The Narrator

Taking you there

2010-09-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

What's a few months between posts? :)

I wanted to share a couple of visual things which just "take me there"...I tend not to share a lot of this stuff, but I was surprised by how powerful both of these vignettes are.

The first is a slideshow called "A Day In Varanasi" with photos that are uncommonly good, don't linger on the "usual" photos you see and really make you feel like you've spent a day on the river banks experiencing all the little things. It comes via The Travel Photographer who manages to share the work of a tremendous number of great photographers. Have a look:

A day in Varanasi from Matjaz Krivic (www.krivic.com) on Vimeo.

The second is sort of a highlight reel of a day spent jumping off cliffs! VERY different than the Varanasi scenes, but something which nevertheless, puts you at the feet of these daredevils. My first reaction was that I'd love to see this on a huge IMAX screen and maybe even in that Hang gliding ride at Disney's California Adventure. Have fun and don't get too scared!

Last Walk Around Mirror Lake - Boom Bip (Boards of Canada Remix) from FroschYankee on Vimeo.

Photos that Changed the World

2010-04-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

I can talk on and on about why some photos really strike a chord with me, but this 6 minute presentation at TED from earlier this year does a great job and connecting the dots.

(via Digital Wedding Forum)

The Passing of a Photography Legend

2010-03-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

As an avid photographer, I just love imagery of all kinds. However, I tend not to dwell on things and just try to take more photos. Every once in a while though, I'm reminded of how big the photographic universe is and the kind of legendary photographers & work we've been blessed with in our lifetimes.

A photographic legend died a couple of days ago, and I'm sorry I didn't even know about him until his passing. If you've never heard of Jim Marshall, I'm sure you've seen his work. Anyone familiar with musical legends like Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, or Thelonius Monk has most likely seen his work.

Whether you like his work or not, the guy had amazing stories about his adventures at the crossing of music and photography. He was like a musical Forrest Gump! Just amazing stories about how he ended up in situations to take such iconic photos of musical legends we all know.

For example, he was in jail on drug charges and the bail bondsman who helped him get out of jail turned out to also be Carlos Santana's band manager. He asked Marshall to take photos of Santana and that lead to some iconic photos of Santana's first recording session. Or the time at the Monterey Pop Festival where Jimi Hendrix was sound checking with just his band and an empty amphitheatre.

The guy had been places and seen things.

While I wish I had known more about him before his passing, I'm happy to have learned about him nevertheless. Have a look at his work. Even if you don't love the photos, I'm sure you'll find something really interesting in the stories behind the photos.

RIP Jim Marshall.

Moving (and Paying) It Forward

2010-03-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I last posted on this blog. More than 15 months, in fact. A few weeks ago, someone even asked me if he could take over this domain. And I immediately thought...well, I've still got stories to tell! Just because this blog has been dead doesn't mean there haven't been stories and thoughts running through my mind.

2009 was really a year of transition as far as I'm concerned. Figuring things out. Making (sometimes) tough decisions.

2010 so far has been a year of movement. Moving forward based on decisions made. And Paying It Forward to others who may benefit from my experiences and decisions.

Perhaps the biggest decision of last year was one related to my photography. Photography has been a huge part of my life for a number of years, and in the past couple of years it has perhaps been more a part of my life than either me or my family would like. The number of weddings I photographed and the time spent dealing with a bustling business really added up to a lot. Too much.

So I'm no longer booking any more wedding photography.

No more getting up at 6am and returning at 1am. No more missing my daughter's ENTIRE day. No more leaving her sleeping and returning to her sleeping.

And while I thought it would be tough to step away from the photography that I love, it's been so utterly and surprisingly easy. It's been a huge load off my chest. I feel like I can breathe again.

I feel like I can spend a day with my family just...doing...nothing. Or maybe go fly kite. We did that a couple of weekends ago. Or draw chalk on the sidewalk with my daughter. I did that yesterday. Or plant an herb & vegetable garden. I did that tonight.

Amazing, huh? It's the simplest things that mean so much.

And believe me, this decision was simple. And it has meant everything.

So what of my photography?

In many ways, I feel like stepping away from weddings has really let me mind wander and find creative images. I'm still doing professional photography...children, families, and couples, but avoiding all day affairs like Indian weddings really lets me concentrate my creative efforts in the span of a few hours and spend more time away from photography thinking about new ways to use my equipment. I'll avoid the technical stuff and just say that the engagement portraits I did yesterday felt so refreshing because I spent the last 2 months photographing things completely different: cupcakes, sunsets, fog, oak trees, mustard blooms, rain, wet streets. It's not as if this is the first couple I've photographed in months, but I really felt like all that other type of photography helped me to actually focus on this couple is such different ways.

What's more, now that I've stepped away from the weekly schedule of spending all weekend at weddings, I've realized just how much I've learned from photographers around me (in real life and virtually). So I've decided that this is the time to pay it forward. The people I've learned from would have no expectation of being paid back. I know they would prefer that I pay it forward to others who may learn and benefit from the same types of things.

So I'm trying to take a lead with a group of photographers. Telling them my "secrets" of people photography. I set up a wiki to learn about photography last month. I lead a free portrait workshop yesterday. I don't know what knowledge I'll impart next week, but I know it'll be my way of helping everyone to improve their own photography and to capture their own memories.

11 weeks into this year I know this: This is my time to Pay it Forward. This is my time to Move it Forward. These 3 months have been just the beginning. And there's a lot more yet to come.

A Time of Reckoning

2008-11-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Trying to get back into this blogging thing, the topic which has most been on my mind has, of course, been politics and tomorrow's election. A friend and I were talking last night about a variety of things related to the election.

Some of the key things we both already agreed upon were:
1) An election is not the start, it's not the end. It's just a beginning for much more.
2) The GOP needs some serious introspection about the kind of politics its leaders support & really, the kind of leadership its leaders show

More on this...

An election is just a beginning...the funny thing is that both my friend and I saw an awesome Starbucks ad which ended up offering a free cup of coffee for all voters. But the message was really, really, REALLY key. Got that? It's about the most important message any voter should take away from this election season...

An Election is just a moment in time. Yes, it's a chance to make your voice heard. But November 4th shouldn't be the first time your voice is heard. And it certainly shouldn't be the last time your voice is heard. It's just a moment in time. And the real work happens in between elections. People, we can't just exit the voting booths on Tuesday and smile at ourselves for a job well-done. We need to realize that the real work has not yet even started.

Here's the ad in case you're interested:

On the second point, this is actually what my friend and I spent more time talking about. It was similar to a conversation we had during the last big election cycle in India. At that time, we both agreed that the party which had been in control in India and had spent it's time in power to create hatred & incite racism & fundamentalism needed to look upon itself. The leaders needed to think about what devastation they had wreaked upon the soul of Indian democracy. They would need to re-think their method of leadership and the reasons there was so much wrong with it. Not surprisingly, my friend and I saw many, many connections between the BJP party in India and the GOP party in the US.

The really interesting thing is that the GOP seems to be in that spot now. It's time for introspection. Their time of reckoning has arrived. Even if the GOP somehow manages to keep some sort of power, John McCain will have some serious soul searching to do. As the leader of his party (in name only, since there are obviously many other people in the role of king maker), he needs to think about what he has allowed to happen in his name just to win a campaign. Moreover, the leaders of the party need to come to terms with the fact that they have encouraged this season of hatred (seriously, can you imagine openly calling for the murder of the other parties candidate?!) and self-service (I've lost count of the number of instances where "it's only wrong if the other guy does it" is the theme for the day). Additionally, and really critically, the party needs to move away from this idea that being an idiot and ignoring any facts that don't support your guy or your side is okay. And let's be frank here...the great masses who support any party are just followers. They can be lead any where, including off a cliff. This stands true for conservative as well as liberal followers. Sheep are sheep no matter the color. But just like the BJP, the GOP has taken some latent tendencies and stoked those embers into full blooded fear (of Muslims & Arabs) and hatred (of Communists and anyone that's different).

The fact of the matter is that any analysis of the BJP's leadership and the havoc they wreaked on the Indian sub-continent could very easily re-purposed to describe what the GOP have done here in America.

So my friend and I wondered why the BJP had never really done any introspecting after their resounding fall from power. I tried to explain it away talking about the multi-party system in India which require the Indian National Congress to create a coalition just to stay in power and that the BJP could just lie in wait and not really have to repent for their sins.

But we still thought that the GOP would have to re-think things after Tuesday.

No. Matter. What. Their day of reckoning had come.

So this morning I was ready to post about how a win for Barack Obama would not just be wonderful news because of his leadership, but also because it would force the GOP to spend some time thinking about the monster they have created.

And then I read Paul Krugman's opinion piece in today's NY Times. And it's alarming. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Just a quick bite from his piece:

You might think, perhaps hope, that Republicans will engage in some soul-searching, that they’ll ask themselves whether and how they lost touch with the national mainstream. But my prediction is that this won’t happen any time soon.

Instead, the Republican rump, the party that’s left after the election, will be the party that attends Sarah Palin’s rallies, where crowds chant “Vote McCain, not Hussein!” It will be the party of Saxby Chambliss, the senator from Georgia, who, observing large-scale early voting by African-Americans, warns his supporters that “the other folks are voting.” It will be the party that harbors menacing fantasies about Barack Obama’s Marxist — or was that Islamic? — roots.

Despite my concerns about what Mr. Krugman has said, I hope to god that my anxiety about who wins tomorrow amount to a lot of worrying over nothing. And beyond that, I hope that leaders across the board realize what we have in front of us...a great opportunity for change and for moving forward.

Here's to the importance of tomorrow's election day.

And here's to the reckoning that we all need to confront.

If we care enough about the leader of this country, we need to care enough about the cliff we're about to jump off without some serious thought.

Pricing of "The Same Thing"

2008-11-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Wow, a post that's not focused on Sophia!

This post may be something that my B-school friends can help me understand....

We were in Target yesterday getting various sundries and I went to grab some toothpaste. Lately, I've been picking up this Crest toothpaste with Scope. Not because I think it cleans my teeth any better, but simply because it tastes better. In my hunt to find that specific tube, I realized that there was a really wide variation in pricing even amongst the same brand.

I'm not talking about a different "kind" of toothpaste, I'm talking about the same paste that's in a tube. There's that gel stuff which comes in a little clear plastic container which stands up on its own. But I'm talking about the basic toothpaste.

So here's what I noticed...the really basic "no name" Crest & Colgate cost much less than all the other stuff. That's not surprising since those basic types have been around forever. But what about all those variations of whitening and mouthwash/minty fresh types? I figured they'd cost a bit more than the plain jane stuff, but all basically be in the same range.

But it turns out they all cost different amounts. The Crest with Scope costs a dollar more than Crest minty whitening stuff which looks and tastes almost the same. Why is that?

A dollar isn't really all that much in the grand scheme of things, but think of it this way...the Crest with Scope costs 33% more than Crest Whitening and 100% more than the plain-jane Crest!

Looking at it that way, I realized I didn't care enough about the Scope-i-ness so I just picked up the minty whitening version and I'm perfectly happy with that. I'd rather spend that buck on fries or coffee.

So B-school peeps...please explain to me how American consumers are put into this position? I doubt most people even realize there's this huge range in pricing for something as simple as toothpaste. I have my own thoughts and it pretty much revolves about marketing, shiny/new packaging, and general failure on the consumer's part to check prices, but man, what a surprise to see this wide range.

This is HER time

2008-10-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

One other thing I completely forgot to mention in my post yesterday was something that has NEVER come to my mind before last night. Barack Obama had his 30 minute ad on many channels last night and I was sure to watch it. Afterwards, I updated my status on Facebook to the following:

Jigar is so glad he watched Obama's ad..... it brought chills to my spine.... THIS is our time.... THIS is MY PRESIDENT.

Well, I kept it simple in my status, but there was a much bigger reason I just HAD to post on facebook about that...

In addition to bringing chills to my spine, last night Obama brought mist to my eyes. Not because of what he means to me, but because of what he means to Sophia. There are, of course, many inspirational leaders, none more inspiring than Gandhi. And I appreciate what they have to say about improving the future. But last night was the first time that upon hearing such a leader, I looked the future in the eyes....

And she smiled back at me.

:)

The last time I felt anything like this kind of inspiration from a leader was when Bill Clinton stood for the future. At the time, as a college student, it was obvious to me that the guy was exactly what we needed. It was a very personal thing and it brought about a huge sense of pride.

Well, Obama has provided much of the same type of pride & inspiration and I just can't tell you how much this man needs to be our president. However, while watching his ad, in all its sappiness, I just couldn't help looking down at Sophia in her swing.

And for the absolute first time in my life, I connected the dots between the hazy idea of "THE FUTURE" and the clear brown eyes of my daughter. The future, in my mind, has always been about improving my life or our lives.

But never has it been about HER life.

I realized that this moment is not mine. It's not our's. It's HER'S.

6 months

2008-10-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

Wow...it's my sweetheart's half-birthday today and what a half-year it has been. I've actually been thinking about this post for a few days now...not so much about the exact words which I would write, but more thinking about all the wonderful things we've seen in her short life.

I still remember the tears that came to my eyes as the doctor cut her umbilical cord. I haven't cried so many happy tears since...I don't know when.

They say men don't cry or they don't this or that, but just to clarify...DADs are exempt from all that. Whether it's making silly faces and sounds since they make Sophia laugh, or waddling along and singing with her in her baby carrier, Sophia's makes all our inhibitions disappear.

And sometimes, I just have to stop and watch. I know Radha does the same thing. We'll just watch her. There's the joy that she's our daughter and that we're her parents. But there's the amazement at what she's doing and discovering. Lately, we've both caught her just staring at her hands or feet and flexing her fingers and toes. Looking at her face, it's clear that she's doing something as ordinary as practicing her movements. But moreover, she's discovering more and more of her world. Those brain cells of hers are putting two and two together and realizing that she can indeed control her fingers and reach for her toys (or Junior's ears).

The interections with the dogs are one of the latest things we love to watch and encourage. When Junior will allow it, we'll sit Sophia on Junior's back and just let her play with his fur and grab his ears. When Buddy's calm enough, we'll let him sniff and give light licks to Sophia's fingers and cheeks.

And while everyday life and the stresses that come with it take their toll, all of that fades into nothingness when Sophia's in my arms. It's the most amazing thing and these are the moments I hope to remember and cherish forever.

Happy Half Birthday Bachu!

In a Blink

2008-09-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

An unbelievable 3 months have passed since I last wrote about life and I must say, it's well past time to get back on here. When I last wrote, Sophia was still a tiny thing and didn't really react much to us or the things around her. She just needed to be loved. In the 3+ months since then, Sophia has changed and grown so much.

Yet, Radha and I still pause every once in a while in amazement at our daughter. Yes, we're parents. Yes, we still smile ear to ear when we think about it.

While I can't speak for Radha, some of the things I'll always remember about these first 4+ months of Sophia's life aren't singular events. They aren't one time things. They're things which are now daily parts of our lives.

Perhaps my favorite part of the day is the first moment of Sophia's day. When she wakes up and is blinking away her dreams. We'll be sitting there waiting for her to see us. We'll be sitting there waiting for her sweet smile. We'll be sitting there waiting to wish her a good morning and a brand new welcome to her world.

One of the daily rituals which I just love and look forward to are Sophia's baths. As many of our friend know, rather than bathe Sophia in a baby tub, I just take her into the shower with me and hold her in my arms while I soap her up and rinse her down. These showers started when she had a cold and needed the steam to help clear her breathing. And from there, it's been something we've done everyday. For me, it's the one time during the day when it's just daddy and daughter. And every time I step into the shower with her, I've come to appreciate the moment for what it is. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do this with her. She'll get bigger and squirm around more than would be safe. And maybe her mommy will want to give her a bath too :) In the meantime, I baby talk to her and sing to her during the few minutes of the day when it's just me and her. And I love it!

For every week that passes, there's something else which leads us to proclaim that Sophia is a big girl. Just in the past week, she's started eating solid food. She loves the rice cereal she's getting and gobbles it up like there's no tomorrow. The week before that, she found her feet and decided she likes how they taste.

Each of these things were a "first" and we couldn't help but talk about them. But they've now become commonplace things for us. If nothing else, this blog post will help us remember these moments many years from now.

I'll end this post with some thoughts for the future...we're in Singapore right now visiting Radha's family. While her family has seen her grow so much in just 2 weeks here, they won't be seeing Sophia again for quite some time. I can't imagine the changes and the progress that we will experience with Sophia before we see Radha's family again. It's something I look forward to and it's something I hope to track over time.

Back, But Not the Same

2008-05-21T11:10:00.001-07:00

I'm back to work today...sort of getting back to normal life. Not surprisingly, things are so different. Priorities have shifted. My daily schedule & routine have changed. And I'm not sure what more will change in the coming days & weeks.

As I expected, my daily life has changed quite a bit. I know it'll change a lot more now that I'm back to work and eventually when my parents and Radha's parents go back to their regular lives. Having them around to help and enjoy with the little one has allowed us to be sort of in la-la land where we haven't had to cook & clean and keep an eye on Sophia 24 hrs a day. Now, step by step, we'll find out what it really means to be parents.

So the most interesting thing I've noticed with this whole parenthood thing is how my mental state has really changed in regards to loved ones. Well, let's not say that's it's changed...it's just become more evident and obvious. I'm finding that I think so much more about the value of my loved ones and what a devastation it would be if they were not in my life.

And it manifests itself in really odd ways. Typical example: I finally watched "I Am Legend" If you haven't seen it, Will Smith plays the "last" guy on earth after a man-made virus hits the earth. He's got his dog with him as his only companion. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a dog lover through and through. And while watching "I Am Legend" I found myself caring more about the german shepherd than I cared about Will Smith. The dog ran into a dark warehouse and all I could think about was how heartbreaking it would be when (not if) the dog got hurt or died. The obvious next thought was about my dogs.

And when it's late at night, I can't help but look over at my sleeping daughter & wife and what they mean to me. This little one is so new to this world, but has already become such a huge part of our lives. And Radha is now, not just my wife, but a wonderful mother who does everything in her power to ensure for Sophia's well being. It's only in those moments that I realize things will never be the same again.

Nor do I want them to be.

Wake Up!

2008-05-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Sophia is now 12 days old and man have the hours and days flown by. Each day comes to an end before we even realize it. The biggest thing to note is the sleep (and lack there of)

Not surprisingly, we're getting a lot less sleep than we used to. Apparently I look a LOT more tired than I feel, but given that I'm only sleeping about 4 hours a night, I'm sure this will catch up with me soon. I'm not a daytime napper, so I haven't been able to take time out during the day and just go to sleep. I've had lots of opportunity to do that since we have lots of help at home, but when I've tried to nap, I just lay there wondering when I'll finally fall asleep.

So for now, I try to get other things done and help out Radha as much as possible. There have been several occasions though where I'll just fall asleep while sitting in bed.

But, like I said, it's nothing unexpected.

The somewhat unexpected part has been just how much this little one LOVES to sleep! We've got 2 dogs, grandmothers blending and cooking away, gardeners with lawnmowers, Laker games, etc, etc...you name it, and this girl just seems to sleep right through it all. We've been trying to get her on a more manageable sleep pattern where she's up more in the day time rather than night time, but we can't seem to wake her up! We've taken off her socks, put wet washcloths on her feet, tickled her (all recommended by our pediatrician, BTW), but when this girl wants to sleep, there's nothing getting in the way of her and a few ZZZZ's

Oh well, I guess it's just a small thing in the grand scheme of things. It's still a wonder and joy to be a father and I'm just taking it all in and trying to lock each moment away in a corner of my brain.

Memories

2008-05-04T06:01:00.000-07:00

I was going to start this post talking about "firsts" that I'll always remember...I fed my daughter for the first time yesterday...I noticed she has brownish eyes like her mother...I watched as two grandmothers played with their little bundle of joy...we took our sweetheart out for her first stroller ride to the doctor. Not surprisingly, most of these moments would just pass by if we didn't pause to cherish them.
And pausing is what allowed me to realize that these are all memories. Things are moving so quickly, it's hard to comprehend that just 5 mornings ago I wasn't a father. But it's just as crazy to think that we've had 5 days of "firsts" and 5 days of memories made.

I already feel like a pro at diaper changing, swaddling, and rocking the baby to sleep. And as I stop to think about it, I just find it amazing that we've stepped into this role and everyday in our lives will be changed in little ways and big ways.

Junior & Buddy & Baby make 3

2008-05-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

One of the common questions we've been getting now that the baby's home is how we're handling the dogs. Most people don't have two golden retrievers at home to welcome home baby so it's not surprising. And considering most Indians don't have dogs period, Radha and I have been expecting questions on this matter.

Safe to say, it's been pretty much what we thought it would be. Our guys have been alternately curious or disinterested or even a bit depressed.

Before we brought the baby home, I actually brought her first hat home for the dogs to smell. They immediately smelled something new and sniffed down the hat as well as my jeans.

When we brought the baby home, I think getting a feel for the smell in advance helped since they didn't go crazy like they sometimes do when we've been away from the house for more than a day. Since then, the guys have tended to come over to see what's going on with the baby, but then walk away after getting a couple of sniffs. When she's sleeping in the bassinet, they immediately come over and get a couple of sniffs but then they go chill out in their usual spots.

The only wierd thing happened this morning when Buddy (the younger, more playful dog) came into the room when the baby was crying like mad as we changed her clothes. All of a sudden Buddy gave a really concerned whine/growl which is something he usually only does when he sees something he wants to check out more closely (like a squirrel or bird). And that was it. Back to normal.

Not to say we're unconcerned. Even the best trained dogs can do things unexpectedly and wreak havoc. So we're watching them closely and making sure they still get their usual dose of love and know that they're still very much a part of our family.

