Groundhog Day

Peek-a-boo

I spied this cute little guy peeping out of his hole today in Golden Gate Park near the Bison Paddock. He was playing hide and seek as I walked by. It's exactly like those old "whack a mole" arcade games they used to have. They stick their heads out once you pass by.

Wandering on the Way

Summer Cocktails

I'm really trying to limit the time I spend hunched over my laptop on the weekends. It's bad for me, I know, but there is so much that I need to research. Instead of transforming myself slowly into the Hunchback of San Francisco, I need to get out more and do some physical exercise. I know a friend, who takes salsa dancing lessons after work. That is commendable. Usually, I just want to rest after work and withdraw, not put myself in another social situation.

By the way, star power is in San Francisco this weekend - Michelle Obama. She's here to promote volunteerism. I haven't seen her in person though. All I've seen today are Safeway and Costco shoppers in their weekend wear. Oh yes, I did get something I've needed and wanted for the longest time ...... a shoe rack! I feel so much more organized now.

In addition, I thought this NYT article was interesting. It confirms what I already knew - hot temperatures mean bad news! Long live the temperate climate!

Yum Yum

Olive Bread

This loaf of olive bread was simply delicious! I was strolling in the Ferry Building and decided to stop by the Acme Bread Company stand. I eyed the olive bread because I had some before at a Greek restaurant and liked the taste. On a whim, I decided to purchase a loaf. Generally I don't splurge, but once in a while it is okay, in my opinion. I had a couple slices for dinner and am still full. I highly recommend it if you're ever around the Ferry Building. The only drawback is that they only accept cash. What's up with that?!

Live and Learn

Infinity

Today is a topic rich day. I have three things I want to blog about. The first is about this billboard in downtown SF, the second about making decisions and the third about a great New York Times article.

Check out this billboard. It is for a luxury condominium building called the Infinity, which offers breathtaking views of the SF Bay. The billboard shows a woman dressed up in a fancy dress sitting in a pristine white room and staring out at the view of the Bay Bridge. She is surrounded by varying sizes and assortment of cakes. What's wrong with this picture? It seems to portray the misconception that the more trinkets and "things" you have, the happier you'll be. Why cakes? I don't get it and it's sending the wrong message.

Secondly, I can't stand it when I'm up against moral dilemmas because they are usually ambiguous, very challenging and I usually end up regretting my actions. However, I need to move past it and focus on trying to be good person the next time such a situation arises. Self flagellation does not help.

Thirdly, the New York Times wrote a very interesting article on how many unemployed older people (i.e. in their 30's) are turning to the US Army as an employer. The following is my favorite quote -"It’s a guaranteed job, as long as you go to work every day,” said Capt. Jared Auchey, company commander of the Army Experience Center in Philadelphia, who estimates that one in 10 of the enlistments at his high-tech marketing office are over 35. 'There are no layoffs in the Army.' "

Yes, there are no layoffs in the Army ... just the specter of death constantly lurking nearby and nipping at your heels!

Anyhow, I just found this story so fascinating because of the weird dynamics of older people being trained by youngsters half their age. Your pride definitely takes a huge hit when your supervisor is younger than you. In any case, having older recruits will make the situation quite interesting in the US Army.

The Swat Heard Around the World

Cafe Culture

Why does Obama swatting a fly make the news? But admittedly, that was a very big bugger of a fly he killed with one swat. Good job commander in chief, although I hope he washed his hands afterwards.

The Cost of Being a Social Butterfly

Parking, Dinner & a Movie

I really don't know how people do it.
They go out so often to enjoy themselves.
They pay rent.
They own a car.
They buy fancy coffee drinks every day.

I was considering accepting a Facebook invitation to an event tomorrow because it is so convenient and I should socialize more. The movie theater is near where I work and the restaurant is in the same place.
However, transportation is always an issue. If I want to do stuff after work, I would have to drive myself and I don't like driving. Furthermore, it's not my car. When I need a car, I borrow the family car. On top of that is the cost of attending events. Here's the breakdown:

Parking for a day: $18
Dinner: Approx. $15 (including tax & tip)
Movie ticket: $9
Total cost of a night out = $42 approximately

That is expensive. That's one of the reasons I decided not to go tomorrow. Plus, the movie did not sound that compelling, which is the stronger reason not to go. People who do this on a regular basis must be living paycheck to paycheck. However, you could argue they have a wider circle of "friends", whatever the term means these days.

Also, I rationalize my decision by thinking, in order to be successful, I need to focus my limited resources (time & money). So that's what I need to do tomorrow since I'm not being social - focus on goals that are important to me.

Special Update on Photobooks - Mpix Review

Lunch*

Returning to the topic of photo books, I was planning to try out Mpix. I even went as far as to download the software and test it out. However, I decided against it.

First of all, there are limited book templates and those that they offer are quite crude. For example, there's one for "that special little boy", and then one for that "special little girl", and travels, wedding etc. This is very limited!

Furthermore, I could not figure out how to preview my book. The book making software is not intuitive.

Finally, the page layouts did not allow for much text. So let's say I really wanted to fully explain why there is a Pope's palace in Avignon, it would not be possible because the page layouts only allow for limited captions.

My quest for the perfect photobook maker continues.

*About the picture:

This will be my lunch for tomorrow. It's a mixture of Prego tomato sauce, sausage, corn, celery and mushrooms. This will be the sauce over some al dente linguini. It's my way of saving some dollars because eating out in the Financial District adds up. Assume each lunch costs on average $8, I would be spending $40 a week on lunch alone! This is not including little snacks like chai lattes, etc.

