.: What’s Bruin :.

Flew back today. The flight was an hour longer going westward. Apparently, the plane flies opposite the flow of the Jet Stream, so friction slows the plane down and increases travel time.

It’s New Year’s Eve, waiting for dinner to be finished and guests to arrive at Josephine’s twin sister’s. Tomorrow is Josephine’s birthday.

I think I’m feeling like I want to go back to San Diego already. I’m approaching my limit and would like the comforts of my own home. Three more days to go.

Tags: Travels

Biggest annoyance.

I’d have to say this would have to be Democrats and liberals in general, basically, people who think illogically on emotion alone and hate America.

Biggest disappointment.

Not quite making the kind of salary I would expect.

Biggest encouragement.

Being able to find work outside of public education. Thank God!

Biggest shock.

Probably the most recent tsumani disaster in Asia.

Biggest jerk.

Hands down, it’s The Boss. He is an (_0_)!

Biggest bitch.

Also an easy one, ***. She will always be one.

Biggest bastard.

See biggest jerk.

Biggest idiot.

Michael Moore.

Biggest fun.

Going to Las Vegas for our anniversary and seeing Celine Dion; the whole trip was a surprise for Josephine.

Biggest discovery.

That I would enjoy writing in this blog!

Biggest surprise.

There are a lot of people who hate America, specifically, the Americans who do not support the troops and denigrate their honor.

– Meme from Blogography.

Tags: Participation

FQ1: What do you hope will be the big technology breakthrough in 2005?

I hope the biggest technology breakthrough in 2005 will be the transition from oil-powered energy to fuel cell energy. It will revolutionize not only our economy but the world economy.

FQ2: What do you hope will be the big medical breakthrough in 2005?

I’d like to see a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease.

FQ3: What do you hope will be the big entertainment breakthrough in 2005?

I’d like to see rap and hip pop eradicated from the world.

FQ FUTURE: It’s one year from now! What was your greatest accomplishment in 2005?

Hopefully, my greatest accomplishment will be to find a job that will pay me what I am worth.

–Meme from FridayQ

Tags: Participation

Got an early start this morning, but only Parris and I went sightseeing. Here are the pics.

We went to The Navigators conference center, Glen Eyrie, then to Helen Hunt falls (not the actress). But the falls were frozen over. We skipped on the other falls as well. Parris got car sick on the way home, so I drove the Trooper back.

Bruin-Inn

At the Helen Hunt falls there was a “marquee” that said “Bruin-Inn.” And it just so happened that I was wearing my UCLA letterman’s jacket.

Tags: Photography, Travels

Late start again today. Left for the United States Air Force Academy at 2:30 PM. Here are the pics. And here are the two most impressive pictures I took today.

USAFA Chapel - Stained Glass

USAFA Chapel - Ceiling

It was cool looking at the Academy. I had not been there in many years. The last time I was there, it was summer and did not look as impressive. We were able to get on base without an ID check, but there were only certain areas we could visit. The Visitor Center was cool and the Cadet Chapel, but we ran out of time to see some of the other locales on the visitor map. We did end our trip there with a visit to the sports facilities.

Funny Basketball Banners

Speaking of sports. I noticed that the Academy hung three banners for the three times that the basketball team was invitied to the NCAA Tournament. I loved that. At UCLA, of course, we have 11 national championship banners. We don’t even hang the NIT Championship because that would be too shameful, much less the fact that UCLA had been invited to the tournament.

Tags: Photography, Travels

Slept in big time!

Scenic View at Garden of the Gods

2:30 PM
Finally, out of the house to do some sightseeing. Garden of the Gods, kind of like Bryce Canyon in Utah — red rock formations, except not as dramatic. The man who owned this land donated it to the city, I guess, and stipulated that admission to the park must be free, which is good. It was a nice place to see. However, we definitely did not see it all since we arrived late with not very much sunlight remaining in the day. There was some ice and slick snow along the edges of the pathways. And people were still going off the path and climbing on the rock formations. It’s a wonder that they did not fall.

I’ve enjoyed taking lots of pictures with my new camera. Sometimes I just get lucky, as I did with these samples here from the park. But for the most part, I have lots of ordinary looking photos (if you look at the album) that just happen to have a high quality resolution.

