My battery life used to suck, I had about 90min of juice. Now, it really sucks. Now, my computer has a battery life of approximately 70min. That's with just word processing on a dim screen, I'm not talking power intensive operations like watching dvds. I have a class that's 75min long, in a room with no outlets. That means my computer turns off 10min before class ends, because you know, I need to turn my computer on before class actually starts, because my computer takes 10min to boot up.
In other news, I've got to think of another cyberspace law related paper topic. This time, it can't come off the Lessig blog or the NY Times, because I'm pretty sure everyone in this class reads those items. I'm thinking World of Warcraft again....but I'm afraid someone will do a similar piece of Second Life, which I'll bet is more well known in the legal community (b/c we can pretend to network).
1.23.2007
1.16.2007
Pictures posted, School Started
Luckily I returned alive from Japan. You see, I caught a virus somewhere between Korea and Japan. I thought for sure they would stop me at the bird flu screening stations in each country, but I was allowed through!
School started today! I remember I used to make fun of those who wanted to take choice of law. Well, I voluntarily enrolled in conflicts of law, which I found out is really choice of law, re-named. I've become the very dork that I ridiculed. Oh, and the class is full of star trek/wars fan type peoples...slightly (or not so slightly) chubby, badly dressed/groomed, very intelligent but annoying in that each must demonstrate his intelligence by interrupting the professor. I'm also taking copyrights which meets from 730-845pm. My latest class ever. Hopefully I won't be so busy this semester. Comment draft 5 (final) is due Jan 31, and after that I should be free.
School started today! I remember I used to make fun of those who wanted to take choice of law. Well, I voluntarily enrolled in conflicts of law, which I found out is really choice of law, re-named. I've become the very dork that I ridiculed. Oh, and the class is full of star trek/wars fan type peoples...slightly (or not so slightly) chubby, badly dressed/groomed, very intelligent but annoying in that each must demonstrate his intelligence by interrupting the professor. I'm also taking copyrights which meets from 730-845pm. My latest class ever. Hopefully I won't be so busy this semester. Comment draft 5 (final) is due Jan 31, and after that I should be free.
Tokyo
Tokyo's changed a lot since my last visit two years ago. My favorite two restaurants are gone. I think most of the good memories centered around Osaka and Kyoto. But even so, Japan in the winter has a different free from Japan in the fall. Fewer tourists, more fur (roses on top of fur for example), an emphasis on winter cuisine (roots and snow crab).
I wanted to go to Hakone, but it seemed treacherous in the snow. Instead, we went to Nikko, a shrine town about 2.5hrs away from Tokyo. It's a town famous for its yuba (tofu skin) and yuba noodles. It's also one of Japan's top tourist destinations; there's even ads on the subway called "nikko in winter." And yes, Nikko was cold, so cold it snowed. A shot of the bridge leading from Nikko town to Nikko temple.
Steps leading to a collection of Nikko Shrines.
Nikko looks cold doesn't it.
Here's a view of some of the temples. Nikko's pretty awesome, you walk up these stairs out of a forest and bam it's gold and ornate and beautiful
We were in Japan during the New Year's Sumo tourney, but did not attend, watching it on NHK instead. Here's a sumo statue. Behind him is the chanko nabe (sumo soup food) restaurant where we had lunch.
This is the view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Government building in Shinjuku. I'm only posting this because way off in the distance, you can see Mt Fuji. It lords over the city as it does in all the paintings.
Fugu restaurant in Asakusa. $53. We saw them catch 2 live! Did not eat here.
Ginza LV store. Tokyo is sick expensive. I bought furry boots and jeans that fit though =)
Remember Gwen and her Harajuku girls? It's the Harajuku Gap.
Here's the Meiji Temple, dedicated to the spirit of Emperor Meiji. We went a day after the prime minister visited. It's 5pm in this shot, still very crowded, I guess one must attend the temples on new year's.
I wanted to go to Hakone, but it seemed treacherous in the snow. Instead, we went to Nikko, a shrine town about 2.5hrs away from Tokyo. It's a town famous for its yuba (tofu skin) and yuba noodles. It's also one of Japan's top tourist destinations; there's even ads on the subway called "nikko in winter." And yes, Nikko was cold, so cold it snowed. A shot of the bridge leading from Nikko town to Nikko temple.
Steps leading to a collection of Nikko Shrines.