Suppenkueche

Breaking Bread

Today I went to Suppenkueche in San Francisco's Hayes Valley for brunch and invited a mix of friends and work colleagues. It was a nice gathering. We broke bread together and sat at a communal table. There was no linking of arms and swaying though. That would have been too weird and not enough beer was flowing. Hee hee!

I ordered geroestete Maultaschen, but they put too much egg in there. (See picture above) As a result, it tasted more like omlette than Maultaschen. Afterwards I headed over to the North Beach Festival and had a capuccino and cannoli. That might explain why I'm still full as I type this.

GPS for sale

Garmin Nuvi 650

I'm selling my Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS device.

It's been a trusty companion on many a drive down to the South Bay for work. Also, I only purchased this last year, so it is in very good condition. In addition to the GPS device, I am including the friction stand for holding the GSP on your dashboard.

All this for only $350. On Amazon, this is a $550 value.

BTW, I was a good Samaritan yesterday by helping confused looking tourists in the Financial District. They were studying a map intensely when I asked if I could help them. They were looking for a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge they told me - the F-line to be specific. Since they were very close to the Embarcadero, I pointed them in the right direction. I hope my karma account went up by a bit. Since I often play the role of confused tourist in other cities, I am particularly sensitive to tourists in need.

Happy Friday!

Snapped this picture today as I was walking back to the office after a dentist visit. I love the juxtaposition because the guy looks like he fights aliens.

Secrets revealed

Okay, not really. I just wanted to make the title provocative and sensational!

I got a technical question about how I executed some of my shots for the conference. Essentially I was shooting with a 70-300 mm telephoto for the nice portrait shots. Then if I needed the capture large groups, I used a wide angle. ISO was set all the way up to 1600 in dimly lit rooms and 100 when the light was sufficient.

I like the photo above because the woman on the left looks like she's laughing at something very funny.

Then I got a question about companies that make photobooks. Here's a list:

1. My Publisher
2. Blurb
3. Adoramapix
4. Asukabook
5. Bangor Photo
6. Mpix
7. Lulu

I have used only My Publisher and blurb. My Publisher is more expensive, but the paper quality is higher and glossier. Blurb is more affordable (read cheaper), but the paper is not as good. However, Blurb makes nice book jackets. I've never tried the rest of the companies.

Asians Wine Tasting

Cheers!

The pictures during the wine tasting are more engaging perhaps because alcohol tends to loosen tongues. However, Asians are infamous for their intolerance to alcohol. Just a little and many Asians will turn red in the face. Not sure whether these guys in the picture actually imbibed. In any case, the lighting improved significantly in the room where they did the wine tasting, which helped with the picture quality as well.

BTW, one thing I've noticed is that Canon seems to do colors better than Nikon cameras. Someone else was taking pictures with a Nikon D40, while I had a Canon EOS 5D. I may be partial, but I think my colors were more vivid. Her pictures looked somewhat flat in the color department.

Mind Like a Steel Trap

I thought I'd share this helpful info with you on how to improve your brain. I found a link to it in one of the electronic newsletters I subscribe to.

Personally speaking, I know I need to improve my brain power. My mind's like a sieve and I'm terrible with spatial orientation. Ha ha

1. Take up video-gaming. Action video games improve eye-hand coordination, improve spatial visualization skills, and increase the number of things that you can visually attend to simultaneously.
   
2. Strengthen your memory. Memory is our most vital mental faculty. Strengthening memory is an important component in lessening the odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
3. Learn a new word every day. Learning new words not only enriches one’s understanding of the world, but also enhances the brain’s language centers and the prefrontal lobes where judgement and executive function are mediated.
   
4. Engage in spelling exercises. Spelling forces you to mentally “see” the word prior to speaking it or writing it down. This exercises several language-related brain areas and circuits.
   
5. Monitor your moods, fantasies, and self-talk. If you find yourself immersed in upsetting or stressful scenarios, change your brain activity by switching to something that doesn’t involve just your own concerns.
6. Work off stress with increased physical activity. A healthy brain requires good general health. You can decrease the harmful effects of stress on general health by exercising daily, but you should choose an exercise that appeals to you and that won’t be considered a tiresome chore. Even just walking is fine. Walking four miles per week cuts down on the chances of later developing dementia by fifty percent.
7. Take a twenty-minute nap every afternoon that you can manage it. A daytime nap will produce nearly as much skill-memory enhancement as a whole night of sleep. So after you have taken a class or engaged in some other learning situation in the morning, consolidate that information by napping for a brief time in the afternoon after lunch when you’re most likely to feel tired and fall asleep easier.
8. Solve puzzles. Different parts of the brain will be exercised depending on what kind of puzzle you choose. Crossword puzzles challenge the language and memory areas while jigsaw puzzles provide exercise for the parietal lobes. When you get proficient do the crossword puzzles in your mind without writing anything down and do the jigsaw puzzles with the picture side turned over so that you’re working with shape and form alone.
9. Work with your hands. Few people other than musicians and surgeons are skilled in fine finger control. Whenever you perform an activity requiring finger dexterity you enhance your brain. Knitting, model-ship or model-train building are fine—taking up a musical instrument is even bettter.
10. Pay more attention to your sensory experiences. One of the most common causes of forgetting and poor memory relates to failures to register what is going on during the original experience. Practice sharpening your senses by identifying by name all of the herbs and essences you encounter in everything you eat. Challenges are as readily available as the nearest garden, spice-rack, and wine-tasting group.