Cluster F*ing

2008-05-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I realized as we traversed down the journey towards parenthood is that the details of reality are quite different than the generalities I've heard.

An example during pregnancy is the amount that the baby moves while inside mommy's tummy. I thought it would be some movement which could be seen, but our baby was like an alien! After about the 6th month, we could make out specific body parts as the baby was moving inside mommy. Crazy!

So what does this have to do with Cluster F*ing?

Well, I'm talking about Cluster Feeding. Even when we took baby care classes, we never heard about this, and man, is it exhausting! They say that a newborn will need to eat very frequently and new parents just can't get enough rest. That is definitely true, but we never knew about what the nurses call cluster feeding where the baby just needs to eat constantly for hours on end. We're talking about non-stop suckling...take the baby away from her food and she immediately starts crying.

After a while, we got a bit worried since nothing seemed to console this child. But after the nurse explained this all to us, we just had to deal with it despite the fact that both of us were falling asleep while sitting on the bed watching the baby feed.

Anyways, we're back home today and getting settled into the lives of new parents. The hours are just a blur right now, but every moment that we get to spend with our child makes up for any of the stress and exhaustion.

Flying

2008-04-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

They say your life changes once you have a child. Obviously, that's true, but so far, things are a little bit different than I had imagined the first day as a father....

Of course we're tired...getting only a few hours of sleep ensures that every new parent will be tired. But this first day hasn't been the mind-numbing day I thought it would be. I thought we'd be worrying about Sophia every moment whether we're awake or napping, but that hasn't been the case. As it turns out, newborns tend to sleep a lot in their first few days. We've certainly been keeping our eyes and minds on her all day, but we realized that we could talk, laugh, and even have visitors without too much trouble. The nurses here at Lucile Packard also make life so much easier. Besides great tips and advice, they also do their best to make the day as easy as possible for us. Whether it be monitoring Sophia to allow us 3 hours of sleep or changing her diapers for us while we relax a bit, they've made this first day oh so much better than expected.

The days ahead will be very different, I'm sure. We're going home tomorrow morning. No more nurses. Two dogs. And most significantly, two sets of grandparents! More on that as we get there.

In the meantime, I can't believe how fast time is already flying. I've got a 1 day old!

Finally!

2008-04-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

And so it's finally happened! I'm a daddy!

At 5:28pm PT today, the emotions pent up for so long just burst out as I saw my daughter come into this world. I saw how hard my wife had worked to give birth. I saw the doctor looking her over and cutting the umbilical cord, making my daughter a separate being. And the emtions just couldn't be held back longer. I found myself crying at this beautiful sight. I leaned over and hugged my wife and told her to look over at our daughter.

10 fingers. 10 toes. A full head of hair. And inquisitive eyes that looked us over, surely trying to match the new faces with the familiar voices which she had heard from inside the womb. As any parent would say, our child is perfect in every way :)

And so it goes. We're parents now. It's still sinking in, but we can't wait to discover what it means to be parents and to be responsible for our little one.

Counting Up

2008-04-29T12:57:00.001-07:00

For nine months now, we've been counting *down*, but for the last 12 hours, we've been counting *up*. We came into the hospital last night around 12:30 for our appointment to induce labor. With the baby being one week overdue, we had scheduled a time to being the labor process.

It took a while to get checked in...we only got to our labor/delivery room at 1am. And after all of the questions and checks, it was closer to 2am. The good thing is Radha was already more than in the morning. So we skipped the drug meant to soften up the cervix and went right to the one which induces contractions. Even so, it was 3:45am before Radha was given the IV drip with the drugs.

We both got a couple of hours of much needed sleep and started the morning off bright and early at 6:30 with more checks. Things proceeded quite quickly from there. Before we knew it, the anesthesiologists came in for the epidural and Radha was 6cm dilated.

So we've now been in the hospital for 12 1/2 hours slowly counting up. The goal is 10cm dilated and then Radha can start pushing.

For the first time in a while, I'm actually feeling a bit nervous. So is Radha. We've been anxious for quite some time, especially since the due date was a week ago. But only as this "count up" is getting more intense are we getting nervous. I'm sure it's something every first time parent goes through. In my fitful sleep, of all things, I dreamt about the baby's first encounter with our dogs, Junior & Buddy. Strange how anxiousness about being good parents isn't coming to the fore. I think I dreamt about the dogs since the nurse told us about a good way to get them acclimated to the baby's smell. After the birth, I'll be taking the baby's newborn cap home and let the boy's sniff to their heart's content. I'm really looking forward to being a big family.

In the meantime, I'm still counting up.

Ready

2008-04-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write for a long time. Not surprisingly, I put other things ahead of posting to this blog. But now I'm ready...

I'm sitting here in my office waiting to go to hospital with my wife. After nine months, neither of us want to wait any longer to finally welcome our baby into this world. I plan to post words and photos much more frequently now and this is just the start of a new stage in our lives that I'll be doing my best to document.

Some of the things I'm looking forward to...

Firsts...
- Seeing my wife smile at our child for the first time
- Holding my baby in my arms for the first time
- Having my baby sleep on my chest for the first time
- Pausing and taking it all in for the first time

And so here's I'm pausing as the last year has flown by us. It's been a long year and we can't wait for what lies ahead.

On the Lot

2007-06-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm glad I check out random shows on TV. I started following the latest reality show called On The Lot. This show pits a bunch of wanna-be film directors against each other for the opportunity to make a movie with Steven Speilberg.

I had been planning to write this post for a few days, but I only now figured out what I want to write about it. So what do I like about the show?

The contestants seem to be obsessed not with being personalities and beating everyone else, but they're obsessed with showing their talent and winning on their merits. There are a lot of reality shows out there which purport to put people against each other and find te winner best suited to the job. Shows like The Apprentice are supposed to be about finding the best business talent, but in the end, that show is just about Trump, his personality, his personality, his personality, and the cattiness of all the contestants.

People may have a lot of bad things to say about American Idol, but I think the reason the show is so popular is because people like to see everyone trying their darnedest to show their talent and win on their merits. Granted, with that show talent comes down to basic pop, but all the same, the show isn't about pitting people against each other, it's about talent.

On The Lot is very similar in that sense. These budding film makers don't spend much time talking about themselves. They talk about their films and the challenges or cool things they faced while making them. What's more, every contestant obviously has some level of talent they bring to the table, so while you may not like the contestant's submission, you've gotta admit they know a little bit about film making.

A couple of things to note...even though I don't watch too many movies, I've found that I really like the concept and process of film making (discovered while zoned out in front of Final Cut). And this type of contest is right up my alley.

Another thing to note? There's a Indian-American girl on the show and she actually seems to try at making a statement. Her submission tonight was a mockumentary about a South Asian Gay comic. Regardless of the subject, it was definitely very different than the other submissions. Her previous week's submission wasn't all that great, but the fact that she made a little bit risky film is pretty cool. Check out her film right here:
http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=66

This week's show just passed but if you want to check out the submissions, you can still check them all out here:
http://www.thelot.com/episodes/

Saving the day with Customer Service

2007-05-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

I came to the Infiniti dealership this morning for the first regular service on our G35. I am usually wary of taking our cars to the dealership since they always seem to overcharge for basic things and make you feel guilty for not getting every recommended bit of work done on the car.

From the beginning with our G35 though, the Infiniti dealer has made me feel a lot better about bringing the car in here.

First of all, their prices are not through the roof. That, in the end, is the biggest thing. I don't need to pay a million dollars for an oil change no matter how expert the service techs are. Secondly, they have found some ways to make life a lot simpler. They actually called me about setting up my appointment. Granted, that was just a way for them to get more business from me, but if I'm already okay with bringing in the car, having them give me a call to quickly set up an appointment (less than 5 mins from beginning to end) is that much better.

So I brought my car in and when checking in at reception, I realized that they didn't have me in their list of service appointments for today. I say "realized" because they tried their hardest to not let on about that. I'm guessing that the appointment I made via Infiniti customer service somehow didn't end up making its way into the local dealership's schedule. I'm not sure of that, but I'm guessing that's the case since the receptionist asked if my appt could be under any other name.

But upon (probably) not finding my name in the schedule, the receptionist just proceeded to get my info in and act as if everything was completely normal. And within 2 mins, the specific service agent talked me through everything they would be doing and if there was anything else I wanted checked out. He even noticed a couple of things which I was about to mention to him.

And my ETA? About an hour.

Very different from my previous experiences with luxury car dealers that always seemed to make it different. To expensive. Too much hassle. Just too much of a pain to deal with.

Granted, I brought my car in for some really simple stuff, but it's encouraging that I'm able to blog about my good experience while I'm actually at the dealer (free wi-fi!)

No Fault

2007-05-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

This is fucking ridiculous.

If you recall, a Major League Baseball pitcher killed himself by driving while drunk and talking on his cell phone at the same time. Now, the pitcher's dad is suing OTHER people basically saying that they contributed to his death.

What the FUCK!?

He's suing the restaurant that served him drinks all night long. Okay, so I can potentially see some negligence there. But on the flip side, if they had not served him, he'd probably be a bitch ass about it and complaining that they're not serving him drinks.

He's also suing a tow truck driver for being on the roadside helping another driver in a stalled car. Huh?! The dad claims the tow truck driver was negligent for not getting the car out of the way faster and for not putting down flares etc.

He's also suing the driver of the stalled car! Why? For being negligent and letting his car stall in the first place.

Now, I'm the first to complain about people who don't pay attention and get into accidents, but seriously....this dude drank himself stupid, got in his car, proceeded to speed down the freeway while on his cell and drunk off his ass. And he unsurprisingly got into an accident and killed himself.

And now his dad's suing everyone else for killing his son?

Everyone's fault but his own.

The American way.

I can just see this asshat throughout his life. When his son was in little league, he was probably the most annoying dad making sure his son won at all costs, even if it meant the other boys got hurt while his son looked good. I'm sure he was never happy with the disrespect his son was shown in the majors for making less money than he should have. And now, he can't live with the fact that his son was an idiot who had drove dunk multiple times and finally got himself killed for being the idiot son that he was raised to be.

Fuck that.

[By the way, I'm personally trying to make Asshat the latest derogatory term. Please feel encouraged to us it as much as possible.]

Immigration

2007-05-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

So immigration has been back in the news since a bill proposal was put forth outlining a wide variety of things. In this case, the bill is supposed to allow for skilled workers to basically earn their way to a greencard and eventual citizenship. Everyone seems to have problems with the bill, which isn't a surprise since it's a compromise. Regardless of the bill itself, let's just admit right up front that the only reason this is even a topic is because people don't want to deal with things are causing much more strife: Iraq and Healthcare. That's what always happens when people don't want to deal with real problems....they bring up immigration. People love to fight about it.

But something just came to my mind while reading a post on Sepia Mutiny regarding the term FOB and a comment about previous immigrants eventually "pulling up the ladder" and hating on more recent immigrants. What I actually thought of is how futile the idea of this all is. If the bill enables skilled workers to come into the country, there's a group of Americans who will say "Man, those damn immigrants just want to take our high paying jobs". If the bill enables lower skilled workers to come in, there's a group of Americans who will say "Man, those damn immigrants just want to undercut us and bring down everyone's wages"

The point being, that regardless of the arguments, people just don't seem to like immigrants. And it gets back to the age-old argument that America is a country of immigrants, etc, etc. I think it's obvious that most Americans don't give a crap about that. Oh well. Sad.

Oh, and my thoughts on the bill? Well, it's so broad it's tough to say anything really succint about it. My main concern on the bill and the discussion around it is the construct of *workers* versus *families*. I'm not saying it's pro or against families, but the reality of most people is that they are part of some family unit. Most long term immigration is associated with families, not with individual workers. And if they are individual workers, they eventually make families for themselves by either finding someone already here or going back to their homeland and bringing back a spouse.

Regardless of whether you think this is bad or good, I think you have to acknowledge that for any type of immigration to work in the long run, it has to take that into account. I haven't read through every last detail on this bill, but it seems to do everything possible to discourage someone with a family to go through this new hassle. You apparently have to work here 2 yrs, then go back to your homeland for a yr, then you can come back for 2 yrs, then you can apply for a greencard. If I have a wife and kids, I just don't think I'd bother going that route, regardless of the expense of it. It's just too disruptive. So I'd either:
a) Come here alone legally and be a worker drone saving up until the day I can either return home as a rich man or import my wife and kids after my 5 yr wait. I'd also potentially be accused of taking away a skilled American programmer's job.
b) Stay home legally and be accussed to taking away American jobs through outsourcing
c) Come with my family illegally and be accused of stealing good jobs from every uneducated American.
d) Or just apply for the greencard lottery from home and wait 10 yrs with thoughts of sugar plum fairies dancing in my head.

So how's that any different from what we have now?

Snap! Crackle! Found! The Image is Found

2007-05-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

There's so much interesting stuff I find on the web and just get pulled into. Sometimes I hate myself for wasting time. Other times I just smile the whole time I've browsing. I'm smiling now and it's because of a photographer's blog. Or shall I more grammatically state it as..due to the blog of two photographers?

the image is found photography makes me smile for various reasons. They've obviously got a great eye (err...two great eyes...um four great eyes!), but I see lots of great photography all the time since I'm always looking for it. What kept me going about their work?

The fun.

Not just in the photos or in the way they write their own blog. But in everything they do. Wedding photography can be taken way to seriously sometimes just because love is supposed to be romantic and all that jazz.

Okay, no, I'm not jaded. Just because I see weddings all year long doesn't mean I find weddings to be boring. Quite the opposite.

But as I was saying to one of my brides last week, they've gotta have fun with it. It'll show on their faces, their guests' faces, and ultimately in the photos. And the bride I was talking to definitely agreed with me, but sometimes I feel like our couples don't really believe it when they hear it. Nate and Jaclyn from the image is found seem to be getting across to their clients.

And it leads to great shots that are not only beautiful, but they're romantic, fun, and memorable. So have a look at their galleries, but also take a look at their blog. Just great stuff all around.

[By The Way, just like I use "Snap! Crackle! Click!" for posts about my own photos, I'll use "Snap! Crackle! Found!" for posts about wonderful photography that I find on the web.]

Snap! Crackle! Click! Shy, but Not

2007-05-22T13:14:00.001-07:00

My latest fave from photos which I took while in Kerala:

Getting It

2007-05-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

I like to think of myself as an early adopter, but in reality, I'm probably far from an early adopter in Silicon Valley.

Perfect example? Twitter. It's actually a very simple idea - you can post IM like things via their website, IM, phone, etc. In Web 2.0 speak, it's Social Messaging. And it's mashable so people have made crazy AJAX apps where the Twitter posts pop up on a map and lots of other random things. People basically use it to raise their global hand and say "Hello!". It's so popular that even the New York Times has written about it: From Many Tweets, One Loud Voice on the Internet

Problem is...I just don't get it.

I suppose it's just me since I just don't get it. Maybe it comes down to the current world of everyone wanting to say something. Anything. And in a way, that's what Web 2.0 is about, isn't it?

But I just don't get it. I can't imagine sitting on a web page watching people post their random thoughts. I can't imagine getting a Growl pop-up everytime someone says "Hello World!". Heck, I can stand sitting in a chat room watching people talk amongst themselves.

I could say that I don't have time, but that's not the point. I could make time if I really wanted to. But I don't. I just don't get it.

And that applies/applied to a lot of other things in one way or the other. RSS Feeds and Google Reader? I totally understand the potential with that, but until a month or two ago, I could care less. I was fine with loading up individual web pages. But now I use GReader everytime I have spare time. Podcasts? It was less than a year ago that I fell in love with podcasts. Now I subscribe to a couple of dozen and listen to things when I want. Flickr? I got the idea behind Flickr, and I definitely use it now to post photos of mine, but I don't think I get as much out of it as so many other people do, namely the community aspects of it.

So maybe that's it? I don't get the community part of Web 2.0? Actually, I get it, but that's the part that I don't make time for. So if there's something that JUST about community, then I just won't get it. Twitter is one of those things. If you go to the site and read the tweets, they're all pretty dumb. But if are engrossed by reading other people's random one line thoughts, then sure, you'll be on that site all of the time. Me? Heck no. I've got better things to do.

The parts of Web2.0 I've really gotten are the ones that let me do what I want, when I want, in small or large chunks. Google Reader? Perfect way to keep track of news, blog posts, etc, etc on my own schedule and easily keep track of what I've read, what I've liked, and tell other people about interesting stuff. Podcasts? Perfect way to let me listen to my stuff when I want. Whether it's in the car, at the bedside or while walking the dogs. Flickr? I began using it because I love exploring other people's photos when I want.

So I'm fine with getting my info, my photos, my audio when I want. The rest, I just don't get it.

Stand Up For What's Right

2007-05-17T15:13:00.001-07:00

I've been maligned John McCain on and off since he's been pandering a lot to the GOP "Base" with comments about the Bush admin and the Iraq War, but deep down, I've always known that he's still a stand up guy who would do what's best for the nation (rather than what's best for the GOP and "the base")

Yesterday's lame-o GOP debate was an example of where my confidence in McCain grew by the way he answered a question basically asking if the candidates would okay torture.

Before I get into his answer let me first say something about how ridiculous public discourse has become when a question like this is considered legitimate. Since when has the question of torture even been a topic of discussion? I'll tell you since when: Since we got an admin so intent on maintaining its grip on power and expanding it's control in any way possible. Thank You Dick Cheney.

So moving on to the question itself, here's the summary of the question from Fox News
(which ran the debate):

The candidates also were asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario — homicide bombings at three shopping centers near major U.S. cities. With hundreds dead and thousands injured, a fourth attack is averted when the attackers are captured off the Florida coast and taken to Guantanamo Bay to be questioned. U.S. intelligence believes another, larger attack is planned and could come at any time. How aggressively should the detainees be interrogated about the where the next attack might be?

The question is obviously talking about torture and how tough these candidates would be in this ridiculous hypothetical pulled from "24". The funniest answer definitely came from Congressman Tom Tancredo who said he'd be looking for Jack Bauer. His answer just referred back to how ridiculous it is to offer up these scenarios and being so possible that we need to know the answer to it.

But it was John McCain who stepped up to the plate and hit a homer in terms of providing a meaningful answer, but also standing up for all that is right and just about the concept of America. In short:

When I was in Vietnam, one of the things that sustained us, as we went — underwent torture ourselves — is the knowledge that if we had our positions reversed and we were the captors, we would not impose that kind of treatment on them,” Mr. McCain said. “It’s not about the terrorists, it’s about us. It’s about what kind of country we are.

I'm offended that this ridiculous question is brought up. I'm worried that stupid responses like Rudy Guiliani's "every method short of torture" are even in the dialouge. But I'm happy to see McCain getting back to saying what needs to be said.

This "War of Terror", when it comes down to it, is a test of the American character. As far as the Bush admin's activities go, they have basically showed their character in their willingness to stoop to any means to support their end goal of supreme GOP power concentrated in the Executive Branch. There has never been any concern about what it means to be American, or even a human being....unless it's been as a snarky comment to make a Dem. look bad. Doesn't matter if it's torture, firing attorneys, or skirting every law imaginable; they've made it all too clear that character for them, means winning. At any expense.

I've said it before and I'll say it here....If I were ever vote for a Republican, the only person I could see doing the right thing for this nation now and in the future is John McCain. Let's hope GOP voters see to it that he's the GOP nominee coming out of this morass of GOP candidates.

Sheer Joy

2007-05-14T22:44:00.001-07:00

Wedding season is warming up again so I was covering a wedding reception this past weekend. As I've said to friends, most weddings tend to be very similar to each other, but there http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifare usually one or two elements which set each event apart.

In this case, the unique thing was the last 5 minutes of the night and it really made me smile. The DJ had stopped playing music for the night and, as usual, the crowd wanted just one more song. This DJ stuck to hus guns and didn't start things up again, but the dhol players were happy to oblige. So they started to hammer away and everyone started dancing again.

Something about the crowd's attitude just had a different feel than the rest of the night and a different feel than most dancing and other parties. People are usually just into the music and enjoy it for what's it worth. However, with the lights on and the DJ packing up I think everyone realized just why they were on the dance floor. They were celebrating the bride and groom!

The smiles on everyone's faces. Everyone hugging the bride and groom one more time. Everyone picking up the children on the floor. It just made me smile.

And once again, I knew I'm in this for the right reasons.

Web 2 point Ohhhhh

2007-05-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Check me out...posting two days in a row!

So I mentioned Google Reader in my exceedingly long rant from yesterday. I actually wanted to talk more about it, but since I was mainly focusing on ranting, I left out some cool things I've finally come to realize about this whole Web 2.0 thing.

So I've only been using Google Reader regularly for a couple of weeks now. As I mentioned yesterday, the main thing for me is finding an easy way to keep up with the multitude of blogs that I like. Generally, each has at least one thing a day which is interesting and so I like to go to each one on a daily basis. Having everything in one place with an easy way to mark each as read or unread (just like email) means I spend less time scrolling and more time reading interesting things.

So up until now, it was really just a way for me to speed read through blogs. The interface was fine to help me through that, but the Web 2.0 nature of it didn't really hit me until today. And what exactly is the Web 2.0 nature of it?

The collaboration & sharing aspects. Until now, whenever I read something cool or interesting, I email friends as one-offs. Or if a blog is consistently interesting, I tell people about the URL. And that was the extent of it.

But today I just shared my first set of blogs. Check it out:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/17433403963146537835/label/02-photo

So this is obviously a photo related set of blogs, but the cool thing about it is that I can quickly share out this stuff to my business partner so he can read things and keep up with the same type of things as me without having to do anything more than bookmark the link above. Or better yet, just add it as a feed into his own news reader.

