Window To My Thoughts

2012

2012-01-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

So in case you missed the memo, we're now in 2012. I'm very excited about this year. I have a lot to look forward to. I get to watch my little boy continue to amaze me with his growth. I'm excited about the new cameras that are expected to be announced/released this year: Nikon D4, D800, Canon 1D X, 5D3, 7D2, etc... And last, but most importantly, I'll be making some crucial changes in my professional career. No, I'm not changing profession. But I am going to take it up another notch.

So yes, 2012 is going to be a very big year for me. But I guess if you believe that the end of the Mayan calendar also signals the end of the world, then I guess it's going to be a very big year for EVERYONE.

Not everything is picture-perfect at this start of the year for me. My old, chronic lower back injury has flared up. I've spent most of the day laying in bed because moving/sitting/standing is just flat out painful. It feels like someone's got 2 screwdrivers jammed into my lower back and that same obnoxious bastard occasionally twists it whenever he feels like making my life miserable.

In any case, I hope everyone had a good 2011 and I wish you all have an even better 2012. Here are three photos to share with y'all, all taken in this new year.

Until next time.

Verizon DSL

2011-12-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

So, this will be the first time that I'm posting TWO separate blog entries from the same day/date. Not only will it be my first time doing so, it would also be on the same topic/issue: Verizon DSL. But I'm starting to get the sense that I am not alone in this and I should write a more formal blog entry on the matter. Perhaps someday, many years from now, some other poor shlub will also be tearing his hair out on his computer, wondering why his supposedly advertised download speed of his Verizon internet service is FAR LESS than what was advertised. I am now 11 days into this ordeal and I fear there will be no positive resolution in the foreseeable future.

Dec 2, 2011

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll let my Excel log do most of the talking. As mentioned in the previous entries, I've noticed that between the hours of 7:30p-11:30p (plus/minus 30min), my download rate would plummet to I consider pathetic levels. After all, I am actually paying a higher fee for Verizon's alleged "Highspeed Internet" option, that is suppose to provide me 3Mbps-7Mbps download rates.

I started this log after my 2nd call to Verizon. My first call was made on November 30, 2011. I reported to them that I was not getting the download speed as noted in my particular DSL package. I told the customer service representative that it felt as my download rate was being "throttled" and not meeting the advertised 3-7 that I had signed on. Naturally, the rep had been instructed to make it seem as though it was the end-user's fault. They asked countless questions as to how many computers were connect. What's the make/model of the DSL modem. Whether any 3rd party router was used.

Dec 3-4, 2011

I went along with their stupid checklist knowing that none of it could explain the decrease in my download speed. It just didn't make any sense how my existing hardware could work fine during "non-peak" hours and yet miraculously, *my* equipment would somehow clog up my own line always around the same time of night.

The first representative said he'd "test my line". Well, whatever test he did showed him nothing other than working as intended. But he said that my call would be "escalated" and that I should expect a call within the next 24-48 hours.

A couple of day slater, while at work, I missed a call from Verizon. They left a voice citing that they had run their test and believes all should be fine now. And that should I continue to experience issues, to contact them again. And wouldn't you know it, that same night, again, pathetic download rates.

Dec 5-6, 2011

So like the idiot that I am, I called up Verizon DSL support again, but by this time, I was convinced that something fishy was going on. I informed this second rep that I had been (and I was) checking with speedtest.net between Nov 30 & Dec 2, and that from this point forward, I would be logging my transfer rates as closely as I could. And that if it continues to under-perform (as I was paying extra for the 3-7Mbps), I would likely try and seek out others and perhaps Verizon deserves to be slapped with a class action lawsuit. The rep claims that she will, again, monitor the line but she also tried to ask a bunch of questions, seemingly wanting to blame it on my modem and router. Please. I've been surfing the web since 1994. Prior to that I had been messing around on BBS's. Don't try and treat me like an internet retard.

Well, as the days went by, and I continued to log my transfer rates with Excel, it became painfully clear that something awful was happening between the hours of 7p-12a. So on Dec 7th, I decided to call Verizon again. This time, I figure I won't "shoot the messenger" as I did with the 2nd call. (Though truth be told, I really didn't give the rep that hard of a time at all.)


Dec 7-9, 2011

The 3rd rep went through the same apologetic spiel. How he understands that it would be frustrating to not get the "performance" as promised/advertised. But at least this time, he followed the notes from the various phone calls and realized that I wasn't just going to crawl under a rock and go away. I, again, reiterated the fact that I've been keeping a log, that I'd be more than happy to e-mail it to someone. I was transferred to a States-side rep and was told they'd look into my problem again, once more.

The following day (Dec 8th), the rep called me and said that the line that I am on had "a lot of static," and that he needed to come by and check our phone line. He noted that my address puts me close to their hub/center/something and that I should be seeing transfer rates closer to 7Mbps. Oh really? So we scheduled for him to come by between 8a-12p on Dec 9th, figure that my wife's home and can let the tech test the line.

As it turns out, my wife said that the Verizon technician was here for a little more than an hour. And that he had mentioned that our line was "very congested" and that he switched us to another line that wasn't as congested. "Congested?" I'm pretty sure DSL was once advertised to be superior to cable because we wouldn't have to deal with line congestion.

Dec 10-11, 2011

In any case, at least this time, a technician came out and at least sounded like he knew what was going on and offered a repair/solution. And as you can see, Dec. 9-10 transfer rates were actually consistent. "Hurray, my DSL problems have been resolved!" I wasn't terribly pleased to see my transfer rate go down from 5.21Mbps to 4.69Mbps, but I told myself it was a small price to pay for the times that I use the web the most.

But I guess it's good that I'm a perpetual skeptic as I continued to test my connection speed. And what do you know... Sunday, December 11th, my download speed craps out again. So much for resolution, eh?

I called up Verizon DSL again this morning (Dec 12) and politely made them aware again that my DSL issues have not been resolved. I was told, again, that my description again sounds like line congestion. But she also suggested that I try powering off/on my modem when the connection seems slow so that it would put me back on the system again. (Say wut?)

Dec 12, 2011

She also noted that she would contact the hub/center/wherever and have someone check on the line used and switch me to a less congested line if it was determined that was the issue. She did note that someone should be calling me tomorrow (Dec 13) to follow-up on the matter.

This afternoon, around 3:25pm, I noticed that I lost internet connection. And minutes later, I get a call from a lady from Verizon. She said that she's at the hub/center/somewhere and she's switching me to another port. I mentioned that I guess that would explain why I lost internet just now and she confirmed that it was her. She told me to give it a few minutes, then to unplug both the modem and the router, and that everything should fire back up nicely.

And so I did and to my dismay, I went from 4.63Mbps down to 4.46Mbps. "But look, Ma! My ping improved!" (As if that mattered for me anymore since I don't play any online games.) And as the perpetual skeptic that I am... as highlighted in yellow, once again, between 7p-midnight, my connection tanks.

*sigh*

I decided to do some online searches and I found this link:

http://www.dslreports.com/comment/552/75674

He talks about slow connections between 6pm-midnight. Verizon technicians coming out 3x to his apartment without any success. Talks about "network congestion." And the best part of it all? This article was posted 2+ years ago. I wonder whether my connection had been just as bad for just as long?

It's been 2 years since I played any online games so I never really checked my connection closely. I've been only frequenting my photography forums and I had notice that going through the lens archives (filled with photos) had seem somewhat sluggish. But I just thought it was because I was opening up 2-3 threads at a time, thus overloading the download. I guess it wasn't me after all...

See, here's the kicker in all of this. I have a friend who lives in a condo about 1/2 mile away. He's also on Verizon DSL and he's not paying for the higher speed feature. Yet he is able to get consistent ~2.8Mbps during the times that my connection drops to ~1Mbps. Hey Verizon... why don't you put me on my friend's line?!?

Well, I look forward to talking to Verizon tomorrow.

DSL continued...

2011-12-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

So this morning, I spent some time talking to Verizon tech support. The customer service rep was nice and cordial. I explained to her the situation, and I guess she was able to read the copious notes on the matter. She said the magical phrase that I long suspected was happening. As I detailed that every night, I've had my download speed drop to an abysmal ~1Mbps, pretty much at the same time, she said it sounds like that they've got me wired to a very congested network back at their station.

I then asked how this could be since I was under the impression DSL wasn't subjected to such shenanigans and the congestion had been more of an issue with cable modem. But she said that it can still happen back at the hub if they've got a lot of customers online at the same time.

"..."

In any case, this afternoon, I got a call from Verizon again. Some lady on the phone said that she was switching me to another circuit, noting that I was hooked up to a "very, VERY congested circuit". I then remarked that she must be the reason why my internet connection just went out less than a minute prior to her call. She confirmed that it was her.

She then told me to power off the modem and router.

It's too early to tell whether this made any difference, since it's currently 3:40pm (and the swap was done at 3:27pm). The bright side is that the ping dropped from 26-42ms down to 12ms. The downside, however, is I've now taken another transfer rate hit. I'm down to 4.46Mbps. (I've gone from 5.21 to 4.88 to 4.69 to 4.63, and now 4.46.)

Again, if I can be consistent 4.46Mbps during 7:30p-11:30p, then hell, I'll settle for the loss. I need to win the lottery. Then I can just have someone come by and hardwire a T1 line. But I'd probably move out and buy a different place first and then get the T1 installed.

So here's to keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this new circuit will be the solution I have been looking for.

Something Fishy

2011-12-11T22:17:00.001-08:00

So I've been busy with just daily life, you know the "uuuuj" (usual): working my ass off, playing with the kid, paying bills, that kind of stuff...

The times that I do get to hang out in front of my computer to catch up on the daily news, visit my photography forums, etc... are between the hours of 9pm to 1am. So while I've noticed that my internet had "felt" sluggish for sometime, I sort of just assumed all was well and nothing was wrong. After all, I have Verizon's Highspeed Internet package (ADSL), which is suppose to give me 3-7Mbps download performance. While I would have loved to go with FIOS, unfortunately, it is not available for my condo.

So if you could imagine my surprise that my internet download fluctuate(d) from 5.21Mbps to as low as 0.8Mbps. I mean, seriously...

What...
The...
F...

And it just so happens that the slower download rate occurs between, drum roll... 7:30pm and 11:30-midnight. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. So I decided to call Verizon DSL hotline on it, 3x. Of course the hours I called were well into the night, so I get to speak to outsourced Verizon Mumbai or wherever the hell the 1st level call center is. I repeatedly tell them of my concerns/issue.

Naturally, I get the standard checklist of:
1) What's the model number of your modem?
2) Do you have a router and who is the manufacturer?
3) Turn off/reset router. Turn off/reset modem.
4) Test connection again.
5) Oh, I see... I'm sorry the problem has not been resolved.
6) How many computers are logged in.
7) "No, my desktop, where I'm hard-wired, is the machine I'm testing on. I'm not testing this on my laptops and not a wireless issue."
8) Oh, I see... I'm going to test the lines. It seems to be working and I show that internet should be working.
9) "Yes, it works, it's pathetically slow (for what I'm paying for) but it works. Why does it feel like my connection is being 'throttled'?"
10) I will forward you to a technician.
11) (So why weren't I forwarded to someone who would know @#$% in the first place?)
12) Your issue has been escalated and you will receive a call within the next 24-48 hours. I'm sorry I was unable to assist you in your problems today. Is there anything I can help you with?
13) "..."

So I called Verizon on this "throttling"/download issue on December 2nd. I started logging my download rates everyday/night. And as suspected/feared, I was getting 5.21Mbps until roughly 7:30pm and it would drop to ~1Mbps (+/- 0.2Mbps), while throughout all this, not having any affect on the actual upload rate (which is a rather steady 0.73Mbps).

Time and time again, I called Verizon on it and finally, they sent out a tech on Friday to "test" my lines. Because from their end, it seems there was a lot of "noise/static". While I was at work, the tech came by (with my wife and son at home) and supposedly our line was "congested". Oh really? How the hell is it congested? I though only "cable modems" were shared, and ADSL weren't suppose to be affected in such a manner.

According to my wife, the tech tested a bunch of stuff, and switched us off to a "less congested line" and that everything should be "fine" now.

This happened December 9th, and true, Friday evening and throughout Saturday, my download rate was higher, around 4.63Mbps. It's lower than 5.21 but I was thinking, hell, if this can be consistent, it would fall within the bullsh!t 3-7Mbps rate and I'll take that any day over the stupid sub 1Mbps rate I had been getting/recording.

And I should have known that this wouldn't last. As I'm typing this (~10-11pm), I noticed that my download speed is down to ~1-1.3Mbps... AGAIN. And as before, my upload speed is unaffected. I checked my wireless router and checked for IP logs... no suspicious activities.

So basically, I'm worse off than before? At least prior to the tech coming by, I was getting 5.21 during peak performance. Way to go, Verizon.

I guess all I can do is call Verizon again and demand they send out another clown and try and fix this crap.

Do People...

2011-11-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Do some people actually fall victim to these scam e-mails? I received the following earlier today:
_______________________

Dear Valued Customer,

Bank of America has just completed a scheduledmaintenance on the online banking system. For your security, your accounts havebeen placed on hold.

In order to re-activate your account to become active andprotected, you will be required to immediately sign in to Bank of America byclicking on the " Go to Bank of America " website below:

Go to Bank of America <http://ipad2.li/http/www.bankofamerica.com/>

We apologize for any inconveniences caused as yoursecurity and satisfaction is our major priority.

Security Department,

Bank of America.

_______________________

So do some people actually not pay attention to the URL that's provided in these scam e-mails? I suppose a better question to ask is... can't authorities do anything about this? This has nothing to do with First Amendment rights. The site is setup deliberately to mimic and actual BofA website to steal user logins and passwords.

Oh well, we don't live in a perfect world. Crooks and cheats be damned.

Some photos from Miramar 2011

2011-10-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Zoo

2011-09-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

It's been forever since I last been to the LA:Zoo. In fact, it's quite possible that I've never been, despite living in southern California for 29 years. But I've driven past it a few times, does that count?

This past weekend, a good friend of mine invited us to join them on a trip to the zoo. He and his wife has a boy who is 5 months older than our Alexander. They had recently picked up a family annual pass, seeing that their son had a lot of fun and that it seemed like a relatively inexpensive family outing. The pass basically pays for itself after 3 visits.

So we thought it'd be interesting to see if our little Alexander would take a liking to the zoo and possibly purchase our own family pass. After all, we've been showing him animal books, teaching him about "eh'e'fent (elephant), li-un (lion)," etc... so we might as well show him some real animals in person.

And for me, it was a chance to sneak in some photos for the weekend, secretly hoping that I might find some cooperative animals who would pose for me. Prior to the zoo, the only animal photos I had taken were most of my cats (whom we had to give away, but that's another Oprah), and a few rare trips to the aquarium. So I wasn't expecting to capture anything spectacular as I have pretty much zero experience.

At the petting zoo.

What I found amusing was that Alexander was, at first, very cautious and mildly afraid of the animals at the petting zoo. I suppose it's a good thing that instinctively, he's suspicious of the unknown. We spent about 30 minutes at the children's petting zoo portion and I think he finally conjured up the courage to pet the sheep once. But towards the end, he was warming up to being surrounded by live animals that didn't look anything like cats or dogs.

All in all, I think Alexander had more fun just running around the zoo as opposed to actually finding interest in the animals. Although it's not quite what we had in mind, having a large area for him to run around serves the same purpose of getting him out of the house, burn off excess energy, and expose him to "new" things, be it animals, or other people. It should be of no surprise, but since I never really visited the LA:Zoo, I did notice that at least 50-75% of the patrons were all parents with young kids.

In the end we decided to upgrade to the family annual pass. I figured we'll be back here at least a few times. I, myself, might end up being here if/when some of my photography friends/acquaintances at LAShooters decide to have another Zoo event.

As far as photos, I'm just posting three that I felt came out rather nicely (share-worthy). I am very pleased with how the Flamingo photo (posted above) turned out. One of my all-time favorites thus far. I also like my daydreaming meerkat photo.

And to the left, this chimp really caught my attention and I felt I had to try and capture the mood/moment. This little guy/gal(?) seemed quite pissed off/annoyed/depressed at something. With its arms crossed, it seemed like it was just pouting. Someone stole his/her share of the morning bananas perhaps.

In any case, I figure I'd do something new and try to add titles to these three photos. So far, I kind of like the titles. Guess we'll see in a few weeks/months if I continue to do so.

Miramar Airshow is coming soon. I plan to attend and I can only hope/pray that the weather gods be kind to me. Last year, it was drizzling/foggy the entire morning, which resulted in the cancellation of the morning air events. I'm hoping for a cool, but sunny weekend, or at least Sunday. Friday/Saturday can rain and crap for all I care since I won't be there. But Sunday... c'moooOOOoon Sunday! Can't wait for Miramar Sunday.

Alaska: Part V

2011-09-20T23:32:00.000-07:00


Dusk

And now for the final chapter of my Alaskan Adventure:

So after leaving Skagway, the ship started hauling @$$ towards our final destination: Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria seemed like an afterthought, just a stop that was penciled in at the very last minute to fill up 4 hours because there was nothing else to do. This meant that we would spend the next 48 hours at sea, including a stretch where we wouldn't have land to protect us from the open water.

That's the part that I dread. It wasn't pleasant on the way up, and I sure as heck didn't have any illusions of it being pleasant on the way down. And I was right.

I ended up spending the bulk of that day laying in bed, popping Dramamine pills and hoping that my head wouldn't explode (or perhaps hoping my head would explode soon to put me out of my misery). Granted that I never tossed my cookies for the entire trip... I would have much rather not felt nauseous to begin with.

And once again, the cruise lines strategically chose the full day at sea as yet another "formal night". The formal dinners were something that my wife had really looked forward to. She made it sound like it was the cat's meow prior to the trip. Me... I seriously couldn't give a flying rat's rear, but that's just my opinion.

I mean after all, I'm on vacation. I slave away day in, day out at the office and the last thing I wanted to do was to "dress up" in a suit/tuxedo just so I can eat a meal. Seriously... you can't serve me lobster if I'm wearing t-shirt and jeans? Did I not just pay you some thousands of dollars?

It's such a pain (to me). Packing a suit, then tacking on two dress shirts. And I'll be damned... dress shoes are bulky and heavy, all these items = taking up precious luggage space. You got to be out of your @#$%ing minds. I realize that this is the cruise lines' way of trying to "spice up" the experience and make it more exciting. But seriously... unless you're James Bond, no one enjoys dressing up like a monkey just to go eat a mediocre (at best) meal. It doesn't even come with a show/musical! What is up with that?

And I can't remember if I already mentioned this in a previous entry but the service at these restaurants were rather pathetic, I'm sorry to say. Who in their right minds want to spend 90 minutes eating/waiting on appetizers, ESPECIALLY when you're trying to restrain a 19-month old in a high chair?

Sure... granted you DO NOT have to participate in the formal dining, and that the buffet is still available. However, part of being married is that compromises must be made and you need to pick and choose your battles. And with regards to this, I did my best to not ruin the formal dining evenings for my wife. However, the rocking boat certainly tried its best to ruin me.

As noted earlier, I spent the bulk of the day just laying in bed, feeling nauseous as if my brain was doing cartwheels inside my skull. Fortunately for me (and for my wife), by 5-6pm, I felt "well enough" to roll out of bed and put on my monkey suit.