Braggart

All Eyes on Me

At the conference, I also overheard some valuable tidbits for me to keep in mind. It's really nothing earth-shattering, but still important.

I was assigned to take photos during the Chief Executive Initiative, a forum for Asian executives in the Bay Area. One of the interesting points I heard was that Asians generally do not have swagger and do not know how to brag. This is so true and has to do with the fact that we are brought up as children not to show off, not to stick out, etc. I think this characteristic is one reason Asians as a group generally do not make it far in corporate America, where the braggart gets ahead. A "do-er" will not get ahead, it's those people to talk about doing stuff and talk to the right people in power who move up the ladder.

This is not the first time I've heard this mind you. However, I find it a huge shame that we have to brag in order to get ahead. I dislike bragging and swaggering for the following reason:

1. If I brag about something, and then something bad happens, I would look really stupid and people will be snickering behind my back about how I failed. This is something I really dislike and try to avoid at all costs. It's very embarrassing because you lose face and the respect of your team. I prefer to be conservative and not celebrate prematurely. This is why I may come across as unemotional even when good things happen, but this strategy keeps me sane. I don't like emotional rollercoasters! Stability is good and safe.

Look where bragging and swagger got George W. Bush - into a huge mess! He turned into the laughing stock of the world with his "Mission Accomplished" fiasco. Remember how shortly after the invasion of Iraq, he was wearing a leather bomber jacket and posed with the a banner stating "Mission Accomplished" on a aircraft carrier? Little did he know that the war would drag on and prove to be very unpopular amongst Americans. Maybe if Americans tried being more modest the world would be a better place.

Just a thought.

Self Reflection

Networking

I learned so much from doing yesterday's volunteer work as a photographer. Let me see if I can distill everything here that I learned or observed.

1. I now know why professional photographers have two camera bodies - so they can switch between wide-angle and telephoto views without having to mount a new lens. Each time you remove and mount a lens, dust has a chance to slip onto the sensor. I hate dust specks.

2. It's very hard to take pictures at events because the lighting is so poor. I want to learn how to expose correctly so that a powerpoint screen is visible and the people in front of it too. Here's an example.

3. I need a photography assistant to help put the powerpoint slideshows together. That was the most stressful part of the photography because my "client" expected a slideshow at 5 PM. Plus, I had to manage some other volunteer photographers I have never met before. If I ever do this again, I need a tried and true team that I can trust.

4. Lighting is so difficult at conferences! I wonder how the pros handle that. I already brought my external flash unit.

5. I need to learn how to use my flash better

6. I need to learn how to take consistenly good pictures. Right now it's still hit or miss.

7. I should take more classes.

8. Lightroom saved the day because I was quickly able to resize over 100 pictures for the slideshow. If I didn't resize them, they would have made the ppt too unwieldy.

9. Use the grey card to get a correct white balance. Many of my pics were too yellow because of tungsten lighting I think. This is maybe one reason I should have shot RAW, which would have enabled me to change WB more easily.

There must be some more takeaways. They'll probably come to me when I'm about to fall asleep.

Asians Everywhere

I survived my first gig! I'm exhausted now, but I learned so much about what it feels like to be a real photographer. There is much to tell and you will be the first to hear about it here exclusively. This is one of the better photos I took of audience members. I like how the guy is ignoring my camera and looking natural.

Arbeit

Kein Eintrag heute, denn ich habe zu viel Arbeit und nicht genug Zeit. Ich bin heute Abend sehr muede und muss am Wochenende auch noch arbeiten. Wir lesen gerade Mails von privaten Personen im Rahmen einer Untersuchung. Heute musste ich extra nach Sunnyvale fahren, um eine externe Festplatte mit den Mails abzuholen. Wahnsinnig!

Morgen bekommt ihr einige Fotos von der Konferenz zu sehen. Hoffentlich werden sie gut sein. Bis morgen!

Elitists

People

New York Times is the paper to read if you want to appear educated and cultured. The Wall Street Journal is for business types. My paper subscription to the WSJ ended recently and I haven't renewed it since. In some ways I feel that I'm a bit out of it because I don't read the WSJ daily, but on the other hand, I do subscribe to many online newsletters, so I hope to make up for it that way.

About the picture: This was taken in Commercial Street in the Financial District. I'm trying to take more shots of people so that I can get some practice for Saturday, my big debut. I am going to try very hard not to embarrass myself. Hehe

There hasn't been any really interesting news for me to comment now that Obama's taken over. He's doing a good job I think. His speech at the Cairo University seemed pretty measured and reflect what a lot of people think. I've read some comments from everyday Joe's regarding Obama's speech and many people are proud to have such a well spoken President.

Social commentary

This is my social commentary picture. It shows an old man, looking down and out alongside bright and shiny yuppies enjoying lunch outdoors. The lamp post just happens to dissect the picture between the two groups thereby emphasizing the vast divide which separates their two worlds.

Photographically speaking, the picture is too contrasty because it was taking around noon. It also could have been a stronger picture if I captured the face of the old man. Sometimes you just have no time to compose your pictures perfectly, so I just snapped as fast as I could.

Redhead

Sitting

I wandered around the Embarcadero Center to search for interesting people to photograph. I don't know how other people do street photography. Whenever I pull out my camera it's like people suddenly notice me and decide to cover their face or turn away. That's why I like architectural photography better because they are inanimate and will not turn away from me.

One thing I like about this picture is that her orange hair really contrasted with all the green around her - her clothes, the furniture, the trees.

