Random Brain Dump

Phone carriers are making a bundle of 411 calls. Cell phone carriers charge as much as $1 per call. Did you know that 411 calls can be toll-free? Try 1-800-FREE-411 next time. I gave it a try and it works as advertised. Cool beans!

Thanks Kevin for the info.

The rainbow episode between Katelyn & I transpired as follows last nite:

Rex: "Sweetey, what did you do at school today?"
Katelyn: "I made rainbows today. Do you want me to make you a rainbow?"
R: "Oh, I’d love to get one"

Katelyn rushed to her table, broke out her markers and after a few minutes, returned with a sheet of paper with a rainbow drawn on it.

K: "Here you go. Do you like it?"
R: "Wow, I love it! Thank you so much…"
K: "You bring it to work tomorrow and hang it up okay?"
R: "Sure, I’d do that."
K: "Make sure you show it to your friends at work."
R: "I’ll do that too."
K: "Make sure you tell them to ask you who made it okay?"
R: "Of course!"

So this morning the first thing she asked me when she woke up was where the rainbow was. I didn’t see it on the cofee table. I was hurrying to get to work and didn’t have time to look around for it. So I lied and told her it’s in my car, thinking that’d be the end of it. That white lie quickly turned out to be a mistake, as Katelyn ran outside and peered down the window of my car.

K: "Daddy, I can’t find the rainbow in your car"
R: "It’s in there baby"
K: "Are you sure you put it in the car?"
R: "Yes, I put it in the car"
K: "Daddy, I don’t see it!"

She pouted a little and then got on her Grandpa’s car and headed to school. She looked disappointed. I better find her rainbow tonite or I’ll be in trouble. 🙁

If you frequent this blog, you know that I am a shutterbug. I know, I know… You’re thinking: "gee whiz, what gives that away." My main subjects are my two daughters. (Again, I’m stating the obvious.) If you view their pictures here, it’s really easy to spot how different my 2 models really are in front of the camera.

Katelyn loves to be in front of the camera–always flashing a smile, even when she was a little toddler. She’s a willing subject, posing for her shutterbug dad without asking. She is easily excitable. And she’s photogenic (well, her dad likes to think so), most of her shots come out great. It’s very easy to shoot Katelyn. She’s a pure joy to shoot.  

Now that’s not to say Allison isn’t photogenic or a joy to shoot for me. But she’s different. She’s more shy of the two, the serious one. She’s still a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera. She’d pose or smile if I ask her to, but she does it in the most uncomfortable fashion. She’d always lean her head to one side and say "cheese"; and breaking a half-smile once in a while. That’s her pose and it’s her only pose. It’s become a habit too. Now everytime she sees a camera, she breaks into her ackward pose. It’s rather funny. A perfect example is pictured here. Note the contrast of the two poses, the smile on Katelyn and Allison’s signature head tilt?

So I learned to shoot Allison differently. Most of the good shots I got out of her when she isn’t posing. I try to shoot her when she isn’t aware of the camera. Natural shots suit her more. I call these "private shots" because I feel like I’m stealing her private moments with these kind of shots. Now if only she’d smile more frequently, because she usually looks serious in some of these "private" shots. Allison is also a joy to shoot, abeit in a different way.

 My daughters provide me the motivation to learn photography. They’ll be my excuses for buying expensive equipments in the future when I become a better photographer. Now, if I can only coax my wife into a willing subject as well. 🙂

Katelyn spotted the moon outside her window while we drove home from dinner tonite. The sky just cleared up after pouring rain the entire day.

Katelyn: “The moon Mommy. It’s a crescent moon. It’s pretty!”
Mommy: “Yes, it’s very pretty”
Katelyn: “Daddy, the moon is following me!”
Daddy: “It is?”
Katelyn: “Yeah! It’s following me. Why is it following me?”
Daddy: “The moon always follows who it likes the best. So I think the moon must likes you the best!”
Katelyn: “Yeah, the moon likes me because it keeps following me”

At this point I smiled because the conversation reminded me of the time when my parents told us the same thing when my sister and I asked them the same questions while playing in the park one night. I must have been a few years older than Katelyn because my sister must have been around Katelyn’s age. That was so many years ago.

We spent this past Christmas in Lake Tahoe with our parents, my sister’s and my uncle’s family. The 3+ families crammed into a nice cozy cabin we rented for a few days– crowded but fortunately all relatives got along. If you’re ever looking to rent a cabin in south Lake Tahoe, I highly recommend the place we rented from this lady; conveniently located, clean, roomy and rental is very reasonable. Had I not with kids, I would normally prefer a more rustic place though :). Good thing, I bought one of those cargo boxes that go on the roof on my Dad’s van. By head count, we had 14 and we even lugged most of the kids’ presents with us. Luckily everybody & everything fit into the 2 mini vans.

