So, now I prefer a handgun instead of carabine. Those who are following my FB page, know well that there was a time around two years back that I took many shots using my iPhone camera. Taking photographs with the iPhone was a lot of fun. It enables you to shoot, post-process and upload it immediately one after another. Though its resolution is only about 2 MP, it produces much clearer picture than my 5MP Blackberry camera. You may object, but again this is my humble opinion. Now that my iPhone has already been my secondary phone, I am not subscribing any internet bundling for this phone anymore. This causes me to rely on my Blackberry camera.

I must admit that RIM does improves Blackberry camera significantly. I remember that around 2009, all shots taken by any BB were terribly noisy. Now that it has much improved, I think “hey it’s not really that bad, let’s have a try’. And now, after I have taken some shots with my BB, I’d like to share about what you must know about any handphone camera:

1. Know how wide your handphone’s camera lens is. Not the dimension of the lens I mean here, though it matters a lot in professional photography, but the focus length. Usually it is represented in millimeters: 18mm is wide, 200 mm is narrow and long. Knowing this well will help you in choosing the right distance between you and the object. You might reply that we can use digital zoom, but the answer is NO. Never use the digital zoom for it only makes your picture noisy. Your manual zoom (read: your feet) is the best zoom technology you have.
2. Set a dedicated button for camera. Ever shot a photo after the moment has gone? I have A LOT. Actually this is one of the weak point of iPhone photography. It takes several seconds until your iPhone camera is ready to shoot any moment. Before there was iOS4 (even iOS5), you can set your iPhone’s home button: by clicking twice, it will automatically load camera feature. But they remove this handy short-cut and loading camera in iPhone takes a lot time. But hey my Blackberry has a dedicated button only for the camera and I give one thumb up to RIM for that.
3. What you see is not what you get. Almost 80% of the time I dissapointed with my BB shots. Luckily I didn’t delete it and after I transfer them into my laptop, I see that actually they are all not that bad. From this I realized that BB’s image viewer does not reveal what it actually shots. So, if you take any shot and you thinks it doesn’t look nice, you better have a second look at your laptop.

Yes, only three and those three are key points. But theory is not enough, you must practice, practice and practice. It won’t make you tired anyway since photography is heaven a lot of fun! What are you waiting for? Let’s take some shots!

To persist, to persist and to persist.

The problem of cooling the reactors so far is that TEPCO detected strong radioactivity around the reactors and hence NO BODY can approach them. This has been a warm discussions in twitter recently about how brave the  TEPCO workers are and how heroic their actions have been so far. But how if we have unmanned vehicles and some robots which can approach the nuclear reactors and fill the water as much as needed?

Sorry for talking too much, I don’t give any feasible solution for the NOW situation. I just hope that by seeing this our eyes are wide opened about how important research topics on unmanned vehicles and robotics are. If we insist on using nuclear reactors as our energy source, we MUST be advanced in those area.

It’s because from this, we see that nature has challenged men’s best efforts.

During that indecisive moment, we had a small talk which made both of us laughing. During the last two years both me and him have gone through CT-scanning. I went through it once, which made me received 6900 micro Sievert radiation plus two times X-ray scan (2 x 50 Sievert). So totally I received 7000 micro Sievert amount of radiation. My friend had gone through worse case. During the last one month, he went through THREE times CT-scan plus several hundreds micro Sievert amount of radiation he will receive today went he fly from Tokyo to Denpasar. So, roughly during this month he received about 22000 micro Sievert amount of radiation.

The current radiation level in Tokyo right now is about 0.05 micro Sievert per hour. Which means if anyone staying here continuously receive it for the whole year, he will receive about 0.05 x 24 x 365 = 438 micro Sievert.

Compare this 438 micro Sievert with 7000 micro Sievert I had  received and 22000 micro Sievert my friend had received since we went through CT-scan. Do we really have to worry that much?

Okay, then someone else protest: “Beside the radiation level, there are other things called the Iodine and the Cesium which increase the risk of thyroid cancer!” Do you know that before you go through CT-scan your body is injected by a ‘contrast liquid’. What I remember, the color of the liquid is light blue. When it went through your vein for the first 20 seconds, you feel something cold and weird with your lungs. Those liquid is also the Iodine! I remember that the amount of those liquid which was injected to my body is not small. It was about 100 – 200 mL (if I don’t make mistake here). And compare those amount with what you receive through Tokyo air last week.

