Puteri's Musings

Autumn Haiku

2011-11-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

Pretty autumn leaves

In the late afternoon sun

Lighten my heart so.

Above the clouds

2011-10-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well, not exactly above the clouds but the pictures almost show my friends standing above or next to the clouds!

The following are two of my favorite pictures that I took last weekend of my friends at our family ranch in Los Osos, in the central coast of California.

The low cloud/ marine layer is actually several miles from where Joshua is standing. But from the angle the picture is taken it does look like the cloud or marine layer is right at the edge of the hillside from where he is.

On a clear day, Morro Rock and the bay are visible from where Patty is standing. I especially love this picture. The soft evening colors, the low clouds, the ocean air - you can almost feel and smell them!

Piano lessons

2011-10-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

It has been more than 12 years since I had a piano in the house. When I saw an old piano for sale at a super low price, I went ahead and got it - to finally replace the one that I left at my parents' home when I got married and moved to the USA, and also one that my kids could learn to play on.

Duncan is adamant that he is not going for piano lessons but when I insisted, he said he will give it a year, and we will reassess after that! I hope, however, that he will find it interesting and continue with the lessons. No, he hasn't started yet.

Denice, however, is rather keen to get started. Two of her classmates are already taking lessons, and she thinks she will enjoy learning to play the piano. I hope she'll find it interesting too, but we will see how hard they are willing to practice!

As for me, it has been years since I played, not that I was any good to begin with! But sight reading is slowly coming back, and I am determined to practice my scales because that was one of the things that I was not disciplined at doing when I took lessons many years ago.

Oh, one last thing, I hope the sound of the kids' practising on the piano is not going to make me regret not getting a digital piano instead!

Botanical Gardens

2011-05-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

During the recent school spring break, we took a trip to Pasadena in southern California just so we could visit the Huntington Botanical Gardens. The road trip took us 7 hours but it was worth the time because I thoroughly enjoyed the day we spent at the gardens.

I didn't get to see the Japanese Garden because most of it was closed for renovation but the Chinese Garden was open and I loved the pictures that I took of it! Friends thought the pictures were taken in China!

The Desert Garden was really something. I could easily have spent the whole day at this garden! I was very happy that most of the cacti in the garden were at the peak of their flowering season, and I had a great time photographing the cactus flowers - something that I don't normally see!

Before we drove home that weekend, we made a 2-hour stop at the Los Angeles County Aboretum because it was quite close to the hotel we stayed at. I saw flowers and plants that I did not see at the Huntington Gardens and was glad we made that stop! The Epiphytic cactus flowers were indeed spectacular!

This trip is one that I would not mind repeating.

Book Review: No He Can't

2011-05-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama was swept into office with much euphoria on the slogan of "Yes We Can", and the message of Hope and Change. With such euphoric support, Obama had hoped to "fundamentally transform" the nation while in office.

In his book, No He Can't, conservative columnist and syndicated radio talk-show host, Kevin McCullough, clearly spells out in four sections the failures of the Obama administration. In the area of the economy, despite bailouts and stimulus packages, the economy has not improved and the number of the jobless is higher than the promised maximum of 8%. The no tax increase pledge on those making under $250,000 is just another empty promise, especially the cost the new healthcare bill will have on small businesses.

On the area of national security, if Obama had been successful and able to institute all of his own preferences and policies, Osama bin Laden would not have been captured and killed. Thank goodness that the Bush administration national security policies are still in place! The Obama administration prefers to try captured terrorists in civilian courts, and cut intelligence, defense, and national security spending, and ignore the real threat on the homeland from the jihadists.

When it comes to the values that we believe in, Obama disdains an individual's right to self-determination and pushes his agenda for more dependency under the guise of "caring for your brother." The healthcare reform bill was pushed through despite overwhelming objection from the voters. The Obama Justice Department refuses to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. And among the first things Obama did on taking office was to sign an executive order that re-instated taxpayer-funded abortions overseas.

Finally, in the area of accountability to the people, the Obama administration does not fulfill its promise of a transparent government. ACORN's questionable activities have been ignored, but Arizona's immigration law to protect its own borders, was worthy of a law suit by the Obama Justice Department.

These are just some of the Obama failures that Kevin McCullough outlined in his book, and I find it a great read, depressing at times to have my thoughts on Obama confirmed. But Kevin McCullough ended his book by suggesting that readers choose clarity over emotion, the kind of emotion that "Yes We Can" evokes, and with such clarity in place readers will be able to put a stop to efforts that are out to intimidate them out of their belief systems, and say "No, you can't!"

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers, as part of their Book Review Blogger Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Kite Day

2011-04-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, right after church, we made our way to MacFarland Ranch so that we could participate in Kite Day. This year was only the second time that we'd participated! We kept missing the dates!

The kids were really excited, and they got their kites ready and loaded them in the car before we left for church. The Kite Day started at 10 a.m. and I wasn't sure how many people were that before noon. When we got there after 1.00 p.m. there was not a bad crowd there. A bigger crowd would not have worked! Kites would have got entangled!

For those who didn't have kites, there were kites that they could borrow there, and they even made little kites and supplied strings for anyone who wanted a kite.

For my kids, it was a fun afternoon. Too bad the wind did not blow more consistently. When it did blow, the kites would stay high up in the sky, and when the wind dwindled, all the kites fell to the ground.

We will try to keep an eye out for next year's event! Good thing we saw the flyer stuck to wall near the door to the kids' favorite local restaurant! That's how we learned of this year's Kite Day date!

Science Faire 2011

2011-03-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

Last night the kids took part in their first Science Faire organized by their school. This event is held once every two years. We didn't know what to expect even though each family was given the guidelines on how to submit a project. The initial outline of the project was submitted a few weeks earlier. Good thing I spoke to one of their teachers who told me how to prepare the display board!

Doug and I were quite amused because the science project was mostly done by Doug. But we needn't feel so bad because almost all the students had some help from their parents especially the younger kids.

Before we received news about the Science Faire Doug had already showed the kids how fuel (fire) used up oxygen. He took a pie tin, filled it a little with water, lit a candle and placed a tall glass over the candle. After a while the flame (fuel) went out, and the trapped water under the glass rose a little, signifying the water taking the place of the oxygen that had been used up.

It was a pretty neat experiment and the kids understood the concept, so that experiment was what they presented at the Science Faire last night. Doug did a simple display board and drew pictures of how the experiment was conducted. We also had a pie tin filled with some water, candle, glass, and a lighter together with the display for demonstration. The kids were able to explain the concept of the project to fellow classmates.

It really tickled me because that science project won them first place for their class/age group!

There were some interesting projects from the other kids, and I was impressed by their display boards. Some had projects that took over several days or weeks to complete and they had pictures of the different stages of their project. They were very well documented with pictures, and results of their experiments were displayed with their display boards as well.

Next time I know better, and will try to make the display board more colorful and attractive. Judging from the results of the project that the kids submitted it mattered not how pretty the display was - it was the content of the project that won the judges!

Baking Bread

2011-03-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

Brioches à tête

It almost seems unbelievable to me that I am now able to make bread! Fresh, home-made bread! For the longest time I was afraid of baking with yeast. My fear was almost confirmed because the very first bread that I tried to bake, did not rise! After more than two hours of resting, the dough had remained the same size.

Focaccia with truffle oil

Thank goodness for the internet! I found the possible reason for the failure of the dough to rise. I did put in the butter and milk mixture into the yeast mixture before the butter and milk mixture had cooled sufficiently. Hot liquid is most certain to kill the yeast. But thank goodness, the dough could be saved by adding in a new yeast mixture!

Monkey Bread

That was the first bread that I baked and that was like two weeks ago. Since that day I have baked brioches à tête, white bread, focaccia, sage flat bread, date and honey loaf, and most recently monkey bread. I cannot wait for all the bread in the house to be used up so I can try the next recipe!

Date and Honey Loaf

I read some where that baking bread can be quite addicting! And I think I can now understand that feeling! Every successful bread becomes an incentive for the next project! I think the next project I would like to try is curry filled buns. I love those buns especially at tea time! Yum!

I bought two books on baking bread and one of them has recipes for gluten free bread and once the vital wheat gluten that I ordered through Amazon arrives, I would like to try baking bread with flour other than wheat. That should be interesting!

Spring is here, maybe

2011-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

Last week, it felt like spring was already here. Some fruit trees were in full bloom, and what a beautiful sight it was to behold, and the weather was warm enough for me to go out without a jacket.

But not so fast. This week, mother nature is here to remind us that she is not done with winter yet. Rain, wind, snow in the higher elevations and even hail on some parts in the valley! What a surprise it was for me to see pea-sized hail fall from the sky and for a while the ground was almost white from the amount of hail!

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted, the spring-like weather, I mean. Officially spring won't be here till March 20, so winter weather will stay around whether we like it or not!

Finches

2011-01-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

This winter, I have not done much bird photography. The days have been cold, wet and grey, and my photographic equipment does not perform very well under those kind of conditions. However, this morning, I was able to go out for a while because the day was not as cold as it has been in previous days.

I was quite happy that I was able to take a few decent pictures, considering the still grey sky, of the house finches which seem to like being in my backyard. I have never seen this many of them in and around my yard in past winters. I was a little disappointed because when the sun came out, the finches were no where to be seen!

However, I miss the Western Bluebirds. I saw a family of them in the fall, and then I don't see them any more. Maybe they found a yard that they liked better than mine! Quite a disappointment, really, because they are not that easily spooked and in the past I have taken several good pictures of them.

Oh well. The presence of the finches at least makes up for that disappointment!

Chocolate gifts

2011-01-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

I love to give away as well as receive chocolate gifts especially at Christmas time and Valentine's Day. Come to think of it, any time is a good time to receive chocolate gifts! My kids can attest to that! They love chocolates and every time we go the local library and there's a lady there with a table of See's Candies they never fail to leave the library with at least a lollipop! I usually don't mind letting the kids pick a lollipop each because See's Candies is a great supporter of the local library.

Over the Christmas holidays, a friend visiting from out of state, bought me a box of See's Candies Victoria Toffee when we stopped by at the library to drop off some books. Naturally the kids also got a lollipop each because my friend couldn't resist their pleas for a lollipop!

Well, now that Valentine's Day is almost here, chocolate gifts will be something I will look forward to receiving from my dear husband!

Christmas Cactus

2011-01-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

I have had this pot of Christmas cactus for several years now but this past Christmas it was the first time in years that it has bloomed. Earlier last year, I decided to do something about the plant. I transplanted it into a slightly bigger pot, added more soil, and put some fertilizer in it and hoped for the best.

