Ahh the iPhone...

Well, I'm living in Japan still, but only for six more days... It's hard to believe that I set foot in this country for the first time almost exactly three years ago this week.  I've met some pretty interesting people, made some great friends, and seen some interesting places in the last three years... maybe I'll reflect on some of them in future posts.  For now though, the thought occurred to me this morning that today is my last Saturday that I'll spend in Japan.  It's kind of exciting and sad at the same time.  Bitter Sweet is the way a friend told me when I confided that fact this morning.  It is kind of bitter sweet- but in reality, I'm really glad to be going back to the States.  Even if it is an island state 2500 miles from the continental US.  Just being able to understand the local language is going to be so refreshing.

Oh yeah... the iPhone... well, those of you who know me, know I've turned into a pretty big Mac fan over the last year and a half... it started with a 20 gig iPod... and today my Mac passion includes three iPods, a Mac Mini, a MacBook, an AppleTV, and as of this morning at about 6:11 PM Pacific Time (that's 10:11 PM Japan Time) a brand new iPhone.  Of course, it's going to be a while before I actually have it in my hands- I'm just stoked that I actually got to order one.  The frenzy back in the states over it, seemed ridiculous... and OK, so I did buy one online 11 minutes after it went on sale, but hey- I needed a cell-phone anyway for when I get back to the states.  At least thats my excuse for now.  By the way, I've been following pretty much every spare bit of news and hearsay about this device since it was first announced on the 9th of January of this year.  The fact that I know that date off the top of my head... hmm... is that bad?

Paradise Written...

How should I kick this off?  I have an innate desire to write.  About my life, about my interests, about my surroundings.  I don't really know why; I guess it's just who I am, and how I was made.  I guess at the root of it, it's a form of expression for me.  I believe I can express myself in writing much better than I can in speech, or music, or drawing or anything else.  Not that those things don't interest me.  They do.  It's just that writing comes easier for me for some reason.  Or at least as I've come to believe.  It could be a skewed view of myself and my gifts- I guess it will come to pass as I see how this blog plays out, but I'm going to do this as a private enterprise, and see if I'll keep at it- or if just something that I ended up doing on a whim.  I think it will continue, because more than once a day I think about how I'd like to write about things that I see and experience.  

I've begun a blog like this, with a similar title in the past.  Those of you who know me, understand that the nature of my profession led to me being, shall we say, motivated, to take it down.  Apparently a transparent life is not always acceptable in certain professions.  Especially mine, as interesting as it was to my family and friends.  As a result, I'm going to minimize my discussions of my profession on this, and focus more on my interests.  Although, when I started my last blog, my greatest interest was my profession.  Fortunately, that has changed.  And I find myself wanting to write about more my interests than my profession alone.

So if you find yourself reading this, I hope you enjoy what you find.  It's my life.  Or most of it anyway... oh- in case you are wondering... 'Why Paradise?'  Well... thanks to my profession, I'm moving there soon...  Cheers.

Hal W.