Running Bear's May 2025 Coffee Shop

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Yesterday USPS said my order that has been in some warehouse only 50 miles from here for 5 weeks will be delivered today before 8pm. So I'm waiting all day for it to show up and at 8pm they said the order has been delayed. This is the 2nd order in a row that I'll never receive. I hope HP doesn't ship my new $730.00 computer using USPS.
Swal
 
First a daytime skyline shot from right before we checked out.

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Thursday morning, after another Hilton breakfast of champions (no pic as it was not much different than the other one) we checked out and went to this interactive art “museum” called teamLab: Planets. (This teamLab group has a coupe exhibits in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan but also has things in other places throughout the world). They have various sections you go to and can interact with it. The biggest one is called water and several of the rooms have water you wade in though not all do. We did it last time we were in Tokyo but did it again as it was fun and they’d also expanded it.

They use a lot of mirrors as well to give depth illusions or infinity illusions etc.

This is a room full of hanging led light strips programmed to change color or ho on and off in patterns. They hang an inch or two apart so it’s a forest of them. And the ceiling and floor is mirrored. I think this is a shot of the ceiling, which reflects the floor, which reflects the ceilibg, etc.

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T by is room had water about a foot deep and they shone light down that made it looks like colorful koi fish (carp) and various aquatic plants were swimming or floating around your feet. You walked around it and the fish would swim by you. It’s all light projection into a milky white water. It was really cool.

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The next room had these 5 ft diameter big air balls (big round balloons). One hanging and some loose and they had lights that were constantly changing.

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This next room was round and dome shaped and had mirrored floor and had all these lights that looked like various shapes and flowers etc moving and it gave the illusion that the room was moving. It was way cool.

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That was the end of yeh “water” part. We then went to the “forest” part where they had built a lot of new stuff since last time.

They had various things you had to walk or jump from one half bubble to the next staying on your color, and a lot other interesting things like sloped floors at various angles in color and lights, wood slabs hanging from cables you had to jump from one to the other with, etc Bunch of other things. I only have one pic of this area.

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Then they had this other first thing outside. Kind of Ghibli-esque. You could touch but couldn’t rough house with these silver things.

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More in the next post.
 


The very last part of the teamLab: Planets exhibit was the garden room. This room had mirrored floor and walls but it it’s full of a billion living orchids hanging in a jungle like way that you walk around. They slowly go up and down. It’s kind of cool.

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After that we had time to go to the local mall for lunch and the daughter wanted something, before we had to head to Haneda airport for the flight to Sapporo. I had a big breakfast so I ate a small curry. I gave most of the rice to my wife.

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This meal has a giant Gundam outside.

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Dinner of champions at the airport. A bag of pizza flavored potatoe chips I hadn’t eaten yet and had been carrying around and a vending machine ice cream parfait.

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We made it to Sapporo. The flight time was maybe 75 min? Interesting is that the signs in the airport are not just in Japanese and English and Chinese and Korean but also Russian. We took an airport bus to our hotel. Our hotel was the last stop on the route and was 90 minute ride. Their breakfast was actually pretty good as well. It quote of the same level as as the Hilton but very good.

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We walked to Sapporo Station as we needed to find something at a store there and then headed to the Sapporo LDS temple, where we also had an appointment. Also the mission home office is in the same building complex and we wanted to see my son’s mission president.

Train to Shin-Sapporo where we switched to the Sapporo subway (another rubber tired train system. This time not just one line but the whole city subway — multiple lines. )

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Happy Friday.........

The county sheriff showed up at my door around 1 pm toady. I asked could I help him with something and he told me he had been called out to my place on a "wellness check". I told him I was just fine and probably someone had called due to the fact I have not mowed my property this year. Between the days I don't feel like doing much, the rain and drafting work, mowing has taken a back seat to other priorities. I asked who had called and he said he did not know that he was just dispatched on a wellness check. If I'm concerned about someone, I usually just give them a call and if no answer after a couple of days, I may take more drastic action. Oh well, I guess I should be grateful someone around here cares.
Now I guess I need to get the battery charger out and hook it up to the lawnmower. Please don't mention a battery tender as the place I store my mower has no electricity nearby. I use a 100' extension cord to hook up the battery charger. I'll need to get the weed eater going also.
So much to do and so little energy and time. Between work and other priorities, my programming job on the ESU decoder has lasted well over two weeks.
I'm late for a nap now. 😆

Everyone have a great weekend.

John
But, a solar battery tender may work. No mains power required.
 
Almost done.

We made it to our temple appointment. Here are before and after shots.

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We checked out of our hotel in Sapporo today as weee staying the next 3 nights in Otaru. A port city not far from Sapporo.

Sapporo had the Winter Olympics in 1972 and here are their permanent Olympic rings. They’re on the way from our hotel to the main station. There was also this German looking pole which is also connected to the Olympics somehow (one of the diorama shots on the pole is a flame carrier and the Olympic torch).

