Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Downpour!

I'll be playing a little catch-up with my posts since I haven't had a chance to post in a few days. I've become accustomed to unexpected rain while in Singapore, but the other day was ridiculous!

Up against a torrentWe were at the Jurong Bird Park here and were getting set to head home when it started to a rain a bit. No worries since we were done with the whole park. As our monorail came to the main station we realized it was raining really hard. Again, not too bad since it always rains like this in Singapore. It rains really really heavy for 10 minutes then it dries up.

Little did we know that this rain would not let up for hours! Now this again isn't a huge problem, but we were in a unique situation of having just two small umbrellas between the 10 of us. We had to get from the monorail station to the bus stand somehow.

Caught at the taxi standWe made it to the entrance of the park okay since there were many covered walkways. But then we were stuck at the taxi stand near the entrance. The bus stand is on the main road more than 500 feet of heavy down pour away. So my wife and I shuttled everyone two by two to the bus shelter. The whole time, walking through ankle-deep flows of rain water. Forget about getting a little wet, we were soaked head to toe after five trips each!

SoakedAfter the second or third trip we could get any wetter so we just kept the rest of our party dry while we took the soaking of our lives. We dripped all the way home on the 45 minute train ride home. My shoes took 2 days to dry properly and will never be the same. Fun fun fun!

Monday, December 26, 2005

Remembrance

It's been a busy few days over here so I haven't had the chance to post. Rather than use this post to mention the goings-on over here, I'd like to take some space and remember the victims of last year's tsunami. It's been one year since we all bore witness the biggest devastation any of us have seen. Being so close to where this all happened, there are many commemorations going on in this area.

Rather than give a few links to stories about these ceremonies, let me comment about the recent South Asian earthquake. While I've been here, I've seen a lot more of the suffering the people affected by the earthquake have been through. It's amazing how little attention the earthquake has gotten considering that just as many people have been devastated by the quake as by the tsunami. Not only are these people out of home, they are facing the bitter cold besetting the region now. BBC has provided good coverage of this while I've been here, noting how many villages have seen no aid since the first few days and weeks right after the quake. Just as with the tsunami victims, these quake survivors are going to need years of help to get back on their feet.

So if you haven't done so already, please spend a moment of your time and a few of your dollars to donate to some worthy causes:
International Red Cross/Red Crescent: http://donate.ifrc.org/

UN High Commission for Refugees: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/earthquake

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Tropical Bruin

UCLA
One of the recurring mysteries for me every time I visit Singapore is the UCLA line of clothing.

I've seen this line of clothing in the same section of the same department store every year I come to Singapore! I haven't seen this stuff any where else in the world, but here it is to perplex me every year. And it's definitely not the stuff you find in Ackerman on campus. This stuff is "fashion" as opposed to college memorabilia. My first question is: Why UCLA? It's not a historically world famous school like Harvard or Cambridge. As far as I know, there is no Singaporean extension campus. So what's the deal? I guess I should be proud to see the UCLA logo half way across the world, but seriously, the clothing kinda sucks. I wouldn't buy it. Is this just some way for the UC Regents to make a little extra money by licensing school names? If so, where's the Cal clothing line? How about a little Banana Slug or Anteater action? Knowing the odd clothing some people wear here, I'd expect a UC Santa Cruz or Irvine line to sell well. But the odd thing is that the UCLA logo appears no where on the outside of this clothing...it's just on the labels inside the clothes. So it's not like the school name spreads worldwide. Do Singaporeans even know that this UCLA refers to a college? The way it's labeled and marketed within the store, it's treated just like some other fashion line, like Polo, Calvin Klein, or somesuch. Very odd. Very odd indeed.

I need to solve this mystery!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

No English, Lah

Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin. You hear these four languages every day in both official and non-official capacities.

The other day we were going to a friend's new house for a pooja. They offered to pick us up since it was on the way from picking up the priest who would conduct the prayer. So we're sitting in the back next to the priest and he and the uncle up front start speaking in a language I couldn't recognize.

It didn't sound like Tamil since I figured that might be a common language. It also didn't sound like anything else. So I asked my wife what language they were speaking. Turns out they were speaking in Malay. I had to ask a follow-up question to my wife: Why?

So here's the kicker: The priest is Tamil and his native tongue is obviously Tamil, but he also speaks Malay. The uncle is Gujarati, but grew up in Singapore. He's fluent in Gujarati, English, and Malay. The only common language between the two was Malay so they conversed in Malay.

Amazing.

In all my life, English tends to be common language between random Indians.

Here in Singapore, it's just as likely for the two to end up speaking in Malay or Mandarin!

Makes me feel inadquete with my grasp of just two languages. When we first got married, I asked my wife to teach me Malay (she knows enough of it along with Mandarin to get by), but here I am still dealing with my dual-language life. I think it's time she starts teaching me the basics.

BTW, the title has the word "Lah" in it. It's the most common word spoken here in Singapore. It's a Singlish word used at the end of sentences for various reasons. I just think Singaporeans like the word so much they need to use it as much as possible.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Botanic Gardens

A quick with a few photos from our walk through the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I think my first impression about SGP on my first trip here was that it's a lot more green than I thought it would be. I always thought of the country as this totally industrialized place with hardly any room for nature. In fact, SGP is more lush than just about anywhere I've seen. Granted, this lushness is by design, it's still very inviting. The Botanic Gardens is one of those spots. It's actually just around the corner from a very busy shopping district, but you wouldn't know it while there.

On to the photos!

Fern FrondThe first thing I thought of when I saw this fern frond (it'll open up soon to develop into a fern leaf) was high school bio class. We learned so much about the lifecycle of various living things that I immediately knew what this was. Can I just say that I'm glad I brought a good lens with me??

Tree TrunkYou'd think I was hunting down that boy under the peepal tree I wrote about a week back. I just love the way the branches of this tree have taken root and intertwined with each other. Tropical plants just have a certain quality to them that can't be matched elsewere. BTW, apparently Singapore is not in a tropical climate. They fooled me. I'll have to look up the definition of tropical since in my book it says hot, rainy, humid.


OrchidThe Botanic Gardens have an Orchid Garden inside which has an amazng array of orchids. This is one of the more simply ones.


Tree Branches These may look like bamboo shoots, but they're actually tree branches which have grown down into the ground. I suppose they'll eventually thicken up and start to look like the shot you saw earlier.

Bamboo ShootOkay, this actually is a bamboo shoot and not a tree trunk. I love the bright orange/red of this shoot. And don't think I've boosted the color...this is actually how it looked! So this type of bamboo has part red shoot, part green shoot. Really striking against the green leaves.


Orchids and LightsJust to remind you that I wasn't walking in some jungle...evidence that this is all a planned garden with lights strategically placed to look nice in the background.


Waterfall lapseGiven how small this garden was, there was a large number of waterfalls here. I'm not complaining since I love to take time lapse shots of waterfalls. This was taken with a 1/4 second exposure to blur out the water.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Master Planning

My last post may have seemed like I'm very down on Singapore. I should clarify, I actually think the SGP government has done an amazing job with the infrastructure - both physical and economic.

I must say, the country is not for everyone, especially those looking for true free speech, but in terms of the average family living a suburban life, it's not bad. In fact, my mom loves the place since it's so orderly and clean and friendly for families. Isn't that why the American suburbs developed in the first place?

The physical infrastucture really is amazing. The train system, called the MRT, is extensive, on-time, and very convenient. Not to mention cheap. Same goes for the bus lines. This is clearly by master plan. The SGP has made it so exceedingly expensive to own a car in this country, that most people really don't have any choice but to take public transport. And with the critical mass that results because of this, the SGP public transport system is heavily used and the resulting funds and pumped back into the system to make it better and extend lines, etc. It seems like there's a debate about BART every year. I'm sure if it cost $50000 to own a Honda Civic and thousands in annual registration fees, more people would take BART and the local governments would be left no choice but to expand and improve the system. Instead, we've got a shitty excuse for a train system that's too expensive to use and very inconvienent unless you live in very specific spots.

Anyways, more later...

Diversity and Singapore

I've written about this before, but somehow, I always come back to the subject when I visit Singapore. This morning's Straits Times has an editorial imploring Singaporeans to Embrace Otherhood and the diverse population which lives in SGP. There's always this pseudo-propagandist type of stuff in the paper. I say "pseudo" since I believe there's a portion of the population which really wants to live a more liberal, PC lifestyle. I also think the SGP government would love nothing more than if its citizens embraced each other in brother & sisterhood.