CD recommendation

I was originally going to take some street scenery, but when I whipped out my camera, I found out that there was no memory card in the camera. So today, instead, we will talk about John Legend's new CD "Evolver." It has 13 tracks and my comments are as follows:

1. Good Morning Intro (Good morning is an annoying song. How many times can you repeat good morning?)

2. Green Light featuring Andre 3000 (Funny lyrics, good beats, fast song)

3. It's Over featuring Kanye West

4. Everybody Knows

5. Quickly featuring Brandy

6. Cross the Line

7. No Other Love featuring Estelle

8. This Time (good)

9. Satisfaction (good beats, you can really head bob to this one!)

10. Take Me Away (slower song, but lovely lyrics)
"Take me away from here/Take me somewhere where love is like breathing/I don't care where we go/Long as I'm there with you Baby"

11. Good Morning (See above)

12. I Love, You Love

13. If You're Out There (inspirational)

The next CD I'm waiting for is Roger Cicero's "Maennersachen", which should arrive mid-June. It's an old CD, but the songs on this one are catchy. Cicero is like a German Michael Buble. Plus, he enunciates, so that people can actually learn from him.

Edgy Sunday

Inspired by "The Photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman, I decided to try something different today, a black and white picture. The beauty of black and white is that the viewer is removed slightly from the reality of the picture. Removing the color helps focus the viewers' attention on the shapes, light and overall mood. I was going for an edgy effect in the photo above.

Lazy Saturday

Pillowy

This picture is of mini marshmallows, which represents my day. I'm taking it slow and relaxing after multiple weekends of doing stuff. Also, I'm resting up for my first photography gig next Saturday. I'm covering a conference for ASCEND. It's non paying, but a great way to build my reputation and portfolio! Slowly, but surely I want to move more into this area. It won't happen overnight, but with small baby steps.

Riding da Bus

9x

I got off work early, so took the 9x bus. I prepared myself for the bus ride by putting on a poker face and wearing my backpack in front. That's the only way to survive in this city. Only the paranoid survive! There are just so many crazies walking around that you've got to protect yourself.

The first bus that came was somewhat full, but many disembarked, so it emptied out. I decided to board. I came to regret that pretty soon. As I got on, I smelled a whiff of dried urine. I thought it would pass, but it lingered. Then I saw another bus passenger next to me grimace and realized to my horror that the smell would not go away because it came from one of the other passengers! Since my nose is hyper sensitive when it comes to urine smells, I needed to get off the bus as soon as possible. The mere thought of having to endure that smell for the 20 minute ride home scared the heck out of me. I scrambled off the bus as fast as my feet could carry me and walked back to my original stop to wait for the next bus.

When the next bus came, I even had a seat, which was good. However, this bus had it's own annoyances. This time it wasn't dried urine smells. Instead, there was a woman with an obnoxious voice talking loudly to the bus driver the entire time. She was essentially the only person talking loudly on the bus. You could see the pain on the other passengers' faces as she droned on and on in her loud voice. She was just prattling on about things that didn't make much sense.

Seattle - Flying Monkeys

Flying Fritz

My sister and I have a couple traditions when we go traveling. One of them is to splurge on a nice diner style breakfast of waffles, pancakes or French toast. Generally we don't eat this stuff for breakfast, but when we're traveling, it's nice to be able to treat ourselves. Aside from this one luxury, we like to save money on our food, so we often go to supermarkets for dinner. In Seattle we went to Whole Foods, which is a very upscale supermarket with its headquarters in Austin, TX. People joke that this place should be called "Whole Paycheck" because it costs nearly an entire paycheck to buy groceries at this place and that's not very far from the truth. Whole Foods sells organic foods and there is a HUGE selection of goods.

Another one of my sister's traditions is to have her shoelaces go untied whenever we need to run or hurry to a location. Don't ask me why it always happens at the most inopportune moments. My tradition is that I usually have a poor sense of direction. I never seem to remember in which direction to head after I leave a building. Usually I end up heading the wrong way, so I can almost guarantee that if I head opposite of the direction that I think is right, I'll end up getting to my destination.

Seattle - People Watching

Dancing with Strangers

Seattle had some interesting people watching. One of my observations is that many people wore Northface clothing such as black jackets and vests, etc. I was wondering the whole time where Northface was headquartered, so I did some research. Apparently, 2 people gave birth to the Northface idea right here in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. (Yay for San Francisco!) Now they are in San Leandro, CA. The Seattle area, however, has spawned its own corporate conglomerates such as Boeing, Amazon.com, Nordstrom and Starbucks of course.

Another observation I made was that I saw a number of men wear kilts when I was in Seattle. Actually, they were not your normal Scottish plaid kilts. Instead they were utilikilts, favored by Goth types. It's an interesting fashion choice. Why would men want to wear skirts? I haven't worn one since I was in middle school thank goodness. I can't stand skirts and dresses because it makes getting in and out of cars so difficult.

One good place to people watch was the Northwest Folklife Festival that happened over Memorial Day weekend. The mix of people out and about was just amazing. You had young people, old people, people of different colors, etc. There were people giving away free hugs. I have no idea what that was all about. Why would I want a free hug from a total stranger?! Anyway, the festival featured performances and dancing from various cultures. The picture above portrays people dancing to Greek music I think. It was fascinating to see people dancing as a huge group. I don't know if these guys are part of a huge club or if they were just onlookers who got up and joined in the dancing.

