Flickr War

i'm catching up to john on flickr.

mission

during our visit to solvang we passes by a fair and decided to stop and check it out. It was a fiesta held at the mission. i didn't even know there was a mission here.

spending a couple hours at the beach at UC Santa Barbara. it's pretty chilly here, but not too bad.

Steak for lunch

even though we're camping, it doesn't mean we don't eat well. steak for lunch people!

The view from my tent

This is the view from my tent. Everyone is up except me. I'm happily lying in my oh so warm sleeping bag.

The site

Dang! My iPhone map is so accurate!! The blue dot is exactly where I'm at. I'm lying in a tent under that very tree.

On out way

it's nearly midnight and we're on the road on our way to the campground at cachuma lake. we got a late start and yes, it's my fault. i had stuff to do before we left and I didn't get done until it was pretty late. we ended up leaving the house at 9:45pm, but it's okay. some of our family members are already at the site.

this was a rather impromptu trip for us. I didn't even know we were going until thursday night. The family often does things at the last minute. every now and then you just have to get up and go. it keeps life interesting.

honestly, i was hoping for a relaxing weekend at home, but i'll still have fun. i always do.

David Pouge

one day while searching for people to follow on twitter i came across david pouge, the personal technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy Award-winning tech correspondent for CBS news. he's also one of the world's bestselling how-to authors, with titles in the for dummies series and his own line of "missing manual" books. i first saw david in a video on the TED web site and thought he would be interesting to follow (his TED videos cracked me up).

david was in the middle of collecting responses for his new book "the world according to twitter." every day he would post a question such as "what’s your greatest regret?" or "what’s the best toast you ever heard?" and his followers would respond. well, it turns out that a few of my responses actually made it into the book. david is current in the middle of signing 1500 hundred books to send out to people who contributed to the book. the last i heard (through twitter) he had signed about 750 of them. i can't imagine what that would be like. and i though signing my mortgage papers was a lot of writing! one of those books in the picture above is mine! i get a free signed copy! i'm so excited!

thanks @pouge! you rock!

Albertson's Beer Room

while grocery shopping for the photo house meeting vergil and i came across the beer room at the supermarket. how kick ass is this? a walk in refrigerator full of beer!

Pat Thai

nong nang made me some pat thai for me tonight. she even showed me how to cook it. it always kicks ass to watch your food being prepared, although i doubt i'll be able to make it taste as good as hers... yet.

thanks so much for dinner!

Max Gerber's History of Photography

max s. gerber's take on photographic history:

camera obscura - niepce - talbot - daguerrotypes - stereoscopes, man - matthew brady - muybridge wins a bet - kodak beings - stieglitz - f64 - man ray invents photoshop/practice of having hot female assistants - lee miller (see previous) - kertesz figures out that if he uses funhouse mirrors girls will pose naked for him (see two items prior) - fuji comes late to the party - farm security administration run by a guy with the most macho name ever (roy stryker) - bresson - hasselblad comes late to the party - steichen/family of man - winogrand - irving penn - avedon kicks everyone's ass - wegman jumpstarts greeting card industry - C41 jumpstarts cancer - mary ellen mark begins a 35 year ass-kicking career -- cindy sherman jumpstarts narcissism - avedon kicks everyone's ass in the american west - sally man jumpstarts exploiting your kids for art (in a good way) - canon EOS comes late to the party - adobe releases photoshop, bull in the china shop - digital cameras ruin life for everyone - flickr (see prior) - digital cameras slowly make life better for everyone - polaroid goes bankrupt - twice - annie leibovitz goes bankrupt - publishing industry goes bankrupt - everyone becomes wedding photographers - economic collapse - everyone becomes divorce photographers.

there's your photo history. i just saved you all six weeks of homework. you're welcome.

Kate Reid at Steamers

last night i went to see my friend kate reid play at steamers jazz club (and have a few caramel apple martinis while i was at it).

kate is not only a great jazz singer and pianist, she's also the head of the jazz program and chair of the music department at cypress college teaching the jazz vocal ensemble, jazz improvisation, jazz history, and music theory.

kate performs regularly in jazz clubs around southern california so go check her out and buy her CD (she'll even sign it for you).

Flickr War - July

ahh yes, it's that time again... the flickr war. i almost forgot about it until john tweeted me. here it is.

i got a nice spike a while back thanks to my friends ron and lynette.

i'm on vacation starting from today. i don't have to go back to work until august 10. during this time i plan to do nothing but catch up on my picture stuff and cleaning my room. i'll win this war. oh yes i will. you'll see!