The thing is though, this ain't happening in the everyday SGP I see. While there is certainly mixing of races, it's hardly commonplace. Not to say the Bay Area is the bastion of racial mixing either. But then again, we don't have the daily paper asking us to shake hands with the person sitting next to us on the train.

Very odd, this type of encouragement coming from seemingly on high. I've written before about how the SGP gov't takes a sort of parental attitude towards its citizens, trying to get people to act a certain way, not just because, but because there's a sense that the entire country will benefit from the various programmes & nationalism being put forth.

Having been here every year for the past five years, I don't think it's just the gov't which wants this, but there's also a small, but visibile portion of the citizenry which wants this. This group of people all seem to be leaders in way or the other: either in some position of political power or something like a writer for the paper. It's sort of like collage campus. The provost wants the student body to better themselves and the people running the college paper have strong opinions about how students could act for the betterment of all.

Now that I think about it, the Daily Bruin was something like that. Not that they always presented a single side of the story, but there was certainly a level of preaching which the editorial staff imparted on us lowly student readers.

Anyways, I might write a bit more later about the two undercurrents which sort of flow in the paper. One is about the rightness of the Singaporean way of government - economics, policy, etc. The other is about how the Singapore way of life is a farce when it comes to multi-culturalism and personal actions. Very odd how these two collide in the paper. It essentially produces a feeling that the govt has the right plan for its citizens, but that people need to better themselves also to lead a more enriched life and take advantage of all the govt has put forth.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Travel Blogging

Hello from Southeast Asia! We just got to Singapore this morning for a little holiday during the holidays. We end up coming here every December to visit my wife's family, so here's the latest installment. Since there's always interesting things I do and see while travelling, this blog will cover that stuff for the next few weeks. Better than doing an extended recap sometime in January, right?


Anyways, we've been here less than 8 hours and I've already had two meals. That's the strategy when here. There's so much good food, you've gotta keep eating. Otherwise there's not enough time to taste everything. And since I've already got favorites, I'm trying to hit those up a few times while here.

And to make this more interesting for all of you, I'm posting photos! What better way to ensure I blog consistently than to take photos of everything I eat and write about it? Well, okay, that doesn't sound too interesting, but I'll try to make it so.

So here goes...

First off, let me say that the best food in Singapore comes from Food Courts. Whether they be the traditinal Hawker Center or food courts in malls, the dishes are really authentic, varied, and quick. I wish American food courts could come even a little close to Singaporean food courts. I've only been to a couple restaurants during the many times I've come here and that only for specific dishes which take extra time to make and are best had in a quieter restaurant (like Pepper Crab)

Carrot Cake, Singaporean StyleCarrot Cake
This stuff has neither carrot, nor cake in it, but it's good stuff. It's actually made from daikon which has been congealed/gelatinized into slabs which are then cut up and wok fried with various sauces. I'm guessing the name comes from the fact that daikon is a root vegetable sort of like a white carrot and it's mashed up into cakes of congealed stuff. I first tried this dish with skepticism since the name and visual of the food are miles apart. I ended up liking it so much, I'm up for this item just about any time of the day. This is the "black" style since it uses a sweet soy sauce. Combined with spices, green onions, and the crunchiness of the corners of the diced bits, it's really tasty and satisfying. There's also a white style which is basically the same except without the sweet soy sauce.

Coke LightThis is obviously Diet Coke, but in the rest of the world, it's named Coke Light. I remember reading something a few yrs back about the introduction of Diet food and drink items in India and they didn't sell well. Not because they weren't good, but because of the stigma attached to being on a diet. Whereas Americans always seem to be on a diet, people in the rest of the world don't like to admit they're trying to reduce caloric intake, whether they need to or not. I think they started naming things "light" in India for this reason and I assume they do the same throughout the rest of the world. Anyways, just thought I'd mention it.

Oh, by the way, I had Brazilian Diet Pepsi while on the place (again, named Pepsi Light). I don't generally like Pepsi in either it's full sugar or diet versions, but United Airlines doesn't carry Coke products and I needed a soda (the carbonation is somehow very satisfying sometimes). So this Brazilian version had a distinct mediciny after taste. Quite nasty. Made me wish I had just stuck with water and wine. Even though I don't like Diet Pepsi in the States, it's because it's got a wierd sweetness to it, not because of a medeciny flavor. My conclusion was that the Brazilian Diet Pepsi is tuned to the Brazlian palette and I assume they like the taste of cough syrup. Whenever visiting other countries, I always find it interesting to notice differences in things which are nominally the same on the outside. For example, Coke in India tastes different from American Coke.

Mee SiamMee Siam
Soupy Rice Noodles seem to be a common item across Asian cultures. This version has a peanutty gravy which is soured up with this local variety of lime which is great in Asian food. The greatest thing about this dish? We get it from this little stall by the subway station down the block from my in-laws house. Isn't great when you can get great food from hole in the wall places? Isn't even better when you don't have to drive forever just to get to the food? Okay, we flew 6000+ miles to get this food, but still...

More later people...

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Hullabaloo under the Peepal Tree

There's this very humourous novel called Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. Great read about the crazy things that happen when people think they're in the presence of religious greatness. In the novel, a guy just decides to chill out in a Guave tree, but people assume he's meditating and is then revered as a holy man. Read it if you have the time. It's old enough that it's pretty easy to find at the library.

Anyways, here's what seems to be a real life example:

Scientists to check Nepal Buddha boy. It would actually be quite amazing and awesome if this boy meditating under a Peepal tree turned out to be the re-incarnation of Buddha. The world could certainly use one. Anyways, I love all the little details about this story, like the villagers figuring out how to enable more people to visit the boy, the scientists checking him to determine how he could live without food or water.

Anyways, I enjoyed Hullabaloo enough that I think I'm going to go to the library and check it out again!

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Solitary Profession...How Does One Improve?

I just read this interesting New York Times article titled When the Doctor Is in, but You Wish He Wasn't. It's an article about the problems patients sometimes have with the "bedside manner" of their doctors. It's a pretty short article so you may as well give it a read.

Anyways, the first thing I reflected upon is the relationship I've had with my doctors. To be honest, I haven't really had problems with my docs. That's probably because I rarely have reason to go. The second thought I had was about the method which my health organizations use to determine the quality of bedside manner their doctors are providing. I've always had coverage through large HMOs or networks. Currently, I'm with Kaiser and I'm going to be sure to ask my friend how Kaiser determines such things (or she could leave some commentary here, hint, hint)

And interestingly enough, the final thing I thought about before deciding to blog about this article was the solitary nature of being a doctor and how that compares to the work that I've done in my life.

This thought came to my mind as I read the end of this article where the consultant asks the doctor to change the way he listens to his patients. I immediately thought about a workshop we had at work where we learned some active listening techniques to learn more about the real thoughts that the other person has and what they reall want to say. That lead me to think about how when I'm at work, I tend to rely on the thoughts, advice, and opinions of my colleagues as I work and before I make big decisions. This is the same for my photography work. While it's a very different line of work, I rely on my partner for creative advice as well as her thoughts on how I'm doing with my work. And this is while I'm working, not after. I feel like I improve at my work all the time through this sort of groupthink. It's a circular thing which allows both myself and my partner or colleague to improve how we work and our results.

Given the description of some doctors work, I wonder how they really improve themselves over time? The article notes the doctor who modified the way he listens to patients, but it's not something he can get pointers on while working. Granted, I don't think most of us need busy-bodies telling us how to do things while we're doing them, but there's a difference between getting consultative advice or training and collaborating with someone to improve as you go.

At the very least, I can ask a colleague, "Hey what do you think of this?" before I actually do something egragarious. I'd imagine that it's difficult for a doctor to do something like that. They can certainly bring in a colleague for a consult, but that seems like such a big deal. So big that the doc has to stop what he's doing because he's not sure and then find someone who can tell him how to proceed. I'd guess that the impression that a patient gets when this occurs might deter some doctors from getting just the advice they might need. And moreover, the advice is usually about some sort of fact, not a soft skill like bedside manner.

As such, it seems like that outside of medical conferences, board reviews, and such, doctors lead a very solitary profession. In such cases, how can one really improve? Books, training, and consultations can only take you so far. What other ways could skillsets be improved for the sake of all?

I don't have any close friends who are docs so if anyone reading this is a doctor, is in med-school, or has a close doctor friend, speak up!

Monday, November 28, 2005

Napa Heads Is Too Allowed

Ahh Thanksgiving weekend. A time to pause and reflect upon all that we're thankful for. If you've read my blog even slightly consistently, you'll know that I'm uber thankful throughout the year so I won't bore you all with my thankfulness right now. Let's instead focus on the photos I took on our little day-trip to Napa.

