My homeboy EnVaDoR has been up to no good as usual with his modding antics. His latest: getting noted on lifehacker (with a mention on gizmodo) for his DIY iPhone Paper Clip Stand!
A search turns up a whole lotta hits where he gets mentioned, but true 6334dom is appearing on lh and gizmodo, right? :) From one geek to another, here's to you Dean: the King o' Geeks!
How's this for a Saturday morning cartoon-ish blog post title? :)
Inspiration struck only the day before Eda and Yusuke's Hallowe'en party when I heard that oddly endearing song "Anyone Else But You". I was instantly reminded how friends, one by one, near and far, insisted that I needed to watch this movie called Juno that apparently starred me. And Tree Frog was said to have co-starred, even though he really looks NOTHING like Bleeker other than sharing skin color and sometimes possessing a similar clueless look.
And so I present to you the slightly dyslexic but adequately presentable Juno and Bleeker, the Hallowe'en 2008 Edition! :)
Cuteness, grossness, and chillness were all present at this lovely party. Thanks to our wonderful host and hostess for letting us destroy their home with stinky tofu and pumpkin innards!
Also, special thanks to the Tree Frog for driving down from Austin to be my date for the party. Even if your shorts weren't short enough. :)
Elaine and I survived the Dallas Muddy Buddy 6-mi run/bike! (Well, to be very clear, *I* merely survived it - Elaine's in really good shape so I'm sure this was not too bad for her.) To commemorate this accomplishment, I've put together a slideshow to cheesy music, as I am often prone to doing. Enjoy!
Muddy Buddy 2008 from Caroline Chen on Vimeo.
My personal goals were to seriously 1) complete without dying, and 2) to not stop. I had to walk the bike a few times over rough / steep terrain, but otherwise, I did it! WE did it! :)
Thanks to those who came out to share our "last meal", to those who trained the last 3 months with my Royal Slowness, and for all the well-wishes!
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Training equipment / tools:
- Champion running shoes, 4+ years old, were thrown out after the race
- Hella-old Walmart special mountain bike (Elaine's nice bike was used for the race)
- MapMyRun.com, a great way to track your workouts and provide motivation for the days you just don't want to run
- fear of dying on the day of the race
Wei invited us over for a little BBQ. Oscar graciously prepared tons of food. Everyone brought a little something and before long we were totally stuffed.
The night ended on a perfect note with Carlos' soon-to-be world-famous rum cake, paired with some Costa Rican coffee. MMMMMmmmmm. (I was stuffed but there's always room for dessert, haha!)
And no set of pics would be complete without pics of the doggies!
[ see all photos ]
The conclusion to my little four-part series.
And so, the storm hit us almost exactly one month ago today. And today, there are 4 men on my roof banging loudly away, making me fear that at any moment the ceiling might cave in and a construction worker complete with hammer, hardhat, and neon vest might fall into my bedroom. Hahaha and no, that would not be a turn on.
Apologies to those who can't get my abysmal singing voice out of their heads. Muahahahaha. Soon all will be ihatepink.com zombies! World domination is imminent!! :)
Ike Mockumentary, Day 4 (FINAL): Waiting from Caroline Chen on Vimeo.
Didn't have power nor running water all day. Not knowing when things were going to return to normal was making me unsure. And so, I forced myself to take my mind off of possible impending doom by doing some "undercover" work on my apartment's hurricane "emergency" line, and then heading out on my trusty bike after the rain to see what was going on in my immediate surroundings.
Ike Mockumentary, Day 3: Ike Hits from Caroline Chen on Vimeo.
I suppose I'm one of those that boring people who place less emphasis on form than function but ... using cloth to "protect" your windows just seemed pretty ... useless. Or maybe I should say, pretty, but useless?
Ike Mockumentary, Day 2: Suspense from Caroline Chen on Vimeo.
And so, we have survived the hurricane. I've made a series of videos that my Facebook friends have already gotten a glimpse of, and will soon be posted here. But first! My cousin Min called me up earlier this week to tell me she'd sent me a present. I was baffled; I rudely blurted out (as I am wont to do), "Oh, what for?" She laughed and said, "Just 'cause! And this is totally going to get on ihatepink.com!" I was intrigued: "Oh really??" And today, after waiting ALL week, I got the package!
Min, Peter, and Connor, this one's for you. :)
Long-Awaited Gift from Min from Caroline Chen on Vimeo.
I've been following Hurricane Ike updates online; haven't felt like turning on the TV. Maybe I'll do it just to test how long I can watch it before getting sick and tired of it.
Came across this video on weather.com. One sentence caught my ear:
"Church members say after their prayers, Edouard slowed and turned right, and Gustav went to Louisiana."
I think it's normal when people turn to faith in times of crisis, but ... can they truly celebrate that they "diverted" Hurricane Gustav so that it didn't hit us here in Houston but instead our neighbors in Louisiana? "Hooray! It didn't hit us! It hit them! Whahahaaahaaa! We rock!!!"
