Happy 2007!

I would like to wish all my dear friends and family a happy and prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas

I would like to send my warm holiday greetings to all my family and friends who read my blog frequently. Thank you for your love, support and encouragement. It's a blessings that we get to easily share the wonderful moments of our lives with each other right here no matter how far apart we are. May your Christmas wishes all come true this year!

The Quicktime I posted here is a video and photo montage of the recent images I took during the holidays season, edit to the melodious carol of Maureen McGovern, The Christmas Tree.

I Heart NY

There are too many wonderful pictures of New York for me to post them here, so I uploaded them to Flickr.com. Check it out.

Millennium Park

November 28: This was the only nice weather day we had in Chicago, and I was glad that we get to visit the Millennium Park for the first time since it was completed. The "Cloud Gate" by British artist Anish Kapoor, was one of the most fascinating sculpture I've ever seen before. The ultra reflective polished stainless steel was like a mirror, distorting the reflection of the Chicago skyline, giving the visitors a whole new perspective of the cityscape. Also, what amazes me is the size of the sculpture. It was rare to see a simple form in such large scale (33-feet high/66-feet long).

Nearby was the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, designed by Frank Gehry. The proscenium was definitely Gehry's signature style - brushed stainless steel ribbons. It looked beautiful at night when it was lit up with colorful alternating lights. However, the most amazing part of the pavilion was the gigantic trellis shaped like a big bubble, made out of crisscrossing pipes, over the Great Lawn. The function of the trellis acted as grids for speakers and lights during concert events. The pavilion seats over 10,000 people.

Vacation Ends

We parted at Dean & DeLuca in SoHo, hugging and saying goodbye knowing that we will not see each other for at least another couple of years. When I left, I didn't turn back. I didn't want to make this goodbye a big deal, so as if we're going to see each other more often. I got onto the N train at Prince St Station right at the corner, heading towards Times Square. The ride was a little melancholy. Three weeks ago, my high school best friends Joshua and Derrick flew all the way from Southeast Asia to come celebrate Thanksgiving with me and Derrick's partner joined us later and we all traveled to Chicago and New York City. The whole trip was very memorable because of the change of sceneries, the change of pace and the change of weather. Time flies when we were having a great time. However, the trip was packed with all sorts of happenings. Three different hotels, one snow storm that caused us 6 hours of delay at Midway Airport, and three Broadway shows later, the vacation ended, and our memories were captured by three digital cameras and over a thousand shots. It was a privilege that we get to spend time with each other, and teased each other like when we were in high school again. It is amazing that after so many years, whenever we get together, it felt like we had just parted yesterday. True friendship can withstand the test of time. Ours has been 15 years since I left.

More Thanksgiving Images

Almost everyone at the table had a digital camera that evening, and these are the images from the second camera. We're such a bunch of visual people, and I'm sure the good times that we will remember of the evening are as beautiful as these images.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday, Eric!

It's Eric's birthday today and Naeem, Suba and I took him to Peach Tree restaurant on 18th and Vine to celebrate. The place is a very well-know soul food restaurant, and we really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. None of us have been there before so it turn out to be a very pleasant experience. Of course, on the day after the mid-term election, all of us at the table have more than just Eric's birthday to celebrate!

Two Months Flew By...

I remembered we started talking about my parents' visit about one year ago. Mom and dad always wanted to go on a cruise and we just decided that the timing was right and John and I would go with them to Alaska. A year later, they came and two month after that, they waved their hands and said goodbye to us. They left on November 2nd and have arrived safely in Malaysia a day and a half later. It was a bitter sweet farewell, as we live so far apart from each other and only get the chance to visit each other every other year. However, it always lead us to the planning of the next visit. There's always something for us to look forward to, and when we finally get to see each other again, we know we're going to have a great time because we simply don't have time for other mundane things if we get to see each other more often. I'm glad that my parents are blessed with good health and hope they will continue to be blessed for many years to come so they can visit us more often.

Goodbye, Camera.

Today, my new camera, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T50, finally arrived, and I'm officially saying goodbye to my old camera, Casio Exilim EX-100. My parents adopted this small wonder which took most of the pictures on this blog. In two years, we rarely part from each other, (even when I thought I had forgotten to bring it along, it was there in my bag all the while. ) I hope my folks will take good care of it. Here are the old and the new cameras, taken together in one picture.