When I saw how much better it looked in its new pot, I immediately thought that it would definitely bloom right about Christmas time. I put it on the kitchen window sill so it could get some indirect sun.

Sure enough it started to show buds and by Christmas a few of the buds started to bloom! I was quite pleased! I think this year, I might re-pot it again, this time in a much bigger pot than it is currently in and hope that by Christmas later this year, it will bloom more profusely than it has.

I took this picture with my new Olympus 25mm lens. I am pleasantly surprised at how close to the subject I can go with this little pancake lens.

So, how has the New Year been so far? I hope it is going well for you and a good indicator for the rest of the year!

Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing you and yours and Very Happy and Blessed New Year! May all your wishes and hopes for the New Year come true!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to all my readers! I hope the year has been good to you, and here's wishing you a joyous and prosperous New Year too!

We'll be spending Christmas with a fellow Malaysian friend and her husband in South Lake Tahoe. We are looking forward to that weekend, because it will the first White Christmas for the kids and only the second one for me!

Also, the kids are looking forward to playing in the snow. This is going to be a treat for them because we live in the part of California where it doesn't normally snow. Snow is still a novelty for them!

Once again a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you!

Golden Gate Bridge

2010-12-16T11:13:00.000-08:00

San Francisco is a favorite destination for first time visitors to California. Naturally when my old, school friend from Malaysia came for a visit we took her there.

It was foggy for much of the day while we were in San Francisco, but the fog and clouds cleared a little when we got to the Golden Gate Bridge park, as if in answer to my friend's prayer! Indeed she believed that it was an answer to her prayer!

We used what little bit of sunshine and daylight left of the late afternoon to quickly pose for pictures and photograph one of the most iconic images of California.

I told my friend to come again for a visit, but next time not in late fall or winter!

Robins Silhouette

2010-11-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

I was out standing in the cold this evening trying to photograph birds in my neighbor's orchard and around my yard. I surprised at the large number of robins today!

I wished we had longer daylight especially at this time of the year when there are all kinds of migrating birds foraging in my neighbor's orchard! I saw Western Bluebirds, White-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-rumped warblers, and lots of Scrubjays today.

I would have taken my camera out earlier, but the sky was overcast and there was intermittent rain. When the rain finally ceased, it was already late afternoon. Oh well.

Bristol in DWTS finals

2010-11-17T16:03:00.000-08:00

Have you read about the unhinged reactions some people had over the fact that Bristol Palin made it to the finals of DWTS? It is simply amazing, and amusing, how worked up some people can get over the activities of the Palin family!

I voted for Bristol Palin throughout the season. I have always been a sucker for the underdog, and Bristol despite the poor scores she has been receiving from the judges, is not that bad a dancer. She is elegant,and her movements are always precise and except for the intangible emotions that the judges want to see, she is a far better dancer than the majority of the celebrities that have been eliminated in earlier rounds.

I have always been a great fan of Mark Ballas, and he has done a superb job with Bristol. I can see that he is a very good teacher and choreographer, and is very patient with Bristol. It is obvious for all to see that Bristol has improved vastly since the first episode. I wish the two of them all the best during the finals. Go show 'em, Bristol!

For those suffering from Palin Derangement Syndrome, SUCK IT UP!

Satellite TV

2010-11-17T14:35:00.000-08:00

I have been a directv subscriber for five years now. To reward that loyalty direct tv recently offered me three free movies pass that I could use up over the following three months. I have used up two of the movie offers and since I still have the time, I will wait for a movie that is worth watching to come out before I use that last free movie pass!

Today, I thought about re-subscribing to one of their premium directv packages. Last spring I cancelled their Starz movie package because I was going to be gone all summer. During that time I also upgraded my package to one where, for about $5 more, I had an additional eleven movie channels. That way, I still had some movie channels even though I had cancelled Starz movie package.

I don't know what directv competitors are offering but for now, I am quite satisfied with what I have with directv especially with their HD programming.

Sandhill Cranes

2010-11-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

Imagine my delight this morning, after dropping off the kids at their school, to see lots and lots of Sandhill Cranes at a neigbor's farm field!

As soon as I arrived home, I quickly grabbed my camera, and off I drove again to the farm field! At that moment I wished with all my heart that I had one of those super-sized zoom lenses! All the pictures that I took from the roadside were totally un-useable.

I decided to walk towards the cranes and started photographing them before they got too spooked by my presence. As you can see, some turned out good enough to share with you here.

Tomorrow morning, if those cranes are still there, I will go out again to take more photographs.

More Birds!

2010-10-25T17:25:00.001-07:00

Top L-R: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Northern Flicker Woodpecker

Bottom L-R: Nuttall's Woodpecker, Ruby-throated Hummingbird

What an enjoyable day it has been today! The air was fresh and filled with the scents of eucalyptus and pine, more so after the rain that fell all day yesterday.

The hummingbird on one eucalyptus tree was quite co-operative and allowed me to photograph it. A pity that I did not have a faster zoom lens!

I also managed to photograph two different kinds of woodpeckers and today I was able to identify what they were. There seem to be several woodpeckers hanging around my property. They have been pecking away at the old fence posts and the utility pole across my house. I even saw a couple drinking and bathing in the puddle of water on my dirt drive way!

The yellow-rumped warblers are also plentiful this time of year, and I think they still need to get used to seeing me walking around with my camera! I took some pictures but they were not as sharp as I would have liked. Not to worry because there are other opportunities!

I have not seen any Western Blue Birds this week. They were around two weeks ago, a family of five. I know they will come back, and I cannot wait to photograph them too!

What fun to have different kinds of birds to photograph right in my own front and back yards!

Bird Season

2010-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

White-crowned sparrow

It is the time of year when birds seem to gather in my front and back yard. And I love it! I take out my camera and try to photograph them!

Last fall, I thought about getting myself a hunting blind so I can hide in it and wait for the birds. This year, I WILL buy that blind!

A blind is not all that I will be getting this year. I am learning all about digiscoping where you use a digital camera with a spotting scope. While studying on that method of photography I discovered that some are using a telescope with their dslr cameras and the output from that set up seems to be very encouraging. That is why I will be getting myself a telescope that is suitable for digiscoping! Oh yes!

Of Birds and Bird Videos

2010-10-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since I successfully took some beautiful pictures of birds in my backyard when I first got my bridge camera, I have been quite obsessed about photographing birds and learning more about birds. It is now the time of year where the birds seem to gather in large numbers in my yard.

I have even started reading up on digiscoping (the use of a digital camera and a spotting scope) and am seriously considering getting a good quality spotting scope so that I can photograph the birds several yards away from my back patio.

Yesterday as I was browsing through some digiscoping videos on YouTube, I decided to look for some bird videos done by David Attenborough. There were several videos there and I was quite entertained by them. The video of the Lyre bird (such a beautiful tail!) of South Australia especially captured my attention. It reminded me of my friend's mynah that was able to imitate the sound of a car alarm.

You must watch both videos! Absolutely amazing!

Bug Eyed

2010-09-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

I was really amused when I saw this picture of a dragonfly that I'd taken. I did not know that even insects get the dreaded red eye when its picture is taken with the flash! Now I know!

I've been trying some close up and macro photography using a conversion lens, and with the teleconverter lens. I think, between the two, the results are much better with the teleconverter lens on a standard fixed lens for close up photography. I just ordered a used, 50 mm f3.5 manual macro lens and I cannot wait to try it out! Coupled with the 2x teleconverter, who knows what kind of results I will get!

I saw some really impressive close up pictures of the dragonfly with all the fine details clearly visible, and I just cannot wait to try to achieve that kind of pictures!

Never Forget!

2010-09-11T10:51:00.001-07:00

Camera Accessories

2010-09-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Look what came in the mail yesterday! That was just one of several arrivals throughout the week! Yes, I have been on a shopping spree! For camera accessories, that is!

This little beauty was in one of the packages that came in the mail yesterday. It is called a super macro conversion lens. This little lens is attached to a telephoto lens (as in above pic) and with it you can do some incredible macro photography. Macro photography without spending big bucks on a macro lens!

This unfortunate, and rather dead, earwig was caught in a spider's web. I brought out my tripod and shot a few pictures of the earwig. Yes, with the Raynox conversion lens attached to my telephoto lens! The filtered evening sun falling on the subject really helped with the overall picture, don't you think so?

This beautiful picture of a little spider that was waiting for its prey under a chair was also shot with the Raynox conversion lens. Amazing what one cheap (comparatively!) lens can do!

Another Dragonfly

2010-09-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased with the output of an old manual Pentax 50mm lens that my mother-in-law (picked up from a thrift store) gave me. The Olympus 50mm manual lens that I bought from an online store some time ago was given away to my niece. I thought about getting another one to replace the one I gave away, but now I don't think I need another similar Olympus lens. The Pentax lens performs just as well if not better than the Olympus lens!

Today, I took several pictures of a dragonfly that didn't mind my getting close to it to photograph it with the 50mm Pentax lens.

Initially I thought the bokeh from the Pentax was not as smooth as the Olympus' (based on earlier photos I had taken) but I was wrong. Today I shot a few pictures of the dragonfly with a background that was creamy smooth. I learned that the faster the speed, the smoother the bokeh.

The next time I use the lens, I will use it to take portraits of my kids.

Another hot day

2010-08-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today is the third day where the mercury hits above 100°F. It is days like these that makes you thankful that some smart person invented the air-conditioner!

The kids and I went to our town's weekly market this morning a little after 9.00 a.m. We walked up and down two aisles and decided that that was more heat than we could handle!

I bought assorted vegetables, some nectarines, two cantaloupes and an Indian top (quite pretty!), and called it a day. The shopping took us less than an hour, but due to the heat, it felt like we had spent a much longer time at the market.

According to the weather forecast the weather is going to cool down quite a bit by the end of the week. Thank goodness for that! By all accounts this summer has been a lot milder than previous years'. I am not complaining!

Things that are important to me

2010-08-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

* Guest post by Jewel Cole *

There are some things in life that are great to have. A vehicle helps people to get to and from their destinations in a much more efficient way then walking. A bus can help people to get from one place or another in a very inexpensive way. Going to college will ensure that you get a better education and help society more, as well as yourself. A great job can mean the difference between poverty and having more then enough money to get by. These are all things that I have used on a daily basis, and been a part of. The thing that has, however, aided me more than anything in the world is that fact that a year ago I invested in internet and DirecTV bundle instead of regular internet.