First of all, let me just say it's odd to be posting my own photos. Since most of the photos I take nowadays are for clients, I don't post them up for review. I also don't post photos of friends and family in public places. So it's a rare occassion when I have photos of my own to post in a public space. With that...let's proceed...

[If you're wondering about the title, just ask me...it's a play on a hip-hop lyric. Not witty at all, just something that came to my mind when starting this post]

Markham winery isn't amazing to look at but it was close to where we were so we stopped by. They were in the process of holiday decorating so it was a bit of a mess inside. Wine was good and so was the light outside. I love taking shots with narrow depth of field. The Japanese love it so much, they even have a term for it: Bokeh



More Bokeh with this shot taken at Beringer Winery. I must say that even though Beringer is a huge winery and they say the smaller wineries are more quaint and nicer, Beringer does a nice job with their grounds.






They say we don't have seasons in California. Well here's proof that we do indeed get some color changing, season changing goodness. Of course, it's the end of November, not September and even then, the colors are sporadic. But hey, in the meantime we had an exceedingly long Indian Summer that we got to enjoy this year. One of these years, we definitely have to go to New England to experience the fall colors. Let's hope we can plan it sooner rather than later. [Taken at Beringer Winery]


The Leaning Oak of Beringer is famous. At least that's what the tour guide told us. While we enjoy wine, we're not total afficianados so we still take the touristy tours and we still learn new things that most afficianados wrinkle their noses at. In any case, this oak tree is obviously much bigger than than what you see here, but I like the junction of the main trunk with the limbs. Perhaps that's why it's so famous? The tour guide said it's 200 some years old, but that's not all that old considering the age of the sequoia & redwood trees throughout California. Well, whatever the situation, it's a nice looking tree and it has a wine label created in its honor.


Another shot specifically created for tourists: The original wine cellar at Beringer. The main reason I liked this shot and some others which I took in the cellars is the difficulty of taking good shots without a flash or tripod. Not only do you have to be verrrry steady, you've gotta know what you want out of the shot. In this case, I wanted to keep the shot looking old and dusty and as you can tell from the photo, it's exceedinly dusty, ain't it?


Merryvale Winery which we just happened along after lunch. They've got a nice dining room which would be an interesting venue at which to host an event. I loved the colors in here. You'll notice the bug zapper in the corner. I'm sure they take that away during dinners, but I think the blue color really adds to the ambience in the room. Speaking of bug zappers, Merryvale had a ton of fruit flies which wouldn't leave us alone. Again, a shot which is rather simple to take with a tripod, but without the tripod & flash, it's steady as she goes. The additional colors you get without the flash really add to the feel and are more similar to what the room actually feels like.


Ahh, Mother Nature doing her work. I'm not sure why there is such a clean break between the green & orange/brown leaves here, but I liked the juxtaposition so here it is.









This is Pasha, in San Francisco. After spending the day in Napa, we headed down to the City for dinner and a night out. The night ended rather early since we were all a bit tired, but it made for a good Saturday. Pasha's a fun, if expensive Middle Eastern restaurant. Decorations are great, just make sure you get there at a time to enjoy the entire show. We got there about 2/3 of the way through the show so we could have had much more fun if we had gotten there earlier. Regardless, the food was great and too abundant.





Friday, November 18, 2005

Trippy Trippy Trip Hop

Well, after such a long time without any commentary on music, here's a second music related post in the past week!

A friend recently recommended some great music, which I've been loving since first playing it. The rec actually came about because we were talking about good music to work to. Jazz music tends to be great. The new Digables album is also good for working to. The problem with "work" music is that sometimes it can be a little too dull to keep the energy flowing. So utilizing his massive musical memory, my friend recommended a couple of great trip hop albums

The first is DJ Shadow's latest album called The Private Press. The only thing I have by Shadow is his original Entroducing, but his DJ skills blew me away on that album as well as the Quannum show we went to a year and a half ago. Yes, I'm still listening to the Quannm crew, more than ever no considering the new Blackalicious album I got last week. Now add to this, Shadow's new album which is just amazing! I didn't even have to get through the whole album to say it's one of the best I've heard this year. Yes, I know the album is from 2002, but since I just found out about it, it's new to me!

Not only is trip-hop good to work to, I find that my mind races when listening to it so it's a great energy thing. And since I've been working on photo-editing a lot this week, it's helped me keep my creative juices flowing. Good stuff. Anyways, give it a whirl if you're into trip-hop and masterful DJ work.

The second album I cued up was the first album by Handsome Boy Modeling School called So...How's Your Girl?. Again, this isn't a new album (it came out in 1999), but it's a great listen. I think that as I listen to this one more and more, I'll also like it more and more. As my friend was saying, the album's got an all-star line-up featuring Del the Funkee Homosapien, DJ Shadow, Mike D and of course, the long lost Father Guido Sarduicci. There's quite a few other cameos on there, but the main idea is that in 1999, these names were huge and putting together a compilation like this is no small feat. What's no small feat either is having an item in my music collection that says "Handsome Boy Modeling School". Give me a few days and I'll figure out hot to explain that one to my wife :P

Again, give this one a spin if you're into great DJ work that has a little more lyricism in it.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Putting the iPod Cart before the Horse

So I spent a significant part of my weekend acquiring and setting up a new iPod. Not for myself. Not for my wife. Not for my parents. For my uncle. Who lives in India. In a small town. Without a computer.

Last week my dad called me to tell me that his brother had asked for an iPod from America. Now, it's not odd to get requests from my uncles before heading to India. In fact, my dad takes a significant gift for one of his brothers every time he goes to India. However, it's usually a really nice watch or something like that. So when my dad told me about the iPod request my first question back to him was, "Do they even have a computer?"

Well, earlier I told a white lie about them not having a computer. There is actually a computer in the house, but it's quite old and I suspect it would have a tough time running the latest version of iTunes.

Nevertheless, my dad said he still wanted to get him an iPod since he asked for one. I proceeded to remind him of the cost of a new iPod ($300), the requirements for said iPod (computer, MP3s), etc. And then finally asked (multiple times) if he was still sure he wanted to gift it to my uncle.

I'm not sure why I wanted my dad to be so hesitant about getting this iPod. It wasn't the expense of it since my dad generally gets something nice for one of his rels (although the $-to-size ratio is pretty high for an iPod). In fact, I've given one of my uncles a nice film SLR for his photography business. The hesitance also wasn't because I wanted one. In fact, even while I spent time setting up the new iPod and playing with it a bit, I didn't feel any desire to have one of my own.

I think the main reason was because getting an iPod for them was sort of like putting the cart before the horse and having a feeling that the iPod wouldn't really get used much. Referring back to the computer situation, I think my uncle will have a hard time really getting good use out of the device since he doesn't have a library of songs already ripped to MP3s. Sure, he can rip tons of songs and put them onto the iPod, but I doubt he understands how much time and effort it would take. Heck, I decided to do that with my library last year and I gave up after two dozen CDs. It just takes too much time! Forget about having a library of MP3s, regardless of how much my uncle is a gadget freak (which is definitely is), I don't think he's really comfortable with the concept of digital music.

And regardless of how easy it is to use an iPod (very easy if I may say), I think there's a certain experience you need to have before being able to get much use out of it. So there you have it. While I was happy to set up iPod for my uncle, I really don't think he's going to get a tremendous amount of use out of it. I suspect he'll go back to popping in a CD into his CD player since it's just so much easier.

Heck...remember those 5 CDs I got last week for my birfday? Well, I've got 5 jewel-cases sitting in my car and I've been switching CDs every time I want to listen to one of them. I haven't ripped them to my computer. I haven't created a single MP3 CD which could hold about a dozen CDs worth of music and which I could leave in my car stereo.

Will my uncle go through the process of ripping or acquiring a library of MP3s? I certainly hope so. He's got a shiny new iPod that he needs to use :)

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

It's Mah Birfday!

Yay! The Big Three-Oh!

So it's still barely my birthday, but I must say it's been a pretty good 24 hours. We caught the U2 show last night and ended up with some decent spots on the floor. We didn't get into the circle in the middle, but it was still a great show. Much better than their show earlier this year at HP Pavilion.

Then my oh so dear wife has been showering me with gifts for days on end!

I suppose it's a good thing since I rarely get anything for myself. If she doesn't get me something, there's a very slim chance that I would actually buy it myself. So it started out with a new dress shirt, then a new jacket which I've been meaning to get. Those were apparently unplanned gifts which she just found by-the-by.