Okay, okay, I know that sounds pretty lame and pretty geeky, but the whole idea of spreading information like this is so cool. Ya, the stuff I've shared above is all about photography, but what if it was about "green" technology? What if it was about the elections. The idea is that I can quickly share a base of knowledge with people. Not just so they can read the same things I read, but so we can all be informed as a community. And assuming they trust my intellect, they'll find utility in reading (or skimming through) the things I keep track of.

As John Chambers just said yesterday...

"...our communications and collaboration technologies are enabling the second phase of the Internet, or Web 2.0, which is redefining how people, companies and countries collaborate in ways never before realized."

What really excites me is the power of this all. Sure, what I've shared is limited and pretty specific, but as I mentioned above, simple things like this can really take us places. It's beyond a list of links, it's spreading knowledge around so that everyone can benefit and improve society as a whole.

As with that, I'll leave you with a visual on the power of what we're dealing with...

Back with some rants

2007-05-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Not bad...less then 3 months of laying low. And I'm back with some rants. So let's get into it...

Before my trip to India, I set up Google Reader as an easy way to go to a single page and catch up on news and interesting sites which I like. I used it a bit while vacationing, but in reality, I don't really care about news & blogs when I'm chillin' on a river in Kerala. Know what I'm sayin'?

By the way, if you're not familiar with Google Reader, it's an online service that lets you aggregate RSS feeds and read them in a single view. Read up on RSS here. The basic idea is that websites can publish their content in a standard format which is understandable by a RSS reader.

So last week I finally got back into G.Reader (as I have named the bookmark in Firefox) and I'm addicted to it. I save so much time by not having to go to multiple sites to read up on the latest blog posts. But there's one big drawback: News sites. They publish their headlines via RSS so they show up in my reader, but that's it. If I want to read the story, I still have to go to the site. That's understandable since they want to ensure you're getting the full experience they have to offer and they make money off the ads they place on their site. But the major news sites don't seem to get it with RSS...they publish ONLY the headline. Nothing more. And the headlines are such that you can't really tell if the story is anything interesting until you read the first few sentences. Why not just publish the first paragraph of the story along with the headline? That'll pull me in so I know it's something I want to read, and if it's interesting, I'll go right to your site to read the story and potentially even read more on the site directly rather than jump back to my RSS reader. But instead I just get a lame headline. NYTimes, CNN, ESPN, Yahoo, Slate, blah blah blah. You're all guilty of this and because of that I've taken them ALL off my subscribed RSS feeds. In fact, I actually go to those sites LESS now since it's more of a pain to click onto their website. Rather than visiting the sites every couple of hours, I head over to them just once or twice a day. Your loss, not mine.

Just more examples of big companies not trusting their users or readers and thereby alienating them.

Okay, so the next annoyance I have is with a subset of Mac users. Nothing new there. Mac-o-philes tend to be a little crazy to begin with. Most of it is due to simply being accustomed to certain ways of doing things. But sometimes I really wonder about them when they do things which just seem to make life harder.

So recently, Adobe came out with a huge update to all of their main software apps. Photoshop, Illustrator, etc, etc. Among all of the changes, they also changed the icons which the Mac uses to represent the applications. The old icons used to be a variety of colorful natural objects like feathers, leaves, flowers, etc bound within white boxes. I was used to them, but I always found myself trying to remember if the feather was the icon for Photoshop or for Bridge. I got it wrong about half the time and ended up waiting for the wrong app to open. Nice looking icons are cool and all, but when similar applications have similar icons, it's just a waste of time trying to remember which icon is which. So with the version of the apps, I think the Adobe people realized this and decided to simplify everything. So they made icons with two letter abbreviations for each icon. Nice and simple. More importantly, meaningful. Photoshop's icon says "Ps" on it. Bridge's icon says "Br" on it. At a glance, I quickly know which icon is which. They're not exactly beautiful, but they make a lot of sense for a lot of reasons.

Okay so Adobe did a good thing. Meanwhile, Mac-o-philes obsessed with cool looking things, decided they still needed icons which look good on their docks. So they created replacement icons which have no tie-ins to the apps at all. Why? They look cool?

This is the subset of mac users which I find really annoying. They do things JUST BECAUSE they look or feel cool. They like a disc-burning app called Disco because it has black smoke coming out when you're burning a disc. Cool? I suppose. But seriously...smoking apps? In the time it took that developer to add in the smoke, I'm sure something more functional could have been built into the tool.

And these Adobe icons? I'm thankful of the genius that figured out the utility of putting an application abbreviation on the iconset. SO useful. And yet, we have people who dislike them so much for reasons of beauty that they have to replace them.

Go figure.

You Know You're in Orange County When...

2007-02-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

[FYI, I'm in Southern California this week and I'll be working from our Irvine office several days]

This is nothing new for me, but I can't help but make a mental list every time I'm down here. Keep in mind that I grew up in SoCal so I have special fun making light of this. Without further ado...a mix of good, bad, and funny things from my first 24 hours back....

You Know You're in Orange County When...
- You see more BMW 6 series coupes than Toyota Corolla's
- The corner mini mall with lunch eateries has lunchtime valet parking
- Otherwise normal looking men walk around with "Man Purses"
- The adults look like they belong on a daytime soap, the kids look like they belong on MTV. Take that for both the good and the bad :)
- Besides the guys behind the counter, I'm the only non-white person in Quiznos
- Besides my wife, I haven't seen another Indian person all day
- Going with the flow of non-rush hour traffic, my speedometer says 80 instead of 50. Yay!

Web 2.0 - Do you GET it?

2007-02-19T16:16:00.001-08:00

You may have already seen this video. As of this posting, 1.2 million other people have already seen it.

Just a great visual representation of the potential Web 2.0. I'm not totally sold on the utility of video for most purposes, but in this case, a 4 min 31 sec video goes MUCH farther in explaining this than most text ever could. Obviously a much better use of video than stupid human tricks.

Abhishwarya

2007-02-15T10:49:00.001-08:00

That's the cheesy celeb couple nickname for Abhishek Bachchan & Aishwarya Rai. And if you've followed either of those links, you'll notice that people are gaga over their recent engagement. If you haven't bothered to follow the links here's the summary: Abhishek is the Prodigal Son of Bollywood, son of Amitabh Bachchan, who is the hands-down fave Bollywood actor of all time. Aishwarya is apparently TMBWITW (The Most Beautiful Woman in the World) who is at or near the top of the heap of Bollywood actresses.

I was just emailing with a friend yesterday on this topic and an interesting sub-text to this engagement. Before the official engagement, Indian news was filled with daily updates of their rumored pairing. Whereas US celeb news is filled with grainy photos of the couple running around on the beach or shopping together, the Indian news was filled with photos of the couple and the Bachchan family (or their cars) entering or leaving temple.

Huh?!

Temple?

That's right, the most telling news to confirm that these two were together was that they were going to temple for specific prayers. And the newscaster informed us that the prayers were specifically for Aishwarya.

Why?

Well, she's a working girl. No not a prostitute. But she works. For a living. And the Bachchan family apparently wasn't very happy with this situation and needed to address the situation before marriage so that the gods (and their forefather and all of India apparently) would be pleased.

So here's the interesting thing...Aish is obviously strong woman. She's gotten pretty far in her young life. Sure, she's a really bad actress and immensely annoying in interviews, especially in English, but heck, she started off as a wannabe model and is now a top actress earning millions. That's nothing to sneeze at.

But it is apparently something to spit at if you're a traditionally minded, conservative Indian. And that sort of surprised me. Even one of my cousins who I consider to be pretty liberal (she's divorced, remarried, and living in Bombay) had bad things to say about Aish and her working status.

What gives?

It could just be that people are tired of her. Or that they're jealous.

But after thinking about it some more I saw a true dichtomy (as with everything related to India, there's a dichtomy going on). In this case, it's basically two ways of thought on Aish's status and her actions. And I realized this situation is really an easy way of determining how liberated & emancipated an Indian is. Just ask what they're most annoyed about in this situation:

A) The fact that Aish would put herself through this religious nonsense just to marry Abhishek.

B) The fact that Aish is a working girl who doesn't plan to quit acting once she's married.

If you answered A, you're truly liberated and can't stand the thought of subjugating your very soul. Even though Aish talked the talk, she clearly can't walk the talk. Fuck her and this was her last chance. She's just another traditional Indian girl.

If you answered B, you're truly traditional and it just makes sense that Aish would agree to these religious things since it'll lead to a happier life. Hopefully she eventually realizes that her continued acting will look bad on the Bachchan family and she'll quit the biz. The interesting backstory to this is that when Amitabh got married to Jaya Badhuri, she quit acting, presumably to be a good housewife (and look on as her husband had a years-long affair with Rekha)

My friend? She's clearly in the A camp. This was Aish's last chance and she blew it.

Me? Well, I'm just a narrator, telling the story :) And I found it really interesting that the reaction to a single coupling could tell you all you need to know about an Indian...

On the iPod, DRM, and His Steve-ness

2007-02-13T13:38:00.001-08:00

[This post started off as a comment on my friend's blog, but it got so long, I just decided to make it a post here rather than a long-ass comment over there]

I too have wondered about Jobs' DRM thoughts; mainly why he wrote it other than to seem like he's leading the charge for a DRM-less world, rather than the biggest purveyor of DRMed content (music, video, games). In a way, it's good that Jobs states the obvious since it seems like if anyone can make this happen, it would be him. The record companies have clearly been blind and/or wrong since digital music began. They've dug themselves a hole which is hard to get out of.

Here's an interesting point to note: 90%+ of music sold is DRM-free. Just about every CD we buy has no form of DRM. And CDs continue to be sold left and right. Of course that model is on its way out, but I think it's silly of any exec to pretend that the music biz would collapse without DRM. In fact, it's quite healthy. Even when people can easily download pirated music.

Spin Mag has a short piece on what record companies should do to keep the industry going. Some of them are obvious like letting us decide which player & software app to use and not worry about interchangeability (I still worry about this simply because I've got 3 different computers where I might want to play one of my purchased iTunes songs!) Unfortunately, the piece isn't online, but it's just such obvious stuff.

On that note, it's just idiotic for Jobs to pretend like he's onto something here and that he's trying to convince the record companies of this. We've known this for a long time and nobody should feign ignorance here.

On the note about people buying more iPods vs perhaps buying phone/player combos, I can't help but think of the walkman. Sony revolutionized the usage of music. The iPod and other high capacity MP3 players evolved this by allowing up to carry most (or all) of our collections in our pocket. But what happened with the walkman? Why didn't people keep buying them left and right?

Well, partially, I'm sure because walkmans seeemed to work FOREVER. I had one for 5+ yrs!. But more importantly, the newness just wore off and people realized that they really didn't need a walkman every moment of their lives. They were happy enough with little radios to use while at the gym or [ARGH!] a moment of silence!

Similarly, I think people are beginning to realize that they don't really need every song at every moment of every day. What's more important is having something conveniently avaiable. So when the old iPod dies, rather than immediately replacing it with another iPod, a lot of people are more logical with their choice and buy something that works, but doesn't necessarily have the panache or storage of an iPod. Sure, it's nice to have the coolness, but if $250 can be spent to get BOTH a phone and a player, why not? It may not be perfect, but it works.

Of course, this all comes from someone who has had a quite capable PDA phone that can play music but still went out and bought his first iPod a few months ago. :)

Rehab Party

2007-02-06T15:56:00.001-08:00

Rehab used to be a serious thing where the person was in seriously bad shape and really just needed to get away and concentrate on healing their addiction. The person would be gone for months and you'd even forget that the person went into rehab since they've been there for so long.

But now? Well, it's the in thing.

You heard about Lindsay Lohan go into rehab after she finally admitted that she had an alcohol problem. Then there was the Miss America who got exposed with some photos of her partying and after about a week she entered rehab. Well, both of these woman seemingly healed themselves in a matter a days! Heck, Miss America is already going interviews about it.

Doesn't getting over an addiction or a serious problem actually take more than a week or two? Nowadays these people check themselves in and are better all of sudden and can't help talking about how much they've changed. Heck, the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, just said he's going to go into alcohol rehab. Is he gonna be done with that by the end of the week?

So here's the possible explanations for this quick turnaround rehab deal:
1) These highly stressed out people are really teetering on the edge and all it takes is a quick sanity check to get them back on track. Checking into rehab gives them a few moments to think things through and the healing is fast and furious just like they say.

2) The relaxing environment and the assistance of trained professionals puts these people back on track and once the pros recognize a certain level has been reached, they check them out of rehab. The rest is up to the individual to completely heal. When these celebs get out, the healing they're talking about is still underway, but they're so happy with the progress they've made that they can't help but gush about it.

3) It's just the in thing to do. A nice way to have a couple of weeks of vacation. These people never really get anything out of rehab, but they're in the public eye so they've gotta talk about the healing they've gone through. In reality, they're still druggies or hard partying alcoholics.

You know which one I think it is.....since when do celebs buck the trend? They're all sheep. They'll smear shit on their torsos if some fitness guru convinces a few of them that it'll keep them tones and "centered"

I call bullshit on this rehab phenomenom. Let's not allow these idiots to pretend like they're doing any healing. They'll say what they want to say, but in the end, they're still doing what they want to do. Whether that's snorting lines of coke, cheating on their wives, or just partying like rockstars, don't for a second believe that a week in a rehab spa makes them the next Gandhi.

Deja Vu

2007-02-01T15:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, we lots of love to harp on Bush and his seeming love for war. The jokes about invading Iran began even before we got into Iraq. Remember those "he just got one letter wrong" jokes about why Bush went into Iraq instead of Iran?

Anyways, comments about action against Iran used to be pretty hush hush and very speculative in the mainstream. Now, however, it's a daily topic. In fact, the admin doesn't shy away from saying that actions will be taken against any Iranian supported terrorist activities inside Iraq. Bush said that just the other day during his NPR interview.

Of course this is all eerily similar. Crooks and Liars even has a post about it with video comparisons.

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if we start bombing or even invading Iran before Bush is out of office. I'm scared about that possibility, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

But I've been thinking about this from the angle of the admin saving its ass. Beginning in late 2006, we keep hearing from the admin about how Iraq and Maliki need to stand up since it's their responsibility to get things back on track and stop the violence. No doubt, it's, in the end, their responsibility since it's their country. But nary a word is said about the details of the US's involvement in cleaning up the mess. We're obviously involved up to our eyeballs, but the way the admin makes it sound is that we're just tagging along.

My guess is that these conjectures are made because if things go wrong (which they likely will before they go right), the admin can say it's not our fault. It's the the Iraqis fault. Why? Well, because it's their responsibility! And we tried to help them! So if things aren't working out, well, heck we did our best, but they blew it!

As usual, the admin will twist situations around to suit their purposes.

So why am I alluding to this in reference to Iran? Because I get the feeling that th admin is setting up the pieces to add a "blame Iran" corollary to the "blame Iraq" thesis. So assuming Iraq isn't the safe haven of Arab democracy that Bush claimed he wanted to create, it's all the fault of the Iraqis themselves along with the Iranian thugs. None of it is the fault of the admin, since well, they were just trying to help the whole time. They can't help it if the crazy Arabs keeping spitting in the batter before it's baked.

Look, we may not invade Iran, but it's just a matter of time before there are a couple of airstrikes inside Iranian borders. And we're already getting the hint of the "blame Iran" strategy.

We want a strategy for getting out of Iraq. Apparently, the admin already has a strategy for covering their sorry asses.

To the Phones!

2007-01-31T19:25:00.001-08:00

I think this might be my week of complaining. I spent way too many words talking about cell phone etiquette when in line. Now I'm annoyed by the fact that telemarketers are already all over my new phone number!

This phone line has only been around for 10 days and I'm already getting 4-6 calls a day. Glory be the invention of caller ID since I can tell how many random calls I get while I'm away (I wonder if the dogs get annoyed by all the calls when they're home alone). What I don't understand is that Comcast says they keep all numbers private. How is possible for the Chronicle, the local Police Department, and every telemarketer around already have my number?

When I got the line I figured I would add it to the Do Not Call database but I wasn't in any rush since I figured it would take some time (and me sharing the number) for telemarketers to find out I got a phone line. Lo and behold, just 2 days after the line was installed, I got the first call! One business day! That's all it took!

Niceities

2007-01-30T13:14:00.001-08:00

Okay, so maybe I'll sound like a rube who should get with the times. Afterall, everyone's busy so we gotta do as much as possible in as little time as possible. It's called multi-tasking right?!

But there's one thing that I really try to avoid whenever possible: Talking on the cell phone while being assisted by someone.

You know the story. You're in a checkout line and your phone rings. So you answer it and in the meantime you've gotten to the front of the line and need to checkout. What do you do? Here's the options which I think most people likely consider:

Give a smile to the checker and act like you feel guilty that you're on the phone, but you remain on the phone. You may talk to the checker if absolutely needed, but your focus is on the other end of the phone line, not the other side of the check-out counter.
Give a smile to the checker, tell the person on the phone to hold on a second and finish your business with the checker. The whole time the phone is still on and you resume your conversation as soon as you're done with the checker.
When you get to the front of the line, tell the person on the phone that you'll have to call them back and hang up.
You get out of line while you finish up your conversation and get back in line when you're done.
You don't take the call, finish up with the check-out, then check your voicemail and/or call the person back.

I'm sure that you can guess which option I usually take? Number 3. I used to take option 1 or 2, but at some point I realized that I was being inconsiderate to both the checker and the person on the phone with either of those options. Now, if I was being totally considerate of the entire situation, I'd just let the call go through to VM and call the person back. I only do that if I'm about to start my checkout, but normally, I'll pick up the phone and tell the person I have to hang up when it comes time.

What's my main reason for doing this? Honestly, the first thing I think of when I see someone take option 1 is that they're treating the checker like a servant. Yes, obviously, the checker is there to serve you the customer. But do you have to treat him or her like a man-servant?

I just saw this in the cafeteria this afternoon. What drove me to finally blog about this is the attitude the customer had with the checker. Not only did she continue with her phone conversation, but when the checker asked her what she had (a salad and chicken), she looks dismayed at having to tell the checker a second time. And in between telling the checker what to ring up, she's apologizing to the person on the phone for asking him/her to repeat what was just said.

Seeing that just makes me feel bad for the checker. She's doing her job and you can barely give her the 30 seconds it takes to complete a transaction? I personally feel guilty if I do this to someone and rather than make a stupid face to the checker, make the checker dislike me, and still feel bad about it, I just slow down and give each person the time and respect they deserve.

I've expanded this to regular situations when I'm with a friend. I'll usually not answer my phone unless I know it's going to be short or if the person has called me a couple of times. Even then, I still try to tell the person I'm with that I need to take the call and why I need to take it. It's the least I can do.

Snap! Crackle! Click! India Wedding Photos

2007-01-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

The excuse for us to go to India was a relative's wedding. And being a wedding photographer, I obviously took photos during the events. It was actually more difficult getting shots that are different than I usually take during a wedding gig. While I'm always trying to be creative on any job, I usually take some stuff which is standard across the board since the clients are looking for certain things at a minimum. So I tried to stay away from those typical shots this time. And since I wasn't a lead photographer I had the chance to roam around and not capture every little thing. Even then, I kept thinking about all the different shots I could get of the ceremony details. So I had to stop myself from falling into that "rut".

What I tried to do is thinking about the wedding from the perspective of a guest, which I rarely do. Even when I attend a friend's wedding here, I'm always looking over at the photographer or videographer. I annoy myself sometimes with not being able to take my mind off that stuff...I'm sure I annoy my wife much more offten :)

Anyways, so I tried to stay in the crowd as much as possible and stayed away from taking photos of the bride, groom, and their parents. And here's a few of the shots I took....click through to see more about each on Flickr.

Mandap Mandwo...with a little zoom action. No Photoshop!

Trying to get the feel of the rush through in an image. Touch is such low light.

More baraati rush.

Onlookers

Captured Photographers. Notice the second guy talking on his phone even when events are going on.

There are more in Flickr so head over there to see the rest.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2007-01-10T10:13:00.001-08:00

After every trip to India I get questions such as "so are things really different in India?" It's a basic question that I'm sure every person gets when they return. The obvious answer is "Yes" since India's a developing country. And there's usually an undercurrent of woe when talking about how fast India is developing like "Man, I can't be-LIEVE that people are doing XYZ there now!"

[On a quick side note, if you think about visitng ANY place after 5 years, you're bound to see changes varying from subtle to significant. Heck, in the last 5 years, even Milpitas has changed a boatload!]

So usually, when answering this question I focus on the visual changes to the country either in terms of buildings and fashion or things that you find on TV. This time however, the biggest change I noticed was much more subtle.

And that is the the onslaught of credit cards and loans. First off, I'll say that I'm a happy consumer who greatly appreciates credit cards and home loans. But while I'm a heavy user of credit cards, I NEVER rollover a balance on my credit card from month-to-month. Also, even though we have a HUGE mortgage to pay off, before wading up to our knees in loan debt, we carefully thought about our long term plan for housing since carrying this size loan is not a fun thing to do permanently.

That being said, my description about the coming of a credit-based lifestyle in India does indeed have an undercurrent of woe. The main reason for that is the likelihood that many middle-class people are going to get caught in the web of too much credit card debt. Not to say that Indians don't have a good financial sense, but until very recently, India really ran on current accounts. Basically, whether payment was made with cash, check, or some sort of draft, the money being exchanged by lay people has heretofore been real money that already belongs to them.

