Celebrating Pocky Day in Manhattan

 Food, Japanese Language, Photography, Travel  Comments Off on Celebrating Pocky Day in Manhattan
Nov 112013
 

Happy Pocky Day. (11-11!)

I celebrated by heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The recommended donation now is $25! Ouch! I saw a lot of exhibits at the museum that bring back memories of my childhood, like the Egyptian section and the Temple of Dendur. We used to come to the MMA when we lived in NJ, and I always looked forward to it. It’s one of my favorite museums in the world.

After looking at the Egyptian section, I looked at the American Decorative Arts section, then at the sculpture garden, then another favorite section of mine, Arms and Armor. I’ve always been fascinated at the various inventions humans have created to protect themselves from… other humans. And plate armor just looks cool. I’d hate to wear the real thing, though.

Then I broke for lunch. Lunch was in the basement cafeteria, which is the cheapest place to get lunch.

First I had to find it. It took a little wandering and map-consulting, but I found it.

It was about $25 for lunch, but it was good. I just wish I could have gotten a plain turkey sandwich, instead of something with cranberry mayonnaise on it. I like cranberries, and I like mayonnaise. I would just rather pick the dressing myself.

I swung by the medieval statues I saw on the way to the basement, and snapped a few photos with my phone, then snapped some more of the statue garden on my way to the modern art section.

I wandered around the modern art section, and finally found my favorite painting in the building. It’s a Jackson Pollock painting called “Autumn Rhythm.” I don’t know why I love it. I just do. That’s art.

By then it was about 2:30, and time to head out. I found souvenirs for everyone, headed out the door. I got a few shots of the building on my way out with the Nexus 5.

On to Times Square, and Kinokuniya

I grabbed a train to Times Square, then headed to Kinokuniya to do some more shopping, but really, by now I have all the books I need. This was more of a “make sure” trip. I really wish I had a Kinokuniya or similar book store nearby.

Then I headed back to the apartment to clean up and get changed. I was going to meet up with some friends in Greenwich Village for dinner. I got all cleaned up, and headed out.

Oh, My Battery!

We met up at Oh! Taisho! at around 7 or so, and had a nice conversation at dinner. The food was good. It was yakitori and other bar-style food. We talked forever, then went over to Starbucks and talked some more. It was a lot of fun.

But my battery was almost dead by 9. I had to borrow a portable battery charger from a friend of mine. I wasn’t happy about that. This is after recharging the battery once while I was changing. I’m not sure if it’s a driver thing, or a Kit Kat thing, or a Nexus 5 thing.

By about 10 or so, I had to head back, because I don’t want to be out too late and wake up my SO’s parents, so we said our goodbyes.

Tomorrow I go back home. It’s supposed to snow.

Career Forum, Day One.

 Travel  Comments Off on Career Forum, Day One.
Nov 082013
 

Today is the first day of the Career Forum. I set a bunch of alarms on my new Nexus 5, but one didn’t go off. I think the travel charger I use isn’t compatible with it, even though it’s USB. The phone starts freaking out when it’s plugged in, and acts erratically. It charges, though, and that’s all I can ask for.

But it would have been nice to wake up on time.

I hurried to get ready and dashed to the Convention Center.

Not much has changed since last year. I did lots of walking, talking, and listening to companies’ pitches.

I talked to some really nice and interesting people at a number of companies, and we’ll see where it goes. I’m not going to get my expectations too high. Recruiters say a lot of things to a lot of people. Sometimes they come through, and sometimes you don’t hear anything, ever.

When it was time to head out, the wind was screaming, and it was cold. The weather here is nasty, especially the wind. I grabbed some food at a 7-11, then headed to the hotel to collapse. My feet were done for the day.

Lots of Yellow and Red…Made it to Boston Anyway.

 Technology, Travel  Comments Off on Lots of Yellow and Red…Made it to Boston Anyway.
Nov 072013
 

I slept in a bit today, because I figured I would leave around noon and just toodle on up to Boston. I didn’t have to be there at any particular time, so I took it easy this morning and lounged a bit.

Okay, not really. I lounged for about 20 minutes or so, then got cracking.