The "real" gifts came today in the form of a gift for each decade of my life (ie, 3 gifts). The first gift was actually 5 items wrapped into one. CDs ranging from hip-hop to rock (thank Anish for the great recommendations). So here's what I'll be spinning for a while to come: Earth Tones by Crown City Rockers, Funeral by The Arcade Fire, Beyond the Spectrum... by Digable Planets, Demon Days by Gorillaz, and finally, The Craft by Blackalicious. Talk about a great blend of loungy, jazzy hip-hop and rock! As The Digables would say, I've got a nickel bag of funk!

What else did I get? I got some nice shoes which, again, I've been meaning to get. And finally I got a new espresso/coffee maker to replace my woeful array of caffeine machines. My last espresso maker can't make more than one shot of espresso at a time (and I like my coffee drinks strong and bitter) and the steamer is inconsistent.

Oh, and lets not forget the most time consuming gift of all...my wifey baked me a cake. From scratch! Yum!

So there you have it. Some people may have issues with entering a new decade of life, but I'm looking forward to mah dirrrty thirrrty. It's nice to start of my 30th year with so many nice things that I've been wanting for quite some time. Of course, all the time I've been spending with my wife has been great (especially since I've been so busy lately). Just think how fun it'll be spending a night out with the peoples this Friday! If you think I'm giddy right now, wait until I get some alcohol in me ;)

Monday, November 07, 2005

Saving us from ourselves?


So our idiot dog has been doing something which has been really been driving us up the walls (Despite his innocent face pictured on the left). Plus, it's kind of dangerous for him. As such we've been trying to stop him from doing it since the first time he did it.

But for some reason, today when my wife told me he'd done it again, the first thing I thought was that Junior knows something we don't and he's just trying to save us from something worse.

So what's he been doing?

He's been chewing up the eletrical wire from a plug in the game-room. And I'm talking about a single plug, not other wires or plugs in other parts of the house. There's this one plug by our front window which is behind a bench and no matter what we do, he keeps chewing up the wire & plug completely.

He's gone through 2 extension cords, two lamp wires, and one set of Christmas lights.

We've yelled and spanked him so many times now we're tired of it. But today for some reason, I'm beginning to think there's something special and worrisome about that electrical socket and that's why Junior keeps chewing up anything that's plugged into it.

Why do I think this? Well, there are many other plugs and wires all over the house which are much more easy for him to get to than the socket in question. In fact, there's a wire plugged into a socket right where his bed is, but he doesn't seem to care about that one. What gives?

I've heard about pets sensing things which humans can't sense (like earthquakes), so maybe this is one of those situations. Now, I'm not a very superstitious person, but I do firmly believe that there are a lot of things which humans are completely oblivious to. So maybe there's something about this socket that Junior can sense and he's just got this urge in him to prevent whatever he thinks is going to happen.

The only special thing I can ascertain about the socket is that it's wired to a wall switch and that it's hidden behind the bench. As far as I can tell, there's nothing else special about it!

The other thing is that this is the only thing which Junior doesn't stop doing even after we tell him not to. He's quite the obedient dog so he stops doing things after we tell him not to. But this wire, plug, and socket thing? He won't stop!

Anyone else have experiences with any strange things that pets do and they just won't stop?
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Thursday, November 03, 2005

Diwali and Sal Mubarak

Ok, so I'm several days late on this, but I just had to post a little something about this.

Happy Diwali! (Diwali Mubarak)

Happy New Year! (Sal Mubarak)

As a Gujarati, only the second wish is common place. I never grew up wishing people a happy Diwali since our family cared more about the next day, which is new year's day in the Hindu calendar. But since college I've been exposed to the variation of Hindu culture and I receive Diwali greetings all day, but I tend not to wish anyone a Happy Diwali.

Not because I'm a stooge, but simply because I'm used to wishing people a Sal Mubarak.

I confirmed this with several Gujarati colleagues yesterday (which was New Year's Day), so I can truthfully say that most Gujarati operate this way. We wish each other Sal Mubarak and go to temple on new year's day and go out to each on new year's day and call everyone on new year's day and generally make a big to-do about new year's day.

Diwali? Eh...light a diya and be done with it :)

Anyways, just a light hearted way of explaining how we Gujaratis are even wierder than you thought ;)

Friday, October 28, 2005

Musical Thoughts

I haven't written about what I've been listening to lately and since I've been listening to some very different things lately, I thought I'd provide some recommendations. And yes, I'm putting my reputation on the line by encouraging you to listen (and perhaps even buy!) this music ;)

In the "Most Spinned" category is The Bravery. I first heard about these guys on New Year's Eve last year as one of the DJs on Live105 was spinning some tracks by artists he though would break out during 2005. I loved the track he played at the time, but it took me a while to remember the name. So it was at least March or April before I even listened to it again. Well, I'm glad I found the info since I've been listening to this album at least once a week for the past 3 or 4 months. If I had the CD, I'm sure it would be all worn out by now! Thank heavens for digital music ;) So what's The Bravery like? Well, they're definitely part of the 80's throwback crowd like The Killers, but The Bravery seem to do it much better. They seem less conscious about trying to sound 80s-ish and in my opinion, just have a better sound. Their tracks are a bit more dance-y than Franz Ferdinand or The Killers and that be part of the reason I like the sound - it gets my energy going. But here's the odd thing...they also remind my of Joy Division. In fact, when the Live105 DJ was introducing the band last year, he referenced Joy Division and how The Bravery were one of the few bands who could harken back to them without sounding like rip-offs.

Anyways, the album is great from beginning to end. There's an amazing remix of "Honest Mistake" which really harkens back to 80's 12" remixes building up sounds, then breaking them down, and then back up. Great stuff all round. Give it a whirl.

Next album to throw in the cart would be M.I.A.'s Arular. I won't go into the love affair that Sepia Mutiny has with her. Not to say that she doesn't deserve it, but there's no need for me to rehash it all. Anyways, M.I.A. caught my attention first simply because there was buzz about some South Asian chick. I don't normally follow-up on this buzz since there's only a small chance of anything coming of the buzz. In this case, however, I actually liked her first single and decided to give her a chance. I've since listened to her album and have found it to be very listenable. Now, let me say that many people will not like her music simply because of the genre. I don't know if it's official or anything, but I would place M.I.A. in UK-garage. It's a genre which I like, but it's something that many people wouldn't ever want to listen to.

So anyways, it's a good listen. The buzz about her seems to be growing and it's well deserved. Some random examples about growing buzz: she's opening for Gwen Stefani on part of her concert tour and she's got "Galang" playing during a Honda Civic ad.

I may post a little more about music I've been listen to lately, but for now, you should have some fun with these two albums.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

On the Line

Ok, so I promise to cut back on the post about business and some of the things I've learned while starting up this photography thing...for the time being though, here's something I've thought a lot about:

I heard something interesting a few weeks ago at work about customer satisfaction. You can ask customers a million different questions about how satisfied they are with you, but there's a single question you can ask to really find out how you're doing: Would you refer us (to friends, family, colleagues, etc)?


Why is that such an important measure of success? Because it's asking if your customer is willing to put their reputations on the line. Why is it putting their rep on the line? Because they're essentially telling their friend, "I had a good experience with this and you should trust me on this recommendation"

If the friend does indeed have a good experience, then they'll trust future recommendations from that person even more. If they have a bad experience, then maybe future referrals will be taken with a grain of salt.

Personally, I don't want anyone to take anything I say with a grain of salt! Unless I'm just joking around, I expect people to believe what I'm saying and trust recommendations I make. If I don't have a specific recommendation, then I might tell them about someone or somewhere they can get a rec from, but I'm not going to give them a random referral because I don't want to lessen the trust that person has in me.

Soooo...bringing this back to the photo business...I want every client of our's confident enough in our work that they will provide referrals to their friends, family, and anyone that asks.

In creating a customer satisfaction survey, we may be asking several questions of our clients, but for me, the one response I'm most interested in is whether our client would refer us in the future. That answer alone tells me so much.

And we remind our clients about that. Our goal is not only to satisfy them in their experience with us, it is to give them enough confidence to tell their friends and family about us.

What's more, this whole "my reputation is on the line" thing goes both ways. Our clients ask us about referrals for other services, like mendhi, event coordinators, etc. Generally, we don't refer many people simply because we haven't found other vendors whom we can trust enough to put our own business's reputation on the line. As we spend more time in this industry, I'm sure we'll have a nice list, but at this point, we don't. And if people ask us, we tell them.