I don’t intend to be careless or consider everything as not serious. It is SERIOUS, I am telling you. But the purpose of this blog is to make you NOT having high blood pressure since you become paranoid about Ms. Iodine and Mr. Sievert. The high blood pressure (which I have been feeling the last one week) risks us more than the radiation itself.

Reference: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003330.htm

Well, right now I can see nothing beside my 11 inch netbook, hence I decided to write something I learned during this crisis (if I may say so):

1. Facebook and twitter are the only two things you can access during a disaster. It connects you with your family, friends, embassy, etc., even it enables you to know what is actually happening at the moment. Please give Mr. Zuckerberg and the twitter founder noble prices.
2. Gadgets with long battery-life are priceless. Normally I prefer to use my old pc with bigger monitor for daily use, but somehow right now I love my little and cheap pc since it has 8 hours battery-life. So anyone, please buy Macbook Pro. It has big screen yet it has 8 hours battery-life.
3. I learned how to cook delicious soba and pasta! Well, the key for cooking pasta and soba or noodle is actually to keep the pasta/soba/noodle not too hard nor too soft. It’s simple actually. Stop being arrogant by thinking that you know everything and follow the instructions written on the cover. (The information you need is only about how long (duration) you need to boil them. No matter it’s written in English/Japanese/Indonesian, the duration will always be written in numbers).
4. Staying home all days make you extremely sleepy. Call me sleeping handsome. These last three days I have slept 7-8 hours in the night and 3-4 hours in the afternoon. Normally I slept only around 6-7 hours in the night. Well.., this is a good research topic for anyone who is interested with my snoring side.
5. You will know who have hated you so much until know during a disaster like this. It’s simple, if some persons didn’t contact you for a really long time but only during this time he contacts you say something inappropriate, well he is the guy.
6. When you get worried to the max about the situation, no joke sounds funny. Please give any joke you think funny to any one in Tokyo right now, you’ll get a punch on your nose.
7. Japanese buildings have strong structure. The reason why there’s only small number of victims in Tokyo is because no building collapse even though the earthquake was so strong. I really thank GOD for saving me and I really thank Japanese civil engineers for being so smart.
8. Japanese people have great mental character. The people who get worried to much here are only the foreigners. All Japanese in Tokyo do their daily work as if nothing has happened. Even my friend went to Shibuya for a walk on Tuesday. They are well-trained for this kind of situation. Salute for them!
9. I learned that actually in normal life we received radiation from sun, foods, hot spring, taking flights, health-check. That’s why I don’t worry about the minimum radiation level in Tokyo right now. Last year I took CT-scan which actually gave me 6900 micro Sievert, but right now I received 0.04 microSievert per hour. Even YOU who read this actually received 2400 microSievert per year no matter you want it or not. Recently I have been wondering if eating too much wasabi, karashi (mustard) and togarashi (chilli pepper) also give much radiation… Well, better not thinking about, I love them too much.
10. I have the best girl-friend in the world. You may protest, but first let me tell you this. When I got worried and was so stressful, my temper becomes worse. During that time, Jessica always shows her patience. When I worried about the radiation, she told me the information on number 9 above. When some Indonesian friends spread some hoax(-es?), and I became so upset, she made me calm. She called my parents several time to make them not panic. She helped me make my decisions so far. From this I am sure that she’ll be a great wife. And honestly, recently I think I have been a not-that-good-future-hubby.
11. Both calm and panic are contagious. One people from the church became panic and all decided to go back home. My Professor is so relax working in the laboratory and none of my lab. mates worries about anything.
12. Watching news the whole days and you’ll get paranoid in three days. Listening one nice song for three minutes and it’ll ease your nerves. Really, music has a great healing power.

I think that’s all for now. I still have two more hours to wait until the electricity ‘back to life’ again. No specific thing to do after this but hey.. why don’t I just listen to the music

To persist, to persist and to persist…, even in uncomfortable condition like this.

THE PARADOXICAL COMMANDMENTS

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world best you have anyway.

