iPhone in the UK

NOTE: This is information I gleaned from an AT&T representative; from what I hear, the information can vary depending on which AT&T representative you speak with... So.. your mileage may vary!

Here is a good one.. (something that is all over the Internet, hopefully this clarifies the issues)

I will be travelling to the UK for a few days (I leave on Friday and return on Wednesday) - I want to take my iPhone and use the data feature...
To summarize: Without a plan I have heard of nightmare $3000 bills. With a plan at a minimum it is $200 (which gives 20MB of data per month). This would involve the early termination fee. From what I can estimate, 20MB is not very much data at all, especially if you are using the map feature to navigate London all day! Anything over this is 1/2 cent a MB. If iPhone was considered a luxury before.. now I am not sure what to call it.. AT&T ripoff? Nah surely not...

Before the gory details: go here and watch the movie - it is hilarious!

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/fyi/how-to-avoid-a-3000-international-iphone-data-bill-285966.php

Here are the gory details (that I was informed)

(800) 335-4685 is the number to call to activate any International features.
International data plan $24.99 month with a 12 month minimum. It is $175 early termination fee. This plan includes 20MB a month. Overages are .5c per MB. Voice calls are charged at $1.29 a minute.

There is an additional service called world traveller. It is $5.99 a month and does not have a minimum contract. Voice is then 99 cents a

Without a plan the cost is 2 cents a KB.

New Nikon D3 camera and old fav's

News of Nikon's new D3 immediately sprung thoughts of finally being able to move to a camera with a (almost) full sensor. For me the perspective of shooting with (Nikon) digital camera's has always felt awkward; the 1.5x 'magnification' just doesn't work for me. Give me a 135mm lens and let it be just that.
I brought out my Nikon F5 this weekend, used a roll of recently purchased Fuji Pro S 160 film for a friends photo shoot. What an exhilarating (yes, exhilarating) experience! The results were quite out of this world! Paired with the Nikon 135 DC F2 lens the combo is flawless...

So, I will shoot film! I will just process negs to CD using a cheap service and then scan only the individual images I want (in higher resolution). Yes that means I will have to also purchase a film scanner. Is that so bad? :)

With the news that new film emulsions are being produced; that film has just as much a place as digital; I am certain that we will find a renewed interest in this media. People will say "Let's do the 'retro' thing!"

This is atleast true until i get my hands on a D3! Time will tell...

and be on the look out for some of the images from this session....

Comments???

Cocoa's Photo session preview

Here is a quick collage from this weekends photo session with Cocoa and family.
It was really fabulous to have worked with Kirk, Amanda and Cocoa! More images soon...

Lunch & Dinner

Isn't it weird when you eat lunch and dinner at two different places and the total comes out to the same $ amount? Weird.. it happened to me just the other day.

Indoor light - photo from iPhone

(I sent the previous post and this picture from iPhone, then added these words later...)

As you see the iPhone handles this really tricky scene without a problem! There was no setting of white balance, exposure or anything - point and click magic!

iPhone here we go

So (and only because I can't leave you all asking if I did or not) I
eventually decided to buy an iPhone. I really won't add much more to
this as so many posts talk, everyone has an opinion about it: For me,
this tool will help me to market my work and generally keep well
connected.
I will upload a photo showing night-time photography capability in
next post.

Camera I brought to Vancouver

I brought the Nikon 35Ti and a borrowed Nikon Digital P1. The P1 turned out to be very useful for mini videos and the images (jpg as they were) quite good!

Here is one...

I left the image on the small size setting, but you can still see how it worked out quite well.
The 35Ti also was really nice, though the digital really took the picture as it were... Out of the 4-5 rolls of film I barely shot maybe 5 pictures tops! Pathetic really.

iPhone have to post

Here I am resisting making a post on this - after all everyone has a post about this.. well all I will say is that 50% of me is eager to just run to the store and buy one (assuming I don't have to line up for 10hours) and 50% is not happy about the whole iTunes, DRM stuff, ATT exclusive contract thing... really, I know there will be 3rd party apps to replace iTunes, but still...

