Browse Month: January 2007

I shall call him Scrappy.

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This is one of the goldfish in our pond in the patio.  I found him floating upside-down and spinning around with the flow of the filter’s current.  Around and around he went.  I thought, “Hm…I guess it’s time to flush him.”  Then suddenly, he wiggled, turned himself over, and swam away from the current.  So I guess he was OK.

Later in the evening, I told Jes about this morning’s incident and we searched for him with the flashlight.  At first we couldn’t find him but then later found him upside-down and stuck inside the container that holds our plants.  Oh no…he croaked.  So we poked him with the net to dislodge him from the container and he floated to the top.  Just a moment later, he flipped himself over, and wiggled away. So, we scooped him up and plopped him into our empty fishbowl (AKA Farshie’s old studio).  He’s now comfortably resting in his new home without a current to fight.

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I looked up his quirky little problem and apparently it’s common with these ornamental goldfish.  His air bladder is malfunctioning and he may or may not recover.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  Until then, I shall call him Scrappy and maybe I’ll take him to work as our clinic mascot.  He’s a “special” just like the little kids I treat!

I’m published!

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I was online this afternoon and did a random Google search on my name. It turns out that I was given photo credit for a photo that was found in istockphoto! My “Road to Mammoth” photo made it into a freakin’ Chemistry book! Awesome!

Here is the photo credit page. My name is on the bottom right corner under Chapter 13. My photo can be found in Chapter 13 on page 521. It’s used to illustrate one of the study questions:

Use the relationships between properties of gases to answer the following questions:
…(there’s an “a.” and “b.” and mine is question “c.”)
c. Why do your ears pop when you drive up a mountain?

And there’s my picture to the right of it!! I’m sure I only received 40 cents for the photo but now I can say that I’ve had a photo published. Too bad I didn’t get a free book like Johnny did.

Burgers and Noodles

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I finally got to eat at Father’s Office.  It’s this tiny hole-in-the-wall in Santa Monica that looks like nothing from the outside but has a very modern look inside.  They serve burgers, some specialty items, and a variety of micro-brews.  It opens only for dinner and apparently makes enough to do that.  On Sunday, we got there around 3:30 in the afternoon (30 mins after open) and it was PACKED.  They’ve managed to create enough of a buzz that people are willing to stand around for about 30 mins trying to grab the next open table.  The restaurant is so small that you literally have to hover over the people who already have a table.  Fortunately, we got a table rather easily and boy was the food yummy!  We each had The Office Burger with a side of fries.  It’s made with dry-aged beef with carmelized onions, arugula, gruyere, and bacon.

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On our way home from Mammoth last night, we stopped at The Magical House to pick up the dog.  My mom also packed up some red curry for us to take back home and that’s what we ate for dinner tonight.  To go along with it, I decided to give Thai cooking another try.  This time I made an old favorite of mine.  It’s called “Pad Woon Sen” in Thai and made with glass noodles, egg, and some other stuff.  I must say that I did a pretty good job.  Jes was a little skeptical but actually liked it.  I couldn’t help thinking, “my mommy would be so proud”.

Enough Snow and Lots of Photos

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We went to Mammoth today and it was so nice to be back on the mountain! I was a little worried about the conditions given the dry spell they’ve had these past couple weeks but we were not disappointed. The snow was still soft but fast and the coverage on the main runs was great. We spent most of the day on the snow and at the end of the day, we packed up our gear and took a scenic ride on the Panoramic Gondola up to the top with my camera bag. It was great being able to just stand there and take a bunch of photos. I took the fisheye and Holga with me and had some fun.

Afterwards, we had dinner at Base Camp Cafe, which looked like a hole-in-the-wall restaurant but had some really yummy food at non-Mammoth prices. I enjoyed my first taste of Italian Wedding Soup that’s made with chicken soup, mini meatballs, tiny round pasta, and herbs. Yum.

Back in Bishop, where we’re staying, we visited the Mountain Light Gallery. It features the works of Galen Rowell, a long-time award-winning photographer that has many famous photos published in National Geographic. Many of his photos included a short blurb about how he captured the photo or what he was doing when the photo was taken. He travelled the world and took photos in Antarctica and the Himalayas. However, he also took many photos in places that are so accessible. Some of the photos were captured right here in Bishop! It was simply inspirational.

By the way, the Holiday Inn Express in Bishop totally rocks. It’s cheap, clean, the room entrances are indoors, has modern amenities, has free breakfast in the morning, and is walking distance to restaurants. They even have pillowcases that have “firm” and “soft” embroidered on them so you have a choice of pillow firmness. And of course, it has free WiFi in your room for after-skiing surfing. What more do you need?

Here are photos from the weekend.

It’s fishie out there!!

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My fisheye adaptor arrived today!! I played around with it this afternoon and this is what I got. I still have some reading to do but so far it’s been pretty cool! Basically, it’s a glass lens that attaches to your existing lens to give it a wider angle. The wider your lens, the better the effect. Unfortunately, I’m using a DSLR, which has a crop factor of 1.5 (i.e. 50mm is more like a 75mm on a film camera) so I’m not quite getting a full circle. It also came with an adaptor ring for my Holga, which will allow for the full-circle effect on a 6×6 medium format photo. Let the fishie fun begin!!

Turtle and Dog Conquer Shady

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Over the weekend, I went out for a run and ended up cutting it short because I was feeling lightheaded. I didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to pass out on the corner of Alton and Sand Canyon. I also went to the gym on Monday and had to stop after 20 mins on the treadmill due to the same icky thumpity-thump feeling I had in my chest. I could have sworn I was on the same treadmill last week going 6.7 mph without dying.  What a disappointment. This afternoon, I decided to give it another try. Before I left, I jokingly said to Jes, “OK!  I’m going out to make myself pass out now!  Come looking for me if I don’t return in 45 mins.”

The sun was still up and the weather was warm enough to go out in shorts and a tee. With the doggie by my side, I headed out my usual way but later decided to take a detour towards “Shady”…Shady Canyon, that is. I used to run this trail all the time but for some reason it seemed especially daunting today. But I went and so did the dog.

We started out rather slow and chugged up the hill. It was just as steep as I remembered but felt like it was never going to come to an end. At the top of the hill I felt pretty good so we kept going. We watched the golfers play, admired the way the sun hit the tall grass, stopped for a couple sniffing/peeing breaks for the dog, and ended up going all the way through Shady Canyon to the other entrance. When I glanced at my watch, it said “1.5 mi”. Sweet. So I headed back to complete the 3-mile run. It was great. After two horrible workouts in a row, I felt like my legs and heart were finally back in sync. The dog didn’t look too bad either. He happily trotted beside me the whole time with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.  I let him drink from the doggie drinking fountain on our way home and now he’s down for a long nap. Turtle and Dog conquered Shady today and here is the Garmin data to prove it.