Archive for January, 2006Now that the Japanese New-Year cards have been delivered (they're delivered en masse on New Year's morning), I can show the cards we sent this year: Our Christmas 2005 Card For friends/family outside of Japan Our New Year 2006 Card For friends/family within Japan They were actually both exactly the same size, but our address info took differing amounts near the bottom, and they got lopped off for this post. The New Year card has a dog in the upper corner (2006 is the year of the dog), and the spinning top under “Happy” is a traditional new-year's image (for reasons I must still ask [...] 
View full post » I really like my little Canon SD500, or, as it's called here in Japan, the Canon IXY Digital 600 (what is it with cameras and silly names here?). It takes great shots (see my archive of pretty-photos blog posts, and nice photos gallery), and have no plans to replace it any time soon. Still, it's fun to daydream about a big hefty SLR with a large image sensor, fast shutter, good lenses, and features like shutter- and aperture- priority (which are basic, but point-n-click cameras generally don't have). So, lately I've been browsing the most-excellent Digital Photo Review site, dreaming about what I'd get if I [...] View full post » So, as per my previous post, I'm considering a big full-function SLR to augment my micro-sized point-n-shoot Canon SD500. In the last day or so, my feeling has gone from “considering” to “will buy” to “have ordered”. To some extent, the decision about what to get is easier with an SLR than with a point-n-shoot; with the latter, the choice for me involves balancing three things (cost, features, size), while with an SLR it's just two (cost and features). Of course, with an SLR there are many, many more features. I don't have a lot of “boy toys” so I'm tending to let myself splurge a bit this time, [...] 
View full post » We've been wondering when it would start, and like a switch it started last week. One day Anthony just started asking “why” at any and every chance. Here's a representative conversation: Anthony:What are you eating? Daddy:(some answer) Anthony:Why? Daddy:Well, because it's dinner time and I'm hungry. Anthony:Why? Daddy:Why is it dinner time or why am I hungry? Anthony:(thinks for a bit)Why is it dinner time? Daddy:Earlier we ate lunch, and now it's getting dark, and so now it's dinner time. Anthony:Why? .... continue ad infinitum ... We're thrilled that he's curious and we try to answer as best we can, but indeed it does get on one's nerves during our weaker moments. [...] View full post » Continuing with my new camera posts... So, yesterday I went down to the Joshin Denki electric shop with Anthony, to actually look at and handle the Nikon D200 camera I'd pretty much decided on. Although the shop we went to was the closest of the various branches in Kyoto, it doesn't have parking so it's quite inconvenient unless I go by bike (which I didn't want to do at night, with Anthony, in the cold). I'd called around other Joshins in Kyoto to see if they had the D200 on display, but only this one had. So, after much traffic and a painful search for parking, [...] 
View full post » Anthony is a big kid (approaching 3 years 3 months) and can use the toilet to make a pee-pee all by himself. But he's not so big that he's no longer gleeful when he's successful, so it still is somewhat of an “event” that he's generally happy about. Yet, for some reason (probably because he's a kid) he's often is reluctant to use the toilet. For example, this evening before bed, as I always do, I said “let's make a pee-pee before we sleep” to which he responded (as he always does) “I don't want to”. This is our classic evening dance. He also chimed in [...] View full post » Clearing snow in Niigata from Yahoo! Japan News Niigata (新潟) is an area of Japan that's gotten a lot of snow -- more than 12 feet (3.8 meters) so far this year. Yesterday on the news I saw a video of a tiny car driving down the street, with accumulated snow still on its roof. The snow was at least as tall above the top of the car as the car itself was tall above the road (about four and a half feet each, I'd guess). Someone had chiseled this thing out of a snowbank, cleared the snow from the hood and windows, and left all [...] 
View full post » I got a wonderful surprise today when I got a call from my friend Katsunori Shimada. We'd talked earlier in the day (after our workout -- we do the elliptical trainer and weight training a few times a week at a local club) about how there's a worldwide shortage of Nikon's new digital SLR. I'd ordered a Nikon D200 a week or so ago, and at the time the shop had no idea when it might come in (could be two days, or could be two months). Since then, reading online forums, I've found out that they're in short supply worldwide. It's a bit frustrating [...] 