We will see what I decide... wish it had 3G support.. come on Apple!

Point and Shoot for trip to Vancouver

I spent hours on Sunday debating whether to purchase a new digital Point and Shoot camera. In the end I concluded that all of the cameras have one or more must-haves - they either lack RAW mode, too large or too small etc. Top pics were Canon G7 and... well that really was the top pic! Unfortunately it has some problems for me:
1) It is Canon. Not that there is anything wrong with Canon, it is just that the camera accessories must be Canon - so all my accessories will not work.
2) Lack of RAW mode. Sorry this is a clincher. Burning the final image into a compressed lossy format isn't for me.

In the end I think I will take the Nikon D70 with one lens and Nikon 35Ti
Here are two web links referencing the 35Ti:
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/compact-images/Nikon35Ti28Ti/Html/index.htm
http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/filmcamera/compact/1990-1994/35ti_quartz_date/index.htm
There are a few reviews on the web. Retail was about $1000 used I paid maybe $300-$400. I am not sure now what the price would be.

Oh.. the pictures are really amazing! People compare the camera to SLR quality!

Well the camera isn't made anymore. It is a film camera and more of a Rangefinder than Point and Shoot (meaning more than anything that it requires some manual override to really appreciate its full ability).
So I will be buying and testing some film this week before the trip.
Thankfully we can still buy film.

John Scott Workshop - Signed up

(Weird I typed out a bunch of stuff clicked publish and the only thing that appeared was the title - so now to re-type everything)


So last night I looked around for cheap flights to Vancouver.. usual comparing of websites - this is really easy now with www.sidestep.com - confirmed independently that the price quoted was the cheapest and went for it - booked the ticket and then it hit me... oh no, in my haste to book the airline ticket I forgot that it is prudent to first pay for the workshop then the plane ticket... ooops... as fast as my fingers could type I jumped over to the workshop registration page and entered all the required info.

I was quite relieved to receive the email stating I am confirmed for the workshop.Never know the workshop may have lots of space left, the worst thing would have been that I would spend five days in Vancouver taking photographs and random Yoga classes... not so bad. Now I wish I could have spent that following weekend in Vancouver - oh well it will be expensive enough as it is.

The ability to type in Devanagari without typing Devanagari

Google is amazing - now you can type Hindi words and Blogger will auto-magically convert them to Devanagari... (So OM when typed comes out as ॐ - Savasana is सवासना not sure on that last one as I can't read it myself.. still very very cool.

(It is talked about at these links (at least it is at the time I wrote this) )
http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help-publishing/browse_frm/thread/d7581332977ba69f/#
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=58226
http://www2.blogger.com/home

Yoga versus Photography Workshops

I am really close to booking a ticket for the John Scott workshop (see below); I came to a realization: I spend a ton of money on Yoga workshops but rarely do I sign up for photography workshops.. then of course the question "Why is that?" - After all photography was the first real hobby (after computers) of mine, I really enjoy it (as much as Yoga)...
The reason I conclude is that the cost of individual Yoga workshops is generally lower than that of photography workshops, really good photography workshops are always out of town, are expensive and require the usual additions such as accommodation/airline ticket. At least that is my conclusion: Yet I am not entirely convinced... after all I have attended two Eric Schiffmann workshops in LA, the big 3 1/2 month Yoga stay in India and now likely John Scott (We won't talk about the 10's of local Yoga workshops attended) - all adds up.

hmmmm..... maybe my next vacation (will be a photography workshop)... time will tell

Lie Down!

So nearing the end of session 2, class 1 of 6: I said to a student "OK that's it! Your done!" (as in this is the last Asana in the sequence you are learning)... looking over to the girl next to her who was in Savasana she responded... "What I don't get to lie down?" --- "Of course you do! Lie down!"

Animal photography

Interest in my animal photography is becoming exciting! Here is a picture from one of the sessions... Kimba is the sweetest cat: Look out for the follow-up pictures!

