Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Patterns in the sky

These were the photos taken at DC where my theme was sky.

The first was shot at The Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, inside the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.



This was taken during dusk when the evening sun was peering through dark overcast.



The picture was blurred which is why I need a monopod.

Celebrating my birthday

I celebrated my 33rd birthday today and I am touched by the many surprises, well wishes, gifts and love I get from around the globe!

My first gift to myself was my promotion from a postdoctoral fellow to a faculty position as a research associate at Johns Hopkins University. My other satisfaction would come from publishing my influenza manuscripts.

My first surprise was on Thu, Nov 20 when my Singaporean friends wanted to give Wenmin a pre-birthday surprise. So, we gathered at her apartment corridor with a side table and a waffle maker while she emerged from the elevator. She was surprised and touched by our gesture. She kept covering her face or turning away while I took pictures of her. Then, my friends suddenly took out a photography catalog with a $100 gift card and presented to me. I was truly surprised because I did not tell them my birthday. I had thought we were only celebrating for Wenmin's.

The gift card story began on Nov 14, when Tiah Ling overheard that I was interested to buy a monopod or tripod. So, she emailed me on the pretense of seeking my advice on which to buy. Instead, I told her it would depend on how she would use it. I was very 'politically correct'. Thus, she got nothing out of me and decided to get the gift card.

My friends from France, one studying in Germany, and my best friends and Godson in Singapore emailed, skyped or left well wishes on Facebook. My young nephews, Anselm and Maximus, called and sang to me the animal birthday song which they learned from the movie Madagascar. This is the lyrics: Happy birthday to you. You live in a zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too. Listening to their innocent voices singing this song brought a big smile on me.

I also had a delicious dim sum lunch yesterday when I 'dragged' Tom to Silver Spring. It helped to satisfy part of my food craving that I had built up over two years away from Singapore. Also, I got my bath scale which I had wanted to buy. I am putting on weight as I have put off going to gym and eating out often.

On Sunday evening, Vladimir, Dijana and I had gone for a walk around Loyola College. On our back, Vladimir treated me to dinner at Petit Louis Bistro, a French restaurant, at 4800 Roland Avenue. The restaurant was cozy with a fireplace, food was delicious and the prices were reasonable.

I had a restful sleep with my stomach stuffed with good food from Sunday.

This afternoon, Wenmin passed by my lab to give me a card, Cape Cod potato chips and M&M's (R) Premiums Triple Chocolate. After watching the program Unwrapped on the Food Network, I had been searching high and low for this brand to try out the salt and vinegar flavored potato chip. Now, I know where to get them.

As for today's dinner at Szechuan House Corporation at 1427 York Rd, Shiying, Clive, Tiah Ling and Yih Yng sacrificed their studying time to accompany me even though they had final exam tomorrow. Food was delightful and the company was fun. Shiying casually mentioned to the waitress that it was my birthday today. After clearing our table, I was wondering why it had taken so long for the waitress to come out with the fortune cookies. When she emerged, she was carrying a cake and sang the normal birthday song. It was an ice cream cake on the house. Life is full of surprises.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Counting my blessings

Lady Luck began smiling at me when I won a ticket lottery for the musical, Wicked, which saved me $65 on Oct 23.

Recently, I won my bid for "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell on eBay, saving only $2.22. Though the saving was little, it was better than none in this bad economic time. This was my second attempt at bidding for something and won.

In time of job retrenchment and high jobless rate, I have a choice of two good positions for my career.

Paraphrasing Thomas Sowell "Life does not ask what we want but offers us choices."

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Capturing autumn colors in Baltimore City

Initially, my Singaporean friends had intended to take pictures of fall along Skyline Drive in Virginia. However, no one was interested to drive 6 hours just to take the pictures.

So, I decided to cycle around Baltimore City since there would always be subjects to capture if I looked hard enough. It would also serve to showcase Baltimore's charms, which coincidentally is one of Baltimore's slogans, called Charm City. Unfortunately, most of the trees had shed their leaves by the last weekend due to wind and rain. I had to find trees with leaves and not just branches.

My hunt took me to Guilford Avenue where colorful row houses lined the street and Jones Falls Trail with the arc waterfall, reminding me of Niagara Falls on a much smaller scale.