In the meantime ... I'll be filling up on drinking water and shopping for bananas. ;)
Before the Canon SD1000 got discontinued, that was my general recommendation. Now I would now recommend the Canon SD1100
This is actually a question I get asked pretty often, and the answer really depends on how hardcore you wanna be, your budget, and how you're gonna use the thing. But if ...
- you could stand to pay $200 or less
- you want the ability to pick a stylin' color to match your personality (silver / blue / *pink* / gold / brown)
- you want to have something compact and lightweight to take with you while travelling or partying or clubbing
- you like sharing your photos online and occasionally printing out 4x6 photos or making photo gifts for people
- you want the ability to take decent video also (this was done with the SD1100 time-lapse function built-in by a friend)
- you have no idea what f-stop or DOF means and don't care / these terms scare you
... this is your best bet, imho, until this thing becomes discontinued, anyway. AND it even comes with IS, or image stabilization, which has been a feature in cameras priced around $300 or higher generally.
General marketing hype to avoid
- number of megapixels. This thing has 8 MP, which is already overkill for the average consumer. In fact, for regular 4x6 photos, you only really need 3 MP, but all the manufacturers want you to believe the more = better. It's only better if you plan on printing life-sized photos (for the SD1100, up to 16x22), which the average user does not do.
- digital zoom: this is fake zoom. Be sure the description says "optical zoom".
- humongoginormous screen: well, all screens nowadays are over 2" diagonally. It's really mainly for composing pictures, so you don't really need much more. Personally, I like that the SD1100 also has an optical viewfinder, so if you're really trying to squeeze the last few pictures out of the dying battery, you can turn off the screen and just take pictures by looking through the little hole.
What do you do when a group of pug lovers come together all in one place? Why, take pictures, of course! :)
An extreme close-up. [ more grunty flat-nosed cuteness ]
I looped back around to get a picture with this HOT PINK JAGUAR. Can you believe it?!?! Many thanks for the owner of the car, Mr. Reginald, who allowed me to take pictures, and even came out to get me in the pic too! "I guess I'll be seeing this on MySpace," he said. While the thought of owning a MySpace page makes me somewhat nauseous, I do want to share the pics.
Ze car! I had to loop around to come back to it, I just *had* to get a pic of it, hehe.
Dorky pose 1.
Dorky pose 2. Ooooh I got to touch the car!!! OOH OOH OOH OOH OOH!!!
He apparently gets requests to take pics with the car all the time, hahaha.
By the way, like the cuuute new shirt? :)
How do you pronounce these words:
"shone", "contribute", "distribute", and "terrain"?
If you can, write out the emphasized syllable in CAPS and write it out as closely to other words as possible, ie. i say Canuck = kahNUK.
These are the only ones I can think of that people have laughed at me about. If you have pointed out my supposedly weird pronunciation of other words, please feel free to point them out. :)
I'm such a sucker for puppies. Especially cute ones. (Hmm, don't think I've ever met a puppy I didn't think was cute ... )
Yup. A bona fide cutie. (Hahah, yes, both Vicki and Bella and cuties ... )
*Love* it when I get these mouth-open-wide shots. :) [ check out ze album ]
Presale tix at the Teahouse for $10! [ more info ]
Sweet. I think I discovered their "Dim Sum Girl" through Will. I can't find an original Dim Sum Girl video by the Notorious MSG; instead, here is a hilarious lip-synch done by some sisters in Hong Kong that had me roflmao for realz:
So I was going on a bike ride, and wanted to record video while doing so.
I was gonna buy the Flip Action Mount
Then I chanced upon Camera Hacker's site with instructions and other links on how to make your own!
I read it excitedly, but realized that I had no access to power tools in the time frame that I had (2 hrs), plus I wouldn't know how to use them anyway, and almost dismissed the idea from my mind.
Well, on a lark, I still went to the dollar store as Camera Hacker suggests for the first piece in his bicycle camera mount. I realized with dismay that 1. they didn't carry anything like he said, and 2. I didn't remember any other details, and didn't have time to go back and look them up, ie. like what size screw fits into the camera tripod mount hole thingy!!
With sheer dumb luck I bought a few pieces, brought them home, and made my own within 45 mins, a little over a dollar's worth of materials, and with minimal tools.
Materials:
1. Ghetto-looking hose clamp that happened to have just the right size screw for mounting a camera (2-pack; $1.09)
2. Ghetto rubber chair foot covers (4-pack; $1.09)
The result:
You know I'm all about the g-h-e-t-t-o, but this doesn't look half bad, if I do say so myself. :) [ get the play-by-play with commentary on the DIY project here ] [ resulting footage that catches me biting it on my way home after the ride ]
I felt really good after the 15 miles, but apparently my legs turned to rubber. Peep the video of what happened when we were riding home after the ride. Please excuse my deafening laugh (careful with the audio), I think I must have been in shock. OR maybe I just sound the dorky in real life and don't realize it ...
Summer is just gettin' started here in Houston. Yippee.
I got to see a friend who came in from out of town tonight, and they felt like Santong Noodles in Chinatown. I hadn't been there in awhile, and remembered vaguely that they didn't have too much vegetarian selection and that their service was kinda rude. But whatever, it didn't matter, friend wanted to go, and maybe things would be different this time.
