hi

Don’t you hate shoelaces that always seem to untie themselves? This happens on the pair of shoes that I wear most frequently. I have tried double knotting them, but that doesn’t make a difference. I even tried tying them into a regular knot, but even that doesn’t help. I guess I could go to the shoe store and ask for some replacement laces, but that just seems wrong. I mean, shoelaces have been around for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. You’d think we’d have devised a standard design that doesn’t fail so often.

I was reading “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” the other night and one of the chapters involved a game of Mahjong. It was really fun to read because the players played a lot like my family (and I’m sure many other families) plays. The characters were discussing the murder, but also throwing out phrases like “pung”, “chow”, “concealed kong”, etc. And then one complained about “chowing” too early, and how her hand wouldn’t be worth anything. One was of the opinion that you should go for a big hand, the other was of the opinion that you should “go out” quickly. I could imagine my family gathered at the kitchen table at 11pm some of us going for a limit hand, while others looking to go out quickly. Such fun!

A couple days ago I found a couple rolls of Kodak Tri-X in by camera cabinet. I don’t know when I exposed those, but I will find out today. I had them developed and contact sheets made. It’s always kind of fun to find out what is on those mystery rolls.

I am hoping that soon I will be rid of film altogether. As much as I love my old cameras, I don’t like paying for the processing. Each time I press the shutter, I feel like I am emptying out my wallet. I guess since I have been so used to creating “free” images with our Olympus E-10, I have shifted my perspective. But, if I figure in the cost of buying the digital cameras versus using the old cameras and film, maybe the film would have been cheaper? I guess having a digital means I can be a little more liberal with snapping several shots at a time, especially of the kids. I always was kind of jealous of when you see a pro photographer taking shot after shot and not thinking of the cost of developing.

Hmm, let’s see. My 2004 folder on my computer has 1445 pictures in it. My 2003 folder has 4370. Let’s take the price for developing (no prints) a 24 exposure roll at Walgreens, which is $1.49. (4370/24) x 1.49=271.30. $271.30? Wow. Keep in mind, those pictures were taken with a liberal “digital style” of shooting (which I love).

I just got sent a link to these videos. They are awesome! Very funny. I almost coughed up coffee through my nose.

[link via Chris>

A new mobile phone is making it’s way into my life. I will be my sixth keitai.

My first mobile phone was a DoCoMo flip-phone, circa 1996. It was actually Mariko’s old phone. It still looks good today, although the screen is a plain old lcd job. The next one I got was a Kenwood “Dolphin” from J-phone. That one was a very cool curvy design. It also was super-light. I liked it, although since I can’t read Kanji, I couldn’t enjoy all the obscure gadgetry. My next phone (now in the U.S.) was a big, heavy Nokia behemoth. It worked ok, and I could change the color of the faceplate to bright green. One day I dropped it and the battery popped off. The little hinges that held the battery on also snapped off, so I needed a new phone. I opted for a silver Panasonic Versio. This was great. It was as small and light as my J-phone, and you could change the backlight colors. The ringtones were also very melodic. Next, due to financial reasons, I switched to a prepay service from VirginMobile. I chose the Kyocera Slider, which is a great phone. It is tiny, has a nice color screen, good battery life, and downloadable ringtones. I really like this phone, but I decided to go back to a family-plan type service from T-Mobile. Although I saved money in the long run with the pay-as-you-go plan from VirginMobile, it bothered me that I was hurrying my conversations while using it.

Anyways, on to T-Mobile. Mariko already switched, and uses the Samsung E105, which is very cool. I am getting the same model. It has a big color screen, lots of nice ringtones, downloadable wallpaper, and I will be able to have unlimited nights and weekend minutes, plus calls to Mariko and other T-Mobile phones will be free as well. As a bonus, going through Amazon to get the phone/plan, I will be making $75 in rebates. The only lame part is that receiving text messages costs me $.05 per, so I won’t be doing that. But, I can call Mariko to bug her with nonsense anytime without having to pay $.25/minute. Sorry Mariko!

If you need my new mobile #, send me an email! If you are deemed worthy, you will receive the # shortly. 🙂