My life has been pretty routine lately. I haven't had much travel recently but I'm starting to schedule a few trips. I have a trip to San Francisco next week and some trips to Bangkok, Jakarta, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi coming up. My days are a balance of work and family with a little guitar practice each day. I am slowly progressing. What I lack in natural skill I make up for in determination and dedication. I've been this way with most things in my life. I look forward to the day I can pick and strum away without thinking about it.

I found the best Kickstarter project this week: Fidget Cube. I think someone underestimated the market and need for something for fidgeters. On a goal of $15,000 they have been backed by 75,500 people raising $3,000,000. They have been live for a week and have 39 days to go. I can't wait to see where they end up. I order two for me. One for my office desk and one for my home office desk.

Today's configuration: Leica M Monochrom with a Summicron 28mm f/2.0

I drive to work now-a-days as I hate how crowded the Toyoko Line gets during rush out. The Toyoko Line is the main line between Shibuya and Yokohama. A lot of people live on it so it can get extremely crowded during rush hour. When I take the train I'm usually on a 7AM train to avoid the crowds. I typically get to work pretty early anyways so it isn't a big deal to be just a little earlier.

This week I was attending the a conference and it didn't start until 10AM. It felt strange but nice to be catching a 9AM train...

So much better than the typical crowds that happen from 7:30-9AM. It can go on a bit longer but it is typically pretty mellow by 9AM.

I haven't had to commute through Shibuya Station in a while and was exiting a different exit than I usually do. I always forget how massive this station is.

The amount of construction going on as they redevelop Shibuya Station and the surrounding area is overwhelming. I can't wait to see how it finally comes out. The new area will open in two phases, first in 2020 and then in 2027.

If only the entire world was so polite or at least the internet...

Shibuya Gardens Bellasalle not to be confused with Shibuya Bellasalle. I hate when things are named similarly. I mistakenly went to Shibuya Bellasalle first. It seems this happened a lot as when I asked for the conference I was looking for they handed me a map and at the top it said 'You are at the wrong Bellasalle'...

As I mentioned I was attending a conference this week. I don't usually attend industry conferences unless it is a conference my company is holding. This week was Tech in Asia Tokyo. It was really fascinating. I got to catch up with colleagues from previous companies, meet up with counterparts from other companies, hear about a lot of startups and meet some really interesting VCs. I really want to try to attend more of these conferences.

There were lots of presentations but I think my favorite quote was from Dave McClure from 500 Start Ups. Dave and his team believe that you can't really know a lot about someone or their product from just a couple of meetings before you invest so you really need to spread your investments broadly across a lot of companies. To date they have invested in more than 1,500 companies. They just had their first IPO and have 5 or 6 more in the queue.

Dave commented that when they first started out a lot of the traditional VCs were laughing at them. In light of their track record and success he commented "Eventually they will stop laughing...". I like people who stick to their convictions in spite of opposition. I think all too often people either stay with the norms or quickly adapt to the popular opinion or approach when facing challengers.