Seattle - Personal Highlight

Seattle Public Library

The Seattle Public Library was my personal highlight of the trip because it gave me so much to work with from a photography perspective. There were lines, patterns, colors, shadows, etc. I was so excited (imagine that, me getting excited about something!) by what I saw that I could only describe it as being in photographic ecstasy. Everywhere I turned there was something interesting to capture. The light was perfect in the library - bright without being harsh. It was a very soft light. Then for the ultimate surprise, I happened to land on the 4th floor by accident; this floor was painted totally red! I took some interesting pictures here totally bathed in this primal color.

Aside: Now that I've been to Seattle, I want to see the film "Sleepless in Seattle" because I should now be able to recognize the various locations where they shot the film.

Seattle - The Emerald City

Piggy at Pike Place

Here's my Seattle experience in a nutshell -

Seattle is very similar to SF.
I like SF.
Therefore I like Seattle.

Piers, ferries, hills and organic farmer markets oh my! I did not realize how twin-like the Emerald City is to the City by the Bay. I spent the weekend exploring various neighborhoods and just got acquainted with the city. There is much more I missed though. For example, I really wanted to visit one neighborhood called Fremont that had quirky public art installations like a troll under a bridge. Because I did not have time to research Seattle's bus system, I did not make it up to Fremont. Maybe next time.

More on Seattle tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the picture of a pig at Pike Place Market - Seattle's most famous market.

Seattle

Ready or not, here I come!

That's a literal statement because I haven't really prepared for my weekend trip yet. Usually I like to plan sightseeing, but this time around, I'll wait until I get on the plane. Time has just been in very short supply this week. Almost every evening I've been working late. Seattle should be a nice little getaway.

The picture is of the Lonely Planet guide borrowed from the SF public library. I'm putting my tax dollars to use here. Might as well, I pay enough taxes to the government and should enjoy my privileges.

Must stop being so self-centered. It was somewhat scary how many times I used the word "I" in my entry today before it was edited.

Apologize

I'm too tired to blog today, so I will credit your account for one free blog entry, which will extend your subscription by one day.

Seriously, I need to drive again tomorrow down to the South Bay, so I need to save my eye power. Need to get some shuteye now! Ciao ciao

What a Trip!

Textures

This Memorial Day weekend I've got plans. I'm going to Seattle, Washington! Can't wait. Actually, I'm playing catch-up now because most people have visited Seattle already. For example, I told two of my coworkers that I will be going there and both of them had already been. Am I just behind the curve? I don't know.

One of the main reasons I travel is to broaden the mind and to take pictures of course! Traveling is a part of a well rounded education. Without it, you can't join in conversations and small talk. Now that I'm back in the United States, I'm trying to make it a point to travel more domestically. So far I've been to the following domestic US cities:

1. Boston
2. New York City
3. Atlanta (the "ATL") although it was for work only and I didn't get to see the city center, so not sure if it counts
4. San Jose, CA (for work - BTW, downtown San Jose is ugly)
5. New Orleans (when I was younger, so I don't remember anything really)
6. Orlando (for work related training and didn't get to see city center)
7. San Diego, CA (for work, but I did get to spend time seeing the sights. Very nice city and nice laid back people)
8. Los Angeles (for work, so saw downtown LA, which was deserted and some blocks looked sketchy)
9. Honolulu
10. Carmel by the Sea (one of my faves - so cute and clean!)
11. Monterey, CA (love the weather and the wildly beautiful Californian coast)

I think that's it.

My US/Canada domestic travel experiences wish list looks like this:
1. Washington DC
2. Vancouver, Canada
3. Denver, CO
4. Santa Fe, New Mexico or somewhere else in the Southwest
5. Philadelphia, PA
6. Chicago, IL
7. Dallas or Austin, TX
8. Alaska somewhere
9. Go on a cruise somewhere
10. Savannah, GA

If you need inspiration for travel destinations, here's a hot tip - check out DailyCandy's travel edition. It's only for the cool kids like you & me.

Daredevils

Risky Business

This again was shot on Angel Island. What I like about this picture is the juxtaposition of the warning sign and the image of the man and little girl in the right side of the picture. It's very ambiguous and creates tension in the viewer's mind. Is the guy her dad or a stranger? You only see the back of her, but his face is slightly visible in profile. The picture encourages viewers to think of a story.

Desperados

View from the Top

A very irritating ad plays every morning on the Chinese radio station my mom listens to. It is a dialogue between two women speaking in Cantonese to one another. Here's a flavor of the dialogue:

Woman 1: "Wow, you're really dressed up today. What's the occasion?"
Woman 2: "Remember my niece from China? I'm going to her wedding banquet. She just came over from China recently and now she's already getting married and will have permanent residency now because I placed an ad in the Singtao newspaper."
Woman 1:"You know, my daughter she's 30 years old and doesn't even have a boyfriend. All she cares about is working."
Woman 2: "Well, then you should put a personals ad in the Singtao newspaper. It's really simple and it works."

This ad annoys me to no end because it puts ideas into my parents' heads. That's not a good thing. Maybe I should pay Singtao double their advertising revenues from this ad just to stop them from playing it multiple times each morning. ;-)

The picture above is the view from one of the many breathtaking vantage points on Angel Island. I'd highly recommend a little hiking excursion to any of visitors to SF if they have time to spare.

Angel Island - Heavenly Views

Angel Island Sign

Today I spent an afternoon hiking on Angel Island. I don't know why they call it Angel Island because for a while it was a detention camp for Chinese immigrants before they could get to San Francisco. For the detainees, it was probably more like devil island. Anyway, we didn't have time to visit the detention camp. Instead we hiked for close to 4 hours. My sore feet and knees are evidence of this.

