I’ll add stuff I swear

Uh, coming up I’ll start making random food/experience/photo posts…sometime. And backlog of photos from Japan trip from the winter and China trip for Chinese New year, as well as Video Games Live and other stuff in general. I’ll get to it sometime…yep.

Updated Keitai guide

Completely re-did the guide. Hope it helps!

Table of Contents:

What is a ‘Keitai’?
Can I use it outside of Japan?
Will a Keitai work on my network?
Can I unlock a keitai for overseas use? Is it completely unlocked?
What’s with the shape of Japanese phones?
Do they have English-language support?
Do keitais support the T9 text input system?
What are these China Unicom/Fareastone branded phones that look like keitais?
How do I get a keitai?
What if I want to import directly from Japan?
Help, my keitai didn’t come with a power adapter! Where do I get a power adapter/accessories?
How do I use a ‘hypersim’?
I can’t get signal on my phone anymore!
How do I get music to work/transfer media onto the phone?
How do I get a Keitai in Canada?
Will my phone work in Canada?
What sim unlock will work with my SIM card?
Are there any local keitai stores in Vancouver?
How’s the signal strength or reception in Vancouver?

General FAQ

A keitai with a cycloid hinge. Very noticable keitai type. Image taken from Softbank website.

940SH in Vancouver Review

I got a Sharp 940SH a few months ago so by now I’ve gotten a good idea how how well it works over here in Vancouver. Standard keitai rules apply, see the guide for more info on that. Also, it’s a Softbank phone, so standard multimedia unlock rules apply.

940SH on the left, SH-03A, my previous phone, on the right. Both are 2-axis phones, while the SH-03A used a reverse hinge, with the 940SH retaining the standard type.

I’m Alive >_>

Long story, no posts in a long time, but I’m alive. I’ll eventually get to posting a few months worth of stuff…sometime. Oh and keitai guide was majorly updated a few weeks ago so check it out if you want.

Random pictures from this summer.

Going through my photos, I’ve noticed I have quite a bit of pictures accumulated from the summer. Here’s a bunch that I’ve randomly thrown up

A new MK-II train pulls in to Surrey Central Station on the Expo Line.

New computer build!

Laying out for the build.

I build a new computer every three or four years since by then the previous computer would have been hard-pressed to keep up with the newest things. For this build, I upped to the i7 generation with a 920; for the immediate while anything else would be overkill. Along that line, I paired it with 6GB of DDR3 and a Geforce GTX285, as well as a nice shuttle bare-bone comes with the x58. The computer that it replaces is a mutt that I’ve upgraded every now and then.

ニコニコOFF 1

Nico Nico OFF!

An observation…

Here's an example of what I'm talking about; They call this a chicken teriyaki rice bowl.

In Vancouver there’s an absolute ton of Japanese/Sushi restaurants on every major street, however most of them aren’t run by Japanese people. Korean-run ones tend to serve less meat/substance in their dishes and use vegetables for filler I noticed, as well as generally using pre-made bases or otherwise for their dishes. All the all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurants are also actually run by Chinese groups since it’s more of a Chinese thing to stuff yourself until you can’t eat anymore I guess. The actual Japanese-run ones seem to be frequented by Japanese people and the food is quite good, but the setting is generally a hole-in-the-wall-type affair which turns off other kinds of people from the restaurant reviews I see. Just a few thoughts.

Phở

I always wondered why there were so many pho places in Vancouver, considering most of them aren’t that great. A lot of them have small serving sizes or use pre-made soup bases. For those who don’t know, pho is Vietnamese noodles in beef soup, with random stuff thrown in. Anyways, pho is good when made right!

Went to a pho place yesterday, a lot of you might have seen it right next to Surrey Central Station.

I love this place since their bowls are huge and their soup is good. The service is fast, the prices are good, and in asian style they only take cash(read: no sales tax).

Put the new cars into service faster!

Running MKII 2-car trainsets should be a crime since they are always so packed, even late at night! The design of the cars just makes it worse since they sacrificed standing room for seating. Just a quick snapshot of my commute home between 7-8PM.

Being squeezed against the door corner is *not* fun.