Time … is not on my side, yes it is?

Tech tip … do not take apart something and leave it in pieces for 8 years!!!

So, today I am putting one of my Minolta-35’s back together … and I don’t remember what screws and parts go where. Yeah, I took notes and pictures, but back in the oldn days I was not that detailed in documenting.

Hmm, now were did all those tiny screws end up? I did place all the parts in a compartmentalized plastic thing … but it seems that there are too many things missing? Question is, were they there to begin with?

Reminders to my future self …

Film counter dial … small washer, then larger collar, then larger washer, then dial, then screw on the knob, enough to let the dial rotate … then tighten grub screw.

When taking off a lens mount ring make a serious effort to note if there where the shims, and where they are … mark the top of the ring.

Don’t leave things unfinished soooo long. Finish what you started.

Now I just remembered that one of the bodies was specifically purchased for parts as it was incomplete.

Rapid fix.

Yeah, I am dropping many posts all at once … thats cause I’m lazy … though primarily because I get distracted easily.

Spring cleaning.

Learn camera repair !!!

Now, I will have to say that most of my knowledge about fixing things has come about just by experience, reading stuff, trial and error, and asking the right questions. I was lucky in growing up in an environment that nurtured me to think, provided access to tools to take everything apart (example, toilet … hmm, not a good example), but especially gave me broken things to play with as a child.

I don’t always get it right … I do get most things right … but it is not always the right way to get it right.

Recently a group has appeared that is offering formal training on Camera Repair. Initiated by Gene Pate (camera repair technician), he has permission to offer the National Camera Repair Course to everyone.

I suggest … hmm, strongly suggest … that you go through the course. This is invaluable material for anyone working with trying to restore a Camera or lens. It will teach you how things work, and especially why it works that way.

Learn Camera Repair – website

They also have a Facebook page as a forum: Learn Camera Repair – Facebook page

Stay tuned …

Yes, I am still around … just got distracted this year.

I hope to have something new … eventually.

Family Tree … Shikata ga nai

I have been working on researching my Family Tree for some time years now. I started with the goal of going back in generations to find those that came to Canada and their connections … but it ended quickly as records of those in Japan are not publicly available. If you haven’t figured out yet … I am Canadian of Japanese descent … a Japanese Canadian.

Limited to those records of anyone coming or going … or anything recorded in Canada … I had to go sideways. First I started to gather around my immediate family, but then thing started to branch further out. My family tree has ended up looking like an Aspen forest … all connected at the root with trunks popping up everywhere. For example I was just working on an entry for my the “paternal grandfather of husband of sister-in-law of sister-in-law of brother-in-law of brother-in-law of paternal 1st cousin of wife of brother-in-law of aunt of wife of my uncle”

Recently I have noticed talk about redress. Now the Federal government of Canada formally apologized in 1988, and also put together a $300 million compensation (redress) program … but it was only in 2012 that the province of British Columbia government (where pretty much all of the Japanese lived) apologized and they did not include any efforts towards redress. It was the province of BC that really pushed for the removal of the Japanese. So now various Japanese Canadian groups have gotten together to formally request this … I hope BC will do what’s right.

Now the only reason I brought that up is because of my research. One of the only reason’s I am able to get soooooo many people in my Tree was because of the RCMP records of the interment of the Japanese.

So far I have about 200+ in my family tree that have some interment record, though everyone has in some way been affected by what happened … and it keeps on going. As I have been using Ancestry.com, they often pop up hints … one of the types of hints comes from other member trees. As I go wider more and more member hints appear, but when I take a look at their facts I noticed one fact that is always missing … Interment. Hmm, I actually had to add a fact called “Interment” to the family tree app because it did not have such a thing.

Shikata ga nai 

Recording my family’s info of internment was one of the reasons I started building my family tree online, so others will know when/where about it. These are things not simply discussed with their children in many Canadian Japanese homes, even though years of their lives were affected by this … though many did go to Interment reunions.

Well, I’m making it a Fact … Japanese people were interred, their property removed, their citizenship removed, and physically removed (some “sent back to where they came from”) by the Government (spearheaded by the provincial Government of British Columbia, Canada).

One thing my wife told me … I am not just doing this for myself anymore, I am recording this for all those that need to know what happened.

So if you are doing a genealogical research on your Japanese Canadian family, and you encounter hints on Ancestry about Internment … well, it’s probably me.