Nikko looks cold doesn't it.
Here's a view of some of the temples. Nikko's pretty awesome, you walk up these stairs out of a forest and bam it's gold and ornate and beautiful
We were in Japan during the New Year's Sumo tourney, but did not attend, watching it on NHK instead. Here's a sumo statue. Behind him is the chanko nabe (sumo soup food) restaurant where we had lunch.
This is the view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Government building in Shinjuku. I'm only posting this because way off in the distance, you can see Mt Fuji. It lords over the city as it does in all the paintings.
Fugu restaurant in Asakusa. $53. We saw them catch 2 live! Did not eat here.
Ginza LV store. Tokyo is sick expensive. I bought furry boots and jeans that fit though =)
Remember Gwen and her Harajuku girls? It's the Harajuku Gap.
Here's the Meiji Temple, dedicated to the spirit of Emperor Meiji. We went a day after the prime minister visited. It's 5pm in this shot, still very crowded, I guess one must attend the temples on new year's.
Seoul
Seoul was cold. Like unbelievably cold. The locals insisted that it was warm, but really, there's snow on the ground and their lakes are frozen.
On day 2 we went to the DMZ. The guided tour took the entire day (that's a common Seoul theme - it takes an hour at least to get to destination X). On the tour we were instructed to not gesticulate at all to North Koreans. In retrospect it's a really dangerous place to visit, I'm not sure what enticed us (tourists) to visit. We saw one North Korean guard, and C saw some North Korean peasants way off in the distance in "Propaganda Village." The South Korean equivalent village is called either Unification Village or Freedom Village, I forgot which, it doesn't really matter, it's kind of propaganda itself too.
Here's the UN building inside the DMZ. The South Korean soldiers stand half exposed to the North in order to appear more intimidating. They also sport sunglasses of intimidation.
Bridge of No Return. I *think* South Korea returned a bunch of captured North Koreans, but North Korea did not really reciprocate. Our bus didn't let us out at this point, it was "too dangerous."
Inside the UN building, this is the table where the sides hold their talks. Half of the table is in north korea, half in south. No talks today. Apparently North Korean tourists also come into this building, so sometimes you can see them.
On the far top of the shot, you can see North Korea. That's what it looks like from the observation tower, kinda misty and dark. Our guide pointed out that the North hills have no trees, because they cut them down either to spy on their citizens or to use as resources.
Koreans near Tradition St in Seoul. The people in Seoul are poor compared to those in Tokyo and Hong Kong, but they feel rich? At least my cousin says its the most expensive place to live in the world.
Day 1 we went to Suwon, a suburb town about 2hrs out of Seoul. It's a fortress town, complete with a golden goddess in the mountain and palace inside. They're filming a really famous drama series in that palace. Didn't change the fact that it was COLD.
Last day in Seoul my cousin took us sightseeing. Here's the frozen lake + summer home type building in a palace in central Seoul. Afterwards she took us to a famous ginseng chicken restaurant (they put a whole chicken in my pot!!). Then we went to a night market/clubbing fashion district, and had dinner at an octopus restaurant. BBQ octopus in hot sauce. You know, they have the IQ of dogs. Koreans eat dogs too.
On day 2 we went to the DMZ. The guided tour took the entire day (that's a common Seoul theme - it takes an hour at least to get to destination X). On the tour we were instructed to not gesticulate at all to North Koreans. In retrospect it's a really dangerous place to visit, I'm not sure what enticed us (tourists) to visit. We saw one North Korean guard, and C saw some North Korean peasants way off in the distance in "Propaganda Village." The South Korean equivalent village is called either Unification Village or Freedom Village, I forgot which, it doesn't really matter, it's kind of propaganda itself too.
Here's the UN building inside the DMZ. The South Korean soldiers stand half exposed to the North in order to appear more intimidating. They also sport sunglasses of intimidation.
Bridge of No Return. I *think* South Korea returned a bunch of captured North Koreans, but North Korea did not really reciprocate. Our bus didn't let us out at this point, it was "too dangerous."
Inside the UN building, this is the table where the sides hold their talks. Half of the table is in north korea, half in south. No talks today. Apparently North Korean tourists also come into this building, so sometimes you can see them.
On the far top of the shot, you can see North Korea. That's what it looks like from the observation tower, kinda misty and dark. Our guide pointed out that the North hills have no trees, because they cut them down either to spy on their citizens or to use as resources.
