Hello! from Rick Cogley

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 14:40:31 +0900

We updated and upgraded eSolia’s Japan Emergency Information pages. Help a visitor to or resident in Japan by sharing! 🚑

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 15:08:04 +0900

Gosh what an exciting World Series. Dodgers and Blue Jays were both stellar and it was a nail biter until the end! Congrats LAD! 💦⚾️

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 12:16:49 +0900

Exciting World Series this year! On to game 7! 🏟️⚾️

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 14:17:08 +0900

When you change your domain’s DNS (NS records), you can flush the records in major DNS providers to force a quicker propagation:

Cloudflare: https://1.1.1.1/purge-cache/
Google: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/cache
OpenDNS: https://cachecheck.opendns.com/

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 18:46:31 +0900

Visited Osaka Expo 2025 on 6 Sept with 220,000 others. It was hot and crowded but ultimately a good time thanks to A’s planning and a little luck.

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 15:20:30 +0900

We have the J-ALERT disaster warning system here in Japan which pushes mobile alerts regarding quakes, floods etc. It makes a big racket when a train car of phones get an alert! 💥

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 15:09:56 +0900

A and I are heading to Osaka to visit the Expo. Of course a typhoon was coming up as we were heading down so there was a delay but we are moving now. Oh and there’s a pet bird chirping away. 🚄🐤

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:16:51 +0900

Did you know you can add your Japan My Number card to your Apple Wallet? You can, using your MyNaPortal app. 🧐

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 20:32:54 +0900

I use git and git clients daily, and a recent one I really like is the fast and featureful fork. It’s available for MacOS or Windows, and “just works”. ⋔⌨️⋔

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:10:16 +0900

Japan visitors, it’s supposed to be rainy season, but instead we have a heat stroke alert in Kanto. Take it seriously, stay cool, don’t push too hard! 🥵

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:50:50 +0900

My team at eSolia published a couple new blog posts, on checking your laptop battery health and asking AI about IT terms. Check them out! 😎

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:36:39 +0900

On 2nd June in 1859 (166 years ago), the Yokohama port opened for business, after the US-Japan trade agreement the following year. I’ve been fortunate to live here in Yokohama for years now, and enjoy the international feeling of especially the port areas of Sakuragicho and Kannai. ⚓️

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:26:35 +0900

Do you feel an age or generation gap working with people from younger or older generations? I know I do. I’d love to hear your experiences. Δ

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 11:18:36 +0900

There’s a 1963 phone from NTT called the “model 600”, very much like the Bell model 500, which you can view among others at the NTT History Center of Technologies in Musashino, in west Tokyo. I hope to visit some day. ☎️

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 10:03:55 +0900

A few months ago I learned about Tilley and Dreyfuss’ work “The Measure of Man and Woman” which if you think on it, was just so revolutionary. Design barely even considered measurements of people prior to this, but now it’s ubiquitous. 👫

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 09:39:56 +0900

We are debating finally cancelling the landline in our house, which made me think of the phone icon which was designed with the Bell Model 500 in mind. I wonder when this icon will become incomprehensible to younger people? In 10 years? 20? 📞📱

Sat, 31 May 2025 08:47:54 +0900

My firm just launched our new “Tech It Easy” blog with IT tips in English and Japanese from our team members, like this post on keyboard shortcuts. We hope it might come in handy. 😎

Fri, 09 May 2025 04:25:13 +0900

Version 3 of the static site generator Lume was released after a Herculean dev cycle. It’s an incredibly flexible and powerful SSG written in Typescript by Óscar Otero.

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:34:47 +0900

When our tree flowers and I start hearing uguisu calls, I always feel spring has come. 🌸

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 06:32:17 +0900

Saw Wicked on Broadway a few years ago with A, and now we saw the IMAX movie. Theater buffs will like that It’s chock full of cameos of the original stage performers and even the writers. Casting and performances were on point, with lots of humor. 💚🩷

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:01:03 +0900

I loved Think Again by Adam Grant 📚. I’m going to set aside regular time for re-thinking, try to abandon best practices, and “not get stranded at the summit of Mt. Stupid.” 😅

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:57:15 +0900

Some of the fam went to Sapporo and Otaru in Hokkaido. I had to work, but they brought some hanasaki crab and we ate it last night. Wow, it’s reaally good! 🦀

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 20:45:45 +0900

Learned about our local evac center’s “Hamakko Toilet” at today’s event. It’s a sewage pipe you fill with pool water at one end, set toilets above opened man holes, and periodically flush by opening a big valve at the other end. 🚽🚽

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 20:38:27 +0900

Had a local disaster prevention event today. A civil servant / volunteer fireman said we should not assume Yokohama city will prepare enough food or supplies, and that we need to ready our own. A sobering thought! 🧯🚒

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:32:04 +0900

If you do any system admin and use the terminal, starship.rs is a really easy value add. For instance if you’re in a vps that just has bash installed, running the starship installer gets you a decent prompt in 10 sec.