Google Maps said it would take 5:45 to get to Boston. I laughed. I’ve made this drive before, and no way will it only take 5:45.

The Quest For Gas

I wanted to gas up at the nearest Costco, because in NC, they’re the cheapest places to get gas.

“Okay Google, where’s the nearest Costco?” 10 minutes later I got there… and they didn’t sell gas. Doh.

“Okay Google, where’s the nearest truck stop?” 10 minutes later, a closed onramp and a long detour later, they were out of gas. *Facepalm.*

“Okay Google, where’s the nearest gas station?” 10 minutes later and I finally found an establishment willing to sell me gas!

Yeah, it was that kind of day.

The George Washington Bridge is Never Green

I was listening to a lot of traffic info on the way up the NJ Turnpike, because I know how NY/NJ traffic is–it changes from minute to minute from smooth as butter to clogged up and not moving at all. “The GWB is green, the GWB is green,” I kept hearing that, so I decided to take the GWB across the Hudson… and hit a 30-minute delay right at the toll booth. Yay.

The whole time I’m driving, I’m also fighting the new version of Google Maps. The old version would let me seek alternate routes. The new version does not. I don’t like this improvement at all, but since I have a new phone, I can’t roll it back.

The phone keeps telling me to take weird routes I’m not used to taking, and I can’t tell if I’m actually going to save any time at all. It’s really frustrating and annoying. I don’t want to take the Merrit across Connecticut. It looks like a big red line of non-moving traffic from the map and from behind the wheel.

So I moved back to I-95. It didn’t move much, either, and Maps was still trying to get me to go back the Merrit. Ugh.

Before I left I-95, I pulled off at a service area to get gas and some food.

I finally got off on to I-91 and things were moving again, but this jaunt across Connecticut probably took 3.5 hours, when it should take two, max. The traffic was horrible on all of the east-west roads.

I got to the Mass Pike, and everything was smooth again, but the drivers were all crazy. And just as I’m pulling into Boston, the GPS drops, and stops giving me directions, and I wind up who-knows-where. When I got out from underground, it kicked in again and figured it out, but it was annoying to have to guess what it wanted to do next.

So my 5:45 trip took about 8 hours.

The hotel is nice. Expensive, but nice.

Nexus 5 Arrived

 Technology, Travel  Comments Off on Nexus 5 Arrived
Nov 042013
 

My N5 was waiting for me when I got back from Greensboro today.

First impressions: I love the look of Kit Kat. The phone feels good in my hand, too, although I think it’s going to become a grease magnet. I’m not a huge fan of the sharp edges, though. They’re a little sharper than I like, but they help me keep a grip on the phone.

The OS has a lot of changes under the hood, and some cosmetic ones. Google Now is on the left sweep from the main screen. I’m not sure I like that yet. Also, there are only 2 screens to put icons/folders on. I’m not sure how I feel about that, either. I’m used to 4-5.

Stock Android is my favorite version of Android. Very little “stuff” gets in my way.

Compared to the GNex, there is no comparison. It looks better, works faster, and takes better photos.

There’s an auto HDR mode, but it’s slow. Slooooow.

I had to go by T-Mobile to get a new SIM card for it. It uses the smaller SIM cards. I’m wonder if that’s going to be an obstacle for traveling or not. I’ll still keep my orange cave-phone with me, just in case. The T-Mobile folks were nice about making a quick swap of SIMs.

I need to start packing, so I’ll use it more on the road.

Kindle // Nexus 5

 Technology, Travel  Comments Off on Kindle // Nexus 5
Nov 012013
 

I finally bit the bullet and got a Kindle Paperwhite a few days ago. The first one showed up with a defective screen, and Amazon overnighted a new one out right away.

The display is really easy on the eyes. It’s the sort of thing you can just sit and read for hours. I read a lot on my tablet, but the Kindle makes it so I can read for hours and not feel any appreciable eye strain.

I’m looking forward to taking it with me to Boston and New York.

Oh, a New Nexus!

The Nexus 5 was announced earlier today, and I managed to order a 32GB model before they all disappeared. It was a fluke that I caught the announcement just as it was happening, or else I wouldn’t have gotten an order in on time.

