores: Costco, Trader Joes, and now Whole Foods. 4 grocery stores in proximity to each competing seems like an excessive number. There are different customer demographics each one caters to.

Costco is probably most clearly not for me. As a bachelor with no kids, buying in bulk isn’t my main goal. Whole Foods has a reputation for expense but that seems to be commonality now so perhaps it’s not as painful to the wallet. An Amazon Prime membership would make it cheaper but personally I would prefer to limit patronizing that company.

That leaves Trader Joes; a chain I had dismissed thinking their selection would be too limited. With 2 shopping trips now completed, I was surprised by all the unique products. This aligns well with my curiosity for new and novel foods. The store is small enough that even with taking my time to familiarize myself with layout, it was still faster than shopping at the big store. Prices were within my budget and the staff was friendly.

For some staples, I still have to visit King Soopers but I’m promoting Trader Joes as my primary grocer for a while to see how it goes.

I don't have many friends in general and even fewer that live in Japan. That 1 person does count for a lot if we're measuring by years. We met up for the aforementioned World Expo and baseball game plus wandered around Osaka in search of shopping and games.

Neither the Nintendo store or the Pokemon store were able to entice me to spend. My quest was to find piano sheet music which was achieved at a music store. That music is still a bit too challenging for my skill level but it gives me something to aspire to.

While riding trains, an impulse purchase was inspired by a mascot for a contactless payment system. Even e-money has mascots in Japan. This one is a platypus name Ico that always seems agitated. The literal translation for platypus is 'duck-billed'. (I wonder now if this is a subtle multi-lingual pun). With a bit of hunting, I was able to get a World Expo mascot + platypus ICOCA mascot combo plush at a gift shop. (Although the special IC card was completely sold out). Sadly, it seems Snoopy was not participating in the World Expo mascot cross-promotions.

We visited few game centers and instead focused in on a pinball arcade. Pinball is a niche western game in Japan and yet a large pinball arcade in Osaka has a great selection. What it was lacking during our visit was a working change machine so we couldn't actually play anything. Pinball machines are prone to failures but I'd never seen a faulted change machine in Japan. I blame the nearby gashapon shop for making 100 yen coins a commodity.

Of course I loaded up on Japanese snacks to bring home as souvenir gifts. Sharing small snacks with people back home is a Japanese custom. On previous trips, my local friends and family didn''t really appreciate the custom or the snacks but I still do.

The World Expo was my primary reason for visiting Japan. I'm not familiar with Osaka having been just once before. To better acquaint myself with the city, I took 2 different walking tours from the start. The back streets eating tour was especially interesting. We went to some sketchy areas (by Japan standards) including a red light district. My highlight was an izakaya with draft beers and fried foods.

The food was all really good the whole trip. I ate most meals from convenience store items. That may sound like a terrible way to eat but Japanese convenience stores are miles (kilometers?) above what we expect in the US. Drinks are also instantly available from vending machines on every corner. I always travel with a water bottle but it wasn't even needed.

The weather was hot and humid but tolerable in short bursts. When the heat became too much, air conditioning was available in any cafe, shop, etc. to rest and cool off. Exploring department stores, underground shopping centers, and pedestrian street malls attracts me. I like accidently discovering a curious shop or restaurant. After I found one, it became a quest: Snoopy Town.

I grew up reading Peanuts comics and I still enjoy it. I have a few Snoopy toys but the amount of merch is so high that I don't collect anything. Japan has a chain of shops that only sells Snoopy goods. The danger became real after finding another Snoopy Town store. While 80% of the products are the same, each store has some varied selection. I visited 5 in total! To protect my wallet, I focus on the original Snoopy design from the 1950s era. I like that he acts more like a dog in that form. That style of Snoopy is less common so I didn't break the bank.

Still more Osaka trip to document including a baseball game and another world expo (?!).

Half of my goals for 2025 are now complete - take an acting class. Actually I took 2 different acting classes: Intro to Acting and Character Development.

The first was a class offered downtown at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. It's far from Julliard but still has a pedigree of acting education. The class started with about 12 people and dwindled down to 8 by the end. I suspect they had unfairly dismissed the nearly 80 year old instructor. He had some trouble with memory but otherwise was a very seasoned actor, director, and coach. He had plenty of stories, some with famous people, that he incorporated into his lessons. Our final day we performed an open scene and his direction and guidance was truly insightful. I learned a lot and regret not taking notes. If the school weren't an hour away in heavy traffic, I would take another class there.

The other class was level 2 of an improv acting class. Previously I had taken the intro improv class from the instructor: a second city alumni. While I learned less from that class, it was more fun. The final class was a 5 minute showcase of the characters we had developed and my sketch based on singing parodies of Elvis songs was well received. That performance may be useful again around Halloween this year.

There are no grand plans to give up my corporate career and take up acting. I would starve! However, some of what I learned is applicable in other fields such as making a presentation at work. Many of the other businesses could benefit from a little show business!

It's been a few years since I picked up my bass guitar. It was fun to learn but less fun to play. The issue I had is that not many songs are written for the bass. It's more of an accompanying instrument as part of a band. To address this, I attempted to join a band but it fell apart after 3 weeks when the lead guitarist realized he was way better than the rest of us. No matter. Playing in a band wasn't my plan anyway. I just wanted to jam and stretch my creative side.