So it's nice to know if we're easy to do business with, or that our style of photography is lovely, or we're really professional, but if I don't hear that our client is willing to refer us, then we've failed in our goal of satisfying our customer.

Nuff said.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

It's the Quality Stupid!

Starting this photography business has been quite an experience so far. It's been less than a year since we started and we've signed up many more clients than we could have hoped for. Let's leave the reasons for that for another posting, but I'd just like to focus on one part of our running our business: Quality.

From the start my partner and I have always said that we want to be proud of the work that we do and we want our clients to feel the same way. Generically, this should probably be true of any work that a person does, but the reality is that quality can sometimes be forgotten when time is short.

So it's nice how things have worked out between my partner and me. We tend to focus on different aspects of quality, although we don't necessarily focus on just that area. I tend to be most concerned about the technical quality of our work. So that includes the camera bodies, lenses, data workflows, archiving, etc. My partner tends to remind me about the creative quality of our work. And in this business, that is so much more important than what I'm used to in my day job. I would say the quality of relationships with our clients is just as important, but I'm just going talk about the creative aspect right now.

Creative quality isn't just a matter of "being creative", it's a matter of having guidelines for ourselves around what we want to do, what we'll do to satisfy clients, and what we'll decline because it's outside of the realm of things we want to focus on. It includes ensuring our "style" is evident in all of our work. Style is obviously a vague thing, but it's one of those "I know it when I see it" things, and even more striking, it's one of those "I know it when it's not there" things. So it's very important to keep mindful of.

To be honest, we talk about our style and how we love to take certain types of photos, but we're really growing into it and understanding it better as we go along. And that's probably true of any person. Because it's such a vague thing, I don't think someone can define style in advance and fulfill the definition at each step. We can set up guidelines for ourselves about what is and isn't our style, but those guidelines take better shape as we get more experienced.

And that's what keeps this stuff so interesting. If one of us tries something out (either while taking the photos or while editing them) and we both like it, we'll try it out more often, and eventually it may become one of our hallmark things - a calling card if you will.

So back to my original point: keeping an eye of the quality of what we do is something I'm so much more mindful of than I've ever been. And I didn't expect to think about it so often a year ago. Sure I've aimed to do quality stuff at my day job, but if I slack now and again, it's not really a huge deal. But with our business, it's very difficult to get away with anything but the best. Each client of our's has so much riding on our work that it would be a huge letdown for them if we didn't put our all into. Afterall, they're not just paying us to take photos, they're paying us for something very specific. And that's our quality.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Overheard...

I know you're all looking for a great way to waste away your day. Let me afflict you with the most time-wasting activity known to humankind: Websurfing.

Here's the latest time waster: Overheard. There are two sisters sites, one for comments overheard in the office and the other for comments overheard in the New York. The idea is that people say the oddest things, and they sound even more odd when taken out of the context of the larger conversation. Of course, that's what makes the comments so fun to read. Mind you, these comments aren't for the faint of heart.

Here's an example of one of the tamer comments from Overheard In The Office:
Co-worker #1: So, do you get Columbus Day off from school?
Co-worker #2: No, we only get holidays for black people and Jesus.


The two sites can be found here:
OverheardInNewYork
OverheardInTheOffice

Also, while these two sites are great, I must give major props to the originator: In Passing. Eve, the site's owner, started posting comments she heard in passing in Berkeley while she was a student there. She has since graduated and gotten very busy with her chosen career. Even so, it's great to read the archives for a great idea of the insanity (and inanity) that is Berkeley.

Car Rental blahs...

I haven't been travelling much lately so I haven't had to deal with a rental cars in quite a while. I've never really had big issues with rental car companies and have never had anything remotely similar to what is shown on rental car company TV commercials.

The only reason I had to rent a car was because my Audi was in the body shop getting repairs to the front fender. I'm not going to talk about the process of renting and returning the car, because it was pretty straight forward. I just want to mention a few things about the car I drove for a week: the Chevy Equinox

I didn't really care which car I ended up with, but since they gave me a choice, I picked a car which I hadn't driven in the past. So how was the car? Well, there was nothing really wrong with it. But then again, there was nothing really right with it either. My comment to the rental car guy when returning it was "Too big on the outside, too small on the inside."

In fact, the Equinox is a pretty small SUV, but it seemed to take way too much space in the garage. I always had to squeeze out of the car whether in the garage or in a parking spot. And what did I get for all that space taken up? Well, not too much. I'm not talking about luxury & creature comforts. Since it's a rental car, I don't really epxect that. But in terms of conviences that should be included as part of the car, it just didn't feel as useful as our Honda Pilot. From simple things like sturdy cup holders (there were enough cup holders, but they were all rather flimsy and I had to keep glancing at my cup to make sure my coffee wasn't spilling out. I never feel like I need to do that with the Pilot or my A4. Shopping bag hooks in the cargo area are so useful and obvious in our Pilot that I was surprised when there weren't any built into the sidewalls of the Equinox. Overall, things seemed a bit flimsy on the inside. I'm not referring to the level of luxury, I'm just referring to the sturdiness of what is included. The biggest issue I had with the thing was the turning radius. I had trouble pulling into every parking spot I tried, no mater how much space I had. I ended up taking 3 and 4 point turns just to get the thing into a spot. I never have to do that with the Pilot and the A4.

So my take on this is that the Equinox isn't designed for the main thing people do with it: Drive it around town.

This is an issue with most SUVs. Clearly most people who buy SUVs aren't going to be driving down dirt roads any time soon, if ever. So I still don't get why car companies don't design their SUVs to perform better in the situations where they're used most often. SUV ads now claim they're great for city driving, but I think that's just marketing spin without any real changes to how the SUVs have been designed.

I feel like our Pilot is quite a bit better designed for city driving: great turning radius, lots of obvious conveniences inside, and generally drives likes it's much smaller. It could, however, certainly be improved.

Anyways, net-net on the Equinox: Don't bother. If you like Chevy's just go for the Tahoe since it's better designed. If you want something small for suburban life, there's much better out there from Toyota, Honda, and the like.

I'm much happier to have my A4 back and much prefer driving the Pilot when I need something bigger.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Appreciative

Ok...for the people that read my blog frequently, you're going to be tired of this since I occassionaly go off on this....but can I just say I'm appreciative of the life I've been given?


For once I won't mention my wife, dog, and friends in this context. I'll mention the people I work with. While there are many folks who say the right things (and don't neccessarily add much more), I rarely reflect upon a colleague and think that I'm better simply for having the person on my team. On the way home from a work dinner tonight, I reflected upon some people like that this evening. And no, it wasn't the wine talking. I've already thought highly of said people. It's just that this evening, I've had the chance to step aside from the work situations and really appreciate what these people bring.

Ok, go ahead and tell me how tired you are of hearing about the good things in my life. Now go back to reading about the latest iPod. It's much cooler than I could ever be anyways :P

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Relationship Building

I'm not one to meet and talk to new people all the time. However, I definitely recognize the utility of building relationships with an ever expanding group of people. Not just to serve some end goal of mine, but simply to know these people....

Tonight was one of those nights where I was reminded of the importance of getting to know people. We had a happy hour with colleagues after an all day meeting. The idea was for folks from San Jose and folks from other offices to get together after a long day of presentations and business speak. It turned out that most of the folks from San Jose didn't come to the happy hour since they plan on coming to dinner on Wednesday evening.

I actually ended up spending a lot of time at the happy hour. I sort of feel bad for this since my wife was at home while I was out having drinks. But this situation helped put into perspective why I came to the happy hour in the first place. It wasn't to get a few free drinks (afterall, what's $10 in the scheme of things?). It wasn't to get to know more about the issues my colleagues were facing in their jobs. That's what the daytime meetings were for. It was really to build relationships with them. These relationships may help me in my day job and they may not, but I wasn't so concerned about that over a pint of beer.

To be honest, I could care less about our day jobs since I really have no desire to stay in my current job in the long run. But at the end of the night I found a lot of value in simply knowing my colleagues apart from their jobs. It's nice to know that one of my co-workers moved from Ireland to Brussels and hopes to never move back to the place he grew up in. It's nice to know that another of my co-workers had to convince her parents to live near her home after their retirement.

Will this knowledge ever help me in my day job? Probably. Do I care if it doesn't? No.

And that's the point. I rarely make an effort to meet new people. But when I do, I find such great fulfillment in knowing more about those around me. It makes me wonder why I don't do such things more often. I guess I have to be satisfied in simply being thrown into positions where I don't have to make much effort. In such cases, I go full bore and take advantage of the situation. Unfortunately my wife had to sit alone at home in this case, but did I find something to gain out of it? Yes.

