Category: photo
You are viewing all posts from this category, beginning with the most recent.
"Saving Face" & "Rent"
The //Netflix summary for Saving Face:
Dutiful daughter Wil (Michelle Krusiec) sidesteps her mother's (Joan Chen) attempts to marry her off in Alice Wu's romantic comedy set in New York. At 28, Wil's the old maid of her traditional Chinese family, so there's no way she can tell them about her budding romance with Vivian (Lynn Chen). But there's no avoiding mom's meddling matchmaking when she shows up on Wil's doorstep looking for a place to stay.
What I liked about the movie: The acting is very well done, cast with very attractive leads in Lynn Chen, Michelle Krusiec, and Joan Chen. The story is as tight as it can be, moving at a brisk pace at 91 minutes.
What I didn’t like: I would have liked to see more character development between male and female characters, to help underscore the role of women in Chinese culture.
The Netflix summary for Rent:
Members of the original 1996 Broadway cast star in Chris Columbus's adaptation of the award-winning musical set in New York's East Village. Based on Puccini's "La Boheme," the story follows a group of bohemians through life's ups and down as they face true love, broken hearts, HIV, drug addiction … and of course, paying the rent.
What I liked about the movie: The music done by the original cast members. Chris Columbus does a fine job of adapting the play to film.
What I didn’t like: Rosario Dawson appeared to be out of her league compared to the other performers. It appears that the studio wanted a named actor or actress in one of the roles. Unfortunately, her signing is only as good as an American Idol semi-finalist.
Saving Face:*** (out of 5)
Rent: ***
End of Month Rant - Three Days Late
I haven’t been busy, but busy enough I suppose. I’m still unemployed at the moment, with optimistic hopes on one of two positions I interviewed for this past month. Right now it’s a bit of a waiting game, so have a good thought for me.
Hail Hail
It hailed here in Sunnyvale today, around 4:30 PM-ish. It lasted a good minute or two.. Here is a photo of the results:
This almost makes me want to head up to Lake Tahoe to see the snow. But I hear chains are required and it takes about two hours just to reach the summit from the base. Now that would be a pretty long drive.
Good Eats and Other Finds
Have you ever visited //Yelp.com?
Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great - and not so great - in your neighborhood and beyond. You already know that asking friends is the best way to find restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, and anything local. Now, Yelp makes it fast and easy to make and receive real reviews from real people. From San Francisco to New York City, and Madison to Mesquite, Yelp is everywhere!
Yelp doesn’t just review places to eat, but reviews on things to do and places to visit. You have to love a site that offers various views on the //Golden Gate Bridge.)
The site is similar to //Judy’s Book and //Yahoo!’s Local pages, but appears to be more active for the Bay Area than the former site, and not as spartan looking as the latter. You can see //my Yelp page here. I’ve written a few reviews on places I’ve been to in Hawaii and Oregon, providing some photos of food I’ve tasted. I hope to write a little more.
I love being able to share my viewpoint on a place, but I think I lack the appropriate words to convey the joy of going to a particular place to eat. I do use the site as a resource, looking for other places to try. But sites like Yelp - remember how active Friendster once was - might slowly die if people do not continue to contribute reviews. Yelp appears to be very active from the postings on their front page, so I’m optimistic it can survive. So consider joining Yelp, if you want to share some thoughts with others.
Wedding Photo
Farrah and I got our wedding photos! I’m slowly posting them to view, so they will soon be up on //my Flickr and //my Smugmug pages. I’ll send out an email when they are all posted.
"Just Like Heaven" & "Elizabethtown"
I don’t know if other people have the same problem I have, but I sometimes get Reese Witherspoon and Kirsten Dundst mixed up. I don’t get confused when I see a photo of either of them. The mixup happens when recalling movies they may have done. I know the Reese Witherspoon has had memorable roles in Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama, Highway, and the recent Walk the Line. I know Kirsten Dundst is known for the Spider-man movies, Jumanji, and Bring It On. Come to think of it, maybe I don’t have a problem recalling what roles they have done. I think I just may have had a blonde moment or I’m not sure how to start a review for two of their movies Farrah and I just watched on DVD.
