A night of latin jazz

I just came from watching a live performance.  My Japanese friend, U-san, invited me to watch his band perform tonight.  This time, he told me it was Latin Jazz, different from the jazz and pop-rock he used to do.  I think he got tired of his drum set and would rather play with his bongos and cajon for now.  

The place was in Kamiooka, a few blocks away from the Keikyuu and Subway stations.  It's called Kunkunshi-raya.  It was a cozy little plaze with wooden tables and chairs.  The 'stage' had a piano and wooden bass, and of course amps and stuff.  J and I were the only ones supposed to go, but after seeing E and C, we, or rather I, "forcefully urged" them to come with us.  

My officemate K-san and another acquaintance M-san were already there.  I was late because Y-san just couldn't take a hint that I really had to go at 6:30.  I was able to come out 30 mins later.  Good thing J didn't get tired of waiting.  

The music was a welcome change of pace.  It was soothing and melodious.  I felt my feet tap to the percussion.  My fingers were doing the bass tabs.  Think "Summertime" by Norah Jones.

Here's a link from their previous performance.

I hope to catch them again soon!  And also, I'd like to taste their food again because the Okinawa Yakisoba was fantastic!

My new iMac

I just bought my new iMac a week ago.

Yup, that's right, that's my flight day.  I just lugged my things up to the apartment, put them down, and was on my way to the store.  At first, I was shopping for a white MacBook.  Before I left, the 2.2GHz Intel MacBook was priced at 144,800 yen, 15,000 yen less than the 20" iMac.  Both had promos of 30,000 yen less when bought together with an Internet connection. 

Alas, when I went to the store, the discount was gone!  Plus, the YahooBB promo was stopped, too!  Think, think!  With the cash discounts gone, it suddenly became a level playing field for the MacBook and iMac [As light and wonderful the MacBook Air seemed to me, it just wasn't a very good first PC, er Mac rather.  I can be an application-intensive user, and I need higher specs and a bigger disc space to be able to do what I normally do - watching movies and editing photos].

Specs-wise, the iMac was the clear winner.  But can anyone really lug around almost 14kg of computing power?  But is the portability of the MacBook enough to pass up on the higher specs of the iMac?

I consulted everybody with me, and even called home.  Since this will be my first Mac, I figured, the higher spec, the better.  I'll just buy the portable next time.