These are among the first few pictures taken as test shots by the DSC-T50. The cool typewriter photo was taken by Bruce. I'm very pleased with the picture quality so far.

Happy Halloween

This is the pumpkin that carved at Tom and Marks annual pumpkin carving party. The weather was beautiful after a few dreary rainy days. There were six of us and we went to the nearby pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkin. Then we went to Mark and Tom's backyard, and started carving our pumpkins. Later, we all went to dinner and then came back to light our pumpkins. Then we invited the neighbors to come judge which one is the best. Tom won. But I like mine, so I'm showing my pumpkin here. It's simple and cute, and I was the first one to finish.

Much Ado About Nothing Poster

Here's the poster I just designed for Olathe South High School. The mask was the creation of the costumer of the play Tam Osgood.

Cruise Activities

Here's another batch of photos of the various activites we did while we're on board the cruise ship for 7 days. I was rather apprehensive about being stuck on a boring ship and have nothing to do, but much to my amazement, there are a plethora of activities to do.

Whale watching...

Playing giant chess out on the deck...

Ping Pong match...

Lounging by the pool...

All dressed up and take family photos...

Bundle up to see the glacier...

Gorge at the Midnight Chocoholic Buffet...

Enjoy a show at the theatre...

Eat and eat and eat and eat...

Or, take a little nap in between meals!

Alaska Pictures, Finally.

It's been a week since we came back from our Alaska Cruise and between my brother and me, we took over a thousand digital photos. It's very overwhelming to edit them down to a manageable number. I figure the first batch of the photos should be the quintessential element of our trip - the magnificent Mother Nature. There's no other better way to immerse oneself in this amazing environment than going on the Alaska Cruise because one doesn't have to be an outdoorsy person to get to these destination. In fact, there are places like the Glacier Bay where there isn't really any other way to get there other than by sea or air. As beautiful as you can see on these pictures, they really don't justice at all in comparison to being present and be surrounded by the sheer vastness of nature.

Mount Rainier, WA. Photographed from our plane to Seattle.

Peugeout Sound, WA. The beginning of our 7 days cruise through the Inside Passage to Southeweat Alaska.

Skagway, Alaska, taken from the train on the White Pass & Yukon Route, looking down at a Class 6 rapid.

At the Inlet of Johns Hopkins, Glacier Bay, photographed from our ship. One of the most beautiful site I've ever seen in my life.

Looking at the breathtaking Johns Hopkins Glacier -- the jewel of Glacier Bay!

Margerie Glacier, right at the boder of Canada. It was exciting to witnessed a few glacier calves, which accompanied by its thunderous sound of cracking and plunging into the bay.

The mesmerizing color of the glacier. A closer look at Margerie.

Seattle Public Library

Thanks to free WiFi, I'm posting this from one of the coolest architecture in the US, the Seattle Public Library. It is built by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaa. It is an eleven story building, envoloped by a multi-angled glass skin. I went crazy taking photos in here.

Smile!

Our family vacation started yesterday. John and I flew to Seattle a day ahead and we're meeting up with our parents later today. Then, on September 3, we'll take the cruise to Alaska. Due to the recent air travel security regulation, for the first time, I flew without my own bottle of drinking water. Southwest was kind enough to give out little snack boxes consisted of a few packets of little tit bits and a bag of Oreo chips. However, they only served us with a tiny cup of soda, perhaps about 5oz of liquid. I think I need to send this picture with an email to complain about the bad combination of food and beverages. They either have to super-size the drinks or quit serving Oreos.

The Fall of the House of Usher Poster

Here's the poster I designed for Eric for his students' play The Fall fo the House of Usher. Thanks to Lauren for being my hand model. The rest are all Photoshop. (No finger nails are harmed in the making of this poster.)

Cooking With Suba

Suba is teaching how to cook a fabulous meals starting with weekend, August 27. She will using my kitchen to conduct her class - "A Gourmet Kitchen" as she put it. I helped her set up her own blog so she can post class schedules and pictures from the classes online. Of course, by helping her doing that, I get to be the food taster for all classes. Yum!