clearcubic.com blog

BBQ at Bear Mountain (2008)

2008-11-02T12:27:00.001-05:00

Why do I have to put the year, "2008", in the title? Because we have been going to this place for BBQ once a year for at least 4 years. I wanted to go somewhere else this time but two of our friends have never been to Bear Mountain before so I succumbed to their wishes.

The weather for that day may look nice in the photos but it was actually pretty cold. Hence you'll see photos of us staying near the grill to stay warm.

The owl is our grill. There is a total of 3 different grills. Each is a different animal.
With the charcoal burning, the owl looks like it's quite angry.

The large tin can is a pretty cool gadget, it's used to get your charcoal ready for BBQ more quickly and easily. And as you can see in some photos, it can be used as a mini grill and hand warmer too. LOL.

The bag has working speakers that you can plug into your phone, ipod, etc. The name of the bag? Mini boom box. Hahaha~ Vivian was demonstrating how one would use the bag to listen to the "boom box". In this photo, she was threatening me to stop taking photos of her or she would stop the demonstration.

Somewhere in Woodbury Common mall. Since the mall is nearby, why wouldn't we want to go there after finishing BBQ?

Finally

2008-10-22T11:32:00.000-04:00

Finally received the new 15" Macbook Pro on 10/21/2008. Joy says it's hers but I say it's mine. However, sharing is caring so I'm willing to share it with her. LOL.

Apple just came out with a new 13" and 15" model. Unfortunately, I don't like what they did with the new screen (neither is Joy) so I got the older version. This laptop is going to replace my aging 12" Powerbook. After using an old laptop with a small screen for a long time, all I can say using the new one is WOW! =D

Light Bulb

2008-10-06T00:01:00.001-04:00

Urbanity: NYC

2008-10-05T23:40:00.004-04:00

Been quite busy lately so I have not been taking photos or posting photos that I like. Plus that a new Mac (which I will buy) is supposed to come out soon, this makes me want to delay processing photos even more since I'm using a 5 year old portable. Gosh, it's slow.

The following photos were taken in May, 2008, in SOHO, NYC. Since there are only a few of them, I decided that I can tolerate the time to process them. The theme here is urbanity.

No real subject here but I sort of like this hard processed look.

The above photos have this film look in my opinion.

I think the reflections in the mirror make these photos interesting. I believe that's my reflection in the 2nd photo.

Mike + Cindy's Wedding

2008-09-14T23:57:00.001-04:00

The wedding took place on 8/31/08 at the Westbury Manor, Long Island, NY. The ceremony was held outside. I thought it was a pretty nice little place although a bit crowded on that day. I saw at least two other couples holding weddings there on that day.

The groomsmen.

And the bridesmaids.

This is called the sand ceremony. It was the first time I witnessed this.

Why is every one laughing? When Cindy was putting the ring on Mike's finger, she had trouble doing it. "You sure the ring is Mike's?", the priest asked.

Relieved that the ring business was over.

First dance. Love this one.

The best man nervously trying to rehearse his speech.

Mike can dance...but not the regular kind. It's some sort of World of Warcraft type.

Cindy's maid of honor and her older sister giving a very touching speech.

A wedding wouldn't be a wedding without some hard liquors. Only 4 are in this photo but there were a total of 6 prepared on our table for the just married group.

And Mike's cousin saying "No problem, I've got this covered".

Now, this is what I call FUN. Two guys doing this???

What can I say, people just LOOOOOOVE Mike and Mike sure seems to be embracing it. :)

Fire Island - Ocean Beach

2008-08-25T22:39:00.001-04:00

I've heard of Fire Island for quite a while now and have been wanting to go there. We finally did. Fire Island is an island that you can only get to by boat, which is a lot of trouble because then you can't go there any time you want. And because we went on a great weather weekend, the place was crowded. Fire island has many points of destination. Since I've never been there before, I chose to go to Ocean Beach, the unofficial 'capital' of Fire Island according to www.fireisland.com web site. :)

The entire island is filled with these tiny streets that run across the island. Stores are on our side and the beach on the other. Homes are located on both sides of these streets. Kinda interesting.

We saw these two deers running around in people's backyard. Actually, they were running on the street. I think they were looking for food. I wonder how did they get to the island.

Playing hide and seek, eh? Our friends found this baby crab while playing with the sand. Disclaimer: The crab was not harmed. We released it back to the sea after only 3 minutes of looking at it.

Our friends constructing their sand empire.

Before.

And after. Joy's expression is just too funny. LOL.

This kid was trying to break the world record of the deepest hole dug on a beach.

Can you say "crowded"? This is the first time that I've gone to a beach with these many people.

Love the colors and the shadows.

The completed sand empire by our friends.

