So - did another attempt of thinking that these samsung tablets might be possible to do music creating on. They are not quite there yet. They lag pretty bad. I don't think I am running an excessive amount of application or asking too much. I just want some dirty basic beats and synths. I hate that I have to go out to the workshop to work on any music stuff. So cold out there :(
Well, one thing I know these samsung tablets can do - edit text. Yay.
Better than nothing I guess .
Ah. This is fantastic.
I have all day today and tomorrow I think. No deadlines, no tests I need to do. Nothing!
Maybe I will relax a little and play some guitar? There is a world of possibilities.
T minus 2 weeks until immerision for the MBA program. I think I am prepared. I've got the new bag, my laptop is in workable condition all accounts are set up. I am feeling pretty prepared. I even got some sweet AirBNB's near where class will be each day, so I don't have to stress about getting to the class site on time each day.
Fitting in a quick blog session on a weekday morning is tough. It's always so GOGOGOGO in the mornings here. I appreciate the times when I can chill out for 10 minutes playing zelda , or typing up a little blog post. Things are only going to get more hectic once school officially launches. Those 18 months are going to be innnnnsssaaannneeee.
I am sufficiently geared up though, I think. I will be able to type pretty well on both my work laptop and also my macbook pro. I was debating whether I need a new mac for grad school, and really it's only a weight thing. I dont carry my bag any farther than from my car to work, so I don't think it's that important. Carrying 2 laptops kinda does suck, but so does my work laptop. Maybe Philips will let me get a mac if I hold an MBA?
I shouldn't put the cart in front of the horse.
Been practicing with the S-pen. My handwriting still looks like terrible chicken scratch, but if I could write a little bit faster in cursive, I think it would actually be useful.
Adapting my workflow to use a pen seems like it would be neat, though generally the pens are more of a gimmick I feel. The commercials always look so cool with people doing neat things with the included pen. You actually get the pen in your hand, and you're like.. now what?
I did find that it is pressure sensitive, so if I use a bit more pressure, the line thickens up nicely.
More practice!
Upgrading to OSX Mojave, with "dark mode". That's also kind of metaphoric for what my life is going to become once school starts. I'm chugging along with the excel course they want us to do before starting the program. It's pretty easy stuff, but they put some trick questions in there, so I haven't aced any of the quizzes thus far.
I think I have my omnipresent computing nearly set up. I'm going to be able to take notes adequately given I can take my work computer, this tablet and also my mac to work on whatever device has battery at any given time. They all connect to one note, google, etc.
In addition to school stuff, I am also trying to learn some R.
I have an excel fundamentals class that has opened up for me. I am supposed to complete it before classes start at the end of November I believe. I think I will get cracking on it this weekend. More maths. Fun.
The only other thing I really have to do this weekend is mow the old lawn. It's looking pretty shaggy.
The house project looks like it's going to start moving. We just got notified today that they found another engineer to work with and they are working on scheduling a time for them to come out within the next two weeks or so.
We're back home. I packed in a whopping 15 hours of sleep after being up for about 30 hours, so ... it seems it averaged out. I felt pretty great this morning. I feel a bit like I am in a fog. I am hoping that passes in a few days. Jet lag is weird.
I've got the studio nearly set up. I put the speaker stands in, sounding pretty good, but I think I need to calibrate them for the size of the room.
We had a pretty chill last day in Tokyo. We did breakfast at this place called "eggs & things" it was a Hawaiian place that has a branch in Tokyo. It was a pretty tasty breakfast , and portions were not japanese size. We then walked around to the imperial palace and checked that out. There were some cool walls around the palace and gardens, but no historic structures because apparently the Allied forces firebombed the entire complex in 1945 , which is a shame. That palace dated back to the reign of the shogunate.
For lunch we hit up the beaver bakery (which is a bakery... I swear!) for some pasteries , and then a conveinence store for some protein and drinks. I got some natto with purple rice. I am not sure what made the rice purple, but it was more expensive than plain natto, so I sprung for it.
We chilled out for a little bit, then it was off to the airport. It's an hour or so ride out to Narita from Mike's place. Once we got to Narita it was easy-peasy to get checked in, check bags and get through security. I think the entire process was less than 15 minutes. Then we had to wander around for food. We found a place that did sushi and ramen which was a good combo to get Katie some salt and me something chill to eat.
We did a little more shopping, and now we are about 2 hours into our flight and the battery died on my switch, so now I am just going to dork around on the tablet until the benadryl really kicks in. I just had a beer and then ice cream, so it might be interesting. Today is going to be the longest day. We land in Vancouver at 11AM. (8 AM the next day in Tokyo).
