An evening at the beach

Last Thursday, I took the kids and two of their older cousins to the beach. My niece and I wanted to photograph the sunset but the clouds were so thick in the horizon that you could barely see the sun.

Since there was no interesting sunset to photgraph, I took pictures of the horizon and the sky which had some interesting cloud formation.


My niece took many more pictures of the kids playing on the beach than I did. The few that I took did not turn out as well as those taken by my niece. I mostly used my wide angle lens from a distance, so the pictures that had the kids in them did not have them as the main focus.

There's a resort right smack in the rain forest not far from here that we hope to go to once Doug arrives. My niece and I are already imagining the things that we would like to photograph - the waterfalls, the critters in the forest .... !

Frothing!

For the last couple of weeks or so, this is what I usually get every time I want to look at my blogs. I don't know if this only happens to Blogger hosted blogs using custom domain names, or if this problem is unique to my blog using my particular broadband modem, because when I click on friends' blogs using blogspot.com their blogs load without any problem.

The blogger dashboard loads without any difficulty though, except after posting a blog entry, I cannot view the blog - something about error timed out bla bla bla.



But the strange thing is, the cache copy works fine, and the latest post appears in the cache copy seconds after it has been published. I am only able to view my blogs hours later, and then it will do the same thing again.

This is beginning to bug me!

An Evening at Mariner Bay

Last Thursday evening, I took the kids and a good friend to a place by the beach. I wanted to photograph the sunset, but unfortunately the sunset wasn't as spectacular as it could be. You could barely see the sun setting because it was hidden behind some clouds. The colors weren't as bright as they could be either. The presence of the coconut trees in the foreground of my photographs made up for the disappointing sunset!


I did not bring my tripod with me that evening. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pictures turned out. I am still learning how to photograph things in low light by setting the ISO and the shutter speed myself. In daylight, I usually rely on the auto settings, and be done with it.


When it got quite dark, I set the ISO at 800, turned on the self timer, pressed the shutter and held my breath! In order to minimize shake, of course! Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pictures turned out.

After the photography session we had dinner at Taman Selera, a popular eating place down the road from Mariner Bay. I'd heard the food at the restaurant at Mariner Bay was quite pricey, and I didn't need to spend a lot of money to enjoy good food so off we went to Taman Selera.

When Doug arrives at the end of the month, we'll spend another evening at Mariner Bay. I don't think Doug will be willing to spend good money at the restaurant there either!

Street Photography

Since I arrived in Malaysia, I have not done any street photography. I love my dSLR, and it is not as bulky as some other models, but still it is not easy to carry around with you in your purse! Like it or not, I still carry my trusty Fujifilm Finepix point and shoot in my purse all the time.

Yesterday, I took my mother to the ethnic market in town, and it was only as an afterthought that I took out my point and shoot camera.

One thing I noticed, which I never did before because I had never photographed the local vendors, was that not every one liked to be photographed. I tried to minimize anybody's suspicions and distrust by pointing my camera generally and at no one in particular.


However, one lady was upset that I photographed some of the stuff that she was selling. I think what she was most upset about was that she could not charge me for photographing her things though she did say rather loudly to her daughter that if I continued to photograph her things, the daughter should start charging me 10 ringgit for every photo I took!

I think that the law, in Malaysia, regarding street photography in public places is no different than the law in the US. I think that as long as you are in a public place, there cannot be much restrictions on what you can photograph.

Anyway, if somebody is quite adamant about not being photographed, I will try to stay away from such a person! No point getting assaulted over a photograph!

Rainy Days

It used to be that June was the driest month in this part of Malaysia. But it looks like June is no longer the driest month of the year. Two years ago, I observed the many rainy days in June. Likewise last year. This year, in the month of June and in the early days of July, rain is almost a daily occurrence.

I don't mind the rain all that much except when it gets too humid! I love it when there's a nice wind blowing before and after it rains. It makes the day pleasantly cool.

But I would hope that the weather dries up when I am ready to leave the country! I want to be outdoors visiting places around Kuala Lumpur and rain can be a real spoiler for such activities!

So how's the weather in your part of the world?

I miss talk radio

I went for a month without listening to any conservative talk radio. I thought about some of my favorite talk radio personalities but I realized I didn't miss them all that much.