Had ice cream here shortly before the beach closed. You MUST look at these 3 people's all different face expressions, they are hilarious. It does show that they love the ice cream.

Only 16 stars on this flag which means 16 states. Wow, this flag must be really, really, really ancient, huh? :)

I like.

So I learned that Ocean Beach is more like a beach place (should have known that from the name). Next time, we definitely want to go to other points on Fire Island where there is more nature to be seen. The name "Sunken Forest" sounds good.

2nd and last Concert in the Parks for 2008

2008-08-25T21:59:00.000-04:00

We went to one 'Concert in the Parks' on 6/25/08 already but after finding out that Liang Liang (a famous China Pianist) is going to appear in the last concert, we decided to go again. In this concert, Liang Liang was playing on this extremely eye-catching RED piano. Very cool.

Joy made this delicious rice balls herself. Amazing. They were actually tasty but I think that's because she used instant toppings.

We've had around 9 people this time and most us brought something. This is the result.

It looks small from where we sat but can you see the red piano? There are only 2 of these in the world. And on the left of the piano is Liang Liang.

This is blurred as it was hand held but this would be a pretty good photo if it was not blurred.

Notice the 3 light circles above people's head. I thought they looked like the rings on top of angel's head. :)

Man-made Waterfalls

2008-08-12T00:07:00.000-04:00

So we heard that there are man-made waterfalls near Brooklyn and of course we wanted to go check them out. Decided to go on a Friday night after work.

Had dinner (burger and fries) at this burger place. It was pretty tasty I have to say. :)

Joy's got this "I'm hungry, when is the food coming." look.

One of the 4 waterfalls that you could see from the Brooklyn Bridge. As you can see, it's tiny from the bridge.

Sunset time.

I like this photo a lot. It's too bad the people here are too dark. :(

Saw a couple doing their wedding photos.

This is the fall that we could see from under the Brooklyn Bridge.

A few photos from May

2008-07-14T11:20:00.003-04:00

Posted photos from back in May.
Here are some of my favorite.

What a serious looking expression. Mustache is great. His hair was even more radical on that day. Too bad I don't have a photo to show it. :(

2008 Central Park Concert by NY Philharmonic

2008-07-06T11:40:00.003-04:00

On 06/25/08, we went to Central Park for some outdoor concert by the NY Philharmonic. We were fortunate enough to have a friend who's playing in the concert and he was able to provide us with some lawn seating tickets that are a little closer to the stage and saved us from having to try to find a spot in the more crowded outer lawn.

Much more crowded out there.

Karin, Joy and I got to the park an hour before the concert starts. I was bored and a short impromptu portrait session of Karin starts.

Our entire group except me. :)

Right after the concert, a short fireworks starts.

Hand held shooting. I don't think I can get sharp fireworks photos that way. However, I still like these blurred photos. I think the patterns are intriguing.

You'll be green with envy

2008-06-21T09:26:00.006-04:00

Guess what my wife (Joy) and I were doing?

1. Preparing for a Halloween party.
2. We love "Wicked" so much that we want to be just like the witch.
3. Or may be trying to be the hulk.
4. Plain mud fun.
5. Camouflaging to prepare for paint ball.

Correct Answer: plain mud fun.

One day, Joy wanted to do this face mud business. Since the skin of my face is so dry, she wanted me to do the same. After us exchanging some "no", "yes" back and forth, I reluctantly agreed to try.

Being the first time putting the mud on my face, it certainly was a new experience. The mud is originally moist (dark green portion) but when the mud starts to dry (the light green portion), I could feel my skin being tightened.

Because this is something that I might never do again, I decided to take a photo of both us having some mud fun. The reason that we have such a "peaceful" expression on our face is because we have to keep the mud surface not cracked and any movement of the face might destroy the smooth mud surface. But this is a great photo, no? =D

June 17, 2008 - Firefox 3 World Record Day

2008-06-12T10:23:00.005-04:00

If you don't know what Firefox is or don't use it currently, I HIGHLY recommend that you go download it on June 17, 2008 and use it. The version 3 that is coming out on June 17 is a much, much better browser than IE (Internet Explorer) is.

And if you download it on June 17, you'll help Firefox set a Guinness World Record. How fun is that? Hahaha~~

Click on the image for more detail.

*** Update *** Official release time starts at 10AM Pacific. Or 1PM Eastern.

*** Update (7/2/08) *** It's official. Firefox set a world record. 8,002,530 downloads in 24 hours. Hahaha~~

Emotional

2008-06-11T22:10:00.005-04:00

Probably not new, but it's a slideshow titled "A Moment of Silence" that I saw from NYTimes.com. It's about people in China paying respect to the earthquake victims. Very emotional photos.

