June 2003 Archives

Todays I found this article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. You'll need to register.... :-(

It seems that the idea of blogs has finially hit the land locked state of Minnesota. Wait, the are the land of 10,000 lakes or 10,000 fakes according to Billy Corgan Well that is what he told us at a concert in 1995 in Ames Iowa. That was back whan The Smashing Pumkins were still around. I went to a punk/grundge bar and I happened to see the band before they made it big. WOW, those were the days.

Blind Melon also played there along with another bang called Billy Goat that always got the crowd whiped up with a song called "Everyone Take Your Clothes off." Some chick did and someone grabbed a polarod and it got back to the parents. The band got nailed when it got out that the girl was 16 or so. Well that is the story I heard.

This sums it up, but don't take my word for it.....just use protection or you'll be having kids, no pun intended.

I just got home. Well the Re-union was great. There is nothing in my mind nicer than seeing family members that live far away. As ever, time marches on and stands still for no man.

Yuko is on her way to the embassy for the final steps of her visa process. If wall goes well she will be here in 12 days. Hurray!!!!!!

Hello again! Well summer is in full swing now as I am getting ready for Yuko to return. I am heading down to see the folks tomorrow for a good ol' family reunion. So things are going to be quiet around here for a few days as I am out of internet range, so to speak. DOn't let this stop you from looking at the Gallery.

Hello again from the heart of Minnesota! As you may know, I am getting back into black and white photography and I would like to share my photos with you. Almost all of the pictures that I am printing are 5" X 7"s I sometimes will print a 8" X 10" of a really good compisition.

I then scan them with a Canon CanoScan Line 30.

My Galleries:

Here is another sphere that I found while on a walk around the block. They intrigue me for some reason.

Well I have good news! I have found some free gallery building software called Jalbum.
I will be opening my gallery pages here in a couple of days.

Here is another photography from my recent adventures in my neighborhood.

This Photo comes from right out my back door. This is another photo that I made myself on Kodak Tri-X 400 Pan and Kodak Polymax III RC Glossy paper.

This photo is from my first go at B&W photography in about 15 years or so. Well maybe give or take a few. Tell me what you think.

WOW the last day of spring has made it here. Summer is ready to come in here in Minnesota in a big way with really hot weather. So spring has been quiet I will to be so.

Sorry, I finally got around to adding a link to Video Link Japan. Lawrence runs an awesome site and I would encourage you to stope by his site and check out the videos!

I have also added a be phrase to the new word list. This one comes from www.jlist.com.

Hello everyone! Ok I guess it is about time I post some of the volumes of Japan stuff and being the fact that my sight is kind of supposed to be about Japan, I present some pre-paid train cards I got last August when I was in Osaka.

These are real handy to have even if the card doesn't have enough on it to cover the whole trip. At least you will be about to get on your way and go through the fare adjustment line on the other end.

I know I have broken the rules of head on photography, but I swear I didn't know about those then. Well I find these shots interesting. I took them on a recent trip to Stillwater Minnesota. Please let me know what you think.

Above is a poor dog that was rescued and is missing a leg. They are up for adoption to a good home.

What is this crazy Japanese resturant thinking? They are thinking Minnesotan!

Maybe this lady could pull down the many pairs of shoes that dot the 'hood here.

I took these shots when I was at the Grand Ol'Days festival here in St. Paul Minnesota. The forst picture is a street clown that was there. I kept wondering if this clown was really crying on the inside.... I know, I know, lame but I couldn't resist. The second picture is a person in a Subway sub costum. I don't know about you, but I wanted to go up to this person and beat the living crap out of them. Well I didn't, but I wanted to.

I took this picture today as I was walking to pick up some film that I had taken at Grand Ol'Days. The fogging along the bottom was caused by the reflection of the sun light from the pavement as I set the "camera" there.

Is anyone having problems with the look of the site? If you are please let me know the details, I.E. screen size, colour depth, OS, ect. I try my best to have it look great but I can never know.

If you have problems, please make sure you have your browser window fully expanded.

I hope the guy that invented beer is sitting in heaven right now. What a world we live in if it isn't true.

I got this pin at the Grand Ol'Days festival.

I have added some new links to the right handside for your net surfin' pleasure. Oh and of course they aren't in any alphabetical order.

I have discovered a cool new thing, The Pinhole Camera. Here are soem examples that I took oh the manson that is across the street from my apartment. The camera is a hand made job that I whipped together in an afternoon. One thing that this camera has to offer are the depth of field, meaning that everything is in focus and the ease of use. I simple put a 5X7 piece of Ilford RC Photographic paper on the back wall of the box oppisite of the pinhole and exposed the paper for about 50 seconds on the first picture and about 3 minutes on the last shot.