The first movie is the light romantic comedy featuring Reese W. called Just Like Heaven. The //Netflix summary is:
Shortly after David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) moves into his new San Francisco digs, he has an unwelcome visitor on his hands: winsome Elizabeth Martinson (Reese Witherspoon), who asserts that the apartment is hers -- and promptly vanishes. When she starts appearing and disappearing at will, David thinks she's a ghost, while Elizabeth is convinced she's alive. Their quest for the truth ultimately leads to love in this spectral romantic comedy.
What I liked about the movie: Reese Witherspoon did a fine job as the career driven, yet lovable, doctor. I also liked the fact the story was set in San Francisco, though it didn’t really play any major role in the film expect some shots of the Golden Gate Bridge.
What I didn’t like: Mark Ruffalo isn’t romantic lead material. I think he’s more suited for dramatic roles. He reminds me of Vincent D’Onofrio, who isn’t romantic lead material as well, though he is a very fine actor.
The story follows the romantic comedy formula to the “t”. How can you have a romance when one of the character’s is dead? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
For Elizabethtown, the //Netflix summary goes:
Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is fired after causing his shoe company to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. To make matters worse, he's also dumped by his girlfriend (Jessica Biel). On the verge of ending it all, Drew gets a new lease on life when he returns to his family's small Kentucky hometown after his father dies. Along the way, he meets a flight attendant (Kirsten Dunst) with whom he falls in love. Cameron Crowe directs.
What I liked about the movie: The actors are very likable, with good supporting roles for Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon. You can recognize Cameron Crowe’s words, who has a good ear for dialog, coming out of the actors’ mouths. He captures a portion of America I’ve never personally experienced, and one that Orlando Bloom’s Drew hasn’t either, and manages to make the discovery a shared experience. I enjoyed the road trip portion of the movie. The music is on par with other Crowe movies. He writes so well, though….
What I didn’t like: …some of the editing in the movie I didn’t like. I understood, as I was watching the movie, that there was more to background on why the shoe failed and was recalled. This bugged me throughout the movie, even though I understand the specific fact of why it failed wasn’t important as much as the failure itself. There also didn’t seem to be enough development in some characters, such as Jessica Biel’s as the girlfriend, and development in relationships, such as between Orlando Bloom’s Drew and his mother played by Susan Sarandon.
Just Like Heaven: ** (out of five)
Elizabethtown: ***1/2
Holiday Weekend
The holiday weekend found Farrah and I not doing much out of the ordinary. On Saturday, we decided to drive up to Tiburon for a quick look around town. We then went to Salsulito for lunch at the Winship restaurant. The weather in the North Bay was very cold and wet, compared to the partly sunny - yet still cold - South Bay.
I’d never been to //Sausalito before but Farrah had been with Yen. It’s a nice quite town, reminding me of downtown Campbell but closer to the ocean. We first ate lunch because we (1) were hungry, and (2) wanted to get out of the cold and wet weather. The //Winship restaurant was the second place we saw that looked like a decent place to eat.
The restaurant had a sea theme, with a faux ship in the middle of the place and turtle shell like lighting fixtures. The menu both had seafood as well as burgers and other sandwiches. We had to try the ‘Crispy Fried Calamari" as we make it a point to try fried calamari if restaurant serves it. I was crispy, but lacked any special flavor.
I had the BBQ pork sandwich which was listed as an open face sandwich, but it didn’t come as such. They had a variety of onions on it, both chopped, diced and sliced, which I thought was strange. The sandwich tasted fine, though the BBQ sauce was neither tangy or sweet as if not to offend the taste buds. Farrah had the Waldorf Chicken Salad Sandwich which she enjoyed.
After lunch, we walked around downtown. We stopped by a candy store called Munchies, which offered a variety of salt water taffy. The owner of the place was very friendly, offering customers the option of trying anything in the store. We proceeded to load up a small bucket with a variety of flavors, choosing not to try anything beforehand. We then headed to the local Starbucks for some coffee and conversation.
The Starbucks there has a nice view of one of the major intersections in town. Farrah and I sat in tall barstool like chairs facing the window looking outside. We watched the rain come down on people passing by, some coming in for a cup of coffee, others trying to make it to other stores on the strip. We tried to come up with places to go to next, but decided to head back home as the weather appeared to be getting worse, and Farrah’s migraine, which started before lunchtime, was also becoming more discomforting.
