www.kuraoka.org
San Diego, California
(619) 465-9375
www.kuraoka.org
San Diego, California
(619) 465-9375
Welcome to the Kuraoka family website! For the latest news, click on our weekly journal. You also can see what's hanging on our virtual refrigerator door, read our travel journals, tour our room addition, learn about our neighborhood in San Diego, and much more. So, pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and enjoy your virtual visit with us!
If you're new here, we recommend the following path to get to know our family: About us >> About our neighborhood >> Weekly Journal >> Then scroll down and click on whatever strikes your fancy.
Personal:
UPDATED! About us (our family and other
regular characters)
Our absurdly popular
weekly journal (updated at least once a week since 1998)
Our
virtual refrigerator door (recent photos and other odds and ends)
Archive (selected weekly
journals and family portraits from the journals)
Historical Kuraoka family photos (a trip in the wayback machine)
Our new roof and solar power system journal, November 2016
Our room addition journal (one huge
file with photos and daily entries), January through June 2002
Metal Detecting stuff
Astronomy stuff
Outdated family
photo album
Leo's page
Roy's
page
Mas Kuraoka's page
David Brooks's page
FAQ
Whimsy:
A simplified Frosty the Snowman
with guitar chords and lyrics
Long John Silver, advertising copywriter
Our
Daily Life: an all-purpose pictorial journal
What's in John's wallet?
Bad Drawings and Worse Poetry
Twitters and Instas and Blogs oh my!:
UPDATED WEEKLY Family stuff: Weekly Family Journal
John's MidLifeLit site (mid-life reinvention): MidLifeLit.com
Ondine's Instagram (writing): ondine.alegra
John's Instagram (archaeology, literature): archaeoka
Found stuff: @foundstuff
John’s original ad blog: Advertising blog
Advertising stuff: @kuraoka
Travel:
Colorado Springs and UCCS college orientation
A Julian B&B
Sand Pond 2017: Salmon Creek Campground, first road trip in the Prius
Sand Pond 2014: the year the car broke down, with photos
Japan: a three-generation trip of a lifetime to connect with family
A weekend at La Casa Del Zorro, 2013
Disneyland 2013
Sand Pond 2013, Santa Monica Pier, LA Museum of Natural History, and more, with photos
Santa Barbara and the space shuttle Endeavour exhibit, 2013.
Washington DC 2012
Sand Pond and Redwoods, August 2011, a look back with 53 photos
Our Christmas Cruise to Mexico, December 19-26 2010, with photos
Sand Pond 2010, a brief look back but with photos this time
Leo Carrillo State Beach, June 22-24 2010, with photos
Sand Pond 2009, a brief look back
Sand Pond 2008: further family camping adventures, August 8-17 2008, with photos
Barbara, Bill, and the Boys at Big Bear, May 23-25 2008, with photos
Indian Hills Camp: a boy's getaway, May 9-11 2008, with photos and video clips
Sand Pond: still more family camping, August 4-12 2007, with photos and video clips
Hawaii, June 30 2007 to July 7 2007,
one week that spanned two months and three generations (with photos and video clips)
Disneyland
with kids, December 20-21 2006, with photos
Sand Pond:
more camping with kids ... and a dog! August 2006, with photos and video clips
Sedona, April 2006, with photos
Downtown San Diego, March 2006, with photos
Old Town State Park, June 2005, with photos
A desert jaunt: Anza-Borrego and Desert View Tower, May 2005, with photos
Solana Beach Getaway April 2005, with photos
Mülheim an der
Ruhr, Germany:
a six-week house swap (with photos and video clips; also, see our archive section for our journal entries)
Sand Pond:
camping with kids August 2003 (with photos)
Boston &
Northampton, by Roy (with photos)
Southern
Arizona: a weekend getaway
England (with a few photos)
Germany: Ten Days on the Romantische Strasse (unfinished;
with photos)
Sales Department:
“Thank You For Your Business, May I Please Have More?”, an e-book
supporting John’s Tightwad Marketing project
Know-how:
How to
Make Mini Worm Composting Bins, a great group project for young kids
Review of the AlphaSmart Neo by an AlphaSmart Oldo
Digital Photography,
Clocks, and Watches a simple how-to guide
Morning Sickness Remedy
Checklist for pregnant moms and their partners
Tightwad
Marketing for owners of small businesses
Work, work, work:
UPDATED! John’s consolidated copywriting and archaeology website: www.kuraoka.com
Ondine’s work: Kaiser Permanente San Diego
Ondine’s writing: www.OndineAlegra.com
Our community:
Closed school sites in San Carlos
About
our bit of San Carlos, a neighborhood in San Diego, California
San Diego real estate listings: Mary Anne Stevens (we used Mary Anne, and highly recommend her)
San Diego newspapers: The San Diego Union-Tribune
Links we like:
The BBC | EastEnders | Tucker's Luck
Learning German
(BBC)
WDR programming on streaming
video | Maus
Sand Pond and
surroundings | Alta Ranch,
Montana
photo.net | NAWCC Chapter 59 | Unidos Judo Clubs
FutureLearn, a source for free, high-quality online learning through Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Chordie, guitar chords, tabs, and lyrics - we wish we'd found it sooner!
JustinGuitar.com, tons of free (donation-based but no nagging) guitar lessons!
Webcams we like:
San Diego
Zoo Panda Cam: Awww, aren’t they cute?
Palm
Springs Aerial Tramway, Tram Cam: The top of the tramway looking down into Palm Springs.
Palm
Springs Aerial Tramway, Long Valley: If you can't get to the mountains, let the mountain come to
you.
Trafalgar
Square: An active mix of locals and tourists, pedestrians and motorcars, with several views.
Mülheim an der Ruhr 1: Our home in Germany for six weeks. View
of the Ruhr to the North-West.
Mülheim an der Ruhr 2: View toward the South-West, toward
the Forum and the MüGa.
Köln Dom Cam: Roy and John went up the south tower!
Email us:
John:
Ondine:
Frances:
Both Ondine and Frances have their email filters set to “exclusive,” so if you’re not on
their safe list, neither will receive your email. Also, Frances recently changed
her email address, so make sure her new one is in your safe list, or you
won’t receive her emails. If you can’t see the email addresses, then
you have JavaScript disabled. What the heck, you may just have to pick up the phone and
call: (619) 465-9375. We don’t usually pick up the phone, so please do
leave a message. You know, considering that we maintain a massively public family website,
we’re really sort of private people.