Oh, I forgot to mention that during these "Formal Nights," there appears to be a dozen photographers positioned at mid-ship ready to take your formal photos. It's like high school prom again (or rather how I would imagine prom being since I skipped my own prom). And of course, they would later print out your photos and try to convince you that $18/print or 2 for $30 was a fantastic deal.

Oh, in addition, they were all shooting Nikons. Boo... hiss... snarl...

Well, I managed to survive dinner... though I believe I spent 75% of the time taking my son out of the restaurant (not that he was crying but he just couldn't sit in the chair any more) to walk around the mid-ship area where the shops/lounges, etc... Up and down stairs (because toddlers adore stairs). After being put through Alexander's stairway boot camp, we retired back to our stateroom for the evening.

Day 6 of 7, we found ourselves under the protection of the inside passage once again, so the water wasn't as choppy as the day before. I spent most of the day on the observation deck and on our balcony, trying to preoccupy myself with taking photos.

I found this guy recording a video towards my direction ( I was @ mid-ship, he was at the front observation deck). So I figured I, too, can play this game. I just didn't want to waste storage space to take a HD video of him.

I watched as another cruise ship raced (and beat us) to Victoria. And this kind of made me wonder whether we could have made it to Victoria earlier (instead of the scheduled 7pm-11pm) as well. I mean getting there earlier would have afforded us more time for sightseeing, etc... you know... stimulate the Canadian economy and crap.

Sucker was faster than we were. Boo. But it was a smaller boat.

Alexander and his JUMBO breadsticks.

What's left of his pile of breadsticks. He was happy.

Didn't get bald eagles really, but got seagulls.

There must really be nothing to do in Victoria if one of your past-time is to hang out at the docks to watch cruise ships come in.

Now despite not being a fan of being on a boat... I must confess... I did quite enjoy the breathtaking views while standing on the observation deck. I was rather impressed by how fast (fast being relative) the big @$$ boat was able to travel. At times, it seems that there must have been winds of 40-50mph on the observation deck.

It's one thing to be able to see the scenery on television, in a movie, or in photographs/postcards. But it's an experience like no other, with the wind in your face, the smell of clean air. And short of being on a boat or an open-cockpit biplane... such an experience would have been impossible.

For the uninitiated, but still considering to go on a cruise, I wanted to add one more phenomenon before I cap off my adventures. I found that my bearings remained "off" upwards of 72 hours after docking in Seattle. Although having disembarked and being on solid ground, every so often, it felt as though my brain was still sloshing around and that the world was still moving. It's different than the feeling you get when you have motion sickness, but it was still an unpleasant experience nonetheless. And it took me about 3 days to recover and feel normal again.

In short, if you don't get motion-sickness easily, and enjoy dressing up just to eat dinner, than by all means, a cruise is certainly one heck-of-a-way to travel. It's as if you're on a floating casino, making stops at various ports to play tourist. But if you're like me, genetically flawed and not meant to be on water for extended periods of time, then I would recommend skipping the experience. I'm not telling you to not go on vacation. I'm simply advising you to just fly your butt out there and fly your butt back. Trust me, you'll thank me for it.

Taking a cruise was never on my Bucket List. But visiting parts of Alaska was so that's done. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to capture any bald eagles in flight (had a couple of rare opportunities but I @#$%'d it up). That and I found that no matter what telephoto lens you bring to Alaska to shoot wild life... it'll never be long enough.

REVIEWS:
♠ Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 mark II
Pros: It's a great focal length when used on an APS-C sensor. It's sharp, focus is fast, it's weather-sealed. And I'm positive that if I wasn't suffering from motion sickness, I would have used this lens a lot more than I did during the trip, especially to take photos inside the restaurants as well as inside the ship.

Cons: I have nothing negative to say about the 24.

Recommendations: Yes, I would recommend this lens if you have room in your bag.

♠ Canon EF 50mm f/1.2
Pros: Great lens. I like the focal length when used on FF. Too bad I decided to leave my 5D at home.

Cons: I never found the opportunity to use it on the ship. Again, if I wasn't feeling nauseous, I may have brought it out. But it's a bit "long" for APS-C.

Recommendations: No. I wouldn't recommend taking this lens, UNLESS you shoot with an FF and loves the 50mm focal length.

♠ Canon 580 EX II
Pros: It's a great flash.

Cons: I rarely used it for the trip.

Recommendations: 50/50. This is a case of whether you like shooting with flash (direct or fill). I brought it for the just in case... but I never really used it since there was never really a "need" for it.

Alaska: Part IV

2011-09-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Day 4 of 7, we arrived at Skagway, Alaska @ 6am. I stepped onto the balcony and once again, I was met with awe and breathtaking vistas. I was surrounded by natural beauty (mostly), and some man-made objects too. :P Since I didn't have internet access on the ship, or rather I was too cheap to buy slow/shoddy internet access on the ship, I did not get a chance to check the weather forecast. In any case, I assumed that it wouldn't be much different than when I checked prior to leaving Los Angeles.

Yet surprisingly enough... while there were quite a number of clouds in the morning... the skies eventually cleared and the sun came out to greet us. All this time I had anticipated a soggy, damp, gloomy 1-week in Alaska was shaping up to be quite a pleasant experience after all! (Well, minus the mediocre service on the ship and the motion sickness part.)

So on this day, along with another buddy, we signed up for a Musher's Camp excursion. I had been previously advised that it should be fun, but it could get somewhat stinky. Lots of wet dogs, and well... where there are dogs... there will be poop. And somehow, here in the vast wilderness of Alaska... I don't think there's any rules where the owners are suppose to pick up after their dogs feces.

We hopped onto a tram/van that drove us to the camp. The ride took about 30 minutes, with the driver giving us the standard history of how the mining town came to be, and how it now boasts a whopping ~850 residents. They do, however, have an "international" airport that they boast. (And they got the "international" simply because they do have a runway, and rarely yet occasionally, if a plane from Canada had an emergency and needed to land, well, Skagway International Airport is available for the flight to be diverted to. We all got a good chuckle out of that story.

As it turns out, ~90% of the stores in Skagway shuts down once cruise season is over. So this has truly become a ghost town and tourist trap, only coming alive when the cruises start back up late Spring. There were more RV's than actual homes, placed there to house the seasonal workers. Our driver has been seasonally working in Skagway for ~9 years. And the other 2 years, he was down in Florida.

The photo doesn't do the location justice at all. This valley was flippin' spectacular!

The driver warned us that the road would first get rough, as we'll be traveling a stretch of gravel road. And then after that... the road becomes quite bumpy. The man wasn't kidding about the "bumpy" ride. Since he doesn't own the van, he didn't really care and kept hauling ass on the bumpy road. But I have to tell you... there was so much vibration... I wouldn't be surprised the shocks on that van gets shot and replaced every single year and the van's probably only driven 5 months out of the entire year!! It kind of makes you wonder what's wrong with these people... can't they pave a smooth road? The gravel road was "rough." But the asphalt road was bumpy as hell. Something didn't quite add up to me.

Oh, another tidbit about Skagway is that unlike Ketchikan and Juneau... it is one of the few towns in Alaska that actually has roads leading into and out of town. The Canadian town of Whitehorse is a mere 2 hours drive. Since Skagway doesn't have a hospital, though it does have a clinic and health professionals do come in once a month... if there's an emergency, you'd have to be air-lifted to Whitehorse, or find someone to drive you to Whitehorse. So definitely not a place you want to get sick, ever.

In any case, we arrived at our destination, the Musher's Camp. We then took a ride on a large, open-bed 4x4 truck, outfitted with seats to haul tourists up some narrow road towards the top of the mountain. That's where they train the sledding huskies. Various turn-offs lead to other activities, such as ziplining... all this operated by Alaska Excursions.

At this camp, this is where they raise and train huskies to become sled dogs, and not by coincidence, sled dog racing is the official sport of Alaska. I believe our musher's name is "Seth." And if memory serves me right, I believe he said that all but one of our sled dogs have already been in competition. I'm not sure if any of them had raced in the Iditarod.

Not that I ever gave sled dog racing any thought prior to this cruise, but I never realized how fast these guys can go. At one point, Seth (our musher) was showing off the speed and we were zipping along the trail at what I felt was a somewhat-out-of-control pace. He showed off how the dogs know when and how to cut into a corner to provide the best turning radius/results. How different dogs are identified to be able to lead the sled. And how that being the lead dog can be very stressful for the dogs so that they do alternate the lead position to give the dogs a chance to rest mentally.

And that the dogs lined up closer to the sled are typically bigger and stronger, as they do the bulk of the pulling and turning. Seth demonstrated on one tight turn how the last pair of dogs even learned to lean into the harness to help pull the sled around. It was quite an impressive sight.

The cool part of all this is that you're sitting in an open-air sled on wheels, obviously. But you feel the rush of cold air blowing in your face along with mud and dog poop flung up in your face.

Now some of you might have noticed that these huskies are nothing like the huskies that we see here in "civilization." These huskies average just under 50-lbs each. They are lean, mean, working machines. They consume ~15,000 calories a day and yet they remain that skinny. I suppose "skinny" is not the right word for them, they are more athletic and fit than they are skinny.

So halfway through the trail, the musher parks to give the dogs a rest and uses this as an opportunity for taking photos. He collected all of our cameras and started taking snaps of his sled and his dogs. My camera being the only DSLR, he saved it for last and remarked, "Now... I'm going to have fun with this one." Hehehe...

So the two photos seen here (the one to the left and the one immediately below) were taken by Seth, our musher. I guess if this sled dog training thing doesn't work out for him, he can always pick up photography.

Group photo.

Start & Finish line. Mud + dog poop. What better way to jump start the day with this kind of aroma therapy. :P

At the end of the ride, we were given permission to go up and pet the dogs that didn't mind being pet.

And that's Seth, our musher. Great guy.

Elevated shed where dog food is stored.

So there's a story behind the photo above. In years past, they had stored the food in a similar shed situated at ground level. We had actually driven past another shed on our way up the mountain. As it turns out, that was the "old" camp. What happened with some regularity was that bears would break into the shed and steal the dog food. So to combat this, they decided to store the food in a shed elevated high above the ground. I guess this tactic is working for now... at least until the bears figure out how to knock the shed-on-stilts down.

Pictured below is the converted flat-bed truck I had mentioned earlier. Our two families had the entire truck to ourselves. It turns out that we signed up for the 8:30am call time (to be picked up from the boat). For reasons unknown, 8:30am was less expensive, and as it turns out, less crowded as well. On our way up the mountain, we drove by another truck filled with people, practically spilling out the sides of the truck. And on our way down the mountain, same thing, another truck full of people going up. So if you don't want to deal with a big messy group, sign up for the 8:30am call time for the Musher's Camp at Skagway.

Here's the converted flat-bed 4x4 truck.

On the way down from the camp, we stopped by what appears to be a vista point on the side of the road. They had constructed a beautiful deck off the side of the mountain that allowed you to see a good 200+ degrees around us and down to the valley below. Again, the photos below do not do this place justice at all.

As reference, for those who have been to Kauai, Hawaii. A lot of the island of Kauai just feels/seems like paradise on earth. Well, this particular part of Skagway gave me the same impression (just that it was like 40-50 degrees cooler than Kauai.

In the distance, you can see two columns of smoke leading down to a cruise ship. That was our boat, the Sapphire Princess docked at Skagway.

I took a series of photos hoping I could stitch them together for a nice panorama. However, since the photos weren't taken on a tripod (user error), I am unable to stitch them correctly without some odd artifacts. I may try again later, we'll see.

Upon reaching base camp down below, we were ushered towards some benches where this lady gave a presentation on sled dog racing, the equipments used, the preparations involved, etc... She explained that not all dogs want to run, so those who didn't show the potential to be sled dogs are identified early and the given out for adoption for a more sedentary lifestyle.

Who can resist puppies

What about a puppy puppy?! Cuuuute.

I don't think this is a real street sign, but it does accurately describe the crappy road surface and ride comfort (or the severe lack-of). At least google map doesn't indicate that this street exists in Skagway. But "Ragged Ass Road" does exist in Canada. Look it up if you don't believe me.

After we had gotten back from our Musher's Camp excursion, we realized that we hadn't eaten all morning since we were in a rush to make our 8:30am call time. But seeing that it was little Alexander's nap time, we wrestled with the thought of just putting him down for a nap in the room, or to take him out on a stroller and that perhaps, he could nap in the stroller.

I was okay staying on the boat and just eating at the buffet, but seeing how Skagway was our last stop in "Alaska," we decided to walk back into town and try and pick up some souvenirs. So we busted out the stroller, crossing our fingers hoping Alex would fall asleep.

Yeaaah... what were we thinking. He didn't sleep a wink. Luckily for us, however, he didn't fuss at all so were able to enjoy our time in the tourist trap known as Skagway.

As we eventually made our way back to our ship, the sun was out, the skies were quite clear for the most part, and my son and wife took their naps in the room. I made my way up to the top of the boat to try and capture some of the beauty that surrounded me. That and I was secretly hoping I would get a shot of a bald eagle.

Sunburst in Skagway!

I liked how the sun and the reflection off the water back-lit the helicopter in this photo.

There's a bald eagle in this photo... really!

And finally... my best bald eagle photo of my trip. How sad is that?!

I'm being serious... I found this guy circling around and with my 100-400mm lens, I followed it until it landed on the tree. The sad part was that in my excitement to finally see a bald eagle... I didn't check my exposure settings, so when the eagle finally took off, at 400mm, my photos ranged from 1/200-1/250s. Let's just say those photos didn't turn out well at all. I'm retarded, I know.

REVIEW:
♠ Canon EF 100-400L IS
Pros: This lens was on my camera about 40% of the time. You would think that in a place like Alaska, one might settle with more wide angled shots. And while I did take my fair share of wide angle photos, this versatile zoom lens allowed me to zoom in on mountain tops, faraway glaciers, and even 1 bald eagle. It gave me the chance to photograph the bear at Taku Glacier Lodge from a safe(r) distance. It provided me with a lot of fun photos as I stood on our balcony looking at the shoreline, looking at other boats, and staring at the eleventy-billion waterfalls along the way.

Cons: Well, size. It's not a small lens. Hehehe... And despite being able to reach out to 400mm (effectively 640mm on the APS-C 7D sensor), 400mm still felt way too short at times. Case in point, see my bald eagle photo.

Alaska: Part III

2011-09-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

So after Tracy Arm (being a slight bit of disappointment), our ship made its way towards Juneau. It was pretty smooth sailing as we remained sheltered by land on both sides, navigating through the channels. But I could tell that the weather was turning for the worst. It had been overcast in Tracy Arm, but now, even at ~noon as we sailed towards Juneau, it was starting to really look gloomy.

Juneau: still 1.5 hours away. I didn't know it when I took this shot at 400mm, but this indeed, was Juneau.


Juneau Panorama. Was a rather damp day in Juneau, though we missed the rain by going to Taku Lodge	.

But the weather wasn't terribly discouraging since, as previously noted, the forecast had called for rain 6 out of the 7 days, so rain would have been right on schedule. Here are some additional photos as we were nearing Juneau.

Looking back, heading away from Tracy Arm and towards Juneau.

One thing about clouds is that at least it makes for a more dramatic sky.

I didn't know it at the time of taking this shot, but this would be the very plane to our next destination.

I left the excursion decisions for my wife to decide. I figured I already got us on a boat and out of state for the week, I've done my part. So another friend had clued us in on this particular excursion and we thought it would be worth partaking. Taku Glacier Lodge via Wings Airways. It involved a plane ride in one of 3 de Havilland's (each seating 10 adults) whisking you away from Juneau to a little lodge called Taku Glacier Lodge. The lodge itself has quite an interesting history and you'll get a little story-telling during lunch/dinner about how the lodge came to be. Whether the story is true or not, well... who knows and we really didn't care.

The excursion itself is $280/person. (Yes... pricey.) It's about 3-3.5 hours. You're flown from Juneau in a bush plane for about 30 minutes, flying over some mountain tops and over some MASSIVE (to me at least) and impressive glaciers. You're given a headset with narration giving you the history on the particular glacier and interesting tidbits on Alaska. You then land near a cozy lodge, where fresh salmon is cooked and served to you in a delicious, heart-warming meal. You're then given a 10-15minute story-telling during the meal. After which, you're invited to go on a short walk into the woods.

Up, up, and away!

Our pilot.

I guess the photo above could use a little bit of explaining. No, we weren't allowed to move around in the small de Havilland bush plane. What had happened was that unknowingly, thinking I was being nice in letting everyone else board ahead of me onto the plane, being the last one on the plane, I soon realized there was no seat for me. I looked to the back, and to the front, and hunched there (since the fuselage was too small to actually stand upright) confused. Shortly after, the pilot followed me into the plane and said, "Well, you'll just have to ride shotgun."

My eyes lit up like a little kid and I believe I exclaimed, "You serious?!?" Our friend on the trip, obviously envious of my shotgun seat quickly remarked, "Hey, I'll take it!" But before he could finish that sentence, I had hopped into the front seat. It's my first time being in a small plane, and I certainly didn't expect to be riding in the cockpit. WoooooOOOOot!

Glaciers, anyone?

That's a LOT of ice.

A thought came across my mind as I was up in the plane: If I could sell glacial ice and there was a market for it, I'd be a billionaire. :P

If I hadn't mentioned that I get motion-sickness rather easily... well, I do. For the majority of the way to the lodge, I was fine, as the there was very little turbulence and the pilot kept the plane pretty straight. But towards the end... as he was rocking the plane side-to-side, whether to let the passengers get a better look at the vista below, or perhaps to better position the plane in preparation for the landing, that's when my head started spinning. So the last 5 minutes of the ride felt like I was tossed into a dryer and spun around a few times.

Well, thankfully for me, the plane did eventually land. By the way, I was pleasantly surprised that taking off and landing on water is surprisingly pleasant. There seemed to be a lot less shaking/vibration when compared to the jet airplanes. Not sure if this is due to it being slower and being a propeller engine. Or if it's because skirting across the water makes the ride much smoother.

In any case, we landed and found ourselves walking into a real life postcard. Again, shame that the skies were overcast but it didn't seem all that bad. At least it wasn't raining.

As you'll see, here's a guy in a t-shirt, cooking the delicious salmon on an outdoor grill. The rest of us tourists were bundled up since the temperature was probably in the mid-50s at best, if not lower. 50s must be shorts & t-shirt weather up there.

Nothing like some fresh, delicious salmon.

Believe it or not, there's a bear in that tree, somewhere. And that little tent structure on the lower right? Well... that's where the guy was grilling salmon. That's too close for comfort IMO.

Believe me now? Can you see Waldo?

Fortunately for us, the employees of the Lodge all have their dogs (labs) there so I think, or at least I hoped, the dogs was what helped kept the bear at bay and on the tree.

Petting a lab is much safer than petting a black bear.

Big stick used for bear clubbing?

Our group (sans me as I was taking the photo).

There it is again.

And again...

I'm assuming this is the "Taku Glacier," hence the name Taku Glacier Lodge. Else that would be quite the misrepresentation/false advertisement.

So once the salmon was brought into the lodge, guess who showed up. A bigger, fatter black bear. (Not the same one that was on the tree.)


Here is the smaller black bear that came down from the tree, eyeing the grill and waiting its turn, as the bigger black bear snarled at it whenever it got too close.

So here's the salmon meal. And boy was it deeeeeelicious. I guess for $280, it better damn well be the best salmon I've ever had. Perhaps it was the location, the ambiance, but I say it was probably the best salmon I've had.

Another peak at Taku Glacier, across the river.

