My iPhone
The other day, before going to work, I took a trip over to the AT&T store. I was in Japan last year when the old iPhone came out and was still under contract with Sprint. Now that my contract is almost up I figured I can make the jump to AT&T. If they didn’t have the iPhone I would have just stayed with Sprint. Because I work at General Electric (GE) I get a 25% discount off my plan. Now I only get 15%.
Since I’m upstate in the middle of nowhere the line wasn’t very long. I had 20 people in front of me and like 60 people behind me. Obviously not everyone got one. If I was in the city (NYC) or in Japan I would have never started lining up like these people. A WEEK IN ADVANCE! The store I went to only had a little over 40. The Apple store in NYC had hundreds.
The phone is tight though. Its missing a few things that I wanted but my Blackberry didn’t have it so its not that serious. For instance, video conferencing, a better camera, etc. The applications from the iTunes store is amazing though. The GPS is by far the best feature added to this new iPhone. Its dead on everytime.
I also picked up the Apple headset. The way Apple designs their products never fail to amaze me. Its polished and not gaudy like a lot of the others on the market.
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EEDP Picnic
Boy I haven’t written anything on here is such a long time. Honestly I have been way to busy to dedicate any time to this page. But since it is the summer, I plan to update my page on a regular basis. Since I got back from Japan I have been working on my Masters thesis, which I can say didn’t go as well as I had hoped but things have worked out at the end of the semester. Granted I only had two months till the end of the semester since I got back Feb. 29th.
Now I’m working at General Electric. To be more specific the GE Global Research Center (GRC) in Niskayuna, NY as an intern. Yes another internship. This has been the most technical internship I have done and I have dine quite a few.
But any way, today the Edison Engineering Development Program, which is referred to as EEDP, had their second mini-picnic. I finally found my battery charger so I was able to take a few pictures.
A few of the Edisons.
Everyone played this game called Corn Hole where you take bean bags and try to throw it into the holes in a board. 
It painfully reminds me of trips to Great Adventure or Dorney Park where you waste money trying to play games like this for oversized teddy bears. Here are a few pictures of what actually goes on.
I caught a good sequence of one of the more lively Edisons in the program playing this game. Actually he was pretty good at it too.
If you want to see all the pictures. Feel free to click on the link below. It is under the “Albums” section.
Or you can download all the originals below.
Download: EEDP Picnic Pictures
Now to translate all this for the Japanese version of the blog.
No commentsFireworks Show - Added Comparison
I decided to do a before and after of my Fireworks Photography. I’ve come a long way since getting this DSLR and figured I should share in case anyone anyone is curious about how it’s done or to show that anyone can take above average pictures.
The first set of pictures are from the first time I have ever took pictures of a firework show. I went to a festival in Manazuru, which is about 1.5 hours outside of the main city. After taking these photos my coworkers and my Japanese teacher all thought they looked beautiful. Then I started doing a little reading. Found out that I’m not very good. I just point the camera and pressed the shutter button. I figured I have a nice camera I should be able to take nice picture. That is not how it works.
To take good pictures you have to study and practice to become a good photographer. So I did and the fruits of my labor are in the second batch of pictures. I had some good ones. But you can see that from a little studying any one can take above average pictures.
This time I went to Chofu with my co-workers. My co-workers had tickets to this particular event. We were pretty close. The closest I have ever been and was pointing my camera almost straight up sometimes. It was pretty fun to tell you the truth. Take a look. And leave a comment!!
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Team Picture
Our Engineering project team had a presentation the other day and we ended up taking a group picture to introduce the new team. The team consists of nine people. Well there are also the software guys but they are not members of the main team. Who cares about the software guys anyway, right Jeff ;-).
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Ueno Zoo
Note: I suggest clicking on the picture and then using the scroll wheel on the mouse. It is much easier.
This is a series of from my recent trip to Ueno Zoo. It was overcast the whole day and didn’t have much light to take pictures but things turned out better than expected. Granted if you take over 350 pictures your bound to get a few that you like.
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Candid Photos
Taking pictures of people is extremely difficult. It’s even harder if you try to do it without their permission. I love candid photography because it is a snapshot that focuses on spontaneity rather that pre-determined or staged situations. I like to catch rare moments. People posing do not really give the true meaning of reality at that moment in time, although you still can get a good shot.
It is not easy for me to walk around without getting a few looks. Especially in my neighborhood because I don’t see too many black guys walking around. So when I take the camera out it is like a fire alarm just went off and everyone is looking to see what my next move is. I always experience the “all eyes on you moment” …. even in Tokyo (Metropolitan Area) where the people are usually indifferent.
Now and again I will be posting some candid shots. Here are a few. Feel free to comment.
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Small Gift
When traveling to Japan, in what situations should you buy a souvenir?
I was sitting in front of the computer at work the other day and my co-worker walked over to me and said here’s a souvenir. I was like “why?” They told me they traveled for their Summer Vacation. On a side note, all my co-workers travel somewhere for their summer vacations. I think it is a Japanese thing but I’m not quite sure. To get back on topic, I read that when you travel to Japan that you should bring a souvenir for your co-workers because you are meeting for the first time or when you go over to someone’s house for dinner or meeting their family (on the same accord of meeting for the first time). But I thought I already went through this with my co-workers again but I guess not. Since being in Japan I think I have gotten souvenirs from about 15 different people. Now when I travel around Japan I always bring back something for the team. To their surprise of course. Ha-ha.
Here are a few pictures of what they bring back from me. Some taste great. Others taste ….. well ……. (you get the idea).
Click the link of course. And leave a comment! 
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Miss South Carolina
In 48 seconds she became one of the most popular people in the whole world. What is she up to now? 10 million hits on YouTube and no one even knows who actually won. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about feel free to watch and judge for yourself. We should put her in the race for the Presidency. She seems to have what it takes to be President …. lemme stop before the Secret Service come knocking at my mother’s door in the States looking for me.
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