The first few days were a bit confusing to me. Was I really able to access the internet better this way, it seemed a dream! I realized shortly after this that my dreams could very well come true. By quitting my job and working full-time on the internet, I became extremely successful, more so then before. I stopped going to a traditional college and changed to an online one. These awesome changes wouldn't have been possible without the help of the internet and the things it allows me to do. I am forever thankful for the wonderful opportunity I was given.

*Brought to you by your friends at http://www.clearwirewimax4g.com

A dragonfly and a hummingbird

2010-08-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

This morning I saw a dragonfly perching at the end of a withered gladiola branch through my window. I quickly gathered my camera, left my coffee on the table in front of my computer, and sat on a chair on the patio facing my little garden patch.

Well, when no dragonfly decides to perch any where near you, you tend to get bored. So I went back into the house, grabbed and carried the small patio table in the back patio to the front. Then I went back in again for my coffee, and a radio.

My patience was rewarded. Not only did a dragonfly find a spot to perch on, a little hummingbird kept coming back to feed on the nectar of the morning glories! I took several pictures of the dragonfly and the hummingbird!

Patience is something you have to learn to deal with when you want to photograph birds and flying insects!

Durians in KL

2010-08-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I told Doug to hold off on the durians when he was in Miri. In Miri, durians are so expensive and if you did buy some, you are never sure that the ones you bought are any good. In KL, the vendor opens up the durian for you, lets you inspect it, and if you are satisfied you can go ahead and buy it.

That was exactly what we did at a Pasar Malam in SS 2. We bought five durians which only cost us RM 37. The vendor opened up all the durians and packed them in styrofoam containers for us. We brought the durians home to my friend, Margaret's, place and had a feast.

"That's your Malaysian durian for the year", I told Doug!

An evening at the beach

2010-07-23T21:49:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I took the kids and two of their older cousins to the beach. My niece and I wanted to photograph the sunset but the clouds were so thick in the horizon that you could barely see the sun.

Since there was no interesting sunset to photgraph, I took pictures of the horizon and the sky which had some interesting cloud formation.

My niece took many more pictures of the kids playing on the beach than I did. The few that I took did not turn out as well as those taken by my niece. I mostly used my wide angle lens from a distance, so the pictures that had the kids in them did not have them as the main focus.

There's a resort right smack in the rain forest not far from here that we hope to go to once Doug arrives. My niece and I are already imagining the things that we would like to photograph - the waterfalls, the critters in the forest .... !

Frothing!

2010-07-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks or so, this is what I usually get every time I want to look at my blogs. I don't know if this only happens to Blogger hosted blogs using custom domain names, or if this problem is unique to my blog using my particular broadband modem, because when I click on friends' blogs using blogspot.com their blogs load without any problem.

The blogger dashboard loads without any difficulty though, except after posting a blog entry, I cannot view the blog - something about error timed out bla bla bla.

But the strange thing is, the cache copy works fine, and the latest post appears in the cache copy seconds after it has been published. I am only able to view my blogs hours later, and then it will do the same thing again.

This is beginning to bug me!

Custom computers and laptops

2010-07-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

I have a desktop computer that came pre-installed with Windows Vista. I am not at all happy with the performance of Windows Vista, and I have asked Doug if there was anything he could do about it - either downgrade it to Windows XP or upgrade the operating system to Windows 7.

I think my oldest brother had the right idea when he purchased his laptop. He ordered a custom laptop, one that was installed only with stuff according to his specifications. I wished I had thought about custom computers when I bought my desktop.

Doug's old laptop, I think, has finally died on him. As of three days ago, he couldn't get it to come to life. It did that once before, and after letting it sit for a few days, he banged it a bit, and it came back to life. Since that old laptop is as good as dead now, he is in the market for a new laptop or one of the mini laptops that he can easily bring to work.

I think I should recommend he look at Howard custom computers and think about getting one of the custom laptops. The prices of the mini laptops seem pretty reasonable there and I should know, because I already own one of those mini laptops and if Doug can be persuaded, he takes over mine and the new one I appropriate for myself!

An Evening at Mariner Bay

2010-07-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday evening, I took the kids and a good friend to a place by the beach. I wanted to photograph the sunset, but unfortunately the sunset wasn't as spectacular as it could be. You could barely see the sun setting because it was hidden behind some clouds. The colors weren't as bright as they could be either. The presence of the coconut trees in the foreground of my photographs made up for the disappointing sunset!

I did not bring my tripod with me that evening. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pictures turned out. I am still learning how to photograph things in low light by setting the ISO and the shutter speed myself. In daylight, I usually rely on the auto settings, and be done with it.

When it got quite dark, I set the ISO at 800, turned on the self timer, pressed the shutter and held my breath! In order to minimize shake, of course! Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pictures turned out.

After the photography session we had dinner at Taman Selera, a popular eating place down the road from Mariner Bay. I'd heard the food at the restaurant at Mariner Bay was quite pricey, and I didn't need to spend a lot of money to enjoy good food so off we went to Taman Selera.

When Doug arrives at the end of the month, we'll spend another evening at Mariner Bay. I don't think Doug will be willing to spend good money at the restaurant there either!

Street Photography

2010-07-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

Since I arrived in Malaysia, I have not done any street photography. I love my dSLR, and it is not as bulky as some other models, but still it is not easy to carry around with you in your purse! Like it or not, I still carry my trusty Fujifilm Finepix point and shoot in my purse all the time.

Yesterday, I took my mother to the ethnic market in town, and it was only as an afterthought that I took out my point and shoot camera.

One thing I noticed, which I never did before because I had never photographed the local vendors, was that not every one liked to be photographed. I tried to minimize anybody's suspicions and distrust by pointing my camera generally and at no one in particular.

However, one lady was upset that I photographed some of the stuff that she was selling. I think what she was most upset about was that she could not charge me for photographing her things though she did say rather loudly to her daughter that if I continued to photograph her things, the daughter should start charging me 10 ringgit for every photo I took!

I think that the law, in Malaysia, regarding street photography in public places is no different than the law in the US. I think that as long as you are in a public place, there cannot be much restrictions on what you can photograph.

Anyway, if somebody is quite adamant about not being photographed, I will try to stay away from such a person! No point getting assaulted over a photograph!

Rainy Days

2010-07-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

It used to be that June was the driest month in this part of Malaysia. But it looks like June is no longer the driest month of the year. Two years ago, I observed the many rainy days in June. Likewise last year. This year, in the month of June and in the early days of July, rain is almost a daily occurrence.

I don't mind the rain all that much except when it gets too humid! I love it when there's a nice wind blowing before and after it rains. It makes the day pleasantly cool.

But I would hope that the weather dries up when I am ready to leave the country! I want to be outdoors visiting places around Kuala Lumpur and rain can be a real spoiler for such activities!

So how's the weather in your part of the world?

I miss talk radio

2010-07-01T04:01:00.000-07:00

I went for a month without listening to any conservative talk radio. I thought about some of my favorite talk radio personalities but I realized I didn't miss them all that much.

But after a month, I started checking out their podcasts and archives. Then I started listening to a couple of radio stations via internet live stream. I realized that a month was about as long as I could go without listening to any talk radio!

Yesterday and today I listened to KSFO and KTKZ, listening to Brian Sussman, Hugh Hewitt, John Gibson and Bill Bennett. I wished I could stay up late and listen to Rush Limbaugh too, but every night I feel too tired to stay up past midnight. Rush's show only begins at midnight Malaysian time.

I was surprised at how good the connection to the internet live stream was via Celcom Broadband! I don't know if the radio listening will rake up the limit allowed (fair usage policy) but we'll soon find out if there is going to be any curtailing of the internet connection speed, right?

For now, I am enjoying the ability to listen to some of my favorite talk show programs via internet live stream.

Planters

2010-06-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

I am not much of a gardener but I do love indoor plants! They are easy to take care of and there is no weeding involved! But like all plants they do grow and I have some plants that have grown so tall and have outgrown the planters that they were planted in. I need to look for bigger Indoor Planters so I can re-pot them. I can just imagine how bad the root-bound situation is with some of the plants!

Since I am not much of a gardener, I only maintain a little patch at the edge of the patio in my front yard. I hate the weeds that grow, and many times I have thought about transferring all my plants into one huge Garden Planter! That will definitely solve much of the weeding problem!

The Fairfield Sub-Irrigated 36 Inch Patio Planters in White available at eplanters.com is getting more attractive by the day! A few of those around my patio can really replace my garden patch!

Jailbroken and Unlocked. Again.

2010-06-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

Today, about a month after I arrived in Malaysia, I am finally able to use my iPhone (which was locked to AT&T) with a DiGi sim card. Woohooo!

Yesterday, I updated the iPhone firmware to the latest firmware, the iOS 4. I did that because I learned that there was a software to jailbreak that version of the firmware as well as a software to unlock the phone on ALL basebands.

I lost the previous unlock because my iPhone crashed and the only way to get it going again was to restore it to default factory setting. The iPhone hackers did not want to release the unlock software until after the release of the iPhone 4. Well, the iPhone 4 has been released, and after patiently waiting for the jailbreak and unlock softwares, my patience has been rewarded.

The instructions for the jailbreak and unlock were clear and easy to follow. Since this was not the first time I had jailbroken and unlocked my iPhone, the process was a breeze.

*****

Jailbreak with Redsn0w.

Unlock with Ultrasn0w.

Photography with an ultra-wide lens

2010-06-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

When I bought my dSLR, I only bought the body so that I could spend the amount saved by not spending extra on the kit lens on a 12mm-60mm lens. I love the ultra-wide angle on this particular lens and have been reading up on how to use an ultra-wide lens.

According to Ken Rockwell, the ultra-wide lens is not for "getting it all in"! He continues on to say that they are for "getting close and bringing the viewer into the photo, not for fitting a subject into a photo".

Oh well. I did try to get the viewer in with these two pictures but they also appear like I tried too hard to get everything in!

One of the things I love about these ultra-wide angle lenses is the distortion it brings to the subject being photographed. The distortion adds interest to the subject especially if the subject is a structure or a building.

I can't wait to get to Kuala Lumpur so I can try again with the Petronas Twin Towers. Last year, I took some pictures, but that was before I had my dSLR!

Address plaques

2010-06-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

My neighbor recently beautified the gate and entrance to his ranch. He added a beautiful address plague that looked like it was carved into a piece of log placed next to a large metal container filled with a blooming lavender bush. Needless to say, I was quite impressed.

