I was just updating another blog I maintain and thought I’d pop over and take a look at my blog. I was a wee bit shocked to realize that I’ve had an iPhone for almost 3 months. Oh well, at least I like it more now than I did before (although it is still lacking a few features I think it needs: “Mark as Read” would be a good starting point) (but, just as I typed that, it occurred to me that the feature might exist but I’ve yet to discover it).

Anyway, it’s been a busy few months and it does leave me pondering, yet again, if I should just scrap this endeavour. A kind commenter in Montreal, Van Hus, seems to think I should (but he also has some perverse desire to defend CNN writers, so I’m not sure we can take him too seriously).

My sister was here for a visit and we did a bit of travel: went to see F1 (hence the photo above, which was taken with the GIANT lens I lugged to the track 3 days running), went to Kyoto, toured around Tokyo. In case you are interested (and don’t worry if you’re not because I am not really an F1 fan either and don’t know much about it beyond the usual), the photo is the winning driver at Fuji Speedway this year, Alonso.

Here’s a classic Kyoto photo – this is Kinkaku-ji (aside from the striking gold facade, it is famous for being burned down by a monk in 1950 and then the act itself was immortalized in Mishima’s novel The Temple of the Golden Pavillion):

I don’t really take too many classic touristy photos these days – I tend to be more interested in things like this if I go “temple tromping”:

I’m off on another tour of the countryside for a few days on Thursday and I’m hoping the leaves are in full colour (although they seem a bit muted in colour here in Tokyo this year; but, at the same time, they are not fully changed yet). We’ll see…

PS: In case you are wondering what I mean by a “GIANT” lens, this will help you visualize it: