Thank you Santa Eiko for this wonderful Christmast present!
Thanks to you, I can now do several things at the same time without fearing to see the movements of the mouse being choppy because of a high CPU usage, I can connect to my server by ssh without having to launch an external program, I can just do that in a terminal (not a DOS-window!) and finally, it's just beautiful...
Obviously, I'm talking about my new apple PowerMac G5 dual-processor 2GH.
I just cannot stop having fun with it, trying all the stuff I can do with
it and just contemplating how perfectly it works...
It is also much more quiet than my old PC, while much faster too: conversions
in C1DSLR which used to take about a minute and half are completed in just a
few seconds!
Thanks again Santa Eiko for helping me to buy this new computer, I feel I'm free again!
Eiko and I went to try some kimono today, to get
ready for the wedding ceremony at the shrine.
This is approximately what I'm going to look like next year on April 17th (the watch and the sweater not included!).
The choice was made quite quickly between a dark vest, a very dark vest or
purple one that makes you look like a bad imitation of a yakuza in an American
movie (quite fun to wear though!).
As for the pants, it was about picking between large or thin stripes.
Eiko, on the other hand, had three catalogs full of colourful kimono, red, black, orange, green, with phoenixes, Japanese patterns, etc.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to doing this ceremony, I think it'll be quite fun (until I have to do the speech in Japanese!).
Phase One came up with 2 new versions of Capture One DLSR, the piece of software I'm using to convert my Canon RAW picture into TIFF or JPEG format.
The new version C1LE 1.3 seems much more accurate in terms of colours to
me. At least, it gets rid of that horrible pink overcast that I noticed in
the 1.2 version.
The whole process seems also smoother, but I'm not actually sure what the
improvements really are.
One good thing though: the upgrade from C1 DSLR LE 1.2 to C1 DSLR LE 1.3 is free of charge if you are already a registered user.
As for C1 DLSR SE (Special Edition), the main difference to me is that you can develop up to 100 pictures in one batch, instead of 20 in the LE (limited edition) version.
Once I get my dual processor G5, that shouldn't matter though ;)
Just by looking at this, don't you feel like getting a Mac?
I've been lurking for a G5 for a week now, since I went to the new Apple store in Ginza... They look so nice and now that the kernel is Unix based, I really feel like getting one!
After all, the only thing I'm doing on my computer lately is reading my mails, browsing, working on my pictures and from time to time, programming. Everything is now possible with Mozilla for mail and browsing (or Firebird and Thunderbird), Photoshop, which has even been optimized to run on Apple, C1 DSLR, which has just been released for Mac to convert Canon RAW pictures, and obviously, perl, ssh and other Unix tools will be available with the system :)
I don't see anything that will keep me away from switching now!
I just need to figure out which configuration is the most suitable to my
needs (and to my wallet!)... Right now, I may be a bit greedy but the Apple G5
dual-processor 2GHz looks awesome...
I'll then think about getting a nice screen,
maybe the 20" or the 23": I was so impressed by the sharpness of the image and
the vivid colours!
raaahhh... I've got to get one! I've got to get one!
A few shots taken after work of spots
such as Ark Hills or Roppongi Hills, a few days before Christmas.
More pictures in the Tokyo page.
The restaurant Eiko and I went to today was just the
perfect balance between pleasant atmosphere, comfort, new-age music and
original and refined Japanese food.
The pictures on the Lois
Crayon website do not really give justice to the reality of this
restaurant, located on the top floors of the Lumine1 department store in
Shinjuku.
The place manages to renew traditional dishes and bring a new life and a new
refined taste to the the things you thought you had already eaten dozen of
times.
The prices are quite acceptable for a restaurant of this quality; the set including two cold apetizers, a main dish, rice, miso soup and desert being priced at 2,500.
Eiko told me there is an even better Japanese restaurant in the same building, so I can't wait to go there.
However, I believe this tonight's one shines by the originality of the cooking and the delicacy of the dishes; so when on top of that, you put a nice music and a great atmosphere, it is easy to understand that this place has just become one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Tokyo.
The company's Christmas party was at the Hong-Kong
Garden this year and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the
quality of the food in this Chinese restaurant in the middle of Tokyo,
although my mom's cooking remains the best ;-) (just had to cover myself, just
in case she reads that!)
On top of that, Chinese acrobats (I don't know if
they were readers...)
were entertaining the audience with a show like the ones of the Circus of
China you see on TV: lady on a monocyle tossing up plates and cups to put them
on her head, balance exercise on a pile of chairs, etc.
Of course, I did take pictures, and under the pressure of Fred, they're already online!
All in all, that was a very successful party, not to mention that I even won something at the lottery for the first time in 4 years :), so Eiko and I will be spending one lovely evening at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
