Hey Doc

270 degrees panorama view of the Bay Bridge and the bay . I was standing at the pier behind the Ferry Building. Six images stitched together using the PTGui program. I have used many stitching programs before, this so far is the most capable one. It is a little expensive but worth every penny you pay for. The city was foggy and cloudy early in the morning but it cleared up nicely.

CA 29 (02/22/09 18:12:16)


I-80 (02/22/09 18:46:26)


I-880 (02/22/09 19:17:26)

(2009 Amgen TOC, San Jose, CA)

I am happened to be in town for this year's Amgen TOC, a 750-mile course of cycling race from Sacramento to Escondido. I admit that I am not familiar with any of the world class cyclists other then the one and only, 7 times winner of Tour de France, Lance Armstrong. Three years after his retirement, he is making a come back in the race. Of course, he will be the center of attraction for many fans. You can tell which trailer he is in by the number of people gathered in front.


(Time to get ready)

I was always interested in behind-the-scene of the race, getting autograph or have picture taken with the stars are not my thing with the race. Because of this type of cycling race, you get to see the racers for very short period of time on the course as they go by, like 10 seconds. There is not enough time to setup and take the photographs plus there is no second time around. It is also a tough choice try to cover all 17 teams in the "pit area" in few hours so if I want to check out all the teams, I can't spend too much time at each camp.


(Ready to go)

So far the weather held well in the morning despite of prior two days of pouring rain. Looking at some of the professional photographers have their gears well protected from wet condition, compare to my, I really hope that the weather stay dry for the entire time. Unfortunately the rain started to pour right before the race start. Umbrella in one hand, the camera in the other got me through the last 10 minutes at the race.



There are more photos follow the link.

I read about this cathedral in an architecture website. It is located in Oakland, CA. Right in my "neighborhood" ;) Since I don't have anything planned for today, I packed up my cameras and headed over there. It has been awhile since I rode the BART train. There is a $1 charge for parking now which is still cheap for a whole day parking. My destination today is 19th St./Oakland on Fremont/Richmond train. The cathedral is few blocks away from the station. It is adjacent to Lake Merritt. I asked the person at the front door if I can go inside for a look and possible taking photos. He told me to remove my hat and go right in. This has become a must to find out if photography is allowed in all places if I don't see a sign says "no".
The architect of this cathedral is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It was completed in 2008. It has a wood/glass skin on a concrete base. Except for evening, the cathedral is lite by the daylight.



The image of Jesus is made with holes on metal or some sort. It said that the image is 58 feet high, over 94,000 holes to render the image. The interior is all wood. I have to apologize for the poor quality of the photos, I can't use my SLR camera because of the loud noise from the shutter so I used my point and shot camera with ISO cranked up for the low light. I actually could have turned down one stop on the ISO which will get a cleaner image. That gave me an excuse to go there again.






(Small chapel)

(Cover)
Here it is !! My first photo book. There are room for improvement but never the less, its my first. Blurb is the company I used for the service. It requires to download a software program and be installed in the PC at home. Use this program to do all the editing work. When finished, upload the file to their website and place the order. The program is very easy to use, it comes with lots of templates to choose from. One thing to be careful is the images size and resolution. Make sure the resolution is high enough and the size matches the page you selected. Otherwise, the program will crop the images which may not be what you like.
I ordered only one copy at first to see if the quality meets my expectation. I received it in one week after I placed the order. All my images are in black and white, sometime it is hard to print without having a color cast but this book did a wonderful job with the tone, matches with my original. Oh, another important thing is, the images must be converted to sRGB color space. Most printer uses sRGB.
Blurb will also advertise and sell the book for you if one chooses. I need to double the pages in my next print to make it a little bit thicker. Two thumbs up.

(Gung Hay Fat Choy)
It is embarrassing to admit that I have lived in Bay Area for 30+ years but never went to see the Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco. Yeah, it rained almost every year, seemed like the tradition for the parade. But not this year! I watched very closely for the weather report when I decided to go this year, noticing we may get a break in the weather on that day. Sure enough, it was a cool but sunny day in the city. Another reason I want to go is to test my new camera shooting under low light condition. Many reviewer commented that the new Nikon D700 produces amazing high ISO image. Although I have tested at home and see very nice images but I want to do a real field test to see if this still holds true.


(Could he be the future governor Newsom of California?)
Yep, I shook hand with him right after I took this shot ;) Best looking mayor, I think. I heard that he is considering to enter the governor race in 2010, along with Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein are the three top contenders.

An unemployed 33-year-old single mother gave birth to octuplets (that is 8 babies) by in vitro fertilization. At first, it was celebrated by the medical field on the healthy birth. The woman's identity was kept secret until her mother had told the news reporter that she was living at home and the mother was helping her to raise her 6 other kids. When this news broke, the question came that how is this woman going to raise all 14 kids and why the fertility doctor had implanted all 8 embryos which is not a common practice because of the high risk to the babies.
I have no opinions to pro-life or pro-choice but I do concern of responsibility to the society and to the future of the children. She is not wealthy by any means. I am not sure even the country's welfare system can help her. She claimed that she likes children and wanted a big family. How about adopting 8 kids, help them grown up.
Now the woman is seeking $2 million to sell her story. Now we know why.