6 week beginner courses

I have finished teaching the first series of beginner workshops: Essentially the emphasis is to establish a personal/home practice. Yesterday I started the next series of 6... so far response seems really good - there is space for a maximum of 5 students and we have consistently required students to be on a waiting list!

For me the most wonderful thing is to be able to share this knowledge with others, to see the positive effects; especially with students who have never experienced Yoga before: This is very powerful stuff.

If you are interested in the course schedule you can find it here:
http://www.treehouseyoga.com (and click on classes)

David Keil workshop

Just last week attended "Intro to Ashtanga" and "Art of Observation" weekend workshop. David has a really great knowledge/experience of both Ashtanga and anatomy: I highly recommend!

http://www.yoganatomy.com/

John Scott Workshop in Vancouver

This looks really nice, opportunity to visit Vancouver and it is really quite reasonable (though almost the same cost to visit India)
http://www.stillpointyoga.co.nz/workshops.cfm?course=workshop

The question is, do I have enough vacation to make my trip to the UK this year and Vancouver? I guess I could just visit England for a long weekend....
Oh and the other question is should I take this or a course (the courses overlap dates) locally on Sanskrit?

VMWare Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - Many PC's on one Server

Although I haven't fully researched any of these solutions, VMWare VDI sounds exciting. It runs on VMWare ESX server and allows anyone with a thin client (I have also heard it is possible with a web browser) to connect (even at boot-up without the need for Remote Desktop or VNC etc) to the VMWare server. The end user experience is exactly the same as if they had a PC at their desk. Also there are snapshot modes (to enable roll-back of patches/software installs) and the option to refresh the user environment to the way it was (when it was created) whenever the Virtual Machine is power cycled.
What I need to figure out is how beefy a server would have to be and how many servers would be needed to handle 100's of PC's at one time....

PC's without the PC

For work I have been looking at some solutions for deploying multiple PC's without having the footprint of a full PC on the customers desk. Some choices are Citrix, Blade PC's (where the PC is 1 of many PC blades in the server room) and now VMWare ACE
I like the blade PC idea - I have heard the device that is on the desk is even smaller than a thin client. Only problem (some would say advantage) seems to be there is a one-for-one relationship between number of users to number of blade PC's. This generally adds to hardware and running costs.

Chess

Off and on I have played chess since I was a child. I don't remember who first taught me to play, now I wish I could remember so that I could thank them.
It is one of those things that I think will stay with me, a hobby that I absolutely enjoy every time I play and though I take breaks from playing, (months and even years) I always come back to the game.
Right now I am playing online correspondence chess using the GameKnot website (www.gameknot.com) but I have previously played Chessmaster and Fritz.
I find myself enjoying correspondence chess much more than the rapid fire games (especially Blitz); I only play one or two games at a time, really studying the position- both the history of moves as well as analysing (using Gameknot's 'Analyse board' feature) the various options for future moves... answering questions such as what move would I make if my opponent made this move or that move... each game being a suspensful journey, one to which I can't wait to see my opponents response.

I also enjoy how each move changes the game's future, if a choice of move is not made, that choice may no longer be available or appropriate for future moves. This then carves a story or a timeline - where multiple timelines exist - but only one can be made.

This therefore parallels life, where a decision, based on previous history, experience and future predictions are used to make a decision for the next 'move', an option pulled from the millions of choices available... well you get the idea.

Back in the US

It is pretty incredible to be back... we have been through crazy 3/4 days so far (our final flight is in the afternoon on January 4th)

The main problem is that flights into and out of Delhi were delayed and canceled due to the fog (that we now find is the case every year during these dates) - people had to stay in airports overnight for several days in some cases.

In summary, Air Sahara (http://www.airsahara.net/) customer service is about as bad as I have seen of any company and even American Airlines in India were not great either. Unfortunately I believe this to be the case of most if not all domestic airlines in India (as I heard similar reports from people flying with other airlines)

After many hours and days of arguing we managed to receive one night hotel stay in Calcutta from Air Sahara and (even though American Airlines in India said we wouldn't) received one night hotel stay in Chicago. The really nice thing in the US is that we did not have to argue to receive the hotel room, it was provided as standard.