colinwoon

Here's some more photo from the SF trip. I don't know why it took me forever to choose and process these photos, maybe I should setup my mind to end procrastination as my 2009 new year resolution. Ya right, like that's going to happen anytime soon, hehe...

One tall tall tree in Muir Wood National Monuments. It's a kind of Redwood that can grow up to 380 feet and most trees in this park average 500 to 800 years old. Wow! Talk about old!


Really small people in Muir Wood National Monuments.


Yup, even rock in Sausalito is cool too! They form just like that, naturally. Not really, it's the work of a rock stacker - he's good.


Here's the rock stacker teaching kids how to balance a can of drink - no glue, promised.


Amazing! That's patience I don't have!


Jelly Belly factory! Oh yeah baby, my belly want some jelly!


Stand there long enough and the urge to pee will eventually come. Some interesting fountains outside the Artesa Vineyards & Winery - Napa Valley.


Oooo...Ghirardelli chocolate...me want all! This is taken in Ghirardelli Square on San Francisco Bay. We did enjoy a really delicious Ghirardelli sundae there too but the photo was crap due to low lighting, yes, I will remember to bring the flash next time.

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Merry Christmas to all!!! Have a safe and pleasant holiday!

Meet free bear! We adopted him from a clothing store after we spent x amount(enough to hurt) of dollar.

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Though it's been 3 weeks since we got back from San Francisco, it felt like the trip was just yesterday. It is because of that thought, I just didn't get around to process the photos I took. There I said it, that's my excuse for putting it off for so long.

Who am I kidding? I'm just lazy, plain and simple! Anyway, here are some photos to share.

San Francisco's special, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at Fisherman Wharf. Tasty and filling! Wish I can have one RIGHT NOW!


One expensive equipment - the Arca Swiss 8x10 camera at the Rodney Lough Jr.'s Wilderness Collection Gallery(Fisherman Wharf). This guy took some amazing and impressive outdoor photos, on film.


This couple was having a small picnic at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. They sure know how to pick a good spot but why sit so far apart? Go ahead, make your own caption for this shot.


Same spot where I took this photo, just different direction. We're not above the cloud here, that's fog. To us, that's some pretty cool and interesting sight. But to the San Franciscan, "it's the damn fog again!".


The Palace of Fine Arts - a really cool place to hang out and unwind. People there are prettier too!

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We're back from vacation! Back from some really great times, fully recharged and back to work(so I can make more money for more vacations)!

I'm really glad I get to travel with my mom on this trip and bring her some experiences which I wasn't able to many years ago when I was still a poor student. The last time mom came to US was for my graduation, at that time I didn't have enough money to bring her anywhere, I'm just happy I could do much more for her this time.

The chance to travel with my wife again is awesome! It's been many moons since we last travel to some cool place, we were itching for a great trips! More trips coming up soon, oh yeah!

Beside the wonderful trip we also get the chance to hang out with our great old friend, Siew Yee, whom we hardly see since she move to San Francisco from Texas. We missed her! To Siew Yee if you're reading this, thanks for the hospitality and taking off days to bring us around, we had a lot of fun! And like your Terminator governor will say, "I'll be back!"

Another person I get the chance to hang out with is my college roommate, Gary, whom I have not seen for 12 years. He was on a company trip to US and made a detour to SF to meet us. He definitely brought back some good old memories of college. To Gary if you're reading this, dude, thanks for making the trip to SF, it's great to catch up and hang out with you! Congratulation again for being a father hopefully we will meet again soon!

I'm usually very excited when I'm on the flight towards a vacation destination. The anticipation of great times and the relieve from leaving works behind usually get me very pumped up. This is the winglet of the 737-800 we took to San Francisco. The winglet could aid in climb performance as well as stability control from turbulent air created by other aircraft.


This shot was taken on one of the ridge in Golden Gate Recreational Area during sunset hour. See the fog moving in from the right side? Pretty amazing view! I have tons of photos from the trip to process and upload, I just wish I have more time in hand.

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I went to Wings Over Houston a few weeks ago, took a tons of photos. I thought most the shot came out good but man was I wrong! The results keep reminding me that I need a much much better zoom lens(thinking "L" lens). Note to self, the small 2.5inch LCD on the DSLR is good to preview the composition but I must zoom in to check focus and motion blur, I forgot that most of the time, ahhhh!

Anyway, we're going to San Francisco tomorrow and Las Vegas next week to meet and tour with my mom, yes, my mom is visiting, very very excited! Hopefully I can get more presentable shot in SF and LV.

This is the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the first fighter jet I fell in love with and my favorite jet of all time. There's just something about the lines of this plane, it's just so dynamic and slick.


The tail of the same F-16. These blade will expand out during afterburner mode. The sound of afterburner is just music to my ears. The F-16 has a few nicknames, the most popular two are "Viper" & "Electric Jet". This is the US Navy & Marines F-16. I believe this particular jet belong to the Adversary Squadron in the Top Gun school in Nevada, hence the dessert paint scheme.


The Thunderbird - Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, comprised of 6 F-16C Fighting Falcon jet. They put up an awesome show for all the spectators that day.


The pilots of this squadron is the elite, the best of the best in the US Air Force. Very cool and good looking people too.

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Last weekend, LK & JP's son, Benjamin and my brother's son, Ray, turn 1 year old! Wow! Time flies, felt like they were born yesterday.