View full post » I'll write about my new camera, a Nikon D200, in the near future (here's a preview: it rocks!), but here's a pic I took during my trip to Yodobashi Camera, one of the largest camera stores in Japan (total space over its six floors must be about the same as a typical Wal Mart or Home Depot) Notice a prevailing theme? 
I'd gone to pick up a few things, such as a camera bag and a tripod. For bags, a friend had strongly recommended the Tamrac Velocity 7, but I found it not at all what I wanted. It looks to [...] 
View full post » This post details some speed tests I did with my Nikon D200 and a Transcend brand 80x 4 GB compact flash card. It's mostly a writeup for Digital Photography Review, and likely of little interest to the regular reader (is there more than one?) of my blog. I'm sure that Digital Photography Review will do many timing tests when the D200 is reviewed, but I suspect that a Transcend memory card will not be tested. Since Transcend cards are significantly cheaper than San Disk and Lexar (at least here in Japan, where a 4 gig San Disk Extreme III runs about US$900), I wanted to [...] View full post » Anyone who's dealt much with infant seats and child car seats knows of the various ways to attach the seat to the car. The best way is via LATCH anchor points (LATCH is the contrived acronym for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren”), which became mandatory on all new cars sold in the US since Sep 2002, although most new cars had them years before that. In other parts of the world, these anchor points are called ISOFIX, and they've been around for quite some time. For example, an article at Audi Japan from 1999 states that the ISOFIX anchor points are standard across their entire line [...] View full post » I'm sick and tired of being sick. It seems that in the last six months I've been sick more than in the previous six years. I seem to spend about one week a month with a mild cold, and this week is no different (except that this weeks' cold seems particularly drawn out). Amazingly, and to the wonderful contrary, Anthony has had very few colds. Ever. I can't even remember the last time he was sick. I do remember that he was pretty sick while I was in Ohio for the summer (with a temperature of 104+), but he may well have not been sick [...] View full post » What a difference a day makes -- I feel so much better today than yesterday. It's great to be alive. So, I can finally write about my first outing with my new Nikon D200, which was before I got my cold. The Kyoto City Fire Department had their annual New Year Exhibition, pretty much just outside our front door. According to the press release, there were some 3,000 people, 57 vehicles, and 5 helicopters involved -- numbers that add up to fun and interest for Anthony. I'd only received my camera the previous evening, and for the most part had no idea really [...] 
View full post » This is a followup to a previous post in which I did writing-speed tests of a Transcend 80x 4GB Compact Flash card, with a Nikon D200. This time, I'm testing the 120x version, which I just received today after I purchasing it for 29,000 yen (about US $250) from an online shop. The tested card's model number is TS4GCF120 and its serial number is 129542-0419. As before, the test was done with a newly-formatted card with the D200 in manual-focus, manual-exposure (1/200, wide-open aperture) mode at ISO 1600. Measurements were taken from audio-recordings using Adobe Audition. The tests were of uncompressed RAW/NEF (uncompressed) images, which are [...] View full post » We were at Kansai International Airport yesterday, seeing Fumie's mom off on a trip to Hawaii (finally taking a trip with some friends, first planned 10 years ago!). Afterwards we went up to the airport-view restaurant to have a drink and some snacks (Anthony got to have a $5 orange juice!), and watch the planes take off. It was late and Anthony was tired, but he behaved himself wonderfully, and as we were paying the bill, the waiter grabbed a big handful of candy and gave it to Anthony. On the surface this was a kind gesture. Certainly, kids love candy, and he wanted to [...] 
View full post » What a wasted day. 9:00amBabysitter arrives 9:45Depart for Kyoto DMV, for an 11:00am filing deadline (drive 55 minutes) 10:40Arrive at Kyoto DMV 10:50File paperwork to obtain my Japanese driver's license (window #8, main building, upstairs). This was my third trip, so I knew I had all the paperwork needed: Passport California driver's license Official translation of California driver's license (3,000 yen from Japan version of AAA) Old, expired Japanese driver's license My “Alien Registration Card” Recent 2cm x 3cm photo Because I previously had a Japanese driver's license, they'll let me convert my US license to a new Japanese one without taking the written and driving tests, which I think is just [...] 
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