The fifth commandment I typed in bold is my favorite. Hope you’ll find your fave one here too. Stop being uncertain and just as Nike says:

JUST DO IT.

Those sentences are words of George Bernard Shaw, quoted from The 7 Habit of Highly Effective People. Those words had turned on the eternal torch in my head, hope they’ll burn your head too.

To persist, to persist and to persist.

I was reminded to those words while I was reading ‘How Starbucks Saved My Life’. The book is about a story of a guy who was experiencing a drastically changed lifestyle from being a CEO into a janitor in Starbucks. Being humble and struggle with his new job, he is able to rent an apartment and pay his living cost from the salary he receives. However, my mind is thinking about something else…

My jedi tutor is right. Well.., at least that’s what I really see during my two years and a half stay in here. I don’t see my friends as rich, on the other hand I often see they’re struggling with their lives. Some of my native friends came from a rarely-ever-heard-village. They are here not because their parents sent them, but many of them came here by their own will and without financial support from their family. They do part time works several hours a week, taking night shift and studying in campus the whole afternoon. Few of them got frustrated, some of them got used to the hard-work and becomes successful, and all of them appreciate time and have good time-management skill.

Knowing those facts, my mind is ‘thinking loud’ (borrowing a term from my assistant Professor). If we focus on creating simple jobs with good enough reward, we’re actually creating equal opportunities for many people. Just by concentrating only on creating simple and diverse jobs, and it doesn’t necessarily mean making a huge factory, we help shifting our label from the ‘developing’ into ‘developed’.

I’m not trying to talk smart here. But here’s the thing.. I was studying at a public university which tuition fees were much lower compared to the private universities. Nevertheless, I knew only few of my friends took part time job, and even if they did, they still couldn’t cover the tuition fees and the living cost. If they tried taking many jobs, they would only have few time left to study and found it difficult to pass courses at my university. Well, a friend was working at a franchise restaurant several hours a week but what he earned couldn’t cover his living cost plus school’s tuition fee. He told me he did it just for the experience. The good thing is that my ex-university provides a lot of scholarships. Well, scholarships are also one thing to help people get equal opportunities. BUT if we concentrate on creating many simple jobs with sufficient rewards; jobs in which students and retired people can take part in, we’re creating equal opportunities.

And equal opportunities shift ourselves to become the ‘developed’. And finally I’ll end this with another sentence from my tutor:

“If we have a better look, this country is a successful socialist.. No, I’m not talking about politics or religion way of meaning.. I’m not talking in relation with communism at all.. But you see, the gap between the rich and the poor here is really small.. You rarely find rich people here, but you also rarely find poor people here.. Everyone gets equal opportunities”

p.s.: I respect my ‘jedi tutor’ and hence I’m hiding his real identity.

JUST FOR TODAY

1. Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
2. Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
3. Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse it nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
4. Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
5. Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests, just for exercise.
6. Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible. I will look as low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor find fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
7. Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
8. Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurrying and indecision.
9. Just for today I will have a quiet half-hour all by myself and relax. In this half-hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
10. Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.

- Sibyl F. Partridge -

Simply I took point number 3 at that time and decided I had to have a hair-cut. My hair had been long and often get messy easily after being blown by winter wind. I was tired at the moment hence for old time sake I took Keio bus to Kokubunji after that. It was nice, the sky was clear hence it was quiet warm inside the bus. I was watching people walking along the road and it seemed they were enjoying the same feeling with me. Arrived at Kokubunji, I took Seibu Tamako line to Hitotsubashigakuen.

I went to this barbershop which is located not far from the Lawson convenience-store. The barber himself is an old man wearing thick and vintage-looking glasses. He has a silver thin stripe on his front hair which gives him a certain accent. Well, I don’t know what accent it is but somehow it reminded me of an electric pokemon monster.

Having myself seated, he began a conversation:

“How old are you?”

“Twenty four”, I said”

“not yet a quarter of a century, huh.. Don’t you feel weird while you’re looking yourself from the mirror”

“pardon me?”

“yes, pay attention to yourself at the mirror, don’t you look something weird?”

“what?”

“your upper hair is so thin, you even have this prominent line along your hair. You must have taken hot shower every day”

“well of course, it’s winter and it’s cold.”