I must admit, I was a little nervous going on the short hike along Waterfall Trail after dinner. After all, I just witnessed two black bears that were literally within 30-feet from me, digging through an open grill looking for salmon scraps. And here we are, walking a 19-month-old child in the group of hikers...

I had to keep reminding my wife to not lag behind. I've watched enough Discovery Channel to know that wild animals instinctively prey on the old and the young. I sure as hell didn't want to make the 8 o'clock news and I certainly wouldn't want harm to come to my family.

At the beginning of the trail. (See on the left side how we're already lagging behind?)

Fortunate for us, the dogs (whether trained or by instinct) helped keep us in the group and we never fell back too far. And as they noted, I guess Alaska truly is a rain forest. I was just plain ignorant in thinking that rain forest = hot/humid, closer-to-the-Equator rain forest. But nope... it's quite green and lush where we were.

With every step that I took, I felt the value of this particular excursion increase. There's nothing remotely like this in southern California. Sure, we have mountains and we can find snow just a mere 2-hours drive (in winter). But the air here was so crisp and clean. Sure, it was a little on the chilly side, but wow. I mean WOW!

Being on the boat... that didn't feel much like a vacation. Surrounded by a bunch of people you don't really care to know/meet nor mingle. Being out here, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a cozy lodge next to a river facing a glacier that's tens of thousands of years old. I mean aside from the potentially-lethal bears, this was a slice of paradise!

Towards the end of summer... not much of a waterfall now, just a slight trickle.

And I leave you with the bear that was up on the tree, now roaming around after we took our hike.

Granted I don't travel much... but when I do/did, it's very rare where I felt sad leaving a particular location. I was sad when the time came to leave Taku Glacier Lodge. I realize that we visited at a time where the weather was nice, the temperature was warm (by Alaskan standards), no howling, freezing winds. I'm sure 7 months out of the year, the place is just flat out cold and miserable. But the place is beautiful. If you're ever in Juneau during the summer time, whether it's there by cruise ship, or flown in, I couldn't recommend Taku Glacier Lodge enough. The service was great. The employees all wonderful. The meal absolutely delicious. Fantastic experience over all.

On the way back, my friend took shotgun position. Hehe... I think he made sure he was first on the plane so that he can take that seat up front.

Part IV to come, Skagway.

REVIEW:

♠ Canon EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS

Pros: What a perfect "standard zoom" lens for travel. Sure, the 15-85mm range would have came in more handy, but I must confess... especially experiencing overcast conditions... having the constant f/2.8 throughout the entire focal range is a blessing. The USM on this lens remains THE fastest I've experienced thus far in the Canon line-up, yes, faster than the "L"s that I have.

Cons: It's not weather-sealed, but fortunately, it didn't rain on me for that to be of any concern. It's quite pricey for being a non "L".

Alaska: Part II

2011-09-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

Tracy Arm Fjord: Glaciers! (b&w conversion)

So after departing Ketchikan, the boat headed toward Tracy Arm. We were to arrive at 6am and leave by 10am, giving us a relatively narrow window, especially being so early in the morning and needing to work around a 19-month-old's sleeping schedule.

To my wife's dismay, my son did wake up earlier that morning so it kind of worked out for me to hang out on the balcony. But by waking up early, it also meant that my son would get tired and fussy much earlier and would need to take his day nap sooner. We paid the fussiness price after and in hindsight, I'm not so sure if the Tracy Arm segment of our cruise was worth the fussiness that ensued.

My guess is that had our cruise been earlier in the summer, where we probably would have seen more icebergs and possibly lounging harbor seals, then yeah, the scenery would have been more exotic. But it turns out that for the most part... while it remain cold, there were just a few chunks of ice floating and we hardly saw any wildlife, other than a few birds.

On top of that, the weather was overcast and while I was still happy that it wasn't raining... the overcast skies made for some very boring photos. Prior to leaving California, looking at our itinerary, I thought Tracy Arm would be the highlight of our cruise, one where I thought I would most likely get the best photos. Now sitting here at home... while it was nice to ultimately see the glaciers, it didn't quite meet the expectations I had for the location. I feel kind of cheated to tell you the truth.

Tracy Arm Fjord.

Smaller boat FTW. You'll need one of these to get closer to the glaciers. I watched with envy as they maneuvered around us to head further/deeper.

One of a million waterfalls that cascade into the fjord.

Looking back.

Ripples.

After leaving Tracy Arm, the ship made a dash towards Juneau, which I'll save for Part III. We were scheduled to arrive in Juneau by 2pm with our first Alaskan excursion scheduled at 2:30pm, involving a bush plane, a lodge, more ice/glaciers, and possibly even some bears.

REVIEW:
♠ Tokina 11-16/2.8
Pros: It's a nice, sharp zoom.

Cons: I was surprised that I hardly used the darn thing for my trip. I suppose if I was walking around in a 2-camera setup and given more time to actually do photography, I would have been inclined to take this lens out at every location. But having just 1 camera body and a 19-month old to tend to, switching lenses on the fly just doesn't jive and I often just settled with one of the other zooms.

Recommendation: 50/50. If you're alone, or got time to setup and actually do photography, then yes, I would recommend bringing this lens anywhere landscape would be encountered. But if you only have 1 camera body, and/or traveling with family/friends who aren't into photography, then this lens will take a backseat, and I mean way in the back-of-the-bus backseat in terms of usage if you have another standard zoom around.

Alaska: Part I

2011-09-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wasn't quite the "complete" escape, but it'll have to do.

So I recently took the family on a week-long cruise to Alaska. We had booked with Princess Cruises (through Costco) and it was a group vacation that we took along with a number of my college friends from my days at UCLA. All-in-all, twenty of us made the trip.

From a photography standpoint, I struggled to decide what gear to bring with me. I've never been to Alaska (I don't travel much actually), so part of me felt like this was a trip of a lifetime. But this vacation wasn't just about me, as we'd be traveling with a 19-month old child and of course my wife, who is the queen of over-packing. As much as I wanted to lug all my lenses and both camera bodies, I knew I really wouldn't have time to plan my shots, unless I was intent on ruining my wife's vacation. So I settled with bringing the following, which amounted to whatever weight I was willing to haul in a backpack and not let things get in the way:

Canon 7D-gripped
Canon EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS
Canon EF 24/1.4L ii
Canon EF 50/1.2L
Canon EF 100-400L
Tokina 11-16/2.8
Canon 580 EXii

Having checked the weather forecast prior to our departure, showing that it would be raining 6 out of the 7 days, I packed everything into a Lowepro AW300 backpack, which I bought specifically for this trip as it is weather-resistant. But the weather god was kind to us during the trip and it never really "rained" aside from the two full days of open water travel on the boat so I never got to test the weather-resistant capabilities of the bag (and I aint complaining about that).

Fog in Seattle: at least it's not raining.

We flew into Seattle the night before the cruise departed since we didn't want to risk having issues with the airline or our flight/luggage. We called up a town car service (Lincoln town car even) and our driver said we had the most bags he'd ever seen for just 3 people. Did I tell you that my wife is the ultimate over-packer?

As we pulled into downtown Seattle just before sunset. Apparently there was a video game convention happening that particular weekend so we saw some interesting folks in odd costumes. We stayed at the Mediterranean Inn for the night, located cat-a-corner from a Dick's Burger joint and across the street from a Safeway supermarket. We didn't get a chance to eat at Dick's, which our driver claimed was similar to In-n-Out's here in California, because there's not a whole lot for Alexander to eat there.

I had hoped to get some photos of the city before sunset but between checking in, unpacking, grabbing a bite and putting the kid to sleep pretty much killed what available light was left. The vista Saturday afternoon was much better than what I ended up capturing Sunday morning (seen in the photo above). But que sera sera.

I also didn't get a chance to take a photo of our boat at the pier in Seattle before our departure. Again, it was a choice I made to not fidget with my gear as we try to find porters for our 4 large check-in luggage, on top of the pack-n-play, car seat, carry-on, and other accessories. As much as I would've liked this to be a photographic journey, compromises and sacrifices had to be made.

Room with a balcony with a view.

If you're traveling with young children, I highly recommend getting yourself a mini-suite w/ balcony if you're going to go cruising. The rooms are tiny to begin with but having the extra living-room and balcony essentially double (if not triple) the real-estate available for the little one(s) to roam around and burn off some energy. The price difference between "Oceanview + balcony" and "Mini-suite + Balcony" is negligible. The brunt of the blood money is paid when getting a balcony.

Although my overall impressions of the cruise itself wasn't all that great, one thing I am pleased with our boat was that the balcony had glass railings instead of just open bars like some of the other ships we saw. I think this gave little Alexander the chance to really enjoy the scenery without giving him an opportunity to chuck things overboard or slip between the bars. After all, he is our most precious cargo.

Allow me to elaborate further upon the statement I made in the previous paragraph about my impressions of the cruise. I am a land duck. By which I mean I don't do well on the ocean and have struggled in the air as well. Motion sickness comes easily to me and when it hits, it's quite unpleasant. I was told/advised by a few that the boat's so big, that you would hardly feel anything. But of course I was skeptical about that statement and rightfully so. How silly we humans are to think we could build anything large enough to tame the swells of an enormous Pacific Ocean. The only thing that can tame the ups and downs of the ocean swells would be called an "island," and we humans haven't built a island that moved, yet. So while yes, there was less movement than to say skirting on the ocean surface in a kayak, it still wasn't a ride in the park, especially the days where the ship was in open water and not protected by the inside passage.

Aside from my own genetic deficiencies, I found the customer service on the cruise to be mediocre at best. Perhaps it's because we were at the tail-end of the Alaskan cruise season and that the crew was ready to pack up and go elsewhere. This being my first cruise, having not known otherwise, I even found the service to be shoddy. A few veterans with other cruises under the belts also commented on how the crew/staff just didn't seem as accommodating and the service lacking so it wasn't just me being critical. The food wasn't as splendid as hyped up by some, and the food servers in the restaurants were slow. You would think it's common knowledge that toddlers don't have the longest attention spans in the world, yet whenever we dined at the restaurants (regardless of "formal nights" or not), on average, the appetizer portion ran about 60-90 minutes before entrees were finally brought out. I found myself spending more time walking my son than sitting down to enjoy our dinner.

But that's enough of the crew and the lack-luster service. That's only part of the vacation and thankfully (thanks to my wife), we booked a few excursions off the boat that really made this vacation a memorable one, and not a disaster on the water.

Leaving Seattle

So on with more stories and more photos! Here we are shortly after leaving Seattle, with Mt. Rainier in the background (or at least I think it's Mt. Rainier). Regrettably, I didn't get a better shot of the mountain as Saturday afternoon was much clearer and would have made the landmark prettier to photograph. At this part of the journey, we were headed on our first full-day open water journey to Ketchikan, Alaska.

(Somewhere during the 36+ hour journey, we hit open water, I got very dizzy, I recovered in time for a formal dinner, yadda yadda.)

Reflections: Ketchikan, AK @ 8am in the morning.


Surveyor: lil Alexander looking for the best way to attack the tourist town.

Disembarkation: posing with the boat.


The Boardwalk: except its a boardwalk w/o shops.

So we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska at ~6am Tuesday morning. True to Weather.com forecast, we were met with scattered clouds but no rain. The irony (or what would have been had it rained throughout the rest of our cruise) is that Ketchikan is supposedly the wettest part of our journey. It averages 137inches of rain per year! Read all about Ketchikan on Wiki.

We hadn't booked any excursions here in Ketchikan because we figured it could get soggy and we thought the timing would conflict with Alexander's nap time. So instead, we just walked into town and did the usual tourist sight-seeing-around-town routine.

We had heard about Creek Street so we set out to find and conquer it. As we headed into town, I soon noticed that our ship's berthing area seemed the farthest from town. Granted it was still just a 10-15minute hike at most, but Holland America had a better spot. (And just FYI, yes, Holland America ALWAYS has the better spot, closer to town, although their ship appeared older in construction. But perhaps their service would have been better than what we got on Princess. :P)

Just in case you're not quite sure where you were.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the low female population in the state.

This was as close I got to a bald eagle.

Bears on a shelf!

Hole-in-the-wall Salmon Market

Did someone lose a totem?

Creek Street! We found it!


We're told the water level can get MUCH higher in Spring and early Summer.


Creek Street, somewhat cute... someone.

Halibut(T)Hole, as a friend of mine pointed it out and asked me to take a photo of the sign.

Never quite made it far enough down Creek Street to see the whore house.

Sunburst.

Damn you Holland America.

When the sun came out in Ketchikan.

So this will conclude Part I of my Alaskan journey. Next stop should include Tracy Arm Fjord and possibly Juneau.

I'll be posting my impressions of the rest of the camera equipment I took along with me.

REVIEW:
♠ Lowepro AW300 Backpack
Pros: Dimensions were just right to be accepted as a "Carry On" for the plane. Construction is good and there is plenty of room internally for camera bodies and lenses. There seems to be enough room to fit all my lenses and both camera bodies (gripped). Although it's not a light backpack, there is plenty of cushion and support to make it comfortable to wear. The adjustable shoulder strap did come in handy, which allowed the waist padding/cushion to slide lower so one could enlist the help of one's hips to dissipate the load.

Cons: It's heavier than expected even when empty. Although the shoulder strap was adjustable, I'm ~5'11" (180cm) on a good day, and I had to extend the strap adjustment to the maximum position already. So unless you're shorter, or have a disproportionate short torso, the shoulder adjustment feature might not come in as handy, unless you loosen the shoulder straps and let it hang a bit down your shoulders. The space allocated for a laptop isn't all that big. It works, but it works better if you have a thin laptop and keep the screen size @ or below 15".

Recommendation: Yes. This is a good backpack for pretty much any type of travel, even if it's a little heavy empty.

Round 2

2011-08-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

So on Monday, I drove down to Canon Service Center located at Irvine, CA to drop off the two Canon 5D's I have in my possession. I was slightly disappointed to find that neither cameras had their mirrors reinforced, which had been part of Canon's global recall for this particular model. Apparently the adhesive used was insufficient when the camera was used in a high heat, high humidity environment.

Now granted that I probably will never have to deal with such conditions simultaneously living here in southern California, I still felt that it was better to have the mirrors reinforced so that later on, when I try and sell the camera on the used market, it would give the next owner some more reassurance. Well, at least that's the thought. But in any case, the mirrors are fixed/reinforced. I'm happier now than I was prior to Monday.

On a side note, I must applaud Canon Service Center Irvine. It was a two day turn around, from dropping it off on Monday, to receiving it on Wednesday afternoon. Granted I could probably superglue the little winglets myself with tweezers and what not... it's the fact that all this was done under warranty/recall and the shipping back to me was free, 2 day FedEx. I like companies that try and stand behind their products/services. Makes me happier that I've invested in the Canon system.

After all, getting into photography, you truly are "investing" into a particular system. Be it Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc... the lenses stick around forever (or until they fall apart), but the camera bodies come and go. It would suck if one spends all that money, only to be bamboozled when it comes to getting their camera gear serviced (whether it's under or out of warranty). Good service is hard to come by, and should be noted and commended when it does happen.

In any case... now it's time to sell off one of my 5D's. Let's see if anyone is willing to adopt one.

Full Frame

2011-07-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally did it. I finally joined the FF community. Though I must confess that since picking up the somewhat-ancient 5D (classic), I've come to appreciate the handling, features, and ergonomics of my Canon 7D so much more. I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise but man... does the 7D run circles around the 5Dc. Just in case some are wondering, no, I have not sold/ditched my beloved Canon 7D. Short of some catastrophic failure... I can't imagine myself letting go that camera. It does just about everything well, or at least well enough.

So why did I pick up a 5Dc if the 7D is so bloody good? Simple curiosity. I wanted to see what the FF hype was all about, but didn't want to cough up the blood money for the Canon 5D2 when the replacement is around the corner.

That said... the 5Dc truly is good at what it was designed to do. It's a basic, no thrill, no frill stills photography camera. I'm not going to subscribe to the "wow, FF is magical" notion. I think that's just pure bullsh!t from people who want to justify their investment. My guess is >95% of the photographic community are a bunch of hobbyists like myself. And that they almost never print any photos, not even 4"x6", let alone poster-sized prints.

Bottom line is... FF camera allows one to capture photos with a different perspective and field of view using the same lenses when compared to a crop (APS-C) camera. What does that mean? It means that the difference one sees isn't "magic pixie dusts" as many fanatics would have you believe. It's just simple physics. Does that mean you'll get "better IQ (image quality)" all the time? I guess that depends on how you define IQ. I've always held the belief that a good image is a good image is a good image. The composition, content, subject is what's important. It's up to the photographer to capture that, and up to the photographer to 1) determine the best tool to use, and 2) make the best out of the tools he/she currently has on hand. Don't make excuses... just make images.

What I do like, however, is that now adding a FF format... my lenses (other than the 50mm) have dual purpose. That gives me additional options as well as gives me DoF alternatives. Will having a FF camera make me a better photographer? That's a resounding "No." But it'll make me a more efficient photographer as to the times where I decide to carry two bodies and not need to take time away to swap lenses constantly.

As I wrote earlier... the 5Dc is a bit clunky to operate, but it's simple enough that even a caveman can do it. It's hard to screw up, as long as the subject is not moving much. And that's where the problem lies...

My son's now 18-months. Mobility is his middle name, along with Agile and Docile. The 7D has a much higher keeper rate of the photos captured because he's always on the move. And for that, I'm truly appreciative of its much better autofocus system.

Failed Attempt @ Brenizer Method

2011-07-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

This was my 2nd attempt at the Brenizer method. But just like the first, I failed miserably. However, I think I understand why it hasn't worked out like I thought it would/should.

You see, it's now clear to me that the Brenizer method will work better... had I been shooting with a FF camera. I would have been closer to the subject, therefore there would be better compression, lending to thinner DoF. And with the FF (35mm) able to take advantage of the entire image circle transmitted by the lens... I could still get away with 9-15 photos and get the desired effect.

Instead, I have been (and was/is) shooting with an APS-C sensor. A significant chunk of the image circle is cropped, so in order to stitch just 9-15 frames together... I'd have to stand further back, thus losing my DoF, and by doing so, I'm not achieving the effect I was looking for. Else I'd have to take some 30-45 shots to get the same affect as FF and then stitch them in Photoshop. That's a lot of photos. You follow?

Well, I'll be able to better demonstrate once I receive the 5D. Fedex tracking has my 1st 5D possibly being delivered tomorrow. That is assuming they attempt delivery before 1pm tomorrow. Else I'll have to just wait until early next week, by which time, I should be expecting my 2nd 5D as well. (Yeah... it's a long story.)

No, I don't plan to keep both 5D's if anyone was wondering.

BTW, did I mention that I love having my family back?

Slowing Coming Together...

2011-07-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hey, well, what do you know. I'm the one that was retarded after all. I guess the blog app does save drafts every once in awhile, so most of what I typed didn't get lost. Shows you how much (and the lack-of) I know. So here we go, this was the entry that was intended for July 18:

Well, my 4½ month condo adventure is finally coming to an end. It's utterly amazing how retarded the situation got. I swear, I will never buy a condo ever again. Having neighbors above/below you should only be "acceptable/tolerable" when you're renting/leasing an apartment. Because at least, it's someone else's problem and they need to take care of it. Not your nightmare.

So in my excitement to welcome my wife and son home, I bought one of them big ol' Costco bears to surprise them. (Okay, mostly for my son since he loves bears.) How can one resist such a hug-able giant teddy bear?

