Japaning

This morning went on the pinternet and then did some Japanese learning. It was nice weather (although cold and windy) but I couldn't go out as I had to look after granny.

After lunch I did a bit more japanese learning and went on the pinternet a bit more. Jinny came back from his driving test and passed it. Then I went in the garden and tried to take some macros, but although there were a few flies and grasshoppers around I could never find them in the viewfinder (at 4x), so didn't get many photos and those that I did get tended not to be very good. I couldn't go out in the afternoon either as Clare and Brian were both out for the afternoon as well.

Then Clare and Brian were out for dinner so I had to make dinner. After dinner I went on the pinternet a bit more, then me, Mac and Ben watched half of National Treasure. It's quite good 'cos Nick Cage parodies himself and shouts 'burned!'.

Then Ben had to go to bed so I went on the pinternet a bit more checking into stuff for going to Japan because Maccy wants to go there soon. I think I will need to buy a cheap laptop and then I can take my 1TB backup drive and copy my pics to the backup drive through the laptop every day. Then I can format the memory card(s) and use them again the next day. I am thinking of getting an EEE PC since they are small and relatively cheap. I may also buy another couple of sandisk CF cards, since my 8GB Datawrite card often seems to corrupt images.

I checked into plugging in UK devices in Japan, and it seems they use 100V over there, and so long as your power brick/device is rated for 100V, then all you will need is a plug adapter. I checked my external harddrive power brick, and that's rated rated for 100-240V, so that should be okay. I need to find out what the EEE PC power brick is rated for.

I also checked what the monopod with legs is that Hans Nyberg uses, and found out it's a Manfrotto 682B. I thought it would be a good idea to get one of these since it can be used in crowded places/places where tripods aren't allowed, but can also be used like a tripod and should be a lot more stable than a monopod. I had a look on ebay and they seem to be really expensive - about £70!!!

There's also a mint 400mm/2.8 IS lens on ebay at the moment with about 1 day left and currently less than £1500. If I bought it for that much (unlikely as I expect a lot of bids will come in tomorrow) then I would have hardly any money left in my current account. I checked my A&L online banking and I only have a few quid in my other accounts with them.

I had a look at what I probably have in my other accounts, I think I might have some money in Ice Save, but that's probably not accessible since they went bust recently. So I think I would have to get some money out of my Bristol & West/Britannia account if I did buy that lens. The seller of the new lens has 0 feedback, so I expect it will go for quite cheap, and the payment is protected by paypal so there shouldn't be any problems if they are dodgy (although I expect getting your money back through paypal takes a long time and is hard work).

I also need to have a look at travel insurance since it's probably needed if you have to go to hospital and definitely needed to cover anything happening to my camera stuff.

Food
Breakfast: Lemon marmalade toast sandwich; cup o' tea.
Lunch: Mature cheddar cheese with garden salad sandwich; packet of smoky bacon flavour crisps; banana; slice of iced Madeira layer cake; Wacko chocolate bar; cup o' tea; Roses.
Dinner: Slice of Pepperoni deep pan pizza; slice of cheese and tomato deep pan pizza; chips; peas. Pudding was a Peach and Passion fruit creamy yoghurt. Coffee; Roses.
Supper: Choc chip digestive; cup o' tea.