Featured Review!

Wow, so cool.

I posted a review of my Nikon 300mm f/4 AFS lens on PhotoMalaysia.com and now it's featured in the front page of their website!

Oklar...it'll prolly only be there until the next person writes a new review. I'm currently in the works of coming out with a review of another one of my lenses so it could be me again :P



PhotoMalaysia.com

My review on Pbase.com

Extreme Weather

Professor Perry Samson organized a large-scaled series of experiments at the University of Michigan Football Stadium a.k.a The Big House today. This event was not only participated and jointly supervised by students from his Extreme Weather (GEOSCI 122) class, but also members of the public.

His students were given the incentive of extra credits to arrive at the stadium early to prepare various types of equipment that would be used for the experiments. Such materials included balloons, ribbons, digital thermometers and soap solution.

An estimated 400-strong crowd of volunteers showed up at the football stadium sporting yellow “Extreme Weather” T-shirts which were given away at the entrance. Men, women and children of various ages were present.

The first of the experiments kicked off promptly at 12pm, which was an experiment involving the measurement of temperature at different levels of the stadium. Soon after was the bubble blowing experiment which was used to determine the direction of the wind and where it would take a near-weightless object throughout the stadium. The experiment was once at each end of the stadium and once under the press-box. Seeing hundreds of bubbles floating in the air at one time was quite a sight to behold.

Then the other experiment which measured the diffusion in the stadium was carried out. At the blow of a whistle, participants one at a time released a balloon and followed it wherever it went. 10 seconds later, another whistle was blown and the participant had to place a marker wherever the balloon was last at.

At the end of the series of experiments, which was around 1.15pm, Professor Samson thanked all the participants signaling the conclusion of this interesting on-campus event.

For more about the Extreme Weather class: AOSS

The Fast Life

Man, my semester has really kicked off now. I'm pretty much running myself up the wall with keeping up with my homework assignments, church activities, work and other commitments.

And boy, does time fly when you're busy. I often feel like there arent enough hours in a day...conversely, I feel like there are too many minutes in a lecture!!

Anyway, I took some time off to photograph the moon again. It wasnt a full moon last night, but still a decent looking one.

Moon Cakes Anyone?

They call it Mid-Summer or Mid-Autumn celebration. I cant really remember what it was. But anyway, to my surprise, the Malaysian students didn’t do anything special on a large scale to commemorate the event.

It was going to be something of a new tradition that the Chinese Malaysians and maybe some sporting others got together to have some moon cakes and then parade around North Campus with lanterns. To me the gathering was fine but the walking around in the night with lanterns like a funeral convoy wasn’t very amusing to me….especially if you’re doing it in a foreign country where the vast majority might interpret your activity as a criminal offence.

I was on the way back from a ministry meeting at church when I saw a very large and low-lying moon. I quickly scrambled back to my car so I could get home to my photo equipment to get some shots.

By the time I got back, the moon had gotten smaller but I still managed to squeeze in some shots. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you….THE MOON.

All In a Day's Work

I'm sitting here at a computer in the office of my workplace. It's been 6 hours since I clocked in. I need some coffee.

I just got a job here at a university building this semester. The job title is "Building Manager". Pretty high-sounding isnt it? Well, it's a splendid job really.

Basically what I do is to watch over the whole of a 3-storey building from 4pm to 12am and lock up at the end of the day. A pretty big responsibility, eh?

So between the start of my shift to closing time, I carry out rounds around the building to see that everything's going on well. I walk around with a Motorola walkie-talkie. Ironic isnt it? :P

Hmmm...I love my job.

The Auto Misconception

A common misconception that people have is that driving in the United States is a really cheap affair. WRONG!

Cars in the USA are cheap. No doubt about that. Unfortunately, the story doesnt end there. Hooray, you got a 1983 Escort for $30. Power to you. But there's more.... lots more.

Firstly there's car insurance. It's like renting a car with a monthly rate. The newer the car, the more expensive your premium is gonna be. The less amount of safety features, the more expensive your premium is gonna be. Old cars dont have that many safety and security features...so either way, old car or new... you're screwed.

Another thing is registration. Drivers in the US are not exempted from a form of Road Tax. It's called "Registration" here. And it's pretty expensive for a little sticker to be stuck on your license plate.

Ok, so your car is street legal. But there's something else. Maintenence. Anything to do with man-power in the US is expensive. Labor charges for something as simple as an oil change are incredulous. I had to pay $60 in labor charges just to get a $3 spark plug installed. Should have done it myself, I know.

Here are my expenses on my four-wheeled wife this week:
-6 months of insurance: $380 (Good student discount coming)
-Windshield Wipers: $15
-Oil change, spark plug, brake fluid radiator: $215

Oh, and dont get me started on the recent fuel prices. Thank goodness it's coming down a little...hopefully by a lot after this week, when I go for my fortnightly fuel-up.

The Old Man of The River

My photo buddy Mark and I went down to the arboretum to photograph some ducks today. He brought out his huge $3.3k Canon lens to show-off, while I had my humble piece of glass. Turns out that my lens had better reach than his. Hah.

Anyway, as we were happily shooting away and dissing the noisy bunch of Thai students who chased most of our ducks away, we heard a large splash nearby. We turned saw a really old man wading around in the river.

We didn’t think much of him, but then realized that something interesting was going on. The man was picking up stones and arranging them. He was also tearing out the water reeds which were growing among his rock formations.

When he noticed us watching him, we began talking.

“See, the sound of the water’s much louder after I remove them (water reeds).”

