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January 31, 2006
bullet train
Posted by yankinoz at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)
why I didn't ride the trains by myself
Posted by yankinoz at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
mt fuji at 300kph
the view from the bullet train
Posted by yankinoz at 07:56 PM | Comments (2)
January 28, 2006
rock bar mother
My last night in Tokyo I came across Rock Bar Mother by complete chance - I was looking for more neon to photograph when I saw the bauhaus poster. The music being piped up the stairs was Bowie so I had to go in and have at least one drink - I mean, no cover! I headed down the stairs and into a dark, very dark bar less than half the size of a single car garage - there were about a dozen patrons and the place was packed. I was directed to a seat along the wall and started into a cold Kirin I was shorly handed the music menu along with a pen light in order to see said menu. Looking over the list I quickly discovered that I had just entered the greatest bar in the world.
Basically; you see a band you like, you let the bartender know. He or she hands you whatever CDs they have for that band and you pick a song and they play it. Between the small cramped space, the incredibly loud music and the low ceiling it was like being inside a juke box. Things I remember playing: KMFDM, Rammstein, Mudvayne, Foetus, 10CC (I think that was me), Weezer, Blink 182.
Posted by yankinoz at 09:20 PM | Comments (2)
January 27, 2006
snowcycle
Posted by yankinoz at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
Meiji Jingu Park
Posted by yankinoz at 07:10 AM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2006
Shomben Yokocho
aka "Piss Alley" - the little noodle shops were so amazingly tiny - getting a photo of one of the actual shops was difficult - I gave a half dozen of the shop keepers the universal 'photo ok?' gesture with the camera and was met with nothing but polite shaking of heads. So I focused more on the alley itself.
Posted by yankinoz at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2006
home at last
Finally made it home, left tokyo 13.5 hours late. once we were on the plane we finally started getting information about what was going on. Our 8PM departure was moved to 10, then to 3AM and finally to 8AM only after the airport ran out of de-icing fluid. The curfew apperently wasn't an issue as the last flight out went around 1AM. And the last rumour: over 10,000 passengers were stranded with me last night.
Posted by yankinoz at 11:09 PM | Comments (1)
12 hours and counting
this is where I spent the night, after the snow storm yesterday - the airport shut down for curfew before my flight and many, many others could get out. Now, we are all waiting for the airport to reopen. I got a few hours sleep on the floor. I'm not terribly impressed with the JAL and Tokyo Airport - there's been very little information provided. The Qantas web site had the rescheduled departure time at least an hour before we were told and right now the departure screens have nothing. The rumour at the moment is that they are handing out food at the gate - so that's where I'm going. If not, well I guess the shops should be opening in an hour or so.
Posted by yankinoz at 07:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2006
Snowball fight - Tokyo style
I couldn't believe it when I got up this morning and it was snowing - I mean full on snowing. Took a walk around the hotel and found these guys and gal having a snowball fight. Now, as I post this from the Tokyo airport the snow still hasn't stopped, and there's little indication as to when exactly we will be leaving. I know there was a reason why I no longer live where it snows. But I sure had fun!
Posted by yankinoz at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2006
6am at the tokyo airport
last minute business trip. don't know how much photos I'll be getting that arn't through windows, but I'll try. I have most of Saturday free in Tokyo so....
Posted by yankinoz at 02:02 PM | Comments (3)
January 13, 2006
canberra telstra tower
I've been a bad photoblogger. Still uploading photos from our Chirstmas trip.
Posted by yankinoz at 08:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2006
luna park speed
Posted by yankinoz at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)
January 08, 2006
wildflowers at Tom Groggin
Posted by yankinoz at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)
Adaminaby, Amy and The Big Trout
Posted by yankinoz at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2006
snowy river charlotte pass
crossing the Snowy River at Charolotte Pass - another example of the con trails killing that whole wilderness feeling
Posted by yankinoz at 07:38 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
i-mate JAMs bounce
just an FYI.
Posted by yankinoz at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2006
i-mate JAM, IBM T40p, Bluetooth and COM - yes COM ports.
