Archive for May, 2008

Leena and Gregs Wedding

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

If you have been following my twitter feed you would know i was at an Indian Wedding this weekend in Albany NY. Below are a couple of the shots that caught my eye when doing a first scan of the photos.

This is the first real test of my new DSLR and I learned a few things about the capabilities. I wasn’t very happy with the built in flash, I really need to upgrade to an SB 800, in large rooms it would over expose the foreground and you would get bright spots on reflective surfaces. For a lot of the flash shots I dropped the flash exposure down a little to compensate. For the non flash shots I was shooting at 1600 iso which has its draw backs, images are a little softer and I still ended up with a number of shots with slow exposure so they have blurry hand movements. Shooting without the flash meant that the photos have an orange glow from the indoor lighting which I actually I liked for the wedding since i gives a warm feel to the photos. I need to work on getting my usable shot count up higher, i am still wasting some shots because the shutter speed is too slow.

Pedestrian Safety in the city

Monday, May 19th, 2008

The washington post has an article on improving pedestrian safety in the city, but they only hint at one very easy thing that could make the urban D.C. or any other cities streets safer for pedestrians. The article suggests “Give pedestrians a few seconds head start at stop lights, before cars are given a green signal.” This is a good start but what we really need is to separate the pedestrian walk signal from the traffics green light. As a driver when I see red I stop then look to see if it is safe to do a turn on red, when I see green I have been programmed to go. The same thing is true for pedestrians when you see stop you don’t cross when you see walk you walk. It is counter intuitive for a driver or pedestrian to see a green light or walk sign then have to proceed with caution because pedestrian or car might be crossing into your path. Every day I see drivers sitting waiting a green light while pedestrians are crossing, stressing out the drivers trying to make their turn before the light turns and pedestrians scared that they are going to be run over by aggressive drivers.

We need to separate the pedestrian crossing signal with green lights. The walk sign should only be lit when all traffic has been signaled to stop for a safe traversal of the crossing. This will make it much safer for pedestrians and easier for drivers. It may even make the traffic flow more smoothly in an already congested city.

Fortune Cookiesxkcd.com

Sunday, May 18th, 2008

'You will have hot, steamy, sweaty sex ... IN BED!'

Bike to work day 2008

Friday, May 16th, 2008

I biked from home to the Herndon Monroe park and ride, then took the bus from Herndon to West Falls Church, then biked to Rosylnn where I stopped at the Bike to Work Pit stop. From there I biked to work.

The flat section in the middle is the bus ride, where I turned off the GPS

(if you are on an rss reader, click the story to see the map)

Notes from last weeks chinese class

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

nǎ yi yè which page
chē zi car
wǒ xi huān guō rìběn che I like japanese cars
shōu speak
nǐ shōu shen ma you say what
zhè this
zhè shì this is
waì gúo yǔ yén Foreign country language
zhè shì goo lǎoshī this is goo teacher
zhè shì wǒ tài tai This is my wife
nimen dou shì mei guo ren Are you all american
dou bu shì zhōng guo ren we are not chinese
ying yǔ english language
zhōngwēn chinese language
hàn yǔ chinese language
dé yǔ german language
wǒ xi huàn hàn yǔ I like chinese language
zhe shi wǒ fù qīn this is my father
zhe shi wi mǔ qīn this is my mother
ne de mǔ yǔ shì shen ma what is you mother language
wo de mǔ yǔ shi ying yǔ my language is english
ne de mǔ yǔ your mother language
zhǐ only
wo you yi zhǐ gou i have 1 dog
wǒ you liǎng zhǐ gou I have 2 dogs
lǒu bǎn boss
wo shi lǒu bǎn I am boss
jǐng lǐ manager
chǎngzhǎng factory manager
gōng chǎng factory
gōng rén worker
zhì zuò rén programmer
dou all
ròu meat
niù ròu beef
zhū ròu pork
jī ròu chicken
yu ròu fish
yà ròu duck
dàn gōu chocolate cake
pinggou pài apple pie
dou all; both
nü hái girl
nán hái boy
hen rè very hot
shēn tǐ body
ne bāba māma shēn tǐ hao ma your mother father body well?
chī fàn to eat a meal
qù go
zhī dao to know
wǒ bù zhī dao i don’t know
tu shu guan library
cháng cháng often
wǒ chángcháng he kāfēi I often drink cofee
xǐ zǎo take bath
wǒ bu xi huan hè niú nǎi
nà shì shāshui who is that
nǐ ye shì laoshī ma are you also a teacher
bìng rén sick people
pàng fat
ta hen pàng he is very fat
dà big
xiao small
cháncheng great wall
zhèshì this is
nǐda shang rì shì your birthday is
wǒ de sheng ri shì jiǔ yùe

Edinburgh University Alumni in DC

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

I have been involved in the alumni group for a number of years, but it never seemed to go anywhere. With the help of the university we are reforming the group. If you are interested please go to www.eduni-dc.org and sign up for the announcements list.

Bob Bike trailer

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

I saw this on the FAAB blog, now I am thinking about getting a bob trailer. This woiuld be so cool to do in the summer since we aren’t that far from the supermarket.

New Bike

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

I picked out a new bike on sunday to replace my stolen 97 hard rock specialized. I picked up my trek 4300 yesterday but the weather was so crappy that I didn’t ride it more than 100 feet to car for the journey back home. So this morning I strapped on the odometer and took off for my daily commute to the park and ride. Not exactly spectacular for a first trip but enougth to get the heart following and get to know the new ride. So I now have two bikes one for serious long distance rides and one for commuting and rough paths like the c&o canal. this bike rides differently from old hard rock and is a very different ride compared to my portland. hopefully I will get as many miles out of my new mountain bike as I did my old one

Meeting the digitals for a picnic in New York

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Words I am supposed to be able to recgonize by 6pm

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

shéi 谁
nín 您
wàiyǔ 外语
nǎinai 奶奶
wàipó 外婆
Chén 陈