How to Eat Cheese

The first time I saw this picture I wondered what it was and why my cousin Marvin posted this on his facebook. I saw the the caption "How to eat cheese." I'm seriously hoping it was Alexa, his daughter, that did this, but I suppose it would be even funnier if Marvin was the one who did it.

Harry Potter Spoilers

my friend james, who hasn't watched the harry potter movies before, is currently on a mission to watch ALL of the previous harry potter movies (one each day) this week before seeing harry potter and the half-blood prince on friday. when he started on monday, he posted a status update on his facebook that lead to a hilarious thread as his friends tried to spoil the movie for him. it's too good not to share, so here it is:

James (Mon at 8:49pm) is watching the first Harry Potter, and someone might have already spoiled a major plot point for him. Ryan D. FAIL if it turns out true.

Kevin (at 9:06pm July 13) Harry Potter dies. There are no sequels. The End.

Abhishek (at 9:07pm July 13) It was really sad when Harry Potter died. But Kevin's lying. He actually comes back from the dead as a zombie in the second film and as a race car driver in the third. oops... have I said too much?

Jason (at 9:12pm July 13) He comes back as a zombie, but not just any zombie, The Zombie General! Leading an army of undead versus the Orcs he marches them against Al Qaeda, who promptly blows up a Vanegon and sends Harry straight back to Hell.
Keith Rhee (at 9:14pm July 13) The oxygen bomb kills Godzilla. King Kong falls to his doom. The Titanic sinks. ;)

Kevin (at 9:19pm July 13) Well since we're all spoiling the sequels for James anyway... Harry gets one chance to escape from Hell, but he has to retrieve the golden compass which can only be found in a place called Narnia.

Jen (at 9:20pm July 13) GASP the titanic sinks?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Keith (at 9:24pm July 13) Harry Potter duels Snape and has his hand cut off by Snape. Snape reveals that he is Harry's father. Oh wait...

David (at 9:30pm July 13) actually what kevin means is his soul is dead. he sold it and is forever damned, but with the help of hades he forged the blades of chaos and was able to escape from hell. now with the help of the titans, he plans to climb up mount olympus and seek revenge against his father, zeus.

Keith (at 9:31pm July 13) Now Harry has to spend 30 hours outside of the main quest line to go on a side quest, get an extra-rare item that only 5% of fanboys get, to forge the ultimate weapon. Oh wait, that's right out of Square-Enix's playbook.

Abhishek (at 9:32pm July 13) LOL. I am proud to have contributed to this thread.

James (Mon at 10:14pm) is now watching the second Harry Potter film.

Kevin (at 10:32pm July 13) Harry Potter dies. There are no more sequels after the second film. The end.

Andy (at 10:52pm July 13) Harry potter comes back in the Thriller video

Jen (at 11:21pm July 13) Next year Harry Potter is gonna drop an album with MJ, TuPac and Elvis.

James (at 11:42pm July 13) Andreas: I've never seen any of them, so I'm watching them all this week.

James (Tue at 8:09pm) is now watching "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".

Kevin (at 10:39pm July 14) Harry Potter dies. There are no more sequels after this. The End.

James (Tue at 10:36pm) The third in the series of films feels like the darkest, most mature, and most well-acted. David Thewils as Prof. Lupin and Gary Oldman as Sirius Black are so fantastic in their roles. This one is easily my favorite so far. Mischief managed.

James (Tue at 10:37pm) Three down, two to go.

Kevin (at 10:40pm July 14) What's the point? Harry Potter dies!!

James (at 10:45pm July 14) Kevin has the best synopsis. After every film, Harry Potter dies and there are no sequels. The end.

Kevin (at 10:47pm July 14) The end. = P

Belly Before and After

i L.O.V.E. my food, but i tend to develop a bit of a belly after a large meal. so, when i stood next to my 7½-month pregnant cousin rubbing my stomach, my friend couldn’t resist taking a picture of the both of us. hilarious! just for kicks, i also had her take a picture with me sucking in my stomach. what a difference! there may be a great ad for a diet pill somewhere.

i promise there is no photoshop/retouching in either image (i’m not that good).

before

after

P.S. i am in shape! ROUND is a shape.

Quality Time

Quality time in this family means we all gather to eat fajitas, drink coronas, and watch grown men beat the pulp out of each other.

Typical

Typical. All the boys are in one room watching the UFC 100 and drinking beer while all the girls are in another room taking care of the children.

I am child free at the moment so I'm chillin' with the boys drinking beer... As it should be.

Tell me again why I'm supposed to have kids?

We will miss you Amy

Corpus Christi Church

We arrived at the church at 10:05 thinking we were late. They said 10:00am. I guess they meant 10:00am Filipino time. So now we're waiting for the service to start.