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We took a subway to go and see my son’s mission president today as he was busy last night so another, better subway shot.

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Daughter wanted to try Japanese McDonalds so she and I did that for a late lunch. They have a lot of different things than us ones. She had some sort of chicken sandwich and I had a Hokkaido four cheese teriyaki burger or something like that. The green soda is “melon soda”, one of the drink delights of Japan.

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Train to Otaru, which went along the ocean.

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At Otaru station I saw this interest two car train called a H100 Diesel Electric. They’re new and I’ve not ridden them. They were introduced after our last trip to Hokkaido. Maybe I can ride one one of these days.

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We got here late enough that we went down a shopping street but most everything was closed. A few restaurants open but they were tourist priced ao we just bought food at Lawson convenience store nearby and brought it back l to the hotel.

I’ll post more later. There was a cool canal I got some shots of but that’s basically it so I’ll post those tomorrow when I get more pics of other stuff.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 63°, these cooler mornings continue. Typical forecast coming up, with some 90° days and 5 of the 10 day forecast have thunderstorms!

I only mowed the east part of the yard yesterday and decided to wait until today for the south side. It depends on when my SIL and grandson get here to assist in putting the A/C in the window of the train shed. I'm ready. I did finally get the cover off the pool yesterday, it's not as non-permeable as advertised, as the water is dirtier than I wish. I need to add about 4500 gal to top it off before I can add chemicals and run the filter. I added some water in yesterday and shut it off overnight. It's filling some more right now. Shouldn't take too long.

No activity out in the train shed yesterday, as all of my time was used for mowing, A/C prep and pool work.

Marlin - I don't remember what the infection was called, but I do remember our adventures with the PICC tube.
Tom O - I try to not admit when my wife is right either, but I do occasionally just so she knows that I actually listen to her.;)
John - I would be perturbed at first if a sheriff showed up at my door, but it would quickly be gratefulness when informed that it was a wellness check.

Everyone have a great Saturday. I have work to do outside.
 


The AI voices company is about to start charging.
What happened to Naomi? I checked your store and asked a question about audiobooks. I have never tried one and not sure how that works. I need noise to overcome the tinnitus. So far, the 24/7 fan has lost its battle, the HO and N trains running are working, and the music is helping. Perhaps a story might be good.
 
Noticeable? How so? I’ve never gotten sparks (except for a short) so it seems better to you…

Do you also use graphite?

I still use the 70% Isopropyl Alcohol and then add graphite. I have plenty of orderless mineral spirits I could switch to. When I ran more I’d go 6 months between track cleaning. Now I’m cleaning every couple months
The sparking was visible on the tender with pickup wheels. I used the isopropyl for 10 years and didn't seem to have problems, but found myself cleaning weekly.

All my locos are lighter and don't have as much contact as the big diesels so my system is probably more sensitive.

With the mineral spirits the loco takes right off when I apply power and performs well-smoother- at the lower speeds.

All my locos were manufactured prior to 1993, so these are well worn in.

I do not use graphite or abrasives or anything else on the track.
 
Morning all,

Busy weekend as always. High today in the 80's. We'll have spotty storms overnight and then rain chance through most of next week.

Karl: Good luck next week on your surgery. Fortunately when I have my knee done, the grandkids already know how I like the yard done, so no biggie.

Gotta get to the garden as I need to thin the beets yet. Still only 3 parsnips came up, so I'm directing the cucumbers along the open space.
 
Yesterday USPS said my order that has been in some warehouse only 50 miles from here for 5 weeks will be delivered today before 8pm. So I'm waiting all day for it to show up and at 8pm they said the order has been delayed. This is the 2nd order in a row that I'll never receive. I hope HP doesn't ship my new $730.00 computer using USPS.
Swal
HP generally uses Fedrex or UPS. The only time they sent something to me via USPS (a ribbon cable), USPS lost it.
 
Good morning all!

The weekend is finally upon us!

Current temps are at 60F heading up to a pleasant 76F. The real warm-up starts tomorrow, but will only last a
couple of days before rain and cooler temps come back. I'm never going to get my pool water to warm up at
this rate. Right now its only 67F. No where near warm enough for me to go in.

Not much else going on at this time. hopefully will be a low key weekend.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
I really need to find a "real" home page. MSN had a half-page "breaking news" about 110 people died in a flood that submerged an entire town.
Last October.
In Nigeria.
The cause was touted as Climate Change, and I'm sure it had zero to do with the dam that hadn't been maintained in over 50 years collapsing.
 


The sparking was visible on the tender with pickup wheels. I used the isopropyl for 10 years and didn't seem to have problems, but found myself cleaning weekly.

All my locos are lighter and don't have as much contact as the big diesels so my system is probably more sensitive.

With the mineral spirits the loco takes right off when I apply power and performs well-smoother- at the lower speeds.

All my locos were manufactured prior to 1993, so these are well worn in.

I do not use graphite or abrasives or anything else on the track.
Thank you. I may revisit the mineral spirits
 
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