Work on my bathroom ceiling is being done as I type this. The mold remediation took an entire week, which spanned across the the 4th of July weekend). The dehumidifier/HEPA filter combination was rather deafening... almost like being at an airshow on the tarmac listening to the propeller warbirds lining up for a take off.

But at least the mold's gone and my wife and son moved back in to escape the triple digit heat that was blistering them at my in-laws'. I'm sure after awhile, you sort of get used to the blazing inferno... but I'm good with 70s year-round, thankyouverymuch.

As one can see, my boy is quite enjoying the company of his new buddy.

Now speaking of airshows... I guess I had forgotten to mention that I was at the Chino Airshow mid-May. The show almost didn't happen for me as it was a weekend full of odd weather. I had signed up for the Sunrise Photo package. For starters, I woke up late... enough where I had to skip my usual morning shower.

It was cold... and there wasn't much of a sunrise. The skies were overcast and gloomy, and a storm front was moving through. I was hoping that the bad weather would have moved along after Saturday, but nope... somewhere around 7:30-8am, the rain started falling. I hung around for another hour, hour-and-a-half before thinking that my day was washed out.

I made my way back to the car, rather soaked and was going to just head back home. If the weather didn't improve and the ceiling remained low... there wasn't going to be a show.

But before I threw in the towel, I called up a buddy to have him check on the weather for me, naturally with huge skepticism. If you live (or lived) in southern California, you know how inaccurate the weather man (or mostly woman nowadays) are. Or if you've ever watched the movie LA Story (w/ Steve Martin), you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

So my buddy tells me over the phone that according to the reports, the storm cell should blow through by 11am. All this while it rained like cats and dogs as I huddled in my car with my sweatshirt soaked and me shivering to the bones. But hey, it was a long drive from West L.A. to Chino... and it'd be equally long driving back. So I said to myself I'll just hide in the car for another hour and see what happened.

And sure enough... slowly but surely, the rain lightened up. As I sat in the car, slowly drying off... I notice more and more cars pulling up into the parking lot. Well then... the show must go on. I was glad I stuck it out a little longer and managed to capture a number of photos. (See my Smugmug galleries.)

I managed to track another bee-in-flight. I've shared the photo elsewhere and have received great feedback. In case some of you are wondering... no, there's really no skill involved in capturing a shot like this. It's pure luck and patience, as you machine gun through the burst in AI Servo mode and hope you captured something worth publishing. All you need to make sure is that you've got enough light so that your shutterspeed will be sufficient to get you a crisp/sharp photo and that your aperture is narrow enough to get as much of the little bugger within the DoF.

Should this photo inspire some of you to go out and shoot some bee macros... just make sure you're not allergic to bee stings (though I've yet to be stung while taking bee photos). Bees are pretty laid back. They may hover around/near you. But as long as you don't make any sudden, jerky movements, or God-forbid you start swatting at them, you're pretty safe. My parents think I'm nuts and wonder how I don't freak out when there are a few bees hovering around me. I just laugh at them as I watch them scuttle away in fear, making movements that I'm sure some bees perceive as threatening.

And last but not least, my little boo bear is home, sound asleep in his crib again. The wrongs of the world are righted again... if only for a brief moment.

Oh, I lied... one final note: I bought myself a used 5D (no, not the Mark II). They're going for relatively cheap these days and it seems like a worthwhile investment to give full-frame sensors a try. I do not intend on replacing my 7D for a number of years. The 5D should supplement my shooting style, not replace it.

Well... So Much For That...

2011-07-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well, there goes half-n-hour of my life that I'll never get back.

I was working on this entry earlier... and while looking up some directions for the wife, the website froze my browser. (I didn't know people were still designing crappy websites out there. Must be because it was a Flash website.) Such epic fail.

So I had to force-quit my browser and you know how that goes... everything go bye bye. I guess that's what happens when I rely on these WYSIWYG blogging tools these days. This would never had happened back in the days when I was still coding HTML.

*sigh*

Que sera, sera. I guess it was just not meant to be. So I'll just end this entry with a photo of my little boy pointing up with food stuffed in his mouth. That pretty much sums up how I'm feeling about my blog and the time wasted/spent/lost.

The Past 12 Days...

2011-06-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

So it's now June 20th. Another 12 days have passed and my family's still not back home where they belong.

Since my last entry, we were forced to delay the mold remediation in our unit because the contractors would not proceed without us signing a waiver saying that mold removal is not guaranteed due to the fact that the problem continued to exist upstairs as no progress had been made on that front.

I've also spent countless hours trying to make heads or tails of the legal garbage called the CC&R. I found some Sections in some Articles that allowed me to force an emergency meeting with the HOA to try and take action. And finally, as I sit here and type this blog entry with the evening winding down... the developer/builder finally began pulling some shower and bathroom tiles apart from the unit above.

Chances are, my wife and son won't be able to move back in for another 3 weeks at the earliest... but at least there's a glimmer of hope that all this will finally be over with now that the work has initiated.

I swear... where's the justice in all this?

In any case, for the past 12 days, I've seen my son a whopping 3 times. I guess this must be how divorced couples feel, get to see the kids on certain weekends... Although he's my precious little boy, he seems to be more aware, more coordinated, more grown up every time I see him. Instead of the progressive day-to-day improvements that I was accustomed to, now it seems his progress is more leaps-n-bounds now that I don't get to see him for days in between. I feel like I'm missing out on something very important...

He's more talkative now. He's starting to piece words together. He's pronouncing his words better. And unless I'm mistaken, he has a decent grasp of the alphabet (pronunciation-wise). In fact, yesterday being Father's Day, we were out at a place called Victoria Gardens, he started sounding "Sssss ssss sss" and lo-n-behold, we looked in the direction he was gazing at and sure enough, there was an "S" there.

In the past two weeks, he's also started singing parts of the Batman theme song. Nananana...., etc... and he'd sing, "Bat-maaan!" He's gotten better at throwing balls and playing catch. He's gotten better at kicking (as you evident in the photo).

Oh I can't wait to bring him back home. I hope and pray that the repairs are done properly and as quickly as possible so that there won't be anymore delays.

And if that can't happen, then I hope and pray that I win the lottery so I can take everyone to court (while buying a house so that I can move my family back).

An Emptiness Around Me

2011-06-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Not being around my son and not being able to hug and play with him everyday is starting to take its toll on me. I miss the little fella more than words could possibly describe. I hate the situation forced upon me and my family. There's a darkness that looms over me, a seething anger that is gaining momentum.

There's a great emptiness around me. An eerie silence surrounds me throughout this condo. I long for the days where I can once again hear the pitter patter of my son's footsteps running down the hall. The cries of "Da DaaAAAAa!" as he makes the corner. As he lunges at me for that warm embrace.

For the past 2 weeks, I have been robbed these precious moments of fatherhood. We are under siege, trapped in a situation beyond our reasonable control. Had I had the finances, I would have gotten an attorney and gone after those responsible long ago. But I suppose had I had the finances, we wouldn't be in this condo in the first place.

They say money doesn't buy you happiness. And no amount of wealth can bring you joy. I agree with that to a certain extent. You cannot put a price tag on my family, on my son. I would gladly trade all that I own, all that I am for them without hesitation. But in our particular situation, money would have came in handy to move him into a safer place not so far away. It would have procured the "help" needed to get this bullshit moving along. But instead, we've been stuck in limbo since March.

For 3 months, my condo (my home) has been under siege. I have an up-stair's neighbor whose shower unit (arguably construction defect) has been leaking into our bathroom. She's been (from my perspective), up until the past few weeks, half-assing around with patchwork repairs. I cannot get past the fact that for starters, she doesn't have homeowner's insurance. How can anyone think they could get away without homeowner's insurance living in a multi-family residence?!? The insurance is no more than $1000/year, yet because she wanted to cut down on her monthly expenses, she's now caused upwards of $5,000+ worth of damage to our unit. If she had HOI to begin with, the insurance would have been involved from the get-go and, at least in theory, been less stressful for everyone involved.

Let's hypothetically take the $5,000+ out of the conversation for a minute. If all that it took was $5,000 to repair our unit back to whole, we would be all over it. But we can't because it's taken 3 arduous month for the neighbor and the builder/developer to acknowledge that the problem exists and that it is much bigger than they were willing to admit . We aren't able to fix our unit until the source of the problem is fixed.

And the constant-knuckle-dragging trying to get things fixed properly (without the help of insurance) has resulted in the formation and presence of Stachybotrys ("black mold"), which was confirmed when we paid for mold testing out of our own pocket. All this time, my son had developed a cough/runny nose for 3+ weeks and we're uncertain whether it was caused or made worse by exposure to said mold. So as parents, we felt we had to protect him so he and my wife have moved in temporarily with her parents until the situation is properly resolved.

This bullshit has been dragging along for 3 months now. I can't help but wonder... What if the damn neighbor had homeowner's insurance as she is suppose to, then all this would have been looked into, cleaned up, and most likely fixed and dealt with. If not repaired, at least towards the tail end of being completed. And we wouldn't have to deal with the developer/builder, who repeatedly sends out an ill-qualified chump to try and sweep the problem under the rug. The same chump who tells me that the problem is a "maintenance issue," that everyone should be re-grouting their shower tile every single year to prevent this from happening. That he guarantees his repair for at least 1 year, yet his repairs failed TWICE within two weeks.

As I sit here, alone in my condo... the Captain going down with his ship (more so because there's no guarantee in recuperating any of these expenses it seems) and I can't move 2 hours away as I have an obligation to work. To take care and treat my patients. And the need for an income to support my family and pay the bills.

I suppose that in the long run, it is with hope that we made the right decision early enough (to move our son out of the environment) so that there are no long-term health ramifications for him. But as there are currently no "injuries" other than mental, emotional, psychological, and financial stress... all the lawyers we've consulted with say it's not worth our money to retain their service and take everyone to court, since we supposedly can't tack on our legal fees.

So you see. Although money can't buy me happiness... I sit here wondering that if I had the money, could it at least buy me some sense of justice throughout all this? If nothing else, if I had the money, I could still enjoy being around my family everyday, being around my wonderful son.

Yes, I realize tens of thousands have died from the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March. And I also know that hundreds have recently perished in the tornadoes that's tearing through parts of the nation. But those were uncontrollable acts of Mother Nature. There is no guard against that. My plight is man made. I just lack the means to hold those responsible accountable.

Still Around...

2011-05-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not a religious man. So I wasn't aware that the beginning-of-the-end of the world was suppose to happen this past weekend. But I guess someone must have miscalculated. Good thing too because I would like for my son to live a very, very long time. He's got an entire lifetime ahead of him and I would hate for someone/something to rob him of his future.

I read stories of (some) people quitting their jobs. Saying goodbye to their family and friends. Planning out their last days on Earth before being whisked away by Jesus, or left behind to watch the world burn.

I mean, seriously?

Now don't get me wrong... I know the meaning of Life isn't about going to work from 9-6 every weekday. So if you want to quit your job because you hate it, then by all means do so. Life is truly too short to be miserable.

But I kind of figured that if this end-of-the-world as prophesied by some is to occur... it's just going to be, isn't it? How do you really prepare for it? And forgive my ignorance as, again, I'm not a religious man. I'm assuming this recent doomsday prophecy is associated with one version on how the world is to end via the Christian faith. So if God or Jesus is suppose to come down and handpick those whose souls/spirits will be lifted up to Heaven, it's not like you can bring a set of luggage with you, right?

And if you're one of the unfortunate majority left on this rotting planet... well, the End is coming. What is there to really prepare for? If Death is to come, then let us face it with fear in our eyes and hearts, but let us face It head on. All that money saved in the bank aint going to matter one single bit as the skies fall and the ground crumbles.

Well, I guess until that Day comes, I'll continue to face each day one step at a time, and hopefully enjoy the journey as much as I can. I guess the next Doomsday comes in December of 2012. We'll find out if the Mayans truly knew something that we don't.

There's a first for everything...

2011-05-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Everyday can't be a bad day, right? Well, today certainly didn't start off as one, that's for sure. You know the old adage, "There's a first for everthing..."? Well, today certainly was a first.

I had a new patient come in wanting to restore a chipped tooth. It had just happened the day before and the patient had an event to attend in the afternoon. The patient's regular dentist was unavailable (whom I suspect was attending the CDA Dental Convention down in Anaheim this weekend). So I after a quick exam/evaluation of the tooth/area, I agreed and proceeded to restore the tooth (and an adjacent tooth which also had a small chip). But since I wasn't sure if the adjacent chip had been present prior the patient's accident, nor was I certain patient intended to have it restored at this appointment, I decided not to charge for the 2nd filling.

Upon completion of the procedures, I gave the patient a hand mirror and the patient was EXTREMELY pleased with the results. I explained to the patient what I had done and why I decided to restore the adjacent tooth: to make the smile line more even and make the smile more balanced/pleasant/natural. And because I did not discuss that 2nd filling before proceeding with it, I was not going to charge for that 2nd filling. Patient said that was ridiculous since I had done the work, I should be paid. I told the patient that may be true, but since I didn't give the option, the patient wasn't given the choice to consent. And if so desired, I can remove the bonding altogether, or simply not charge for it.

In any case, as I dismissed the patient, I instructed my assistant to let the front office know to waive the fee for the 2nd filling. When the patient got to the front counter and was informed of the copay, the patient nearly got into an argument with my front office, citing that the fee I was charging wasn't nearly enough. The patient insisted that the 2nd filling not be waived as the patient has insurance. So after some arm-wrestling, the front office recalculated the copay and the patient remained upset, still citing that it didn't seem right.

I had been sitting in my office, partially amused, but mostly speechless/surprised. I have never once had a patient fight to give me MORE money than what was charged. I walked out to the counter, thanked the patient for wanting to pay more but informed the patient that it is not necessary. The patient insisted to pay more than what was owed/charged and it wasn't up for debate.

These are the moments that I will forever hold dear. No, it's not the money. It's being appreciated for the services that I provide. When I decided to go into Dentistry, I knew full well that most people will dread coming to see me. That going to the dentist is somewhere down at the bottom of the To-Do list, competing with "do the dishes, clean the bathroom, take out the trash." But moments like this... I'm still laughing about it.

(I do apologize for using the word "patient" eleventy-billion times in this entry. It was necessary for me to be as vague as possible. I made sure that none of the information could be used to identify the patient. No mention of gender, specific tooth/teeth, specific fees. This was the best I can do to describe the case/situation while remaining complaint to HIPAA and protecting my patient's privacy. And obviously, as with all my dental photos and other entries, no name mentioned to maintain the anonymity.)

Indeed, there's a first for everything... and what a wonderful "first" this was.

I know it comes with the territory...

2011-05-10T22:35:00.000-07:00

But still...

In case it wasn't clear, I'm a general dentist. That's my day job. For the most part, I enjoy what I do and the services that I am able to provide for my patients. Most of my patients are wonderful, normal everyday individuals. But every once in awhile, I get someone who walks through the door and you can tell right off the bat that this isn't someone I'd like as a patient.

Case in point, we had a "new patient" scheduled to come in for an exam and cleaning. My staff has been trained very well in terms of relaying our office policy regarding insurance in person, and over the phone (we're out-of-network for all insurance companies and we don't take HMO). On my Yelp review site, I've taken great care to note that my office does not take HMO and we are out-of-network.

We ask new patients to come in 15-minutes prior to their scheduled appointment (as we reserve a block of time only specifically for them) so that they can fill out patient info, medical history, run their insurance benefits breakdown (as a courtesy to them) so that they are told prior to being seated/treated what our fees are, and what their expected co-payment (if any) are.

So when a new patient doesn't show up 15 minutes earlier to fill out the paperwork like we requested, but actually 15 minutes LATE (digging into the time already allotted for her cleaning, cutting the 60min down to 45min), and then gives my staff a hard time about what her insurance might or might not pay... She didn't want to be seen until she knew her insurance breakdown. Of course that's understandable... and THAT's the very reason why we asked her to come in earlier.

When all was said and done (explained to her), there was only 30 minutes left to the appointment. At which point I just told the staff to tell her to reschedule. Naturally, this person then gets upset with us and starts calling other dental offices in our waiting room to see if she could be seen sooner than the next available appointment time we had to see her.

I mean seriously...

Lady, you've already wasted enough of my staff's time. We've got other patients who would have appreciated that time slot, to come in on time, and get their teeth cleaned/examined. I could have easily charged a cancellation fee to recuperate *some* of the cost of paying my front office (wasted to check your insurance), and to my hygienist (wasted for not seeing a patient). But instead, I didn't want my hygienist to do an incomplete/rushed cleaning for 30 minutes when she should be given the full 50-60 minutes to properly clean your teeth.

I hope another office is able to see you sooner than we can. Because, to be honest, you're not the type of patient I want at my office. We do our best to respect your busy life, thus blocking out a specific amount of time to *only* see you, to get you in/out on time. Obviously, you don't respect our time because you think you can just waltz in at your leisure. So please, go be someone else's headache, not mine.

/rant

...

In short, for those who happen to trip upon this rant of mine... if you're shopping for a new dentist and you have dental insurance, let me give you a little advice: Don't be alarmed if they ask for your Social Security Number. It's the only way to check your insurance benefit.

Again, I enjoy being a dentist most of the time, especially when I actually get to treat the patient. It's great to see patients stare at the mirror in awe of the level of service I can provide for them. And I hope that they appreciate the fact that I don't push unnecessary procedures upon them, that I treat them like I would with any member of my immediate family.

I'll be the first to say that there's nothing we as dentists can do that is better than what Mother Nature initially provided you with. And there's nothing more beautiful than a natural, healthy smile. So take good care of your chompers and they, in turn, will take good care of you.

Makes Me Wonder...

2011-04-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

So this certainly isn't the first time I've received such e-mails. But I wonder... do some people really fall for scams like this? Do some people really click mindlessly on the embedded link in their e-mail?

The e-mail reads:
< http://images.em.bankofamerica.com/imgs/WOB/701OLB/v7_title_higher_standards.gif >
Dear Valued Bank of America Online Customer,

Bank of America Online has been receiving complaints from our customers for unusual activity of their Online Banking.

This is due to our regular scheduled software upgrade being carried out by our technical department to improve the quality of services for online banking customers.

Due to this, you are requested to follow the provided steps and confirm your Online Banking details for the safety of your Online Accounts.

Verify Account < http://grolschbusters.nl/css/.ssl/BofA/index.html >

However, Failure to do so may result in temporary account suspension. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account.

Thanks for your co-operation.
Security Center Advisory
Bank of America Online, N.A. (Member FDIC.)

I mean really... you want me to click on a link from http://grolschbusters.nl? I gotta imagine that these e-mails do sucker one or two individuals here and there, right? Or why go through the trouble. What also surprises me (though it probably shouldn't) is that I don't get such e-mails from Wells Fargo, or Chase, etc... So they have to know that I do have an account with BofA. Which means that they either hacked into BofA's database (probably very likely and easily done), or it's an inside job where some unscrupulous BofA employee is selling the company list of e-mails to scammers for pennies on the dollar (probably easily as likely). Makes you feel that much more secure about online banking doesn't it?

The sad part, is that I don't think the law can touch these individuals. And the worst that can happen is they're slapped with a small fine and allowed to carry on.

Alexander the Amazing

2011-03-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning (March 28, 2011), my little Alexander stunned me by saying his own name and actually knowing what it meant. When asked, "Who is Alex?" He would respond by pointing his index finger at himself, smile, and say, "Aaaadex."