But after a month, I started checking out their podcasts and archives. Then I started listening to a couple of radio stations via internet live stream. I realized that a month was about as long as I could go without listening to any talk radio!

Yesterday and today I listened to KSFO and KTKZ, listening to Brian Sussman, Hugh Hewitt, John Gibson and Bill Bennett. I wished I could stay up late and listen to Rush Limbaugh too, but every night I feel too tired to stay up past midnight. Rush's show only begins at midnight Malaysian time.

I was surprised at how good the connection to the internet live stream was via Celcom Broadband! I don't know if the radio listening will rake up the limit allowed (fair usage policy) but we'll soon find out if there is going to be any curtailing of the internet connection speed, right?

For now, I am enjoying the ability to listen to some of my favorite talk show programs via internet live stream.

Jailbroken and Unlocked. Again.

Today, about a month after I arrived in Malaysia, I am finally able to use my iPhone (which was locked to AT&T) with a DiGi sim card. Woohooo!

Yesterday, I updated the iPhone firmware to the latest firmware, the iOS 4. I did that because I learned that there was a software to jailbreak that version of the firmware as well as a software to unlock the phone on ALL basebands.

I lost the previous unlock because my iPhone crashed and the only way to get it going again was to restore it to default factory setting. The iPhone hackers did not want to release the unlock software until after the release of the iPhone 4. Well, the iPhone 4 has been released, and after patiently waiting for the jailbreak and unlock softwares, my patience has been rewarded.

The instructions for the jailbreak and unlock were clear and easy to follow. Since this was not the first time I had jailbroken and unlocked my iPhone, the process was a breeze.

*****


Jailbreak with Redsn0w.

Unlock with Ultrasn0w.

Photography with an ultra-wide lens

When I bought my dSLR, I only bought the body so that I could spend the amount saved by not spending extra on the kit lens on a 12mm-60mm lens. I love the ultra-wide angle on this particular lens and have been reading up on how to use an ultra-wide lens.

According to Ken Rockwell, the ultra-wide lens is not for "getting it all in"! He continues on to say that they are for "getting close and bringing the viewer into the photo, not for fitting a subject into a photo".


Oh well. I did try to get the viewer in with these two pictures but they also appear like I tried too hard to get everything in!

One of the things I love about these ultra-wide angle lenses is the distortion it brings to the subject being photographed. The distortion adds interest to the subject especially if the subject is a structure or a building.

I can't wait to get to Kuala Lumpur so I can try again with the Petronas Twin Towers. Last year, I took some pictures, but that was before I had my dSLR!

Swimming

I took the kids to the local public pool this morning. There were no other kids at the pool this morning, which was really nice. It was cloudy most of the morning, and so the sun wasn't beating quite as fiercely as it could.

The water looked cool and inviting, but I wasn't even tempted! I didn't want to mess my hair with the chlorine and also when the sun did shine through the clouds, I wasn't interested in being baked by the sun.


Anyway, the kids had a great time. It was hard to get them to leave the pool. There's always another day, I told them. The pool is opened every day except for Mondays, but it is not likely that I will take them during the weekends. Weekends are always popular with most people. I wanted to avoid the crowds, that was why I waited till the school break was over before I took my kids!

The kids only paid 50 sen each to swim in the pool. It only cost a ringgit for an adult who wanted to swim. I didn't have to pay anything because I wasn't going to swim. That's a very reasonable fee for the use of the pool.

Before we left for Malaysia, I promised the kids that I would take them to the pool more often this time. Last year, I don't think I took them more than a handful of times. So this year, I will keep my promise and take them more often!

Butterflies

How do you like my butterfly header for the blog? That is just one of the butterflies that regularly flutter into my mother' garden.

There are several white butterflies fluttering in the garden but I don't know what it is about these particular butterflies. They never seem to stop on any flower or leaf! When they do, they don't stop long enough for me to photograph them!

Cycad Blue (Chilades pandava pandava)

And then there are the really small butterflies. They are quite plentiful, and I was surprised at how beautiful their wings can be. Naturally I just had to take lots of pictures of them! They are usually not disturbed when I get close to them to photograph them.

I still have not been able to take any picture of the red dragonflies that like to fly above the big drain in front of the house. What does it take for them to land on a leaf or something? I want to photograph them!

