Finally back home. After a Qingdao --> Beijing flight, Beijing --> Tokyo, an 18-hour layover in Tokyo, 11 hours Tokyo --> Chicago, and Chicago --> Atlanta.
Surprisingly I feel no jet lag at all because Colin and I stayed up all night to explore Tokyo, and I went to sleep for the entire Tokyo --> Chicago flight, starting 11am Tokyo time.
It was seriously the quickest cross-globe flight I've ever taken. I was knocked out pretty much the entire flight, save two times to eat meals. Didn't even watch any in-flight movies. Or get a crick in my neck from sleeping on the airplane. Score.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Qingdao at Night
A Saturday night photo adventure in the few blocks surrounding my apartment. Shots mostly taken along Hong Kong West Rd. and at the May 4 Plaza, which is one block away from where I'm living.
I inadvertently dressed in black tee, black shorts, black shoes, with black hair, black camera bag, black camera, and black tripod. All I really needed to complete the suspicion was for my tripod to have been gun-shaped ...
After getting dinner at the supermarket -Carrefour- I took a stab at some tripod-enabled long exposures along the bustling streets. Got some cool results of tail lights and such.
[fig. 1] 15-sec I think, and this is actually pieced from two separate exposures so that the activity on both left and right of the street would be interesting. Since several people have asked: the left lane was a bus lane, which is why the lights are different looking ...
[fig. 2] Tail lights. 10 sec, ISO200, f/32
[fig. 3] Remnants of the passing bus in front of City Hall, same specs as last photo
[fig. 4] May 4 Plaza, two exposures to compensate for the blown-out light/subject
[fig. 5] Light the lantern, let the air heat up, let it fly ... apparently these are sold every night.
[fig. 6] May 4 Plaza
[fig. 7] May 4 Plaza ... lots of lanterns afloat
[fig. 8] Over the rooftops ..
[fig. 9] party party
Ok so that was more like a random photography post, but it was still Qingdao exploration. No story really, just images.
I inadvertently dressed in black tee, black shorts, black shoes, with black hair, black camera bag, black camera, and black tripod. All I really needed to complete the suspicion was for my tripod to have been gun-shaped ...
After getting dinner at the supermarket -Carrefour- I took a stab at some tripod-enabled long exposures along the bustling streets. Got some cool results of tail lights and such.
[fig. 1] 15-sec I think, and this is actually pieced from two separate exposures so that the activity on both left and right of the street would be interesting. Since several people have asked: the left lane was a bus lane, which is why the lights are different looking ...
[fig. 2] Tail lights. 10 sec, ISO200, f/32
[fig. 3] Remnants of the passing bus in front of City Hall, same specs as last photo
[fig. 4] May 4 Plaza, two exposures to compensate for the blown-out light/subject
[fig. 5] Light the lantern, let the air heat up, let it fly ... apparently these are sold every night.
[fig. 6] May 4 Plaza
[fig. 7] May 4 Plaza ... lots of lanterns afloat
[fig. 8] Over the rooftops ..
[fig. 9] party party
Ok so that was more like a random photography post, but it was still Qingdao exploration. No story really, just images.
Monday, August 24, 2009
8/2/2009: Zhan Qiao
Lazy Sunday = out on town with the camera
Went out exploring, in hopes of getting some good shots at the beach. After a 30 minute 1yuan ($0.14) bus ride, I arrived at a small beach/shopping area reminiscent of mid-19th century Europe. Which makes sense, since Germany colonized Qingdao somewhat back in the day.
[fig. 1] Sunday afternoon means it's time for everyone and their moms to go to the beach!
[fig. 2a, 2b] Population Density --> too high
[fig. 3] If you look closely, you can see the photographers who've set up camp on the rocks .. taking tourist photos for 5yuan, printed on the spot
[fig. 4]
[fig. 5] Papa and Son?
[fig. 6] The actual Bridge ("Qiao")
[fig. 7] paddle boats ... or rafts?
[fig. 8] A couple of laughs on a lazy Sunday
[fig. 9] Lunch + Gear
[fig. 10] Trinkets for sale .. shell animal models
[fig. 11] Fun with colors .... before leaving my apartment
[fig. 12] Another random shot of my apartment before the photo adventure
[fig. 13] Zhan Qiao's setup/buildings reminded me a little of Charleston, SC
[fig. 14] On the way back from Zhan Qiao, the bus passed by this cool park with Olympic rings, so I got off at the next stop, backtracked and played around with the self-timer .. haha
A Sunday well spent.