Now the first time, I thought it's most likely a fluke as he's gotten pretty good at mimicking and repeating some of the things we say to him. So I had to test it a few more times (4-5x) and also confirmed again today that he really does know his name.

Sure enough. "Aaaadex," with finger point and a smile. Not too bad for a 14-month-old, eh? That's my little ball of amazingness. (Yeah, I know, there's no such word. But if you think about it, there really ought to be.)

First Phone Conversation

2011-03-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, while driving home, I had my first, official phone conversation with my son. Granted he spoke in a language that I could not comprehend (jibber-jabber), we had a great time chatting nonetheless. I can only assume that he asked how my day was, and told me all about how his day went.

As silly as this all sounds, our phone call (lasting just north of 5 minutes) was the highlight of my day. In the past, it would be me yelling into the phone and sorta waiting for a response and getting not a whole lot but silence. He would just stare at the phone and wonder where the sound was coming from. But not today... today, he yelled back, "Da da! (jibber-jabber-jib-jab)" And on and on and on...

It's great being a father. But I think I've been very blessed because I have the most wonderful son.

Never Again...

2011-01-16T22:14:00.000-08:00

I've never been comfortable with buying anything used. Granted if the seller is an upstanding, ethical, honest individual... I guess there is really little harm in buying things used. But I guess that's the problem, isn't it? How much can you trust the other person (who is often just a stranger to you)?

So I thought I'd save a few bucks by buying my radio flash triggers used. The ad was harmless enough. Some girl on POTN lists her PocketWizard MiniTT1 & 2x FlexTT5 for sale. I inquired about her reason for selling them and their condition. She stated that they're practically new, only used once (yes, she said "once") and either couldn't figure them out or didn't want to deal with the extra hardware hassle.

Well.. I thought it was harmless enough and I might be able to save a few bucks. So I went ahead and go them.

Payment sent... items received.

While it is true that I received the 3 items... I was initially quite put off by the condition of the boxes. Granted I planned on using the actual electronics and not so much the packaging itself... it always puts me off when I see someone completely mangle up the boxes/packaging. That tells me someone has absolutely no regards to the condition of the equipment they use/plan to use.

But I reminded myself this was part of the risk of buying used...

Then I started inspecting the units. One of the FlexTT5 had a small dent in the antenna mast. "Hmmmm," I said to myself. Yeah... wasn't terribly pleased with that, especially when the seller claimed "practically new". I'm sure it came with the dent, right?

Then I inspected the MiniTT1 unit itself... it came with a CR2450 lithium battery, but it wouldn't turn on. Quite strange since the seller claimed the unit was only used once... and when the manual stated that the operational time of the MiniTT1 is "hundreds of hours," therefore the MiniTT1 should still at least fire up. Slowly, I began to doubt the authenticity of the listing and the integrity of the seller.

I sent the seller my questions/concerns... and she swears that she's only used it no more than a handful of times, that if there was a dent, it must have been because she kept it in her camera bag all the time. And that perhaps she must have left the MiniTT1 on and drained the battery.

So, as the sucker that I am, continuing to give her the benefit of the doubt, I bought new batteries. At first, I couldn't even get the FlexTT5's to work together but after some coaching by the fine folks on POTN, I was able to install the latest utility and update the firmware. So I got the FlexTT5's working. That was a relief.

When I finally got a battery for the MiniTT5... I played with it for a few seconds, got off a few shots, and wiped my brows and said, "whew... at least that works too."

Or did it...

A week after my initial testing... I was feeling goofy and wanted to take pictures of my Gundam/Ironman figurines. I attached my 2 580ex2's on the FlexTT5's and stuck the Mini on the camera hotshoe. I fired off a handful of shots and splat... the flashes would no longer trigger. I looked down at the Mini and noticed the LED no longer blinking. What the hell? If anything, the FlexTT5s should have run out of juice much earlier than the MiniTT1 (according to the manual at least), not the other way around.

So I thought to myself, "Maybe I got a bad battery," and ordered a 5-pack online. Patiently waiting a week until they arrived, I stuck the new battery in and voila... same thing. No joy. Unconvinced... I broke out another battery... still no joy.

And then my heart sank. All my emotions and thoughts when I first opened the packages came back to me... haunting me... taunting me. "Poorly maintained... likely defective/broken units."

Well, what can I do? I sent a PM to the seller about my disappointment with the MiniTT1. It's been over 24hours and still no response. I'm starting to doubt I'll ever receive one. Ultimately, the fault is mine. I bought something "used," under the false pretense that it was "practically new." Well... starting to feel like someone lied to me and I hate liars.

So we'll see. I ordered a new MiniTT1 from Adorama. I'll get to try out the batteries I have and be able to compare the new one with this (I believe) malfunctioning unit. If it turns out my suspicions were correct, I'll contact PocketWizard and see about possibly sending it in for repairs if the repair isn't too expensive. And then I'll likely try and sell it to recuperate some money.

Somehow, I doubt it's worth the price of mailing it in, having it mailed back, and then trying to sell it. Who would buy just 1 MiniTT transmitter? *sigh*

So note to self, never again. And to the seller... just you wait. If it turns out that you guys sold me a defective unit knowingly, I hope Karma bites you in the ass so hard... you won't ever be able to walk normally again.

To be continued...

Hard Drive Failure

2011-01-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've had a hard drive fail on me. I know it's happened once many years ago... somewhere between 2003-2005. I lost a fair amount of digital photos then... probably a little more than 50% of the photos taken during my dental school years.

Well, this afternoon... it turns out the hard drive that I use to store my photos in dies. On the bright side is that on New Year's Day, as the Rose Parade was beamed nationwide, I sat in front of my computer and backed up all my photos. The bad news... I hadn't backed up my photos from Jan. 1st - 9th. So I lost a few hundred photos of Alexander, ones with him walking and wobbling.

At least the videos taken were backed up on a separate drive so no videos were lost. I guess I should start making a habit of backing up my photos daily too. Lesson learned... again. Thank goodness the damage is/was minimal.

Caught One.

2010-12-28T00:28:00.000-08:00

I don't shoot insect macro all too often. When I do, it's usually back at my parents' home, in the front yard chasing after flies and bees.

Every time I'm there, I hope/wish/pray that I could capture a bee in mid-flight. I mean not just any photo, but a sharp, highly-detailed image of one in flight. Well, not too long ago, I came close to such a shot, but it was one taken from the bee's rear 3/4 view. Not a terribly pleasing angle but I was rather proud of that shot because of the sheer difficulty in accomplishing what I considered the near-National-Geographics-Impossible shot.

But alas... today (or rather yesterday), I succeeded! Now this isn't the perfect shot I was hoping for... the sun was low and behind the bee... so it made for slight under-exposure of the bee and over-exposure of the flower. And I had not planned on taking photos of insects so I didn't bring my ringflash with me.

In any case, all things considered, I'm very, very happy with these two photos. Aside from better lighting... for me to top this, I would need to shoot one from the front 3/4 view. Hehehe...

My next goal/hope is to try and freeze the wing in mid-flight. That would require and ungodly amount of light and a very cooperative bee. I may have better luck winning the lottery.

Both photos were cropped slightly for composition.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T00:02:00.000-08:00

And for the politically corrected: Happy Holidays.

Health Insurance: the elephant in the closet

2010-12-16T00:15:00.000-08:00

So I got to thinking (and those who know me would tell you that getting me thinking is not a good thing)... This health insurance business is such a crock. It's so expensive... it's obscene.

Let's just look at the numbers, shall we? Let's say an average adult, 30-40 y.o., will likely pay a monthly premium of $300/months (and we're talking about a plan that's nothing fancy, with ~$3,000 deductible and $40 copays).

Let's then take our test pool of say 50 people. That means monthly basis, insurance receives, $15,000. Throw that up for 1 year's worth and we're looking at roughly $180,000 worth of premium collected by that 1 individual. For the sake of inflating the numbers, let's say 1 in 50 people will get into some kind of an accident each year requiring surgery/hospitalization. So, let's say average cost of surgical procedure + hospitalization for 1 week = $50,000.

Now consider that we're talking about a relatively "healthy" age group, I don't think much benefit will be paid out towards prescriptions, unless someone's addicted to Vicodin and some shady MD is writing scripts. But let's say 10 in 50 are taking prescription drugs that costs $100/months per individual. (Damn that Viagra, which I don't think is covered by insurance but I could be wrong.) So $12,000 paid out to Rx annually.

What do we have so far? $50,000 + $12,000 = $62,000. That still leaves $180,000 - $62,000 = $118,000 that I still need to think of things to chip away at to make the insurance premium remotely justifiable.

How about... all 50 people will see the doctor once a year (some more than once, while other avoid the annual physical like the plague, so evens out to one per year). So say insurance pays $200 per visit to the doctor. There, I've managed to chip another $10,000. So the grand total thus far... $72,000 benefits paid annually, giving them a net profit of $108,000.

Let's make it even more interesting then... say 2 in 50 are hospitalized annually at $50K. So that bumps the total up to $122,000, leaving insurance companies $58,000 for "administrative purposes."

Really... I mean seriously. $580,000 for 500 people. $5.8M for 5000. $58M for 50,000. $580M for 500K people. $5.8B (that's $5,800,000,000 for those unfamiliar with "billion") for 5M people??? Sure... there may be a lot of people without health insurance, but I'm pretty sure there are at least 5million people living in America WITH insurance.

Crooks, I tell you. They're all a bunch of crooks.

Two Saturdays in a Row.

2010-12-12T22:21:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting December thus far. For those not-in-the-know, I have office hours on Saturdays (except Thanksgiving weekend and this year, where Christmas and New Year falls on Saturday). But for the first two Saturdays of this December, I've had to stay late because of emergencies.

I had a 11-y.o. kid slip and fracture his 2 front teeth, along with a swollen, fat lower lip.. (That's a tough one, to be so young with the rest of his life ahead of him and he's already severely damaged his two front teeth.) And then there's this guy (pictured here). I had actually replaced his old fillings early 2009, and then he disappeared on me. Then he shows up with a cut, fat upper lip and broke off one of his front tooth when his surf board smacked him in the head earlier in the morning. (Oh my beautiful work! How could he be so heartless!? Hehehe...) The photos here were taken last year, when I replaced his front teeth. I didn't take any photos this time of the kid nor the adult because fat lips just don't make great photos (unless it's a police mugshot), despite the amount of work it takes to restore and I would have loved to show off my work.

Ultimately, however, patient care comes first so I don't really see it as a missed photo opportunity. I just hope the child and his parents, and the other adult patient are glad that I was available and am able to do what I do so that they can try and resume their normal daily lives.

So there's only one more working Saturday for me this month and I hope to not stay beyond normal business hours again. And I also hope that all my patients have a happy (but safe, as in injury-free) holiday so that I won't have to come in for any emergencies.

Moving on... in anticipation of a photo shoot for a friend, I bought a couple of light-stands and a shoot-through umbrella. I had an opportunity to test it out on my son. It was the first time I actually worked with an off-camera flash. I had been hesitant to go down the strobist route because I didn't know what was involved. I had the same feeling when I first heard about shooting RAW instead of jpg.

But when I finally gave RAW a try, I quickly became blown away by how much more could be captured/achieved. It was somehow the same, but so much more. And not long after, I began to shoot exclusively in RAW and wouldn't want it any other way (unless I need endless 8fps performance, then I'd have to sacrifice RAW for jpg).

In any case, so this was my first attempt at shooting with an off-camera flash... and I have to say, I like the results. It was a crash course of sorts because by the time we got to the park, the sun had just set and we were losing ambient light faster than you can shake a stick. I was first shooting in Av, but I soon found its limitation and had to switch over to manual to get the effects that I wanted. Had I been shooting in daylight, I could set the camera/flash to highspeed-sync and go with a faster shutter speed to limit the background. However, for my situation, I wanted to retain some of the background lighting and shutter speed was my enemy.

I didn't get too many keepers that night, but it was a great learning experience as I gained a ton of knowledge into the world of OCF. As the night sky grew darker... I no longer had enough light to get reliable focus so I had to cut my experiment short. (Yeah, it was pretty much pitch black where we were shooting.)

So that's it for this update... I hope to get more use out of my light stands/umbrella and do more OCF/strobist photography. But we'll see. Not about to quit my day job.

If I don't get to post another update before Christmas/New Year, Happy Holidays to those of you who randomly come across this site. *crickets*

Cutest child, ever!

2010-12-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

I'll keep this short and simple. I have the cutest child, ever. He is the most amazing thing in this world to me.

American History

2010-11-14T21:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you living in southern California (specifically within Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernadino, and even Orange Counties), I would encourage visiting the Moorpark sometime in November. It is the location of the biggest Civil War Re-enactment on the west coast. The website/info here: http://www.civilwaralliance.com/CWA/Moorpark1.html

It is a weekend event, with 3 battles on Saturday (including a twilight battle) and 2 on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Saturday event with my local photography group but I made it out to one battle on Sunday just so I can experience the event for myself, my first time being there. And I must say, it was fun. Great place for children ages 8+ to learn a little bit about American history. The cannon blasts were rather loud (think fireworks) so younger children might get scared (like an infant I saw today... what were the parents thinking???).

When I first saw the battlefield, I was thinking... "Meh... looks okay." But as the battle unfolded, I came to appreciate the time, energy, and effort placed into the event by the hundreds of volunteers.

In any case, I'll let the photos speak for themselves, and you can see the rest of the photos at my SmugMug gallery.

I'm hoping to catch the Saturday twilight battle next year.

Not Quite As Planned

2010-11-11T23:37:00.000-08:00

...or should I say "hoped." When I started blogging (again), it was with the hope that I'd find something to pollute the internet every few days. At least with some regularity.

Obviously, that has not been the case. Now back in the days, before "blogs" were even called "blogs" (this being some 10+ years ago), I had actually been pretty good at keeping an online journal. I even established a small, but faithful group of followers (voyeurs perhaps) that enjoyed reading up on the follies in my life.

But alas, that was not to be. A few things happened here and there, and then I was in dental school... I no longer had the freedom to express my thoughts and emotions, or relay the events of days. If it involved dentistry, I'd be violating patient rights. And of course... if there was something negative to say about any particular patient and/or event... these are things that are better left OFF the internet, if you catch my drift. And that's how my online journal of old tumbleweeded its way... away.

The sad part was that I really enjoyed being opinionated, and feeling I had my little corner of the internet to ramble along. And while I suppose I still do and can... for the same obvious reasons, it would be best not to. Self-imposed restrictions and censorship. It does take the fun out of blogging.

Anyway... that said, I'll still occasionally drop a few words of stupidity here. And as always, my plan is to make it more frequent than not. But Life happens... one way or another, with or without my blogging. So que sera sera.

In other news... my son is now 9.5 months old. He's not able to stand on his own but he sure as heck tries; easily able to pull himself up and scoot around with support from anything he can hold on to. He's able to clap his hands on command and does a few other silly tricks.

But bottom line is... (and I'm not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier entry or not), I finally feel like my life has meaning. For the longest time, growing up, I often pondered, "Why am I here, alive? What's my purpose in life?"

Well, my son is the reason why I'm alive. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting to those of you who might also be thinking that your life seems directionless/meaningless to go out and make a baby. It has been without a doubt the absolute, most difficult thing in my life, being a father. But when my son looks up at me and smiles, and runs (well, crawls for the time being) to me with eager, wide eyes... that's why I'm here. To take care of this little guy, trying to be the best man, best father I can possibly be and hopefully raise him right.

Prior to having my own baby, I've been told countless times by other fathers throughout the years, "Having a kid is the most incredible feeling and joy in the world." Well, I couldn't understand that. I couldn't imagine what it would be like... until I had a kid of my own.

Well, that's enough rambling for now I suppose. I was going to ramble on about work but I'll just let the pictures do the talking. I'm going to have to re-teach my assistant on how to retract patients' cheeks properly, consistently. (You would think it's rather self-explanatory... but apparently not.)

Just a couple of recent cases. One that's been completed, and the other currently in temporaries, waiting for the lab to fabricate the final bridge.

Until next time...

Wanting It All.

2010-09-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with "wanting it all" when it comes to Life, AS LONG AS one accepts and understands that one simply cannot have it all.

Honoring Bill

2010-09-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

There aren't many World War II veterans alive in the world these days. So when I came cross Mr. Bill Liverman and learned that he was a fighter pilot during WWII, I felt obligated to thank him (and his generation) for his courage and sacrifices. And so I did. He tried to play it off as it was nothing, and perhaps in his mind, he was simply doing what he had to at the time.

As they say, history is written by those who won and survived the conflict. Perhaps we would not have known any better had Germany and Japan won the war. But "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Well, I am very thankful for good men like Bill who answered the call to arms when Humanity called upon them to do so. It's hard to imagine what life would have been like under German/Japanese occupation.

In any case, it is now quite rare to find any surviving WWII vets. And to me, it was a great honor to be standing next to a man who had not only honorably served his country, but also served the world for the greater good. Thank you, Bill. I salute you.

Journey into Despair

2010-05-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

I don't have any answers to the numerous questions floating about in my head. I am left with nothing but pain and misery. I honestly don't even know if I'll make it through to the other side. But I do know... this, whatever this is, can no longer be. I can no longer hide, nor pretend to be the victim.

At the moment, I am nothing but a shell of a man. I have managed to lose my way for the past 8.5 years. In my moment of weakness and desire for happiness, I surrendered myself to unrealistic ideals and hopes. I didn't know I was vulnerable then. Yet when I first recognized the warning signs, I was too weak and too ashamed to faced the truth. I buried my head in the sand and foolishly committed and invested myself with Hope.

It would be easier to point the finger of blame on someone else other than myself. But ultimately, I must acknowledge that I got here by choice. I made a series of decisions and made one wrong turn after another. And I now find myself back at the same fork in the road... but with a new set of complications.

I know in my heart what is necessary and what needs to be done. For the time being, I just can't imagine that there will be a light at the end of that tunnel.

New Kicks

2010-05-03T00:24:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we swung by Sears to attempt a portrait session with Alexander. One of us (who shall remain nameless) grossly underestimated how tough it would be for a little 3-mos. old. Long story short, we managed 2 out of 6 poses and we had to postpone until later in the week. We probably could have managed a few more poses if it weren't for the photographer scaring the crap out of Alex. Nice move. *lol*

(This photo was taken by me prior to the event. Sears won't release any photos until they get 6+ poses.)

I mean seriously, why do people think making sudden loud noises and "BOO!" sounds at kids (or any one) is funny to the person being boo'd at? It might be funny to everyone else seeing the expression of shock on the little guy's face but seriously... how stoopid do you need to be to realize no one finds being scared funny?

Anyhow, hopefully Alexander will do better at the next session, but I'll be at work so it'll be up to my wife and my mother-in-law. Hehehe...

Now I must admit, some baby/kids clothing are just flat out adorable. Perhaps it's just seeing them in such tiny proportions that makes everyone just go "Awwwwww cute!" For instance, after the debacle at Sears, we hopped on over to 3rd St Promenade for some shopping for my wife and Alexander. And lo-n-behold, we got him some new kicks.

So yeah, they may not serve any true function, but they sure are cute. We've had the good fortune of having a lot of hand-me-downs from Alexander's cousins. But Alexander is deserving of brand new clothes once in awhile, especially when we find a cute outfit for him. :o)

3 months

2010-04-25T01:23:00.000-07:00

It has already been 3 months. But it has only been 3 months. Yet it has felt like 3 years.