Now I'll just have to spend a little more time at home :)

Monday, October 17, 2005

Mac and Me

No, I'm not talking about the 80's movie. I'm talking about my foray into the world of macintosh computers. With the new photography business we had to buy new desktop machines and we decided to go with Macs since we'd have to do video and other more multimedia oriented tasks.

It's been about 4 months since I started using the Mac so I guess I should give an opinion on it...

I should start out by saying that I'm a fan of Apple, but I'm not a fanatic. I don't own an iPod and I don't plan on getting one any time soon (although my wife loves her pink iPod Mini).

I've always heard about the advantages of OS X and the iLife apps, but wasn't sure if I'd actually use any of them without the excuse of the business.

So first things first...Apple is very concerned about the experience of owning a Mac right from when you bring the box home. Upon opening the huge box which our PowerMacs came in I found one sheet of paper with 5 steps on it to get started, two cables, a keyboard, and mouse. For some reason, this seemed really easy to me. Especially after I opened up the HP printer box and there was a ridiculous instruction sheet just to set up the printer.

Second, the look of the OS X desktop is mesmerizing. Maybe it's the calming blue of the default desktop or maybe just the idea of owning a "cool" computer. Either way, the screen still sort of hypnotizes me and helps me shut out other distractions and get down to work.

My first dislike about the Mac came pretty quickly and that's with the mouse. I don't so much mind the single-button, but for some reason, the mouse just doesn't seem sensitive enough. I mis-click and over shoot my target often enough that it's annoying. And this isn't just about getting used to a new mouse, I've since switched to a multi-button microsoft mouse similar to what I have at work and I still have problems. What's the deal with that? At this point, it's not just annoying, it's really frustrating especially when using Photoshop (which I use a lot) since the palettes line up right next to the dock (which I have along the right side). I feel like trying out a few different mice just to see if there's any way around this issue. Maybe I'll try fiddling with the mouse sensitivity settings again...

My first love about the Mac came with iDVD. It's funny because I don't use iDVD as much as iMovie or iTunes (I never use Garageband). I'm used to iTunes from Windows and I think it's really powerful and the fact that every competitor is copying the organization method is a sign of how well designed iTunes is. iMovie is great, but I'm used to Windows Movie Maker (which is truly a rip-off of iMovie). So using iMovie is really satisfying but I didn't drop my jaw. I did, however, drop my jaw an inch when I first used iDVD. First of all, it's well integrated with iMovie so you can create a DVD menu and burn it very simply after you're done in iMovie. This can't be said about Windows Movie Maker since there is no MS app which will create DVD menus and render discs for you. 3rd party DVD software on Windows has always underwhelmed me so just the fact that I can click a single button in iMovie and have iDVD open with a ready-made menu with all of my movie chapters ready to roll is reason enough to smile. But let's talk about the menu templates which iDVD comes with. Actually, I'm a bit speechless. To say the least, they're very slick. Very slick. I feel bad taking credit for a nice DVD experience (which our clients always compliment us on) since it's really iDVD which makes the experience so nice from the moment you pop in the DVD. Apple done good with iLife, integration across apps (iTunes and iPhoto are well integrated with iMovie too), and iDVD especially.

Speaking of iPhoto, I'm greatly disappointed by it. Picasa is much better for general photo management. iPhoto does have the ability create photo books and the integration with iMovie is useful, but Picasa has so many more useful features that the two can't compare. When a pro photographer recommends Picasa to anyone who'll listen (which I any time I'm asked for a rec), take that as a good sign. For the average person, Picasa can replace Photoshop without problems. iPhoto is just a hindrance for us in many ways. If I could, I'd switch it out with Picasa on moment's notive (Google are you listening?!)

Dashboard is one of the new elements of OS X Tiger and it's pretty useful. I like the implementation better than Konfabulator (Apple should really acknowledge that they ripped off Konfabulator like a mutha) since I don't like how Konfabulator defaults to showing widgets on top of everything. That's just a personal choice though since I can see how having certain widgets on top of all windows would be useful. The fact that Dashboard widgets are only visible when you bring up the whole Dashboard is kind of lame and Apple should add the ability to see widgets without having to bring up the whole dashboard. In any case, I don't use Dashboard too much, but when I need it, it's nice to have for a quick calculation, map look-up, or date check, etc. If you don't have a Mac, I highly recommend checking out Konfabulator. Since Yahoo! bought them, it's a free download now and definitely worth trying out.

The bigger functionality improvement in OS X Tiger is probably Spotlight, which lets you search for anything and find results quickly. I find Spotlight very useful. Rather than create shortcuts for everything, I can just type in something quickly and get simple, organized results quickly. I tend to use spotlight more often than dashboard.

One quirk about OS X I still can't get my arms around: when you click the red X button in the top left of application windows, some apps actually quit while others just close the window even tho the app is still running in the background. I actually like the latter since it's nice to have certain apps running all the time but not have them waste space. But the problem is that some apps don't follow this rule. I thought Apple were sticklers for how applications should interact with the user and certain actions should always have the same effect? So what's up with this?

Same goes for switching between windows within the same application. In OS X you can click "Apple-`" to cycle between windows within the same application, like multiple browser windows, etc (just like "Apple-tab" switched between apps). This is quite useful, but the problem is that it doesn't work in all apps. ESPECIALLY Photoshop! Photoshop is where I need this functionality the most! Alas, I must click through the various windows to get to the photo I need.

There are quite a few other interesting things in OS X, but I'll leave it be. This post is getting rather long.

Oh, one last item...the keyboard commands for home, end, jump one word at a time, and jumping to the beginning/end of a line are all different in OS X. Since I'm used to Windows for such keyboard navigation, I find this really frustrating. I've tried to remember to use the appropriate Mac keystrokes, but the Windows versions are totally motor memory for me, so it's been tough. Oh well.

And can I say that the Mac keyboard looks cool, but it gets dirty as hell? White may look nice, but it doesnt stay clean at all!

Monday, October 10, 2005

Hitting the Sweet Spot

Sorry for not posting. I really did mean to post more often since I found the urge a few weeks ago (man, has it been that long?!). To give you an idea of how busy I've been and how tired I've become.....we went to watch the Wallace and Gromit movie yesterday and about 2/3 of the way through I actually dozed off! During a Wallace & Gromit film! Since I've loved every short film of their's, it's a real surprise to find myself so tired that I can't stay awake. In any case, it's a good movie, you should go see it. I'm also going to try and stay awake :)

So anyways, to the topic at hand...

I mentioned the photography business in an earlier post and one of the things we wanted to do is target the Indian market with something unique and (we hope) much needed. We have a photo-journalist type of approach to our work and we think it shows in our samples. We've received comment to that effect from friends, clients, and some others who've seen our work in detail.

However, yesterday was the first day that we got tons of comments from person after person. We attended a bridal fair yesterday targeting the Indian market and we seemed to be one of the few vendors meshing two worlds and hitting that sweet spot.

What's the sweet spot you ask? Well, in this case, it's something which is really unique and high quality for the people you're interested in. The photojournalist approach which we have is actually not at all unique in the world of wedding photography, but it's very new to the Indian community (at least on the West Coast). We've had that feeling all along, but that was really validated yesterday by many former brides and even more brides-to-be.

So for us, it's nice to know that we've got many potential customers who've seen our work and want to talk to us. More importantly, for them, they've now got a resource where they can have the style of photography which can make their events all the more special. And just important is that they can get that style without having to explain every last detail about Indian ceremonies and traditions. Many of the prospective brides mentioned that they it would be wonderful if they didn't have to worry whether their photographer knew about the important moments during their wedding ceremonies or worry about explaining how a garba works, etc. Granted, most good photographers can figure such things out pretty quickly, but sometimes, in the time it takes to figure things out, the special moments have already passed.

So for us, I feel like we're hitting a sweet spot where our clients really want what we have to offer not just from a quality perspective, but from an overall experience perspective.

That being said, what I was even happier to see yesterday was that there were other vendors at this fair who seemed to be taking the same approach as we are. I'll call out one vendor specifically: a wedding coordinator. Now the idea of a wedding coordinator is obviously nothing new, but it's an idea which is still catching on amongst Indians on the West Coast. We talked to this woman who was just getting started in her business targetting the Indian market along with her sister. In speaking to her, I really realized how the trend in Indian marketing is shifting focus onto a new generation of clientele. Makes sense since there's a huge number of 2nd generation Desis coming of age now.

