Some of the Days

The 100-day-in-a-row mark was big in the goal to run every day this year. It came and went successfully. The goal remains achieved in full and in fact exceeded a couple of times. A good tactic has been to switch to morning runs when I have the energy or time or motivation; I will run one day in the evening, then turn right around the next day at 7:00. Often both of these are short runs of three to five kilometers. Then I might let myself rest a while, and run 36 hours later at 19:00 the next calendar day. This relieves mental pressure to a manageable level while keeping the goal of running once within each 24-hour period. I am not good with self-inflicted mental pressure, which is best expressed for me as “homework,” but the goal has attained an importance and priority that outweighs being tired. The run always rewards me with the chemicals to make it worth getting dressed in running clothes and stepping out the door, which as I have said before are the actual two hardest tasks.

Running every day has made every other activity go better for me. I am just a bit more able to take action on things that need action. There is less procrastination and more willingness to, say, wash the dishes in the sink, to just have that task done. My waist has gone from 35 to 32 inches. My weight has dropped from 83kg/182lbs to 69kg/152lbs. Goal is 65kg. My [Apple-algorithm-derived] VO2 max reached 50 yesterday. I feel very healthy. I haven’t had a drink since September and am fine with not having any more ever.

Work is good. In February I made a business trip to Washington D.C. to participate in a conference put on jointly by AAMI, an industry and standards organization to which I belong, and the U.S. FDA, which is the regulatory agency whose rules and policies I help my Japanese medical device and pharmaceutical industry clients comply with. The conference experience was a lot of fun. It was scary. I arrived alone, without a single acquaintance. I had to make friends, like when I was at a new school in rural Washington State in 1989, and at a new junior high school in Utah in 1993. After the first hour or so of nervousness, I remembered that everyone at an event like that has some anxiety and is open to someone saying to them “Hi.”

The conference was specifically about the new FDA medical device regulations that were announced shortly before it, which are called QMSR (Quality Management System Regulation) and will take effect in February 2026. This is the first major revision of these regulations since 1996. It is mostly a harmonization to replace what have been U.S.-specific regulations with the international standard, ISO 13485. Luckily, I am already certified as an ISO 13485 lead auditor. The familiarity enables me to explain what will change to my clients. Prior to my trip, I emailed all my clients and a few more companies to advertise seminars I would give in April about the new QMSR. Armed with questions from the clients and some of my own, I went to the conference and directly asked them to the FDA officials who made QMSR. I got good answers and some background information in settings such as cocktail receptions, where the officials were unprecedentedly available and lubricated to talk.

I gave the seminars from April 8 to 10. Lots of clients had employees from their quality assurance departments participate. I think the information was helpful to them. I got positive feedback and some constructive criticism on how other consultants do their seminars, particularly their expectations for the materials that are given. This was highly instructional and will make my seminars better going forward. The seminar proceeds more than paid for the U.S. trip, and new clients are beginning to emerge from the contacts I made there. Another goal of the trip was to further develop my business of helping U.S. companies overcome regulatory hurdles and enter the Japan medical device market. Although planned and executed imperfectly, the trip proved what I knew but was previously afraid to try: If I go to the events and interact and put myself out there, more business will come and I will better serve existing clients. This was a major turning point in my career, which has been just fine but completely reliant on word-of-mouth thus far.

Before going to Washington D.C., I went to Boston to see my brother and his family. The nominal reason was that he needed a car transported from Boston to Utah for one of his kids to use. The prospect of a cross-country drive was irresistible to me. I changed my flight plans to arrive in Boston from Japan (via Detroit). I spent a couple nights there. I got to eat a delicious dinner. I enjoyed the woodsy feel of Belmont. I went for a 16km run with one of my nieces, chatting with her at length and getting a view of what a good human she has become. My nieces and nephews exist as small children in my brain until proven otherwise through modern-day interaction. I got to visit Cape Cod for the first time. The people there are very into Cape Cod architecture. It is a charming and comfortable place. I went with my brother to see about a used car on the Cape. When visiting family who live afar, daily-life activities are the best things to do, in addition to special outings. It is so valuable in reconnecting to get an idea of the person’s day-to-day life.

I drove the car from Boston to the Washington D.C. where the conference was held. The drive began at 16:00 or so. Traffic in Connecticut slowed me down. I stopped in Seacaucus to get my daily run. The tops of Manhattan skyscrapers were visible from the rest area where I stopped. Happily, the rest area had a gate in the back that let me into the streets of Seacaucus. I ran a mile or so wearing jeans in the cold. There were a few things of interest: Plebeian apartment buildings, distribution facilities, and a deli that appeared to me an ideal crime front, no doubt due to my media consumption and unfamiliarity with that part of the country.

It got late. When I entered Maryland, the section of I-95 I was using closed at 23:00 and all traffic had to detour through some town for a half-hour or so. Then I took a U.S. highway for a while because there were more announced delays ahead. I crossed the bridge into Baltimore that did not get destroyed by a ship a couple of months later, but at the same time of night as that accident, so the news was a little closer to home than it would’ve otherwise been.

The stay in D.C. was enjoyable. I ran to the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial (happening by ancillary sights “the U.S. Capitol” and “The White House”). What a man, Grant. While running, I was listening to the part of The Years of Lyndon Johnson in which he was cultivating Senator Richard Russell as a father figure, which was his M.O. with others including FDR and Sam Rayburn, to gain political power. Since their relationship played out in D.C., it was neat to be there are running through the streets as I listened to the account. LBJ was a scoundrel in many ways and also did some good things. Historical figures are all imperfect and also do historical things. Deal with it, people of today, including me. The Omni Shoreham Hotel was nice, and haunted, according to the woman who apprised me of this apropos of nothing in the elevator. (I do not have the ghost-sensing gene.) I felt like a fancy man indeed as I breakfasted on Eggs Chesapeake, which was poached eggs on crab cakes with hollandaise sauce. Crab cakes are one of my favorite foods.

Another brother flew into D.C. the night before my departure, so we could drive the car together from there to Utah. Before leaving we ran from the Omni to the Lincoln Memorial and back.

There are few better things than a long drive with someone with whom you want to catch up. We took a more southerly route than is fastest. You want to avoid Wyoming, especially in February. We went from Virginia to Tennessee to Arkansas to Texas to New Mexico to a sliver of Colorado to Utah. We did not take our time, but we did adhere to the rule of eating at least one meal in each state. The meals were all very good. Barbecue place in Knoxville. Breakfast at a favorite diner of Elvis’s in Memphis. Po boys in Little Rock. Brisket sandwich at Buccee’s. Terry Black’s BBQ in Dallas. Donuts on Main Street in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday morning in West Texas. Goat curry at a South Asian truck stop in extreme West Texas. Green chile pork sopes in Farmington.

The visit to Utah was also tremendous. What a pleasure to see everyone so soon after the October trip. I will keep making moves to increase the amount of business I do in Utah so I can be there more. I feel my mortality. It feels right to be there more. They are my people.

Oatmeal is so good. It’s simple. If I can make one of my two or so meals a day oatmeal, I tend to feel great.

I have a big pile of new records to document and boast of.

I am now the leader of my volunteer fire squad. It will be a two-year stint. It mostly consists of passing information down (and occasionally up) the chain of command. I shall do my best.