Too bad I'm not in Malaysia to take photos of Ray, it would have been fun!

Serious birthday boy, Benjamin! He has the CEO stare in this shot doesn't he? He always has that serious look but ready to crack a huge smile whenever you play with him.


Yes, I can write love! Janine wrote this wonderful birthday card to her baby brother. One thing I learn from taking photos of Janine is that whenever I let her view the photos I took of her, she will let me take more, sometime she'll even post for me. Not sure if this will work with other kids but it's sure worth a try.


Food galore AGAIN! When there's celebration, there will be good food! We have to fulfill our responsibility to eat, to help the eco-system, hehe... Joo Pheng is a good cook, she prepared most of the food here, she's just amazing! Joanne brought some really good food too. I don't mind wonderful feast like this every weekend!


The only contribution from our house, tiramisu made by Faye and Yee. As always, my only contribution is to enjoy this wonderful creation, ha!

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Trick or treat time! We went trick or treat with our friends' kids last Friday. Though its mainly a kids activity, I had a lot of fun snapping photos of them running around the neighborhood gathering candy from neighbors.

Adrien the Kangaroo with his mom. Some neighbor thought he's a rabbit, ha! How does he look like a rabbit when he has a little kangaroo in the pouch?


Kangaroo needs candy too!


"I am Bee", Janine told me. A happy bee indeed.


Happy Bee & Winnie the Pooh(with a belly). Winnie the Pooh is Samuel 1st Halloween costume.


"I'm having my candy now!"


"Hmmm...where's that piece of candy I just saw?"

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Continued from Sugar Land Airport Open House.

Hellfire missile, AGM-114. This is the training version so I'm guessing it only have the targeting system for practice. The real thing has a fire-and-forget semi active laser guidance system, a very good anti-tank weapon. See me in the reflection of the guidance eye?


The T-38 Talon's burners from and angle. These are turbojet engines with afterburners built by General Electric. One of these engines could produce up to 2900lb of thrust with afterburners, pretty impressive.


I have no idea what engine this is and which plane does it belong to. I thought it looks cool, took the shot and forgot to document it, ha!

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Can you believe a city as small as Sugar Land has an airport? Though it's mostly chartered and training flights, still it's a very busy airport - I have observed a few business jet and helicopter taking off and land during the 2 hours I was there.

Anyway, Sugar Land Airport has an open house last Saturday as a community event. And of course I need to go since there's jets and planes. Beside I can practice my photography skills with aircraft before I go to the Wings Over Houston Airshow the following weekend.

The magnificent Apache, AH-64! My favorite attack helicopter. One of the most lethal air attack weapon of the US Army.


The Apache has a lot of defense mechanism. The engines has exhaust diffusers to reduce heat signature so heat seeking missile has a hard time to lock on. Then there's that shiny thing under the main rotor, a infra-red jamming device, used to confuse heat seeking missile.


Hydra Rocket Launcher. A major ordinance of the Apache. When it's loaded, it carried 19 rockets on each side of the Apache.


Engine exhausts of the T-38 Talon. The Talon is a jet trainer for the USAF and NASA. These twin-engines are capable of pushing the Talon into supersonic speed.

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Crap! Most of my muscle ache from the waist down. Well, I expected it after the 5k run yesterday but I didn't know it's going to be this bad. My wife said I walk like a robot and I can hardly squat. Bending down to pick up stuffs could be a real challenge too.

Amazingly, Faye felt nothing, no muscle ache, nothing! What the heck?! Not that I wish she's in pain too but why me? She said she did more cardio training at the gym compare to me. Really?! Damn, I felt like a wuss.

Lesson learned, must train for next run and I should start soon because Faye spent sometime online last night to seek out 5k run around Houston in the coming months. She's very interested and determined to complete a 5k run below 30 minutes. Uh-oh!

Below are more photos from yesterday 5k run/walk.

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Holy cow, we've completed a 5k run today! That's 3.1 miles, non-stop!

We surprised ourselves because we didn't train for it. Faye is not a runner, she'll rather go biking than jog/run. Me, I hardly run, I go to the gym to tone not for cardio training or stamina. And we have completed a 5k run, huh?!

It's the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure annual 5k run. It's an event to raise money for breast cancer research and treatment.

We learn about this event 2 days ago from our friends. We signed up for the non-competitive run thinking we'll just relax and walk if we couldn't run the whole length. Amazingly, we made it in 38 minutes 11 seconds.

I might not be able to feel my leg tomorrow but the experience and the cause is well worth it. "Might" do it again.

Faye's is 29,490 of more than 30,000 people. Shot taken after the race hanging out on the event ground.


Sea of people.


Maria's Army - Team members.


All kind of people and of course, dogs participated.


Standing by just in case. Sure is one colorful ambulance.

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Oh yeah baby! My new lens is here!!! The replacement for my broken Canon EF 50mm f/1.8.

Hello Canon EF 50mm f/1.4! It's quieter and faster than the f/1.8 lens. The bokeh is sweeter too! I LIKE IT!

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Ya, this is what I do when I'm bored, editing pictures.

I use the layer tools in photoshop to create this image. Basically I overlay one image on top of another image then erase the unnecessary/redundant area to create the clone effect. Do you know other way to do this? Please teach this rookie.

Cuteness x 3!

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