It is sad that so many people died in this natural disaster but here's a thought that I had. Is it us that caused so many people to die? What happened to the people from thousands of years ago when there was earthquake? Was the survival rate during earthquakes much higher since there were no tall buildings or buildings made of materials such as concrete? This is probably something we'll never find out?

Photo: Guang Niu/Getty Images. Taken from nytimes.com

Randomness @ South Street Seaport, NY

2008-06-04T22:15:00.002-04:00

Went to the South Street Seaport after work a while back. Snapped a couple of photos. And the following is pretty much the entire album. =D

So cute.

Coca-Cola movie

2008-05-10T10:13:00.004-04:00

Have you seen this Coca-Cola movie before? I think it's pretty cool. 3.5 minutes.

Winnie + Alex Wedding

2008-05-08T23:42:00.005-04:00

A couple weeks back, my wife and I had the pleasure of attending a friend's wedding. What was special about this wedding to us is that we got to partake in the private ceremonies between the bride & groom's family before the wedding reception. This is the first time I've experienced this and I certainly felt honored. However, I did not even take one photo while I was in the bride and groom's house, so I have nothing to show here. I did start taking photos when Winnie and Alex went out to the Kissena Park for some photo sessions before the reception. =D

Following are some photos from that day.

It was quite a large group that accompanied Winnie and Alex to Kissena Park. Most of them were either family members or best men and bridesmaid.

This boy is trying pretty hard to make the couple smile by making faces. Not sure if it worked. :)

An older couple observing the photo session. I like the feeling of this photo.

This cake topper is made by Winnie's older sister and she's not a professional. Looks pretty good.

Cherry flowers everywhere

2008-04-27T11:27:00.003-04:00

Well, at least in Branch Brook Park, NJ.

Got a chance to see some cherry blossom a week ago. While it wasn't at it's fullest blossom, it still looked very pretty.

Saw a guy driving this pink oldie car. The pink car goes with the cherry blossom season perfectly. =D

Saw these people at the park. Don't know what this game is called but look at the face of the person throwing the ball and look at the guy behind cheering. You can tell they are really into the game.

Taiwan trip photos

2008-04-24T11:31:00.003-04:00

My wife and I stayed in Taiwan for 2 weeks. It started raining the day we got there and it rained consecutively for 4 or 5 days so besides running errands we basically went nowhere in the first couple of days. This was a big disappointment in our measly vacation. However, the weather for the rest of the trip was pretty cooperative and I guess I should be thankful for that.

You can view the entire album by clicking the blog title but here are a few from the trip.

P.S. Noticed this is the my first 2008 album. Just goes to show you how winter in NYC makes me lazy. =D

Wild dogs are common in Taiwan. I love the expressions on these two. Don't they look related to you?

A store selling various types of buns that had people lined up waiting to buy. When we see people line up, we do too. We bought 20. LOL. I like the bun a lot but do not think the meat inside was the greatest that I've ever had. Maybe other fillings are better.

Can you believe it? This is the FIRST time that I tried the super duper popular "Super Spicy Hot Pot"? Thank you, my dear cousins, for bringing me there.

I love this photo. I name this "Friends".

This may not look it but it's probably the best tasting "Do Hua (豆花)" that I've ever had.

These figurines are cute, arn't they? Except the blue one, which I think look too much like a 殭屍 (sort of like zombie in Chinese legends). Would probably scare me if I see it out at night.

Back from Taiwan

2008-04-18T17:36:00.002-04:00

Just got back from Taiwan a week ago. Taiwan is 12 hours ahead of NY time but surprisingly, I've had no real jet lag this time as I tried to adjust for the time difference on the plane. Kudos to me.

What trip would be complete without some photos, right? I've started looking at the photos from this trip and will post them when I'm done.

clearcubic.com home page...empty no more

2008-03-22T22:50:00.010-04:00

The clearcubic.com home page has been empty for a long time. Well, not any more. With the help of my wife, I've placed 3 big icons on it so the home page doesn't look lonely now.

Hmm...I wonder where's the clearcubic.com logo. =D

Misc. old photos

2008-03-21T21:52:00.002-04:00

Grand Central Terminal

2008-03-13T14:58:00.002-04:00

The following is one of the earliest photos that I took (2004) but is one of my favorite.

Misc

2008-02-25T10:46:00.001-05:00

Brooklyn Bridge

2008-02-18T21:25:00.006-05:00

There are a number of old photos that I want to repost (resize and/or reprocess). I'll be doing this from time to time. This is the first one.

Blog lives again

2008-02-13T19:29:00.008-05:00

I'm reviving clearcubic.com's blog function. It will make it easier for me to record updates to the site.

This time around, however, I'm using blogger.com's engine. Much easier this way. :)