Well, it's been a while...

Please be patient while I reload content here. The site is a bit sparse right now, but I've been grinding on it for a while, and decided if I didn't bring it online, I'd never get motivated to bring this new version live. So, now I have some motivation.

I started this site back in 2008 when I first moved to Japan. Mostly I built the site so friends and family could keep up with my adventures in Japan while I was living in a time zone roughly 12 hours away. It was just easier to post everything in a single location so anyone who was interested to get caught up in one spot. Overall, it worked out pretty well.

A lot has changed since that original site. The original site was mostly hand-rolled, and it took quite a bit of work to maintain it. I also used a few stand-alone packages to provide things like the picture gallery, and trying to keep up with all the patches for the supporting technologies quickly became impractical. After working in Japan for a few years, I returned to America and, without constant attention, the site slowly started to fall apart.

Other things have changed as well, of course. People who used to read my site (in fact, some of the people this site was created for) have passed on. Technology has gotten better, and it's easier to create and maintain web sites (although it's still much more work than it should be). People have grown older, including me. Some have died, some have grown up, married, and started families and life stories of their own.

After returning to America, I worked there for almost 15 years before deciding I'd simply had enough. I retired early and returned to Japan, living out in the countryside where living is remarkably cheap, at the price of being away from the excitement of the cities. I've never been much of one for cities, but I've got to admit, they are quite convenient, even if the convenience comes at a price. For me, it's worth the lack of convenience to have the peace and solitude of the great outdoors surrounding me.

What's here

So, with all that said, what's this site about?

Mostly this is still a site for family and friends, and to a lesser extent, anyone who happens upon the site and is interested in how life would be if you picked up your life and moved to the other side of the world. Most of the content is in the Blog and Pictures sections, although I'm not happy with the photo album capabilities, so I'm still looking for something better, and building my own photo album on the side. I'm still a bit of a private person, so all the good stuff is hidden away anyway. Just kidding. Mostly. The really personal stuff requires you to log in, but don't thik that you're missing anything. Most of the stuff that's protected is personal enough that it's not interesting unless you know me, or it's just documenting my boring daily activities; tending the garden, shopping for groceries, and the like. You're really not missing much.

On the off chance you stumbled across this site because you were actually someone I knew long ago and you've been trying to find me, well... congratulations, you found me. And yes, I want to reconnect with you. Drop me a note in the Contact section and let's talk.