Later that evening we went to Farrah’s parents’ house for dinner. We had chicken, steak (ummm…steak) and leftover sushi rice Farrah had made the night before. Afterward, we called it a day and headed home to watch some TV.
On Sunday, we decided to stay in and catch up on TV and movies. We watched Elizabethtown (review forthcoming) and Farrah watched her other TV shows that I have a passing knowledge of (such as McCleod’s Daughters and Footballers Wive$)
Today we had lunch at the Boardwalk in Mountain View. Farrah said the place was similar to St. John’s in Sunnyvale, a dark pub-like atmosphere where burgers, cheesesteaks, sausages, and beers are served. I had the Louisiana Hot Sausage which was very very good. The spiciness of the links didn’t registered until well after you started chewing on it. Very nice. We also had a basket of spicy curly fries which makes for a nice side order. Farrah had the “Lo C” meal which consisted of two hamburger patties, cheese, salad and dressing. She’s had this dish the few times she’s been there. Afterward, we headed to the mall for a couple of hours of window shopping.
Changes and Updates
If you are reading this on //Janella.com then you know there have been some navigational and layout changes – again! Well, I’ve listened to feedback I’ve received and readers have had a problem reading and navigating through the Hemingway theme I used for //Wordpress. I’ve decided to go with a cleaner, meaner, and leaner theme. With the implementation of the new theme, I’ve also decided to incorporate my photoblog which previously resided on soulsofourfeet.com. The photoblog now servers as the front page – a little like a splash page – for the website.
On the top of the front page you should see this element:
From there you should be able to access other photos on the photoblog, go directly to the main blog, or simply go to one of the photo galleries on Flickr or Smugmug.
You can also click on the comment link. This will give you a description of the photo you are looking at and the opportunity to comment on the image. I plan to post photos that either Farrah or I have taken, where I happen to like the result of what we have captured. I would hope people would comment on whether they like the photo or not.
On the footer of each page you should see this element:
From the footer you can access other family and friends’ photo pages. The same links are available through the main blog.
If you have any feedback you’d like to give on the new layout, please write to me or talk to me. I’m open to any comment to make the site easier to use.
Relapse 2.0
I’ve injured my left eye again. It seems the scratch I endured //last October did not fully heal. I had felt some discomfort earlier this week, which resulted in a nice two-day headache. On Wednesday I thought the pain had passed, but Thursday night I was in discomfort slash complaining mode. By Friday morning my left eye had swollen.
I made an appointed to be seen that morning. I had an appointment with an Ophthalmologist. This first Ophthalmologist confirmed there was a new scratch, but needed to refer me to someone of more experience on treatment. The treatment was to patch my left eye, but first she needed to scrap a layer of skin away from the eye. Doing this would hopefully yield even healing on the eye. She numbed my eye during the procedure, but after the medication wore off, my eye felt beat up. I needed to take Tylenol for the next two days.
Farrah took me to see the Ophthalmologist on Sunday morning for a follow-up. Good news! She said the eye healed a 100%, meaning the layer she scraped away has grown back to cover they eye. But treatment needs to continue in order to ensure the layer stays intact. So it looks like I’ll be using certain eye drops and lubricants for the next several months so this does not happen again. And believe me, I don’t want it to happen again.
What's Public is Public
When I post my photos online, my main goal is to share them with family and friends. Most of the photos are private, but some that I truly like and think are very nice shots, I leave for public viewing and comment. I would never think that they would be used for anything.
When I was trying //Zoto.com, I posted several photos that I had public in my //Flickr account. I then forgot about Zoto.com. Well, yesterday I logged into my account on Zoto.com and I looked at the featured photos page and there was one of my photos! It’s a photo of Tiana, which I like very much, and thought it was cool. Then today I go to Zoto.com’s home page and see:
It’s cool and unsettling to see a photo you took on the front page. They do give me photo credit (my username in the lower left-hand corner) and the photo is used within all legal guidelines according to their Terms of Service (TOS). So I just need to be fine with it, since I did sign up for their service.
The lesson here? Just know that any photo you post on the Internet, whether public or private, has the potential of being used. You should know your rights if someone is using your photos elsewhere. And last but not least, read the TOS before signing up with a service.