Cool Rock Formations

For example, I really like the photo below with the clouds and the “darkened” mesa tops of the rock formations. I have no idea how I got that picture to turn out so good. At least, I think it looks good.

At the end of the little “tour”, I took this picture of my nephew. I set the camera to Portrait mode, focused, camera turned on the flash automatically, and voila out comes this awesome portrait of Lucas.

My nephew, Lucas

Silhouetted Mountain Side

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Tags: Photography, Travels

Here in the cold weather! Yes, it feels good to cool down from the 80 degree heater blasting all day and all night. Visiting with Josephine’s other sister. I think I have altitude sickness, hopefully only a slight case of it, since I have a small headache.

The ride over from the Denver airport to Colorado Springs was kind of tight quarters, five of us scrunched in a Honda Civic. Lucas was in the back between me and Pourpa. He had to squish his little legs together for the whole drive.

Not much snow, which is good.

Neices and Nephew

Electronic Top

They had this “game”, which was basically a spinning top. It counts the number of revolutions made per minute. I beat the hi score with 860. Then Mike got 872. Then I got 894, 897, and finally the top score of 902. We are easily amused for only $7.

Update 12/29/04: This morning, I got 912, then 1024, exactly a kilobyte. Cool. Pourpa says that he got 1865, but he got ratted out by Mike who confessed that Pourpa cheated by “juicing” the top and continuously spinning it to attain that score.

Tags: Photography, Travels

Woke up late cuz I finished my new book that I got for Christmas from Pourpa. Read it in one day, Twice Adopted by Michael Reagan. Finally finished this awesome book at 3:00 AM.

Kart Racing

10:30 AM
Breakfast. Shower. Went to go kart “Speed Ring” to watch Tony and Neil race cars.

Afternoon Evening Activities:
Meet the Fockers - Hilarious. You’ll never want to eat fondue again.
Chillin’ on the computer/watching “Bored of the Rings”/reading another book.

Tags: Photography, Travels

“What the …?” I said, as the loud, piercing noise of the security alarm permeated throughout the whole house. The annoying sound of the alarm reminds me of a pendulum with the most irritating sound frequencies hitting my eardrums in cyclic waves. I jumped out of bed, clad only in shorts, dashing out of the room to check the alarm panel. Alarm deactivated at about 8:00 AM. Unfortunately, I was wide awake . . . Pourpa had set off the security alarm. Went back to bed to stay warm, waiting for the alarm company to check on us by phone. “Tony, if the phone rings, don’t answer it.” Wanna be sure to get the security code word correct, so the police don’t come over to answer a false alarm.

8:30 AM
Decided to organize some financial stuff before we leave for our vacation, check email, blah, blah, blah. Eat breakfast, yum yum, leftover ham, rice, and artichoke dip in the morning.

9:15 AM
Shower and change. No packing necessary. Did that last night.

10:00 AM
Off to the San Diego airport.

Chillin’ Out @ the Airport

10:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Waiting around all day. Will drove the car home for us, save about $60 to avoid taking an airport shuttle. Watched one of my favorite TV shows from the 70s, “Wonder Woman” on my portable DVD player. Took this pic of Tony, it turned out good purely by accident. I like how the lighting and shadows add to the shot.

10:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Kinda boring waiting around the airport. Flight not scheduled to leave until 4:00 PM. Watched the pilot episode of “Wonder Woman” on my portable DVD player. Ate lunch at McDonalds blah blah blah.

Floating Candles

7:30 PM
Dinner with Josephine’s twin sister and family. Took pictures with new cam. Check out this shot of the cranberries in the floating candle bowl. You can see the finest detail under the highest resolution (”Original”), but it also looks good under “Large.” This shot here in this entry is the “Medium” size picture. Just chillin’ here with family and friends in Sunnyvale. Still wearing shorts, ala heater is on. Roasted lamb, Greek salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, and string beans for dinner. Friends over for chocolate fondue desert. Pictures already uploaded from the first day here. You might have to go the Flickr site and sort by today’s date to see only the pictures for today. I’m gonna lump all our San Jose/Sunnyvale vacation pics in this album and keep the pics from the Colorado leg of our trip separate.