Our home is not exactly on the main street and when we give directions to our home to our friends we have to give out markers like the big oak tree with the bunch of mailboxes under it before turning into the private road across from the oak tree. I think it is time that we put up a proper address sign at the entrance of the little private road that leads to our home and for good measure place one of those large address plaques and numbers at the front of our home!

Several friends have missed the private road despite what we thought were clear directions given to them! One thing though, the courier delivery guys always seem to find my home without much difficulty!

Swimming

2010-06-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to the local public pool this morning. There were no other kids at the pool this morning, which was really nice. It was cloudy most of the morning, and so the sun wasn't beating quite as fiercely as it could.

The water looked cool and inviting, but I wasn't even tempted! I didn't want to mess my hair with the chlorine and also when the sun did shine through the clouds, I wasn't interested in being baked by the sun.

Anyway, the kids had a great time. It was hard to get them to leave the pool. There's always another day, I told them. The pool is opened every day except for Mondays, but it is not likely that I will take them during the weekends. Weekends are always popular with most people. I wanted to avoid the crowds, that was why I waited till the school break was over before I took my kids!

The kids only paid 50 sen each to swim in the pool. It only cost a ringgit for an adult who wanted to swim. I didn't have to pay anything because I wasn't going to swim. That's a very reasonable fee for the use of the pool.

Before we left for Malaysia, I promised the kids that I would take them to the pool more often this time. Last year, I don't think I took them more than a handful of times. So this year, I will keep my promise and take them more often!

Butterflies

2010-06-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

How do you like my butterfly header for the blog? That is just one of the butterflies that regularly flutter into my mother' garden.

There are several white butterflies fluttering in the garden but I don't know what it is about these particular butterflies. They never seem to stop on any flower or leaf! When they do, they don't stop long enough for me to photograph them!

Cycad Blue (Chilades pandava pandava)

And then there are the really small butterflies. They are quite plentiful, and I was surprised at how beautiful their wings can be. Naturally I just had to take lots of pictures of them! They are usually not disturbed when I get close to them to photograph them.

I still have not been able to take any picture of the red dragonflies that like to fly above the big drain in front of the house. What does it take for them to land on a leaf or something? I want to photograph them!

Myrtle Beach Vacation

2010-06-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have never been to any beach on the Atlantic Ocean side, but Doug and I have talked about taking the family to the east coast one of these days. We have friends living in South Carolina and if ever we make it there some time in the future we will most definitely check out the Myrtle Beach Accommodations.

One of my friends loved their condo stay when they visited a Florida beach last summer, and since I had never stayed at a beach side condo, I was curious to find out what sort of amenities were available especially when you were vacationing with young children. I checked out http://www.seasidemb.com and was pleasantly surprised to find fully furnished condos with one to three bedrooms. The off-season rates are very attractive indeed, well within what we would be willing to spend on accommodations while on vacation!

Well, I know where to make a Myrtle Beach hotel reservation when I am ready to visit the area. Online of course! Quick and convenient!

* Brought to you by your friends at seasidemb.com

Young workers

2010-06-19T04:04:00.000-07:00

This morning I dropped by at a good friend's house. She was in but unfortunately she couldn't invite us in because there was major renovation work going on at her house. The renovation work has been going on for several weeks now and I had heard from her who some of the construction workers were. Thirteen and fourteen year-old kids.

I was shocked to see for myself this morning children working in construction. They should be in school but because of their own reluctance to go to school and their parents who didn't care if their children were educated or not they were instead working in construction.

It is indeed sad in this modern day and age, in my little home town, children prefer to make a living instead of go to school.

The construction contractor knows he shouldn't be employing children, but from all accounts no one forced the children to work. From the contractor's point of view, it is better that they learn a skill in construction from him than waste their life and maybe even get into vices like drug abuse, theft and breaking and entering into homes.

According to my friend, the contractor is a very nice man, concerned about the neglect the children are experiencing from their parents, and by giving them jobs he is really taking them under his wings. I watched the contractor work along side his young workers. He does look like cares for the children. Some may accuse him of exploiting the children, but I think he has a point when he says, he is providing a form of education for the children.

I don't know the full story about the family life of the children, and I can't pass any judgement on them. They claim one of the reasons they are not in school is that they do not have birth certificates. Without birth certificates, it is impossible for them to be enrolled in any school.

Sad but such is life for some in Malaysia.

Orchid

2010-06-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

I visited one of my good friends yesterday, and that was where I took the picture of this blooming orchid. I think the colors are very attractive, and I don't ever remember seeing these colors on any orchid plant before. It reminds me very much of the blood orange (Citrus sinensis), not so much the colors but the way the colors come together.

I have three pots of orchids at home, but alas, they are barely alive! I love orchids but I just do not know how to maintain the plants and keep them blooming every season.

Maybe a good gardening book on how to grow orchids will help?

Neighborhood Mailboxes

2010-06-16T04:25:00.001-07:00

When I look at the mailboxes along the street where I live, they all sort of look the same. They are mostly functional and none stands out from the rest. The only mailbox that stands out of all the residential mailboxes that I'd seen is the one of a cow. Across that particular residence is a dairy farm and I am not certain if the owner's of the cow mailbox owns the dairy farm.

Sometimes I wished that the postal service delivers to my door step or at least to the gate on the little road that I live on then I can have a more unique looking mailbox. There are all kinds of interesting and unique looking residential mailboxes available. My mailbox is squeezed in between the neighbors' mailboxes on the main street and the one at the end of that bunch looked like some one had banged it with something hard. It does look like it has been vandalized.

It has been a while since any of the mailboxes in our neighborhood has been vandalized. At one point in the past, even the commercial mailboxes near apartments were not spared from vandalism and theft.

I think the more active neighborhood watch and the constant patrol by the local police have helped improve the situation where vandalism and theft of mailboxes is concerned.

*Brought to you by your friends at mailboxixchange.com

Dinner with friends

2010-06-16T04:01:00.000-07:00

Last night I took two friends out to dinner. One is a blogger friend whom I last saw two years ago at her parents home in Sarikei. One of the comments I made after we were seated at the dinner table was, "Either I have grown bigger, or you have grown smaller!"

"Smaller," she said of herself. She was ill recently and had lost some weight as a result. Well, at least, she hadn't said I had grown bigger! :-)

The other friend, I had only seen once since I arrived in Malaysia almost three weeks ago. Last night was a good opportunity to meet up and catch up with both of them over dinner. I was in fact quite surprised that my kids did not protest more about my not taking them along with me! Dinner would not have been as pleasant with the kids along. Conversation would have been constantly interrupted.

There are other friends that I would like to meet over dinner too. There are still a few weeks left of our summer vacation in Malaysia so there is still time.

Kitchen Storage

2010-06-16T03:35:00.000-07:00

I am always quite envious of friends' kitchens that always look very tidy, and where everything is in its proper place. Where my kitchen and the dining area are concerned "tidy" is not a word that can be used with them.

I was browsing the jk adams website and there are things there that can really help, if not all at least somewhat, with making my kitchen and dining area tidy. If I had the jk adams wine rack, the box with several bottles of wine sitting against the wall next to the dining table can finally be thrown away and the bottles of wine stored away tidily!

If I had the jk adams spice rack, I would not have to dig through the crowded pantry for my jars of spice! When I can't find the particular jar of spice I need, I always end up buying another jar because I cannot be bothered with looking for the missing one! Then when I finally find the missing jar, I have more of the same spice than I need!

I don't know about the jk adams pot rack though. If I had some really nice looking pots, I wouldn't mind a pot rack to hang them from. But my pots look banged up and need better cleaning!

Anyway, like I said, the right kind of storage can really help with making the kitchen and dining area a lot more tidy looking and whole lot easier for me to locate things that are in the kitchen.

*Brought to you by your friends at jkadamsdirect.com

Eye Infection

2010-06-13T05:40:00.000-07:00

I can't remember where I read the news about an eye infection (pink eye) going around in the country when I arrived in Malaysia two weeks ago.

But still, when Duncan complained about "something" in his eye, and rubbed one of his eyes till it turned red and puffy, I did not associate the eye infection with his case. After all, we were never around anyone with the infection. Well, at least, not that we were aware of!

The next day, it was only when I noticed the redness in my eye, and the scratchy feeling in that eye, did I realize that I had an eye infection and so did Duncan. Later that day, my father too complained that he had an eye infection! And the next day, my mother had it on both eyes at the same time, whereas my father and I had the other infected as well only on the following day. Duncan looked like he only had one eye infected.

Every one in the family, except for Denice had an eye infection! It has been three days now, and the infection is clearing. I no longer feel the "grit" in my eyes. The puffiness around the eyes has also improved. The eyes still look pinkish, but overall, every one in the family who had the infection is over the worst of it.

None of us went to see the doctor, because here in Malaysia, we can get eye drops for the infection at the pharmacy's without a doctor's prescription. The eye drops were really effective for treating the infection.

Thank goodness we are done with the eye infection! Er, what is the likelihood of a re-infection soon after we had it?! I hope we are truly done with it for the remainder of our stay in Malaysia!

Ladybugs

2010-05-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

Besides the moon, the ladybug is another favorite photographic subject! Regular readers to my blogs will surely have noticed the number of times I have shared pictures of the ladybugs I'd taken.

In the past I have seen several beautiful pictures of ladybugs taken by other people and that is how I came to love photographing them. They look so beautiful among the green plants, and there is always that satisfaction when the pictures you'd taken of them turn out spectacular!

Doug's colleague has even asked him to ask me if I'd be willing to sell prints of the ladybugs to her. Er, maybe. I still have doubts about my photographic skills!

I remember how beautiful the ladybugs looked with dew drops on their wings in the early autumn mornings. It is late spring now and the weather is very dry at this time of the year, and the only way I can capture that image of dew drops on the ladybugs is to spray them with water!

So here is a picture of a ladybug with water droplets on its glossy wings!

Get auto repair estimates in your area

2010-05-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

One of my church friends and her special needs adult son recently moved from California to Texas (where the cost of living is lower) and are renting a house in the Dallas Fort Worth area. They drove her blue Chevrolet Silverado pick up truck packed with their stuff all the way there from Sacramento.

After that long drive she might need to see if her truck needs a brake job or any other auto repair. It cannot be easy to find a reliable and trustworthy Dallas auto repair shop when you just moved there. For most people, they rely on other people's recommendations before they even want to try a particular auto repair shop. Nobody wants to learn the hard way about the service and the exhorbitant cost involved in fixing your automobile after sending your vehicle to a particular repair shop!

RepiarPal is a good resource for independent and unbiased information on the cost and service of auto repair. You can compare estimates and find an auto repair shop that delivers the best service and price in your area.