That obviously isn't the case with credit cards and loans. And that's what scares me. The easy availability of credit cards is a real problem here in the US where such things have been very common for at least 25 years. I've known a few people who just couldn't control themselves with a credit card in hand. Even if they may know that the money is not actually their's, they get this feeling that regardless of how much they spend, they'll figure out a way to pay it off eventually. It's this capitalist can-do attitude that can be great most of the time, but can also get you in trouble if you can't follow through.

And trust me, Indians are masters of can-do. And with easy access to credit, my gut feel is that people will get a few credit cards and buy the nice clothes they really want. They'll get a car loan so they can quickly have their own car. And when they acquire this debt, the feeling will be that even if they can't pay it off now, they'll l be making more money in the future so they'll be able to pay it off in the near future once they're earning more from the higher paying job they're going to get in six months.

There's obviously a big chance these people will get caught in a downward spiral. I haven't heard many anecdotes about people actually getting caught up in this, but I've seen the signs from various companies looking to offer credit to anyone who wants it. It could be the Citibank hawkers outside the Bombay airport offering a credit card to anyone who can show them a boarding pass (as in, hey if you can afford a plane ticket, you can afford a mountain of debt!). It could be the car ad with a big starred section offering up credit to people who need it.

And so that's the biggest change in India I've been mentioning to people. The development of a credit based economy is certainly good and will help the Indian economy grow by leaps and bounds. I just hope that the users of this credit don't forget that it's just credit, not cash in their pocket.

Snap! Crackle! Click! A few shots from Mumbai/Bombay

2007-01-08T16:36:00.001-08:00

I'm a bit lacking on words right now, so I'll just mention a few photos I took while in Mumbai...click on each photo to go to the Flickr page for more description and to leave comments

The Taj Hotel in Mumbai on a sunny day. I wish I had my wide angle lens. Given that it was my first day in India, I really regretted not bringing it and thought that I'd really miss it. But in the end, I rarely thought about lens selection the entire trip since I had a good all round lens on me.

Silver Plaza shopping for jewelry. Mind blowing how efficient they are here with showing you the exact selection you're thinking about. It's almost like they're reading your mind. December is NRI (Non-Resident Indian) season since Indians from all over the world take their vacations at that time of year and so many are doing wedding shopping.

Dark magazine stand on the streets of Santa Cruz (Mumbai). In reality it wasn't this dark and creepy (the sun was just setting), but I love what's possible when you can control your camera well. The only photoshopping I've done to this is cropping and adding a bit of brightness to the light bulb.

Snap! Crackle! Click! Let the image parade begin...

2007-01-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

Rather than work through all of my photos and then post a final gallery, I've decided to post photos little by little. I've already edited about 1/2-2/3 of the photos I took while in India so I'm going to pick out specific ones...either just because I love the photos or because there's a story to tell.

For all these photos, I'm posting them up at Flickr so click on the image to go there and leave comments if you want. Also, since I'm posting more photos to Flickr than I'm actually including in my blog, check over there to see a broader selection.

And with that...let's begin with some village children...

As I mentioned on Flickr, there's just something about this girl that catches my eye. She's obviously a very pretty girl, as are so many of these village children. But her attitude was really what made me think twice after I took the photos. And while this isn't my favorite photo from my trip, I knew I'd want to post it first just because it left an impression.

And what else left and impression?

"Want Pen!"

I'm not sure why pens are such valued items in India, but ever since I was little, my cousins over there would always want my pens. While we've all grown up, these kids are still having a blast hamming it up and asking me for any pens. In fact, I took extra pens with me to India since I just knew there would be an occasion to hand them out.

So enjoy, and come back soon.

HFL = High Flood Level

2007-01-03T16:46:00.001-08:00

Well, Happy New Year!

After a long vacation related hiatus, I'm back. Before I left for India I wasn't sure I would want to blog while on vacation, but I figured I would probably find something to write about. And while I certainly had things to relate, I really had no desire to do so. And so a month and a half passes by like *that!*

Anyways, I start off the new year with photos. And the first photo is the simplest of them all:

My hometown in India is in Surat, Gujarat (well, it's technically Bardoli which is 30km away, but let's not nitpick since I was actually born in Surat and the majority of my relatives live there too). Over the years, Surat has had its share of problems, like riots, the plague, and flooding. Last August Surat saw the flood to end all floods. Days and days of water up to 30 feet deep.

And yet, you can't tell anything of the sort happened just 5 months ago. Except for these crude markers all over the city. They're marks of history and resilience. This specific marker was about 15 feet off the ground, but they range from just 2 feet off the ground all the way up to 30 feet. And where ever you go, the City has painted reminders of what happened in early August. What's more is that people are proud of what they've overcome. So much so that even if they re-paint the outside of their buildings to erase the marks of rain, flooding, and wear and tear, they still leave an untouched box around the marker to ensure everyone remembers just how high the water came.

It's still a bit difficult to pin down exactly what happened to cause such severe flooding, but the basics are clear. Torrential monsoon rains were much heavier last summer than usual. The Ukai dam upriver from Surat was way over it's normal limits. Dam workers waited and waited to release water from the dam. And when they finally released the water, they did so in fell swoop, rather than staggering the release over time. The water reached Surat six hours later and didn't subside for at least 8 days.

Here's an editorial about how the floods could have been avoided:
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/portal/2006/10/600

This person has compiled a good set of photos from that time:
http://news.webshots.com/album/555111753wseoID

So this man-made disaster really got the best of people for while. The funny thing is that even though people were stranded without power or fresh water, they still managed to drink whiskey from rooftops every day.

Immediately after the floods, we had heard stories of mud and filth throughout the entire city of 4 million people. But arriving in town just 3 months after things dried up, I was surprised at how little seemed affected. Sure, there are still junked cars in specific areas, but life seems amazingly back to normal. The loom industry which Surat is so famous for is still running like mad. I would have figured that many looms would have been destroyed by so much water and mud, but going through the streets, you can still hear them running 24 hours a day. I heard many stories from friends & relatives about what they did during the floods. Thankfully, none of them lost anything besides some ruined property, but there were some 200 accounted deaths and likely many more uncounted deaths of those swept straight into the nearby Indian Ocean.

From the stories I had heard prior to leaving for India, I wasn't sure what to expect. Certainly some devasation would still be visible...but not a single sign except for these painted markers? Amazing. I hope to see the same reminders when I return to Surat in the future.

And so a simple photo to represent something amazing and to start 2007.

Many more photos to comes.

Abuse of Power?

2006-11-17T03:19:00.000-08:00

I put a question mark in the title since I'm still not sure what to make of this.

If you have the wherewithal, watch this video:

If you haven't heard of it yet, it's video of a UCLA student getting tasered at Powell Library after refusing to show ID afterhours. I usually don't pay too much attention to stories about excessive force, but in this case, it's UCLA...I've walked around Powell and I can, more than usual, place myself in the shoes of each person there.

So back to me not knowing what to make of this. From this video, it's hard to argue that the UCPD over-reacted and were wrong in expecting the guy to get up after being tasered. What I can't understand is how it got to this situation. Like most security guards, UCPD is usually pretty cool. By the name, you can guess that they are actual cops and much more than just security guards, but on campus, they're far from menacing and are usually there to help out. So I'm just perplexed as to how it turned from a request to show ID, to the video you see.

Madness.

The only judgement I'm going to pass right now is that the UCPD was idiots for thinking this guy could physically get up on command after being tasered. If he was being non-cooperative before or after the tasering, they should have just picked his ass up and carried him into their cruiser. End of story.

I'll guess that the guy was probably being somewhat beligerant/non-cooperative when asked to show ID. Obviously nothing he could have done in a library situation should ever lead to something like this, but I've gotta assume there was something amiss about the situation which required mutliple UCPD to show up.

I'll also guess that the UCPD guys were in over their heads and were scared of causing an even bigger situation what with the dozens of students hovering over them. Apparently one of them threatened a student who was asking for a badge number, etc. That had to have been in the heat of the moment.

Thank god they didn't go midevil on any other students. That would have spiralled into something insane.

Thank god the other students didn't cause a physical ruckus. That would have mean serious harm to all involved.

I can't imagine how tense it must be on campus right now. I don't think too much about my UCLA days any more, but watching this, having walked those same steps, forces me to really think about the excessive use of force and what could have lead to this.

I'll be watching this story closely.

UPDATE: So it looks like the student who was tasered will be filing a civil suit against UCPD. Not surprising as well he should do that considering what nonsense the cops put him through. Not sure of how the legal system works on this, but at first blush, I would assume that a potential criminal proceeding should occur first, then the civil portion comes next. Anyways, what I find fishy about this is the lawyer he hired has said that Tabatabainejad refused to show ID because he thought he was being racially profiled and picked out for looking Middle Eastern.

That seems like playing the race card and it really annoys me. Having been at UCLA for 5 years, I would honestly call out BS on that. Why? Because it's such a diverse campus. Because you see just as many Persians on campus as other races. If that sounds racist, sorry...but it's fact. I find it difficult to believe that a CSO would decide to pick on this guy because he looks Middle Eastern. If that's the case, I wouldn't be surprised if he had 10 other Middle Eastern people to pick from. Sounds like the lawyer is just trying to get some leverage here.

And the other interesting thing the lawyer said is that when the cop didn't take his hands off Tabatabainejad he went limp. Now, there's certainly nothing wrong with that and in fact it's a perfect example of non-violent protest. But it just seems kind of dumb to bait cops like that. I mean, if you've got a cause or purpose, then yeah, go limp, but in this situation it just contributes to an ever-more tense spiral. Just seems ill-advised. The idea behind non-violent protest is, at some level, to make the opposing party think about their actions and potentially change them. The UCPD obviously weren't having any of that at midnight in a library and took alarming actions...but seriously just leave well enough alone and walk away.

Filed Under:

Heart wrenching

2006-11-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I posted. The world has seemingly changed what with the election results and all. A lot remains to play out so I'll reserve comments on that for a bit.

The world has also changed for me because I finally bought an iPod. Yeah, I finally jumped on the bandwagon. I'm sure I'll be listening to a lot of music on it (indeed I've got 15GB of music it on it already), but I've mainly been using it for podcasts.

I had already been using iTunes to listen to podcasts while at the computer, but having the iPod now lets me listen to news and lots of other stuff while I'm at the gym or in the car. Any MP3 player would let me do this, of course, but it's a lot simpler with the iPod since I can simply subscribe to them via iTunes.

Anyways, this isn't a post about my new iPod or about podcasts in general. It's about an NPR audio portrait which I just listened to on the drive home. Titled, "'The Ground We Lived On': A Father's Last Days", it's the story of a father's last days battling lung cancer recorded by a loving daughter. I encourage you to spend 10 minutes and hear this loving remembrance.

I've been lucky in that I've never had to deal with loss. Of course, family members have passed away, but I haven't lost someone who I've had an everyday connection with. In the remembrance of her father, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, demonstrated the power of words and capturing moments in time.

I must say that something about these types of stories really get to me. When I hear of a loss, I seem to internalize it and can't help but put myself in the shoes of the person experiencing the loss. I can't help but imagine what I would do if put into the same situation. Empathy I guess...

Oddly enough, I do the same in positions of joy. When I'm photographing a wedding, I find myself smiling so often from behind the camera. It usually happens when I see the couple smiling at each other or really letting loose after the ceremony is complete. I think about that when I take photos and when I'm doing post-production of photos or watching the video footage of the events. Ya, it's kind of odd to have a dumb smile on my face while staring at my computer screen, but that's me.

I've actually been thinking about how best to remember an upcoming trip to India. Of course, I'll be taking my camera equipment, but I've been wondering how I can record my thoughts. I'll certainly be writing, but I've been thinking about recording audio as well. Maybe it's too much NPR, PRI, and BBC I've been listening to, but the power that these recordings hold me for really makes me want to capture the moment not just visually, but through sound as well.

We'll see how it goes.

Anyone got an iPod voice recorder I can borrow for 5 weeks?

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Snap! Crackle! Click! Expression

2006-10-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a photo of mine in quite some time since I haven't been doing any weddings since Labor Day. I have done some photoshoots though and this is a shot which I think really shows off the girl's personality quite well.

It's usually all in the eyes, but in this case, I think it's in her smile too. You can always tell in a photo when a person isn't comfortable or is elsewhere in mind. In this instance, the girl is posing for me, but I feel like she was really "there" and having a good time with her fiance while I took photos of them. When I look at this photo, I somehow end up thinking serenity every time. At some point, I'll post another bride-to-be that makes me think "zen"

Funny, but I tend to apply descriptive words to my clients without even thinking about it. They're not usually insightful, but the terms are the first things that come to mind when I think of them and their photos.

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Strategery Watch

2006-10-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Lo and behold, we're 14 days away from an election and we're magically able to start defining timelines and metrics for Iraq?

If you've been stuck in last week's news, catch up: U.S. general: Iraqi security can take reins in 12-18 months

This coming after months and years of hearing that no timetable could be set because it would embolden the enemy! Heck, just 8 days ago, Tony Snow said, "We're making progress. I don't know. How do you define 'winning'?" And now we're being told definitively that the US can have just a minimal supporting force in Iraq. 14 days before a mid-term election which could re-draw the political lines and shape things for the presidential election 2 years from now.

Huh.

Is it any surprise? Of course not.

Some things to think about...we should be delighted that we're getting some semblance of "truth" from some of the people in charge. But given the willful ignorance (or outright lies) we've been seeing from the admin, we should be outraged that it has taken so long to come to this point. We should be even more outraged at the politically timed messaging we're getting.

And most concerning of all, we shouldn't be surprised if we get more of the same BS once the election is over. Afterall, the current political environment is one where policy serves politics, not the other way around. So 15 days from now, I fully expect to hear about "progress" and "staying the course" and "islamofacists" and stop hearing about a well-thought out plan to help Iraq become a peaceful nation.

I don't care of that plan takes 2 years, 5, years, 10 years, or 100 years. The problem here is not the amount of time it would take to provide some semblance of peace to the region. The problem is the continued ineptitude which our leaders show at every step of the Iraq puzzle. We went in there for purely poltical reasons. Now we're showing a way out for purely politcal reasons.

Filed Under:

Politics
War

It's Strategery, Stupid

2006-10-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

And wouldn't you know it...the admin is at it again. Trying to re-write history by claiming things that are completely wrong. What is it this time? W is trying to convince us that "Stay the Course" was NEVER part of the strategy for Iraq?

Huh?

WHAT?

Up until last week, "Stay the Course" was used so often by the admin that it was the butt of a joke on the Colbert Report where Stephen Colbert said there have always been two options on Iraq: "Stay" and "the Course"

And now we're being told that the administration is "constantly adjusting the tactics, constantly" and that "It's never been a stay the course strategy."

Listen, I'm happy as fuck if there is some actual rethinking about how to turn Iraq into a safe and thriving democracy. But seriously, we don't need lies heading into the final weeks of mid-term elections.

You know that the term "when the shit hits the fan"? Well, obviously, this admin is the one throwing up the bullshit left and right. Too bad that the fan spatters the crap across all of America and what it stands for.

Stay the fucking course, my ass.

Filed Under:

Poltics

Product Placement

2006-10-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

It's pretty commonplace to see products placed in TV shows and movies. It's no surprise to see a character crack open a cold one while we're reminded that he likes Bud Light. It's no surprise to see the same type of Cisco phone on almost every show you watch.

I find it really odd then, when product placements are so blatant like it makes you gag ...or worse laugh. Case in point, I finally saw The Island last night (sort of dumb movie BTW, expect for the eye candy that is Scarlett Johansson). At one point, Ewan McGregor goes for a drink and we're zoomed into a shot of an aluminum bottle of Michelob which stays on screen for at least 3 seconds. Ewan then proceeds to take a small swig and we never hear from the bottle again. That doesn't sound like much screen time for the brand, but the way it was done was really odd. Seriously, it was a fast zoom into just the bottle with nothing else on screen. I get the feeling that the director, Michael Bay, was told to place the bottle into the movie and he didn't like that. So he directed this ridiculous spot in. But hey, I guess I remember the brand so in some sense it worked.

Compare that placement with Puma's placement of their shoes at the beginning of the same movie. There was a rack of the same cool looking pair of shoes which Ewan McGregor looks through. Not a huge deal and the puma logo itself is a bit blury since the focus is not on the shoes themselves. In this case, I still remember the brand, but it definitely didn't feel odd to see the shoes in this context.

The most ridiculous, contrtive product placement in recent memory has got to be Oreo cookie placement on 7th Heaven. It might just be because I think 7th Heaven is the most contrived drama on TV, but the way they "weave" the story of Oreos into the plot itself. At a few points in this episodes, the characters specifically mention Oreos and talk to each other about whether they like to twist open their cookies and lick the cream or if they just bite right into them. Actual plot lines to ensure we remember the product!

Got any other ridiculous, contrived product placements you recall?

Filed Under:

Marketing

Old News

2006-10-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of random magazines for free - not free trials, I just continually get them without ever getting asked to pay for them. I signed up for a free magazine once and now I get emails for even more magazines. Most of them are useless, some are interesting. The latest one I got is MacWorld.

The magazine itself is fine and a good flip. Except for the fact that it's all old news. I just looked through the October issue and ever bit of news on there seems like it tired stuff back in August.

There is quite a bit of space devote to the Mac Pro, which is the high-end desktop Apple produces. This was a desktop announced during the Mac Worldwide Developers Conference during the week of August 7th.

And I'm reading about it in the Octover issue of MacWorld. Their website has obviously moved onto other things, but the print publication just seems out of it.

Now I totally understand the nature of publishing and deadlines. I used to manage a small monthly news magazine and we had to plan way ahead for anything that was date oriented (thus we usually just stayed away from time-sensitive stuff).

I also understand that I, along with tons of other web-savvy people, get the latest news from various blogs, news sites, and friends. For the people who care, details about the Mac Pro (or any tech item) become old news so quickly.

So why is MacWorld bothering to devote so much space to this a full two months after the product is announced? They already know most of their audience must be web-savvy and on the news. And they know their publishing cycle. If they're going to miss a hot topic like a big product announcement, they should deal with it by focusing on something more useful (which is what the latter part of the mag is devoted to) and not seem totally out of it by talking about something like it was just released the day before.

It's a new world and magazine production staffs should come to grips with this. It's no wonder that these types of publications are having trouble staying afloat. The lastest breaking news is rarely news to someone when they're reading it in a magazine. Even daily newspapers sometimes feel old depending on when an event occured. But a monthly mag? Stay away from "introducing products" to your readers. And gravitate to how the product is going to impact your readers.

Filed Under:

News

Do the Most Good

2006-10-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

Public Radio International's "The World" program had a report today on the Beirut Film Festival which is going on despite the recent bombings in Lebanon. This year's festival was in doubt for obvious reasons, but the organizers strove to make it happen no matter what. Despite the organizers' will, they still had various challenges to overcome including funding. The usual sponsors diverted funds to help rebuild the country. However an American institure (not sure which) came through with necessary funds. This got me to thinking about what should be done and by whom.

While it's great this film festival went on despite the troubles in Lebanon, I wonder if the money spent on it could have been better used to rebuild some portion of the city. One of the organizers commented about the need for entertainment and inspiration and there's no doubt that such things help to keep the human spirit chugging along. But in times of acute need, I just feel like this money could have improved the lives of people in much more important ways.

Of course, I'm not privy to all of the details and I don't even know the reality of the situation in Beirut right now. And I know full well that bread and water do not feed the human soul. Film and art are important to the being of people everywhere. But the cynic in me tells me that charity for humanitarian purposes is much more important than giving to the arts.

How does one make a decision? For me, I tend to donate to causes where not too many people seem to recognize a need. After the US invaded Afghanistan, I donated the the UN Refugee Agnecy (UNHCR). I did this not because I was against the invansion of Afghanistan. In fact, I think W did the right thing with that one. But I saw a need for the people who would inevitably have to flee from all the stuff going on around them. It was also a bit of a contrarian viewpoint to all the people donating to fund helping 9/11 victims. I felt that the US government would help those victims out in the end (which, as far as I know, it has) and so I sent money where I thought it was seriously needed.

I think for most people, this sort of decision comes down to interest and personal meaning. If someone you know has a disease, you're more likely donate for research into erradication of that disease.

But I still feel a bit odd about donating to a film festival in a time of great humanitarian need. I wouldn't have done it. Would you?

Filed Under:

Philanthropy

Rules of War

2006-10-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

It was 5 years ago this week that we went into Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime. While they are no longer officially in power, the Taliban is apparently gaining strength in many localities. Essentially, the Karzai led government only has control over big cities. The rest is left up to the Taliban and other local war lords.

Who would have thought Afghanistan would be in this situation 5 yrs after the most powerful nation in the world resolved to oust the mastermind behind 9/11 and the regime that gave him protection.

And who would have thought our leaders would purposely continue to restrict our freedoms and curtail our Constitutional Rights in the name of a war on terror. If you read my maddened and dazed state the other day, you know I'm in complete disbelief about where this nation is headed. Not only are we stuck in Iraq in a misguided attempt to...um...actually I don't know why we're there.

But anyways, while we're stuck there, we're seemingly losing the war on terror left, right, and center. How's that? There hasn't been another attack on US Soil since 9/11 so how could we be losing. Well, keep in mind that terrorism isn't necessarily killing innocent civilians. It can striking fear in the hearts and minds of innocents. And to be honest, I'm scared of where we're headed as a free nation.

The latest Detainee bill that passed through Congress (before the ridiculous Foley shit) should really make us stand up and shout "No!" "Fuck No!" "Not in the name of America!" Instead we have calmly argued cases for why it should be possible to hold a US Citizen in Guatanamo as an enemy combatant. We're told that as citizens we could still contest our detentions from jail. We're told that the system will ensure that innocent Americans will still have due process. Just lke Jose Padilla, a US citizen who has been in prision since 2002 and STILL HASN'T BEEN CHARGED with a crime. Now, Padilla may well be out to kill, but what's the reasoning behind not charging him with a crime. For 4 years!

