May 19, 2013

This was a fairly big weekend for us -- I had several friends visiting from out of town, bulldog meetup, and Bay 2 Breakers. Bay 2 Breakers was fairly tame this year as compared to years past, partly because the city has been cracking down on drinking and floats. Still, there was plenty of ridiculousness, including some well-made costumes.


This bulldog was particularly protective of his lime green kong. Almost got in a fight with another baby bull trying to sniff at it.


Meet King Rufus. Someone joked that his nickname could be Ruffie -- because he brings all the ladies home. =O


Balloon girls I met on JFK at B2B.


Mario and Luigi were so happy to find a Bowser on their run.


Chewbacca in all his glory!


Honeybees.


Jean was overwhelmed with the hot mess that was B2B, so she took comfort in surfing the web on her new iPhone. Welcome to the 21st century!

May 13, 2013

Jean and I spent this past weekend R&Ring in Berkeley and Napa. Berkeley was fun simply because we had not been back for over a year. We visited our regular stomping grounds -- Telegraph, House of Curries, and campus. Telegraph has changed so much! There are so many new stores that the street is almost unrecognizable from the days when I would visit Jean or the summers I would take classes at Cal. Still, it was a wonderful experience. The weather was nice and toasty and I felt as though I was back in undergrad! As for Napa, my friend Sam knows a person who own's a ranch in the area. We drove up Sunday to visit and we were greeted by a stable of horses and goats. Below are photos from our adventures!


I was compelled to visit Berkeley Saturday morning because of a strong urge for naan. It appears the Naan 'N Curry my brother and I would frequent on Telegraph has closed. However, House of Curries, the arguably better curry house on Durant, is still there. Here is us on the patio of House!


This is one of the several horses at the ranch. This is me trying to tickle the girl so that I could see her teeth. :)


Meet Oreo, one of two goats that live on the ranch. These guys roam free throughout the land and consume all of the vegetation in the area. Ironically, this is better for the land since it keeps the dry grass low and less prone to fires.


"Chester's Barn" -- an informal studio where people gather on weekends to jam.


Sam Rose, my musically gifted friend. This is my attempt to replace his Facebook icon.


Another Sam Rose photo.

July 10, 2012

To continue the trend from yesterday, the photos below are the last of my summer photos from last year.


This is an interior photo of the Bradbury Building in Downtown Los Angeles. Its interior features a masterfully crafted series of staircases and landings that call back to the opulence of the late 19th century. When the sun shines through the skylight, it practically illuminates the floor and highlights the intricate stairwell details. It is unfortunate that tourists are not generally permitted past the first landing, but the best view may be from below anyway.


A little piece of heaven. UCLA.


UCLA's Powell Library. This is my second favorite building, second only to the gym. I always liked using the reading rooms to study between classes and from the front steps, it was a wonderful place to people-watch.


Chinese Theatre. Not much to say except that they hold a lot of red carpet events here.


The Hollywood Sign taken from Griffith Observatory. I was drawn to this photo because I enjoyed the framing created by the car lights on the road below.


Brooklyn Bridge. I originally intended to use this photo as a background for a company website but I eventually chose to nix it. Instead, it will now rest nicely on my website. :)

July 9, 2012

You know you are a bad blogger when you have not updated in over a year. Although I have never claimed to be the most diligent of bloggers -- I recognize the need to update on occasion. That occasion is now. I cracked open a fine bottle of Charles Shaw this evening and began organizing photos I took over the last 12 months and will be updating these photos across two posts. Below are photos I took in San Francisco/NorCal, most of which were taken last summer.


This is a photo of the Palace of Fine Arts and it is my favorite photo of the set. This area truly is stunning and I was fortunate to photograph the grounds on a calm night where the water was mostly still and where you can see a nice reflection of the buildings in the lagoon.


This is an HDR photo of Ghirardelli Square. It is a fairly subtle-looking HDR photo, but I like that it does not scream "photoshopped". At the same time, I think it fits nicely with a lot of the other long-exposure photos I am used to taking.


A truly HDR photo of City Hall. I am not as much in love with this HDR as I am with the Ghirardelli Square photo above -- but this is my first time experimenting with HDR and I felt it was worth trying.


These are three Italian tourists I bumped into near Ocean Beach. They asked me to take a photo of them with their camera and in exchange, I asked to take a photo of them with my camera. :)


Photo of the Lau family pets. Avery (corgi), Heffer (black and white guinea) and Boris. Unfortunately, Heffer passed away recently so it is just Avery and Boris at home now.


Finally, a recent photo of Jean and a beautiful French Bulldog we found in front of our favorite sandwhich shop in North Beach. This guy was such a stud -- it made me wish I had a Frenchie of my own.

June 9, 2011

Unfortunately, today is my last day in Hong Kong and I'll be leaving for New York tomorrow. At the same time, I had a great break and had a chance to hang out with my brother at his new pad and visit (and in some cases, revisit) many new cities. For instance, yesterday I went on a day trip to Macau. I've been there before, but that was more than 10 years ago and at that time, we spent most of the day at the casinos. This time Jean guided me (via the Macau tourist map :) to a number of historical sites I never saw before. It was a great experience with the exception of the blistering heat and I'm surprised I didn't visit sooner. In any case, below are pictures from that trip!


Senado Square, the main urban center of Macau. A lot of cultural events are held here year-round.


It was so hot that even Jean was sweating. Jean doesn't even sweat when she goes to the gym. That could be due to lack of effort, but I like to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she just doesn't perspire much... Unless it's really hot like it was yesterday!


A picture of the Ruins of St. Paul's, which is the facade of what was the Church of Mater Dei. This site used to include three buildings: Church of Mater Dei, St. Paul's College and Mount Fortress. One interesting fact is that St. Paul's College was the first Western university built in the Far East. Unfortunately, all three buildings were destroyed by fire.


The facade from a different angle.


A-Ma Temple.


You can't post pictures of Macau without pictures of their "Vegasesque" strip.


The Macau Science Center, which was designed by I. M. Pei.


Finally, the Ponte de Amizade, a bridge that connects Macau to Taipa Island.