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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2000 — full exif
Shaggy-Haired Jedi
earlier this afternoon, in need of a trim

Anthony's hair has been getting quite shaggy, so we finally took him for a haircut today.

Today's cut was a smoother event than when he was younger...

In Need of His First Haircut
aged 1 year 2 weeks

First Cut
after and epic struggle that left no winners

I'd done that one myself, and perhaps the next one as well... his hair grew slowly but unruly...

Wild and Crazy Hair
just short of his second birthday

Half an Hour Later
not at all happy with the experience

A year later we tried a place that he and I have been going ever since, Deco, a small shop down the street. The first time we went there he sat on Mommy's lap...

Less Traumatic
three days shy of three

Bright and Happy Result

At three and a half he got his hair cut at a different place, but mostly since then it's been Deco.

And so it was today...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Off To Deco

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 75 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Almost There
its windows are in the background, looking out from the second floor

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ready to Go

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Getting Gowned Up

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wetted Down

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 98 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
And We're Off

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Pretty”

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.8, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tickley

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.8, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Extra Tickley

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.8, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Final Touches

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.6, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shaggy No More

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/14, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Room 602 at the Westin Awaji Hotel
Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

I've mentioned that we made a short trip to Awaji Island at the end of last month. It's a short two-and-a-half hours by car south of Kyoto; after passing over the longest suspension bridge in the world and getting off at the exit near the rest-stop Ferris wheel, a few kilometers further along the coast and we arrived at The Westin Awaji Island hotel.

Because Anthony's school gets off a few days earlier than most prior to the start of the Golden Week holidays, we were actually traveling opposite of peak time, so we had almost no traffic. Yet, despite the non-peak time, the hotel was completely sold out, but Fumie had been vigilantly watching the reservations page and was able to snag an amazing deal at the last minute.

The photo above, which I took before we let Anthony loose in the room, looks vaguely HDR-ish because I had to pretty much abuse the controls in Lightroom to make both the inside and outside visible (both recovery and fill light were slammed over to the right). But it illustrates the room and the view.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
The View
Entrance to the Akashi Straights National Park

The Akashi Straights National Park is like a city park on steroids... lots of hills of well-manicured flowers, places for kids to play, scenic trails, etc. (It's huge; the pictures here show only a small slice). It costs about $6 to get in, but customers of the hotel (I don't use “guest” for someone made to pay!) get half price, and are allowed to enter the park an hour and a half before it opens to the general public, a benefit of which we were happy to have availed ourselves.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Swan Boats in the Park

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Left from Our Balcony
a complex maze of paths, buildings, and “stuff”

The entire area around the hotel is an amazing place to explore. A guide told us that it was explicitly designed to get people lost, so they'd discover the many interesting views, near and far, on their own.

Guys don't care much about the vanity, toilet, and bath, but Fumie was happy that they were bright and large, that the vanity was fully carpeted, and that all three were separate.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Vanity
Spacious bath is in a room at left; toilet is in a room at right

It's certainly no “Deluxe Executive Suite” at the Whistler Four Seasons, or Okinawa's Atta Terrace Hotel but then, neither was the price!

The dinner buffet was amazing in every respect, with quality and price both very high. We had been at the other end of the island for the sunset, so arrived for dinner fairly late, and it wasn't crowded at all, though Anthony was apparently chilly.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dinner Choices

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
the breadth and depth of
The Dessert Spread
was worthy of considered study

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Let's Just Try a Chocolate Cake
starting with this slice

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos

If you were up early enough, you could catch the sunrise, as I posted the other day.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Morning View from the Balcony

If you looked down from the balcony, you could see the top of one of the lower floors...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Below Our Balcony

This picture is of no interest except to illustrate the answer to the Egg-Slicer “What am I?” Quiz that I posted a few days ago. The tops of the walls were covered with wires, I'm sure to keep birds off. The pins holding the wires made long shadows that quickly grew shorter as the sun rose, and I thought they were pretty in an abstract way, at least when composing out all the other stuff and viewing them in isolation. I was impressed with the variety of answers to the quiz, from a string instrument to queue lines at a beach! 🙂

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — ¹/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Breakfast on the Second-Floor Terrace

The breakfast buffet was also an impressive spread, though we certainly didn't get our money's worth with Anthony, who had exactly one bowl of cereal, one and a half croissants, and a glass of juice. And it looks like George may have helped with that glass of juice.

It was still a bit chilly in the mornings, so the terrace was mostly empty, providing Anthony ample room to throw some paper airplanes.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/11, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Airplanes After Breakfast
our room is fifth from the left, fourth from the top

And speaking of paper airplanes, one evening we took advantage of the open space in a little-used area of the ground floors to try some indoor flying.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 42 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch

We'd not brought much paper, but the bellboy came to our rescue.

Anthony had fun, but I was disappointed that our planes didn't go very far. When I was in grad school at the University of New Hampshire oh so many years ago, Ram Kulkarni and I used to fly paper airplanes across the long multistory central atrium of Morse Hall. We could get all the way across without even dropping one floor. I guess I should have paid more attention to Ram's designs, rather than just copying them.

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

I've been dogged by a mild cold for the last few days.... maybe some flowers will brighten things up. These are from our trip to Awaji Island last week, including one from the Awaji Flower Review that we visited last year.

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From the “and now for something completely different” department, changing my razor's blade cartridge today reminded me that I've been meaning to write up a recommendation.

Let me start out by saying that I hate shaving and it hates me. For years and years I tried all kinds of electric and disposable shaving methods, and always ended up with hacked up skin and/or a bad shave. Ugh. The least offensive for a long time was Gillette Sensor, so I'd stock up at Costco to save on blades, change often, and suffer.

But last summer, on the recommendation of my dad, I give Gillette Fusion Power a try. I would have never tried it on my own — “5 blades, with an extra blade on the edge” is just comical — and, of course, the whole battery thing (the “Power” in the name) seems so gimmicky.

But it's great. I consistently get a good shave, without razor burn or other hacked-up-skin effects, and it's cheap. And yes, the blade on the edge is useful, and the battery vibration thing does seem to make it all a smoother process.

I say “it's cheap”, but if you look at the prices in the store, you won't think so.... a pack of 8 blades costs something like $20. The thing is, they last forever... I've been using this for nine months and I'm changing the blade for the second time, so that works out to three blades a year. I've not yet had to change the battery, but let's count that as one change a year and we're still talking less than $10/year for a good shave.

Gillette Fusion Power: recommended.

(For those who are familiar with The Onion and don't mind their, er, salty perspective, they have a great 2004 article about Gillette razors.)

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
What am I?

Well, I fear this one won't be much of a challenge, but my track record at predicting which “What am I?” quizzes are of interest or a challenge is pretty bad, so I'll throw this one out. What is it?

As always, I'll leave your submitted answers hidden for a while, so as not to bias others' guesses....

(And no, it's not an egg slicer.)