There are strange things in Kitayama, the northern mountains of Kyoto. Of them, the forest of naturally layered cryptomeras of Katanami (片波伏条台杉群) I some times write about and the Triplet cryptomerias of Daihizan (大悲山の三本杉) are my favorite places. Walking amongst the gigantic trees deformed by the heavy snow repeating for years, and just standing in front of the the mountain temple’s magnificent sacred trees  gravely protected for long time, I feel so good and refreshed as I silently converse with them.　京都北山の山中には不思議なものが数多くある。中でも時々書く片波の巨大伏条台杉群の森と大悲山の三本杉は僕のお気に入りの場所。長年に渡る豪雪により変形した巨人達の間を彼らと静かに対話しながら歩き、古来大切に守られてきた山寺の神木の前にたたずむと、心地よく清新な気分になる。

I brought a friend of mine to the forest the other day. She had been going through the hardship in her stressful work environment. I think she could be released from her stresses– if not perfectly but to a certain extent– after seeing the trees that have persevered the harsh weather for a thousand years or more.

We visited another thousand-year-old giants existing in a different part of Kitayama– the Triplet Cryptomerias of Daihizan, or Sambonsugi (大悲山三本杉) . Unike the ones in Katanami, they are straight and standing upright, but strangely, their trunks share the single base. Deep in the mountains and clad in the solemn air, these sacred trees of nearby Bujo-ji temple (峰定寺) are certainly awe-inspiring.

Through the tacit dialogues with all those giants in the Nature, my fried must feel that her existence was so small and her troubles in the work seemed like just another itty-bitty trifles– if so, I feel good about it, too.

I got a dead 24″ LCD from my sister. She first brought it to a computer store and was told that it woulf cost so much that she could by new one. Naturally, she purchased a new one.
くたばった２４インチ液晶モニターを妹からもらった。コンピューター屋さんに持って行ったら、新しいのを買うほうが安いとのこと。まあ、当然新しいほうを選ぶわな。

I asked her to give it to me, because I knew the problem was most probably in the power circuit, and in that case rotten capacitors would be the main cause, thus easily repairable.
おそらくは電源回路の問題だろうし、その場合たいてはコンデンサーが腐ってることが多いのは想像ついていたので、もらって帰った。

I open up the plastic casing and voila! Six of the capacitors had swollen. I took a memo of their capacities and voltages, and then ran to a electrical parts shop in Teramachi.
ケースを開けてみたら、やっぱ！コンデンサー６個が膨れ上がっていた。容量と電圧をメモって寺町の電子部品屋さんに走った。

The parts– six capacitors and solder absorption chord– cost me 900 yen all together (only 1/20 of the price for cheap LCD of the same size).
部品−−コンデンサー６個とはんだ吸い取り線−−は全部で９００円（同サイズの安い液晶モニターのたった２０分の１）

The rest was the same old soldering job… nothing special. Then I put everything together, plugged it in, and connected to my ThinkPad. It worked. I also hooked it to my fake Mac notebook just to double check. It worked, too. Uhhh… Too eazy, so the whole thing wasn’t so impressive…
残りの作業はいつものハンダ付け、、、なんということもない。それから復旧して、電源入れて、ThinkPadにつないだ。大成功。偽Macのノートにも、ダブルチェックでつないでみたら、これまた成功。うーん、、、簡単すぎて感動がないなあ。。。

Easy to score a field goal when “one on zero” (hehehe…)

A new basketball goes well with the new board!

The Moon and Mars are getting closer one another. Saturn must be somewhere around but I couldn’t spot it. Well, it doesn’t matter coz I’ve got my own hoop here. It’s a quiet night, tonight.
月と火星がどんどん近づいている。土星もその辺にいるはずだけど、見つからなかった。ま、どうでもいいや、輪っかならこっちにもあるし。。。静な夜だなあ。

The net has arrived and already hooked to the hoop, but the basketball I ordered at the same time is not here yet.
ネットが来て、リングに着けちゃった。でも、同時に注文したバスケットボールがまだ。

The next door neighbor happened to have one and she let me use the ball for taking photos.
お隣さんがたまたまボールを持っていたので、写真を撮るのに貸してもらった。

What I really wanted to get was a basketball with colorful Kieth Haring’s Illustrations on it; however, only smaller ones for kids are available on market.  I couldn’t be helped but choosing the black one with Keith Haring patterns. I am expecting it arriving soon.

ほんとはキース・ヘリングのイラストがついたカラフルなやつが欲しかったんだけど、子供向けの小さいのしかない。しかたなく同じキース・ヘリングの絵が描いてある黒の地味めなのを頼んだ。はやく来ないかなあ。。。