Browse Month: December 2006

Sorry Dog, no door for you.

We got our Christmas tree today!  It’s a 6-foot Noble Fir that we picked up from a lot across from Orange Coast College.  Our neighbor told us about it last year and it really is a bargain.  Basically, they say that you can have your pick of the lot for $33.99.  So, basically a little 3-footer and a big 10-footer cost the same.

As our tree guy tied the tree to the top of the X3, he told us that Noble Firs are much more popular lately.  He said that they go through a container and a half each day!  When I was a kid, we couldn’t afford them because they were sooo expensive.  I think they still are at most tree lots (even at Home Depot) – going for at least $70 for my 6-footer.  I used to call them “the soft ones” and thought they were so much prettier than the pokey bushy Douglas Fir that we always brought home.  Now that I’m a “grown-up” and found a place that sells them dirt cheap, I can live like a baller and take home my very own Noble Fir.  Unfortunately, the bird house is a bit small so we actually had to block the door that leads to our patio.  Sorry Dog, you’re going to have to go through the garage for a couple weeks.

wet and magical

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Jes and I took Jason and Jia to Disneyland yesterday. If you didnt already know, I’m a sucker for fireworks and I look forward to seeing them at Disneyland each year around Christmastime. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds. I checked the forecast the night before and it reported showers starting at 9pm. Oh no!! Does that mean I’m going to get cheated out of my fireworks once again?! (They were cancelled back in May when I last went with my family). Well, I crossed my fingers and kept looking up to the sky to see how the clouds were moving.

It was a pretty crowded Saturday at Disneyland but we managed to get in our favorite rides. We also got soaked on Splash Mountain and sang along to “It’s a Small World” and “Jingle Bells”. At 6:30, we watched the Christmas parade and towards the end it started to sprinkle. Oh no!! The show went on and no one budged. As soon as the parade was over, it poured. I mean, the drops were FAT. It didn’t last long but my hopes of having some fireworks were shattered.

Luckily, as we ate dinner, the sky cleared and the fireworks weren’t cancelled after all!! Woo hoo!! It actually started to rain towards the end but again, the show went on! It was wet and magical!! We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the rain and riding a couple more rides before going home. Ah…I’m so ready for Christmas.

Here are the photos.

toy shopping

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Jason (Jes’ brother) and Jia (his fiance) are visiting us from New York this weekend. Actually, Jason will be with us for a month and Jia is here for a long weekend. They flew in yesterday and we took them out to dinner and helped them pick out a birthday gift for a 4-year-old. There’s a neat little toy shop at the Spectrum that offers free gift wrapping. So, we picked out a mini train set and as we waited for the wrapping, we played with the little spring-loaded cars and took silly pictures with the animals.

Checking it out.

For a while now, I’ve been conflicted about which photo site to use. I’ve stuck with KodakGallery for a long time and still feel like it’s the best fit for me. But I’m also trying Google’s photo gallery thing as well but the features are still quite limited. Also, after much resistance, I’m trying out Flickr. I can see the appeal but something about it still doesn’t work for me.

Pros:

  • Cool blogging feature (I’m writing this blog within the blog integration section of the Flickr site right now.)
  • If you join a group, you get a good amount of feedback on your photos from random people.
  • It’s a good way to share photos with random people and your friends.

Cons:

  • Not the best user interface
  • Feels too much like My Space or Friendster
  • Not integrated with Picasa
  • You have to pay money in order to have unlimited storage
  • UPDATE 12/6: Flickr is blocked at work so I can’t see the top photo in this post on my work computer. Boo…

There you have it…my two cents. Here’s my Flickr photostream. These are the only ones I have uploaded so far. They’re the only ones I am willing to make public to the Flickr world.

full moon fun

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There’s a full moon out tonight and what better way to appreciate it than to take some night photos! I got a spooky photo of us being ghosts. The photo was taken in complete darkness and was lit only by the moonlight. I shot it at f3.5 at 30 seconds and we jumped in there for only a couple seconds. Neato!! The other photo is Shady Canyon (the street leading up to the exlusive homes up the hill from us).