Tag: travel

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Note: This is getting posted almost a week late. Sort of “forgot to hit send” on it last weekend.

I wrote a short wrap-up post for our trip to Japan. It might have some useful nuggets for travelers to Japan. Perhaps it will also serve my future self if we make a another trip there. This concludes the posting of pictures and prose from that trip. We will now resume regular programming.

Just a week shy of a year ago, I said I might want to set up a PBX system at home. Because, why not? This week, I got Asterisk running on an old Raspberry Pi. After a couple evenings of updating the OS, compiling code and configuring things, I was able to connect two softphones. Success! Now I need to get the actual phones working.

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In my highly unscientific polling of friends that have visited Japan, “Amazing” is the number one term used to describe trip. “Really amazing” is a close second. I see no reason to be a contrarian: Our trip was “amazing”.

People have asked about my favorites, be it food, places or experiences. I’m not always so good at picking favorites, and I don’t want to bore you with a recounting of the entire trip (for that see the photos in this section). So, here are a couple things that immediately come to mind.

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Screen capture of a video depicting a blue, compact SUV on a Manhattan street sporting a large sign with the text "NEW YORKERS WON! CONGESTION PRICING". A man is standing in the moon roof with outstretched arms.
Screen capture from a Streetfilms montage celebrating NYC Congestion Pricing.

At the stroke of midnight on an icy Sunday, New York City congestion pricing began. I never thought I’d see the day. Let’s hope it sticks!

I finished posting photos from our trip to Japan. Looking at them makes me want to go back.

This Switchable Desktop Power Outlet project is one I’ve been wanting to do for a while. It was simple enough that I wasn’t sure if it warranted a write-up. However, I learned a few lessons–why not.

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Photo of a poster with a drawing of a group of people walking while hunched over using their mobile phones. The text in Japanese asks people to stop using their phone while walking and look up.
A poster in the Tokyo metro.

I enjoy good signage, and the signs and posters in Japan are particularly interesting. This may be because I can’t read the text and it looks kind of cool. However, the bright colors and drawings must make these grab the attention of even the most jaded Japanese speaker.

What follows is a sampling of what I saw, in no particular order…

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