Believe me, I like the photo. I like it being used - in a way. I just feel a little awkward about it all.
Meetings
The morning found us having Kim Chee Fried Rice with two eggs over easy for breakfast. We knew today we had two important meetings, so it required a special breakfast.
The first meeting was at Ihiliani with Terri at Ihilani to work out some final details. This went by without any major concerns. We then had a lunchtime meeting with (Pastor) Curtis Fong, who will be performing the wedding ceremony. He was very informative and brought along years of experience to share with us on how we should conduct ourselves before, during and after the ceremony.
I also had a chance to post more photos from yesterday when we went to go get our Marriage License.
There were a couple of photos of us taken by the lady who took our application, but they didn’t turn out. It seems I didn’t have the Nikon on full automatic, so the photos turned out blurry. Oh well.
It Begins This Way...
When I post this blog entry, I will be in a Starbucks in Aiea, Hawaii. Farrah and I arrived in Oahu last night, earlier than we thought, since the tradewinds were kind.
Farrah is still under the weather. She wasn’t feeling well last Friday night when we went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Saturday morning she had full blown flu symptoms. I couldn’t go to YEP (Yahoo!’s Year End Party) without her, so I chose not to go that night. Of course, I subsequently got sick on Monday, by my symptoms mimic a cold and not the flu.
We rested most of the week since we were flying off on Wednesday to Hawaii. Fina was kind enough to take us to SFO. We left the house around 3:00 PM with our flight scheduled for 6:00 PM. We hung out at “Just Desserts” talking about what still needs to be done.
We were almost going to go to the gate when we were surprised by Lotte!!! She had come to see us off. It was a very nice surprise seeing Lotte, who is responsible for introducing Farrah and I. We really wish should have come to Hawaii for the wedding.
The flight to Hawaii was pretty quick. We arrived forty minutes ahead of schedule! There was slight turbulence here and there, interrupting “Cinderella Man” , the in-flight movie. The weather was nice and cool when we arrived, a change from cold rainy climate currently plaguing the Bay Area.
We got the Auntie Horton’s house pretty quick. We unpacked, ate a quick dinner which included homemade chicken soup, and took our medicine before crashing for the night.
Morning time was rough for me, but Farrah was up light a bolt of lighting. We took off to Starbucks in search for a WiFi connection. The first one at Pearlridge was not working. It had me a little frustrated because I was able to connect in SFO easily. I could see the signal but wasn’t getting a login screen or full Internet connection. We went to the new Border’s about a block away in Uptown Pearlridge, I found a connection (this connection) very easily. This place is new and gets very very sunny in the morning (no shades), so I’ll probably only go there early in the morning or later in the day.
Ah, email and Internet access is so hard to do without.
Well, that catches us up to the present. What have we done so far? Well, we got our marriage license from downtown. The process was quick and easy. Farrah and I took a couple of photos, but when the clerk tried to use the camera to take our picture together it didn’t work out. Oh well, it’s ok. Not much else is planned today. There are several meeting we have tomorrow, and a few small things we need to do today. The big day is only ten days away. TEN DAYS!!!
Ah well, more later.
Cyclops
I’ve been out of commission the last couple of days. It seems I have a [corneal abrasion] on my left eye.
How’d that happen?
I had some problems on Monday night taking out my left contact lens. It has always been a problem since I started wearing contacts again, but this time it was more difficult then previously. I guess I got a little over anxious and scratched my cornea. I knew it almost right away.
An hour later it felt worse. By the next morning I knew something was seriously wrong. So I made an appointment for the morning. Farrah had to drive me because by that time the pain was unbearable.
The ophthalmologist who saw me was very nice and informative. He determined it was a corneal abrasion and prescribed ointment and antibiotics.
This is how my eye looked after the visit:
One day two I looked a little worse then got a little better:
I went back to work today, straining my right eye to read the screen. I also had another doctor’s appointment today. He said everything is healing back up, with a few places high on eye that aren’t filling in quiet yet. I’m on a dose of antibiotics and ointment to heal.
We’ll see how things progress by next Tuesday’s follow up.
