Meiji Shrine – Tokyo – Jason in Japan from Jason Ozaeta on Vimeo.

I got to experience a part of Japanese religion this past Sunday at Harajuku. Meiji Shrine was built in 1920 for the late Emperor Meiji. It was rebuilt after being destroyed after WWII. It is a popular place for traditional weddings.

Camera: Pentax K-7
Lens: smc-PENTAX DA* 16-50mm f/2.8

Took some random video during a Christmas party and pieced it together with Final Cut Express.

Pool from Jason Ozaeta on Vimeo.

The 2001 Honda Civic does not come with an aux port, so I decided to add one in order to utilize the A2DP feature of the upcoming iPhone 3.0 firmware for wireless music playback without radio interference.

The Precision Interface Electronics HON98-AUX converter was used to create an aux RCA input via my stock stereo’s CD-changer port. This required opening the center console of my car to gain access to the rear interface of the stereo deck and plug the cable, which goes to the converter unit.

The converter has RCA inputs, so I needed a cable to convert from RCA to 1/8" stereo jack to use with the bluetooth kit discussed below. In order to keep things looking clean, I also wanted this cable to mount flush to a small tab next to the cigarette port. Luckilly, DataPro sells a cable that has a panel-mount stereo input and has RCA male jacks on the other end! All that was left was to drill a hole in the plastic tab. After purchasing a Dremel 200, I was able to modify the plastic tab, clearing some hidden plastic supports then drilling a 1/4" hole. I finally had a clean looking aux port!

The Kensington LiquidAUX bluetooth car kit (shown in the photo) was used to provide the A2DP interface from the car to the iPhone 3G. It comes with a remote which allows me to play/pause my iPhone’s music and to answer/hang-up calls. Should Apple decide to add AVRCP support, the remote would also allow me to skip/rewind songs.

I now have access to the set of Emoji icons on my iPhone! All I had to do was purchase a 99-cent app from the app store, use the app for a few minutes, then check General>International>Keyboards in my iPhone’s settings screen, and voila! Now I can use all the poop emoji I want! Beats having to jailbreak my phone or use that awkward vCard file…

Here’s a link to the app: http://tr.im/c7mg

Happy with my Pentax K20D, but sometimes I wish Pentax would up the ante with a full-frame camera like the Canon 5D Mark II. The price of a full-frame camera makes me cry though…

5DMkII: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/583953-REG/Canon_2764B003_EOS_5D_Mark_II.html#features/BI/2677/KBID/3580

versus Pentax K20D: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/542060-REG/Pentax_19381_K20D_SLR_Digital_Camera.html#features/BI/2677/KBID/3580

I remember the old KOFY dog bumpers back in the “Coming to your place…KOFY…TV20! *stereo* KOFY, K O F Y, stereo TV20, San Francisco” days. Looking around YouTube, I found this funny one that dated before my time.

Got my badge for Macworld 2009! Now if I can only get some House of Prime Rib…

Whew! I’m tired from today’s jog: