A Bit of Multitasking

Inside of a temple in Chiang Mai

Monday, June 11, 2012: Chiang Mai

My traveling computer workhorse (or should I call it my workdonkey ;-) is still my 13-inch white MacBook I bought when back home in 2009. It only has 2 GB of RAM and slows down terrible when I use any photo processing software like Lightroom or Photoshop and even more so when I move from Lightroom to any of the NIK programs like Silver Efex Pro 2 or Color Efex Pro 4. Waiting time truly annoys on a computer as there are only so many cups of coffee one can drink or so many times one has to make a trip to the bathroom.

For the past year or so, I had wanted to buy a larger 15-inch MacPro with all the RAM I could get and afford but then I was leaving China last year until July, then travelled a bit, spent some time at home and went off again in Feb. 2013. Eventually, I had decided that I would wait for the new MacBooks which were about to be announced today!

Sitting in my hotel room in Chiang Mai, I had ditched my plans to attend a Thai Boxing event as I just didn't feel like it and thought there were too many people and tourists anyway. I had just wanted to try my new Canon 60D which has a higher ISO range than my 450D had when I shot a Thai Boxing night last (last) year. Not that I am into Thai boxing, I just wanted to see what kind of shots I would get. So, I postponed my adventure to Wednesday.

Just some blossoms I passed on my way from breakfast back to my hotel

So, I was trying to work on some of my photos, while watching the last episode of Trey's Variety Hour - #38 What's in Your Bag - on my iPad to the left of me. This way I can listen when I am doing some

work on my laptop and watch when the computer is in processing "Do not Disturb"-mode. At the same time, the football/soccer-game between England and France was on and I had it on my in-room TV a bit further to the left with the sound almost all the way down. 

But as whenever a goal was scored or something else important happened, I heard a crowd of spectators at a nearby pub cheer or comment in another way what was happening in the game. I knew that there were a lot of English people either visiting or living in Chiang Mai but the French crowd seemed equally strong.

Oh, and ever now and then I switched over to my browser window and checked what wired.com was blogging live from the WWDC as this time around I really want a new MacBook.

Details of the day:

1. Tried a new breakfast hangout but the woman thought that I had only ordered coffee instead of the full breakfast set - well, it finally worked but again I realized that it's better to always double-check.
2. Watched Trey's Variety Hour #38 "What's in Your Bag" and heard about that iPhone app "Marblecam" which is free. I downloaded it right away but haven't gotten around testing it.
3. Worked on my upcoming itinerary which will take me to Lamphun, Lampang and Kanachaburi before heading down to Hat Yai and crossing over to Malaysia.