Lazy Sunday = out on town with the camera
Went out exploring, in hopes of getting some good shots at the beach. After a 30 minute 1yuan ($0.14) bus ride, I arrived at a small beach/shopping area reminiscent of mid-19th century Europe. Which makes sense, since Germany colonized Qingdao somewhat back in the day.
[fig. 1] Sunday afternoon means it's time for everyone and their moms to go to the beach!
[fig. 2a, 2b] Population Density --> too high
[fig. 3] If you look closely, you can see the photographers who've set up camp on the rocks .. taking tourist photos for 5yuan, printed on the spot
[fig. 4]
[fig. 5] Papa and Son?
[fig. 6] The actual Bridge ("Qiao")
[fig. 7] paddle boats ... or rafts?
[fig. 8] A couple of laughs on a lazy Sunday
[fig. 9] Lunch + Gear
[fig. 10] Trinkets for sale .. shell animal models
[fig. 11] Fun with colors .... before leaving my apartment
[fig. 12] Another random shot of my apartment before the photo adventure
[fig. 13] Zhan Qiao's setup/buildings reminded me a little of Charleston, SC
[fig. 14] On the way back from Zhan Qiao, the bus passed by this cool park with Olympic rings, so I got off at the next stop, backtracked and played around with the self-timer .. haha
A Sunday well spent.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Industrial Design Work
Screenshots, etc. taken throughout the workday ...
FINS FOR COOLING HEAT TRANSFER YES OMG OMG
whoever knew 2.005 would actually come in handy ...
inside of an external hard drive reader our team's working on
Soundbar + Speakers project to match latest TV series
Modeling in Rhinoceros
Photoshopping final touches to Soundbar Concept 2
Building/modeling/rendering Soundbar Concept 3
A coworker's past works ... these are built from scratch on Rhinoceros or 3Dmax. YES THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN GETTING TO LEARN/DO ALL SUMMER!
2nd project this summer. Redesign the company logos (but sticking with the basic Hisense block of text and the colors from years ago). A couple concepts ...
Soundbar Concept 1. Designed, modeled, Photoshopped from scratch by yours truly.
Independent speakers project ... concept 2 or 3
These were built in 3D modeling software and rendered. One of my coworkers found the .3dm file online and spent the rest of the workday picking out colors, rendering Optimus Prime, and photoshopping him into a bunch of photos for fun. Hahahahhaa I love my work.
Beach soccer ... AGAINST OPTIMUS PRIME.
Notice he also has a Transformers tattoo on his chest.
Me about to teach Optimus a lesson, with one arm in a sling.
FINS FOR COOLING HEAT TRANSFER YES OMG OMG
whoever knew 2.005 would actually come in handy ...
inside of an external hard drive reader our team's working on
Soundbar + Speakers project to match latest TV series
Modeling in Rhinoceros
Photoshopping final touches to Soundbar Concept 2
Building/modeling/rendering Soundbar Concept 3
A coworker's past works ... these are built from scratch on Rhinoceros or 3Dmax. YES THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN GETTING TO LEARN/DO ALL SUMMER!
2nd project this summer. Redesign the company logos (but sticking with the basic Hisense block of text and the colors from years ago). A couple concepts ...
Soundbar Concept 1. Designed, modeled, Photoshopped from scratch by yours truly.
Independent speakers project ... concept 2 or 3
These were built in 3D modeling software and rendered. One of my coworkers found the .3dm file online and spent the rest of the workday picking out colors, rendering Optimus Prime, and photoshopping him into a bunch of photos for fun. Hahahahhaa I love my work.
Beach soccer ... AGAINST OPTIMUS PRIME.
Notice he also has a Transformers tattoo on his chest.