And now, we have people like John Yoo telling us that a valid reason for not allowing detainees to contest their arrests is the expense to the country if every detainee were to file in court. Read up on this nonsense. And if you have the time, you should really listen to the interview (link right under the title of the article). Steve Inskeep has this sort of incredulous thing going on in his voice like he's ready to blurt out "Are you fucking kidding me?!". I can't imagine that a valid reason for limiting Habeus Corpus is that it costs too much money and time to deal with each of these guys.

Give me a fucking break.

At least tell us that these people, if let out, could proceed with planning the next attack and kill us all. Oh that's right, so many of the people detained are eventually let go without ever being charged. Keep track here.

So instead of our government taking reasoned responses to terror, we get bullshit about the expense of Habeua Corpus and continued conflation of 9/11 terrorism with Iraq.

So these are the Rules of War.

Confuse.

Scare.

Lie.

Filed Under:

It's Over

2006-09-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

In a wonderful example of our representatives doing what's best for the American and the American way...the Senate has rejected an amendment to the pending "Torture bill" which would have allowed detainees to challenge their detention.

In other words, if you're locked up as a suspected terrorist, you can't question why you've been taken in. It's called Habeus Corpus. The use of Habeus Corpus has basically ensured that everyone gets a day in court. It's been a common concept since 1305 - or for the mathematically challenged, it's been around for 700 years! And America has stood for the best of this concept since day one. Not any more though.

Okay, just so I don't come off looking like a partially informed idiot, Habeus Corpus still applies to regular crimes, but it would no longer be common law for any one who has supported terrorist activity. But let's also be clear here, the government has made it pretty easy to call anyone a suspected terrorist. If you've donated to a charity which later is identified as possibly supporting terrorism, then you're on the hook and could be taken in. Heck, if you've ever talked to a brown man with a beard and turban, you're on the hook. So that may not happen much, but it has happened since 9/11 and don't be fooled into thinking it's just a corner case. Is this the start of a slippery slope? Umm, in case you were sleeping, we're half way down the slope and should be fearful of hitting bottom.

In fact, this torture bill that's coming through right now allows the government to take in a US-born citizen for anything deemed to be in support of terrorism. And don't expect a court date because a suspected terrorist doesn't have to be tried in court. They can be held indefinitely unless and until the govt decides to charge them with a crime. And that's the only time it can be challenged.

Good stuff here.

So you say, well, we need to make sure the terrorists don't get us. Well, let's be clear here, the government has always had the ability to detain suspect terrorists in a time of war. There have always been rules and protocal which could be followed to spy on anyone and to arrest them before they start blowing shit up, especially in a time of war. Beyond in addition to everything else, this bill allows all this non-sense to occur at any time, war or not.

Here's a great run down of so many little tidbits about this bill: Dan Froomkin's White House Briefing is a great daily read, but today's version just left me shaking my head. I'm beyond pissed...I'm dazed. Spend 10 minutes and read his pretty thorough summary about where this bill takes us.

And in case you haven't put two and two together, this was rushed through Congress at the urging of Pres. Bush before Congress adjourns for their elections push. Of course, now they can go back to their districts with this feather in their hats. Yeah, as we all cheer on our representatives to electoral victory, we can be assured that the terrorist next to us could be taken in and just disappear. No court date, no charges. Nothing. And then be tortured with clarity until a confession is extracted.

All for a mid-term elections push.

Game Over.

Filed Under:

It's On

2006-09-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

Not bad...only two months of being too lazy and distracted to post on my blog. But it's on now.

As usual, there have been a few random topics that I've thought about blogging, but none of them drove me to click "New Post". Except Pres. Clinton's interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News. If you haven't seen it, have fun. I happened to be flipping channels Sunday night trying to avoide a hangover from too an afternoon of wine tasting and I came across a re-run of the Fox news program. It's not something I usually watch, but I had to stop there since Clinton was on and it's not an everyday thing to see him on Fox. Anyways, I was glued and as I expected, it's been all over the news since then.

But this post isn't really about the interview. Everything to be said about it has been said. I'll only add that I was smiling during the whole thing since Clinton said what so many others haven't been willing to say.

What really got me to click back to Blogger after so long is the Newsweek International site (Via).
Check out the image grab I've got here. It's a listing of the current (Oct 2) global issues of Newsweek. Notice something odd? The non-US versions carry a cover highlighing the "Jihadistan" article within while the US version highlights a piece on Annie Leibovitz. So just to be clear, both articles are in all versions of Newsweek globally, but Americans don't have to deal with another reminder of where we are with our fight against terror.

Seeing this difference didn't make me think that the media is fucked up. There are certainly some jacked up things which the media presents to us all the time. But this is really about we as Americans and, more generally, about human nature. As a whole, we just don't want to hear this bad stuff, especially when it relates directly to the War on Terror. Sure it's a downer, but it's still happening. And I keep noticing more and more instances of us blinding ourselves to the reality of the situation.

I had not really been focusing too much of my attention on the assessment of where we are. This was mainly because I felt like I already knew things were bad and not too many new facts have been coming out which would convince nay-sayers that things really are pretty fucked up. But seriously, Clinton's interview got me riled up. Just like Clinton handled Chris Wallace in a "Fuck That!" type of attitude, I'm pretty much in that same mindset. Fuck That!

We've been too soft on how fucked up our current admin has made things and MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY we've been too soft on ourselves for the role we have to play as citizens.

Anyways, I'm always reading so much on politics, the war of terror, and general state of things...I'm going to try to highlight the most interesting stuff over the next few weeks. We've got elections coming up and it's our job to know as much as possible in order to go to the polls as an informed populous.

Filed Under:

Politics

Disgustinly Yummy

2006-07-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

As I devoured my nachos at lunch, the guy behind me gave me the perfect title for my post. After more than 3 months, I finally ate at a crappy fast food joint. This time it was Taco Bell. Funny thing was that I wasn't really craving it, I wasn't that hungry, nor was I tagging along with someone who was going there.

I just decided to go.

And oh did my stomach complain.

So in the time since I last wrote about this stuff, I've actually eaten as fast food joints, but only a select few: "healthy" or "high quality". That list has included only In-N-Out, Quiznos, and Subway. That's it. Oh, I did grab an ice cream sundae from McDonald's once but that wasn't really a meal and I would have gotten something similar elsewhere anyways since it was so hot!

I don't think my health changed in any way during the last three months. People keep telling me I've lost weight, but I venture to say that's because I've been working 6-7 days a week this whole summer (work and photography) and sweating like a pig on the hottest days. During that whole time, I can't say that I craved anything from the crap fast food joints. The only times I thought about going to them was when I was in a rush at work or I wanted a change from the cafeteria food at work. That being said, I'm really not sure why I went there so randomly.

But I must say, I still feel a bit off this afternoon. I didn't eat that much, but I still feel like I just ate an hour ago. Processed crap can do that to ya, can't it?

Anyways, I don't plan on eating that crap again any time soon. Now, let me run and make another pit stop.

Ugh.

Filed Under:

FastFood

Allies Fo Life

2006-07-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

I was listening to BBC Radio yesterday for a recap of events on Israel and Lebanon. If you don't know, the bombing is still going on, civilians have been killed, and Condi Rice has been carrying the influence of the United States into cease fire negotiations.

Oh wait, un-check that last item. After two weeks and international pleading, Israel is still continuing with bombings and in fact have proceeded further with ground troops. So it begs the question...why is Israel still doing this?

In my last post on this subject, I guessed that Israel is basically taking a "don't fuck with us" attitude. Which doesn't help the Lebanese, but certainly makes a statement. But the path these cease fire "negotiations" have been going has made just as big of a statement.

BTW, before I proceed, I should say that I made a couple of mistakes in my last post on this subject. Hezbollah obviously doesn't run Lebanon...they have seats in the parliament, but not a majority, far from. Also, the US didn't support an election there. In both cases, I was confused with Palestine & Hamas. Anyways....

The duplicity of this situation is really amazing. The BBC Radio reporter (can't recall his name) really got me kind of pissed off - bot he himself, but just because of how this is being portrayed. In response to some questions by the show host, the reporter stated that Condi Rice is in some really tough negotiations and the temporary pause on aerial bombings (which they've already renegged on) are a way for Israel to give some to Condi for all her negotiations.

My ire was raised the fact the the US apparently has no pull with Israel. Seriously, we're the biggest supporter of Israel. Without all of the arms that we provide to Israel, the country would have been under seige from Day 1. Without our support, there's no way Israel would have any place in the world.

So despite all of this, we're in "tough negotiations" with Israel. Dude, fuck that. The country owes is complete existence to us and they don't listen to a word we say?

I don't actually think there are tough negotiations at all. I think Condi has gone in there and essentially confirmed that it's okay for Israel to destroy Lebanon. Anything else would mean that for all its support, the US is Israel's bitch. And W would have none of that.

In reality, I think the situation is much worse: The US supports Israel's destruction of Lebanon. Afterall, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization (albeit it, with parliamentary seats) and they need to be removed, right? And the US is too tied up with Iraq to do anything else. So letting Israel do its bidding would seem a really smart choice for Condi and W. The public pronouncements by this administration pretty much back this up since the US has not called for a cease fire. They've called for a negotiation to address the root causes of the situation. That's all fine and good. Addressing the root causes is obviously the only way to solve this once and for all. But how can one faithfully enter negotiations when you're bombing the fuck out of the other country?

And that just disgusts me.

So either the US is Israel's beeyotch (which I completely doubt). Or this is a much more disappointing and maddening situation where the US is supporting the utter destruction of another Middle Eastern country. Sometimes, I wonder about diplomacy. The real deal here is pretty clear, and yet diplomats every where can't call it for what it is. Heck, at the beginning of this, when someone said that Israel had bigger aims with its bombings than simply to gets soldiers back (which is totally the case), he was ridiculed! Why can't you call a spade a spade and be done with it?

Seriously, we got the idea. Don't fuck with Israel. Stop the bombing already!

Filed Under:

Politics
War

Snap! Crackle! Click! My Photos!

2006-07-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

Holding the Dupatta
Originally uploaded by Jigar.

Well, it's been over a year since we started the business and I finally got tired of not being able to show off some of my favorite photos. Let's start with this one since it's near the top of my faves list.

It's actually from one of the first weddings we covered, but I still love it for the meaning behind it.

Sikh wedding ceremonies are so calm that they're almost non-events. However one of the most important ceremonies is when the couple walks clockwise around the Guru Granth Sahib four times. This is pretty similar to the Hindu ceremony where the couple walks around the fire 4 times as well.

One of the things I noticed about the Sikh ceremony is that the bride holds her groom's dupatta (rather than having their dupattas tied as in Hindu ceremonies). For some reason I find this to be so meaningful. In Hindu ceremonies a similar thing is done where the dupattas of the couple are tied together, but something about the bride holding the dupatta during the entire ceremony conveys more to me.

And, for me, this moment is transformed by this photo. I've taken several very similar to this, but this is still the one that I like the best. Indeed, the bride loves this photo too.

Filed Under:

Escalating Madness

2006-07-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

By now, the escalating battles between Israel and Hezbollah are something that we should all be pretty concerned and fearful about.

Recap: Hezbollah (the group who's political arm happens to run the Lebanese government) kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers. Israel said "WTF?!" and proceeded to go midevil on Hezbollah. What does midevil mean? Well, it started with disabling the Beirut airport by bombing runways and some other known Hezbollah strongholds. It continued with further bombings in the Beirut suburbs targeting areas where Hezbollah keeps arms, plans, etc. Meanwhile, Hezbollah hasn't backed down and has sent a mulitude of rockets into Israel. Apparently, fully 1/3 of Israel is under bombing alert. I'm guessing that 100% of Lebanon is under bombing alert.

So since this is my blog, I've gotta write about my take on this nonsense, right? Well, obviously, nobody is right and nobody will win in this situation. As usual, lots of innocent people have already and will likely lose their lives or livelihoods.

So who's to blame? Well, obviously Hezbollah's the instigator in this. But I'd say that Israel is definitely an enabler. They certainly didn't need to go this far in attempting to recover their soldiers. But the undercurrent here is that Israel is making a much larger point about incursions on its territory and against its people.

Do I think it's okay that Israel is sick and tired of this? Of course. No single event can justify the kind of force Israel is using. And I don't think any series of events can provide the rationale for this type of action. But seriously, what Israel's really saying (in Tupac's words) is "Fuck you and your muthafuckin homies"

No seriously. They're raining flyers down on the Lebanese telling them that they need to drop their ties to Hezbollah if they hope to see tomorrow.

So, not surprisingly, it's up to the US to do something about this. Israel is obviously living under our wing. Make no mistake that Israel would have been destroyed without the support of the US all these years. And if W is to live up to his goals of fostering democracy, he and his admin have to broker a deal here.

Let's not forget that the current admin pushed for elections in Lebanon even though it was pretty clear that Hezbollah would win. That electoral win may have provided some legitimacy to Hezbollah, but from what I can surmise, the Lebanese people aren't exactly happy with the direction of the country. Any doubt amongst the people should certainly be erased after the current beat down by Israel.

So I think W actually has a perfect chance to get a huge win here. Broker a deal that not only stops the bombs, but also leads to better democracy. By applying conditions to the cease fire, hopefully Hezbollah is backed into a corner and really has to give up its use of violence. At the same time, Israel needs to back off and not go bombing left, right, and center. Those things tied together will actually show the people of both countries how to proceed from the current no-win situation to a win-win where the people actually benefit. And in the best situation, this is actually how democracy spreads. Not by dismantling the very foundation of a country just to get one regime out (irony of Israel's actions here is that they're so similar to what the US did to get Saddam out).

Progress begets progress. Let's hope for some in the coming days.

W, the ball is in your court. Don't fuck it up. Again.

Filed Under:

Politics
War

Going Once, Going Twice

2006-07-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

We're finally no longer the owners of two homes!

Our previous home closed last week and I walked inside it for the last time on Thursday. Neither of us got truly attached to the home, but there was a bit of reminiscing in those last few minutes in the house. As the first home we owned, it'll always be remembered, but at the same time, we knew we didn't want to stay there forever.

So now we're in Mountain View and loving it. Our mortgage payment is ungodly, but it's just different to live here versus there.

Filed Under:

Home

Snap! Crackle! Click! Photography in the New York Times

2006-07-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't written about photography since March! And just when I was trying to find some interesting portfolios to talk about, I run across a link on the NY Times homepage. Being that I love photography, I find this Q&A with the NY Times Assistant Managing Editor for Photography very interesting.

Talk to the Newsroom: Assistant Managing Editor for Photography, Michele McNally

I'm far from a news photojournalist, but I'm always amazed by photographs of news-worthy events. This Q&A features several wonderful photos in-line and the discussion of the philosophy about what makes a good news photo, what choices are made when selecting photos to run, and so many other things really intrigues me.

In a future life, when I don't have a 9-to-5, I'd love to do more freelance work. Most likely, not on-going event coverage, but editorial coverage would definitely be right up my alley. Here's to hoping that the plan works out.

Filed Under:

Rocket Bust

2006-07-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

If you follow the world of blogging and trends on the internet itself, then you've probably heard about the whole drama with RocketBoom. If you haven't heard of RocketBoom, don't worry, you haven't misseed much. In fact, I hadn't heard of the website until a few weeks ago. It's referred to as a video log (vlog), but my take on it is that it's a daily news tidbits show.

As a vlog, I guess it's revolutionary. Apparently, it took the web by storm and was "the next big thing". Given those comments about the vlog, I had to check it out post-humously and well, I'm left wondering why it could be considered the next big thing. Like I said, as a vlog, I guess it's a big deal, but overall, it's not much more than a basic cable tidbit show.

It's produced pretty decently, but in the end, it's no better than most of the crap that's on Mountain View Comcast Channel 15 (that's the local access channel where people can buy TV time and host their own show). So why did it become a hit?

Well, the biggest thing behind it is the nature of the internet. Local access cable is, by definition, local. Only people in your general area are going to see it. If you make waves on local access, it's still a long, long way between your neighbors seeing you and the rest of the country seeing you. On the internet, your neighbors are all across the world. And if you make a splash, it's much less difficult to make a name for yourself on computer screens across the world.

And how does one make a splash on the web? Well, you can be funny/wierd (most of the stuff on YouTube), you can be insightful (several blogs). Actually you can just be consistent and build an audience. We're very used to seeing new versions of things on TV every day or week so we come to expect the same thing online. So if you post something every day or week, your audience will come to visit just be nature of habit.

So why did RocketBoom make a splash? Well, I think it's the last thing that can get you noticed on the web: Sex. Okay, so Amanda Congdon didn't strip on her show, but let's all be honest here, people wouldn't watch her if she wasn't cute with big boobies. Go watch her show. I watched a few episodes and the only thing I could imagine around why she's so popular is her looks. The actual content of her show is pretty annoying, to be honest. I couldn't watch a single entire episode simply because I find her mannerisms either copies of other stuff (SNL's Tina Fey on the Weekend Update skits) or just kind of annoying.

Okay, so maybe I'm being cynical and since I didn't follow thing vlog while it was still alive I can't really say why people found it so interesting. And what I find annoying could be in-jokes with the vlog for people who have followed for a long time. But seriously...go watch the archives. How many episodes can you find where she's not wearing an extra thin baby-T and where she's not showing her chest? How many times does she do something unique?

So now the big question for people who have been following this whole thing is whether she will succeed in "the real world" based on her internet success. C'mon...given the nature of Hollywood she won't be doing anything unless she continues to show off those boobies. From watching a few of her episodes, I can't find anything interesting about her. My guess? She'll end up on one of those tech tv shows as "the hot chick who digs tech".

Afterall, that's pretty much all she was on Rocketboom.

Filed Under:

Internet

Thought less

2006-07-12T00:40:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to the horrible news of the bombings in Mumbai. Somehow, I almost feel numb to this kind of thing now. It's sad...while it's certainly not a regular thing, we've seen enough of this kind of horror that the shock and automatic "WHAT!?!?!" reaction is no longer there.

And that's why it's sad. The dozens of people who died and hundreds who were injured deserve our thoughts and sentiments. So is this what they want? Certainly they want us to live in fear. But instead I'm numb. Thought less. Without thought.

Filed Under:

Terrorism

Through to the End

2006-07-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

We had our first weekend with the photography biz where we had two clients booked at the same time. We didn't exactly plan to booked two clients at the same time, but it also wasn't a mistake or an overbooking. Booking multiple clients is part of the progression of the business.

So the plan was for Sandhya to stay with the morning client all the way to the end of the their event and I would go to the other client's event. We would both hire extra photographers to ensure that we'd have sufficient coverage. In the end, I think we both did great jobs for both clients and they should be very pleased with the coverage.

But an interesting thing happened on my way to the second client's event. I had a feeling of emptiness. This was the first time I wasn't able to stick around to watch the unfolding of things as things progress from a wedding ceremony where the couple can be a bit tense all the way through to dancing at the reception when the couple is happy beyond reason.

Ok, so I'm not a guest I don't need to share in the joy of the couple, but we're doing this because we love it, not because we desperately need the income. As such, we not only take a lot of pride in what we do, we find a lot of enjoyment in getting to know our clients and feel just as happy for them as their guests.

At first it felt a bit odd that I would miss not seeing our morning client at their reception. Then I thought...well, it's a business. But after another day, I'm actually proud of myself for having that empty feeling in the first place. I'm in this for the love of photography. Yes, the money is worthwhile, but it's not the beginning nor the end of the involvement.

That's one of the differences between working for a living and running your own business. I'm happy to say that even after a year of double-duty with my day job, and several months of feeling like I've got too many things to keep track of, I'm still happy to be doing this and even happier to feel a connection to the people that trust us to cover the most important events in their lives.

Categories:

Photography

Make sure you get my panties while I'm putting on this Salwaar Kameez

2006-07-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

Imagine if you had a bride-to-be tell you that while you're photographing her getting ready for her big event. Thank god neither I nor my partner have ever gotten a wierdo request like that. And hopefully we never will.

But given the way white people seem to be headed with the wedding photographs they want, I wouldn't be surprised if we get similar oddball requests.

I had heard some random things about women wanting more revealing photos taken of them while they getting ready in the morning. However, I thought those type of shots were limited to some tasteful behind the back photos of the bride's top being buttoned, etc, but with nothing actually revealed.

Little did I know that both the Wall Street Journal & ABC News have gone to great lengths to tittilate us with how far brides will go to have intimate photos of them taken. Thanks to Seshu's Bliss blog I now have something else to leave me speechless and shaking my head:
Brides Gone Wild (PDF link so I suggest you download it rather than load it directly)
and Nightline

In the coming days I'll try to post a bit about the interesting things we've seen and been part of while photographing weddings. For the most part, it's a pretty standard thing and as photographers we don't really know much more than the average guest besides timing, but sometimes, due to the specificity of what our clients want, we get to find out about the great lengths to which the couple has gone just to have a perfect day. A perfectly produced day too.

Categories:

Photography

Wait and then wait some more

2006-07-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

I went to the post office this morning. It's a rare thing for me to go to there since I don't have much need to mail physical things. Email, PDFs, and especially online bill payment has replaced just about any reason for me to visit USPS.

This morning reminded me why I'd like to avoid USPS completely.

I got to the post office to find that about 8-10 people were in line. Not a huge deal since the lines tends to go down quickly since there are usually several people working the desk.

