Wednesday update.

Well here we are on Wednesday and I have no official topic. I had thought of various things all week but I either forgot or simply lost my interest in that reticular topic. I think limiting myself to once a week is not the best solution for someone like myself, if I need to get something out there I need to do it right away.

One topic I guess I can address is that you should always read the manual. I realize this may seem obvious but if you buy a familiar product that you already know how to use how often do you take the time to read the manual? I am guilty of this myself partly due to a poorly written manual or simply a lack of interest in the extra features. I find this is especially important for a car, you may have features that you can turn on/off that are simple to change but are not something you can figure out by pushing random buttons. There may also be various warning lights that aren't always obvious as to their function, if you read the manual and one comes on you know if it can wait or if you should pull over immediately. I once read on an automotive forum someone who did not know he had to push his turn signal stalk forward to keep his high beams on, every time he used them he pulled back and held the stalk, he did this for several months and finally asked online, had he simply looked it up he could have saved lots of aggravation.

As for myself not much is new I did meet some new MINI people on Saturday at the monthly Wheel to Meals event. I somehow missed out on thees last year but I am really enjoying it now. I wanted to host the next one but it was already taken, I will be putting my name down for the April event. It's a pretty easy event to plan all you need to do is make a reservation for X number of people at a restaurant, I think I will got with Saturdays formula and invite people over for the desert portion of the evening, my maple pie is quite popular in the club, and I will be honest I like an excuse to make it.

Well that's pretty much all for now, I will continue with a regular Wednesday update but I will likely be making small updates throughout the week.

Blog revived.

Greetings one and all.
After faithfully following my friend Colin's blog for a year now I decided to revive my blog.
I started it in 2007 when I went to Japan with the Young brothers, Colin and Graydyn. I was a great trip, but once I got home I pretty much forgot about the blog.
I am hoping to do at least on update per week, since it's Wednesday lets call that my update day from now on.

I plan on keeping my subject matter pretty open, pretty much whatever I feel like saying on the day I update.

I recently purchased a digital camera with some Xmas/birthday money. I am quite happy I got something to show for it, many times in the past I simply deposit gift cash and then it just becomes part of my funds, after that buying a "toy" with it becomes a do I really need it situation. This time I said fuck it and blew it all on something I honestly could have continued to live without.
I was kinda limited to getting it at the mall since some of my Xmas cash was in gift certificate form that was only usable at the mall. I headed to The Source, they were having a sale. Without any research I picked up a FujiFilm Finepix S1500 for $200. I am pretty happy with it, although I was originally looking for something water proof for unexpected rain showers while hiking/camping but I also wanted something with a decent zoom, I will just have to get a weatherproof case.

I had some computer issues and lost some of my pix but here are a few I have taken last weekend.

I also have some on my Photobucket account
I know they aren't perfect so I would appreciate any tips/comments.
That's all for now, check back next week.
Jay

Still here

Still having fun here.
Sorry it`s been a while since my last post. We have been staying in places without Internet access.
We are now on the north island Hokkaido, it is nice and cool up here.
I will keep this one short since there is someone waiting to use the computer see you soon.
Jay

Kyoto

Kyoto seems like a cool place last night we tried to find the bar district not an easy task when you can't read kanji (Japanese characters) for all we know we walked by many cool places. We did end up in a couple of English/Irish style pubs hoping to find some English speaking people but no luck, we did some research and should be closer tonight.

Today we went for a walk in the bamboo forest.

After that we saw a sign for monkeys. They live atop a small mountain and seem to roam free but choose to stick around for all the easy food they get.

For the guys at work

As you know the mini split systems we work with come from here in Japan. They are all over here as far as I can tell a tin whacker would starve here. The other night in out hotel the AC would only run for a short period and then quit, with a standard T stat this would be a the machine is broke issue but with a mini split as you know the T stat is full of features and I could not read it, here is a picture can you figure it out?Once we found someone who had basic English skill it was established the the unit was indeed out of service but the first guy who came by seemed almost as confused as I was.

The buhdist temple

We decided to go traditional and spend the night in a buhdist temple. I was a unique experience, not exactly what I would call fun but something new thats for sure, sleeping on the floor isn't the most comfortable thing.

We are now in Kyoto just got here so we have not had the chance to check it out yet, we did have a nice lunch though, cooked right in front of us at out table, beef was good after the vegetarian meals from the temple.

It was crazy

We started the day in Nara a medium size city. We visited a nice temple it was quite the site very nice. Nara is also home to deer they roam around and a very tame except when you have the crackers they feed them with.

We then walked up a small mountain that didn't seem so small after an hour.

We then met up with Colin's friend Shiho for lunch, it was nice to have a guide who speaks the language. After lunch we went to Osaka, let me tell you that city is crowded, almost scary. We then met up with a friend of hers who also spoke some English, dinner time arrived and they ordered up a nice verity of sushi for us, again the food was great. There was a festival going on what exactly it was, was unclear but we ended up being part of it, a very cool experience for sure. Colin should have pics up on his blog link to his blog in one of my other posts. Tomorrow we are spending the night in a temple so no Internet there but we should be back to the big city after that.