Weatherwise, it was so hot this afternoon, but I was well equipped for the sun. My weapons of defense included a baseball cap, sunglasses, sunscreen and 2 bottles of water, one of them frozen. We went up the Sunset Trail and came down the Northridge Trail. It was funny because you could tell we were all city slickers and wouldn't last a day in the wilderness. We had to ask park rangers for directions twice.

Once we got up to the top though, the views were excellent. I could see the San Francisco skyline, the East Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. Also because the weather was so nice, many white boats dotted the blue waters. The hike was worth it because it was good exercise, I met a bunch of nice people and most importantly, the hike kept me away from my laptop, which is a good thing!

Obama Star Power

Trader Joe's

This is what Americans do on a Saturday morning - they go grocery shopping. Actually, this isn't any old grocery store, this is Trader Joe's, where they sell health conscious food, nice house brands and a huge selection of cereal. They try to be quirky and their employees are alternative too. They wear Hawaiian shirts as their uniform. Those artsy types, you know.

Anyway, away from the mundane ... we got some Obama star power in the region today. Michelle Obama was the commencement speaker at the UC Merced graduation. The students sent her hand made Valentines and urged her to speak at their commencement. This gesture moved her so much that she agreed to speak today. I think this was nice of her. Instead of speaking at a high powered school like Stanford or UC Berkeley, she instead decided to honor the little guys with her presence. Notice how there are many minorities in the picture with Michelle Obama. I like it when the underdog scores a win.

Strategy

S-Bahn

Today was crazy at work. Right around 10:30 I had three different people asking me to do different things. Wanting to please the maximum number of people, I worked through lunch to get something done in time so that I could start the next task. The first thing I tackled was a "little" Powerpoint request for changes to a proposal. Powerpoint for some reason always takes longer than people expect. By the way, I hate tables in Powerpoint! People, please just import them from Excel, which makes it easier to format!

By the way, about the picture - I really like the green color permeating the picture and the font used for the words "Unter den Linden". Sehr schoen! I sent the file to Costco for printing and will pick up tomorrow. I think I will invest in my own printer pretty soon. It's such a hassle to have to pick up prints and you never know how they will turn out.

Moonlighting

Why am I staying up until 11 PM to work on something that will not give me "credit" at work? That is the question.

I'm going to stop now and resume in the morning. The sooner I get this non-client work done, the faster I can move onto client work when it becomes available.

It's very hard these days not to let work dominate your whole life. Sometimes I think people let work become their sole purpose in life in order to fill a void. It becomes a type of addiction. All sorts of addictions come about because of deeper needs that are screaming to be met.

Little buddy

Fritzchen at the Laptop

I need to remember to bring Fritzchen along with me on my travels. Thus far I've been very forgetful. But no longer as I have resolved to add him to my packing list. As a result, each time I refer to that list, I will see him.

I don't think there have been any interesting current events lately in the news, so that I don't have any topics that get me worked up enough to blog about. My routine is just going to work, going home, sitting in front of my laptop wasting some time on Facebook (I need to limit this!) and if I'm good, dealing with my photo files. I have an ambitious task in mind. That task is to rename my photo files and to tag them with key words so that I can start developing a little photo library in Lightroom. Taking charge of my photography career and goals is better time spent than compared to Facebook. Shame on me!

Blast from the Past

Interior

I just got friended today on Facebook by a classmate from middle school, whom I haven't seen for almost 10 years! Facebook is insane. People are coming out of the woodwork left and right.

Continuing with my restaurant theme, one of my work colleagues went to eat at a unique Japanese restaurant in the Richmond District. It's called Tekka Sushi and is a hole in the wall. However, it sounds like this place is very popular because of the unique owner. The sushi chef has a set of 10 rules that the customers must abide by. He boogies to a Bee Gees DVD every night as he is making the sushi. Also, the restaurant has the feel of home because it only seats 10 people. While you are waiting in line for the restaurant to open, you start chatting with the other guests and get to know them.

I think the whole reason people flock to this place is due to its somewhat eccentric owner/sushi chef. He makes it an experience. I bet if I were to be as eccentric as this guy, I wouldn't be as successful. Just as a caveat, I haven't been to this place, so this is just hearsay.

Mi Dispiace

Tut mir leid, dass es heute keinen neuen Blog-Eintrag gibt. Ich bin muede von der Arbeit. Morgen versuche ich eine bessere Person zu sein. Ha ha

Love Letter

Contemporary Jewish Museum

Dear Lightroom,

I don't know how I lived my photographic life before you came along! You've made me a better person. Now I am more efficient whenever I edit and manage my photo files. You had me at import.

How do I love thee? Let me list the ways.

1. Upon import of my files, you let me rename them using custom file names so that I can keep them truly unique. Now that I'm taking pictures with two separate cameras, the camera's sequence numbers are no longer sufficient. The problem that arises is that there has been overlaps in the sequence numbers, which increases the risk that I will overwrite my old files with my new one. For example, my old Canon G6 took photo number 560 and named the file 560.jpg. Photo number 560 on my EOS 5D could also be named 560.jpg if that's how I export my photos. Lightroom lets me create unique names upon import.

2. You let me quickly create collections, add copyright watermarks and resize my photos

3. I can nondestructively modify my photos

Faithfully yours,
frankfurtsanfrancisco

==================

So I took advantage of San Francisco's free museum days and visited the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Although I'm not Jewish, I figured it would be good to get exposed to a different culture. From the outside, the metallic blue building material is quite the eye-catcher. See picture above.

In addition, I really wanted to see the interior of the Daniel Libeskind designed museum. See picture below. He did a good job integrating the building's original design with his new vision for the building.