Young workers

This morning I dropped by at a good friend's house. She was in but unfortunately she couldn't invite us in because there was major renovation work going on at her house. The renovation work has been going on for several weeks now and I had heard from her who some of the construction workers were. Thirteen and fourteen year-old kids.

I was shocked to see for myself this morning children working in construction. They should be in school but because of their own reluctance to go to school and their parents who didn't care if their children were educated or not they were instead working in construction.

It is indeed sad in this modern day and age, in my little home town, children prefer to make a living instead of go to school.

The construction contractor knows he shouldn't be employing children, but from all accounts no one forced the children to work. From the contractor's point of view, it is better that they learn a skill in construction from him than waste their life and maybe even get into vices like drug abuse, theft and breaking and entering into homes.

According to my friend, the contractor is a very nice man, concerned about the neglect the children are experiencing from their parents, and by giving them jobs he is really taking them under his wings. I watched the contractor work along side his young workers. He does look like cares for the children. Some may accuse him of exploiting the children, but I think he has a point when he says, he is providing a form of education for the children.

I don't know the full story about the family life of the children, and I can't pass any judgement on them. They claim one of the reasons they are not in school is that they do not have birth certificates. Without birth certificates, it is impossible for them to be enrolled in any school.

Sad but such is life for some in Malaysia.

Orchid

I visited one of my good friends yesterday, and that was where I took the picture of this blooming orchid. I think the colors are very attractive, and I don't ever remember seeing these colors on any orchid plant before. It reminds me very much of the blood orange (Citrus sinensis), not so much the colors but the way the colors come together.

I have three pots of orchids at home, but alas, they are barely alive! I love orchids but I just do not know how to maintain the plants and keep them blooming every season.

Maybe a good gardening book on how to grow orchids will help?

Dinner with friends

Last night I took two friends out to dinner. One is a blogger friend whom I last saw two years ago at her parents home in Sarikei. One of the comments I made after we were seated at the dinner table was, "Either I have grown bigger, or you have grown smaller!"

"Smaller," she said of herself. She was ill recently and had lost some weight as a result. Well, at least, she hadn't said I had grown bigger! :-)

The other friend, I had only seen once since I arrived in Malaysia almost three weeks ago. Last night was a good opportunity to meet up and catch up with both of them over dinner. I was in fact quite surprised that my kids did not protest more about my not taking them along with me! Dinner would not have been as pleasant with the kids along. Conversation would have been constantly interrupted.

There are other friends that I would like to meet over dinner too. There are still a few weeks left of our summer vacation in Malaysia so there is still time.

Eye Infection

I can't remember where I read the news about an eye infection (pink eye) going around in the country when I arrived in Malaysia two weeks ago.

But still, when Duncan complained about "something" in his eye, and rubbed one of his eyes till it turned red and puffy, I did not associate the eye infection with his case. After all, we were never around anyone with the infection. Well, at least, not that we were aware of!

The next day, it was only when I noticed the redness in my eye, and the scratchy feeling in that eye, did I realize that I had an eye infection and so did Duncan. Later that day, my father too complained that he had an eye infection! And the next day, my mother had it on both eyes at the same time, whereas my father and I had the other infected as well only on the following day. Duncan looked like he only had one eye infected.

Every one in the family, except for Denice had an eye infection! It has been three days now, and the infection is clearing. I no longer feel the "grit" in my eyes. The puffiness around the eyes has also improved. The eyes still look pinkish, but overall, every one in the family who had the infection is over the worst of it.

None of us went to see the doctor, because here in Malaysia, we can get eye drops for the infection at the pharmacy's without a doctor's prescription. The eye drops were really effective for treating the infection.

Thank goodness we are done with the eye infection! Er, what is the likelihood of a re-infection soon after we had it?! I hope we are truly done with it for the remainder of our stay in Malaysia!

Ladybugs

Besides the moon, the ladybug is another favorite photographic subject! Regular readers to my blogs will surely have noticed the number of times I have shared pictures of the ladybugs I'd taken.



In the past I have seen several beautiful pictures of ladybugs taken by other people and that is how I came to love photographing them. They look so beautiful among the green plants, and there is always that satisfaction when the pictures you'd taken of them turn out spectacular!

Doug's colleague has even asked him to ask me if I'd be willing to sell prints of the ladybugs to her. Er, maybe. I still have doubts about my photographic skills!



