New series of Nikon digital SLR

I've been keeping an eye on Nikon digital SLR's price information recently. It seems almost all stores are cutting its price. According to Kakaku.com,

D80 : \67,988.
D200 : \107,860.
D300 : \161,460.

I heard Nikon would unveil its new series sometime soon. The new series would be better and cheaper than current series. I mainly want to take pictures of racing-car. Now, therefore D200 and D300's high-speed continuous shooting are enticing me. Or, should I be waiting for new series? What do you think?

productive weekend

I had very productive days on last weekend.

First, I made my first piano lessons to a friend. I had made chorus lessons and rehearsals many times. But this time, I had to learn a lot of musical terms for the lesson in advance. And I also needed to prepare many word-expressions for the lesson. It was fun! When I was preparing musical terms, I found most of my music words were Italian. I think many of those Italian words are hard to translate into other languages. I had given up translating those and I reluctantly used original Italian words some times.

After the lesson, I went to my library and borrowed some books and CDs. And then I got to cooking and had a F1 night with my friends. It was a lot of fun! But it was a little strange because one of my favorite F1 teams, Super Aguri was not there. And yet, it moves!

This is how I get relief from stress.

Today I played Schubert's sonata D960 as a practice. This music was composed in September, 1828. This is his last sonata and he passed away in November, two months after having completed it.

This has his totally innocent soul. It's an astonishment that it's completely free from all extra ornaments - such as lust, greed, wrath and pride. Whenever I am exposed to this music, it makes me forget about the burden of work and life. This is how I get relief from stress!

Super Aguri's premature withdrawal

I am disappointed at the Super Aguri's premature withdrawal from F1.

I won't blame them for their management. They had always worked hard and tried their limits. They showed me many impressive performances.

One of unforgettable races is obviously the Canadian GP in 2007. Takuma sealed Alonso- double World Champion's final position at the race.

And also I can't forget the superb qualifying performance in Melbourne in 2007, he got to Q3. That was a miracle, they had just finished its shakedown on Friday, the day before.

It was no doubt that their overall potential had been not so good. But I believe they were an irreplaceable, great Formula one team, Super Aguri!

Hamamatsu Festival

I've just got home. I had a relatively productive vacation.

The other day, I visited Hamamatsu to see the Kite festival with friends. It was fun! It was a beautiful day for watching flying kites in the sky. About 20 people work on letting a 9 square foot kite fly and tugging it with a vivid trumpet and drum sounds. Each kite has energetic and distinctive design pattern. Watching many flying-kites in the sky, I felt cheered up.

A tiny golden week

My tiny golden week has just started! I got only four days vacation! I wish I had more days for this vacations. But I have some attractive plans for the first two days. And in the second half of the four days vacation, I am going to have relaxing days at home in Shizuoka.

I have many books to finish reading. I will spend a time reading those books at home. Recently, I haven't read so much. Because I was too busy to spare time to read. I think I should reread Shakespeare or something after a long while.