Round 1
Mean Lady Cashier (MLC): What do you want?
Me: I'm a vegetarian, do you have some dry noodles that are vegetarian?
MLC: Yes, this one is.
Me: Does it have vegetables on top?
MLC: Yes.
I pay. I sit down, and the food comes out. I should've taken a picture of it, but I must have been too stunned. It was a big bowl of noodles with sesame sauce, but ... with just 5 measly pieces of cabbage on it, about 2 cm in diameter each, that looked like someone thought it'd be too much trouble to get a knife out to cut it, and instead tore them by hand and threw them onto the noodles.
Fine. Well, I thought I'd get some actual vegetable intake rather than just have 99.9% carbs for dinner, so I asked if maybe there were some ready-made cold dishes I could get.
Round 2
MLC: Yeah?
Me: Do you have any vegetarian cold dishes?
MLC: Well, they have garlic in them. (Some Buddhist vegetarians don't eat garlic.)
Me: That's fine, I eat garlic.
MLC: Well then everything you see in this fridge is vegetarian.
Me (eyeing a beef dish right in front of my face at eye level): But um, isn't this beef right here?
MLC: Look you said you eat garlic so what's the problem?
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I will admit, the quality of the actual noodles is good, which is probably why everyone I know (non-vegetarian) loves to go back to eat there.
Hey, I'm not asking for high-class VIP service. C'mon, it's Chinatown. But serving me a dish with a poor excuse for vegetables and being short with me isn't really going to make me want to come back. Well, I guess I'm glad to have gotten reminded why I don't go on a regular basis.
Chinatown Boycott #1 was at Chinese Cafe, also very rude when a vegetarian-related question.
So every once in awhile I'll get on my bike and ride around and enjoy the sunshine while I run some errands at nearby locations.
I am thankful for the presence of REAL bike racks at Target! And of course for the fact that they sell toilet paper ...
I borrowed the handicapped parking marker at Unnamed Location 1:
I think this was some sort of "no parking" sign at Unnamed Location 3:
Funny graffiti along the way:
And I'm so proud of myself! I didn't use a single plastic bag yesterday! I just put my goods straight into my backpack. This of course still gives the illusion of shoplifting, so I am thinking how to overcome this.
Jumpin' off swings,
Jumpin' off planes,
And jumpin' on bridges.
My legs sure were sore that weekend. :)
Peep the skydive pics, and the skydive vid, remixed by yours truly, and lemme know what you think. :)
Eda, Yusuke, Violeta and I (and little Sophie too!) went to check out Fotofest 2008 for one day, hoping to catch photography during the Cultural Revolution in China. Instead, it was a lecture on the history of Chinese photography in general, so we started meandering about the museum, and revisited the light tunnel, where I was almost exactly one year ago with Chi-Wei:
"Gimme!"
It was my first time meeting Sophie. Very cool. :)
Last weekend, Tree Frog invited us up to his family's ranch house in a little town between Houston and Austin. For a city girl like me, I was a bit apprehensive since I mean, c'mon, how do you live with ZERO internet?! :)
Well, I am proud to say that not only did I survive without internet, but I even had offline, real-life fun! :) The crisp air was refreshing. We were surrounded by green grass, blue sky, and clear water. The puppies that came along seemed to enjoy the large expanse of roamable land. I learned to ride a 4-wheeler with manual shift (I can't drive a manual car to save my life). I rode a tractor lawn mower. We ate Tree Frog's mom's freshly homemade brownies. We rode in the back of a pickup truck. We jumped around on bales of hay. We slept in tents with only thin layers of sleeping bag separating our bodies from the ground (and then there was the tent that had not one, but two Aerobeds? Heehee!). I'd forgotten what it felt like to not HAVE to be anywhere, and to kinda just do ... nothing in particular, except focus on chillin'. :)
Thanks to those who came out (especially those that battled severe disorientation in the dark to come join us)! Enjoy the pics. Lots of epic memories in this one. :)
Tree Frog's rendering was on the front page of the Austin American-Statesman's Business section (that pic in the middle beside the Dell story):
[ view larger ] [ view full-size (5MB) ]
These scans were pieced together (not entirely perfectly, but good enough) using Photoshop's Photomerge tool. I tried my tried-and-true Canon Photostitch, but it wasn't able to line up the text very well.
Chef Hugh was on the front page of the Chinese Community News for his recent non-cooking developments. He's the handsome dude with the pretty girl on the rightmost:
Congratulations to the newlyweds. :)
Chef Hugh stays busy with the introduction of son #2, P-Jo, XO's youngest brother from the same litter. He seemed a bit depressed as he was probably coping with having just gotten his tummy stitched up.
Papa Hugh showing P-Jo's stitches.
In addition to the unique coloration of his face, his paws exhibit a little half-and-half action as well.
Look at those wrinkly little legs! Aww!
[ more pics ]
These two pups are gonna be getting a lotta love from Auntie Caroline. :)