Hawaii, Pictures, and the Photo Gallery
Farrah and I took a quick trip to Hawaii last week, from the 9th to the 13th. We were meeting vendors and looking at other items to use for the wedding. Boy, it’s only a couple more months away!!!
We took off on Friday night and landed in nice humid Honolulu. The first thing I noticed when we got our rental car were the gas prices they were charging. If you wanted the car rental company to fill up the tank, it was $3.15/gallon. If you didn’t choose that option and they still had to fill it up, it would be $4.63! The average they posted for the island that day was $3.33! Boy, I thought prices were bad here!?!? By the time we left regular gas prices jumped to $3.60/gallon to as high as $3.99/gallon depending on what island you were on. Crazy.
We arrived at auntie’s house greeted by everyone. A yummy dinner of ahi poki and beef stew and I was off to bed. Farrah stayed up with Ann and auntie gossiping, and with the time change only got 3 hours sleep. Funny thing is she wasn’t that tired the next day.
We ran errands here and there, meeting our vendors the following days. Most of the meetings were very positive, so it looks like everything is moving forward very well. We did manage to eat at several good places. We had very good malasadas at “Leonard Jr’s Hot Malasadas & Espresso”; kim chee fried rice with two eggs sunny-side up for breakfast at the “Kapiolani Coffee Shop” (Roger had the Oxtail Soup); and another visit to [Kua’aina] for a burger. Yum! We didn’t make it to the North Shore or to Zippy’s, or even the mall! Later this year will hit those places though.
On Tuesday it was Tiana’s birthday (and Tessie’s as well). We celebrated Tiana’s birthday at auntie’s house that night. The big party was still going on when Farrah and I left. I managed to take about 100+ photos before I left the party though. The excitement didn’t end there as we ran into problems in the check-in line. It seems our frozen goods weren’t packed to the airline’s specifications. A call to the house brought Roger and Francis running to the rescue. We managed to board the plane with about 20 minutes to spare.
The flight back was a little bumpy, but very quick. We parked at [ParkSFO] for the first time, since I had a two-day free coupon. It was pretty convenient and I think cheaper than parking in the long-term lot.
Overall, we accomplished a lot on the trip and got to enjoy a mini-vacation as well.
Taking Pictures
This was my first use of the DSLR on a vacation, along with the [Wolverine FlashPac] to download photos. It was very nice experience using both on the trip. I shot about 3GB worth of photos and downloaded most to the hard drive without problems. I was a little worried if they were actually on the hard drive, since it doesn’t have a screen. But when I loaded it on the computer, I didn’t have a problem accessing the files. Whew!
I got a lot of good shots of Tiana (mostly) and others at the party. I think, no I know, I relied too much on the auto focus again. I need to go to manual focus as some of my shots were off the mark and I wasn’t pleased with the results. Practice. Practice. Practice.
The Photos Gallery
The photo gallery is back up! Yeah!!! Ok, so here’s what you need to do because there was a database problem. First off, the photo gallery is [accessible here] or by the side link that says [Photos @ Janella.com]. You will notice that some of the albums are public. For the private type albums that are public, you cannot view the full photo unless you are logged in. Clicking on the photos will only make it look like the thumbnail. All photos are about 640X480. The login link is at that bottom.
Ok, so the database with passwords got corrupt. This means you will need to go through the steps to reset your password by clicking the recover password link. Enter your username and it will send an email to the email address I have on file. Follow the link in the email sent.
If you have any problems getting a new password, let me know either by email or by phone, ok? As always, if you see a photo of yourself or someone you know and don’t think it should be up, please send me an email and let me know what photo. I’ll take it down. Cool?
Ok, that’s enough writing for now. I’m sure I’ll make more changes to the Photo Gallery in the coming months, as well as the site.
The photos below are posted on my Flickr album. You can see all the photos in the new [Photo Gallery] mentioned above.
I like this shot I taken front of the blowhole of the inflatable whale.
This photo always makes me smile. She’s actually posing for the camera!
The Sleep Machine
This entry fall under the too much information category, but I want to vent about my sleeping condition. It goes something like this:
...83% oxygen saturation...52 episodes lasting on average of 12 seconds...7.75 hours of sleep recorded.