Afterwards I met up with some folks at the Samovar Tea Lounge at Yerba Buena Gardens. I had one medium sized cup of masala chai tea that ultimately cost me $6, including tax and tip! That's way expensive. No wonder people have next to no savings here in America. For people who regularly eat out, it can truly add up and they could end up busting their budget if they even keep one! Thank goodness I have self-control.

Mexican Food

Traditional Swine Flu Mask

I'm on a roll here. Yesterday's post was all about German restaurants and today the topic is Mexican food. I went to my cousin's son's first birthday party today at Celia's Mexican Restaurant.

The ambience was nice with a colorful sun filled atrium (see picture below) and interesting mask decorations. However, I found the food on the salty side. I had a dab of refried beans, beef enchilada, a fajita, some rice and tortilla chips.

German Restaurants in San Francisco

Happies

After work my colleagues and I went to Schroeder's Restaurant in San Francisco's Financial District for farewell drinks for a manager who is going back to the Czech Republic. He's been here on secondment for two years.

But back to my main topic ... Although Schroeders has a German theme, it's currently run by Czechs. This place definitely cannot compare to a real German bar. First of all, you can't even order an Apfelschorle here. How disappointing! The better German restaurant in San Francisco is Suppenkueche. I haven't been there in ages. We even have a restaurant in the city serving Eastern German food called Walzwerk!

Drobo headaches

Drobo Behaving Badly

Prior to going on vacation I ordered a drive robot aka "drobo" because I need additional storage for my large photo files. I decided to purchase it because it was supposed to be simple to use and it was supposed to take care of itself. However, now that I've finally had time to try to install it, it's proving to be such a headache. It's not as simple as plug and play. I still need to format the hard drive, but it won't let me until my laptop recognizes the drive. Yesterday it seemed fine, but today it's just not been cooperating with me. Plus, the customer support hours are so limited. Support is only available Monday - Friday from 6 AM - 6 PM Pacific time, which forces me to wake up early to call them with my questions. I just may have to do that tomorrow morning.

Okay, I take some of that back... it finally started behaving itself. Bad drobo!

Weird correspondence

Wildlife

The above is one left over picture from my stay in Small Town. I think next time if I get sent to a small town for a project, it would be cool to send a postcard from there.

But back to my main topic of the day - mail. Yesterday I received an email via my website from someone called "Mr. Ronaldo" who was supposedly interested in purchasing my "painting/work". How dumb do these fraudsters think I am? It was clearly a hoax based on the fact that the spelling was horrific and Mr. Ronaldo forgot to fill in some of the form letter. For example, I am not selling paintings. What a bugger!

Today I finally looked through a mailing from the California Board of Accountancy. This publication is so dry that it would be a fire hazard during the summer! Anyhow, the only interesting reading I found in there was the section on enforcement actions taken against certain CPAs. For example, this one CPA, who happens to be a Chinese guy, who stole something from a Nordstrom Rack store and failed to report this conviction to the Board of Accountancy. Then there was a Chinese woman who admitted to gross negligence because her audit reports "contained typographical errors" among other things. I'm always interested in seeing what type of crimes the model minority Asians are committing.

Travelogue (Part 2)

Avignon

After Nice, our next stop was Avignon. Surprisingly, it was not that difficult to get around France with the trains. The TGV trains are the only ones that require reservations. In regional trains you can sit where ever you like.

Essentially, the main sight in Avignon is the Palace of the Popes. After you've seen that, the rest is optional. Originally we wanted to go on a day trip to Pont du Gard, an old Roman aqueduct but all the tours were booked. I would recommend that you reserve a tour ahead of time. Day two in Avignon was spent thinking of ways to fill the time. The weather was terrible while we were there as well. One night it rained and hailed, which caused it to be quite loud on the roof of the old hotel. In addition, there was thunder and lightning.

After two nights in Avignon, we headed to Nimes, where denim originated. The arena in Nimes was pretty well preserved. After Nimes we went to Arles, where we stayed for 2 nights. I thought Arles would have more to see, but actually it's quite a small town. They do have a lot of shops selling tourist kitsch though. After Arles came Aix-en-Provence, which is a university town. Aside from that, there weren't any "must sees". That's why we only planned to stay a night in that town. That brings me to the next stop, which was Cassis. Yay, I was so glad to get back to the beautiful coastal towns. After wandering a bit and consulting a map, we found a viewing point that was very relaxing. Probably spent an hour there just soaking in the scenery.
To complete the tour, we wound up back in Nice.

By the way, here are some random observations I noted when I was in France:

1. Some women in France wore these harem style pants that are puffy. Perhaps they will become popular in the States soon.
2. The French really do carry around loaves of baguettes in their hands.

Lessons I learned:

1. Pack some Airbornes. I developed a cough mid-way through the trip, which kind of spoiled the trip a bit because I wasn't feeling 100%. The cough was very dry. Airbornes might have helped keep me healthy.

So after Nice, my travel buddy and I parted ways. I went onto Berlin for 2.5 days and she went home and then to Munich. My experience at the Berlin airport was somewhat comical, but not really. After disembarking from the plane, I did not pick up my luggage because I thought I could do that after I exited. That's the way the Frankfurt airport is organized. Anyway, that was a bad move because I could no longer turn back due to security reasons. So now I had to ask around to find out where my luggage would end up. A Lufthansa employee pointed me in the direction of the Zoll/Gepaeckausgabe, which was in another terminal and quite hard to get to based on her description. I wandered some more, asked some more people until I finally found my way to this depressing looking grey trailer where they bring all abandoned luggage. Fortunately for me, by backpack arrived safely at the Gepaeckausgabe and I was reunited with my belongings. Wunderbar!