As the sun set earlier at 5pm, my last shots were along Roland Ave where the golden rays illuminated a line of trees with yellow leaves. The driveway was covered with fallen leaves which left a deep impression of the beautiful colors of red, orange and yellow.

Baltimore fall pictures.

Friday, November 07, 2008

USA Presidential Election 2008

I considered myself fortunately to witness a historic presidential election during my stay in USA. The political scene and campaigning is different from back home.

I especially get a kick out of watching Saturday Night Live Presidential Bashing where politicians are the butt of jokes. Politicians were game to play along with the acts. The political freedom here is truly something.

Way to go for electing an African-American to be president. Change for the better is on the horizon.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

A 'clip' on my Achilles

After experiencing a nagging pain around my right heel in June, I have not been running since then.

I limp slightly when I wake up each morning, and my right heel hurts if I run or even do a brisk walk. After resting for three months, the pain was still there. I finally consulted with my doctor who referred me to a podiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

My appointment was on Election Day, Nov 4 2008. As I filled up their questionnaire online, I could arrive 10 minutes prior to appointment in contrast to 30 minutes and the specialist kept thanking me for filling it online. Strange.

I had to wear a lead gonad shield to protect my heirloom from x ray during three exposures.

Instead of developing the films, x rays were downloaded to a computer where I saw some bone growing around my Achilles tendon, thus restricting my movements. My diagnosis was Achilles tendinitis.

His advice was to stretch my calf muscle four times daily to compensate for the shortening of the Achilles tendon.

My advice: Warm up before running and down after running. Living with it is troublesome.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Fatten up before visiting the Windy City, Chicago

After completing my first draft of my manuscript on Oct 21, a deadline which I gave myself, I went for a vacation in Chicago, Illinois. As I had been working on it for months, I needed a break so I could revise it after this trip with comments from my supervisors.

On Oct 22 (Wed), I nearly missed my flight as I had forgotten to check the schedule for the MARC train. My flight was to depart at 9.21 am and I was still not check-in at 8.30 am. It did not helped that the train was traveling slower than usual because of a delay ahead!

Upon reaching the Baltimore-Washington International Airport Station, there were only two cabs in sight. I intended to hail the first cab but the money-minded driver said he would not take me and told me to wait for the free shuttle to the terminal. Shortly, another passenger came and he took off, earning $55. How I knew he earned $55 was because I had to listen to the second cab driver complaining that I should have sat in the first cab, without telling him where I was going. Initially, he also said that he was not going to take me. I told him I would pay him $20 for the short trip to the terminal and he relented. After he had cooled down, we chatted about the weather and where I came from. He seemed to be a nice guy; he was just irritated by the work ethics of the first cab driver.

Due to security rule concerning fluids on flights, I had wanted to check-in my haversack but was told that the gate was closed. After getting my boarding pass, I ran quickly towards security, inquiring a Transportation Security Administration officer if I could bring my tubes of moisturizers and a used bottle of Cepacol spray for relief of sore throat. She said they were fine after checking them but I did not zip up the side pocket containing the fluids and passed my haversack through the x-ray machine. There was a fluid alert after my haversack went through and the officers checked that they were less than 3 ounces (100 ml).

After security clearance, I 'flew' to my departure gate and arrived in the nick of time. It was boarding my section. During the 2-hour flight, I read up a Chicago 2000 travel guidebook on places-of-interest and transportation maps, hoping nothing big had changed.

On arrival at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, I gained 1 hour because Chicago is in the central time zone. The airport had five terminals and I had to navigate through the big maze to take the blue line subway. Thinking I would hop on and off the public transportation a lot, so I bought a 3-day visitor pass ($12). It took about 50 minutes to Downtown.

I headed towards Chicago Cultural Center which was a former public library but is now a cultural center and has a visitor information center. The interior design is beaux-arts style and the 38-foot dome in the Preston Bradley Hall is the world's largest Tiffany stained-glass dome, worth an estimated $35 million. Music lovers can attend free concerts during weekdays at 12.15pm.

From the visitor center, I chose a river architecture cruise along Chicago River where a certified guide gave anecdotes of tall skyscrapers along the river. The wind was chilly. Behind me in the background is Sears Tower (with two poles).

