OUCH!

If I thought what happen when I see chiropractor was already painful.... Imagine when you see the Chinese version of chiropractor... I literally cry out with the way this guy twist and turn my left hand and pushes at certain points on my shoulder... According to him, some bone (connected to my arm) shifted down by about 1 inch; thus pressing on the nerve and thus causing the issue which goes all the way down to the fingers. According to him, if he does not do it, I will soon have numbness, and because of the pain it cause when I use my fingers, I will stop using my arm/fingers, and cause the muscle tissues to deteriorate and then wasted, etc, etc, etc... Heck, if I had not gone to the chiropractor before this, I think I would have fainted from the pain he induced just to reset the bone structure correctly... Actually, that's one of the reasons why I don't see Chinese version of chiropractor as the method used by them, tends to be more "rough, crude". Yes it works, and it cost less (yes, it does cost a lot less than a chiropractor!), but imagine the amount of pain that comes with it... Even after two days, I am still feeling sore on my left side because of the method he uses - yes, of course the other pain no longer around, although I think I might have hurt my bone around the thumb area as I still cannot use too much pressure there. It's much better than before, just not fully recover I think...

On the other hand... $$ was also spent on an Oppo DVD player (DV-980H) as the first step to change the system I have at home... Have been using HiTB (Pioneer), but now was thinking to change into a Receiver / Speakers system. But to start, I have to separate out the system and DVD/CD player. Since there was a MO which have this at a discounted rate (and reading a lot of reviews on Oppo players), decided to go for it... While it's not their flagship version (DV-983H) which contains the best video and audio quality, the price between the 2 makes it such that I decided to go for this, because it's better than the 981 in audio performance.

So, one part is settled... Still going round listening, etc... Have not really settle at anything - Because I thought I was almost set with Yamaha receiver... Now it's shifted to Denon receiver... Thought almost set for the Def Tech speakers, now... not sure what.... Anyway, now is not the time to get it...

Oh well... Will see... Too many choices... Need to set budget... Etc, etc, etc...

Turn Back the Clock

Remember I mention about Donny and Marie Osmond show in one of my entries in the blog?!?! Well... I happen to come across a DVD that contains 4 episodes of the show and had impulsively bought it. Just finish watching it... The chemistry between the brother and sister is really there and Donny seem to be nice enough to allow all the ribbing from Marie. Some of them were really good (in those time frame), but after watching, actually, no, even when I was watching the DVD, what came to me was this thought in my head - "You mean I actually watched these shows and like it?!?!"

Maybe it's the timing, I mean it has been what, almost 30 years since the airing of the show series, and I guess our taste changes as we grow older, but you know, some of the shows were really cheesy! I supposed it's does not look like it during that time, but I also realised that I cannot remember anything from the show, except a fragment of one of the shows where they were spoofing from Star Wars! In the DVD, for one of the show, they were obviously spoofing from Grease with The Palace of Sludge. Imagine, this show survived 4 years of airtime! Maybe it seems good enough at that point of time, but I am not certain if they would even survive a year now if they were to have it in this day and age...

Kind of makes me wonder... In another 30 years time, if we are still alive, what would we make of the "in" things at this moment? Would we cringe and wonder what were we thinking at that time? Expanding it further, how would you feel about how you had live your life, if you were to look back into your live 30 years down the road? Would you have, at times, wished you could somehow turn back the time and chose to walk another path? Whatever decisions we made now, it will have an impact in how we live our lives, and how our future will be. It may seem right or even correct at this point of time, however, X years down the road, when everything has settled, would you look back and say it's the correct/right thing to do? Maybe, maybe not.

As I stand on a crossroad, contemplating on what would come next, I cannot help but to reflect on my working life, how it started and how the road twist and turn, and at times it seems to be far fetched, and yet, at times, it seemed right... I kind of wonder what lies ahead - how will it be reveled itself in this latest twist and turn - have I held on too tightly, that the stake has now become too high that my focus is no longer correct?

Finally some solid outlines... and another bag caught the eye....

Finally some solid plans and enquiries made for the UK trip. Currently only the match tickets are paid for!! We booked the flights but still holding out for some other promotions that may be available soon, like during NATAs fair... Now we made enquiries on some B&B in Windermere, Cumbria which is within the Lake District. Will be checking up some B&B for Edinburgh and Manchester (not forgetting a day trip to Liverpool... BUT... they are having a home game on 30 Mar, which means no stadium tour... Hmmm... Of course that is also assuming MU is playing on 29 Mar). We also had laid out plans on where we would be travelling and on which dates we would be where, so that we could start enquiry on the B&B and make bookings!!!