* Brought to you by your friends at RepairPal.com

Moon Fever

2010-05-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I took another picture of the moon. This time the moon has moved from the waxing crescent phase to first quarter moon phase.

My cousin thinks both she and I have moon fever! We can't seem to stop photographing the moon! She doesn't have a dSLR camera but with her point and shoot she could still take an interesting daylight shot of a plane passing the moon.

It was a very clear night with hardly any cloud in the sky. I took several pictures of the moon, and when I reviewed the pictures I'd taken, I reminded myself to get that remote shutter release. I had to shift the tripod with almost every shot, because the moon was not stationary though it would appear so with our naked eye.

With every move of the tripod there is some movement and I very seldom wait till everything is quite still before I press on the shutter! Thank goodness for that sharpen tool in the photo editor! It helps to make the picture look a lot better! Not to mention that color curve tool!

What's your credit score?

2010-05-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

My husband handles all our household finances. He does all the tax returns, and pays all the bills including those I incurred through my shopping credit cards. That being the case, I am quite ignorant about the ins and outs of credit reports and credit scores.

To test my knowledge I took the FreeScore quiz and it clearly showed my ignorance! I only scored 25% in the quiz, and the passing score is 75%! Maybe you are not as ignorant as I am but you can test your knowledge by taking the quiz at the site which also offers free credit scores. On the site you can access your credit scores from all three credit reporting bureaus, credit report, and consumer credit information. There's also information on how you can protect and safeguard your credit and identity.

And speaking of FreeScore.com, have you seen the commercial on TV with Ben Stein and the squirrels? I thought the squirrels were cute, and Ben Stein was so deadpan in that commercial! Yeah, you can really tell he was "giddy with excitement"! Not! You can find out how the commercial was created at FreeScore TV.

*Brought to you by your friends at www.FreeScore.com

Morning Glories 2010

2010-05-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

"I counted 16 morning glories, mommy!" cried Duncan yesterday morning before we climbed into the car to go to school.

Yes, the morning glories are coming back this year. Last year, Doug pulled most of them out because he didn't like to see them wrapped around the other plants. He only left those climbing on the fence. "They're weeds," he said.

We will be spending most of the summer in Malaysia, and I guess when we are gone, Doug will start pulling out the plants, like he would weeds.

They are actually quite a hassle when the summer is over. You have to pull out the dried and dead vines off whatever they had clung to. But I do enjoy looking at the flowers when they are in bloom, and I especially love photographing them!

Removal Companies

2010-05-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who works in Aberdeen, Scotland. She's only been working and living there for a couple or so years but in that short time she has moved several times. Fortunately for her, she has been pretty good about not cluttering her life and therefore each time she moved she did not require the service of one of several removal companies in her area.

But if you, like me, have more things than you know what to do with, each move would definitely require the service of a removal company. It is not fun to try to box and move a household of stuff that you have accumulated over the years. But how much are you willing to spend on a removal service?

That's where a site like The House Removals Company becomes very handy. They have a full coverage of local removal companies in the UK. Whether you are moving house, making a company move, or moving overseas, they can help match you with the best removal company in your local area. If you are into doing your bit about helping the environment, there are green removal companies in the UK that you can check out too.

There are also interesting articles on the site like Removals Insurance, that will help you decide whether or not it is necessary, and how much insurance to buy for your precious possessions. And if you are thinking about saving money and go with the "man and a van" instead of a professional removal company, you might need to read the article called Man and Van or Removal Company? There's even a blog on the site, and the Moving to France blog post is quite interesting. Huh, good idea about moving to the non-touristic part of France, should I have the mind to move there too!

Do check out The House Removals Company website if you are thinking about moving.

*Brought to you by your friends at www.thehouseremovalscompany.co.uk

Broiled Catfish

2010-05-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

The day before I told Doug to stop by the supermarket to get one avocado, one mango and some strawberries. I was going to use the fruit salad over the broiled salmon I was preparing for dinner that evening. The idea came from a Cooking Light magazine that I got last Sunday when I was shopping at Costco.

Last night, I broiled a catfish fillet and used chopped strawberries, spring onion and a tomato over it as well. I enjoyed the salmon with the fruit salad topping, and why not do the same with the broiled catfish fillet? Except this time without the mango and avocado.

Both were delightful!

Protect your family with a life insurance

2010-05-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

I know a couple of ladies whose husbands died prematurely due to illness. If not for the benefits from their husbands' Life Insurance it would have been a lot harder for them to get by and feed their young families because their husbands were the sole breadwinners.

Incidences such as these make me appreciate the value of investing in life insurance especially if you are the sole breadwinner in the family. It gives you peace of mind because in the event of your demise, you know that your family will be taken care of.

Many people, especially older people, are now investing in Funeral insurance as well to cover all the expenses involved in the event of their deaths so their family will not be stuck with a big bill just to bury them. Some insurance companies don't require medical or health checks so that make it easy for people to buy funeral insurances.

It's always best to shop around and get Life insurance quotes or funeral insurance quotes, as well as check out the best policies that meet your needs before you purchase a policy.

*Brought to you by your friends at www.realinsurance.com.au

Waxing Crescent

2010-05-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

This is the waxing crescent moon taken tonight, May 19, 2010. The moon is fast becoming one of my favorite subjects to photograph ever since the first successful moon shot!

I would have taken more pictures except the clouds started getting in the way, and the last few shots of the moon were totally useless. The moon was totally invisible in my pictures. Maybe I should have increased the ISO?

I usually take several shots of whatever I am photographing because the object I am photographing is either moving, or my hands are not that steady. Say, I take 10 shots, at least 2 or 3 are good enough! I need back up! Or else, I will be kicking myself for not taking more because whatever I have are not that sharp.

*Click the picture to see a bigger picture of the moon. Or right click, View Image.

Hair Care

2010-05-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

The weather has been really dry this past couple of weeks or so. Usually I have to deal with my wavy hair. I normally hate waking up in the morning when my fine, wavy hair looks limb. How do I fluff it up and give it a little volume? I usually hate to spend more time than necessary in the morning to get my hair to a more satisfactory look!

But my hair looks worse when the weather is dry. It just stays limb and straight, and staticky. But I have discovered that a little bit of olive oil spray can help to bring the waves back and provide a nice healthy sheen to my hair color. One thing about having your hair colored is that you have to maintain it so the color doesn't look faded and dull looking.

There are a lot of good tips on how to keep your hair looking great, and hair and beauty products and product reviews at TotalBeauty.com.

*Brought to you by your friends at TotalBeauty.com

Field Trip

2010-05-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today, a few parents and I accompanied our kids on a school field trip to Consumnes River Preserve. I was surprised that several of the parents, and the two teachers had never been to the preserve!

The last time I was there was in the fall and the wetlands were filled with water and there were lots of water fowl and migrating birds. Today the wetlands are pretty dried out. The birds that live in the wetland vegetation were still there, but there were very few water fowls.

It was not easy to keep a big group of K-3rd grade kids together! The fact that we had to walk along the concrete path and the walkway helped to keep the group together. I was busy taking pictures of the wild flowers and whatever caught my eye, and had to catch up with the group.

I was surprised that the teachers did not make more stops along the way and point out things of interest to the kids. The one thing I noticed that really excited the kids were the bird nests. They seemed to notice the bird nests, on the ground, in the trees or between the reeds.

This lizard really caught my eye. I was intrigued by the turquoise coloring on its body. One of the girls wanted to pick it up, and of course, we stopped her.

This was about the only water fowl I noticed in what little water that was left in the wetlands. I was fascinated by the long, curving beak. And the long legs so it could wade in the water and feed on whatever was in the water.

The first grade teacher wished she had been better prepared for the trip. It was mainly organized by the second and third grade teacher, and the first graders decided to tag along. The preserve has a website dedicated to it and there is much information about the vegetation and wild life there.

I think the kids should make another visit to the nature preserve in the future.

Give me a Dior on my birthday!

2010-05-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Every time I pass through the duty free shops at an airport, I never fail to buy myself a bottle of perfume. Last year I got myself the biggest bottle of Dior 'J'Adore L'Eau' Eau de Parfum Spray. I love the scent, and it has that luxurious and exclusive feel to it!

I will be passing through the duty free shops at San Francisco's International Airport in less than two weeks, and this time instead of just looking at and sampling the Dior perfumes, I should look at the Dior makeup sets and the Dior sunglasses.

A Singaporean friend gave me some Dior make up mini sets quite some time ago, and I especially like the lipstick. It was creamy and stays on the lips really well. As to the sunglasses, I'll hint to that special someone in my life what I'd like for my birthday!

If he doesn't get the hint, well, there's nothing to stop me from getting whatever Dior product I want myself, is there?

Strawberry Festival

2010-05-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend our little town of Galt holds its annual Strawberry Festival. I was surprised by the size of the crowd around noon when I got there today. I think the weather helped a lot. It is not as hot as the previous years'.

I enjoyed the motorcycles and the classic cars on exhibition. Of course I took a lot of pictures! There were also rides, and Duncan went on a few. Denice stayed on terra firma. She is just too afraid to go on any of these rides.

There were all kinds of foods. I had a rather heavy breakfast and wasn't ready for any kind of food at the festival. The kids had corn dogs, and about the only thing related to strawberry that I had, was a cup of ice cream called strawberry blonde. Yum!

I only stayed at the festival a little over an hour. I had to go the library because I had signed up for a photography workshop. The library was just next to where the festival was held and I told Doug to pick me up from the library when I was done there.

Before I left the festival grounds, I told Doug to get me some tri tip barbecue from one of the food vendors at the strawberry festival because by the time I was done at the library I knew I was ready for some food!

One stop shopping for clothes

2010-05-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was shopping at a well-known department store chain. I was quite excited when I saw the sun dresses on clearance. I tried about ten dresses altogether but left the store with none.

First off, I am only 5' 1" tall. Unfortunately the dresses I tried did not come from the petite clothing section. One dress in particular fit in all the right places except the top half (the torso) was a little too long. If my friend, who is an accomplished seamstress, lived nearby I would have bought the dress and have her alter it for me.

I think most department stores have a better clothing section for tall women than they do the petite section. It seems to me, even plus sized women can find clothes that fit them much more easily than short people can!

I would love to be able to buy clothes online because then I would have a lot more places to look for petite sized clothing, but I need to be able to try them out before I make my final decision. But if I had no such qualms about shopping for clothes online shopping for a complete women's wardrobe, holiday clothes, maternity clothes, or even designer clothes, would indeed be a breeze. No driving to the stores and no fighting the crowds.