My next adventure was to get to Schoenhouse Apartments where I would be spending my next 2 nights. I took the TXL bus into town. Got off at the Alexanderplatz stop, then took the U2 up one stop to Rosa-Luxemburg station. Exited the station, got onto the street level, crossed Tor Street and then found the apartments. I highly recommend this place if you are traveling with a larger group and want to live like a Berliner for a couple days. For my apartment, it cost me 75 EUR a night, which is not bad relative to a night at a hotel. The place is fully furnished and feels like a German person's home. There's a washing machine, microwave, stove, oven, fridge and even a dishwasher! Only thing that was missing was shampoo. I wish they provided that.

Locationwise, it's not that central, but it's still doable if you know how to take the subway. In addition, there are many resources nearby such as a pharmacy and a supermarket. Also, I really liked how they decorated the apartment. When I checked in, I was upgraded to an apartment that could sleep 3 people, so I really had more room than I needed. Finally, there is a little cafe in the lobby that served food until 7 PM. I had dinner there 2 nights in a row because it was affordable and convenient. The pasta the first night tasted better than on the second night though, so it was hit or miss. My only gripe is that the booklet that's left in the apartment stated that it was possible to call up the kitchen from your room and order a meal that you could pick up and enjoy in your room. Unfortunately when I tried to do that, I was told that everything was "self-service" and that I would have to go to the kitchen to place my order. That was a discrepancy which I pointed out to the person on the phone, but to no avail. You can be sure I left that feedback on the comments form I handed over once I checked out. Oh, one more quirk about the place is that they want you to pay upfront for your entire stay at check in. I thought that was kind of weird. In accounting speak, that's a prepaid asset on my books and unearned revenue on Schoenhouse Apartments' books.

Overall, I found that Berlin is a very artsy city with many affordable places to eat and drink. Coming straight from Nice, the prices in Berlin were so cheap! I think they're even cheaper than in San Francisco, but then again, the cost of living here is not exactly cheap. I liked wandering through the Hackesche Hofe, with its tasteful stores. I even ended up getting a souvenir - an long sleeved T-shirt with the Ampelmann figure on it. The T-shirt is very thick and of a good quality.
Also, I cannot say enough good things about the chai at Einstein Kaffee!! Their chai latte is so smooth, thick and creamy. I consider myself a chai afficionado because I've had them at multiple places here in the States. For example I've tasted chai at Starbucks (too sweet), Peet's (not sweet enough) and Coffeebean (closest thing to Einstein Kaffee so far). Go to Einstein Kaffee in Berlin if you get a chance. You can be sure I'll be back if I find myself in Berlin again anytime soon.

One observation when I landed in Germany is that it was suddenly "louder" in my head because I could finally understand what the people were talking about was they stood around me waiting for the connecting flight. When I was in France, I didn't really understand a word they were saying, so I just tuned them out. However, when I was in Germany I had an experience similar to what Mel Gibson went through in the move "What Women Want". He started hearing everything that women were thinking silently to themselves. Funny!

Well, that brings me to the end of my travelogue. Where to next year?

Travelogue (Part 1)

Hidden corners

Well, I did my duty and sent out a link to my vacation pictures. It was a hard job, but it had to be done. So now I need to tell you a little about my 2 weeks in Europe.

What did I do? What were my impressions? What was my favorite moment?
I spent 11 days or so in France and then 2.5 days in Berlin this past April. Flying from SFO to Europe takes around 11 hours. When I landed in Nice, I was somewhat jetlagged, but the sun helped me adjust. My travel buddy, whom I'll call "TB" for short and I took a bus into town and the fare was only 1 EUR. Compare that to a taxi fare and you can see that we saved a ton of money.

Being in France and hearing only French took some getting used to. The weather in Nice was perfect. After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we set off the explore the city. One thing I found out during the trip was that TB was very good at navigating through cities. My philosophy is that if someone is good at it, let them take over. After the 11 days I was just totally out of practice and that showed when I was in Berlin.

Nice has an old town and a very long promenade along the beach. It's a lively scene with people strolling the promenade or sitting down in one of the many benches, joggers and inline skaters doing their tricks. The city grew on me and I learned to appreciate the great weather there.

To be continued tomorrow...

Post-processing

Nice, France

I've been diligently processing vacation picture files the entire day! Post-processing is what photographers call the portion of the digital workflow after taking the pictures. This picture above is from Nice. Stay tuned for the travelogue tomorrow.

By the way, have I told you that I dislike the tipping system in the United States. Why can't they just include tip in the price as in Europe? Taxi drivers in the US for example expect a tip of 15% of the fare. I much prefer the German system where you just round up a euro or so, maybe more if they're really good.

Have passport, will travel

Hmmm... that blue thing on the bottom of the picture is very distracting. I tried deleting the picture in order to fix it, but wasn't able to. Maybe that's a sign I should go to sleep. Sometime you need to pay attention to the signs that the powers that be are sending you.

By the way, I watched the 2003 Sofia Coppola film "Lost in Translation" this afternoon. It was quite a talky film, but I liked it anyhow.

Home

Finally, I'm home! No more Small Town for me. It was quite a different and occasionally nice change of pace to be in a small town, but I still miss the city. While I was out there, I found a nice little restaurant to call my own. It served breakfast food like Belgian waffles, French toast, etc. all day. In addition, I really liked their pear and walnut salad.