But just to avoid any wait, I went to the automated machine to see if I could get my postage done automatically. I tried finding the specific option on the machine but couldn't find it. So I figured I'd just go to the line since the lines usually just take 5-10 mins (at least at other post offices)

Lo and behold only 1 person is working the main desk. There's another woman working the passport desk and there at least a couple of people in the back since they keep poppping their heads out when someone rings the bell for pick up service.

After waiting about 10 mins, more people had joined the line (I counted 15 people) and only 2 people had actually gotten their task completed at the front of the line. Seeing these other USPS workers sit around seemingly doing nothing really pissed me off. I'm sure the other people were doing something useful, but what got to me is that none of these other workers thought to do a thing about the length of the line.

That means a few things:
1) Lines of this length are nothing new at USPS
2) One person working the line is nothing new at USPS
3) Other workers not being very helpful is nothing new at USPS

So I finally got tired of waiting in the same spot without making any progress so I went to the passport lady and asked if the automated machine should be able to help me (she wasn't doing anything anyways). Even though I explained that I wasn't able to find the option on the machine she didn't offer to help me out by showing me. What's more, I actually asked if there's anyone else who can work the main line and she just said nope. I asked her if she thought that having just one person there after a long weekend was a good idea since so many people were waiting. With a big smile on her face, she said I'd have to talk to her manager about that.

So not only is this person not helpful she happily passes the buck.

And our tax dollars subsidize this private company?

Yes, the USPS is a private company, it's not a federal agency like the IRS. Amazing how well USPS can act like a typical govt agency.

Anyways, I didn't bother to complain since I didn't want to wait around longer. I went to the machine and after clicking around in a few places I found the option I was looking for and was on my way.

On my way home from work, I'm stopping by again just to lodge a complaint. See you tomorrow.

Categories:

Entrepreneurial Philanthropy - More on the Gates Foundation

2006-06-29T23:20:00.000-07:00

I'm fascinated by the continuing developments with the Gates Foundation (GF). If you didn't hear, Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world and good friend of Bill Gates, recently announced that he would be donating $37 billion dollars to the Gates Foundation.

The donation itself is interesting since it's not a lump sum. Buffett is splitting the donation over a number of years and requires that one of the Gates actually runs the foundation. The most interesting financial thing is that Buffett is also requiring that the full amount which he donates in a given year must be spent in that same year. This is different than how most foundations work in that they keep most of their money invested and only use a small portion of it in any given year. That's how they survive through the years. The IRS requires that foundations spend at least 5% of their worth every year and that's the percentage that the Gates Foundation has been spending up to now. Not any more - it will have to disburse the regular 5% plus the full amount which Buffett donates every year.

So now why does this foundation intrigue me so much? Well, in addition to what I wrote about in the last post regarding its goal to eradicate so many major diseases, let's start with this new Economist article: The new powers in giving

I suppose some of this analysis makes it seems like GF is simply making a business out of charity, but over the years I've come to realize that true progress can only come from a concerted effort that looks at all angles. Moreover, there is no need to start from scratch if someone else may already have the skills and the capability to accomplish great things. So leverage what's there and as they say so often, don't reinvent the wheel. The Economist analysis brings up some good thoughts on the challenges GF will face as it grows larger and larger, but they've done great work so far. Besides, The Sage of Omaha has been right on so many big bets...why should we think he's not perfectly on track with his biggest bet so far?

I could go on for quite some time about other examples of this viewpoint, but I'll just leave it with saying that I think Gandhi would be very proud of the ways in which GF is tackling some of our world's biggest problems.

Categories:

Philanthropy

Random Rudeness

2006-06-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

Just as important an issue as Flag Burning is the random rudeness I face :)

This isn't a straight-up kind of rudeness, but it's just stuff that makes you go "WTF?" quietly...not enough to actually say anything, but enough to make you wonder what people were thinking.

Case in point, I was washing my coffee mug in the breakroom when some guy I had never seen, creeped up beside me and poured his cup of coffee down the drain without asking for a little space. Now, it's not like I need the personal space, but I also don't need coffee to splash on me, especially someone else's coffee. Especially while I'm washing my mug in the same sink at the same time and don't even have time to move my mug to the side. Dude proceeds to pour himself another cup and walk out. No excuse me, thanks, or any other niceties.

WTF?

Proceeding to the counter in the breakroom, people seem to think they can leave their random sugar, half-and-half, and other used packets on the counter. Why? There's a trash can right in front of you. Use it!

And finally, someone I had never worked with scheduled a meeting with me yesterday and didn't show up. No big deal, it happens. So I left the person a voicemail mentioning that I waited 15 mins then left and to schedule another mtg if they need to. Later that day I got a re-scheduled mtg request but no comments about completely missing a mtg. No voicemail reply either. Again, missing the mtg wasn't a huge deal, but a simple comment about it would give me the confidence that this person would actually attend the second time around.

Anyways, I haven't ranted for a while, so there you go...my rant for the month of June.

Categories:

Beeyotch

The Burning Issues

2006-06-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the summer when there's not really too much going on. We're waiting for a nice long weekend (although I'll be working for much of it), but beyond the long weekend, it's just a lot long hot days broken up by a few BBQs and a lot of beers.

But not if you talk to the politicians in Washington. Apparently, they've taken on the burning issues that we're all riled up about because...well because they're issues that need to be tackled.

What issues you say? Flag Burning. Illegal Immigration. Minimum Wage. Pulling tropps from Iraq.

Now, I'm not saying that none of these issues is important, but have you noticed that each of these issues has been quickly brought up, riled a varying number of people, then voted upon by Congress? And once the vote occurs, have you heard anything else about these issues? Unless it's about Iraq, I doubt any of us will ever hear of these issues again.

Until the next long hot summer.

Before an important election cycle.

Get where I'm going? I've known all along that these issues have been brought to the forefront not mainly because the American people are clamoring for closure on the issue, but mainly because our representative want to show they stand for (or against) something. [Ok, so people may be clamoring for some closure on immigration and troops in Iraq, but the timing of the presentation of these issues has as much to do with political needs and the desires of the public.]

And don't think it's just the GOP that's guilty of this non-sense. The Dems are just as shameless in bringing up these topics.

What I don't get though is why this even works any more? Doesn't it seem like the American public is too smart to be tricked by these ploys? It's quite obvious that these issues are only played for the theatrics. They'll be used later on to help market the politicians in their election campaigns.

"Now even more against Flag Burning!"

I didn't even know flag burning was an issue any more and here we are on June 28th and our Congress almost passed a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning! (It would then have to be ratified by the states before getting added to the Constitution, of course).

Minimum Wage? Why did it take so many years to bring this up? And only then, for a week of discussion and a quick vote?

The sad thing is that this will continue to occur, bang bang bang on random issues through the summer. The even sadder thing is that in the upcoming election cycle, politicians on both sides will do their darndest to remind us how they voted on these issues. They've gotta market themselves somehow!

The saddest thing?

The Amercian people are going to slurp it all up. After all, it's a hot summer and they could use some refreshment.

Categories:

Drinkin Blak

2006-06-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

So as I battle the multi-tasking withdrawals (actually the withdrawals aren't so bad if you don't quit), I realized I forgot to update the Coke Blak status. If you'll recall, I blogged about finding Coke Blak at the grocery store. Thoughts?

First of all, it's not cheap! It's like $2 for a tiny little bottle. But on the taste? Well, it's better than Pepsi Tarik, which is what I had a can of in Malaysia. The drugged up Pepsi sort of tasted old. Drugged up Coke has a distinct Coffee flavor.

But I don't think I'll drink it again, unless someone buys me a case for my birthday :P Hint: Please spend your money on better things than coffee flavored coke. Hint: Please give me something other than coffee flavored coke for my birthday. Hint: A New Car! (Just spent $700+ on car repair, singular...fixing a single thing cost $700+!)

There are so many new fangled beverages coming out. A drink for every niche. Hey, if every niche gets it's own cable channel and website, why not a drink, right? That's true to some extent, but I just don't think Coke Blak or any coffee-mix will catch on. Soda is usually really sweet (even if it's calorie free), while coffee is usually bitter (unless your idea of coffee is a 25 pump vanilla latte) with a bit of sweetness thrown in. In fact, I think part of the pleasure of coffee is the mix of coffee bitterness with sugar sweetness. So that would make you think mixing coffee with cola would work really well...but not so much. Cola just doesn't lend itself well to bitter mixers. Cherry, vanilla, lime and the like seem to do really well with cola, but they're all sweet and/or sour. And coffee mixes well with sweetness, but that's usually in some creamy or foamy form of sweetness, not cola.

So never shall the two covort in my mouth at the same time.

Now, let me get back to uni-tasking.

Categories:

Uni-Tasking - Counterproductive

2006-06-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

I realized today just how antsy I get when I can't multi-task or I have to do just a single thing for hours on end. I've got all-day mtgs this week and I've been trying to pay more attention than I usually do. So I actually followed the "laptops down" rule even kept track of every presentation and conversation. Good stuff.

Except for all the things I didn't get done. So now I'm totally behind on emails, voicemails, etc, etc. What a pain.

I know that paying attention to things is actually a good thing. But doing just a single thing at a time seems like such a waste of time. Yes, it's bad to do a half-ass job of things while multi-tasking, but I think I've gotten so used to multi-tasking that I end up actually accomplishing more than if I just did those same things one after another. Sure that just may be a rationalization, but whatever. I'm addicted to multi-tasking and it's gonna be hard to quit.

Categories:

HDTV better than the real thing

2006-06-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

So we got a new HDTV last week. I've been wanting one for ages, but never really prioritized it since we had a lot of other things to think about. So now having this huge TV is not just fun to watch, many times it feels better than actually being there.

This is usually the case with sports since TV cameras usually have much better views than what the average person can get in the cheap seats. But with the HD, every detail is amazing. Yes, yes, I know, HD has been around for quite some time. I'm certainly not an early adopter, but when I finally jump in, I'm totally pleased.

What is even more amazing is watching the documentary shows on Discovery and these two channels called INHD (get it? In High Def? Ha!). At the moment, I'm watching "Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime". Or should I say re-watching it? I wrote about the program previously when I first saw it. I specifically recorded it since I knew it would be a different experience in HD.

No kidding. Piven is currently on the backwaters in Kerala and it's exactly like a I remember it from my trip there. Makes me want to return post-haste. I want to return even more due to some discussions we've had around the photography and trying to concentrate more on the art of our work; not just event coverage. More on that soon.

But anyway, it's truly amazing how a higher definition image just takes you away from your living room and places you smack dab in the middle of a Kathakali performance. I'm not surprised by this at all. Afterall, our photography almost always takes our clients away and places them right smack dab in the middle of their memories.

By the way, I've gotta add a few more comments about Jeremy Piven. The program is just wonderful. I wish he had spent more time in India. The interesting thing is that his experience is full of spiritual connection (which is what I usually expect when white people go to India), but he also just acts sort of random. I'd say he acts dumb or demeaning or racist, but it's not that. I suppose I could get offended by some of it, but I'm far from offended. In fact, it makes his trip all the more real. It's not like he's treating India as some cultural oasis. He treats it like a place when people actually live - they're not just religious kooks living in a Land of Culture, they're people! And so I think this makes the show (and Piven) a bit more charming and more real. And ya, the HD makes it more real too.

Categories:

HDTV

Today it was a good day

2006-06-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Man, today really seems to be a banner day for the benefit of the world as a whole. President Bush announced this morning that the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will now for a National Monument. It's bigger than any other nat'l monument and it's the most intact marine region within US jurisdiction.

Let's leave aside my thoughts on W and his term so far, but I've gotta say that our president has given the world a huge gift here but designating this area as a national monument. In the grand scheme, the war and everything else W stands for may nullify the good things Bush as done, but let's give W a hand for doing this.

President Clinton previous called this same area an ecosystem reserve, but the nat'l monument status guarantees permanent funding to maintain the reserve and it's very hard to change in the future.

Yes, another huge win for the world. Take a second and smile.

:)

Categories:

Philanthropy for the rich and famous

2006-06-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates just announced that he's going to be leaving his day-to-day role at Microsoft in 2008. He's going to concentrate on the great work that his charities are doing.

If you listen to public radio and watch public TV, then you've probably heard the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the William H Gates Foundation (that's Bill's father). What I've liked about these foundations is that they have been focusing on such basic things, but things which have a huge impact on the global level. Things like Tuberculosis, Polio, AIDS, and vaccines for a multitude of other diseases which are so prevalent in the 3rd World we should be ashamed of ourselves. And then there's all the education related work the foundation undertakes. And this work isn't just a drop in the bucket - we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, the Gates Foundation is the world's largest charitable foundation.

Much of the discussion about Gates' announcement will focus on what happens to Microsoft going forward (in fact, the CNN story hardly mentions a thing about what Gates is moving onto, it just talks about the Microsoft plans). But I think this is a HUGE win for the world as a whole. Many people deride MS for providing crappy products and using it's marketshare to squash everything good in the software world, but it's clear that Gates has had an eye out for what good he can do outside of the sofware world for a long time. Given his success with MS (luck and timing included), I think he'll do much much greater things for the world as he begins to focus on the philanthropic work his foundation can lead.

The current leaders of our world can learn a thing or two from this announcement. Here's to people taking a step back and doing things for the greater good.

Cheers, Bill Gates.

Categories:

Ergonomics and Industrial Design

2006-06-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know, yes another long time between posts. I've just been lazy and have had other things on my mind. I've been pondering some topics to blog about and something I heard on NPR told me I finally had to post.

So NPR had a profile of an industrial design legend named Viktor Schreckengost who is turning 100 next week. This man has designed so many things it's quite amazing that he's not a household name. One of the things he said while being interviewed is that he always thought from the user's perspective and how they would feel using one of his designs. That seems pretty obvious.

So it's funny that I was thinking about the same topic and was chatting with a friend about it just a few hours earlier in the day. I brought up the topic because I just got a new Apple Macbook. While it's a great little machine and I believe it's going to serve my needs very well, I realized within a couple of hours of taking it out of the box that there was an odd flaw with the physical design of the thing. Don't get me wrong, overall, they've done a great job combining good looks with a very useable design. But there are two things which, to me, are glaring mistakes.

The first is the most annoying since my wrists won't let me forget about it. While closed, the macbook looks so sleek it just brings a twinkle to your eye. Open it up and the keyboard looks funky, but it actually works quite well and is very comfortable. In fact, I like it a bit better than the MacBook Pro's keyboard. Anyways, the problem here is not the keyboard, it's the front edge of the machine. It's got a sharp edge which just digs into your wrists while you type. Not a good thing. This is not a matter of how I type, since I believe most people lay their wrists on the space directly in front of the keyboard. When you do this on a MacBook, your wrist just scrapes along this hard, sharp edge.

So if you see me sometime and the inside of my wrists look all raw and ready to bleed, don't worry, I haven't tried to slit my wrists, I've just been using my laptop.

So in Apple's attempts at creating a truly slick (literally) laptop, they didn't think about how the clean line of the front edge would affect a user's ergonomics. For a company that's lauded for its industrial design, that's a a huge mark against them. I haven't heard of any other complaints about this, but I'd be interested to learn about other people's experiences with this.

Ok, so moving on, the other problem with this laptop is the position of the lock receptacle. If you haven't used one of those Kensington Laptop Locks, you really ought to. I've been using them for so long, it's a no brainer for me. So when I take this laptop to work, I immediately lock it up so some random person walking by my cube can't just lift my shiny new money pit. Well, as soon as I put the MacBook on my desk, I immediately recognized something wrong with where the lock receptacle is...it's on the left side of the laptop, but it's the front most thing. Check out this photo. The lock receptacle is the little hole all the way on the right side (on the black MacBook). So the problem is that with the lock in, the cable for the lock (which runs to the back of my desk) covers up ALL of the ports. Dumb. So let's say I run my lock to the side of the my desk...in that case, the cable for the lock would be smack dab in the middle of my desk and block everything else. What if I run the lock over the front edge of my desk and underneath? Well then I've got a cable hitting my knees all day. No matter where I run the cable for the lock, it's gets in the way of something else.

Every PC I've seen has the lock receptacle as far back as possible. This makes sense since the lock is really the last thing you really need to be touching once you put it on. While using the computer, chances are you're going to want to plug in USB devices, a network cable, etc. Whenever I do this with my MacBook, I've gotta push the damned lock cable out of the way. How annoying. And by placing the lock reception all the way in the back, you can just run the cable to the back of your desk and it's out of the way and doesn't impede on your knees or anything else on your desk.

Now...I'm not saying this is the result of something thinking the lock receptacle look cool in this wierdo spot, but it's definitely a sign of someone not thinking about how people use laptop locks.

Of course, Apple has done a great job thinking about other day to day problems of laptop users, like the powr plug. The MacBook and MacBook Pro have a magnetic power plug which will come out if it's tugged too hard. Sure this might mean you lose power more often since the plug comes out, but it's better than the plug staying in and dragging the laptop off your desk and onto the floor when your dog runs by and snags the cord. Believe me, I've had several heart stopping moments when I've had to catch my laptop just as it teeters on the edge of my table since it was just dragged off the edge as my dogs ran by.

Ok, so I'm going to give Apple lots of credit for how well they design so many thing, but when they miss, they miss in ways that really annoy me.

Want more examples?

The Apple Keyboard...While the laptop keyboards are quite nice, the external keyboard looks so sweet, but it's something I really can't stand. Notice the curve on it? From an ergonomic perspective, it's actually the exact opposite of what it should do. They say that you should type in such a way that your hands & wrists sort of hang limp. The Apple keyboard makes you bend your wrists backwards. On top of that, the keystrokes are so long that you have to really punch at the keys to get them going. As a result of this, they make tons of noise too. And not the nice clicky-clicky noise that old school IBM terminals make, It's a really annoying noise. So the Apple keyboard is a definite loser from an ergonomic & user perspective. Looks cool, but looks only go so far.

One more example?

The Apple mouse. Sucks. Let's not worry about the single mouse button thing since the latest Mighty Mouse actually has two buttons, they're just technological buttons instead of a separate buttons. But look at this thing. It's so cool! That should be your first sign :) This geometric design is actually quite bad for your mouse hand. Again, looks very cool, but totally wrong from an ergonomic perspective.

So which external keyboard & mice do I like best?

Microsoft. Gotta love that wave keyboard...it really keeps your hands in the right spots. And the first generation ones actually let you hang your hands in the perfect position. If you've got one of those first generation ones, lemme know and I'll buy it from you :) I also like the nice mice they make, although I don't have a favorite. I'm sure Logitech makes very nice ergonomic mice also. Bottom line though is that Apple definitely doesn't know how to make them.

It's funny...Apple does a great job at user interface from a software perspective, but I've just gone into waaay too much detail about how badly they can miss on the hardware user interface. Apple certainly isn't the only company that misses on their hardware interface, but given how much Apple puts into how much better their products are than everyone else's, they really should address these things by thinking more about the ergonomics of these devices.

In the meantime, I'll go blot my bleeding wrists.

Categories:

Singapore's stranglehold on Democracy

2006-05-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've written several times previously about the nature of democracy in Singapore. Generally, this topic comes up when I visit the city-state since that is when I can get an in-person taste for what democratic freedom amounts to there.

The Economist has published a pretty spot-on account how things work there. I encourage you all to read it since it's short and it'll give you an idea of what I mean by a democratically elected benevolent dictatorship.

Just to recap, I think Singapore's ruling party, the People's Action party (PAP) has done a great job at ensuring the the country continues to move forward. Additionally, they continue to find a way to toe the line between control of everything and the resulting grumbling from folks who dislike the lack of American style freedoms.

In practice, I think most of SGP's population could care less about freedoms as long as they are able to live a comfortable life in relatively efficient world. The PAP has realized this (or more correctly, created this attitude) and caters to it on a daily basis. In the end, I think most people operate in that fashion whether it's in SGP or in the USA.

Categories:

Two words for every brand

2006-05-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

Forgive my usual stupid pun in the title (a free photo for the first person who knows the reference)

So since last year have you been noticing that much of the consumer goods you get the store have things written in two languages? Considering that we're in California, one would expect the two languages to be English & Spanish. Afterall, the vast majority of the population speaks one of those two languages fluently.

But as you've probably figured out, the second language we see is not Spanish, but French.

Why French? Because the Quebecois are uppity like that. Now, don't go thinking I'm a French hater. I actually took 4+ years of French classes and I think the French bring a lot to the cultural table (if nothing else). But despite all they bring to the table in terms of cuisine, culture, and art, the French seem to have this inferiority complex when it comes to the English language and especially Americans. Quebecois seem to have this same issue.

And thus you get the French Language Charter, which, among other things, requires that all consumer products to be labelled in French to the same degree that they are in English (or any other language I suppose). If you're in Quebec and love you some French, this seems fine, but when you're in the one of the most highly Hispanic regions of the United States? Useless. Even worse, it takes away from the table.

While English is the main language in this country and I think every person in the US should have working knowledge of the language, let's admit that not everyone knows English. While there certainly is no reason to require any language on any package, if there were to be additional languages on packaging, it should be Spanish. No questions.

But here we are with this stupid French-Canadian law that forces me to read French every time I go to buy household items.

Why? Because the people who make my air freshner make the same stuff for our northern neighbors and it's simpler for them to have a single package for the entire market. No sense in creating totally separate packaging for a mere 7 million people so they just make a single package. And so 300 million Americans get to read French on a daily basis.

Anyways, I've been thinking about posting about this forever, but I finally did it because I saw the new air freshner my wife picked up yesterday. Lo and behold...no French! In fact, Glade was smart enough to put Spanish on the packaging in addition to English. I'm sure the millions of Spanish speaking people in this state and others will appreciate a major brand recognizing and tailoring their products to them.

