June 2005 Archives
July 13th, it's on. Time to make reservations for the third time.
To do list:
- Flights
- Rental car
- Hotel in the Keys
- Hotel in Orlando
- Hotel near the Cape (Amit's job)
- Borrow fancy lenses from Canon
We talked my grandparents (both in their 80s) into getting a Mac Mini! We used their existing monitor and mouse and bought a keyboard. Also got a multifunction printer for $50. Lots of setup work to do... not to mention training.
Later we're going to La Mesilla which is next door in New Mexico. Hopefully I'll take some pictures there... tomorrow Friday is the mountains (Ruidoso) and White Sands.
Last night my mom and I wanted a few snacks for our hotel room so we walked across the street to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. I never go to Wal-Mart because I detest the place and I've never been to a Supercenter before so I was in for a shock. Not only can you buy steak and underwear in the same place: you can even buy lobster!
Yes, Wal-Mart lobsters. In west Texas. Seemed a little odd to me.
Anyhow it's hot as a furnace here, around 105 during the day and very low humidity. Pretty boring so far... we're going to do a day trip tomorrow I think.
One thing that is really annoying is the shower in the hotel room. What kind of idiot desigs a shower where the shower head is below your head? I'm 6'1" and it's at about shoulder level.
It's almost midnight and I just finished a camera review. I'm supposed to be on a plane in less than 12 hours and I haven't even packed yet!
Today's randomness:
1) Tonight was my final golf lesson. We focused on pitching and putting, and I have to say, I'm not that horrible at either. I didn't do well in the pitching contest, but I made it to the final round in the putting contest. In the end I hit it too hard and the ball went well past the hole. Overall, golf lessons were fun and I want to keep practicing so one day I can actually play the real thing!
2) The gym was tough today. My shoulder is NOT liking the chest and shoulder press, and I think I'll be seeing the physical therapist after my trip to have it looked at. I also did abs and the elliptical for 25 minutes. It's weird, last week I noticed that I was more interested in going to the gym than working. What's going on here?
3) I saw this quote in the paper and I thought I'd post it since it's relevant to things I've written about here before. It's about how people will remember you when you're gone:
People will forget what you said and what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou
I'm not really sure what to make of this quote. Maybe I spend too much time "doing" and not enough time "being"... but I'm not sure how to be anything other than myself...
Off to Texas, if I see anything cool I'll blog about it (the hotel has internet).
My dad and I did one of those "father-son" things today when we visited the Palo Alto Concours D'Elegance on the Stanford campus. Basically this is when poor people pony up $20 (for charity) to see rich people's cars. And there was some nice stuff! Click the link to see some pictures I took with my 20D.
While waiting for Mark to emerge from a cell phone dead-zone (due to the Pride stuff going on this weekend) I walked from the Ferry Building to Union Square with the Nikon D50 and my tripod. These were totally random shots that I took to kill time, and they turned out nicely!
I've been wanting to do a shoot like this for years and I finally did it -- though it was all by the seat of my pants. I hope to do this again soon.
All photos were taken WITHOUT a tripod at ISO 1600 using the D50 (I did use the tripod for my usual night test shots from TI a bit later in the evening). I cleaned up the noise levels a bit in Photoshop CS2.
My garden is enjoying the summer heat, though today it was only about 85. I even impressed one of the HP PR girls last week: "wow, you're pretty good at gardening for a guy!"
Click the link to see what's growing in the backyard.
I accomplished my goal of going to the gym 4 days this week... and boy am I sore! Actually it's not that bad -- only my arms hurt... everything else is okay. We'll see if I can keep this 4 day per week thing going... that'll be the hardest part.
I must say I'm amazed at just how hardcore some people are. Yesterday I was surrounded by two serious exercisers while I was on the elliptical machine doing my measly 25 minutes. The woman to my left did an hour on the machine, while the woman on the right did at least 30 minutes and then she went over to run on the treadmill! No thank you!
I found this survey from the MIT Media Lab to be interesting. Check it out!
(Thanks, Ash)
In the last month I've broken my prescription glasses and sunglasses and now my PSP is dead too. Unlike with the glasses, the PSP will be replaced for free.
Today I started weight training at the gym. Some of the upper body work really aggravated my shoulder problem (whatever it is). While I hope that goes away as I get stronger, one thing's for sure: I'm going to be sore as #(@% tomorrow.
Next Tuesday I'm off to El Paso, Texas to visit my grandparents. I may take a side trip or two if possible. All I know is that it'll be hot!
1) I'm in love with chai. I had some for the first time last month and now I'm hooked. While the Starbucks version is good, at home I make it using concentrate from Oregon Chai.
2) Last month I broke my glasses and today my prescription sunglasses broke. I hope this isn't becoming a trend -- it's expensive to keep replacing them. Off to LensCrafters tomorrow!
3) So far the gym thing is going well. Monday was the first day and the personal trainer got me going on cardio exercises, goals, etc. Thursday he'll get some weight training going as well. I'm hoping to go four days a week -- we'll see if that happens -- but so far I'm optimistic.
4) One thing I like about blogging is that people get to see the "real me" faster than they would if I met them in person. Since it's no-holds-barred here (more of less) my blog readers learn things about me that the average acquaintance does not. Then again, some people might not want to know all the details... but they're all true, I swear!