A podcast on guitar history made me consider playing that instead or maybe taking it a step easier with a ukulele. The question I hadn't yet answered was: what type of music do I want to play?

As a youth, I had a Casio digital keyboard. It was more of a toy but that didn't stop me from teaching myself how to play some video game music on it: Zelda, Final Fantasy, Mario, etc. Those 8-bit songs often relied on melody to take advantage of the limited sound capabilities. Perhaps now, with a proper instrument, I could re-learn those songs.

After a few attempts, I purchased a used Roland digital piano from Facebook Marketplace. Equipped with instructional books, smart apps, and a bounty of online videos, my quest is underway. I started 3 weeks ago and learning a lot. And unlike the bass guitar, I can already play an actual song.

Much has transpired since the previous update. Firstly, the vacation to France. Having reviewed my daily journal of the trip, I don't have anything especially insightful to detail. Paris was nice but very crowded. The smaller towns we visited along the Seine river cruise were much more pleasant. Each day, I ate croissants, wore a Breton shirt, and read about Napoleon. I came to appreciate Monet as more than the "water lily guy". I got sick but pressed on with the aid of pharmaceuticals and strong coffee.

Any first visit to Paris is going to be cliché. You can't not see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and The Louvre Museum. Now that I've crossed off those obligatory sites, a second trip would be quite different. Someday I hope to see it that's true. Until then, I can enjoy brioche, calvados, and impressionist art here at home.

In a week, I'll be underway for a vacation in France. A transit strike prevented my previous attempt to visit via the chunnel from England. This go I've opted for a different mode of transportation; a river cruise. During my trip through eastern Europe a year ago, I noted how the Danube river offered this curious means to traverse the region. Online research (and perhaps commercials on NPR) sold me on trip that I could take together with my mother.

She has fond memories of visiting France as a young woman and would occasionally reminiscence on it. A bit of coaxing was necessary for her to get a passport. Once that pre-requisite was completed, the trip was booked and the countdown begun. We start in Paris and then cruise the Seine River to Normandy with various stops along the way for wine, cheese, history, and art. While I usually travel solo, it will be nice having someone to tour with.

I still plan to journal but expect to compose long hand rather than take a laptop with me. Upon my return, I'll collect those thoughts and write them up here.

I had made it 47 years in life without buying a dining room table of my own. 15 years of those in my house with the designated area for one. As a bachelor with negligible cooking skills, there was little benefit to eating alone at a table and not in front of the TV, at my desk, or over the sink.

On frequent occasion I considered this equipment as a standard adult purchase but never was able to find one that matched my preferences and space. So defeated by this quest that I nearly built a custom table myself until I discovered how expensive lumber was.

Next, I browsed Facebook marketplace for a used table as an inexpensive and greener option. While plenty of people are selling their furniture in preparation for moving, many don't think to include the dimensions or other noteworthy details.

That pushed me back toward the professional furniture sellers with verbose search filters allowing me to home in on a table that fit the bill. It now sits in my small dining area with the tease of a proper dining experience until I compliment it with chairs. Allow me another decade or so to complete that.

2024 was a bumpy year. A terrible start with the loss of Lefty stared to improve with the prospects of a new relationship. It ended abruptly and my woe continued. To get through this rough patch, I traveled extensively. First domestically to Milwaukee and then internationally through eastern Europe.

Upon returning, I now was faced with a considerable decision point. I opted to stay put and get another dog. It was emotional at first but over the summer, we grew closer and now he's settled in.

I took a brief trip to Seattle on Memorial Day to close out summer.

Fall was the season of a woodworking class and the great deck rebuild project. It's not finished yet but it's at least usable again.

Atypically I did not see any concerts this year but I did squeeze in a few shows: Nunsense, Rubicon, Chicago, Hairspray, Meow Meow.

The end of 2024 has been especially exciting and I hope to have more to say on that into 2025.

The company that I work for is struggling lately and that has resulted in temporary furloughs. With the unpaid time off that I now have, I decided that I could take on the big project of rebuilding my deck. The deck is as old as the house built in 2001. In addition, it was built poorly and cheaply. I performed some small repairs and maintenance over the years. I could have continued with that to extend the life a bit but decided to start from scratch.

Youtube videos are great at convincing you that anything is possible but often omit the unexpected challenges. Knowing these can be deceptive, I contacted 3 professional deck contractors. Only 1 responded and they quoted me around $20k. That is a considerable sum for me. I could do it myself for about 1/10 of that price (plus some blood, sweat, and tears). Why not give it a try?

During the construction, I'm learning a lot about deck building and maybe something about myself. Perhaps this is part of a mid-life crisis to want to build something. Or maybe I just want to get some new tools and feel manly. Self-psychoanalysis isn't productive and it doesn't matter anyway. I need a new deck and I don't want to spend a ton of money for it.

The furlough won't be long enough to finish the entire deck. I'll have to complete it over nights and weekends for the next few months. I can accept a slow pace so long as I can finish it.