Fuck the Quebecois, dude. I'd much rather deal with a little Spanish on my household items because it serves this community in a much more significant way.

Categories:

Back in Blak

2006-05-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this last week after a trip to Safeway, but what can I say? I'm forgetful.

Anyways, we were in Safeway and I walked by the cold single serve beverages in the back (you know, just in case you need a mixer for the fifth of rum you're buying).

First thoughts: This photo kind of sucks. My new cell phone is really cool, but the photos it takes aren't nearly as nice as I'd like.

Second thoughts: Coke Blak? Huh?

If you recall my wrap-up posts from my recent trip to Singapore, I found and consumed a can of Pepsi Tarik, which is a mix of cola & coffee. As you can review, I wasn't blown away. At that time I found some news that Coke would be releasing something in France and lo-and-behold, I just found a bunch of bottles at Safeway!

While the bottle is intriguing (it's a metal bottle wrapped in plastic sheathing), based on my experience with Pepsi Tarik, I wasn't intrigued enough to grab a bottle and get lit up with caffeine.

Now that I've blogged about it, I might just drop by the market and grab a bottle. I'll keep you all updated since I know you're sitting on the edge of your collective seats.

Categories:

Soul-Full

2006-05-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

The other while driving I saw a car in front of me I saw a station wagon with a bumper sticker that said "Drum Machines Have No Soul". I started to wonder what type of music the person didn't like. New Wave? R&B? Hip Hop?

I then started to wonder what type of the music the person DID like. Hard Rock? Classic rock? Maybe the bumper sticker was supposed to be ironic and the person actually liked New Wave music?

Since this was the only sticker on the car, I was very perplexed and thought about it for much longer than I needed to.

So coincidentally, I listened to a lot of Depeche Mode this weekend while painting our new house. I had downloaded a DM discography a while back and had yet to listen through stuff. So I just loaded up iTunes and had it set to random.

DM was the first band I really obsessed over. And yes, I admit that :) While I don't really like or listen to any of their newer stuff, running through a few dozen of their tracks over the weekend really took me back to when Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, at al were gods to me. Man, as far as music went, DM was it and nothing could beat their keyboards and drum machines.

It was only near the end of the day that I recalled that bumper sticker and had to smirk. Here I was remembering my spiked hair, rolled pant cuffs, pastel shirts and dopey glasses. And man, was that music full of soul.

Categories:

Wake Up and Shake Up

2006-04-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

My entire schooling occurred in the LA Unified School District (LAUSD). The whole time, having friends that lived in Orange County, I knew that the LAUSD sorta sucked. Well, it's come to a head and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says, "wake up and shake up the bureaucracy at the LAUSD".

The Economist has a pretty good summary of what the Mayor has proposed. I tried to find something from the LA Times since it should have a good local take, but I could only find something about the reaction to the proposal..nothing about the proposal itself (logins required for both).

Since I'm not too familiar with the specifics of the proposal, I can't really say if I'm totally for it or against it, but let me tell you...something needs to be done. My high school was all right, but every time I drive by that place now, I just feel like it's gotten a lot more ghetto over the years. I know, I know, a ghetto look to a school has no tie to how well the eduction is in that school, but even when I was there, most of students really had no plans to do anything after high school except work. Even then, it was pretty clear that one can't go too far in this world without some sort of further education. And as you can refer to in the Economist article, a staggering number of LAUSD students don't even bother to finish school.

The LATimes article refers to the range of schools in the LAUSD since there are many rich areas in LA City in addition to the many poor areas. This is a clear example of how "Separate But Equal" is still a reality even though it's unconstitutional. I'm not 100% sure about the charter school concept, but I am definitely sure about the utility of managing schools at a smaller level. Not micromanaging, but just focusing on a smaller number of students.

One of the proposals I heard on NPR last week (though I'm not sure if it's actually a part of the mayor's plans) is to manage every school in the district at a 500 student max. This doesn't mean creating physical schools with no more than 500 students, but I take it to mean that a person will be in charge of a 500 student slice of the school to ensure the success of those students. Sort of like the multiple schools at any university (School of Engineering, Arts & Letters, etc).

I think that's a really good idea. Simply throwing money at a problem rarely solves the problem. But thinking about ways to re-envision the existing structure can really lead to new ways to succeed.

At this point, the mayor's plan would have to be approved by the California Legislaure. Given Villaraigosa's history with the Leg. and the Governator's support, I have a feeling it will pass. Here's hoping that the 727 thousand students in that district really benefit from the plans.

Categories:

Education

Sickly Sweet 16

2006-04-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

Don't deny it. You've seen MTV's Super Sweet 16.

In fact, I've seen it often enough that I actually edited a video for a 16th birthday party so that the opening sequence had a similar look to the opening of the actual MTV show.

This is what I do in my spare time. Pretend I'm MTV.

Anyways, this NYTimes article doesn't have any new, but....

Click onto the second page to read about the spoiled Indian girls. I can't wait to watch that one. Not that they deserve any more or less attention and ridicule than any of the other 16 year olds on this show.

All this proves of course is that most Indians just wanna be like everyone else. As Dr. Kothapalli, the girls' father says, "It's the American way. You work hard and you play hard."

BTW...the gift from the parents? A Bentley, diamonds, and two homes in India.

Play hard indeed.

Categories:

McTummy

2006-04-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Finalizing the house purchase and the sale of our current house has kept us rather busy.

Anyways, we finally watched Supersize Me and both my wife and I were pretty disgusted.

I have to admit I eat a lot more fastfood than I should or want to. It's not so much that I like the taste, but that's it so convenient on my busy days. My wife actually much better than I do.

I won't really comment too much on the premise of the documentary since I'm sure we've all come to the realization about McDonald's a long time ago.

Morgan Spurlock did a good job with editing since the film really punches at the right time and rarely seems to pile on. Don't get me wrong, he obviously wants the fast food industry and the mass food industry in general to be depicted in a very, very bad light. However, he does a good job with just moving on to another topic once he's made his point. I feel like this is rather different than Michael Moore's editing of Farenheit 9/11. He really seems to love piling on. I definitely prefer the method of making a good point, then moving on.

So coming out the this movie, I've made a mid-ur resolution to cut-out (or cut down drastically) the crappy fast food that I tend to eat. If I'm in a rush, I'm going to do my best to choose something more healthful (or at least less unhealthy). In practice, this might mean going to Quizno's for a low-fat sub (rock on Honey Bourbon Chicken!) rather than grabbing a double cheeseburger and/or a McChicken. It also means going to Baja Fresh rather than Taco Bell.

In general, I don't think I overeat, since I try not to fill my stomach, just satisfy my hunger. But as far as I'm concerned, eating a small amount of shit food on a consistent basis is just as bad as eating supersized meals regularly.

And just to mention that I tend to eat decent food, here's my regular, rather bland diet: Oatmeal in the morning, Gardenburger (no cheese) for lunch. Dinner can really vary since lately we've been eating-out or ordering-in more often than usual. It's those times when I'm sick of the cafeteria environment that I fall off the cliff into a pile of McFat.

No more.

Categories:

Moblogging

2006-04-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

So I may pick up on things a little late but you cant
tell me I dont recognize a good thing when I see it!

For what its worth Im posting this blog from my cell
phone. It doesnt require any crazy cell phone but my
phone has a decent keyboard on it so heres a go at me
jumping on the latest bandwagon: Mobile Blogging.

Youd think I have more to say...but nope thats it. I
doubt Ill use this on any frequent basis but if I ever
travel (which is in doubt considering how much were
spending on the new house) I can definitely see myself
posting thoughts and photos from my cell phone. Just
the fact that I have that option is really cool. Of
course in the meantime all of my (inconsistent) posts
will be coming via my laptop.

Now...let me get back to the laptop which is right in
front of me :)

Soliciting gone a step further

2006-04-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

We attended another bridal faire on Sunday since we find it an easy way to introduce ourselves to new families who may not have heard of us through referrals. It went quite well and we were busy the entire time. Depending on the person who comes up to our booth, we'll either let them take a look and just say "Hello" or, if they look more interested, we'll ask more specific questions. Generally, the first thing people ask us is what we do and we tell them about our Photo & Video skills, etc.

But about 1/2 way through, I got a really strange first question...

An Indian woman in her late thirties asked me "So do you do this full time?"

I thought to be a sort of wierd first question. We do indeed get the question all the time and we're up front about the nature of our business: I have a day-job and my partner is currently doing this full-time. But the topic is usually something that only comes up after we've talked about our skillset, etc.

So anyways, I told the woman that I do this part-time and she responded with "Oh that's great" and then said something about entrepreneurship and finding the time to do such things. Again, I thought her response was really odd, but said something neutral like "Ya, we've always got to keep our options open and do things we love"

So then the woman launched into a typical Quixtar shit-speech!

She didn't mention Quixtar at all, but I've been on the receiving end of this schpiel enough times to know the deal. She said her husband has a internet based marketing company and he's always looking for new partners; would I be interested.

No.

Fuck No.

I quickly gave her a polite response "Sorry, I'm not interested"

And she went on her merry way to harrass other people in a totally inappropriate venue. And I say it's inappropriate, because a Bridal Faire is not the place to get people involved with your "pyramid, but not technically" scheme.

I really wish I had told this woman that it was not right to go around asking people about getting involved in Quixtar in this situation. But I really had no need to get into it with this little woman.

I just hope other people didn't have to face her. Even moreso, I hope they told her off.

Categories:

Marketing and Retail Sites

2006-04-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of the movie "Akeelah and the Bee"? I bet that if you're not a coffee or tea drinker you've never heard of it. I also bet that if you drink Starbucks you've not only heard of this movie, but have been wondering what the hell it is.

It's a guerilla marketing campaign!

Well, obviously this is no guerilla campaign. It's a well orchestrated, savvy, and low(er) cost campaign for what seems to be a low(er)-budget film. Having seen the little green circles palstered all over ever Starbucks I've visited in the last 2 or 3 weeks I really got to wondering what it's all about.

According to the trailer, it's a movie about an 11-yr old girl from South Central (err, South Los Angeles) with a gift for words. I assume this girl goes a long way in her local spelling bees and becomes an inspiration for her community and an example for underpriveledged kids the world over.

Anyways, this post isn't really about the movie, it's about the marketing campaign. I haven't seen a single ad for this movie, nor have I heard a thing about it anywhere outside of the Starbucks confines. Yet, I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people know the name of this movie and some might actually be curious enough to see it.

What interests me most about the campaign is how little money has probably been spent. I bet there's a very high ratio of awareness to marketing dollars spent. Now, Starbucks is obviously different than many retailers in that they do a lot to give back to the community and so I assume they are promoting this movie because of the message it sends. But at the same time, I don't think Starbucks plans on losing money on their marketing for this film.

What really got me thinking is the power retailers could have by doing this sort of thing. Of course, if every retailer was pushing a new movie every week we as consumers wouldn't notice it as much, but I think we're on the leading edge of a new trend. The overall trend is one where we are hit from more and more angles by advertising. Some of it is really well done, others are horrible. The Starbucks campaign is pretty good in that it's not just posters for the movie. I doubt that Wal-mart would think of anything so interesting as listing past spelling bee words, but if Wal-mart got into this game, they could definitely make a significant difference in the gross receipts of any movie they promote. McDonalds and other fast food companies have been doing this sort of thing for quite some time via toy promotions, but this is really the first time that I've seen such a campaign aimed directly at adults.

Anyways, it's just something I've noticed and I think we'll see a lot more of. Who knows how much money Akeelah and the Bee will make, but it's a name which is now etched in my brain. Have you guys heard of it?

Categories:

Bride and Prejudice

2006-04-08T00:32:00.000-07:00

So I may be a year late on this, but I finally watched Bride and Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai. And as beautiful as she can look, Aishwarya just comes off as a really bad actress.

Okay, so English may not be her first language, but she clearly knows the language well enough to carry herself elegantly when speaking to Oprah or at Miss World (or was it Miss Universe?). But in this movie, either she got really bad direction from Gurinder Chadha or Aishwarya just doesn't understand which words to emphasize in a sentence. She got better as the move progrssed, but that could just be me getting used to the odd speaking style.

In any case, the acting (not just her's) comes off as very wooden and awkward. As good as Chadha did with Bend it Like Bekham, she's done a really bad job with this one. As I mentioned, acting throughout feels really awkward. Perhaps it's just the most of the actors are used to acting in Hindi and not English, but that's no excuse when you're a British director making a movie in English.

In addition to bad acting, this movie is plagued by way too many musical numbers. They're bad enough when they're in Hindi, but when they're in English, they make me want to gag. It's a novelty at first, but after about 15 seconds, you wonder what Chadha is thinknig. Is she trying to be tongue-in-cheek with the musical numbers? If so, she went too far. Is she serious with them? If so, she's insane.

I think what's bad about the musical numbers is actually the lyrics. I don't watch Enlgish stage musicals, but the bits I've seen have some lyrical and musical flow. These numbers just have horribly written lyrics with absolutely no flow and with gag-inducing rhymes. I said that Hindi musical numbers are bad, but in actuality, they're quite good for what they're aiming at. Nowadays they're not just well produced, but they work well in the flow of movie and have lyrics which work in the course of the song. The musical numbers in Bride and Prejudice may be well produced, but that's it.

So in case you haven't figured it out, I won't be watching this movie again and I suggest you stay away from it as well.

Categories:

Journey of a Lifetime

2006-04-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

I came home tonight a bit late (taxes, ugh) and my wife was watching this show on the Travel Channel. I didn't know what it was, but I just saw nappy headed Indians wearing saffron so I had to investigate. Turns out that it was a show called Journey of a Lifetime

It's a two part show where Jeremy Piven (of Entourage fame) travels in both South and North India. The show is nothing ground breaking since there have been many travel documentaries including Lonely Planet. But I guess I took a chance to stop for an hour and think about just exploring.

I've mentioned a few times that I've been quite busy lately. I don't feel overwhelmed or anything, but it's nice to be to take a moment and just think. Think about something new. Think about exploring. Think about thinking.

Okay, I won't go wacko on you, but most times, I just kind of shuffle along in life and don't time out. I've written about these previous times when I've had the chance to stop for a moment and appreciate what we have, where we are etc. This time, the moment was more a selfish thing. Wondering about when we'd get a chance to just step our of lives and do the kind of exploring that Piven does on this show. I used to think about this all the time...the Thorn Tree over at the Lonely Planet website was a daily web destination for me since I loved to just think about all the interesting things I'd do and see when I visit India. And I made it happen for several years after graduating. I found an exuse to head there any time I could and always planned trips to somewhere interesting.

We're hoping to go to India at the end of this year, so hopefully it works out. For a while, I had been going to India every other year, but now it's been 4 yrs since we've been there and it feels like much longer. I don't know if we'll actually be able to travel within India since we may just end up going to attend a family wedding, but we'll see. If nothing else, it would be interesting to take photos of a Hindu wedding actually in India. A weddings's, a wedding's, a wedding. But it'll be a different world with very different elements to capture.

That's just one of the more exploratory things I'd like to do if we do go to India. It's too far off to think about right now, but this show gave me a chance to look forward to a possible trip in the near future.

I've got a few photos from India on Flickr. Unfortunately, it's difficult for me to post more photos from those trips since everything was still on film but I'll hunt around for scanned versions I've got sitting on one of the computers around here.

Categories:

Designing for the user

2006-04-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

All right...I figured out how to add tags/categories using Blogger so I think I'll just stick witht his over here. Every time I try to leave, Blogger just pulls me right back in...so here's my post from yesterday which I posted over at Wordpress:

Okay...before I get started with this topic, let me just say that this attempt at using Wordpress stems from the featureset, namely the ability to tag posts. Let's see if I like this and continue here or go back to blogger. I'll post more about my thoughts on Wordpress as I spend more time with it.

Moving on...

There's a couple of things I noticed about CBS's Sportsline website during the recent NCAA Tourney (I'm bummed about the Bruins losing in the Final, but gotta hand it to the Gators...Noah is a MONSTER!). A couple of things really showed me that CBS sports gets their viewers. They may not have the best TV graphics (Fox still wins in style and utility), but CBS has their website down.

Firstly, this was the first year that they provided free video of all of the early round games. That alone is recognizing their users. Followers of the Tourney are going to head to a bar anyways to watch games they really want to see. Why not make it easier to watch them when you can't get out of the office. On top of that though CBS did a few things which made the experience thatmuchbetter. They required logins (which is no big deal considering you're getting something worthwhile), but gave quicker access to the people who signed up early (me being one of them). They called it a VIP line. Why do this? Because they knew that traffic to the site would be huge and it would take some time to get people logged into the site to actually view video. So for people that signed up later, they would have to wait longer. Not only did they create these different types of access, they showed users how long it would be until they could actually view video. They didn't just leave it up to the servers to pop up a video when there was bandwidth. They created sort of a countdown. In many cases, that countdown was very long, but at least users could get an idea of how long they'd have to wait. And once in, video actually worked! Consistently! So this whole waiting line thing was used as a way to regular the server load, but they kept it clean and user-friendly.

Now...the other thing that I thought was just really smart was the game logs which show all the details stats. Here's an example of the FLA-UCLA game. During the game, this page updates specific information without having to refresh the entire page. That's sort of ld technology but perfect for sports. I hate having to set refresh settings then having the refresh get hung up since there's some ad which needs to load up. And speaking of ads, here's where CBS really gets its user. During the game, there are no ads, but as soon as there's a timeout or ad on TV, a video ad loads up within the page. It's smart since they're recognizing that many people (like me) will have both the TV and laptop going at the same time. We're only looking at the laptop to be able to get instant info about some stat. I've been doing it since at least 2000 when I got my first laptop. So then why show ads when the user is really just paying attention to the TV, right? Exactly. Just show the stats. But during a timeout, the page automagically shows a video ad. And it got me every time. I'm taking a mental break during the timeout and the ad just loads itself. I didn't really care for the ads, but I did glance over to see what the ad was for. Now, I'm sure CBS and it's advertisers would like for me to view the whole ad, but hey, at least I know the specific companies that had ads. And that's a win for both the advertiser and CBS.

So now I know that if I'm watching a sporting event on CBS, rather than load up ESPN.com like usual, I'm going to load up Sportsline.com since they will probably have something extra which makes it worthwhile. Good stuff.

Categories:

Trying it out

2006-04-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ok people, I'm trying out another blog system and I may end up staying there. Check it out:

http://narrator.wordpress.com

Our First Dog

2006-04-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned Rajah in this blog previously. In fact, he's not actually our dog, but in so many ways, he is. He's the first dog we ever took care of. He's the reason we fell in love with dogs. He's the reason we have two golden retrivers of our own. And he's the reason I can't help the tears in my eyes...

I'm sorry to say that Rajah passed away earlier today. He had been fighting bone cancer for some time now and the pain in his hip was so bad that he couldn't even get up to greet the people he loves so much. We were able to see him a couple of times this week. This morning the family had to make such a tough decision, but it was for the best.

I won't go on since there's really nothing I can say to ease the pain of losing him.

We love you Rajah. We'll always remember you. We'll always miss you.

Ethical Monopolists

2006-03-22T22:26:00.000-08:00

I mentioned earlier that we're buying a new house. Coincidence since I've been meaning to post about this ad I've been seeing on TV over the past few days. It's about realtors and how their ethical behavior is a must when buying a home.

Kind of funny since when I first saw the ad, I wasn't sure what I should blurt out first:

Yeah right, Realtors aren't ethical! -or-

I don't care if my realtor is ethical as long as I get a home I want!

So I've never thought much of realtors mainly because I know they make a killing for what could be considered a small amount of work. Historically, they've charged up to 6% to the seller of the home (3% for the realtor on each side). In the Bay Area where a $500,000 home is considered to be on the very low end of prices, this means $30k to pay out what would could be no more than 40 hours of work.

Okay, I know that realtors are providing a specialized service which involves a lot of paperwork. But to pay so much for for so little seems like a waste. Given the locked nature of the house listing system, this could also be seen as a monopoly with control over everything about the market. in recent years many self-service or minimal service business models like ZipRealty have arisen, but realtors have done many things to prevent them access to the market and to the network.

Among the first thing I noticed is that the terms REALTOR is registered and always in CAPITAL letters. Hmm...wierd, I thought. Then I relized that the network was trying to set itself apart. I also read about ways that the discount brokers like ZipRealty were being cut out of the picture through various means. Everything about those stories told me that when it comes to their livelihood, realtors are far from ethical...they're cut throat.

And on the point about not having to do much work. In the Bay Area, the real estate market has always so hot that it doesn't take very long to sell a home. And a buyer's agent can simply "encourage" their buyers to put offers even if the buyer isn't sure. Many times, it seems like the agent is trying to scare the buyers into buying a place. Why? Well..why not? Either way, the agent is going to make a commission and there's no sense in spending weeks and weeks trying to find the perfect home. It'e like a seedy car salesman who just wants you to drive off the lot in one of his cars no matter what.

So I think this type of downlow un-ethcial business practice is quite common, so seeing the ad made me laugh a bit. Of course, as a seller, I wouldn't give a damn what the realtor does to make sure my house sells for as high a price as possible.

As it happens, we are in the process of buying a new home and selling our current home. So the ads hit at the perfect time. I didn't expect much from our realtor except for them to drive foot traffic into our home during open houses. We had seen them in action in our neighborhood so I figure we were good on that tip.

But I was surprised at how low their commission is: Less than half of what used to be the going rate, and lower than what they had told me last year. So that was definitely nice, especially given how much we'd be able to sell our home for.