I then took the negitives and scanned them and in the photosoftware I added thge effect negitive to get the positive print. I will add the real positives when I get around to printing them.

More Pinhole Camera Links

I have cuaght a bug. Well I mean that I am really getting into Pinhole Cameras, They are the most natural and easy to use. Oh did I mention that you have to usually build it first? Here are some links to educate yourself if you wish.

Links

I am starting to pick up the photography bug again. I don't know why I am so fascinated by pictures. I guess it has to do with the fact that something are only here for a short time before thay are gone forever. I know this is cliche', but like a sun set on a certain day. Once it happens, it is gone forever, never to be seen again.

www.fujifilm.com

The Camera that I am using now is a Fuji Nexia 320ix Z. This camera uses the APS film system, which is a 24mm standard and you get the choice of 3 different print sizes. I like this camera for a couple of reasons. The first being that it is really simple to ue. I mean that there are no settings that you have to worry about. Just point and shoot, as they say. This particular camera has been around the world with me 2 different times on my sojourns to Japan.

I have had mixed results with this set up. I mean that on a couple of occasions the camera has had strange focusing problems or maybe I should say that the camera has had a lack of wanting to focus. I think it has a lot to do with hand placement as I am holding the body of the camera.

Becky Ramotowski

I would like you all to welcome the newest member of my family, the Pentax K-1000 SLR. This is the camera that has trained some of the world's greatest photographers. If I can only achieve 1/10th of their ability I will be happy. Hopefully, I should be recieving it next week and I can take the time to pay around with it on the weekend when I really have some free time.

One of the main reasons that I decided to get back to the old skool is to really learn the art of photography for my enjoyment as well and to bring you some good pictures of the things that I will see in a foriegn land that most people in the US are truely missing out on because of the lack of interest in traveling the world.

Here are some handy links:

It is raining outside as I am typing this. Well so much of the idea of taking a bike ride to some place that matters. Just as well I guess as I need to do some serious cleaning. I know, I know, I have been lazy but it really isn't my fault as I have a new job and it just takes so long to get anything done by myself.

It doesn't look like it will be a very good weekend. So I should have a nice clean apartment, right? Well I will if I can get motivated to do something.

Today I went to drop off a roll of film that I took while I was at Grand Ol'Days. It was a fun time there, eventhough I had a little money, but half the fun is walking for miles and eating bad foods.

I am loving my new bike. I wish I still had my old one. I guess we all have to live and learn from our mistakes. It isn't the worst thing in the world to do, but a loss of $250.00 still stings a little. Well Trek '03 Crusier, I will miss you!

I am offically back in the saddle so to speak. I couldn't resist the pun there, sorry. I am happy to anouce their is a new bike in my apartment. I just couldn't go without a bike.

The new model is a Schwinn Ranger 2.6 FS. I am aware that is isn't the top of the line bike, but hey, the price was right a 130.00. I just couldn't bring myself to fork out another 300.00 for something that some aXXhole stole. Mean people Suck! Ok enough rant as I would rather keep things on the up and up here at japanish. Well this bike can be had at most Target stores. This is where I found it, being at the high end of their selection.

The bike seems to be a good ride. It has to be said that I can't tell a whole lot from my old ride. The seat seems to be quite comfortable. I found that the trek's seat to be too soft and left me sore in the inside hip area, of wich I didn't care for. I guess a seat can be too soft. Who wudda thunk it?

If you see me toolin' around town, please honk.

I have good news to report! My wife, Yuko, who has been struggling with the visa proccess and 2 very slow governments. Well at least we are making progress now and it looks like she could be back in the States in 6 weeks or so.

There might be time still of a weekend get away to Split Rock Lighthouse. Gitchi Gumi is calling to me.

Ok, Ok enough cheesiness and on to some pictures! I took these last fall while I was on a trip for a college class.

I have upgraded my installation of Moveable Type to version 2.64. If you see and weirdness, please let me know and I will address those issues.

Today I went to Grand Ol'Days here in St. Paul. Minnesota. I went with some friends and a great time was had by all. I have to admit that the price for a beer was step though. A $3.00 wrist band was needed to get into the beer garden, and then beer could be had for $4-5.00.

I managed to get a very minor sunburn and about 40 shots of Fuji ISO 400. I hope to get some great shots from this roll and of course I plan to share with you all. The weather happened to be Minnesota nice and I am hoping that it will last for a couple more weeks before the real heat sets in.

Some of the food I had to eat included: Battered and Fried Cheese Curds, Bartwaust, Nepalli Samosas.