Sun & Fun?

Ok, I left Japan last Sunday and I am returning this Sunday.  Haeundae Beach in Pusan is gearing up for summer, but the monsoons will last until August 1st.  Regardless, the beaches open July 1st - the day I leave for Japan.  So for the next month it does not matter where I am in Asia - it's all hot, humid and wet!

A rare break in the rain on Haeundae Beach

June 17, 2007

Oh that Magic Feeling - Nothing to Do

View of Bics Electronic Supercenter from my room on the 44th Floor

OK, I changed the lyrics a bit, but that's how I felt all weekend.  I had this endless "to do" list at home, plus I had to work from home for eight hours daily.  Living, for the moment, is easy.

On Thursday I hopped a flight from Reagan National in DC to Detroit, and then a direct flight to Nagoya (the motor city of Japan).  I actually slept for about five hours (it was an eleven hour flight).  Then, gaining 14 hours, I arrived Friday night at six, jumped on the Meitetsu Line right to the Marriott at Nagoya Station.  I felt that I was home again.

I actually managed to sleep Friday night (the jet lag kicked in Saturday night).  I lounged in the room most of Saturday, organizing all the crap that I travel with and brushing up on my (very limited) Japanese.  Around dusk, I walked about a bit to get some exercise and a good meal.  I was in bed by ten and wide awake at three AM!

That basically ruined my Sunday, but as I had nothing to do, it didn't matter.  Well I did have one task - find a spare battery for my new Panasonic HD Camcorder.  There are none in the US right now and I figured I'd find one a Bics in Japan, as they have "everything." 

Well, it turns out that they didn't, as they sold a camera close to the AG-HSC1U, but not quite, and with a different battery.  Why?  Who knows - who can possibly grasp the warp speed logic of Japanese Electronics.  By the time I'm back in the US, the batteries will be off the boat.

View of Flower Fountain from my room on the 44th Floor

So my Sunday was blissfully worthless.  I had breakfast at six AM, walked before the summer heat kicked in and made a feeble attempt to sleep in the afternoon.  By seven PM I took a few shots from the room with the D40 (on a tripod) and had a fast and fantastic dinner at Marajara's in the 12th floor.  Nagoya is, after all, the city of 10,000 eating options.  Fortunately, about 100 are right in the Marriott/Nagoya Station Complex.

Monday - a five AM wakeup call and a train/taxi to KHI.  Thunderstorms in the forecast all week.  I figure two weeks here, two weeks in Busan, Korea and then I can go home and start working again (yea right).

$25 fast food - chicken, lamb, yellow rice, curried veggies and naam with salad (plus beer)

June 14, 2007

Out with the Old

My trusty Panasonic PG-GS250 survived a year of travel in Europe and Asia, but as I "carefully" loaded up the carry-on, that has been its travel home for the last year into my car for the final trip home, I dropped the suitcase.  Fortunately the Nikons survived without any damage, but the video camera did not.

My first impulse was to send it out for repair, but why?  Its format and mechanics are obsolete - why use tape anymore, it's so last decade. So, after some brief research, I decided to go High Definition with the new AG-HSC1U AVCHD Camcorder.

The quality from the smallest video recorder I ever owned is unbelievable.  My timing was perfect, as Ulead just released Visual Studio 11, one of the first editors to support the AVCHD format.  Everything is recorded on a  SD/HC card and the camcorder comes with a tiny 40 gig hard drive!

I'm off to Japan today - let's hope this new toy survives at least a year.  I can't wait to shoot some video - of anything.

In with the New

Mounted on my carbon-fiber tripod, the AG-HSC1U with wide-angle converter pushes the envelope

Speaking of Japan, my new Japanese Toilet came in yesterday.  This was almost as exciting as the new plasma HDTV I bought last week (staying at home has its perils, as I spend too much). 

If you don't know what a Japanese Toilet actually does, well I'm sorry to hear that.  It's one of the greatest things to come out of Japan.  That's hard to believe given that the traditional Japanese toilet is a hole in the floor.

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