I know this is a deviation from my normal photobloggin' but I just can't believe that in 2006 I had to manually assign COM ports to get two bits of technology to talk to each other. Since I pulled information from several sources, and it appears that there are a bunch of other T40p laptop users out there having the same problem I thought I should give a blow by blow of how I got an i-mate JAM to sync with a ThinkPad with IBM Integrated Bluetooth II running Windows XP2 and ActiveSync 3.8.
Most of the info I needed I found at Geek Zone - if you need more detailed information refer to these pages:
Bluetooth Guide for Windows XP SP2
Bluetooth Guide for i-mate (O2 XDA)
First problem: The IBM Integrated Bluetooth II software and the Windows XP SP2 Bluetooth implementations don't work together, so step one is to uninstall the IBM software. After rebooting, Windows finds the built in BT hardware and automatically installs the drivers.
Second Problem: I needed to get ActiveSync talking to a Serial over Bluetooth link - this requires a COM port. Now, ActiveSync doesn't want to know about COM ports over COM4 (in my experience anyway - others say it works from COM1-COM9 but I could only get it to go on COM4.) XP assigns the Serial over Bluetooth link at COM28 (even though COM2 is free!) You would think that since XP and ActiveSync are both Microsoft products that they would be able to find these ports automatically.
To fix it we have to change the built in modem to use COM2, this frees COM4 and then XP will assign COM4 to Bluetooth! Listen to ‘The Safety Dance’ while you do it – it will help with the nostalgia feeling.
Go to the Phone and Modem Options Control Panel Applet (hey, why you are there, make sure you don't have a "Bluetooth Configuration" applet - that one is bad - you should only have a "Bluetooth Devices" applet.) Back to the Modem tab, select the Agere Systems AC'97 Modem (attached to COM4) and click Properties > Advanced > Advanced Port Settings > and then change the port to COM2.
Now, go to the aforementioned Bluetooth Devices applet. Select COM Ports and click 'Add' - the default is 'incoming' and that's what you want so click OK. XP will then install a Serial over Bluetooth link on COM4. Check in your Device Manager under 'Ports' for 'Standard Serial over Bluetooth link (COM4)' then Reboot.
Don't initiate the link to your i-mate yet - that has to be initiated by the PDA - but we need to tell ActiveSync what COM port to use first. Open up ActiveSync and select File > Connection Settings and under 'Allow serial cable or infrared connection to this COM port: select COM4.
Now you can link your PDA to your T40p - do it from the PDA. Make sure the laptop is discoverable and from the PDA, select New... from Bluetooth Devices (in settings) and it should find your laptop - once you make the connection check the COM Ports tab on the PDA's Bluetooth screen - you should see "New Outgoing Port" and "New Incoming Port" - no need to click them, your done! It's ready to sync!!
So from the PDA go to ActiveSync, select Tools > Connect via Bluetooth and your syncin' over Bluetooth.
It will keep the connection as long as the PDA and the laptop are within about 10 meters of each other. What I can't figure out is how to get the active sync connection to start automatically as soon as the PDA and the laptop are in range, if anyone knows how to automate the initial connection, please let me know! If I figure it out, I'll post it.
Posted by yankinoz at 08:13 PM | Comments (1)
January 03, 2006
kosciusko main range with wildflowers
Posted by yankinoz at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
kosciusko mountain celery
Posted by yankinoz at 09:31 PM | Comments (0)
kosciusko mountain stream
Third of January and I'm still going through photos from 26 December. I still have a few more I want to post from Boxing day, then I'll put up some from the Snowy River... for those of you wondering, I'm lovin the 17-40 F4.0L lens.
Posted by yankinoz at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2006
kosciusko summit track
the summit of Mount Kosciusko is amazingly accessible considering that it is the highest peak of the whole of Australia. The trail itself is mostly on a raised platform that allows the fragile alpine ecosystem to survive - it's surprisingly unobtrusive visually (the grass grows throught the plateform in some places.)
Posted by yankinoz at 08:21 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2006
kosciusko wildflowers
Posted by yankinoz at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