As we've gotten deeper in the process, though, we've found that our realtor is so much more helpful than we expected. We've had so many little questions about the property we're buying and they've gotten us answers within hours. And as far as selling our current home, they've coordinated little things that would have been a real pain for us. Overall, we've been really pleased with the process to this point.

We haven't had our first open house yet, but we're hoping that they can bring in a lot of viewers. In the end, as long as we get our asking price and more, we'll be very happy. Afterall, in the end, we just want our money :)

But seriously, even with the pleasant experience so far, I still take these TV ads with a grain of salt. When anyone has to ask me to trust them, I always have an inkling there's a bad history and bad news behind the request for trust. Trust can only be gained through actions. And while I'm trusting our realtor more as the days pass, I don't think I can trust most realtors out there.

Snap! Crackle! Click! - Magnum Photos

2006-03-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

All went quiet on the blog front after I was bragging to peeps that I had finally hit a blogging stride. Having two jobs can do that to you. So can buying a house. Did I mention I have two jobs and we're buying a house? Huh.

So anyways, I occassionally take a look at Magnum photo galleries on Slate.com and I thought I'd post about it here.

The series on Slate is pretty interesting. They have daily photos, but they also have photo essays. Since it's a series, there are many photographers who are contributors and really, this stuff on Slate is simple a place for Magnum to show off some of the great photographs taken by Magnum members. What's kind of cool that the daily photos are all on a specific theme. Today's theme is Earth. Monday was the first day of spring. March 15th was the Ides of March. So it's a way to see photos relevent to the day or at least a collection of photos along a specific theme. Good stuff.

There are obviously a ton of places online which you can view photography, flickr leading the charge for Web2.0. But since I frequent Slate and they've featured such great images produced by Magnum, I thought I'd mention it here.

Categories:

Snap! Crackle! Click!

2006-03-15T17:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm going to try something new here dedicate some space to photography that interests me. I've obviously blogged about the photog biz and my interest in it. However, I've been in a funk lately in terms of the creative side of photography. I try to be as creative as possible during event coverage even while I'm capturing the basic stuff. However, I feel like I can't spend enough time just taking photos for the fun and creativity of it.

One way that I get inspired to take more photos for myself is to look at other people's work. Not to find things which I'd like to emulate or copy, but just to get my juices flowing.

So what I'm going to do is post about photos or photographers which I've found on the web and which I want to tell other people about. I'll try to do this weekly, but it may happen more or less often than that. And just to keep things silly, I'm going to title the posts "Snap! Crackle! Click!"

Ok then, so to start things off, let me refer you to someone I just found on Flickr. In fact, this is the first time I've spent any time at Flickr, and I'm ashamed that I haven't spent every waking moment on this site. It's not just a photo sharing site, there have been entire communities built around it. When I finally get around to taking more of my own photos, I'm definitely going to share via that avenue. In the meantime, here's someone I'm quite impressed by:

Sandip Debnath - He's got quite a few photos on there, but just start out with the set that I've linked to. The colors are obviously amazing, but it's really the angles which I'm so thoroughly impressed by. With our business now, I dare say that we're getting pretty skilled at making technically wonderful photos. It's the angles and the vision that make up inspirational photos and that always challenges me. Furthermore, I try to challenge myself on these things. The part that makes me really nervous about photography is getting in peoples' faces if they don't want to be photographed (I don't have that concern when I'm a hired photographer, but in everyday settings, it's still a challenge for me). It's a real talent to take great photos despite this concern. Mr. Debnath has clearly conquered that challenge and I hope to completely conquer that challenge. Props to him for his portfolio.

Categories:

False Emergency

2006-03-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

When a State of Emergency is called it's something which alarms people. Obviously, the name is meant to call out something serious. However, the declaration is usually made so that a criterion is met enabling further action.

For example, after a natural disaster, the state of emergency declaration is needed for certain relief funds to be made available or to allow police to take certain actions.

Recently, the Oakland City Council has toyed with the idea of declaring a State of Emergency. When I first heard that I thought, "Man, is it really getting that bad in Oakland that they need to bring the national guard in?"

Alas, the problems in Oakland are being caused by something much more simple: Union Contracts. Now before you get all hippie on me, I'm a supporter of unions...but only to a certain extent. Unions have done wonders for the average worker to enable him or her to live a decent life. Even though I'm not a member of any union, I know that the accomplishments of various unions have enabled me to earn what I earn.

But certain things about union contracts really rile me up. A few years ago there was an MTA transit strike in LA. One of the main sticking points was the pay that drivers received during off-hours between shifts. So if they have a morning shift and an evening shift on the same day, even though they're not working during the afternoon they'll still get paid. I'm sure the contract was a bit more complicated than that, but that's the gist. Then union had used its bargaining power to get pay for its members when they're not working.

So back to the Oakland story. It turns out that the reason for the State of Emergency would be to allow the assignment of more officers during night hours. Apparently crime rates have risen dramatically this calendar year and the city would like to put more cops on the streets during prime crime hours. Makes sense to me. But the union contract only allows a certain number of cops on duty during certain times. Generally, that makes sense since the union wants to ensure officers aren't on duty all the time and overworked. But apparently, the only way to assign more cops during night hours is to break the contract. And the only way to break the contract without legal troubles is by declaring a State of Emergency.

Makes sense to me.

No Really.

It Does.

Seriously.

What I actually don't get here is why the policy union doesn't simply agree to a short term variation in scheduling. Maybe this is part of the negotiation process that's described here, I'm not sure. But what really gets to me is why these things seems to always come down to each side digging in their heels and not being reasonable. The police union says that adding more cops on the streets at night wouldn't reduce crime rates. I really don't buy that argument. But let's say they're right. Why not just agree to a one month variation in the scheduling. Allow cops to be put on extra night duty for a month and proove it out. If crime rates don't go down, then the union can say "I told you so", if crime rates DO go down (which I presume they would), then the entire city wins.

Instead, we've got no real action plan to address the increasing crime rates in Oakland and I've gotta blog about this nonsense. What we need here in David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, to come in and crack the whip. These stupid arguments always seem to happen with unions covering public servants and it's a complete shame that both sides would rather argue than just come to an agreement, even if it's short term, that will help everyone out.

So should the City of Oakland declare a State of Emergency? Well, if the policy union doesn't budge, then yes. If I were on the city council, I'd give them an ultimatum and declare the emergency by the end of the week. I don't care if it would create bad blood between the police and the city. Everyone's in the position because they want to serve the public and arguing about extra 8 hours shifts isn't helping the public in any way.

Hip Hop (Not)

2006-03-14T23:16:00.000-08:00

So my wife is obsessed with a Bollywood actor named Abishek Bachchan. If you're not familiar, he's the son of the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. And if you're not familiar with him, ust think of him as the Indian DeNiro.

So anyways, she was watching a video of Abishek's this evening and I realized (once again) that this hip hop thing has gone too far. Much too far. Can we stop it?

I'm going to try something here by linking to a video. I've seen it done on other blogs, so hopefully it works here. My point here is to allow you to watch this video so I don't need to go into details explaining why hip hop has gone a continent too far. I'll just summarize it as WTF?

The song is called Right Here Right Now (no, it's somehow not a rip off of Moby). And while I'm sure Abishek is a good looking man (my wife certainly thinks so), his gangsta lean and shoulder dipping just leave me speechless. And did I mention he's got a skin tight basketball jersey with his own name on it and the number 69? Speaking of speech...the English lyrics literally make no sense. It's worse than Engrish. And thank god for the scantily clad video ho's. Without them, this wouldn't be a real attempt a hip hop video. Anyways, turn up your speakers and enjoy the video.

Starting Out

2006-03-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

So we attended a bridal fair over the weekend. It turned out that besides us, there was only one other wedding photography vendor at the fair and they were just starting out. My partner and I both went to their booth and introduced ourselves and we generally being very supportive of them. Afterall, we were in their position just a year ago.

But there were a few things which were really different about the spot they are in now and the spot we were in this time last year. First off, they didn't have much to show at the fair except an enlargement or two and a laptop slideshow. At our first fair we went to pains to have some physical things to show potential customers. While we have a lot more to show for ourselves now, we weren't exactly empty-handed at that first fair. Somehow, a couple of familes took the risk with us.

The other thing about these guys is they seemed to be selling their technology and their time. I say this mainly based on their booth and their pricing packages. They had their digital camera there to take photos on the spot and show them on a connect laptop. They also had a price sheet which geared their work to the time they would spend and a certain number of prints.

In the year that we've been pursuing photography clients in this community we've realized a few things. First off, the clients who choose us seem to do so because of us, not necessarily because of the deal they were getting. Even the first families who took a chance with us have all commented that they chose us for reasons beyond the pricing and portfolio.

And in that sense, I think we made the right decision to focus our clientele on the image, creativity, and vision we can deliver; not on the number of photos or number of hours. Sure that has meant we really don't earn much on an hourly basis. But it has also meant that several of our clients are committed to us for all of their family photography needs. They know we're not just going to show up and take photos for a few hours and fleece them little charges here and there. They know we're in it to give them back their own memories from a viewpoint they couldn't get anywhere else.

Okay, okay, I know there are a tons of great photographers out there so I won't say that nobody else could give them high quality work. But I will say that we've exceeded the expectations of each ouf our clients. And that makes both my partner and me happy to no ends. These new guys will probably find their way, but as it stands right now, it seems like their just enticing people with a low price, not with what the clientele really wants. If you give them what they want, price becomes less of a concern and creativity really becomes the focus.

We've found out what our clients are really looking for and what they're not looking for. It's only been about a year since the idea of this business crystalized in our heads, but I'm still amazed at how far we've come. At some points, I felt like giving these new guys some advice based on what we've learned in the past year, but I hesitated on saying too much. Not because I was afraid they would take away our business (they're no competition at this point and most likely won't be making us sweat any time soon), but because half of starting a business is learning on your own. I feel proud that my partner and I have accomplished so much by just jumping in head first. Neither of us could have done it alone and I don't think either of us thought we'd end up where we are right now.

True Grooves on the web

2006-03-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

The homie Anish has gotten all technological and stuff with his music. A few weeks ago, he got a CD recorder to easily make high-quality digital versions of his vinyl. And now he's gone and put up a blog!

Check it out here:
True Grooves Blog

He already mentioned he's going to be posting musically related items on there. I'm going to suggest posting some juicy tidbits from his sets up there. There are always a more than a few tracks which I can't name. Having the set list (or a least a portion of it) there would be a cool way of discovering more great music.

Firefly

2006-03-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

Somehow I manage to watch a lot of TV, but very few shows. TV, for me, is a background type of thing which breaks the silence when I'm working from home or when I can't sleep at night. So the TV's always on, but I rarely follow any specific show. Over the years there have been very few shows which I would actually tune in for. Obviously Seinfeld & The Simpsons are all-time classics. In fact, if there were specific channels dedicated to just those two shows, I would never change the channel except to watch a basketball game.

But alas, there is no Seinfeld-24/7 or Simpsons-24/7 channel so there are a few other shows which I try to catch. 24 is one of those shows on the current roster. Firefly is another. What's that? You've never heard of Firefly?

Well, that's probably because the show was cancelled after half a season on Fox. I recently discovered the show by watching the feature film based on the series called Serenity. The show is this interesting twist between sci-fi and western. I generally don't like sci-fi too much, but I actually watched Serenity because the trailers made it seem like a good action flick. Little did I expect to find good characters and an interesting story. So I went ahead and downloaded the entire series and have been a compulsive watcher since. There are only 15 epidsodes and none of them have cliffhanger type endings, but I can't help but watch episode after episode. Needless to say, it worked well on my sleepless nights.

Is this show something that everyone should be sure to watch? Well, it's nothing earth shattering. But it's got the kind of character development and plotlines that make it much more interesting than your average sci-fi show. It's never about the technology on the ship, it's never about aliens (although the movie focuses on some stuff which is only hinted at in the series). The movie is a bit more formulaic in terms of character development, but it will give you a good idea of what the show is like. Odds are that you'll be interested enough to watch the series. All of this stuff is on DVD now so you can probably rent it. Or, if you know me, give a holler since I've got the series and movie on my laptop.

Ok, I'll look to stop with the reviews at some point...

Stupid Ass Drivers

2006-03-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, so anyone who knows me has heard me rant about all the dumb drivers I must face everyday. But this post isn't about drivers who've gotten in my way or almost hit me, etc. It's about stupid people who have no clue how to act when they see flashing blue lights and hear a wailing siren...

The other day I was on the freeway coming home when a CHP car pulled up in front of me, turned on the lights and started swerving back and forth. If you've never seen this, he's doing a traffic stop. In this case, it turned out there was a big ladder sitting in the middle of the lanes that they needed to be cleared out of the way.

So I was in a good mood that evening (listening to Pharcyde's SoulFlower remix can do that) so I didn't really get annoyed. Even if I was in a rush and had gotten annoyed, I wouldn't have done anything differently. Flashing lights, swerving cop? I'm keeping my distance and pulling over. I don't need to tempt a cop into pulling me over.

Apparently, this wasn't in the plan for some idiot in the fast lane driving a Pathfinder. Even before we came to a stop, I kept looking over at the dude wondering why he was tailgating the cop. What use was it? If the cop's got something to do, let him do it. If he's just fucking around, don't give the cop a reason to fuck with you. Simple as that. So the cop finally comes to a stop, someone pops out of the car and takes the ladder safely out of the lanes. The officer doing this was clearly in a hurry so as not to stop traffic for too long.

But it apparently wasn't fast enough for Pathfinder dude. While the officer is walking in the lanes, Pathfinder goes around the stopped cop car and tries to speed off. Bad idea. Cop immediately stops him and I could see them talking. Pathfinder then pulls over on the shoulder with the cop tailing him. I'm sure ticketing and a good talking-to ensued. Serves the idiot right. The sad thing is he probably thought it was perfectly fine to swerve be a cop walking in the middle of a freeway!

BTW, if you ever see some obstruction on the freeway, you should call 911 from your cell phone. I've double-checked on this and the 911 operators have told me that any time something is in the middle of the freeway, they want people to report it via 911.

And more examples of idiots on the road...I was on the way home last night on surface streets. I hear sirens and start looking around. It's an ambulance coming from behind me. I was in the left most lane so I got over to the shoulder and chilled out while the ambulance was swerving through traffic. Here's what I don't get...when people see an ambulance, why do they think they don't need to get out of the way? These ambulance drivers are obviously doing a good thing and here we got idiots who think they can just speed up or pull over to the LEFT or just stop right in the middle of the damned road. WTF? And then of course there are the people who think the ambulance is a free ride through all the traffic so they tailgate it. Dude, this isn't Die Hard and you're not Bruce Willis being a smart ass getting through rush hour traffic by following sirens.

Anyways, as usual, I find too many idiots on the road. If they're not getting in my way, they're getting in the way of people doing a good thing for us. I'm obviously far from a perfect driver, but I defer to anyone of the road who's out doing their work. It's the least we can do.

Room to Breathe

2006-03-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been almost 2 months since I posted. And I was on such a tear for a bit! This photography business, along with some time commitments at my day-job really pounded me for a bit. Well, I feel like I've got some room to breathe and so hopefully I'll be around here more often.

That's assuming I can think of anything to write about. I'm still sort of in a daze simply because my mind is still recovering. And did I say my body is not cooperating? First it was a wicked cough that kept me up at night, now it's my aching back which has flared into a debilitating sciatica

Did I say I turned 30 last year? I think my body believes I'm 60. At least I walk like I'm 60. Anyways...

Just to get this out of the way and to ensure that you all are forever wasting your entire day, here's a link to an incredibly addictive, yet stupid game called Pya!. I don't know what all the other crap on the page is, but I warn you, once you start to play this game, you'll begin losing sleep over how to conquer the green droplets. I've gotten to level 24 (or something in the low 20s). Tell me when you've lost more than 1 hr of sleep playing this damn thing.

Okay, so onto a more interesting, and much less addictive topic: Music.

You can always rely on my to steer you away from bad stuff and push you until you trip over good stuff, so here's the current wave of goodness: The Pharcyde and Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

Nothing new here, but it's definitely music which should be heard by all. My wife and I caught Block Party last weekend (what with all the free time I have now) and we both had a good time. Luckily, my wife's into this music and even though she doesn't always know the artist names or where she heard a certain song before, she's into this whole sub-genre of music. I call it Real Hip Hop. Obviously, there's a lot of great hip hop out there and I'm no expert to say that something else isn't real hip hop. Actually, the reason I refer to this as real hip hop is not because it somehow is better musically (although I think it is) or that the lyrics are more classy (they're not always better). It's the attitude behind the music that gets to me, makes me smile, and sometimes even sends shivers down my spine. I feel like I've written about this before, but I can't seem to find a specific post. In any case, Block Party spends some time on this matter. Just the fact that Chappelle and friends had this free party in ghetto Brooklyn goes to show the kind of love they have for their community. It also shows the love and respect they have for their craft. Sure the musical line-up for the party was amazing, but the best thing wasn't the music, it was the love that was brought to stage for the art.

If you just happen to like Chappelle Show and the skits, you will probably be disappointed by this documentary. There are definitely some good jokes in there, but the focus of this flick is the party itself and the interaction betwen all of these artists. If you love Mos Def, Talib Kweli or any of the other acts, you will likely see a new side to them and you'll like them even more. If you've never heard of these artists, then you should get to know them as they are what hip-hop is (or should be) about.

And now onto to another form of real hip-hop. The Pharcyde. You've probably heard a famous song of their's called Passin' Me By. The funny thing is that I used to hate this type of music. Not sure why, but I just wasn't into the music when they first came out. I started to like them, but not enough to attend a free outdoor concert of their's which was held on the UCLA campus while I was going there. They are essentially a one-hit wonder, but I'm finding their albums are great all around. So now here I am listening to Bizarre Ride II over and over. The lyrics are definitely not the community changing or activist type of lines that some hip-hoppers are all about. Neither is/was their music on the cutting edge. But as a friend of mine said, they've got an East Coast sensibility to their music, while still having a West Coast laid back style to their rhymes. And that's a perfect way to describe this bunch. They're a local SoCal group that came with a very different type of sound that hasn't been too common on the West Coast. But their albums are perfect for a backyard barbecue on a relaxing, sunny afternoon. They're also perfect on a gloomy Monday morning to get your week started off right. While listening to the album, you can't help but crack a wide grin. There's just so much fun in the songs regardless of simple the lyrics actually are.

If you can imagine, one of their tracks is built off the following chorus:
"Please, Don't Pull Me Over, Mr. Officer, Don't Pull Me Over Mr. Officer, Please."

Repeat 4 times. That's the ENTIRE chorus. Very earth shattering huh? But you know what, I'm making a fool of myself in the car while driving along listening to these songs. Every track from beginning to end has a groove to it that can't be matched by anything on the radio today. It's not about being rich or making a statement. It's just about expressing oneself through music. And that's something which hip-hop is based on.

So go check these guys out too. I guarantee you'll have a fun time with this one.

First Class

2006-01-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

I've got a few things to blog about, but let me just blog this: Unfortunately we didn't get upgraded to first class on our most recent trip to Singapore (last year we got business all the way which spoiled us), but this guy did: The New Digital Life

People are leaving comments and blogging about the totally digital nature of things and that's why he got upgraded. While his ability to be online made things easier for him since he could watch HBO and determine exactly when his flight would arrive, I don't believe that's why he got upgraded. Forget about the digital life, it's simply because he was nice.

It's amazing what being kind and appreciative will get you in this world. I actually had a similar experience a few years ago at San Jose airport where our plane had mechanical difficulties and we got delayed. We were stuck in SJC for hours, but we were nice enough to the gate agents. They had given everyone meal vouchers. Since we had been chit chatting with the gate agents for a while, we got them some food, drinks, and ice cream in addition to what we got ourselves. Lo and behold, when we were finally able to leave, those same agents gave us first class.

So I'd love to be able to surf the web wherever I am and use vital information like this person got about his next flight, but I guarantee you that it wasn't the flight info that got him his flight...it was the fact that he was nice enough to buy the gate agent a burger.

Nuff said.

Double Shot

2006-01-04T14:51:00.000-08:00

So before my decision to cut out sodas, I was drinking quite a bit while in Singapore. The heat and all the walking around just makes one thirsty. Usually, I love all the local juices there, but on this trip, for some reason I was drinking of a lot of soda.

So when we headed off to Malaysia for a day trip, I found this interesting drink. Now, I'm not a Pepsi lover. In fact, I wasn't even in the mood to drink anything, but this can caught my attention. What kind of Pepsi is this?!

Obviously, the bottom of the can tells you that it's a coffee flavored cola. The main reason this got me interested is because in addition to soda, while in Singapore, I had been drinking a lot of the local hot coffee and teas. The word "tarik" actually means "Pull" in Malay and is used to refer to local tea: Teh Tarik. It actually means "Pulled Tea" since the person who makes it pours it from one jug to another several times and it actually looks like he's pulling the tea from one to the other.

Anyways, I guess Pepsi decided to use this local term with their brand-name. Thus this strange brew of Pepsi and Coffee. How did it taste? Like old cola. Actually, it tasted like this local India cola called Sosyo which has a slightly spicy flavor to. It didn't actually taste bad or anything, but it didn't taste like cola or coffee. Just something wierd.

So the further reason I just had to drink this (besides the name) is that while on the plan over to Singapore I actually read that Coke is going to be releasing a coffee flavored cola in France, called Blak. Anyone who knows me, knows I loves me some strong coffee so I figured the Pepsi Tarik could serve as a substitute for the Coke version.

Anyways, don't waste your time with this stuff. Sometimes, things just shouldn't be mixed. Coffee and Cola may sound nasty, it may good. But for the most part, it tastes blah.