I feel like we're on the leading edge of this trend here in the Bay Area Indian community. And that's the sweet spot. If we changed our location to New York, we'd be middle of the pack since the trend has been moving in that direction for years. If we changed our market to the general wedding community, we'd again, be middlers since wedding photojournalists have been around few years and years.

But we're focusing on the Indian market in California. And we'll stick to this market until we own it...then we'll move onto the rest of the world :)

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Comment Spam

One of the changes to the blog world between the time I stopped posting in April and now is comment spam. I'm referring to random posts that are advertising some product or website.

I had seen some spam in the comment section of some other blogs, but not on blogs hosted by blogger. Well, apparently, they made their way to the blogger.com hosted blogs. How annoying!

After clicking submit on my first post in a long time I immediately got a couple of comments (they get emailed to me). I thought, wow, someone's already reading my blog again! You know that feeling you get when you come home and there's a message on your answering machine? (well, we don't even have a land line any more, but you know what I mean) Well, that's the same feeling I get when I get comments on my blog. It means someone cares!

Well, how naive I was to think someone cared to leave their very best within 30 seconds of my post. Actually I should have known better...how the hell is someone gonna read my post and leave a comment within 30 seconds?!

Anyways, I checked the comments and there were both spam! I deleted them and let it be, but then I got another spam comment later in they day. I had to nip this nonsense in the bud since I really don't care about reading the Fox TV schedule for tonight (all of the spam talked about the Fox TV schedule for some reason)

So now I've got this image verification function turned on so when people leave a comment they've gotta type in the letters/numbers which appear in the image. I guess that makes it difficult for bots to post spam. Seems like it's working since I haven't gotten any spam since turning it on. Hopefully it's not a pain to everyone else that may want to leave a comment (all 2 of you!)

How about the other bloggers in the bunch? Are you getting much of this spam?

Monday, September 19, 2005

Blame Game

The blame game continues in New Orleans:

NEW ORLEANS - Residents began trickling back Monday as part of a plan by the mayor to reopen New Orleans one ZIP code at a time, despite repeated warnings from the top federal official on the scene — and President Bush himself — that the city is not ready.

Mayor Ray Nagin defended his decision to let people back in, and suggested that the federal official in charge in New Orleans, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, had made himself “the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans.”
AP - Sept 13th, 2005



Now, I'm not saying that Mayor Nagin is completely correct in his decision to allow some people to move back into New Orleans. I'm also not saying that the Feds are wrong to disagree. In fact, I think Mayor Nagin is a little crazy and not the best leader under the immense pressure he's been under over the past few weeks. My main problem with this whole situation is that all of this is happening in public...

There's clearly a lot of blame to be passed around in this situation from top to bottom. And everyone is trying their darndest to cover their asses as best possible. I fully expect the Bush Admin to disagree with just about any major decision made along the Gulf Coast. If nothing else, it covers their asses so they can say "I told you so" if things don't work out. I fully expect local authorities to push for faster recovery than might be recommended so they can display their leadership in tough times. If nothing else, it covers their asses so they can say "I tried" even if the decisions aren't the perfect ones.

These two ways of thinking tend to conflict with each other, but I think they can be worked out for the best results. The problem here is that each side wants to be seen as right at the cost of the other side being wrong. And this is not just a matter of being right while the other side is wrong. This is a matter of doing it all in public.

And that's what pisses me off the most about this. This is probably my bias coming in here, but I think this makes the Bush Admin come off as the petty ones in this argument. They're the ones with the experience (supposedly) so they should be doing their best to ensure that agreements can be made for the benefit of all. To be honest, I think Mayor Nagin is in over his head. He really doesn't have much experience and it shows. That being said, I give him a little more benefit of the doubt since he's clearly trying his hardest for the benefit of the people of New Orleans. While I'm sure he's trying to save his rep (what little there is of it given his lack of experience), he doesn't come off as petty; he simply comes off as trying to make decisions under pressure.

My thoughts on all this?


  • It's probably naive to think that you can let people into portions of NOLA and still be able to block off other portions of the city (ostensibly to prevent looting, etc).

  • Mayor Nagin is in over his head, but he wants to try to get his city back to some semblance of normalcy sooner rather than later.

  • Bush & Co are being petty by making it public that they disagree with Nagin's decision. They could have figured out a way to make this all work out and perhaps delay NOLA's re-population be a week or two.

  • Bush & Co would have found a way to make it work if local leadership was GOP and not Dem.


Nice to see politics taking a back seat to good leadership ;)

UPDATE: 9/19/05 2:45pm
So the story to which I linked above has been updated indicating that the re-population of NOLA has been halted due to tropical storm Rita (are we already to the R's?!). All of the comments above still stand, but let's see what further political gamesmanship occurs before people actually get to go back to NOLA.

Oh, and one other thing a friend and I agree upon: Nagin is a little crazy and should simply refrain from speaking when he's too emotional. Like I said, he doesn't have much experience and probably gets too caught up in things. I do believe he's still making the decisions he thinks are best, but Bush & Co are and will continue to use his strange comments against him. Thank god we get to see such leadership in our times :|

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

I Am.

So it took me a while to get around to actually posting again. In fact, there have been many moments since April when I've wanted to post, but never actually loaded up blogger. The most recent moment is what I decided would be my step back into the fray...whenever that happens.

Well, I've finally loaded up blogger and that moment is now so let's jump in with something that really filled my heart with "gladness" and put a grin on my face.

A few weeks ago I saw this foreign film called "L'Auberge Espagnole". Literally, it means "The Spanish Inn". It's about an French exchange student who goes to Barcelona for a year as part of the Erasmus program. Don't ask me what that program is, since I don't know. It seems like a program to bring various foreign students together to experience a new country. As one would imagine, the film is really about learning new things, opening oneself up to the various opportunities out there, and simply exploring life for what it's worth (It's definitely a film worth watching as it's not too "out there" in the way some foreign/artsy films can be, but it's definitely more fulfilling than most of the crap that put out there)

Now, I've watched a lot of foreign films in my day. Many of them have this same sort of message. While watching these films I generally end up thinking "I wish I could do something like that"

But you know what? For the first time, while watching a film like this I actually thought "I Am"

I Am exploring new opportunities.

I Am enjoying life for what it is.

When I realized that, I couldn't help but grin. I looked over at my wife who was sound asleep, looked over at my dog who was thinking about walking over to me for a chin scratch, and I smiled. I nodded my head.

I Am.

...

So to fill you in as to why there's this sudden change, part of the reason that I haven't posted in so long is because I've been busy with a new business venture that a friend and I are pursuing. After so many years of thinking about it and doubting myself, I'm finally following the path to becoming a professional photographer.

I can finally say that I Am pursuing my photographic passions.

Additionally, my wife and I made the big decision to start a family. There's nothing baking just yet, but just the decision alone has really changed my view on some things and created this lasting optimism that wasn't there before.

I Am going to be a father...who knows when though so don't ask and don't take this is the official announcement since there's nothing to announce yet :P

And just as a final addition, can I just say that we have the best friends? A friend got married this summer & another got engaged and, as expected, it brought all of us just that much closer. Yet another reason to smile.

So anyways, I've been very silent in the online universe, but in the past 141 days I found so many reasons to smile and be happy with where we are in life. And the next time I watch one of these films, I'll still think "I Am." and not wish I could be some place else in life.

I Am in the place I want to be.

Back

It's been 141 days since my last posting here. My next post is less than 141 days away. Hopefully less than 1 day away. Buckle up :)




Tuesday, April 26, 2005

The Sitayana

Sita as imagined by Nina PaleySo this is old news in the Desi blogosphere by now, but I finally took a look at the Sitayana animated shorts by Nina Paley and I'm just beyond impressed! Ms. Paley has re-imagined The Ramayana from Sita's perspective and set it all to 1920's jazz music. The animation is very imaginative and the soundtrack is used as the only dialogue. If you don't already know the story of The Ramayana this makes it a bit confusing, but if you already know the story, you'll find that the soundtrack and animation fits with the storyline perfectly.

Thanks to Turbanhead for bringing this to the attention of so many people.

These animations are apparently so popular now that the artist can't even afford to host them on her own site any more so read on to get the dirt on where to find these amazing videos...


Nina Paley's website can be found here: www.ninapaley.com

She refers to this site for direct downloads of the quicktime movies.

Sepia Mutiny's Manish has posted torrents of the first four shorts here.

The files are rather large, but well worth it.