That just about sums up all my experiences as a new father. Part of me can't believe how fast these past 3 months went by. It seems just yesterday when we brought him home from the hospital.

Part of me can't believe it's only been 3 months. So much of him has changed, something new and different with each passing day. He's so much more interactive, so much more "talkative", and he's developing a real (albeit pint-sized) personality.

And then there's part of me that feel like this has been going on for-eeEEEeeevur. The incessant feeding, spitting up, "wake time", putting him to sleep (only to have him wake up 30-45 minutes later), and the rinse and repeat. Trying to manage going to work (so I can pay the bills) and helping out as much/often as I can to relieve the wife and get her some rest.

This past 3 months has been the most challenging, most difficult, yet at the same time, the most rewarding/inspirational time of my life. I can't wait for him to crawl so I can chase after him. I can't wait for him to walk so I can walk beside him. And I can't wait for him to talk so I can listen to him ramble on and on.

Yessirree, that's my son.

Benign Mixed Tumor

2010-04-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

So for the 2 people who happen to follow my blog, I now have the result from the biopsy (see previous entry). The oral surgeon removed a large mass from the left palate and submitted it to the oral pathologist, who then sampled and examined multiple sections under microscopy and determined the mass to be benign. The final diagnosis is: Benign Mixed Tumor.

That's good news for the patient and now that the lesion has been removed, hopefully she'll heal up nicely in a few months. The patient needs to wear an acrylic prosthesis for several weeks to cover the wound left on her palate. I ran into the patient at the neighboring pharmacy and she thanked me for catching it and sending her to the oral surgeon. So that's my good deed of the decade. I'm good for another 10 years.

Continuing on with my adventures in Dentistry, I've started taking more photos of my anterior restorative work. I figure I've done so many of these cases, it's time to work on building my "Restorative Portfolio." Then again, I'm not quite sure why I even bother as for the past 8.5 years, I've yet to encounter a patient who wanted to see case photos prior to letting me work on them.

In any case, with the MR-14EX macro ring lite, it is now very easy to get consistent results for my "Before & After" comparison photos. I no longer have to try and remember how my overhead work lamp was positioned and angled. I have consistent lighting from the flash (which allows me to easily set the white balance). I keep the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO constant. So there is no longer any fudge factor that I need to correct between photos. The only thing I need to worry about now is the angle at which I'm taking the photos (which is still work in progress).

This patient here found me on Yelp.com. Supposedly, I was not his first choice but he wasn't able to get an appointment with the other office. As luck would have it, it just happened that I had a cancellation that Saturday morning (and my Saturdays are usually booked solid for weeks) when he called and the rest, as you can see, is history.

When I handed him a hand mirror after I was finished, he seemed extremely happy with my work. He thought for sure that he would be looking at a porcelain veneer (which would have been many times more costly) but instead, I was able to restore the tooth with a conservative bonding that should last him for many years to come.

He and his wife were so pleased with the results that his wife immediately scheduled a restorative consultation appointment with me. Unfortunately for her, the next available Saturday appointment was nearly a month away.

This next case here was just done sometime this past week. The patient had 4 composite veneers on her four front teeth that were placed just over 1.5 years ago by another dentist. She has had some issues with tooth #8 (the darker tooth on the before photo) and had the veneer adjusted/repaired/re-contoured several times over the year but she was never happy with the result.

So somehow, she heard about me and was wondering/hoping that I might be able to improve upon her situation. While I must confess, when I first saw the case, I was hesitant to agree to it. Partially because since the restoration is less than 2 years old, I felt that the original dentist who placed the work 1.5 years ago should be responsible for redoing/replacing the work. But more importantly, it is extreme difficult to match the shade of the new veneer to the adjacent veneers. So before accepting to take on this case, I made sure that the patient understood that there's a pretty high probability that I will not be able to match the color.

Well, to my surprise, the veneer matched up much better than I expected. The patient, however, expressed that she was nearly in tears when I handed her the hand mirror for final approval. I had exceeded her expectations. She remarked that she should have come to me for the veneers 1.5 years ago. So with that, I chalked it up as a success since the patient was extremely happy with the results.

Thanks to the MR-14EX macro ring lite, you can definitely expect more dental photos in some (not all) future entries.

Canon MR-14EX Ring Flash

2010-03-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

I had just purchased and received the Canon MR-14EX macro ring flash this week and it has already earned its keep. I've been working on building my dental portfolio, documenting my restorative cases and also, to take photos of cusp fractures that may not be easily identifiable on X-rays to aid in insurance filing/processing. And within 24 hour of receiving my new ring flash, I had the opportunity to put it through its paces.

I had a patient present at my office this morning for routine cleaning/check-up. While performing E&I exam, I find a peculiar, but obnoxiously large lump on the patient's left palate. Palpation yielded no discomfort and patient denied knowledge of its existence until I pointed out to her this morning. It was soft, as if filled with fluid. There is no abnormal discoloration. And to my best "guess," it is not associated with any particular tooth. Percussion and bite test yielded negative results for pain/discomfort. Patient notes that she does occasionally burn the roof of her mouth but the last time she would recall burning the roof of her mouth was back in January. Duration of 2 months is much too long for any intraoral soft-tissue injury.

So after its discovery, I referred the patient over to my oral surgeon referral for further evaluation. Hopefully it's nothing severe but its size and presentation does warrant concern. A biopsy will likely be performed and we'll see what the pathologist finds.

In short, those of you who don't visit your dentist on a regular basis, this is a reminder that you really should. Because something like this could develop and go on undetected for quite some time if no one is looking. That said, if your dentist isn't doing E&I exams (extra & intraoral examination/oral cancer screenings) at every cleaning, then you should either ask for it to be done, or find another dentist who is more proactive about your overall health.

Victim of Bad Dentistry

2010-03-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

I hate being the messenger, the bearer of bad news. "Hello, looks like you've been the victim of some bad dentistry," is not what I ever want to tell a patient, especially to a brand new patient. But I sometimes have to.

It happened today.

I saw a patient today who had 2 dental crowns in her mouth that looked like temporary crowns to me. I had to take a second, AND a third look to make sure that they weren't temporary crowns. The shape/contours were all wrong. There is no semblance of dental anatomy on the chewing/biting surface. And one of them was contoured so poorly, that it altered the patient's bite and never felt right since the day it was delivered.

To top it off, the bite of this lousy crown was soooooooo off, during the past 4 years that the patient suffered with it, it caused the tooth to shift/tilt and it is now in "cross-bite." And due to the cross-bite, she bites her inner cheek constantly, so much so that a callous pretty much formed, resulting in a patch of thickened, dead tissue.

Then I took some X-rays and lo-n-behold, the worst was yet to come: the dentist had removed so much tooth structure, over-filled the root canal (botched root canal treatment) and placed a threaded prefabricated post, that for all intent and purpose, made the tooth unrestorable. He signed, sealed, and delivered the fate of the tooth for extraction.

As noted, it's never a good feeling to tell a patient that after pouring thousands of dollars into some dental treatment, because of some hack-job, 4 years later, it all has to come out. I'd be pissed as well.

*sigh*

In case someone familiar with dental restorations swing by and reads this and was wondering, yes, those are CEREC crowns. They're poorly made CEREC crowns, as they could've been made a lot better. But they weren't, and there are dentists out there terrorizing the public with this kind of hack job. I guess this is what happens when you ask some dentists to become lab technicians. There's a reason they're not lab techs. There's a reason why traditionally, dentists send their crowns out so that skilled/trained lab technicians can make the crowns for them.

Things in Perspective

2010-03-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

I came across this link today, shared by the founder of LAShooters.org, a local photography group/forum where I am a member. I wanted to share the link with y'all. I don't know what kind of reaction or emotion the photos will generate (nothing gruesome) for you guys. But for me, it was a nice reality check, helping me put things in perspective.

It reminded me how fortunate and blessed many of us are, living in "developed" countries and/or not suffering some kind of drought and famine. What struck me was that these photos aren't "old" photos. They are all quite current, many taken within the past month or so. As human beings, as living things, we need potable fresh water. And so much of the world don't even have that.

In any case, I thought the very least I can do is share with the 1 or 2 people who swing by my blog these photos and let y'all chew on it on your own time, see if it stirs up any emotions.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/water.html

Peace.

Starts with an Idea

2010-03-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've got an idea that I think may revolutionize Dentistry dramatically. The technology has already been developed to make my idea work. I simply have to put together the right team of people to make it happen.

Assuming my idea works as I envisioned, then patients who need crowns or veneers will no longer need to wait weeks to get their crowns and veneers. And on top of all that, the restoration will be highly aesthetic and should blend in with an existing smile perfectly. Or if one chooses to, can completely alter and improve one's smile. And all that done in the same day!

Now same-day-crowns and same-day-veneers isn't a completely novel idea. And there are 2 machines on the market that claims to be able to provide such a service. But my approach to doing so is different, and I believe that the system I envisioned will provide better looking, better fitting restorations for the patient. And my system should cost less for the dentist to buy, maintain, and utilize. There will be less wasted material as well, therefore providing a positive impact on the global environment. Well how about that... an environmentally sound/friendly approach. What's not to love?

Hopefully, within the next couple of years, this little project of mine will come to fruition. *keeping fingers crossed* I hope to elaborate more here on m blog in the not-so-distant future. But first I need to get my idea rolling.

On the family front, Alexander is doing well. He's growing exponentially it seems. He's starting to "Coo" and "Ahh," seemingly carrying on a conversation with us. I can't wait until he's more responsive and active.

Until next time...

If Only...

2010-02-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

If only I was financially well-off enough so that I won't need to work for the next 18 years to be around my son. Oh, what fun we'd have, the places we'd go and see, the people we'd go and meet!

Now I know 99.8% of the world is in the same predicament as I am, needing to drag their asses to work everyday just to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. I'm just saying if I didn't have to... I'd enjoy hanging out with my son so much more.

Perhaps it's still early for me, this whole fatherhood thing. Perhaps the appeal will wear off in time. But I am simply amazed by the little guy every single day. He's so perfect, so innocent, and he's ours to take care of. I am truly blessed to have this little guy as my son.

Now I just need to win the lotto. =oD

Finally joined SmugMug.

2010-02-15T00:11:00.000-08:00

So I finally decided to join SmugMug this weekend. I wanted something that looked more professional (even though I'm not a professional photographer), and something that was easier to organize and edit things. For the most part, I am pleased/impressed with SmugMug's features.

If I must nit-pick, and oh I shall... it's that SmugMug doesn't provide consistent image resolution/dimensions between portrait oriented photos and landscape oriented photos. My images on pbase are typically 800x533 or 533x800. With SmugMug... "Large" in landscape orientation is larger than "Large" in portrait orientation. What is up with that? Why the discrepancy?

But overall, as noted, I am pleased with migrating to SmugMug. Doing so has given me an opportunity to slowly filter out the old filters that I no longer feel post-worthy but had been too lazy to organize @ pbase. SmugMug also provided me with a way to possibly sell some of my photos, at least the ones I deem "wall-worthy." That said, since I'm no professional photographer, I have serious doubts that anyone would buy my photos. On top of that, I doubt there would be enough traffic to begin with in the first place! *chuckles*

Oh but I can hope and dream, can't I? In any case, for those who don't see the link on the right side of this blog, you can visit my slowly-but-surely-being-updated SmugMug photo site: http://julianchen.smugmug.com/

Thanks in advance. Until next time.

Julian

Parenthood

2010-02-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Well, it's all true. No matter how much you try to prepare yourself, the changes sometimes feel simply overwhelming. Adapting to the new sleep schedule is rather challenging, but tolerable and has gotten better now that we're two weeks into parenthood.

The biggest surprise for me was having to deal with the level of emotional and psychological changes that my wife is going through. Now they tell you that women get very hormonal during pregnancy. But I guess I missed the memo where they tell you that they remain hormonal after giving birth. The sudden changes to their bodies, their environment, well basically the world as they knew it, can be overwhelming for them. And the spouse ends up being the dumping ground.

So suffice it to say, it's been an "experience." But at the end of the day, when I get to hold my son and rock him in my arms, all my troubles seem to melt away. I wonder if it's selfishness on my part to want nothing but the very best for my little guy.

Admittedly, there's not a whole lot of "interaction" between the two of us. He's an eating, sleeping, peeing/pooping machine. I deliberately left out "crying" because fortunately, he's not much of a crier. Sure he will cry when his diaper needs changing, or if he needs to be burped, or if he's hungry or cold. But once his needs are met, he's quiet and seemingly content with the world. And for that, I am truly thankful that he's not fussy for no good reason.

He was 8lb 13oz at birth. Left the hospital at 8lb5. Two days after that, he clocked in at 8lb10 when weighed at the pediatrician. And this past Saturday, 13 days old, he clocked in at ~10.5 lbs as I held him on the scales and then subtracted my weight. All appear to be well.

And with that, I will end this blog with one more image, not of my son. I'm a big fan of Nature, and a huge fan of clouds up in the sky. It's incredible that the water that sustains us as living beings, has the ability to carve out great canyons and also form unbelievable formations up in the skies. It is seemingly nothing, yet everything and everywhere all at once.

Until next update.

That's My Boy!

2010-01-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, January 24th, 2010, we welcomed my son into this world. He's our very first child and as cliche as it will sound, words truly could not and cannot describe what it means to be a father. It's one of those "if you haven't experienced it yourself, you will never understand" kind of feeling. (Don't take offense or read more into the comment if you don't have a child.) It's exciting and scary to know that he is completely dependent upon the two of us. And let's not forget the sleepless nights adapting to the new schedule... to "his" schedule. *lol*

The problem with having a newborn child is that now I suddenly don't have enough time in a day to do the stuff that I used to do. For example, the hundreds of photos that I've taken in the past 3 days... they're just stuck on my harddrive as I can't find the time to really sort and process them. =oD I'm sure things will get better weeks/months down the road. But man, it's tough. There's nothing in the world that can prepare you for the changes that take place. The world as I knew it has been flipped upside down.

Eventually, I'll get around to processing and organizing the photos for my Photo-A-Day project of my son. I think it will be a fun little project for me and any excuse to capture the little guy's image is a good excuse to me. It'll be great fun to see how he develops and change over the coming months and years.

I had originally wanted to write more in this blog. But I'm in between feedings and time's running short. I also need to get ready and take him to see the pediatrician so I guess I'll cut this entry short. I'll leave you guys with a mickey-mouse production/compilation of some of the videos I took with the 7D from the past few days. (Remember, I'm the world's worst videographer. Watch at your own risk.)

Alexander from Julian Chen on Vimeo.

Chapter IV

2010-01-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful morning out today. And if it wasn't for dropping off the car at the dealership for some warranty work, I would've completely missed the majestic vista that graced us this morning. It makes you kind of wonder how many people missed it. Not so much by sleeping in late, but by simply being too occupied, too busy, trying to get to work.

I think most of us get so carried away with work and other "obligations" that we forget to look up, to look around once in awhile to soak in the beauty that surrounds us. Sure, there are rainy, snowy, cloudy days (and some people might actually enjoy that too)! But when there's a nice day out, stop and take a look around. These are the days that fuel our souls, that reminds us how good it is to be alive (even if the economy is in the gutter).

It's the start of a brand new year. Granted it's January 4th, 2010, but it's still early and we've got 361 more days to go. I didn't make any resolutions. It's not something I do. I'm one of those that feel like, if you're going to do it... just do it. Don't wait for the next year or make up some other excuses. Life is too short to play these games. If it matters enough to you, then you should make it a priority, right?

More importantly, my life will enter a brand new chapter this year. In just a few short weeks (although it could happen any day really), my wife will give birth to our first child, a baby boy. No words can describe my excitement and my fears. I am going to be a daddy. What greater honor is there? (And what greater responsibility as well!)

In any case, I plan to capture as many moments as I can of my son, of my family. And hopefully I'll have some time to be able to share our adventures.

Have a great 2010, everyone.

Powered by Rice

2009-12-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

You know, with the amount of rice grown worldwide annually, it's surprising that there are people starving around the globe. I mean granted rice itself (at least the bleached-out "white" rice) isn't very nutritious, it's still something in the tummy, wouldn't you agree?

In any case, I was just goofing around and thought I'd do a twist of my "grains of salt" image with some grains of rice. I certainly didn't need to crop at all for this shot. (This was simply processed and resized.)

With regards to my photographic endeavors, I am in the process of purchasing a slightly-used copy of the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Hopefully the transaction goes through without any problems. I figured this lens will serve me well on future outings. And I'll find the f/2.8 more acceptable/tolerable with my 7D high ISO indoor shots if/when I need something wider indoors, or even outside in the dusk/twilight/dark.

As much as I liked the Canon 10-22 during my trip down to Oceanside, I didn't like the fact that I had to seriously crank up the ISO for the surfer shot. The fact that I could've gotten away with iso1600 if I had been using the Tokina still eats away at me. *shakes fists* In any case, I now patiently await the arrival of my Tokina.

In other news. It's been nearly 1 month since Windows 7 Ultimate-64 went live on my machine. And I am very happy to say that all has been great so far. I haven't had any issues processing HD videos. Photoshop CS4 has been faster than ever before (odd since the hardware is identical). I'll continue to report back as time goes by but at least for now, Windows 7 still gets my full support/approval. (The same certainly couldn't be said about Vista.)

Cheers.

Oceanside, CA

2009-11-23T12:26:00.000-08:00

So I met up with Rich and his cousin Simon (from LA-Shooters) and headed down to OPT (Oceanside Photos & Telescopes) for a 5 hour seminar/class on Night Sky Photography. The speaker was Dennis Mammana (http://www.dennismammana.com/), someone who has been doing this for a few decades.

The event was also sponsored by Canon, which meant that there were equipment available for loan during the evening. Being the case, I took advantage of it and borrowed the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5. I figured since I've been complaining about not having an UWA lens for some time now, it's best to give it a try and make sure it's all that I've been hoping for.

Well, it is all that and so much more. I was awe-stricken by how wide my FoV was. Absolutely astonishing. This shot here was taken at 22mm @ iso 6400, 1/15s exposure. Certainly had its share of noise which I processed prior to posting. After I came home, I realized I over-exposed the image by ~1.5 stops, judging from the lamps on the pier. However, by not doing so, the surfer would have been a mere silhouette. Was a tough choice. In any case, I felt that if I had the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, I would've gotten away with iso 1600, which would have meant a cleaner image to work with.

The surfer in the photo is Steven Parkhurst, Jr. He runs an non-profit organization (http://www.thehiddenwavesfoundation.org/). I didn't know him prior to the evening. He was just a surfer that came out after his session and was standing on the shores gazing out into the ocean. I made my careful approach towards him to ask whether he would permit me to take a photo of him. He cordially agreed and asked if he needed to pose. Now I suppose if I was more experienced at "people/portrait" photography, I would have been able to provide some guidance. But I simply asked him to continue doing what he was doing earlier. I set the focus on him, framed my shot, and took it.

We then spoke briefly, as I introduced myself as an amateur photographer. That's when I learned a little bit about who he was and his organization. I e-mailed him the photo later on that evening.

It was my first time giving night time photography a try with a DSLR at the beach. I underestimated the cold and the humidity/moisture. I didn't see that many stars out so I decided to wrap up my gear sooner rather than later. But before packing up, I did manage to squeeze in a few 30second shots on a tripod, one of which shared here. Looks like I'll have to make an effort and head into the boonies/deserts before I can get a better shot of the stars.