The above is a summary of a little test I took last week. If you’ve seen my [Flickr] photo stream you’ve seen these photos:
The little machine measured my oxygen saturation level as I slept, and recorded any episodes of not breathing or if I woke up. Normal oxygen levels should be between 90-100, so mine was slightly off. I was being tested for [sleep apnea].
I was staying over Susana’s house when she noticed I stopped breathing during my sleep. This was a little over ten years ago. I did get tested back then, where I was hooked up with elaborate probes across my body. It short of reminded me of William Hurt in [Altered States] minus the water tank. The results were never really told to me, though the doctor did notice I have a slight [deviated septum]. Operating was a possibility but never fully discussed.
Fast forward to the present: I found myself really tired these last several months even though I was getting sleep. Farrah would be bothered by my snoring, so if anything I wanted to get seen for trying to alleviate that snoring. I’ve always snored, even when I was a skinny little kid. Just ask anyone in my family. They’d wonder how someone so small (at the time) could make so much noise!!!
So I made an appointment to be seen for sleep apnea once again. The initial appointment to discuss my possible condition was conducted in a conference room with about 35 other people. The way [Kaiser Permanente] deals with sleep apnea or snoring is to hold a mini-seminar with one-on-one counseling afterward. The mini-seminar discusses causes of sleep apnea and treatments. Treatments range from losing weight to wearing a special mask to sleep to having an operation, the latter being the most evasive and least effective treatment. Afterward I was scheduled a time to come back in to get the little machine mentioned earlier.
A week after the test I went to another mini-seminar meeting for the results. The first thing I noticed when I entered the room, which was classroom size not conference room size, was that about 90% of the people were overweight. They were of all different nationalities and about 99% of them were men. Some of the people even had their eyes closed, not able to stay awake - which was one of the symptoms discussed in the earlier seminar.
The results were what I mentioned earlier:
...83% oxygen saturation...52 episodes lasting on average of 12 seconds...7.75 hours of sleep recorded.
The numbers aren’t bad, but they aren’t good either. One young skinny fellow had an oxygen level of 68%! I had the option of trying the machine or waiting six months to be tested again. I opted for the machine.
It’s a scary looking thing, isn’t? The little piece goes over your nose, the strap behind your head, and air is sent through the tube to your nose. I’ve used it for three days now. After the first day I felt about 25% better (if I had to quantify the results). The second night was harder to sleep through, as was the third. I’m having a problem with the mask slipping off my nose as I toss and turn at night. I go back for consultation later this week for some adjustments and a new machine, as this one is only used for calibration.
It’s been an adjustment and as I understand it is going to take a long time. It can take anywhere from three to four months to get used to the mask. But I can tell you even though I’m a little tired, I am not as deeply tired as I felt before. I’ve been looking online, especially reading posting in the Yahoo! Groups on sleep apnea, and it has helped me with a lot of question I have.
Hopefully, if I can sleep through one full night without having to wake up and adjust the mask, I can see results.
Big Camera Big Pressure
Yesterday I attended a wedding banquet for one at my friends at [eGain], Ali Chan. I was able to meet his lovely wife Meeko, some of his family, and catch up with some old friends and aquaintences from eGain. I brought along the D70s to take a few photos, but I ended up taking a lot more. At one point it seemed like I was the elected wedding photographer, as there wasn’t but one other person with an SLR. And of course if the groom requests that you take photo after photo you’re going to do it, right?
I just felt pressure for the photos to come out right, perfect in a sense. I think the over all result is ok, but some of the photos feel like they have too much flash. I’ll need to see if I can work with some filters, Photoshop some of the photos to see if I can get a better look. What is posted on the [Flickr account] and at Yahoo! Photos will be the straight RAW images converted to jpeg with no other real edits.
I had a problem working with the crowd of people and their cameras. If I had to do it all over again, I think I would be a little more forceful with the subjects, ensuring they look at me when taking the photos and getting better position in taking the picture.
If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, please do so. I can use any comments :)
Photos from Yesterday
I just posted photos of celebrating Farrah’s dad’s birthday last night. You can access the [specific photo set here] on Flickr.com
You can also find some cheeseball photos of Farrah [at this set]. I was practicing taking rapid fire pictures while Farrah made goofy faces. Watch it in slideshow mode for full effect.