Random Brain Dump

After a week of placing ads on Craigslist, I sold my Canon 30D yesterday. While I got a really good price for it, I was sorry to see it go.

I bought the camera in April as an upgrade from my XT (350D). By the time I was about to put up ads for the XT, Canon started to offer rebates for them and its trading value immediately plummets on craigslist. So much so that I finally decided to sell the 30D instead and go back to my old but trusty XT for now. Rebates from Canon are usually sure signs of new models coming…

After a 3 months “trial” period, I find that the minor improvements of the 30D over the XT don’t warrant the big price delta. The two main thing I will miss not having the 30D: the bigger LCD & the nifty quick-control dial.

Katelyn and Allison got a hold of an old family photo album the other day. They excitedly asked their mother about some photos of an old dog they discovered. I guess they found it was cool for their own mom to have a dog (Katelyn asked for a dog a few times). Suzanne explained the photos and described how the dog was her pet and that it died some years ago.

That night, when I was readying Katelyn for bed, she went on bragging to me how her mommy used to have a dog. I told her that I do remember the white poodle. She then said to me in a sudden sad tone: “Daddy, Mommy said her doggy died.” I acknowledged it with a nod. Since I noticed a sense of curiosity in her, I explained to her that the dog died of old age and how that’s is natural process. After some thinking and debating in my head whether she was old enough for me to explain the concept of eventual death, I went on explaining that even her daddy & mommy will grow old too.

Katelyn immediately made the connection, sat up and asked me in an alarmed tone “does that mean you & Mommy will die too?” I replied “yes, we will die of old age eventually.” She started to tear up and asked “will you come back after you die?.” I answered that you cannot come back from death but that death is natural and happens to everyone.

Growing more distraught, Katelyn said “but I don’t want you to die.” I calmly tried to allay her fear and explained how that it is in a very distanced future. I explained that we’ll be taking care of her until she grows up and that it’ll take a lot of years before we even reach her grandparents’ ages.

At this point, Katelyn hugged me and in tears, she said “I will miss you!“

Suzanne & I went to attend a free jazz concert last evening. Santana Row is offering a summer long series of jazz concerts. We were talking about hitting a jazz club for some time…

Parking was pretty much a nightmare, particularly since we got there rather late. The open court was crowded with a mix people lawn chairs in the graass and those dining at outdoor tables, all enjoying the music and the nice cool weather. The band featured was “A Touch of Brass”; I thought they were okay. I lugged my camera with a long tele-lense and was happy to get the opportunity to roam around & take some pictures. I probably would’ve enjoyed the band more had we gotten better seats & I stayed put in one place.

We left early to grab dinner with the Tieu’s before calling the nite. Get back just in time for the kids’ bedtime. All in all, it was a great way to spend a summer evening…

I hadn’t really looked forward to it. I usually dig comic-based flicks. But I rolled my eyes when I first saw the preview of Superman Returns, thinking “oh great, another remake.” I had thought it would have to tediously rehash the story over again, establishing where he comes from and how he learns of his power, blah, blah… And Lex Luther, again? Please…

hen Suzanne took the kids to her friend’s house to give me some quiet time, I had some free time and so I thought “what the heck, I’ll bite.” I took off to AMC20 to catch it (with low expectations of course). I thought it was awesome, most enjoyable flick for me so far this summer. Liked it more than X-Men 3. The plot although not solid, was refreshing enough to move things along. It didn’t take a lot of time establishing the characters. The special effects were great– the flying scenes were breath-taking. I kept comparing them to the old green-screen effects. Of course, I thought those effects were great then too when I first saw Superman in the 80’s. Kevin Spacey was great, of course, as Lex Luther.

For me, Christopher Reeve was Superman; no doubt about it — Reeve owned the role. Compared to Reeves, this new actor Brandon Routh is a light weight. One positive thing though, when as Superman, he sounds awefully like Reeves. But as Clark Kent, Routhed basically sucked. He doesn’t put on the glasses the same way. I mean, you remember Reeve’s bumblingly pushing his glasses back or the geeky smirk? Classic! Reeve’s stamp of Superman was definitely there, as I find myself constantly comparing the two actors. As Superman though, I thought Routh did okay.

By the way, I really digged the new uniform with the ribbed S logo.

As I was driving back, I was wondering how sad it would be for Reeve’s son when he watches it. Poor kid, lost his Superman dad and his mom in a span of 2 years. Tough! I wonder if Routh believes in the curse of Superman…

Yesterday morning, Allison & I were watching the openning scenes of the Wallace & Gromit movie. Allison was puzzled when Wallace & Gromit chased a rabbit around at the openning scenes. She expressed “concern” when Wallace finally nabbed the bunny by the neck. I explained the scene to her with the following exchange:

Allison: Why is he hurting the bunny?
Rex: Because he’s been bad; he steals oher people’s vegetables.
Allison: Why?
Rex: Because he likes to eat carrots.
Allison: Oh, he’s a bad bunny!
Rex: That’s right. Do you go around & steal carrots?
Allison: No… I’m not a baby bunny.
Rex: Good…
Allison: I stay home with Mommy!

It’s been months since I add any new functionality to my site. The last thing I did was adding a rich WYSIWYG editor (only to deactivate it later since it doesn’t work across all OS’es & browsers).

Anyhow, I configured my blog to display related posts when displaying an individual entry. It’s pretty cool. If you’re using WordPress and interested in getting this piece of functionality, check out Alexander Malov’s plugin.

I came home from work last evening and I quickly grabbed dinner. Then, we prepare the kids to go to local park and while I was dressing the kids, Allison & I had this little exchange:

Allison: Daddy?
Rex: What is it, baby?
Allison: I miss you when you go to work!
Rex: Ohh… thank you sweetey, I miss you when I’m at work too!
Allison: I love you too much…
Rex: (heart fast melting…) 🙂
Rex: I love so much too.

I often tell her “I love you so much”, but for some reason she likes to say “I love you too much.” It almost sounds like a complaint! At any rate, I’ll take what I can get from her… 😉

It’s Father’s day, so I want to blog a few quick lines about my girls. As you get to my age, I find that you start to look more forward to Father’s days than your birthdays… 🙂

When it comes to music, I’m like an old dog– set in my ways and sticking to familiar tricks. Thanks to hip hop, country and artists like Mariah Carey and N’Sync, I kinda gave up on popular music scene some years ago and stuck to “old” artists. Even with widely available MP3’s, I find that I rarely sample new music. Yes, I am a hermit musically– old school, un-hip and unplugged in many ways. 🙂

However once in long while though, I do “discover” new artists. Artists like Sinead Lohan, Coldplay & Norah Jones provide the optimism that there are still good stuffs out there if you look hard enough. I guess it’s reassuring. Lately, I find some of the up & coming female artists to be very good.

Recently, I recently “discovered” another great female artist. I heard Katie Melua’s new album “Piece by Piece” for the first time this week. Great stuffs, jazzy feel similar to Norah Jones. The young British artist is beautiful, awefully talented and has a great voice. I especially like the 2 selections: “I Cried for You” and “9 Million Bicycles“. Her music videos for those 2 songs are awesome too, very innovative. And I’m usually don’t get into music videos…

I can’t help but to feel hip, all of sudden… NOT!

This video chronicles the many faces of Michael Jackson, morphing his faces from age 5 to today. All I can say is, “what a freak!”