If you don't have time to download who files, you can check out a streaming episode here: http://www.ninapaley.com/Sitayana/sitayanaquicktime.html
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Monday, April 25, 2005

Hotel Rwanda

Paul Rusesabagina & Don Cheadle during the making of Hotel RwandaSo it's been well over a month since I last posted here. I've heard it from several friends about my lacking of posting and I simply couldn't find the time nor the energy to write. Well, after watching Hotel Rwanda last night, I think it's time for me to start this baby up again.


Rarely do films move me. Forget about moving me, I rarely even get emotional during movies let alone look internally to imagine what the character must be going through. But watching the events unfold in this story really made me wonder if I could ever do what Paul Rusesabagina did to save the lives of almost 1300 Rwandan refugees. What's makes this true story even more amazing is that this man isn't someone who crusaded to change the world. He was simply confronted with a situation and dealt with it. I'm sure he felt overwhelmed at some points (they had a "fictional" scene in the movie where Paul lost it after seeing hundreds of bodies strewn across the road), but he carried on and did what he knew was his duty.

And that's really what makes this story so powerful. It shows us that we are all capable of such things during the worst of times. Above, I mentioned that I don't think I'd be able to do what Paul R. did during the Rwandan genocide, but the thing is...he probably didn't think he could do it either. In fact, at the beginning of the movie, it's clear that Paul R. just wanted to look out for his family, but once thrown into the situation, he ended up saving almost 1300 people!

All of this being said, I really wonder how this movie didn't win more at the Oscars. Granted, the Oscars are not the end-all-be-all when it comes to stories such as this. In fact, the true test of this greatness for this movie is how many are moved to do something about similar events elsewhere (Darfur, Sudan for example). But in terms of the Hollywood crowd, this SHOULD be a hands-down favorite to win big time. Playing on the Hollywood stereotypes, the movie portrays an activist, he's non-white, he helps saves lives, he is truly a hero amongt villains. What else do you want? Ahh yes, that's right, nobody invovled in the production of this movie is on the "inside" in Hollywood. There's really no competition when it comes to competing against insiders like Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) and current it-boys like Jamie Foxx (Ray). Congratulations on their wins, but seriously...have you seen Don Cheadle in this movie? How about Sophie Okonedo who plays Paul R's wife?

Ok, so I'll end this post without going on too much longer. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you've gotta go rent it. I haven't seen a movie this powerful in a LONG time and it's something all of should see.

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Sunday, March 13, 2005

Hip-hop's version of municipal bonds


Following up on a recent post, I found this article: The Game Is Up (Brendan I. Koerner, Slate.com)

It's a pretty dead on summary of why Dr. Dre does so well. He's obviously got production talent. But he's got great ability to pick talent. But he's also got great ability to keep things in control and not get over-exposed. The article mentioned Eminem, Fiddy, and The Game as rappers that Dre has made, but completely forgets to mention Snoop as well.

Sorry to say that Snoop has gone the other way and is really just out to make a quick buck now; you can tell that by all the crap he puts out now. Sure, his singles are catchy and they get mass radio play, but after a month or two, that's it. Can you name a Snoop track from more than 3 months ago? I can remember Drop It Like It's Hot, bt beyond that all I remember is the song with all the Brazilian chicks in it. What was it called? Who knows.

But you'll never forget Doggy Dog World or Ain't No Fun. And why is that? Dre produced 'em. If someone else had produced Snoop's first album, I'm sure it would have been crap. But instead, there was so much buzz about the guy that he was on top of the world before he even had an album out! Same with Fiddy (In Da Club) and The Game (How We Do). It's not the rappers who are immortal, it's the producer who's immortal (Excuse me if I call Dre an immortal). And it's all because he goes for quality rather than quantity. Even if it means moving onto new rappers so he can keep tight control over the quality.

But this article speaks to a lot of what makes greats into immortals. There are many out there who could produce 10 times the material that they do, but they spend the time to make sure that what ends up coming out goes beyond what anyone could produce. Take U2 for example. A friend and I always talk about how U2's B-Sides are better than 90% of the music that's ever put out. And those are the tracks that U2 think are not good enough for their albums! I'm sure that if U2 had not recorded 100 tracks in studio just to narrow it down to 11 or 12 tracks for an album, their track record wouldn't be nearly as good. They might be able to live off their laurels for an album or two, but after that it'd be caput.

So there you go. It's not just hype and marketing. It's anticipation based on the quality work that the artist or producer has put out in the past. When that past work is consistently good, you can count on good shit the next time you hear their stuff. There are so few of these types of people, and that's what takes them beyond just great and makes them immortal.

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Saturday, March 12, 2005

Salt March

Today is the 75th Anniversary of the start of Gandhi's Salt March in India. Gandhi started this march not just to protest the taxation of salt by the British, but to make a grand spectacle of such injustice. Sure enough, the entire nation was held captive by these events and many consider this march to be the start of the national capaign for a Free India.

Here's a site with a good rundown of the March. The entire site is actually put together by a professor at UCLA who's class I took while there. Good stuff there about the entire Indian experience.

Here's some coverage of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary in India where there is a re-enactment of the entire march.

Additionally, we at Young India have published our newsletter, Samay, with special features about the Salt March. The newsletter is a monthly publication (I'm the Editor-in-Chief) so give it a read as there is some interesting analysis there about other issues of the day.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

BFF-Unit!

We can all rest easy now as the rap world is back on its axis. If you've been keeping track like I have, you'd know that 50-Cent and The Game have made up after a little throw down in the lobby of the Hot 97 studios in New York.

I know this is HUGE news to all you Nelly fans out there, so that's why I gotta break it down. Here's a HARD-HITTING article from MTV about 50-Cent dropping The Game from G-G-G-G-G-G G-Unit!. Mysteriously, there were shots fired in the lobby of the Hot 97 studios when our man Fiddy was doing an interview of upstairs. Apparently it was The Game's posse throwin down. It all blew up from there.

The homie Funkmaster Flex initially offered to negotiate. After all, hip-hop's about the love and Flex got muscle in the game to keep things mellow. Flex quickly realized the seriousness of the situation and pulled his offer to negotiate. He must have read this article on MTV about how Fiddy and The Game have had troubles from the start.

Well, apparently it's all gravy between the two loveable rappers. BBC has called it in favor of the Harlem Boys Choir which somehow came away with $253,500. So what lead these two to kiss and make up? This writer suspects Dr. Dre had something to do with it. He can't let a shooting or two impede his way to 200 million records sold.

I can finally fall asleep at night knowing these two are BFF. In fact, I think they should take my suggestion and rename the crew to BFF-Unit. Now let me go rationalize how I could have just spent more than 30 minutes on writing this and making the heart image.

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Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Chaaterific

Yes, I can make up words.

Since I grew up in Southern California, I tend to compare NorCal with SoCal now and again. I used to do it much more often (like everyday when I first moved up here), but I still do it even though I've lived here for five years now.

One of the big differences I've always noticed between the two regions is the type and quality of Indian food. This is all generalization, but I feel like the Bay Area has a much better array of Indian food options. SoCal has many restaurants, but most are North Indian and most are sit-down. The Bay Area has a bigger variety ranging from North Indian cuisine to South Indian and there are many, many fast food joints including Chaat places. It's so noticeable that even my parents comment on it. When they come up to visit, we usually take them to at least one fast food Indian joint since the food is so good and it's like half the price of most Indian restaurants in SoCal.

Well, it seems the New York Times has noticed the evolution of Indian restaurants and the emergence of Chaat as a central item that Indians crave: Mumbai to Midtown, Chaat Hits the Spot (Julie Moskin, NY Times)

If you've read to this point and you're STILL wondering what the hell chaat is, well, read the damned NY Times article! But if you really don't want to read it here's the run down: chaat is a catch-all term for Indian snacks. It's usually consists of sev (fired noodles, I guess you could say) mixed with various chutneys and melded into spicy sweet goodness. A lot of it is fried so I wonder exactly how bad for one's health the stuff is, but no matter, a good chaat can be better than an In-N-Out burger (and that's saying a lot!)

We'll go for chaat occasionally, but when we go to India it's a dangerous pleasure. Dangerous you say? Well, here, the food is made in relatively sanitary environments, but in India chaat is usually sold from carts along busy streets (as you can read in the NY Times article). The more establish vendors (called Chaat-wallahs) have moved into roadside buildings, but the ideas the same. So as a tourist not used to the food there, we risk getting sick just to enjoy the goodness. Yes, it's a pleasure worth risking your life over!

That being said, I'm starving and it's not close to lunch time yet!

***UPDATE***
Yes, Sepia Mutiny has already posted about this. I should check them before making any posts about Indian related articles in any newspaper :). Here's the link to their posting: Chutney Lady (Manish, Sepia Mutiny)