And the conversations after that were actually about he, trying to convince me that I should never take hot shower, never use shampoo in my life, never care when people would tell me stinks if I had bad smell because stop using shampoo. But it’s only the beginning.

He then told me some jokes I don’t understand. It was like he was talking with himself with his own words. Sometimes I wondered if he talks in official Japanese or some local language. And I just replied by smile. BUT, somehow he felt offended by my smile. That time I felt a little bit intimidated by this old guy. But realizing he held sharp knife on his hand, I just kept agreeing what he said.

After my hair finished being cut. I paid 2000 yen. It’s quiet cheap compared to others but he said “Well, sorry but Japan has high living cost”. I said no problem and wore my suits before going home. But he stops me and criticizing my messy clothing style. I said that it can’t be helped, I told him I worked until 2 AM (without telling him I had party). He still not ‘allowed’ me to go home, he tried to start a new conversation about the difficult times in Japan when he was young. However, without trying to be rude I asked permission to go home. I respected him but feeling tired if he tried to give me more critics or advices.

I don’t take it personally. I remember the ten points I read in the train. I don’t take personally about what the barber told about me. I am not interested in changing him or anyone. I am what I am who’s trying to improve my life according to my pace and what I think I need to improve. The other people are they who are trying or not trying to improve their self.

First is about Nikon.  I use the D3000 entry-level DSLR camera with me and haven’t been thinking about purchasing a new camera since I purchased it last year. When I bought it, just like when everyone buys a product, I thought about cost & performance. Within my limited budget, I was thinking to buy a DSLR to replace my old SONY’s prosumer camera. That time, according to my budget, I had several choices: Nikon D3000 or D5000 or Canon’s 450D or 500D. Actually after reading specs of those cameras (I did it because I am both an engineer and a gadget-half-freak), I decided to buy the Canon 500D. The time I went to the shop and have a try on each of those cameras. I changed my mind, I was disappointed with the Canon 500D. The plastic seemed not strong-enough, the grip feels not match with my hand, the menu is not easy to understand the first time I looked at it, and all the buttons can only be accessed by my right hand! This last factor actually had the strongest influence on my purchase. With a Nikon’s camera, I can change the camera settings and view my shots by using my two thumbs hence I can share the works and do it faster. With Canon’s my right thumb has to do the work hard and the left one does nothing. Beside that, Nikon has much easier menu plus they have even a special menu for new user. With the special menu, new user don’t have to give a shit about what aperture, shutter speed and even ISO setting. Give your grandma this camera and she will able to take great shots with it. Well, I will say no more, have a try yourself and you’ll understand what I’m saying.

Second, I will tell about Apple’s product which I own: iPhone 3GS. My friend often told me to replace with iPhone 4G. I always say no since I’ve already had everything I need in the 3GS. The GPS is so great, I can survive living in Tokyo and saved several times by this function; Camera & its apps are so great and more than enough for my daily snapshots; Notes, reminders, alarms and so many other functions I often use which makes me already forgotten that iPhone is actually a phone. They even have crazy app for a crazy ramen-lover like me. I just use the app everywhere I am and the app will tell me the location of nearby ramen restaurants. Every time I use my iPhone 3GS, I can feel that Apple had a deep thought and noble motivation when they create this stuff. I mentioned ‘noble’ since Apple must have always thought about user-friendly aspect when they designed it. Apple paid me nothing to write this but let’s just consider this as my grateful to them for inventing iPhone 3GS. Again, try it yourself and you’ll understand me.

No I am not writing about user-experience stuff or giving advertisement. I will do it if they give me their latest product as a reward though . I just want to say that from now let’s always ask our motivation behind our own creation. Creation can be many things, even a blog is a creation. If so far we’ve been thinking only about profits & popularity, from now let’s rethink about it. We’re lucky that we live in the time when we can watch many companies going up and down. We can see which one stands still after the hard crises. Pay attention that those who survives are those who are loved by their customers. Their customers love them after having experienced with their creations, some even became fanatic to their brand.  That symbiosis happens because from the very first point creator has the noble motivation. The motivation to make improvement on customer’s life experience.

And I don’t see why we won’t start thinking like that?