My Galaxy Nexus has been a good phone for the last year and a half, but sadly, it can’t keep up anymore. It won’t be getting any more OS updates, and I’m tired of only hitting the 16GB storage wall. (It’s really less than that with the system overhead.) Some people virtuously declare that they don’t even need 8GB. I’m happy for them. I’m not one of them. I have a lot of music, e-books, and other “stuff” I carry on my phones all the time. I need that extra space, and I wind up using it all.

I hope the N5 arrives before I have to leave for Boston. I want to really put it through its paces on a long road trip.

On the other hand, it would suck if I had to leave it on the front porch for a week while I’m gone…. I better call somebody to have them check my porch in case it doesn’t get here in time.

Glass in Durham

 Education, Music, Photography, Technology  Comments Off on Glass in Durham
Oct 052013
 

Google brought its Glass wearable device to Durham today, and it was a madhouse. A controlled madhouse, but the lines were huuuuge.

Kudos to the Google staff, who managed the hordes of people who showed up. I only had to wait in line for about 30 minutes, and I came a little late. (Like at 11 am.)

Everyone was excited. We got little booklets that explained how to use Glass before we even went in. And they had waiters bringing us water so nobody got dehydrated.

Once I got in, I had to sign a release, then we went off into our little orientation groups. Then we got to try it on for about 10 minutes.

It’s a really neat device. My unit didn’t connect to WiFi, though, so it didn’t do much. But I can see how having it could be really useful for anyone who shoots video. I’m not as sold on the serious photography aspect, but I’m a camera snob. If the lens is too small, I have problems taking it seriously.

But I bet you could make some really interesting videos with this.

The heads-up display isn’t really a HUD. It’s more like a little TV that hovers just off and to the right. It’s not quite as earth-shattering as I was hoping for.

In my vision of a vision enhancing technology, it would be a real HUD that would give you an overlay layer on reality, like drawing big fat arrows on the pavement as you’re driving along to tell you where to turn, instead of making you look at a little monitor and look away from the road. It would kind of be like a world where your computer is a really good, really fast graffiti artist.

But I think that kind of tech is about 4-5 years away at least.

After we played with it, we could go upstairs and get food and beverages for free, and a poster. I skipped the food, grabbed a poster, and left. I had music composition later on, and I needed to get ready for it.

That’s been a fun class so far. Lots to learn, but a nice environment. I’ve already written one piece, too. It’s not great, but it’s a start.

I’m also cramming A+ material into my brain as fast as I can. I have my first A+ test on the 11th. Gotta study.

Miku In The House // New Computer // Glass Coming to the RTP

 Japan, Music, Technology  Comments Off on Miku In The House // New Computer // Glass Coming to the RTP
Oct 022013
 

So the Vocaloid software showed up yesterday from Tenso. It came in great shape. The install went smoothly, and everything runs fine.

Today I upgraded to Cubase 7.0 full version to get more flexibility with making music. Artist is fine, but the upgrade was cheap.

New Computer Up and Running!

Oh yeah, the software was all installed on my new desktop, which gets a 7.8/7.9 on the Windows performance index. That makes me happy, but also wishing I could get that last 0.1 out of it.

The SSD makes booting a dream. I go from BIOS screen to login in about 10 seconds. Maybe 15.

I tried to create a custom install for Win 7 using a streamlined set of drivers, apps, etc., but I found I was spending more time on getting a perfect slipstream than it would have taken me to just install everything.

I headed to the Black Viper’s website for info on de-cluttering my registry and services, and I also followed the advice in this post about getting the most out of my SSD in Win 7.

The only major pain in the butt was deregistering a lot of my software and uninstalling it from the old system. I wish there was an easier way to handle licensing. The Cubase USB dongle is useful, but if you lose it, you’re kind of screwed. I like what Adobe does with Lightroom: they trust the users not to abuse the number of licenses. Besides, it’s not like you can run more than one instance at a time, anyway.

I really like the new Vocaloid de-authorizing tool from Yamaha. That worked out really well. Uninstalling/reinstalling was a snap.

Glass!

There’s going to be a Google Glass event in Durham this Saturday, too. I RSVP’ed ASAP. I want to see Glass, and see if it’s going to be a game-changer or not. It’ll probably be a zoo there.

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