And the best place to look for the clothes I want would be to a place like ShopWiki because it is a place where you can literally find anything that is for sale on the web. Okay, since shopping for clothes online is not my kind of thing, there are still clothing accessories and bags that I can find there! Pretty cool, eh!

*Brought to you by your friends at ShopWiki.com

Desert Scene

2010-05-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from last weekend's desert camping trip. It really shows the Mojave Desert landscape and how there's hardly anybody else there except us.

I showed the picture to couple of friends and one of them, who had recently been to Utah, said the desert scene in the picture looked like what they drove through in Utah and Nevada.

They were concerned that our camp site was quite a ways away from the main road - concerned for our safety and security. I told them both, we never left the camp site. And we were well armed!

One of the activities during the camping was target shooting. Yes, we were pretty well armed!

Well, since that trip, we are seriously looking into the possibility of getting a used trailer, something that has a shower and a toilet! It'll be nice to have at least one shower during the whole trip!

The kids had a good time, so we thought, we should go out camping more often.

Reverse macro lens

2010-05-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

I finally got my reverse macro outfit going. I ordered some filter ring adapters but unfortunately I didn't pay attention to which thread, whether it is the male or female that is supposed to go to the camera body adapter and which thread goes to the lens. I ended up having to order a second time to get the right adapter with the right threads to fit the correct side of the lens and the camera body adapter.

I tried the reverse macro lens using a 50mm Olympus lens and it is hard to get anything in focus because of the rather shallow depth of field! The fact that it was a little breezy outside as I tried to photograph the flowers and the insects didn't help matters either!

This is a weed flower. The detail on the stamens could be better, but it was one of my first few attempts on the reverse macro lens!

I will try with another lens, and see if it is going to be as difficult to focus. The 50mm Olympus manual lens takes very sharp pictures and produces beautifully smooth bokeh, but only if you focus it right!

Related blog post: Reverse Macro Photography

Surviving Mesothelioma

2010-05-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia, Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium. It is usually caused by exposure to asbestos.

I'd never heard of Mesothelioma Cancer until a few years ago. I spent most of my growing up years (in Malaysia) in company housing that had an asbestos roof. I don't know if the roof posed any danger to our health, but I do not think that anyone would build a house using an asbestos roof anymore today!

Electricians, auto mechanics, pipe fitters and people working in ship yards, among others, are thought to be more likely to be exposed to asbestos. According to statistics, over 2,000 new cases of Mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year.

So what if you have been diagnosed as having mesothelioma? What is the standard treatment for this cancer? What are the chances of survival once you have been diagnosed?

Paul Kraus who was diagnosed with the cancer in In June 1997, has written a book called Surviving Mesothelioma: A Patient's Guide. It's an informative read, and a useful and encouraging guide for anyone who is facing this cancer.

*Brought to you by your friends at survivingmesothelioma.com

AI's Top Three

2010-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that that there are now three left in the American Idol competition. I had predicted last week that Mike Lynch would be the one to leave this week and I was right. He was supposed to have left a few weeks back but was kept by a Save from the judges. I was sorry to see Aaron leave before Mike, though.

Anyway, next week is not going to be a happy time for me. It will either be Lee or Casey who will be eliminated, but my guess is, it will be Casey. He was in the bottom three at least three times, and my prediction is Lee and Crystal will make it to the finale. Unless, there is a big upset and Crystal gets eliminated next week, but that seems highly unlikely. Except for a couple of "bad" weeks, she has consistently been the front runner.

But whatever, because of the clash in the TV schedule with Dancing with the Stars, I have not been able to fully focus on American Idol. I am equally fond of DWTS, and when you have to flip between the two shows .... the judges comments get skipped!

I wished I had access to the East Coast's TV programming so I can watch one program on East Coast's time and the other on West Coast time!

Below,Casey's duet with Big Mike. Love Casey's guitar playing!

Fundraising Ideas

2010-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

My husband and I are members of the Lions Club. The Lions Club does all kinds of fund raising activities, like pancake breakfasts and crab feeds, so there is money to support the local Scouts Troop, or a small scholarship for some deserving student, or give out a small financial aid to someone in our community to build a handicap ramp at his home.

My friends and I have also held small fundraisers so the money we raise can be given to a Christian organization to help with their programs in third world countries. Sometimes it is hard to think of ways to raise funds but a site like Fundraiser Insight can be pretty handy in our fund raising efforts. There are interesting ideas on how to raise funds for schools, church groups, sports teams and even non-profit organizations.

We've seen groups selling cookies and cookie dough to raise funds, but how about holding a candle fundraiser? Scented candles are popular and personally, I cannot do without scented candles in the house! Not only do they make the house smell nice, but they help get rid of cooking smells, especially in my Asian cooking household!

Whatever the case may be, there are good ideas to help you with your fund raisers at Fundraiser Insight.

* Brought to your by your friends at FastTrackFundraising.com

Cleaning House vs Photographing Birds

2010-05-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

Male House Finch

Yesterday, one of our friends who spent this past weekend camping in the desert with us, spent the night at our home on his way back to Seattle, Washington.

Since we had a guest coming, I decided I'd better vacuum the floor and tidy the house up a bit. I started picking up some of the stuff the kids had left lying on the floor, got Doug to replace the vacuum bag in the vacuum cleaner, and even started vacuuming a bit.

I don't remember what it was that made me stop what I was doing and look out the sliding door. Oh yes, earlier I had seen several birds perching on the fence in the backyard, and one of them had bright red feathers on its head. That must be a male house finch, I thought to myself!

So in the midst of the vacuuming, I took a break to see if the birds were still hanging around the fence. Indeed I saw, the house finch. I left the vacuum cleaner right in the middle of the living room floor, took out my camera, change the lens, picked up my boots, and out the door I went.

I had to wait several minutes before the house finch came back on the fence. I took several pictures but unfortunately, they were not as sharp as I'd like.

Northern Mockingbird

Then the melodious singing of a bird perched on the far end of the fence, attracted my attention. I crouched and bent and made my way to the far end of the backyard. I could identify the bird as a mockingbird. It was whistling away and ignored me as I approached it. Such beautiful singing!

The friend arrived earlier than expected, in fact while I was still out in the backyard, and the living room was only partially cleaned!

Photographing birds is quite an addicting past time! It can distract you from your house cleaning!

Desert Sky

2010-05-09T15:58:00.001-07:00

What one way can you photograph an evening desert sky after the sun has set?

With a bit of branch silhouette in the foreground of course!

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

Desert Sunrise

2010-05-08T07:05:00.001-07:00

I woke up very early this morning and went out of the van (no, I did not sleep in the tent) to watch and photograph the sunrise.

This picture was taken with my iPhone camera so I could at least ediit it with an iPhone photo app and upload it to this blog. The quality of the picture is not as good as those taken with my dSLR.

I forgot to bring my tripod and I don't know if the pictures of the crescent moon taken around 4.00 am this morning are any good. Too much shaking. :-)

It's very dry in the desert and I had a nose bleed early this morning. I couldn't go back to sleep. So what better way to spend the time than watch the sun rise?

Camping Trip

2010-05-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to Mojave Desert for a long weekend camping trip. In order to be able to do that we had to take the kids out of school. We also had to leave our cat at a pet boarding place. Poor kitty.

It'll be another couple of hours before we get to the desert. It's a warm, dry day but not unbearably so. It gets cool at night.

Along Highway 99, is the California Central Valley, the bread basket of California and the country.

I don't know if there'll be any cell service at the desert so pictures and blog updates of the camping trip from the desert is dependent on the cell service.

Till the next post!

Save money, use coupons

2010-05-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

My niece, who is a college student, is an avid photographer and I suggested she start a photoblog so she can showcase her work. In the course of our conversation we talked about how some basic knowledge of HTML really helped with customizing blog templates.

I learned some basic HTML and started making my own web site in 1998. It was challenging and I was even inspired to seriously consider web development as a career because I found it really interesting. Of course I never did, because the direction of our life doesn't always go the way we imagined!

The home business website I created is quite basic with no shopping cart, and most definitely not interactive. All I wanted was a web presence that announced to the world that I had a particular home business. I would have paid for the services of a company specializing in Custom Web Development if I had wanted something more than a mere web presence.

The domain name I registered for that home business website did not come from GoDaddy but about three of my blogs' domain names were registered with GoDaddy. GoDaddy is a good place with which to register your domain name and there are GoDaddy promo codes that are available if any one is interested in getting a domain name.

That was what I recommended to a friend who just started a blog focusing on tech stuff. Get a domain name from GoDaddy!

Considering the amount of stuff (especially photos!) I have on my computer I would be foolish not to back it up! I do, actually, with a couple of external hard drives. But hard drives do fail including those external ones, and I have been thinking a lot lately about backing up my computer with a company like Carbonite. If my hard drives suddenly die on me at least I can restore every thing back if I had them backed up with Carbonite and that offer code from Carbonite is getting more attractive by the day!

* Brought to your by your friends at Savings.com

Facing the Wall

2010-05-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

That's Denice having to face the wall for five minutes yesterday during lunch break.

Facing the wall for a period of five minutes to thirty minutes (depending on age and degree of infraction) is something that most students at my kids' school have to deal with at one time or another.

I was quite worried about this form of punishment when I first enrolled my kids at their current school. I was worried, especially for Duncan, because I wasn't sure he was able to keep still for five minutes.

Well, I guess both Denice and Duncan have learned to deal with it, because, in Duncan's case, its an almost daily occurrence!

And yes, this is Duncan facing the wall for five minutes during lunch break today. Well at least it's ONLY five minutes this time. Last week, he had to face the wall, all of recess!

Tomorrow he has the wall to look forward to as well. This time it will be the whole of recess. His class teacher approached me today as I picked him and Denice up from school. The wall is for "disrespecting" a classmate's mother who took them out for their short break before class was dismissed. He did not do as he was told, and went ahead doing exactly what he was told not to do.

When he got home, all TV viewing priviledges were also withdrawn. Disrespect is a major offence and punishment must befit the "crime".

Stealing a nap

2010-05-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

My cat, Nikki, usually spends the day outside. Doug is quite allergic to cats, but sometimes the kids and I let the cat into the house, for a while, especially when Doug is not around.

I let her in this morning so she could have a drink and eat her cat food. She was quite frisky, running and hopping about chasing I don't know what. After she got tired of chasing her tail around she jumped on the sofa and promptly fell asleep.

She shouldn't be sleeping on the sofa because Doug sits on the sofa and you can imagine what can happen .....