I remember how beautiful the ladybugs looked with dew drops on their wings in the early autumn mornings. It is late spring now and the weather is very dry at this time of the year, and the only way I can capture that image of dew drops on the ladybugs is to spray them with water!

So here is a picture of a ladybug with water droplets on its glossy wings!

Moon Fever

Last night I took another picture of the moon. This time the moon has moved from the waxing crescent phase to first quarter moon phase.

My cousin thinks both she and I have moon fever! We can't seem to stop photographing the moon! She doesn't have a dSLR camera but with her point and shoot she could still take an interesting daylight shot of a plane passing the moon.

It was a very clear night with hardly any cloud in the sky. I took several pictures of the moon, and when I reviewed the pictures I'd taken, I reminded myself to get that remote shutter release. I had to shift the tripod with almost every shot, because the moon was not stationary though it would appear so with our naked eye.

With every move of the tripod there is some movement and I very seldom wait till everything is quite still before I press on the shutter! Thank goodness for that sharpen tool in the photo editor! It helps to make the picture look a lot better! Not to mention that color curve tool!

Morning Glories 2010

"I counted 16 morning glories, mommy!" cried Duncan yesterday morning before we climbed into the car to go to school.

Yes, the morning glories are coming back this year. Last year, Doug pulled most of them out because he didn't like to see them wrapped around the other plants. He only left those climbing on the fence. "They're weeds," he said.



We will be spending most of the summer in Malaysia, and I guess when we are gone, Doug will start pulling out the plants, like he would weeds.

They are actually quite a hassle when the summer is over. You have to pull out the dried and dead vines off whatever they had clung to. But I do enjoy looking at the flowers when they are in bloom, and I especially love photographing them!

Broiled Catfish

The day before I told Doug to stop by the supermarket to get one avocado, one mango and some strawberries. I was going to use the fruit salad over the broiled salmon I was preparing for dinner that evening. The idea came from a Cooking Light magazine that I got last Sunday when I was shopping at Costco.

Last night, I broiled a catfish fillet and used chopped strawberries, spring onion and a tomato over it as well. I enjoyed the salmon with the fruit salad topping, and why not do the same with the broiled catfish fillet? Except this time without the mango and avocado.

Both were delightful!

Waxing Crescent

This is the waxing crescent moon taken tonight, May 19, 2010. The moon is fast becoming one of my favorite subjects to photograph ever since the first successful moon shot!

I would have taken more pictures except the clouds started getting in the way, and the last few shots of the moon were totally useless. The moon was totally invisible in my pictures. Maybe I should have increased the ISO?

I usually take several shots of whatever I am photographing because the object I am photographing is either moving, or my hands are not that steady. Say, I take 10 shots, at least 2 or 3 are good enough! I need back up! Or else, I will be kicking myself for not taking more because whatever I have are not that sharp.

*Click the picture to see a bigger picture of the moon. Or right click, View Image.

Field Trip

Today, a few parents and I accompanied our kids on a school field trip to Consumnes River Preserve. I was surprised that several of the parents, and the two teachers had never been to the preserve!



The last time I was there was in the fall and the wetlands were filled with water and there were lots of water fowl and migrating birds. Today the wetlands are pretty dried out. The birds that live in the wetland vegetation were still there, but there were very few water fowls.



It was not easy to keep a big group of K-3rd grade kids together! The fact that we had to walk along the concrete path and the walkway helped to keep the group together. I was busy taking pictures of the wild flowers and whatever caught my eye, and had to catch up with the group.

I was surprised that the teachers did not make more stops along the way and point out things of interest to the kids. The one thing I noticed that really excited the kids were the bird nests. They seemed to notice the bird nests, on the ground, in the trees or between the reeds.




This lizard really caught my eye. I was intrigued by the turquoise coloring on its body. One of the girls wanted to pick it up, and of course, we stopped her.



This was about the only water fowl I noticed in what little water that was left in the wetlands. I was fascinated by the long, curving beak. And the long legs so it could wade in the water and feed on whatever was in the water.

The first grade teacher wished she had been better prepared for the trip. It was mainly organized by the second and third grade teacher, and the first graders decided to tag along. The preserve has a website dedicated to it and there is much information about the vegetation and wild life there.

I think the kids should make another visit to the nature preserve in the future.