Last, but not least, I'm going to post up another video clip. My wife and I had a game night/baby shower this past weekend. A number of good friends joined us for the celebration and enjoyed the evening with some gaming as well.

Game Night from Julian Chen on Vimeo.

Don't expect any quality video productions from me... ever. I don't think I have the patience nor desire to fine tune my cinematography skills, or the absolute-lack-there-of. *chuckles*

The Annenberg

2009-11-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

Today, I decided to visit The Annenberg Space for Photography. Figured being the amateur/hobbyist photographer that I am, I could always use some additional inspiration and learn more about the art.

The Space was showcasing photos from two renowned sports photographers: Walter Iooss and Neil Leifer. If you don't know who they are, Google them and see their famous work.

It was nice to see the wonderful photos on display. Reminded me what Photography was all about. I had been spending too much time on POTN, reading threads from people blaming their gear on their inabilities to take good photos. How they can't expose a completely noise-free image when shooting at ISO 12,800 under a moon-less night. How that at 500% viewing, the image start to appear pixelated. Seriously... is this what photography has come to?

In any case, being at The Annenberg Space inspired me to do better and laugh at the idiots who strive for that perfect pixel. If you are one such idiot reading this blog, sorry that the truth hurts. Don't blame the tool. Blame the Tool behind the viewfinder.

The one thing I didn't like about The Annenberg Space for Photography was that photos were not allowed inside the buildings. I understand why but it still bums me out. I could see some very interesting perspectives and angles where I could have shot from but they were mostly indoors. And the outdoor shots that I wanted to shoot I was unable to capture because I don't own an ultra wide angle lens.

In case some might think I'm blaming my gear (or the lack of), this is not the case. I am blaming myself for not picking up an UWA when I had the chance. I'll be looking at picking up a Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 UWA zoom lens as my next lens purchase.

In any case, the underground parking lot was relatively well-lit, and since I was there on a Sunday, I found plenty of open space to sneak in some photos of my recently washed vehicle. I stopped by the Space hoping to get some photos and by golly, I wasn't going to leave empty handed. *hehehe*

And to finalize this blog entry, I leave you all with another video clip of my cats that I filmed this past week when I was bored and had some spare time. Nothing fancy. But I figured it's fun to share.

Good to be Groomed from Julian Chen on Vimeo.

Windows 7

2009-11-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Indeed. I am a PC. Although my family's first computer was actually an Apple IIc. But you can blame Apple's "monochrome" monitors for my ditching Apple Computers. When I saw the 4-color CGA monitors of IBM's, that was the start of a whole new chapter in computing for me.

I know.. there was the Apple IIgs, which was very pretty, very exciting, but also rather expensive. But too little, too late. I could buy the parts and piece together my own computer with a PC. That was... empowering.

So here's to hoping that Microsoft got it right this time around. (I had a dreadful experience with Vista back in early 2008 and had to swap back to XP.)

I've also decided to change the watermark of my photos. I'm not 100% happy with this just yet but I like it better than the one I had before so it'll do for now. And for the few that might swing by my blog every-so-often, you may or may not have noticed the change in my header image. I figured now that I have the 100/2.8L IS + 18mp of the 7D, I might as well get a better "grain of salt" shot.

Greystone Mansion

2009-11-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

So, at Greystone Mansion (or should I call it "Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" used in the movie: X-Men) I learned that my 17-55/2.8 lens was not wide enough. 27mm-equiv is good, but unfortunately not good enough to capture landscape and architecture in all its glory. I came to this realization after seeing Tom's photos. He was shooting with the 15-30 on a 5D. His UWA did a much, MUCH better job at capturing the grandeur that is Greystone Mansion. Now much of it is because he's got a much better "eye" for photography than I do but after being there, seeing what he shot and where he shot from... Yep, UWA would open up a whole new door for me.

So now he's got me thinking about my next lens choice. Originally, I was thinking about replacing my 55-250 with something fancier, like the 70-200 f/4L IS. That telephoto zoom has had great reviews and is often considered as Canon's sharpest telephoto zoom. But then looking at the subject matter of which I photograph mostly, I would be better served going with the Canon 10-22, or the Tokina 11-16. I don't shoot people much where the 70-200 would help me tremendously. Instead, I've shot at the Queen Mary, Huntington Library, Getty Villa & Museum, and now Greystone Mansion... it dawned on me that a UWA zoom would benefit me so much more.

Well, it was my first time there and I didn't expect to get too many good shots. I think my keeper rate was abysmal, liking less than 10% of what I captured. I'll take up on Tom's advice next time and slow down. He's right in that I don't give a scene enough time to develop in my mind and that I walk away from it too quickly.

It was a rather warm day at Greystone's, and having to hoof up and down the property 3 times took its toll on my out-of-shape body. It's a pretty interesting place and I'd like to go back a few more times to see if I can do better. And hopefully, I'll come equipped with an UWA zoom next time around.

Spoke Too Soon

2009-10-31T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ironic that I decided to post how happy I am with my 7D and suddenly, the sensor acts up on me. *cracks knuckles* Hehehehe...

This past Monday (Oct 26th), just a mere 21 days after taking ownership, I took some photos at iso 1600 and once I uploaded them into the computer, I noticed this odd, solid row of hot pixels in my images. So I took a few more shots and lo-n-behold, it was as if the artifact was obnoxiously flipping me off, laughing in my face.

*sigh*

Fortunate for me, I bought the camera from a reputable retailer and although I had gone beyond the 14-day return/exchange policy, they made an exception for my case and had me send it back. Sure, I'm out additional shipping fees but still... I'd rather swap for a new one than to deal with sending it into Canon and have them crack open a 3-week old, practically brand new, camera. That just wouldn't be right, you know what I mean?

It certainly doesn't take away any merit for the 7D. As with all electronics, you'll always end up with a few units that will experience unforeseen issues. It's the unfortunate reality of electronic devices. As another example, my wife and I just switched new cell phones. We both got the LG enV Touch and mine seems to be working properly. While her's is experiencing some odd glitches where the keypad would go dark and refuse to illuminate again until we disconnect the call. Yep, looks like it needs to be exchanged as well.

It's just a nuisance to deal with, but the sun will rise again tomorrow, Life goes on.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow as I have tentatively made plans to finally go out and take some photos, instead of being stuck at home and taking photos of our cats. Not that there's anything wrong with taking photos of the cats, it's just that I don't want to be taking photos only of my cats. I plan to head out to Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills with a couple of guys from our photography group: LA Shooters. Hopefully I'll be able to capture some post-worthy photos to share online. (Even if none are post-worthy, I'll post them anyway.) =oP

Well, that's all for now.

Something New: Canon 7D

2009-10-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

So I picked up the new Canon 7D DSLR.

Prior to Canon's introduction of the 7D, I had felt a nagging insufficiency with my previous camera: Canon 40D. As capable as it was, I wanted more. When the 50D was introduced, I thought it was underwhelming. Sure, it had 15mp and micro-focus adjustment. But it still paraded the same 9-point AF that I felt it severely lacking, especially when compared to Nikon which seemed to offer so much more with the D300 line-up.

Although I never contemplated on switching over to Nikon (which I harbor no animosity as it makes terrific cameras) due to its higher cost of ownership, I secretly hoped Canon would do better. I even debated on switching over to full-frame, feeling that I may feel better about Canon's AF insufficiency by over-compensating with full-frame IQ goodness. But that would've involved spending much more, and selling off both my EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS (which I adore) and the EF-S 55-250 and picking up new lenses. It would have been a rather costly proposition, especially when photography is a mere hobby of mine at this point. If I made money off of it, well... that would be a different story.

But then, Canon surprised me with the 7D. With all its improvements (new VF, new AF, dual Digic IV, 8fps, 18mp, higher ISO capabilities, HD video even in 24fps, more sturdy build and better weather sealing), it was my dream-come-true. And much to my delight, it harbors an APS-C sensor which meant I could continue shooting with my existing lens line-up.

So there, I picked one up and I must confess, this is the best thing since sliced bread for me. Granted there are better cameras out there, and especially with the announcement of the Nikon D3s and the Canon 1DmIV recently, but those cameras are significantly more expensive. With what the 7D provides me, I honestly feel that I now have a wonderful camera to own for many, many years to come.

Here's a 7D photo shot in RAW and converted with DPP. The exposure settings were added to the image, ISO 3200 with noise reduction sliders moved to 0/0 in DPP. I didn't do any post-processing, no color correction, etc... Now to me, this is incredibly clean for no noise reduction. There is no way I could have achieved this kind of result with the 40D without some heavy-handed post-processing work. Here's a link to a similar image shot with the 40D at iso3200, 1/100s, 1.4, but with the 50/1.4. (Please note, there was actually more available light in the room when the 40D shot was taken than when the 7D shot was taken.)

http://www.pbase.com/jwcdds/image/109859255

Yep, in short, I am very glad I made the switch to the 7D.

Now at first, I didn't think I'd ever really use the video function on the camera. But after playing around for a few minutes one afternoon, I am quite amazed by the quality. Below is a short clip of one of my cats sleeping.

Taquito from Julian Chen on Vimeo.

What surprised me the most was that the amount of light you see in the video is actually more than what my own eyes saw for the scene. I sent the camera in Av mode, the lens at f/1.4 and usually under the existing lighting, I would have to push the ISO up to 800-1600 to get clear, sharp photos at 1/50s or faster. But exposure wise, I would have to say that this was easily 1-1.5 stops brighter than what my eyes saw for the room.

Suffice it to say, I am sold. If I win the lottery, I may still buy and pick up another camera body because I can. But unless I experience some catastrophic failure with the 7D, this is a camera I plan to keep for a looooOOOoooong time.

Movie Review: OldBoy (Korean)

2009-09-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ever watch the Korean movie, OldBoy. You have been forewarned.

I realize telling someone not to watch something often has the opposite effect, a reverse-psychology if you will as humans have a natural tendency to be rebellious, to go against what you're told. You're probably thinking, "Why is he telling us not to watch it? What's so good/bad/special about it that he wants to keep me ignorant in the dark?"

Answer: The story is disturbing.

And naturally, I would then expect you to ask me why did *I* watch it then if it was so disturbing. It was my fault. I was ignorant to the fact and was too lazy to care (to look it up online to see what it is about). I can only blame my wife for putting it on our Netflix queue, although all she knew was it was a Korean movie and that there was a fair amount of violence.

There's nothing special about the cinematography. The acting is decent. But the story... *sigh* I might need to see a therapist.

Since I'm not here to promote the movie, as I'm doing my best to steer you "decent" people away from it, I am going to go ahead and tell you what it's about. It's a twisted tale of incest and revenge.

Revenge part is fine. It's the incestual stuff that doesn't jive well with me (and hopefully with most of you).

Again, you've been forewarned. That's all I can do and hope y'all have the decency to heed my warning.

Assembly Required...

2009-08-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a very, very long time since I last built a model. I think the last time I assembled a plastic model was ~20 years ago, an F-14 Tomcat, which at the time was my all-time favorite war bird.

The models I had built back then required a lot more glue (I'm sure some still do), and definitely lack the sophistication that are designed into these Gundam models of today. The Gundam models have ball joints, rotating joints, hinges, double-pivoting ball joints... yada... yada... It was definitely very impressive.

This being my very first Gundam model (Gundam 00 + 0-Raiser), I didn't know what to expect. I knew it wouldn't be as good as it possibly can be since I hadn't planned on buying spray paint to give all the parts a good coat of paint. But I was hoping that despite not spray painting that I could get away with a decent-looking build. I tried ordering a set of Gundam 00 markers but it would appear that these markers are rather rare and difficult to find/obtain here in the States.

In any case, I ordered the models from an online store that shipped from Hong Kong. Then I bought some clippers and plastic cement and proceeded with the assembly process.

All was going extremely well until I started putting the head together. The pieces were all in light gray (for all intent and purposes, "white"), but in the anime & all over the box in which the model came in, the face/head was definitely detailed and painted. So I had a decision to make. (Pictured here to the left is the torso, which was what I started with.) I could do a really half-assed job at putting this Gundam together, and use the excuse of "It's my first Gundam." Or I could suck it up, get some paint, and get to detailing.

Hopefully you're able to tell by the photos that I chose to do the latter, bought the paint and made a decent effort in detailing the face/head. It's not perfect, but when the whole head is no larger than the diameter of a dime ($0.10 coin for you non-US currency folks), I would hope some of you would agree that I actually did alright.

So as you can see, this is my Gundam 00 + 0-Raiser, or when combined together, called the Gundam 00-Raiser. (Watch the anime if you're confused.) Regardless of what its called, I must say that I quite enjoyed the experience of assembling this Mobile Suit Gundam, including the part where the instruction was completely in Japanese. I look forward to putting together more models in the future.

At the very least, the model gave me an extra excuse to take more photos and that's okay by me. :)

(For those curious as to why half of every single photo is out of focus, that's because it is deliberate. I have an unhealthy obsession for shallow DoF. It's my camera and I can do whatever I want. Neener neener.)

Concours d'Elegance

2009-06-22T11:43:00.001-07:00

Beverly Hills has a Father's Day tradition, holding its car show Concours d'Elegance on the world renowned Rodeo Drive. Even better is that the event is free. What better way to enjoy the event!

Of course, "free" also means a sizable crowd, which I tried to beat by getting there before the 10am start time. Although I did beat the rush, there were still quite a few people so photo opportunities weren't as readily available. But I still enjoyed the chance to head out and take photos, something I haven't been able to do much recently.

The rest of the photos can be found at my pbase online gallery.

My apologies for not taking more photos of more vintage vehicles but they're not my thing and I couldn't get clear shots of them either. (Old cars tend to be much bigger.)

I've been busying myself with a potentially life changing project. I'm trying to get an idea/concept patented. It's been rather stressful, but very exciting at the same time. I certainly hope this dream can be realized, not only for me and my family, but also for the medical community. *keeping fingers crossed*

D. Fish: 3 down, 1 to go

2009-06-11T22:25:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I know, the photo and the title of this entry are completely unrelated. But that's just how I roll. I have to give a shout-out to Panda Express' hot-n-sour soup. For $1.50, you just can't beat that bowl of delicious goodness. For those on a diet, the bowl is probably big enough to be an entire meal. What's not to like about that?

Yet I digress. I will keep this short. D.Fish is the man. Sure, he shot 2-for-7, but he made 2 when the 2 counted. (You know, personally..., I never understood that. "Made it when it counted." I mean, each shot counts, so if a player made them earlier, he wouldn't really have to make the later ones, no?)

But I digress again. Go Fish! You just about sealed the deal for Kobe's 4th ring. Practically wrapped it up in a bow and hand delivered it. Let's see if Kobe can finish it come Sunday.

Woot!

Go Lakers!

1 down. 3 more to go.

2009-06-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, Dwight. This just isn't your year. But you're young, and you can understand. You still got time. But this year, Kobe's not letting it slip away. Aint going to happen. You don't have 2 other future hall-of-famers pulling you through like the Celtics had last year.

It's okay, you guys did well. You took out the defending champs, took out "the King." So keep your head held high. But we're going to get our parade this year. Phil's going to have 10 rings, one sized for each finger. It is our destiny.

Last Sunday, we were rudely awakened by the fire alarm at 8am. Apparently some nublet was cooking breakfast, or baking something... and blew up her kitchen. (Well, at least smoked out her kitchen and triggered the alarm.)

The good thing about living on the curb-side and being on the 1st floor is... we're not rushing to get out the door. If push comes to shove and the courtyard is inaccessible, we still have 2 balconies to climb over straight to safety. The bigger concern, naturally, is saving our stupid cats.

As seen in the photo, I think it's time that we got a bigger carrier/kennel. We did did have a bigger one, but we passed that along to my mother-in-law when we got rid of the silly chihuahua mutt. So it was quite a trip getting the 2 cats to fit in the tiny kennel, yet surprisingly, we succeeded without injuring ourselves nor the cats.

And I'm throwing in this photo just for good measures. I gave up on my project-365. I just lack the creativity and the motivation to keep up a 365-day photo project. Life gets a little too busy (and hopefully I'll be able to share more details later) these days and priorities need to be met first.

On a funny note, I did meet a celebrity this past week (June 2). I got a chance to meet Lucy Liu in person. And no, in case anyone is wondering, she's not a patient of mine as I would never violate patient confidentiality. If she was my patient, this paragraph would not exist. In any case, Ms. Liu was a very pleasant, down-to-earth individual. There was no entourage trailing her and no pretense about her. You can tell that she's just a very good-natured person and with people like that, you just wish that they have continued success in the difficult line of work.

Just wanted to add that little blip of information there as it's always fun to meet a celebrity. This is Los Angeles, after all.

It's been awhile...

2009-05-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

Life has been rather hectic for me this past month. A lot has been going on and I feel like a circus clown, trying to juggle everything all at once. Oh well, who am I to complain. I'm pretty sure a lot of people are under more stress these days.

But instead of flooding this entry trying to play catch-up, I'll just touch up on a few things. Lakers won game 3 @ Denver! I am very excited about the news. I ended up missing all of the game since I was back at my parents' doing an oil change and washing the car. Hopefully, the Purple & Gold can steal game 4 as well.

Anyhoo, as you can see, my stormtroopers are back posing with the engine and the quart of Castrol Syntec. I decided to do my own oil change again (first oil change for my TL) because I realized that even though it does take a bit of time, and gets quite messy, I still don't trust mechanics and dealerships to do a good job. Why would they? I mean, it's not their own car, they don't give a flying rat's ass about it.

So if I intend on keeping this car for a number of years, I figured it's best to take care of it myself, like I did with my previous Accord.

Last Thursday, I spent 12 hours down in Anaheim at the CDA convention, catching up on my CE credits. Yeaaaah... I think that's going to be the last time I'll be there for CE courses. Way too crowded, way too far, and soooOOOOooo not worth my time. I think conventions are the perfect environment to spread something like the Swine Flu. Yep, never again! Not unless they pay me to go.

And from a photography-related standpoint, the 24Lii is currently my lens of choice. It's so nice not to worry about flash (most of the times). These days, I've only been using the 24Lii and the 100 macro, the latter used mostly for work.

And speaking of work... I get to change my patients smile quite often, but I rarely remember to take "before" photos prior to starting the restorations. And without "before" shots, there would be no point taking "after" shots.

However, this past week, I had an opportunity to make a difference. Now granted more could have been done, but I'm not one to push/sell unnecessary procedures. I let the patient dictate the amount of work they would like to have done. And when a patient tells me that he wants to just get his 2 front teeth fixed, that's what I'll do for him.

Someone suggested to me that I should have pushed the patient into getting additional teeth done. And although I would agree that cosmetically, it would all blend in better, however, I rather leave that decision to the patient. They know where to find me if they want more work done. I don't need to try and up-sell procedures.

So there you have it, the "before" and "after" shots. I believe I have significantly improved the patient's smile in just under 2 hours, 1/3 of which was spent removing the old, failed composite veneers. I'm happy, patient is happy. Can't ask for much more than that.

Just another day at the office.

24Lii @ the Aquarium

2009-04-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, I attended a Photographer's Night at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. They had a special evening where they cleared the building, dimmed the lights specifically for the purpose of photography. Tripods were allowed and even additional lighting equipment was allowed as long as you follow their rules for usage.

I've never shot fish tanks nor marine life prior to that evening so I had very low expectations of what I'd be able to capture. I just knew that lighting would be bad, I'd have to crank up the ISO, and was curious how bad reflections might play a role in the photos that I do manage to capture.

