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.

Strawberry Festival

This weekend our little town of Galt holds its annual Strawberry Festival. I was surprised by the size of the crowd around noon when I got there today. I think the weather helped a lot. It is not as hot as the previous years'.




I enjoyed the motorcycles and the classic cars on exhibition. Of course I took a lot of pictures! There were also rides, and Duncan went on a few. Denice stayed on terra firma. She is just too afraid to go on any of these rides.




There were all kinds of foods. I had a rather heavy breakfast and wasn't ready for any kind of food at the festival. The kids had corn dogs, and about the only thing related to strawberry that I had, was a cup of ice cream called strawberry blonde. Yum!




I only stayed at the festival a little over an hour. I had to go the library because I had signed up for a photography workshop. The library was just next to where the festival was held and I told Doug to pick me up from the library when I was done there.

Before I left the festival grounds, I told Doug to get me some tri tip barbecue from one of the food vendors at the strawberry festival because by the time I was done at the library I knew I was ready for some food!

Desert Scene

This is one of my favorite pictures from last weekend's desert camping trip. It really shows the Mojave Desert landscape and how there's hardly anybody else there except us.

I showed the picture to couple of friends and one of them, who had recently been to Utah, said the desert scene in the picture looked like what they drove through in Utah and Nevada.

They were concerned that our camp site was quite a ways away from the main road - concerned for our safety and security. I told them both, we never left the camp site. And we were well armed!

One of the activities during the camping was target shooting. Yes, we were pretty well armed!

Well, since that trip, we are seriously looking into the possibility of getting a used trailer, something that has a shower and a toilet! It'll be nice to have at least one shower during the whole trip!

The kids had a good time, so we thought, we should go out camping more often.

Reverse macro lens

I finally got my reverse macro outfit going. I ordered some filter ring adapters but unfortunately I didn't pay attention to which thread, whether it is the male or female that is supposed to go to the camera body adapter and which thread goes to the lens. I ended up having to order a second time to get the right adapter with the right threads to fit the correct side of the lens and the camera body adapter.

I tried the reverse macro lens using a 50mm Olympus lens and it is hard to get anything in focus because of the rather shallow depth of field! The fact that it was a little breezy outside as I tried to photograph the flowers and the insects didn't help matters either!



This is a weed flower. The detail on the stamens could be better, but it was one of my first few attempts on the reverse macro lens!

I will try with another lens, and see if it is going to be as difficult to focus. The 50mm Olympus manual lens takes very sharp pictures and produces beautifully smooth bokeh, but only if you focus it right!


Related blog post: Reverse Macro Photography

AI's Top Three

I cannot believe that that there are now three left in the American Idol competition. I had predicted last week that Mike Lynch would be the one to leave this week and I was right. He was supposed to have left a few weeks back but was kept by a Save from the judges. I was sorry to see Aaron leave before Mike, though.

Anyway, next week is not going to be a happy time for me. It will either be Lee or Casey who will be eliminated, but my guess is, it will be Casey. He was in the bottom three at least three times, and my prediction is Lee and Crystal will make it to the finale. Unless, there is a big upset and Crystal gets eliminated next week, but that seems highly unlikely. Except for a couple of "bad" weeks, she has consistently been the front runner.

But whatever, because of the clash in the TV schedule with Dancing with the Stars, I have not been able to fully focus on American Idol. I am equally fond of DWTS, and when you have to flip between the two shows .... the judges comments get skipped!

I wished I had access to the East Coast's TV programming so I can watch one program on East Coast's time and the other on West Coast time!

Below,Casey's duet with Big Mike. Love Casey's guitar playing!

Cleaning House vs Photographing Birds

Male House Finch

Yesterday, one of our friends who spent this past weekend camping in the desert with us, spent the night at our home on his way back to Seattle, Washington.

Since we had a guest coming, I decided I'd better vacuum the floor and tidy the house up a bit. I started picking up some of the stuff the kids had left lying on the floor, got Doug to replace the vacuum bag in the vacuum cleaner, and even started vacuuming a bit.

I don't remember what it was that made me stop what I was doing and look out the sliding door. Oh yes, earlier I had seen several birds perching on the fence in the backyard, and one of them had bright red feathers on its head. That must be a male house finch, I thought to myself!

So in the midst of the vacuuming, I took a break to see if the birds were still hanging around the fence. Indeed I saw, the house finch. I left the vacuum cleaner right in the middle of the living room floor, took out my camera, change the lens, picked up my boots, and out the door I went.

I had to wait several minutes before the house finch came back on the fence. I took several pictures but unfortunately, they were not as sharp as I'd like.

Northern Mockingbird

Then the melodious singing of a bird perched on the far end of the fence, attracted my attention. I crouched and bent and made my way to the far end of the backyard. I could identify the bird as a mockingbird. It was whistling away and ignored me as I approached it. Such beautiful singing!

The friend arrived earlier than expected, in fact while I was still out in the backyard, and the living room was only partially cleaned!

Photographing birds is quite an addicting past time! It can distract you from your house cleaning!

Desert Sky

What one way can you photograph an evening desert sky after the sun has set?

With a bit of branch silhouette in the foreground of course!

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!