Koreans near Tradition St in Seoul. The people in Seoul are poor compared to those in Tokyo and Hong Kong, but they feel rich? At least my cousin says its the most expensive place to live in the world.
Day 1 we went to Suwon, a suburb town about 2hrs out of Seoul. It's a fortress town, complete with a golden goddess in the mountain and palace inside. They're filming a really famous drama series in that palace. Didn't change the fact that it was COLD.
Last day in Seoul my cousin took us sightseeing. Here's the frozen lake + summer home type building in a palace in central Seoul. Afterwards she took us to a famous ginseng chicken restaurant (they put a whole chicken in my pot!!). Then we went to a night market/clubbing fashion district, and had dinner at an octopus restaurant. BBQ octopus in hot sauce. You know, they have the IQ of dogs. Koreans eat dogs too.
Hong Kong
Over break, C and I went on Asia tour #2, to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo. Our flight left LAX on Dec 27, and took a god awful long time to reach Hong Kong. In the process we made an unplanned stop at Incheon (Seoul airport) to refuel, at which point all the passengers raided the galley for snacks.
We did eventually make it to Hong Kong, where it was a balmy 70 degrees. Our first stop: food. We wandered into a workman's type of restaurant, oily, fast, cheap, and specializing in....ox penises. No, we did not eat ox penises or testicles, although you could have added those items to any dish.
We saw scarier live sea animals at the night market, where we did eat. We also wandered into an open air meat market street, where you could buy all sorts of animals. They also sold live chickens (despite bird flu warnings), but my bird flu picture didn't come out.
No visit to an Asian country is complete with a visit to a temple of some sort, and this is exactly that...it's a temple of some sort. But it's unique among temples in other Asian countries because the paint is so bright and fresh!
Below is the arc shaped building found on the back of a number of bank notes. It's the observation deck on top of Victoria Peak. We went up there, and you can see all of Hong Kong in its blue blurriness. Let me assure you, it's a lot of city and a lot of ocean.
We took an aerial tram up to see the largest sitting Bronze Buddha, tucked away in the hills. They built this Buddha in 1997. Despite its youth, it's quite a popular tourist attraction. There's even a fake tourist town built to entice foreigners to spend their money. Of course, I'm not sure how many people want to eat swallow's nest and turtle jelly.
Here C prayed for Muffy and me!
Hong Kong has all these awesome shopping malls, and I mean awesome in the old literary sense. It's a completely duty free port, so everything is actually really cheap. I usually don't like walking into designer stores, but here it felt totally normal and even welcomed. But no, I didn't buy anything, only Kenzo and Burberry perfume.
A shot of HK's business side, it's a bit like a video game isn't it? Metallic and shiny.
We did eventually make it to Hong Kong, where it was a balmy 70 degrees. Our first stop: food. We wandered into a workman's type of restaurant, oily, fast, cheap, and specializing in....ox penises. No, we did not eat ox penises or testicles, although you could have added those items to any dish.
We saw scarier live sea animals at the night market, where we did eat. We also wandered into an open air meat market street, where you could buy all sorts of animals. They also sold live chickens (despite bird flu warnings), but my bird flu picture didn't come out.
No visit to an Asian country is complete with a visit to a temple of some sort, and this is exactly that...it's a temple of some sort. But it's unique among temples in other Asian countries because the paint is so bright and fresh!
Below is the arc shaped building found on the back of a number of bank notes. It's the observation deck on top of Victoria Peak. We went up there, and you can see all of Hong Kong in its blue blurriness. Let me assure you, it's a lot of city and a lot of ocean.
We took an aerial tram up to see the largest sitting Bronze Buddha, tucked away in the hills. They built this Buddha in 1997. Despite its youth, it's quite a popular tourist attraction. There's even a fake tourist town built to entice foreigners to spend their money. Of course, I'm not sure how many people want to eat swallow's nest and turtle jelly.
Here C prayed for Muffy and me!
Hong Kong has all these awesome shopping malls, and I mean awesome in the old literary sense. It's a completely duty free port, so everything is actually really cheap. I usually don't like walking into designer stores, but here it felt totally normal and even welcomed. But no, I didn't buy anything, only Kenzo and Burberry perfume.
A shot of HK's business side, it's a bit like a video game isn't it? Metallic and shiny.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