I brought 4 lenses with me: 24Lii (24/1.4), 17-55/2.8is, 100macro/2.8, and the 50/1.4. I managed to only use 2 lenses, the 17-55/2.8is, and primarily the 24Lii for nearly all the aquarium photos.

I was very impressed with the 24Lii's ability to lock focus quickly and accurately. Low-light photography was the sole reason I had purchased this lens and it more than held up its end of the bargain for the night.

I highly encourage anyone who has never attempted shooting fish tanks and in an aquarium to experience it. It's quite challenging, as fish aren't the most cooperative models. They do as they please so half of your shot is pure luck. But the other 50%, of which you have some control, is having the right gear. Now I'm not saying to run out and grab a 24L. The 50/1.8 and 50/1.4 are cheap alternatives. And I'm sure there are other wide primes that can stand up to the task. Just get your widest aperture lens and bring lots of patience.

The photos I felt were post-worthy can be seen at my pbase aquarium gallery. For those interested in seeing how the 24Lii performed, feel free to swing by the gallery.

Again, I cannot express how impressed I was with the 24Lii's performance that night. At first I thought 24mm would've been too wide, but it turned out to be near perfect on my 40D. I think a 35L would have produced great results as well. But I don't have the 35L to compare (nor do I see the need to have 2 lenses that close in focal length at this time).

I whole-heartedly give the Canon 24Lii 2 emphatic thumbs up.

Food Review: KyoChon

2009-03-30T23:36:00.001-07:00

Well, before we get ahead of ourselves here, let me make the following disclaimer: I am way under qualified as a food critic. I've never had any culinary training, and I don't watch reality chef TV. That and I am somewhat of a picky eater. But perhaps being picky is a good thing? So don't take me, nor what I type below, too seriously. (Although I'm not sure what kind of qualifications one would need to become a food critic. I mean after all, I have a mouth, working taste buds, and a stomach to digest. *Shrug*)

In any case... the wife and I decided to go out and "explore" new places we've never been to. So she hops onto Yelp.com and finds this place: KyoChon, somewhere in Koreatown. (Not sure why she was bent on eating chicken the other night because she generally hates chicken.) So basically, it's KFC, and instead of being "Kentucky Fried," it would be "Korean Fried."

KyoChon is setup differently than other places I've been to. It has the look and feel of a fast food restaurant. There's a counter with 2 registers and one would feel compelled to line up and place your order. However, if you're dining there, you place your orders at the table as a waiter/server comes around to greet you.

The establishment is highly visible, so unless you're blind, it's impossible to miss. I hate it when you're looking for a restaurant/cafe and you drive around in circles because they're tucked away in some retarded alley. The interior of the establishment is presentable and clean, I'd rate it at about 8.5 out of 10. There's a large LCD TV for those with ADHD, as well as a giant air conditioning unit by the front door for those who are prone to sweating profusely.

The menu, I felt, was rather lacking. There's a combination menu, where you choose from bulgogi chicken or chicken fried rice + chicken wing or "sticks" (as they like to call the legs). Note the embedded photo above, I ordered the combo with the bulgogi chicken + 4 chicken sticks. It came with chopped lettuce topped with ketchup and mayo.

You can also go with the Bento option (if you arrive earlier than 4pm). Or you can just go straight for the chicken wing or chicken stick platters, all of which come with a healthy serving of... chopped lettuce + ketchup & mayo. *raised eyebrow*

Apparently, the fried chicken comes in 2 flavors. The original (soy + garlic/ginger?) and the other is some extra spicy seasoning. I opted for the original seasoning and though I can't say there was anything wrong with the chicken or the seasoning, I personally preferred the Colonel's original recipe better. Maybe it's because I'm not Korean? Don't get me wrong, the seasoning was good and if I had to eat it again, there would be no hesitation in its consumption. But if given a choice, KFC, or KyoChonFC... I'd personally pick KFC.

Now... the price. The place aint cheap, boys n girls. 10 pcs of chicken wing + lettuce topped with ketchup and mayo will run you $9.99. (20 pcs @ ~$18). They are easily priced out of the "fast food" category. The chicken wings aren't that big. My combo platter weighed in at $14.99, whereas if I had stopped by the food court at ABC Plaza, I'd get a more satisfying platter for under $10, tax included. AND it'd likely come with a couple of side dishes (or as my wife calls them: pan-chans), instead of... lettuce topped with ketchup and mayo.

So in my humble opinion, you HAVE to really like fried chicken to eat at KyoChon, repeatedly. It's fun to try once, but I won't be frequenting the place. For my finicky tummy, if it's going to be fried chicken, then the original KFC still has my vote.

On a final note, like most places in Los Angeles, it wasn't easy to find parking. I hate valet and the parking lot in that particular commercial block was valet. So the wife and I parked on the residential street. I was fortunate to find a spot, although you wouldn't have known when some crazy lady in her Honda Accord tried to cut in as I was backing in with my parallel parking. It's like, "Hm... WTF were you thinking? You were going to park in my spot facing the wrong way?!?" Anyhoo, I can't really ding KyoChon for the lack of friendly parking, but nonetheless, I feel it worth mentioning.

Photos for the Sake of Taking Photos.

2009-03-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Up until now, I haven't had many reasons to randomly explore the City of Los Angeles. Pretty sad considering I've been living within its county lines since 1982. I know how to get around this town, but I never really explored it. Up until now... or at least starting now.

I now have an excuse to just randomly go somewhere I've never been. I've bought my DSLR, got myself a camera bag, and now I can go anywhere with the sole purpose of just taking photos. It has helped me tremendously by joining LAshooters.org. By doing so, I've found like-interest individuals who also enjoy looking for random things to photograph. My knowledge in photography has expanded leaps and bounds simply by going out on shoots with more experienced individuals and seeing what they see, picking their brains.

Previously, I would spend seemingly hours stalking the POTN forums for information. But I quickly realized that although it is a site with an immeasurable amount of knowledge, it's also a site rampant with pissing wars. Individuals with too much ego, too much money, possibly trying to compensate for something they're lacking.

When you're in a small-group environment like going out to shoot with folks from LAshooters, it's a lot more friendly interaction. Everyone there is out to enjoy a good day or evening of shooting. No egos, no fuss. But more importantly, it gets me shooting.

For some, photography comes naturally. Some people just seemingly have an eye, THAT eye for photography. For me, I think I can slowly develop it, and that's what I'm working on. So being able to go out and shoot means more practice for me, and eventually, hopefully, that will translate into more meaningful, more impactful images.

I've made some slight changes to the blog. I've finally linked my 2 online galleries. They're nothing spectacular, but they're something that I'm slowly building towards. But more importantly, I'm having a lot of fun doing so. I will probably never be a great photographer. And you know? I'm okay with that.

I Hate Congress.

2009-03-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

Stop with the stupid ear-marks already. Don't try to justify them by saying "we" put you there by electing you so that you can sneak in ear-marks on our behalf. Do the right thing, serve in the public's best interest, not your own.

Corrupt bastids at the helms. Another reason why the nation's economy is collapsing.

Total BS.

2009-03-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

GM is now asking for more taxpayer bailout money. WTF. From the CNN article:

"GM said in a separate statement that it is confident it will be able to turn around the business if it gets the federal help it is seeking and when consumer demand for autos returns."

Excuse me? You'll turn around IF you get money AND demand for autos returns? Demand for autos won't return. No one wants to buy your crappy cars. For years you've skimped out on quality, or the lack there of. Why else would people say, "buy Japanese for reliability" if American manufacturers weren't putting out crap? You've had your chances, decades worth of time to make changes and you failed to see the big picture.

The US auto industry is like cancer. It's a malignant growth that needs to be excised, put through radiation therapy and multiple rounds of chemo. And like many cancer patients, few survive and even fewer become stronger after the experience. You're not Lance Armstrong.

Time to let the auto industry, the auto makers die already. They can all go work for European companies, or Japanese companies. The UAW can go to hell along with it.

Just to be absolutely clear, I'm all for buying American. But people take things for granted. Just because it's "Made in America" doesn't mean it's better. Poorly-trained workers without motivation to produce quality products = crappy products. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. You need to fix how the companies are run. Now I am not placing blame on the auto workers themselves. All they do is sit at an assembly line and put together the crap that's been designed and built. And if the executives at the company finds it perfectly fine to cut corners, implement crappy designs, then the final product will fail no matter how good of a work force you have.

I will confess one thing. I am anti-union. The idea is great but the people running the damn thing are just as responsible for causing this whole mess. Always wanting more. There's a fine line that you must navigate and neither side are willing to see that. To them, it's just a game. They don't see lives being ruined because of their inability to negotiate.

Well, that's my worthless $0.02. If you're interested to see the article that pissed me off this morning, go here:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/05/news/companies/GM_10K/index.htm

So Who's Crazy Now?

2009-02-23T21:23:00.001-08:00

When the stock market started tumbling, and I started surveying the potential devastation, I told everyone that stocks will fall below 7,500. Everyone thought I was crazy, that there's no way we'd see such a collapse. "Systems are in place to prevent this." Yadda yadda and all other bullshit.

Well, as I stated in my old post, how I never understood how the stock market is a legitimate way of making money. You invest your hard-earned paper money (which at least is backed by the government's stockpile of gold) and buy paper with a company's logo on it and it's suppose to make you money? How's that paper looking now?

My conservative estimate was that the stock would bottom out at 7,500. But it looks like the roller coaster ride isn't quite over just yet. The credit bubble hasn't even begun bursting and we're now staring 7,000 right in the eye. Now, IF you have a metric @#$%-ton of money, now is a good time to buy/invest in stocks. I'm serious. The only problem is, you need to be lucky and hope you invest in the companies that will make it out in one piece after the nuclear dust settles. Good luck choosing that!

One word of advice, stay away from the big-3 automakers. Word has it they've got their heads up their asses and it's hard to imagine they'd ever give up their golden parachutes. After all, they all went to the same business schools, earned the same MBA degree. It's all about marketing, selling, and ripping people off and then cash out before the roof lands on you. That's what they teach people at business school. Watch out for Numero Uno, that's the bottom line. Doesn't matter how many people you maim, destroy, kill along the way. As long as you got yours, that's all that matters.

So, is there a problem with how things are run? Heck yeah there is. Is there a solution? Not one that anyone would care to hear nor sign up for.

Homemade Lightbox

2009-02-11T19:07:00.001-08:00

I recently spent some time crafting my homemade lightbox. It's basically a miniature studio without the expensive studio price. Of course, size is an issue so I can only take photos of relatively small items.

I basically took your run-of-the-mill UPS delivered brown box, made 2 windows on the side of the box and subsequently covered it w/ 2 sheets of thin, white paper. Made a slit on the top of the box (towards the back) to drape my background material of choice. And lastly, completed the box with 2 ghetto lamps, equipped with 100w-equivalent CFLs to shine through the side windows.

"Now why would you do something like this," you ask? Well, I am glad that you asked. I did this mostly because I was bored. But I had another, small, yet significant motivating factor behind this madness. You see, many years ago, I came across a stock-photography website and opened up a free account. This website allows you to submit your photos (while legally retaining all rights to your photo) into a database online, and if/when someone happens to download your photo(s), you get paid a small fee. Basically, companies and other entities looking for cheap photos will come to such a website, purchase an account that would allow them to browse, and then download as they see fit.

Great thing, again, is that this is at no additional cost to me. I don't need to advertise, I don't need to do anything other than just upload photos. The catch is that you can't just spam them with crap photos (your photos have to at least be presentable), as they have some reviewer that will go through and approve/reject your submissions as they see fit. And you can't send them anything that may infringe upon trademarks and copyrights, which actually does limit quite a bit on what you can submit and not submit.

Now just because I cannot submit trademark materials onto this stock photography website, doesn't mean I can't take photos of stuff like a can of Coca Cola. And voila, here it is. At the very least, this helps to keep me busy and kill time, and allows me to slowly add new images to my old online account. I'm not about to quit my day job for this but at least it has the potential to provide me with some extra chump change for doing something I enjoy doing anyway. Win-win in my book, I'll say.

So for those of you who own a camera, have nothing better to do with your spare time, well... look what you can do!

I'm So NOT Cool.

2009-01-22T19:54:00.000-08:00

I don't get out much, and that's an understatement. At the Lakers game last Friday, I was standing in line patiently behind some skinny dude with some leather jacket. Then I see someone take a picture of him, follow by some short Asian guy (seemingly paparazzi) with a sizeable video camera asking him all sorts of questions. "Adam... blah blah blah." One of the questions asked was whether he was going to attend the upcomng Inauguration, which he replied affirmatively. After the 2 minute interview, another fan comes up and takes a photo with "Adam." And a minute later, Staples security escorts "Adam" and his sidekick/buddy to the front of the line.

Not long after that, a bigger fellow (who was standing in front of skinny Adam) turns around and asked if I knew who that was and I shook my head. So out of curiosity, I waved the security guard over and kindly asked who that may have been and we were told, "He's the lead singer of Maroon 5."

I still didn't know who he was, but I've heard of Maroon 5. So there, my claim to fame. I stood behind Adam (Levine) and possibly even made it onto his paparazzi clip. During the game, we spotted him sitting next to Denzel Washington in one of the courtside seats. Must be nice to be a celebrity. But I will say this about Adam. For as much hounding by the paparazzi and the fans, he always smiled, shook hands, and happily posed for photos. So because of that, he's alright by me.

I thought I'd take this photo as a sign of our times. Even homeless people are reportedly having a tougher time. Hm... I... didn't think that was even possible. I mean, how do things get worse when you've already hit rock bottom? *raised eyebrow* Eh? They're more homeless than they were before?

Anyhoo... before I wrap this up... a new President was sworn in this week, the Democrats are back in the Oval Office. It's historic because President Obama is the first (half) black president in this nation's history. He is a symbol of how far America has come along (in the past 60 years). There's a lot of Hope in the air, but hope doesn't put food on the tables nor can it keep a roof over one's head. So we'll see. There's still a long ways to go. I certainly hope that Obama and his administration can at least right the wrongs of our past. But I don't think Hope alone can fix the mess we're currently in.

Triple Ocho.

2009-01-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

I shall be heading to Staples next Friday for what's looking to be a very interesting game: Lakers vs. Magic. Let's see how my Lakers do against Dwight Howard. I was thinking of bringing my Canon 40D to the game but then I read somewhere that security has a habit of turning away DSLRs unless you've got a press pass.

*Sigh*

That's depressing. I was hoping to get some decent shots of Triple Ocho and the rest of the team. And who knows... maybe catch a glimpse of good ol' Jack (among other celebrities that line the courtside seats). Oh well, those are the rules as NBA wants to protect their image. Blah blah... blah blah... blah.

It's been quite some time since I last stepped foot inside Staples. Granted game tickets aren't all that expensive, it's not so much the cost of the tickets that deter me from attending. The real reason is that I'm a hermit by nature and I despise large crowds. That said, I got 4 free tickets and a parking pass as a Christmas present so it'd be a waste if I don't use them. And as tempting as it is to give these tickets away so that I can watch the game in the comforts of my own home, I'll brave the Friday night traffic and head into downtown LA and support my boys. I'm hoping for a blow-out game, with Lakers winning of course. :P

I'll try to do more research on cameras, but I think it might be safer to stick with my 4.5 year old Powershot Pro1. Bah... we'll see.

Fan of Logitech

2009-01-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

I picked up a pair of computer mice from Best Buy tonight. A mini-wireless mouse for the wife's computer, and a traditional wired mouse for my computer. My cat managed to break my previous mouse last night. No, it's not what you think and I'm not going to go into the details. It was one of those, "You had to be there," moments. Better witnessed, not so funny told.

The last two mice I had were Microsoft branded and I had forgotten how most of Logitech's mice line-up are better designed ergonomically. (At least for my hand.) But this new mouse (pictured here), feels very, very nice. The buttons are all in the right place and the sensitivity is set just right. The previous MS/Razer mouse that this Logitech replaced was low/flat and worse off, the movement of the cursor felt rather choppy.

So that's my little blurb. I'm, again, a fan of Logitech devices. My Logitech keyboard has lasted me many years and is still running strong. Hopefully this Logitech mouse won't disappoint.

The Power of 24.

2009-01-03T20:29:00.001-08:00

I guess there is something to be said about Canon's "L" lenses, or some of them at least. I had been on the fence for quite some time, wondering if I would be able to justify a purchase of my first "L". I tried my best to get by with my 17-55/2.8IS, and although it was able to handle the load that I asked of it >50% of the time, I found it severely lacking during the other times.

I needed a wide-angle, fast prime. There was no getting away from that fact, unless I planned on hauling my external flash EVERYWHERE. To me, a huge reason for getting a fancier DSLR camera (as opposed to some P&S camera) was for the purpose of taking photos in low-light conditions without the use of flash.

If you couldn't tell, yes, I am quite enjoying taking photos in ambient light, making use of the f/1.4 aperture and exploiting the shallow DoF. The trick now is to pick a focus to draw your attention towards.

Elsewhere, 2009 is starting out well. I've had to work the past 2 days and although it was quite busy, at least everything went smoothly. I am also counting down the days when we're able to give the dog back to my mother-in-law. Having to keep an eye on her is taking away my free time to go out and take photos.

A Rosy Beginning.

2009-01-01T19:03:00.001-08:00

Trojans win the Rose Bowl, sending Penn State back on the bus with a huge footprint on their asses. For those who watched the game (or at least the first half), all would agree the game was over by half-time. You can tell in the 2nd half that SC was dialing it down, probably to save their seniors from potential career-ending injuries, and also as a respect to Joe Paterno. After all, they were the #3 defense in the nation, allowing an average of just under 13pts/game. The message was delivered in the first half of the game. The second half was to let the Big-10 save some face.

Speaking of Conferences... Pac-10 went 5 for 5. So for all the analysts that write the Pac-10 off as being worthless all season, how do you explain this? (Yeah, I know, the only worthy opponents to mention were Penn State and Oklahoma State but still, you have to give the conference some credit.)

On a different, yet equally exciting, note, I should receive my new lens come tomorrow. It's currently sitting in a UPS lot right now, waiting to be delivered. I took my time, debating heavily between the 24L and the 35L as my go-to, low-light, flash-less photography lens for my next purchase and decided to go with the 24L. I've found often that as good as my 17-55/2.8is lens is, there were many times that I could have benefited by having f/1.4 at my disposal. And I'm not a big fan of flash photography in public places so the only alternative was to go with the 24L or 35L. I'm really eager to try out this lens.

I suppose that's all for now. So a new year, new hopes, new lens, and a new banner for this blog. Hopefully, there will be more good news for me to post in the not-too-distant future.

Farewell, 2008.

2008-12-30T22:24:00.000-08:00

And so another year comes to an end as I bid farewell to the year of 2008. It feels like time speeds up with each passing year. The gray hair increase in percentage, the flexibility of my joints decreases. And I often ask myself... "WTF is going on?"

But yet I digress...

2008, for the most part, has been a good year for me. My practice grew, despite the ailing economy. I've quit playing MMORPG, which resulted in more time to enjoy life. I renewed my interests in photography again with the purchase my first DSLR and a few lenses. I've ditched the 1997 Del Sol and picked up a new TL, in white to boot!

Overall, I'm quite thankful for the life that I have to live, and the things that I do have. And although there certainly are more that I would want, my needs are met, and I will not complaint (too much).

So farewell to you, 2008. Let's hope 2009 will be as kind to me as you have been.