So... I am a pretty happy camper for now on... So looking forward to the my trip...

Was at John 3:16 recently and saw the Lowepro Flipside 300 bag and now I am tempted to buy this... Reason - Flipside is like Crumpler bags where the zip to the compartment is not easily within reach... If I were to get this, then I would have had 3 bags for my cams - S&F Reporter 400 (shoulder bag), Computrekker AW and Flipside 300 (backpack). Hmmm... And it might be in time for this trip... Seriously thinking about not bringing lappie this time (which leads to thinking of getting a bag with no lappie compartment)... But how to download pics to some HDD space so that I can carry on using the CF cards... Hmm...

Talking about this lead me to think... Mrs TehPeng aka Miz Snooze talks about buying bags (Kate Spade and all)... Me, talk about buying camera bags... We do have something in common, just not the right segment of the market!!!! :P *faint*

Something about that helium induced voices.....

There is something about that particular group of helium induced voices... Ok, actually it's not helium induced, but well, when you first listen it really sound like it... It's a method of recording technique where you record normal talking in half the normal speed, and then playback in normal mode, creating a full octave higher pitch and... we got The Chipmunk sound!!Apparently some well known singer did that in one of his recording as well... Hmmm... Things you get to know about in wiki... :D

Yup, I was talking about The Chipmunks... Someone decided do a new movie with CGI chipmunks! They have even jazzed up the old "Chipmunk Song" as well as "Witch Doctor" with the more modern hip-hop versions. Now, even if hip-hop is not your cup of tea, it still quite a dance track. I had to say, I bought the soundtrack even before I watch the movie... Maybe it's a throw back to my teenager days where they had quite a couple of albums and a TV cartoon show; although I have to say I did not have any of those albums... Hmmm....

Since most of their albums are not easily available here.... and my boss is going back to his hometown (US) for holidays... It's online shopping time at Amazon!!! Hehehehe.... Yes, I tend to order some DVDs/CDs/stuff and get him to bring it back when he is on holidays in US. Infact, if I know anyone who is going there, I most probably would have got them to bring some stuff back (which Tehpeng & Miz Snooze could attest to it... Hehehehe). Hey, some are really impossible to get here, like the Shure e2c IEM's foams (large size), it's impossible to get it anywhere here. I have checked with Jaben Network, Stereo Equipment, Hung Brothers and other shops that I know do sell this IEM, and none of them has the foam (sometimes I wonder if I had not done my homework that well enough to be smart about the accessories... Sigh...)!!!! So, I had to order it from Amazon.... I am sure there are some other online stores that might be cheaper, I think but I guess I have been very comfortable in ordering from Amazon...

Anyway, if you are a fan of those voices, or wanting some mindless, with a bit of humor, movie to watch... You could try to catch this... It is not a must-see movie, but well, I have to say I still enjoyed it... Then again I did enjoy Bride & Prejudice which my friends were slamming it for being stereotyping... I guess you can't win them all...

Trip, Camera and more...

As with most of the photos that we have seen of previous mission trips were of those when we were travelling, and not so much of the preparation part... So this evening, I took a couple of photos in one of the pre-trip meetings that we are having before the actual trip starting on 20th April - Yes, it's time to head for Cambodia again!

Today, we had SW and his wife to help with the preparation. The group learned how to make the gospel beads and one group will be getting the rest of the gospel beads done. SW demonstrated some different balloons sculpture like sword, hat, etc. He also showed how he uses the balloons to help in the gospel lesson. Some of the members of the group tried their hands on it and did quite well. Then they split into their groups to prepare for the ministry work that they would do... SW's wife was there to help with the English lessons preparations.

Was downloading the photos to my PC just now and discovered that... Yup! My cam has now hit 10k shots (yeah, the photo numbering has reverted back to 0001)! Hmmm... Not too bad, since it has taken 2 years and 5 months to get there... So, I guess that shows I don't use it as often as I should... Never mind, I am certain I would hit at least 500 more in the coming trip... Meantime, I started to try taking shots in RAW instead of JPG; wanted to see what can be done in RAW but not in JPG, and found that for RAW, a 2GB can only hold approximately 360 shots only as compared to 586 for JPG. Will have to test out more, to see if the switch is worth the amt of HDD space, especially when I am running out of HDD space...

Talking about HDD space... I am in a lookout for solutions as my internal SATA connections are fully utilised. Anyone got any suggestions? I was thinking of getting something like a NAS product so that I have a file storage system, but the prices are making me think twice... So that is still in the pipeline somewhere down the road... Meantime, I think it might be a good idea to get another 2GB CF card as a backup since I don't have any as yet.