I took this picture using an old Olympus manual 50mm F1.8 lens using aperture priority on my dSLR. I saw some pictures by users of the 50mm Canon lenses at Amazon and liked the pictures of the pets they'd taken. Since the cat was already stealing a nap on the sofa, I took out my camera, replaced the lens and took a few pictures of her.

I like the output of the 50mm lens.

Car Stories

2010-05-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

I've always admired the luxurious look of the Cadillac and wished that some day I might even get to own one!

Doug, my husband, has an uncle who drives a Cadillac and what is amusing about his car is his custom registration plate which says "YRSPAY". I don't know how much he paid for his Cadillac nor do I know what the cadillac sts prices are. But I cannot imagine that it would be a years pay like what that uncle likes to think he paid for his car!

I also love the look of the Honda Accord because back when I was young and poor and still living in Malaysia, my brother let me drive his Honda Accord when he was away working at an off-shore oil rig. It was a really nice car back then, and you don't want to know what honda accord prices are today in Malaysia. An arm and a leg and then some, is a very good way of describing how much Accords cost there.

Doug owns an American-made pick up truck which he bought used. It's useful for carrying big and bulky stuff when he goes to the hardware store. If the brand new chevy silverado prices were any where near what he paid for his used truck, I'm sure he'd like to own one too!

Today I chatted with my niece who is in college. I think she is very lucky because her parents bought her a brand new car so she could drive herself to school. It's a Malaysian-made car but it sure does look like the Kia Soul. I don't think her parents paid any where near the kia soul prices for her little Malaysian-made car!

I know there are people who judge a person by the car he/she drives, but hey, for most of us if it gets us from point A to point B, that's good enough!

Police barred from penis enlargement

2010-04-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - Forget about getting a job as a police officer in Indonesia's Papua if you have had your penis enlarged. You won't get it, according to local media reports citing the Papua police chief.

An applicant "will be asked whether or not his vital organ has been enlarged," said Papua police chief Bekto Suprapto, quoted on local website Kompas.com.

"If he has, he will be considered unfit to join the police or the military."

The ban was applied since the unnatural size causes "hindrance during training," said police spokesman Zainuri Lubis in Jakarta, quoted by news portal Detik.com.

Indonesia's remote easternmost province is home to Papuan tribes, many of whom are known for wearing penis gourds.

A low-level separatist insurgency has waged in the resources-rich part of Indonesia for decades and there is a heavy police and military presence there.

Papuans use a local technique to achieve the enlargement, according to a sexologist quoted by local newspaper Jakarta Globe, wrapping the penis with leaves from the "gatal-gatal" (itchy) tree so that it swells up "like it has been stung by a bee," the expert said.

Story quoted from here.

This story really caught my attention today because the heading in large font was - Police barred from penis enlargement.

Won't a bold headline phrased like that catch your attention as well? Well, my attention was caught alright!

I have watched programs on National Geographic featuring this particular tribe from Papua New Guinea wearing the gourds over their penises. Don't ask me why they do that because I never did find out from the programs I watched. Er, maybe I wasn't paying attention to what the narrator was saying because I was too fascinated and repulsed at the same time from the sight of gourds over penises!

The story about the penis enlargement did make me wonder though. After the effect of the gatal-gatal leaves dissipates, do they rub the leaves again to maintain the size?

Don't these men scratch themselves since the leaves do make them feel itchy? Or is the scratching satisfied, er, er ..... you know what I mean, lah!

I guess these men who had their penis enlarged better look for other jobs since the police force find their package a hindrance!

Ok, that's my odd story for the day!

Will Apple unveil iPhone 4G early after leak?

2010-04-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that Apple's been coming out with new iPhone every summer for the past couple of years, but Gizmodo's monster scoop of what appears to be the next-generation iPhone might keep consumers from buying existing models — and at least one Wall Street analyst thinks Apple might react to that possibility by announcing the new iPhone ahead of schedule. Will that really happen, though?

In an e-mail to Cult of Mac, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote that he thinks Apple might "come out" with the fourth-generation iPhone "sooner versus later" thanks to Gizmodo's bombshell scoop last week. Why? Because "it's safe to say, more people are now waiting for the new one," resulting in "a negative" for sales of existing iPhone models in the coming weeks, Munster wrote.

How much earlier? Munster didn't say, but Apple revealed its previous two iPhone models — the 3G and the 3GS — at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June, and (up until now, at least) there's no reason to believe Apple will change course this year.

Indeed, the latest round of rumors (based on reports of suspicious-looking bookings at the Moscone Center in San Francisco) pegged June 22 as the day when Apple might take the wraps off its latest iPhone. But Apple hasn't even officially announced the dates for this year's WWDC, much less a date for a new iPhone announcement.

Full story here.

Well, I hope Apple decides to unveil the iPhone 4G earlier than planned!

Over the weekend, much to my displeasure, my iPhone 3G - the one I took the trouble to jailbreak and unlock - managed to screw itself and was stuck on the Apple logo screen.

There was nothing I could do but to restore it to its original factory setting, which means in the process, the firmware and the base band was updated to the latest versions!

I am so pissed because I won't be able to use the phone in Malaysia during the summer! It is locked to AT&T, which means it won't be able to take the sim cards from any of the cell phone companies in Malaysia.

And that is why, I would be so glad if Apple decides to release the latest iPhone sooner than planned! Geohot, the renowned iPhone hacker, already has the tools for jailbreaking and unlocking the current iPhone firmware and base band. But he won't release it because that would mean Apple would try to patch the exploit before the release of the iPhone 4G.

Grrrr!

Less TV

2010-04-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

A male and female Western Bluebird on my satellite dish.

Yesterday I called up Directv to cancel a movie package that I had subscribed to. Doug has been complaining about the cost of the total subscription to Directv! Package, additional movie package, 3 receivers, additional HD cost .... It does add up!

I'd been thinking about canceling the movie package for quite some time now because I hardly watch any of the movies on the movie channels. All the new movies that I watch, I get from Redbox. By the time the movies are available on the movie channels, I'd already watched them.

While I was at it yesterday, I also changed the package that I'd had for a long time. For under $3 more, I get more HD channels. That seemed like a good idea now that I no longer have the movie package. I was offered $5 off to keep the movie package ... I did pause and considered it! Nah. If you think of the annual expense, like I said, it does add up!

Books

2010-04-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

When I picked up the photography book, Light and Lighting, that I had reserved online a few weeks ago, the librarian brought to my attention an upcoming course offered by the library. It was a free 3-hour course offered by a professional photographer.

Free sounded good to me! And the fact that the course was going to be conducted by a professional photographer was the clincher for me. The helpful librarian said she could do the online registration for me. Thank you! I don't know how helpful the course is going to be, since it says "beginning digital photography" but, like I said, it's free!

I have 5 books on photography that I borrowed from the library. One that I picked up today, and four that I had renewed twice already! Borrowing from the library sure beats having to pay for them! And I can always borrow them again and again as needed!

My two favorite TV shows.

2010-04-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

There are only two shows that I watch with regularity on TV. First, American Idol, and second, Dancing with the Stars.

But recently I added Human Target to that short list. This new series just ended this week, so now it's back to just AI and DWTS. When these two shows end, that's it for me.

Back to American Idol, I only started voting for my favorite, Casey James, this week. I didn't want him to exit as early as Chris Daughtry did in an earlier Season! I would be devastated!

Yesterday, I bought, from iTunes, two recorded versions of Casey James' performances on American Idol - Jealous Guy and Power of Love. I also bought Aaron Kelly's Angie, and The Long and Winding Road. I enjoyed very much Aaron's version of Angie the week he sang it. I remember when the song was a big hit back in the early 70s. I remember corresponding with my best friend, who had moved to Kuching, about the song. Yes, I was already a young teenager in the 70s, in case you don't already know!

The Long and Winding Road is one of my all time favorite songs. He sang both songs really well in the full recorded version.

The thing that bugs me the most about AI and DWTS this season is the clash on Tuesday! Grrrr! I flip between the two channels, and it frustrates me to no end!

School Yard: A Photo Essay

2010-04-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Let's Play!

Race You!

Is that a leak?

A Basket?

I See You!

Pssssttt!

By the Wooden Fence

Too bad

2010-04-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

My neighbour and friend dropped by on Sunday afternoon, supposedly to see my camera and macro lens. I do not have a macro lens and I don't know how he got the idea that I had one. Maybe from seeing the close-up pictures that I had shared on Facebook.

Anyway, when he came he had his camera case with him. I couldn't wait to see what film camera he had, and was surprised that it was quite similar (same line but not the same model) to the Minolta auto-focus film camera that I had picked up from my mother-in-law's church thrift store.

Initially my friend thought that I had a Sony dSLR. He had read some where that the Sony dSLR can use the old Minolta auto-focus lens. I had not heard that Sony had actually adapted the Minolta Maxxum cameras and renamed it the Sony Alpha.

Long story short, if I had owned a Sony Alpha I would have been willing to buy off the three lenses that he had.

Too bad, though.

But I was surprised that he left his camera case and everything in it with me! Make use of whatever you want, he told me. All I wanted from that case was to borrow one lens so I could test whether the Maxxum Minolta camera that I had worked. He didn't say he was giving everything in the case to me, just for me to use!

I am still waiting for the batteries for the camera to arrive (special internet order), so I can't say if my Minolta Maxxum works. I'll just have to wait a little longer to find out.

Wished I had one

2010-04-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

One day, at the weekly market parking lot, I parked my dirty mommy mobile next to a little green, and shiny sports car. As I got out of my mini-van, I couldn't help admiring the sleek lines of the sports car.

Did I wish I had a car as beautiful as that? Of course I did! Not that it will be useful with kids in tow! But one can only dream!

Output of an old camera

2010-04-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I wrote about my impetuousness. Yes, that impetuousness also led to the bidding and subsequent winning of an old Minolta SLR camera!

I couldn't resist when I saw how cheap the price was, and I rationalized the purchase by saying, hey, since I already have all the manual focus Minolta lenses, why don't I just go ahead and get an SLR camera which I can also use with the lenses? Also, I had never ever owned an SLR camera. Better late than never, eh!

Yesterday, I finally used up the roll of film that I had put inside the Minolta camera. I took it to CVS last night to be developed and I was quite pleased with the photos! There were a few blurry pictures, but overall not bad for someone who has used a SLR camera only a few times in the past.

The color looks a little odd. That could be because the film was Agfa, and that the roll of film had an expiry date in 2004!! That fact alone could be a major reason for the odd color.