5) I couldn't stop laughing at the grocery store tonight when I spied this week's issue of TV Guide while in line at the checkout. This particular issue was the "summer diet issue". I kid you not.
As a sort of father's day trip, my dad and I went to Yosemite on Saturday. Yeah, I know that I was just there, but we spent most of our time at Hetch Hetchy instead of in the valley. Hetch Hetchy is where San Francisco gets its drinking water from. It's pumped all the way over the hills, across the central valley, around the bottom of the bay, and into a reservoir near San Mateo.
Hetch Hetchy itself is kind of like Yosemite Valley full of water. It's not as impressive but it's still pretty nice. You can hike along one side of it, reaching several waterfalls. The hike was more difficult than advertised, but it was worth the pain in my opinion. The trail was the worst one we've ever encountered in Yosemite. We wanted to go there since there's talk of taking down the damn and restoring the valley to its former self, so who knows how long it'll be like this.
After that we headed into the valley. Yosemite sucks this time of year -- way too many people. Who wants to sit in traffic in a national park? Not us -- we'll stick to the offseason instead.
Anyhow, click the link to see some pictures taken with the Nikon D50.
Today I finally gave in and joined a gym here in Brentwood. I've been thinking about it for a while and finally decided on Wednesday that I'd go today and sign up. And so I did. Today I took the tour, figured out the pricing, and signed up. The place (being a ClubOne) is pretty fancy, with TVs on all the machines, plasma screens on the wall, all new equipment, free classes, a couple of swimming pools, and more. My first day is on Monday, when a personal trainer will set me up with some things to do while I'm there. I don't particularly like going to the gym (it's been 5-6 years since I last belonged to one), but it's one of those necessary evils that you just need to turn into a habit. You know, like flossing your teeth. Okay I'm still working on that one.
This year is all about self-improvement for me. Whether it's seeing a therapist every few weeks, trying new things like tai chi and golf, or going to the gym, I'm trying to broaden my horizons, stay healthy, and burn off some stress while I'm at it. We'll see how it goes!
Thanks to my buddy Mark for the inspiration. Now I can bug him about putting fattening dressing on his salads again :)
Look at what I had for lunch today! My mom and I met at Zachary's in Oakland and we shared a stuffed salami, mushroom, and olive pizza. It was soooooo good so I just had to share. The picture, not the pizza, of course. :)
I found Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech to be worth reading. Lots of "words to live by" buried in his three stories.
This weekend my favorite low grade Chinese food chain opened up a restaurant in Brentwood. Perhaps foolishly, I went after my golf lessons to get some food. The place was packed. And while the line was short it took forever to get my food. When I picked it up the girl read back my order and it was right so I went home. When I got home I realized that they left out my main dish (those who know me well know exactly what it was, too). So back I went where I immediately went for the manager. He got me a fresh bucket of food and a coupon for free lunch on him. Now that's good customer service. That said, I think I'll give them a week or two to get their sea legs... right now it's a little choatic back there.
In a few minutes I'm leaving for the second of my four golf lessons this month. It's 97 degrees outside. This is going to hurt. Maybe if I try hard enough at my lesson I won't notice the blistering heat. I have much work to do when it comes to my swing!
This one's a quick one...
First have a look at my corn! It's now over a foot tall!
Then there's my grapes. Holy crap! You have to blow up the photo to count them all. This is my flame grape plant -- I've got 5 more plants worth too (one muscat, four thompson)!
Is it just me, or are they getting more and more difficult to use? Bank of America's are especially bad. Insert card, choose your language, enter your PIN number, and wait.
"Fast cash" used to be fast. Not anymore... now you have to pick how much you want to withdraw instead of pressing one button and collecting your $40. If I wanted to choose my withdrawl amount I'd get cash the regular, non-fast way!
And depositing money is more of a pain too. How much do you want to deposit? Are you sure? Which account? Okay, give me your money. Then the stupid thing prints out the receipt which wastes paper if you want to perform another transaction after that (like withdraw money).
Wells Fargo's ATMs, on the other hand, are cool. You can even buy stamps from them!
Man, I feel better now.
On Friday my street will be closed so they can "slurry" it. Why they have to do this on a street 2 years old is beyond me, but hey, I don't have any choice in the matter. So I either need to put the car somewhere else (where I do not know), stay at home all day, or walk everywhere.
Update: It never happened! Grrr...
Apple to switch to Intel processors. I'm keeping a close eye on the sky today, it may be falling. I never thought I'd see the day...
There was a brush fire down the street but (unfortunately) I wasn't around to see it happen. I saw smoke but had no idea it was down the block! Above is one of the destroyed construction vehicles and this panorama shows the whole burn area. This happened in-between my street and the new high school. There were some other fires in the area today (it was really windy) that I could see from around town.
Update: As it turns out the fire was not an accident (see story)
(Click for larger image)
What lucky timing for this shot! Taken with the Canon PowerShot S2 in Foster City, CA (where I grew up).
The house down the street from me which is the same as mine is for sale for $650,000. Now she put $180k in upgrades into it, but still! I'm going to watch this one closely as soon it will be time to sell mine.
Another house down the street (2 stories) is listed at $700k... wow.
As promised I've got nearly sixty photos from my trip this weekend. I took'em all with my awesome Canon EOS-20D with the kit lens. Even the fireworks pictures were taken handheld! Enjoy!
Update: Perhaps I should actually post the link to the photos. Oops!