Tags: Photography, Travels

Tags: Reflection, Travels

To All:

Have a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Поздравляю тебя с Рождеством!
¡Feliz Navidad!
Joyeux Noel!
Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Καλά Χριστούγεννα!
Mo’adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Maligayang Pasko!

Merry Christmas

P.S. I love this photo of our tree. I took it with my new camera on a timed setting, my first of this type.

Update: Christmas pictures uploaded here.

*************************************
Here’s a Bruin Christmas greeting for you.

Tags: Christmas, Photography

FQ1: What’s an impressive gift ($50 US or less) on your wish list?

It’s more than $50 on the Amazon.com site, but at Costco, it’s less than $50. It’s the DVD collection of The Godfather.

FQ2: What’s an expensive gift ($500 US or less) on your wish list?

I’d really really like a zoom telephoto lens for my camera: Canon EF 75-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens.

FQ3: What’s an extravagant gift ($5000 US or less) on your wish list?

I don’t have an extravagant item on my wish list because I just bought it: my Canon EOS 20D digital SLR camera.

FQ Greed: Money is no object! What’s the most outrageous gift money can buy on your dream list?

I’d really love a vacation package with front row center court seats to all the four Grand Slam tennis championships for the Men’s and Women’s Singles championship matches: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

Also, I wouldn’t mind an all-expense paid tour of Greece.

–Meme from FridayQ

Tags: Participation

D2 Reunion Tour

Wow. The original five members of Duran Duran have reunited for four albums. They go on a world tour, the US leg starts in early 2005. Yes, I have tickets for February 25, 2005 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Brings back memories of high school and college. My Duran buddies, Julie B. and Brooke B., went to two concerts with me. Our last one was here in San Diego at the Sports Arena.

I think I paid $150 for my 10th row seats on the Sports Arena floor back then in 1984. At the end of the show, I remember Roger Taylor (drummer) slammed his drumsticks and they flew into the audience straight in my direction, but some stupid little girl grabbed them out of the air as I was putting my hands over her head to snatch them away.

Looking forward to the show. I think I better get the new album, Astronaut, so I at least know what new songs to expect. Or maybe I should do some exploring on the Internet…

Tags: Events, Music

“She spent 25 years taking care of me; the least I can do is spend two years taking care of her.” That statement echoes, like the way a water fly disturbs a still pond, sending ripples outward. The solemnness of that statement hits hard for a 25-year old who is the primary caregiver for his ailing mother with rapid-onset Alzheimer’s aphasia. In that statement, I heard the maturity of the adult man coming from the voice of a once carefree 14-year old teen I used to know.

Power of attorney, living trust, medical insurance, medicare/medicaid, hospice, home care . . . Could a person of weaker character effectively manage and deal with these complex issues? Throw the weighty issues of death, divorce, loneliness, chronic illness, depression, abandonment, and isolation on top; you have a boiling pot bubbling over.

The triviality of playing with a new camera or finding a ride home from the airport pales in comparison to these life-altering concerns. A.K., it’s just day-by-day . . . to see clearly the role and purpose this hardship will play in your life, to love dearly those who matter most, and to follow more nearly the One who will provide and comfort for your needs. O dear Lord, three things I pray . . .

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

The New Testament — Revelation 21:4

Tags: Friends, Reflection

First Pic

Well, it’s not really the first picture I took with my new camera. But it’s the first one I’m using to post on my web site. The camera’s memory card acts like a hard drive, so all I needed to do was to install the camera device driver here at work, then I can read all the images on the camera.

The camera’s available settings are so complex. I have a lot of reading to do and information to process before I can start shooting confidently. Wow, this camera can do so much.

I had to resize the picture before uploading it. It was originally 2544 x 1696 px and 650 KB. The uploaded version is 400 x 266 px and 312 KB. The picture was taken on Full Auto mode with Flash, picture quality was set to Medium JPEG (~4.3 megapixels), very basic as I am just learning what all the buttons and dials do.

Below is the EXIF information:
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Tags: geek_stuff, Photography