She’s heading home to Tokyo, lucky gal!
Kanako’s Sendoff
Caffeinated Trash Can
On Mason near Bay Street, at the Powell-Mason cable car turntable, I give you the most caffeinated trash can ever seen, ANYWHERE!
Across the way is a Starbucks. They sell a lot of coffee to tourists waiting for the cable car to take them back to Union Square. Where there’s even more Starbucks for them to get their caffeine fix…
Exhausted
I delivered my guest to SFO so she could catch an international flight that was supposed to leave at 0600. That usually means that passengers need to be delivered to the airport 2 (?) hours in advance.
When we arrived at the Terminal, there were no airline personnel around. Or maybe we were at the wrong end of the Terminal. In either case, she’s on to colder climes and I made my way to bed. I slept to 10:00 and made brekkie. Then I fell asleep again. Just woke up and am still exhausted!
Oh yeah, 恭喜發財! Happy Year of bacon, I mean pork chop, I mean the pig!
Fog
Something to make all Native (that mean born and raised) San Franciscians homesick, no matter where they are in the world. Especially in Summertime.
America’s Mayor on the campaign trail
Digital Camera History and why “walking-ixus”?
I realized recently that if you removed all the photoblogs off the net, it would be hella boring online! Much of the blogging revolution is due to the creation and evolution of the digital camera. Of course even before digicams, there were pictures up on the net. But it was not as accessible!
Back in the day, you had to
1: Take pictures with film (?),
2: Develop aforementioned film and
3: Scan and resize into computer for uploading with 14.4 modem.
Very slow process and hella expensive! Film ain’t cheap and you pay for all the shots on the roll, good and bad. My last film camera was a Yashica T4. Then I realized that I’ve been digital since 2001 and blogging the following year. Wow!
I started, like practically everyone in the US did with photography, with a Kodak. I purchased a used DC210 back in 2000.
It was a big camera, 1 whole megapixel and gobbled AA batteries 4 at a time. I learned the phrase “rechargeable batteries” very quickly. The picture quality was marginal because of its fixed focus lens (which Kodak claimed was a “feature”) but the ability to instantly view your snaps and delete the ones that didn’t pass muster was a novelty back in the day.
After seeing my cousin’s Canon S10, I promptly picked up a used S20 and began my long run with Canon hardware. After that camera, I picked up an S300 and while in Hong Kong one trip, I picked up an Ixus S400 to replace that. My most recent Powershot/Ixus/Ixy camera was the SD400, very compact and took good pix. A great camwhoring camera! In fact, I have an SD800is enroute that has two things that my other cameras never had: wide angle 28mm lens setting and image stabilization. Makes it easier for that big dramatic night shot.
Now, what’s with the blog name? Well…
When I decided to create a blog a few years ago (mostly to stop people from asking for personalized emails and pix from the road when I started travelling), I had to think of a name. I figured it would be things as I saw them, and by extension, how my camera saw them. At the time, I had a Canon Powershot (in the US, they’re called Powershots, in the rest of the world they’re called Ixus except in Japan where they’re called Ixy) and I decided to name the blog based on what my camera saw.
And the name “walking-powershot” sounded stupid.
Walking-ixus, OTOH, was different. It sounded “not as stupid” plus none of my frens in the US would know what it meant. Because of that, I’ve had to explain that many times. And after three years of asking “what does your blog name mean?”, I’ve finally posted the answer here.
Gov. Schwarznegger’s Inagural
The one memory that will stick out for me (besides the event itself) was the head freezing Sacramento morning cold! I forgot to bring a hat. I realized this as I was waiting in the queue to clear security to attend the swearing-in of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on 5 January.
Once inside, it was a full house as the Governator took his oath after the prerequisite speeches and entertainment.
And what’s is an Inaguration without a ball? I went with a bunch of frens. It was fun, albeit short. Only three hours of open bar? WTF??
Housecleaning
Chinese New Year is late this year, so I’ve got time to clean. As part of my “clean the closet out” project, I’ve been going through my old travel box, tossing out a lot of old receipts and outdated brochures.
Maps and stuff from my first visit to Chicago…
That was in 1998, shortly before my first overseas jaunt
Places i’ve visited and things i’ve seen…
There’s a lot of stuff from my first visit to the PRC here…
You sure collect a lot of stuff when you travel…
Believe it or not, a lot of this stuff went buh-bye…
…because I think that if you plan to return to a place to get to know it better, you don’t have to keep a lot of the stuff you wind up with!
Wienermobile
I woke up early this morning to drive some frens to SMF. I should mention that it was HELLA COLD this AM! This was parked next to my car.
I looked for the Honda sized car o’ ketchup to go with it to no avail…
How was 2006?
Well, 2006 could have been better in a lot of ways…but I DID do a lot of travel this year! I resolved at the beginning of 2006 to “go places I’ve not been before” and for the most part, I think I achieved that.
March 2006:
First visit to Australia; Sydney and the Hunter Valley. My first experience at backwards weather and driving on the wrong side of the road…
Different view of the Sydney Opera House
August 2006:
First visit to Nikko (world heritage site), Matsumoto (old castle and world’s biggest wasabi farm) and to Koenji (for the Awa-odori). Just some of the sites you’ll see if you make the effort to GET OUT OF TOKYO! I’m going to try to make it to Koenji each summer, schedule permitting from now on.
Awa-odori!
First extended visit to Kuala Lumpur and various parts of Malaysia. Surprisingly compact central city, best siu-yuk I’ve had in my life and a bargain vacation spot. Yup, that’s KL.
Street snack in Klang
November 2006:
First visit to Taiwan and to Taipei. Definitely on my “return visit” list to sample more nightlife (Luxy anyone?), food and to explore the rest of the island via High Speed Rail. Taipei to Kaohsiung in 90 minutes? Waaaaaaah!
Of cors that didn’t mean that I didn’t revisit some of my favourite cities on earth and visit places there that i’ve not been to yet!
On my last visit to Hong Kong, I discovered new restaurants, new bars and lounges and the joys of staying up all night to save HK$300 cab fare! How about Singapore? Meeting new frens, staying in new places and eating, eating and drinking! Each time I go back there it’s like meeting an old fren for the first time all over again. Ah yes, and that philosophy applies in triplicate each time I return to Tokyo!
Some places that I’d like to check out in 2007.
Hawaii: Yes, i’ve never done Hawaii properly. Yes, I know it’s closer to SFO than New York is. Enough!
Taiwan: It’s not just Taipei, ya know!
Thailand: Maybe not right away, but eventually…
Eastern Europe: Cold weather but supposed to be affordable and fun
Scandinavia: Like Eastern Europe, except not that affordable…
Japan: north of the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen. That means places like Akita, Takayama, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the like.
Australia: How about the rest of the country outside of Sydney?
Aside from the usual resolutions (eat better, lose 20 lbs, destroy my enemies), these are the places that I’d like to see this year. Wonder how many i’ll be able to check off the list next year?
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