Like I said, I am pleased with the camera and how well the pictures turned out. I have just put in a black and white roll of film in the camera and cannot wait to see how the pictures will turn out! I'll use that black and white film for portraiture.

Should be fun!

Impetuous

2010-04-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

im·pet·u·ous
/ɪmˈpɛtʃuəs/
–adjective
1.
of, pertaining to, or characterized by sudden or rash action, emotion, etc.; impulsive: an impetuous decision; an impetuous person.
2.
having great impetus; moving with great force; violent: the impetuous winds. ~ *dictionary.com

Phew! I thought I was compulsive! Impetuous, describes me more aptly!

How so, eh?

Take a look at this! These are used, manual focus lenses, all acquired within the span of two weeks!

While researching on lenses for DSLR cameras I came across information that the old manual lenses can be given a new lease on life with an adapter that fits your particular DSLR camera!

That led to scouting around ebay, bidding, and then more bidding, and then when I lost the bids on the lenses that I thought I had to have, I started looking for places that sell them!

Compulsive or impetuous?

Nah, just your plain, old impetuousness!

Spellling Bee

2010-02-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

Last Monday I accompanied Denice and 7 other kids and their parents to a Spelling Bee that was held in Yuba City. The Bee was held in a Christian School there and Denice and one classmate represented Grade 1 for their school.

It wasn't a big Spelling Bee. Nine Christian Schools took part and the grades involved were 1 to 4. All the participating schools, except for one, sent two spellers for the competition. By noon the competition was done with, which was good. I wasn't looking forward to staying around a long while waiting for the thing to end!

It wasn't that long ago that a try-out was held at the kids' school and unfortunately we did not do our part by helping Denice train for the Spelling Bee a lot harder. She does not know how to study on her own. That being the case, she was eliminated in the first round.

Nevertheless, it was a good experience for both Denice and her classmate. Now that they know what is involved in the competition and should they be in the position to represent their school again in the future, they will be more prepared.

Good job all around for the kids participating, though!

Signs of Spring

2010-02-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was in the hills of Los Osos photographing wild flowers. The weather was beautiful and I had a great time looking for the wild flowers to photograph. I did not know the names of the flowers I was photographing, but Doug's brother-in-law has a website where he tries to document some of the flowers that he finds in the hills where he lives. From his photographs, I am now able to identify the flowers that I photographed that weekend.

The fruit and nut trees in my neighbor's orchard are also budding and blooming. Every year I photograph the beautiful flowering trees - an enjoyable activity indeed!

This winter has been a wet and cold one! I am most definitely ready for spring!

Christmas Greetings

2009-12-24T23:28:00.000-08:00

From our home to yours -

May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!

Have a Blessed Christmas!

Morning Photoshoot

2009-10-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

It was foggy this morning and that being the case I thought it would be a good time to try and take pictures of the wetlands at Consumnes River Preserve shrouded in fog.

So off we went. We passed beautiful foggy country scenes of goats, sheep and cattle grazing. No, no time to stop because I didn't want to miss the fog. But the further west we went the more the sun seemed to shine!

I was very disappointed when we got to the river preserve and there was hardly any fog there. In fact the sun was shining quite brightly! There was a slight haziness in the distance, and that was it! How I wished I had stopped to take pictures of the foggy country scenes! No, foggy scenes of anything from this morning but I did take some good pictures of the river preserve.

Click on the pictures to get a larger view.

A rather large spider in its web.

I wanted to capture the reflection of the trees on the water.

A large heron feasting in the water.

Geese were aplenty flying overhead and landing on the water. Wished I had a better camera to capture them in flight!

I love this scene of the sun coming through the trees by the water's edge.

Ducks swimming in the water.

If it is another foggy morning tomorrow, we will try to get to the river preserve earlier than we did today. Plenty of time to shoot some photos, get back and get ready for church later in the morning.

Grade School

2009-09-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

I am now a parent of grade school kids. My babies are growing up! Before long, I will be a parent of tweens, and then teens ...

To commemorate their first day in first grade, I took a few pictures of the kids holding this piece of paper! One of my friends I did this, and to do the same thing every year as they move up the school grades.

At the end of the school day, the verdict from Duncan, "School was awesome!" That's a good start, eh! Denice was pleased that she did not get any time-out. My response to that was, "No, you do not want any time-outs!"

This is only the first week, and there are many more weeks to go! I hope the rest of the year will stay as promising as the first day! One can only hope.

I thought I saw a putty kat!

2009-09-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Putty Kat
Galt, California 2009

This cat of ours is so playful that she will jump and cling to your legs if you happen to walk by. Actually she lies in wait for you and then jumps on you!

One morning she jumped on Duncan and her claws scratched his back, lightly actually, but Duncan was so shocked by it that he cried. With fingers wagging at the cat, and through his tears, he cried,

"You're a very, very bad kitty! Very bad kitty! No dinner for you tonight!"

Boo hoo hoo. My goodness from the intensity of the crying you would have thought it was a major, major scratch!

***Cross-posted at Puteri's World.****

My unlocked iPhone works!

2009-06-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

It certainly isn't fun when you are in possession of an iPhone but you don't have access to unlimited web browsing!

I finally got to test my jailbroken and unlocked iPhone. It works perfectly! I bought a Digi prepaid phone card yesterday, put it in the sim slot and voila, it worked!

At least now I don't have to be seen using my old out-of-date flip phone here in Malaysia! . Nah, I am not that vain, but since my iPhone works, hey, better to be seen using that than my old Motorolla flip phone, eh!

A friend of mine told me there are places in KL where they can help you unlock your locked iPhone and help you download and install whatever applications you want onto your iPhone. Well, since I have successfully jailbroken and unlocked my iPhone on my own, I won't need their jailbreaking services, will I?

You know, what's the point of having an iPhone when you can't access the internet just because you only have one of those cheap prepaid sim cards? And there is no wifi in my parents' home. The signal from the city's free wifi service is not strong enough. So, it is a little frustrating!

Oh well, at least I can still get on the internet using my brother's Celcom broadband modem on my netbook. Thank goodness for that! Slow but good enough!

iPhone aside, one of the best things about being home in Malaysia is that I can indulge in all the food that I have been craving for since my last visit home! The kids are enjoying themselves with the noodles and wontans!

Happy to be home with my parents for the summer!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

Many poems have been written

Many poems have been written to explain,
How a mother's love can soothe the pain.
But little has been said about a Father's concern,
So.. now... I think it must be his turn.

A Father's love for his offspring,
Is just like that of a solid gold ring.
No matter what, it is unending,
Never breaking; though.. sometimes bending.

His love is as strong as a mother's; although...
Due to his personality, it sometimes doesn't show.
There is no question of how strong..
Or of its lasting...however long.

So no matter if his child is good or bad,
There is no Love stronger, than that of a Dad.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Happy Father's Day, Apai. I love you!

Gladiola Buds

2009-06-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

Gladiolas are such pretty flowers and I have very fond memories of them! When I was a teacher in Vietnam in the mid nineties, my students would bring me flowers, usually gladiolas.

This year, I have a lot more gladiolas in my garden and they are starting to flower right now. I am looking forward to all of them blooming. I can't wait to see the humming birds and the butterflies that usually come by when there are flowers in my garden.

Last year I missed the gladiolas when they bloomed because I left for Malaysia at the end of May and was there for about three months. At least this year I get to enjoy my gladiolas before I leave for Malaysia again in late June!

One thing that can be said about my garden this year, is that it is a lot prettier!

Swarovski Pearl Necklace

2009-06-02T17:51:00.001-07:00

I love the look and feel of the swarovski pearls. They are shiny and feel warm on the body.

Last week I ordered some bright gold, mystic black, dark grey and tahitian colored swarovski pearls from my favorite online store. When the pearls arrived today, I just had to string them right away!

These particular shades of pearls were inspired by Nancy Pelosi's (yes, our speaker of the House of Representatives) necklace that I saw her wear one day. I don't particularly like the size of the beads that she usually wears around her neck, but the colors of the beads can be quite interesting!

I like the bright gold colored pearls and I can see them go very well with clear crystals. I can already imagine the finished product!

A Memorial Day Poem

2009-05-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

I Stand Before You

I stand before you all today
But not one eye can see my way

My time arrived, to leave this earth
A fact so planned, to every birth

It happened where I had to go
My torch for life was so aglow

I transferred while in uniform
Protecting freedom, through a storm

Should I resent I died for you
Not on my life, red white and blue

Please help my family through each day
Tell all my friends, try not to stray

And of the country I did love
Do think of me, through God above

Your memories, brought forth this day
Send love to us, who could not stay

©2001Roger J. Robicheau
Former SP5 US Army

Free WiFi on Rapid Penang buses

2009-05-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

GEORGE TOWN: Rapid Penang Sdn Bhd will be providing free WiFi access to its passengers, the first bus company in the country to do so, beginning with a three-month trial on two buses.

Its chief executive officer Azhar Ahmad said the company was installing the facility in two buses: The first plies the route between Balik Pulau and the Bayan Lepas International Airport, and the second on the Teluk Bahang-Batu Feringgi-Weld Key route.

He said use of the WiFi facility would be free and that the buses would have special stickers for easy identification by passengers.

“After three months, if response from passengers is good, we’ll have the facility installed in stages in all of our 180 buses, and also the additional 200 buses which will be delivered to us by the end of the year,” he told a press conference here Wednesday.

Azhar said the facility was provided to enable passengers to surf the Internet in the bus before arriving at their destinations. -- Bernama

Are the bus routes long distance routes? They'd better be or you'll have passengers missing their stops if they get too engrossed with their web surfing!

I wonder if the bus company ever thought about the possibility of passengers with laptops surfing porn sites while in the bus and what the reaction of the other passengers sitting close to the web surfer would be? Huh?

As for me, I'm waiting for my favorite long haul airlines to provide internet access! I'm even willing to pay for the service! The availability of internet access would surely make my long flight feel shorter!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

"Mama"

Mama thank you for who I am
Thank you for all the things I'm not
Forgive me for the words unsaid
For the times
I forgot

Mama remember all my life
You showed me love,You sacrificed
Think of those young and early days
How I've changed
along the way

And I know you believed
And I know you had dreams
And I'm sorry it took all this time to see
That I am where I am because of your truth
I miss you, I miss you

Mama forgive the times you cried
Forgive me for not making right
All of the storms I may have caused
And I've been wrong
Dry your eyes

Mama I hope this makes you smile
I hope you're happy with my life
At peace with every choice I made
How I've changed
Along the way
And I know you believed in all of my dreams
And I owe it all to you, Mama