Me about to teach Optimus a lesson, with one arm in a sling.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Co-worker Lunch Party
8/8/2009
The weekend following our beach trip, all the peeps in the ID team decided to have another little throwdown. So after our Saturday half day (my company deems Saturday 9am-12pm a half "study" day ... ie relaxed work day, but work nonetheless), we once again piled into a couple cars and headed over to the other side of town (Qingdao's small) to Shi Hui Min's house (English name: Samantha). Actually, I left early with Sammy and Minna to go grocery shopping and get everything we needed for our big lunch party ... we bought everything from duck to chicken to ground beef to fried pumkin pancakes, clams, shrimp, fish, eggplant, and watermelon. I got ground beef/chili powder/tomatoes/tomato sauce/beans in an attempt to make chili (as promised ever since my co-workers saw the picture of Patrick at Reso retreat "puking" up the plate of chili haha) ... it turned out too sweet and sour (due to the sweet red beans being the only kind of beans in the store, and the chili powder being the wrong kind ...) oops .. but they liked it anyway. Who knew.
[fig. 1] Hard at work in the kitchen
[fig. 2] Saturday lunch party with co-workers :)
[fig. 3] Chinese food
So with a big group effort, we set up, cooked, and had a huge family meal. A thing about Qingdao, home of the famous Tsingtao beer: beer is sold at any street vendor straight out of the keg ... by the plastic bag. Ever since I first saw someone carrying a plastic bag of foamy yellowy stuff, I couldn't help but wonder how the bag can hold all that beer ... and not break. Or not break when poked with relatively pointy objects. Whatever the magic is, this is how it's done:
[fig. 4] Beer is sold in plastic bags, straight from the keg
Fun idea for future lunch parties:
Wasabi eating contest!
We had dice, several rounds around the table, and lots of wasabi-dipped shrimp and squid.
Peter and I were totally the only ones who made it all the way through without making faces ...
Evidence of fun:
[fig. 5-9] Michael, Daniel, Emma, Kenneth, and Sammy having funfunfun with mouthfuls of wasabi. Some were unfortunate souls and rolled the wasabi-eating die #s more than once on their turn ...
Afterwards, enjoying a lazy Saturday watching Madagascar 2, The Prestige, and playing Mahjong.
[fig. 10] Mahjong
[fig. 11] Passed out on the couch
[fig. 12] movietime
[fig. 13] Michael's contribution to lunch: washing dishes
CHEEERS!
The weekend following our beach trip, all the peeps in the ID team decided to have another little throwdown. So after our Saturday half day (my company deems Saturday 9am-12pm a half "study" day ... ie relaxed work day, but work nonetheless), we once again piled into a couple cars and headed over to the other side of town (Qingdao's small) to Shi Hui Min's house (English name: Samantha). Actually, I left early with Sammy and Minna to go grocery shopping and get everything we needed for our big lunch party ... we bought everything from duck to chicken to ground beef to fried pumkin pancakes, clams, shrimp, fish, eggplant, and watermelon. I got ground beef/chili powder/tomatoes/tomato sauce/beans in an attempt to make chili (as promised ever since my co-workers saw the picture of Patrick at Reso retreat "puking" up the plate of chili haha) ... it turned out too sweet and sour (due to the sweet red beans being the only kind of beans in the store, and the chili powder being the wrong kind ...) oops .. but they liked it anyway. Who knew.
[fig. 1] Hard at work in the kitchen
[fig. 2] Saturday lunch party with co-workers :)
[fig. 3] Chinese food
So with a big group effort, we set up, cooked, and had a huge family meal. A thing about Qingdao, home of the famous Tsingtao beer: beer is sold at any street vendor straight out of the keg ... by the plastic bag. Ever since I first saw someone carrying a plastic bag of foamy yellowy stuff, I couldn't help but wonder how the bag can hold all that beer ... and not break. Or not break when poked with relatively pointy objects. Whatever the magic is, this is how it's done:
[fig. 4] Beer is sold in plastic bags, straight from the keg
Fun idea for future lunch parties:
Wasabi eating contest!
We had dice, several rounds around the table, and lots of wasabi-dipped shrimp and squid.
Peter and I were totally the only ones who made it all the way through without making faces ...
Evidence of fun:
[fig. 5-9] Michael, Daniel, Emma, Kenneth, and Sammy having funfunfun with mouthfuls of wasabi. Some were unfortunate souls and rolled the wasabi-eating die #s more than once on their turn ...
Afterwards, enjoying a lazy Saturday watching Madagascar 2, The Prestige, and playing Mahjong.
[fig. 10] Mahjong
[fig. 11] Passed out on the couch
[fig. 12] movietime
[fig. 13] Michael's contribution to lunch: washing dishes
CHEEERS!
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