We discovered later that he is the one who’s responsible for the interesting looking rock formations in a certain section of the Huron River which runs through the Nichol’s Arboretum. He has been maintaining his work for the past 20 years!

His rock formations slow the flow of the river and create a rather interesting view of an otherwise nondescript portion of the river. The slowing of the river makes that particular area a perfect spot for hoards of ducks to feed and groom. At around 6.30pm a small group of deer linger along the bank on the opposite side of the jogging path.

What would have been a regular birding outing turned out to be a rather interesting evening with the discovery of the culprit of the Huron River rock formations.

Red Eye

After a pretty tumultuous 25 hours or so, I’m back…. Finally back in Michigan.

Strange lah this trip. I almost missed two of my flights this time round. An event that never ever happened to me before. God forbid that it should ever happen to me. Kinda like the good run I’m having with lost luggage. *touch wood*

The first instance was for my flight from Penang to Singapore. My dad, who was quite reluctant to let me go kept delaying my walk into the departure hall. “They’ll call wan….never mind. Don’t be so hurried.” Yeah, true enough, they did call my name. Not once, but three times. How embarrassing.

I sprinted down the terminal and in my haste, overshot my gate. One of the attendants saw me running and shouted out my name. Thank goodness he did. So I doubled back and jogged into the tunnel. Just as I sat down in my seat, they closed the cabin door. How embarrassing…

The second incident happened during my transit from Tokyo to Detroit. I was so bushed from staying up for my 6am flight in Changi that I decided to take a little nap. Little did I know that I slid into a deep slumber…. Jaw wide open exposing my grill in all its glory.

I was awoken abruptly by something, I don’t know what. But when I looked around, there was not a soul in sight apart from a Japanese flight attendant who asked me, “Are you going to Detroit?” I nodded and he pointed to the tunnel. This time it wasn’t too bad as there were about four others in line. *phew*

So I’m back. I really want to thank God for the Japanese. I went to check on my car after reaching Roger’s apartment, and just hoping out of dumb luck that my car would start. I connected the battery terminals and heard a slight buzz. (Some hope). Then I slid my key into the ignition and turned the engine. No words could describe my joy when I heard that motor roar back to life.

The only issues my car had were the peeling rubber from my wipers and some rust formations on both of my front disc brakes. Most of the rust has been saved off, but still there’s some unevenness tangible when braking. Oh, and I constantly get reminded to change my wiper blades because I keep activating my wipers when I try to turn on my blinkers. Gah!

Classes begin *drumroll* tomorrow…

Last Night in Paradise

The day has arrived. The dreaded last 24 hours has come. At this time tomorrow I will be a couple of thousand feet in the air heading towards the next 8 months of my life.

The dentist gave me a pretty nasty farewell gift today. I actually visited the dentist yesterday when she imparted the grave news. I had a cavity in between my last and second last molar. I had to get a filling job done. My very first after 22 years.

My mom had always praised me for regularly brushing and flossing my teeth. She also lauded me for being the only one in my family who hasnt got a filling yet. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone threw a rock into the glass window.

It was a real bitter pill to swallow. It was a kink in my armor. I really shouldnt have neglected my molars while flossing. But it's so darn hard to get the floss in between those last two! As a result, I had to pay the price.

She didnt have time to put the filling in yesterday so she made me come back again today. It didnt take very long. Wasnt painful either. What a relief. It was all done in a matter of about 20-30 minutes.

It was a huge relief for me when I found out that she was going to be using some kind of ceramic compound instead of the almagamated metal filling. I absolutely dreaded having to blind someone say if I were laughing out loud in bright sunlight. So now it looks like my teeth are perfectly fine. No ugly silver spots peppered between my grill. *kaching kachingggg!!*

Out of consideration for you readers, I'll just end this entry here. I'll mope around more tomorrow...... sighs...so fast.

Going OFFLINE @ Starbucks

Hmmm...have to take leave now. Duty calls.

So much for a hangout session. Quite productive lar. At least I got to get out of my house and have some fresh Gurney Drive air. :)

Todeloo....

Going LIVE at Starbucks

Amazing.... I'm now sitting in front of my lappie at Starbucks, Gurney Tower with Joel Chin, blogging away. Joel is sprucing up his "new and improved" blog, but hasnt posted up anything new (as of 5pm). How disappointing eh? He's such a tease... hope he checks his "comments" and realizes how many of his fans are waiting in anticipation for his firs REAL post. Ok ok, I'll stop giving him a hard time.

Startbucks is friggin hot now. Gosh...and I thought sitting indoors was a good idea. But actually outdoors is just as hot.

There's only 1cm left of my caramel frappuccino. This thing is so sweet that I'm starting to get dry in my mouth. Sighs....but actually, paying RM11-something for free WiFi and a grande ice blended isnt too bad. But wait...I've got WiFi at home. *Gah...

You can tell that I really dont have anything much to blog about. I wonder how live bloggers do it. I'm actually supposed to be interacting with Joel, devulging my innermost secrets. Hmmm...see what happens when two laptops come in between two guys? So quiet now..... Joel stops to ask me some questions about HTML, but most of the time I'm too busy to really understand what he's asking me.

Joel wants the pictures we took at Chung Ling High School.But there seems to be some firewall set up. Cant send through MSN. It's painfully slow for some reason and then cuts off after a few minutes. Must be a firewall.

We're using newspapers to cover the table and protect our precious laptops. So lousy lar. They dont wipe the tables here wan. So we grabbed some copies of The Sun and use it as table covers. Hopefull the management sees this and does something about it. ;)