While walking along the street, I noticed staircases leading down. I decided to investigate and saw it was a separate 'world' of streets and garages, lit by lamps. There was a bum who saw me taking pictures and headed toward me. I fled up the stairs before he came near to me.

I also saw Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate at the Millennium Park. I liked his work after seeing them at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. People were amazed at the visual effects standing under the Cloud Gate. Other interesting features include the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, BP Bridge, The Crown Fountain and The Lurie Garden.

At dusk, I had intended to go up Sears Tower to take pictures of sunset. My plan was upset when I was held up, having to go through Sears Tower presentation. It is the tallest building in the Northern Hemisphere and the third tallest building in the world. The sun had set when I was at the Skydeck. I tried my best to capture the twilight with Chicago lit up while holding my breath to prevent blurring.

I checked in to my hotel around 9.30 pm and was exhausted. My cough was worse after a grueling day of sight-seeing and the cold air. I had caught a cold in the freezing water after my intermediate white water kayaking trip on Oct 19.

Early next morning, I had complimentary breakfast at my hotel. I set out around 8 am which was too early for any attraction to be opened. I decided to walk from Diversey Parkway towards Downtown.

First in the list was Lincoln Park where I visited The Notebaert Nature Museum which had a free admission for that day. It had environmental exhibits catered toward children. However, I enjoyed taking pictures of butterflies in the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven.

Next, I visited the Lincoln Park Zoo which is free and opens 365 days. The animal exhibits are good, considering it is free. I managed to see wolves up close since I did not see any during my Yellowstone trip. Bald eagles were within camera shot. I detoured to the Lincoln Park Conservatory which houses tropical palms and ferns before finishing the 35-acres zoo.

Some of Chicago’s most expensive real estate and and most historic architecture can be found in the neighborhoods of State Parkway, Lake Shore Drive, and Astor Street, nicknamed The Gold Coast. Residents living along Lake Shore Drive could have a good view of the stupendous Lake Michigan.

There were actually choppy waves in the lake which resembled those at sea. The water was cold and wind was strong.

Thereafter, I walked along the Magnificent Mile, akin to New York's Fifth Avenue. I also visited John Hancock Observatory since I did not take pictures of Chicago at daylight. Visitors could also drop by the Old Water Tower and Pumping Station to inquire at another visitor information center.


As the weather forecast for Thursday night would be raining, I did not want to wander in the rain or stayed at my hotel. So, I thought of catching the musical, Wicked in the evening. I traveled to Ford Oriental Theater three times. First, when I wanted to buy the ticket; but at $90, I was not keen. The cashier told me I could enter for a lucky draw at 5.30 pm where a pair of tickets at $25 could be won. Second time, I turned up for the lucky draw after completing my Magnificent Mile tour. I was the second winner and this was my second win in 32 years. Between then and the show, I wanted to try the deep-dish pizza for dinner. I walked towards Pizzeria Uno where I had to wait 1 hour for the pizza to be cooked because of its thickness. I had to settle for McDonald's.

I was impressed by the elaborate interior design of Ford Theater and was taken aback when I entered the hall. It had long drapes of velvet curtains and richly ornamented walls, chairs, etc. Forty winners of the lucky draw got to sit on the two front middle rows of the theater where I could even see the mole on an actress. I enjoyed the story of how the Wicked Witch became 'wicked' with reference to the Wizard of Oz story. It was raining when the musical ended.

On Friday Oct 24, I went to Navy Pier which is a great place for kids to hang out. With plenty of time to spare, I tried to have the famous deep dish pizza. There was no long line like the previous night and I sat at the bar counter. I was recommended the express personal pizza which took 25 minutes. The depth measured about 1.5 inches.

Thereafter, I visited Grant Park where the Buckingham Fountain was under renovation. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Art Institute of Chicago which houses a good collection of famous works like Van Gogh's. The paperweight collection was colorful and intricately designed.

I had wanted to taste home food when I saw the Penang Restaurant in Chinatown. However, it ran out of business and I ate at a Chinese restaurant.

Overall, I was impressed by the architecture of Chicago and the good transportation system. The weather was chilly. It is best to fatten up so as not be blown away by wind and to insulate against the cold in the Windy City.

Butterflies pictures.

Chicago pictures.