It didn’t snow at the lake basin when we got there, so I was disappointed for the kids. But we all woke up to a snowfall the morning after xmas with the kids (and the adults) jumped for joy in excitement. A white after-xmas! Everyday, we hit the snow parks. The older kids were hitting the slopes non-stop. Even the toddlers and one grandma braved the snow and snow-tubed with the rest of us. The grandmas, my uncle & my niece had not seen snow before, so it was especially exciting for them.

I bought a new camera lens in preparation for the trip, figuring there’d be photo opportunity aplenty in Tahoe. But with so much things going on, I didn’t get to take as many photographs as I had hoped for. A few photos I did get with the new Tamron lens, I was impressed. The new lens performed well in low light condition and was sharp overall; it’s extremely sharp at aperture of F/8!

Our last morning there, I got up before dawn, packed my equipment and head out to Emerald Bay, figuring it would my last opportunity for some nice pictures of the lake at sunrise. I hiked through the woods in the dark, with gusty winds and heavy rain/snow. Good thing my new camera back pack is water-repellent. Last time I hiked in the dark was at Bryce Canons in Utah with Suzanne. More than once I thought: “man, I hope these pictures will be worth it!” Well, they weren’t. The rain, snow and wind mitigated my efforts– I could only get in a few shots (most of them not very usable). I did got one that Suzanne really liked.

Our drive home by was interesting, through a heavy snow storm. With chains on, we were crawling about 15 MPH through the mountains. The kids didn’t mind that we were driving slowly, getting a kick out of the snow storm. It was sure pretty!

Here’s the photo gallery from the trip:/trips/tahoexmas05

I don’t watch Nova religiously anymore, so it’s nice to find that some episodes are now available on the web.

The coming episode (airing 1/3) is an investigation of a mummy (pictured here) in a museum in Niagara Falls, whether it could be the remains of an ancient Egyptian king. Sounds awefully intriguing…

I was testing my new lens the other night by taking random shots with low light conditions. I took this quick shot of Allison without flashing. The only light source was our table lamp. Considering that I had to bump the ISO up till 1600, the noise level is remarkably low. This random shot turned out to be one of my favorite shots of Allison. I just love her composure and in general how this shot turned out.

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This past Friday, the preschoolers put on a holiday show by singing a slew of christmas songs. Well, I may be biased but it has got to be the cutest show I ever seen. Katelyn loves singing, but we were afraid that an audience might make her shy so Suzanne encouraged Katelyn to sing the songs out loud. Turns out that wouldn’t be a problem.

When we arrived at the classroom, the children were sitting and preparing for the program. We waved at Katelyn and she excitedly waved back at us. She wore her Santa’s Helper dress Suzanne recently got for her. I was relieved to see Katelyn seemed happy, knowing that at least she wasn’t too uncomfortable to perform. The parents filled in with each ready with a camera or camcorder. The cameras flashed the children almost non-stop— the parents turned paparazzi! I have to admit that I probably was the one who took the most shots but I minimized the flashes as not to startle them during their performance. (checkout the December monthly gallery for some of pics).

The program began and Katelyn started singing on top of her lungs. Actually, she yelled out the lyrics. Very quickly, the entire thing became a shouting match between the kids trying to outdo each other. Suzanne & I just looked at each other surprised & amused. Not exactly the type of renditition we encouraged her, but it was so funny the way the Katelyn strains her neck and screams out each song. We didn’t mean to ask her to yell out the songs. But Katelyn sang/yelled every word of very songs, not missing a single beat. She was so cute, all of the kids were.

The singing lasted a good 20 minutes. My favorite was when they sang It Must Be Santa. After the singing, Santa came for a visit and all the kids got to sit in his lap. When Santa asked what she wants for Christmas, Katelyn blurted out: “I want walkie-talkies!” Well, that was a different wish for sure. 🙂 I had no idea where she got the idea of wanting a pair of walkie-talkies.

Well, we certainly enjoyed Katelyn’s first ever performance. She was wonderful, demonstrated that she can follow instructions, memorize lyrics, work as part of a group and perform in front of a crowd. She definitely made me a very proud Daddy that day. And I’m already looking forward to her performances in her coming school years. Chalk this up as one of those pleasures of being a dad!

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Weather getting colder, malls getting crowdier, workplace getting quieter, my spending increasing… must be that time of the year. Merry xmas everybody! 🙂

We promised the kids photos with Santa, so Katelyn was very excited all weekend long. The line was rather long, but we managed to get to the mall early so we didn’t have to wait very long. I tried to coax Allison into it by giving her a view of Santa and told her of the goodies she’s going get from Santa. This santa looks pretty authentic, real white beard & everything. When it was our turn, Katelyn ran straight up to Santa’s lap. On the other hand, Allison just bursted into tears and screamed when I tried to put her in Santa’s lap. Oh well, next year for Allison I guess…

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Here’s a video clip of a DUI stop between a demanding officer and a very talented drunk. It’s hilarious!

Update 9/13: A co-worker informed me that this is from Comedy Central’s Reno 911.