Looks like this is a year of spending.... 2 Trips, lens, CF card, cam bag and not forgetting the new Plasma TV in Dec to start with... I hope when I start travelling for work again I would not be spending that much... Think it's the lack of activities in my travel where I don't have time to think about spending $$$$ which is allowing this to happen... Heh... Not to fear... I forsee for the next half of the year, I would be too busy with work to bother about anything else... I am dubbing the upcoming work as a blackhole since no information of those sites have been forth coming and they expect the system to go live in July!??!?! They should be happy to get it up and running by Sept! Server area is not even ready, the users are not even informed of the upcoming changes (new IT systems etc)! How to do site survey with such situation? I can only admire the way my colleague pester and pushes her way into getting things started (well, like I say, it's not physically possible for me since I am at a different geographical location....).

Meantime, because of so many sites coming at the same time, I am working on getting some powerpoint slides up to let the field engineers learn how to install and configure the system... So, this week I am basically spending all my time getting this ppt done and ensuring it's comprehensive enough for them to comprehend! To add to the pressure, this is a new product as well - Not that I have been well trained in it, although I had some experience from the last site installation that we did late last year...

Not looking forward to after the trip... I am certain it would be chaotic...

The Bag Quest Goes On....

Today, I had spent about 4 hours at John 3:16, trying to figure out if I should or should not buy the Tarmac Velocity 9 camera bag. I came back empty-handed as I still could not persuade myself that the Tarmac is right bag to get - as, currently, I have 2 bags that I am using. The Lowepro StealthReporter 400 (aka SR400) and Urban (the poor cousin of Crumpler's Farmers Double).

The Lowepro one is nice, with lots of room and space for the gear (which contains a D70, kit lens, 50mm prime len, 75-300mm len, SB600 and other smaller stuff like the omnibounce, etc) as well my wallet, PDA and house keys. However, the only issue I had with it is that it's a shoulder bag, so one side of my shoulder is overloaded, and had to get a waist band to ensure the bag does not bounce that much against my side when I walk. This is also not the bag that I would use when I travel overseas.

The Urban one I got is the one that I uses during my travel trips, and I just bought it recently. The old bag that I was using was getting old and felt a bit unsecure using it. This allows me to carry my laptop and camera on board the plane as a hand luggage. Only thing with this is, I don't carry my 75-300mm lens with me for this - it will not fit. This bag will do fine if I am just bringing the D70 with kit lens and flash.

So now... I am looking at CompuTrekker (so that I can bring all my lens and laptop as hand luggage) and the Tarmac Velocity 9 (this is more of a "replacement" for the SR400). I still could not decide if the CompuTrekker is the right bag to get for that purpose as normally, if I am walking around the places, I would lock the laptop in my large luggage, and just walk round with the gear in the Urban bag. It serve it's purpose but since it's a backpack, it's quite difficult to get the gear when you want to take any pics. Somehow, the pros of the bag still does not tempt me enough to decide to buy. Am still looking at other brands of bags for this purpose. The other bag that I saw was this Thinkphoto bag which is not available locally so that's out of the window - just that it looks good...

As for the Tarmac, well, i had tried to stuff it with the same gear and tested the bag out. Thanks ot J316, I did not have to bring my gear down, instead, since they have stock - except for the 75-300mm len which is no longer produced and had to subsitute with another lens that is about the same weight; I stuff the bag there and tested it out. At first I have to say it feels good, at least I don't feel the drag, but as time goes by I had a feeling that it may be an issue similar to the shoulder bag but this bag has the waist belt that can be tucked away. So the jury is still out on this bag - but I heard quite a fair bit of people are now looking at this bag.

Of course the other thing on my list is the wide angle lens - I definitely cannot afford the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens or even the 12mm one, which means I have 2 other choices - 12-24mm f/4 Tokina (which I am still eyeing) and 10-20mm Sigma lens. Having said that, the forums or reviews of the Tokina seems to be a 'ok' lens and nothing fantastic about it... So I am still undecided, however, with the new purchases, like the camera bag and other stuff, I seems to be putting this in the wish list rather than the to get list.

Finally, since I am not willing to pay $600 just for a Gitzo super lightweigth CF tripod and a ballhead, I had to find other methods to ensure I could take photos at a lower speed, like 1/4 of a second in places where I would normally use a tripod back home. The one that I was looking at was the 345 Manfrotto tabletop tripod. Like the 12-24mm lens, this is on a back burner. Still undecided yet.

Oh well... I guess another trip there next week is in order before leaving for Germany.