Catrina and Joanna

Alex. Shot with fill-flash. He was annoyed and wasn't happy. Poor kid.

Lake George

Lake George

Harry, Lake George

Lake George

Summer 05, Kissena Park

In the backyard

Soccer, Fall, 2005

The joy of running. A bit of technical details: I was shooting this using Aperture priority. F-stop set at f8 and the shutter recorded is 1/50 sec. Also, I used continous and dynamic focusing.

Acorn Street, Beacon Hill, Boston

Probably the most photographed street in Boston. Cobblestones look good on photos, but not friendly for walking.

Boston's best underappreciated museum...

MIT museum. I consider it a children's museum. Whimsical machinery or toys are on display almost every where. The machine behind is called "Machine with Wishbone." Click the picture and view it in 100% and you should be able to read the caption.

Union Oyster House

America's oldest restaurant, where the food is good and the light is dim. And if you like, like I did, you can order a 2 lbs lobster, boiled, for a mere $45.95 (I knew it's seasonal price, but I did not know the dollar price, most expensive dish I ever ordered), baked potato included. Harry is no seafood eater, he just enjoyed looking at the monster.

Quincy Market

This is Alex first serious posing, other than the usual Power Ranger grand standing.

Boston Children's Museum...

Rock climbing, a sport not too young to pick up.

Russell Crowe in Blundstones

I am just watching the Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien. Russell Crowe is the guest promoting his latest flick, "Cinderella Man," (which makes the show a repeat, and I confirmed that with my TV Guide) and talking about his phone whirling incident. I saw him wearing a pair of #500 Blundstones, the stout brown pull up boots. I have a pair of #510, the black ones myself. They are really comfortable and durable. The total opposite of the over-priced and under-performed Birkenstocks. I own a pair of London, and I resoled that a couple of times; the most expensive shoes I ever bought not even counting the resoles. I just checked my PayPal account, I paid $78 on Sep 17, 2001 for my Blundstones. Now, I would have to pay like more than a $100 to get them shipped to my home here in New York.

Boston Children's Museum

Here is Harry playing in the "Construction Zone." He enjoyed crashing the toy trucks there. Harry the destroyer. You can find out more about the musuem here.

Holiday Inn Select at Woburn, next to I-95

Harry is resting in a full sized bed in suite room 437. The rate was $80 a night, and $96 for Monday and Tuesday. So we ended up paying about $300 for the 3 nights we spent there. Unlike the Holiday Inn Express we stayed in last time near CamelBack, PA, this one didn't have a microwave or refrigerator. But this is like the cheapest one closest to Boston. This one also offers free Wi-Fi access so I can get my Internet fix while on the road. I have been bringing my G3 iBook for all our family trips, it works as a DVD player on board of our Odyssey. I have yet to figure out how to get the iBook's audio play on the car's audio system.

Peabody Children Museum, New Haven

Peabody Children Museum where dinosaurs roam free. Children just love dinosaurs, so always go where the dinosaurs go if you have young children.

New Haven, Connecticut

Lunch in a Thai restaurant, Pad Thai on Chapel Street. The kids liked the chicken satay. I had the beef with basil. The food was agreeable and so was the service. Jin ordered her favorite Pat Thai noodle dish.

Toshiba 46HM95 user's experience.

In the spirit of every blogger is a reporter, I dutifully report my week old experience with my Toshiba 46HM95. This is probably the only review you will ever see on the Internet on this model as nobody cares too much about Toshiba, let alone this model, Toshiba's own website included as they still have no information on this model as of August 24, 2005.
To keep things in perspective, I have been watching TV for some 30 plus years, that is PAL and NTSC CRT TVs. My last two TVs were SONY and Panasonic. This is my only HDTV. So for what is worth, here is my mini review.
Background
I wasn't too happy with my 27" Panicsonic CRT TV, I was looking for something bigger. I started with SONY's model but I didn't like what I saw from their latest 50" 3LCD model so I looked for something else. I found out Toshiba actually has some some good alternatives, as in price and value. I checked out some of their older models like HM84 or HM94 sets and they look decent. Plus the price is good for my budget too.
I ended up ordering this 46HM95 from a vendor in NJ. They are pretty good. Just I ordered and took delivery the price went down about $20. Thanks to competition and real time comparison I guess.
Picture Quality
The picture quality of the set is good. Sharp, vivid and contrasty. Picture should be good so there is nothing to write home about. (<- I tend to take things for granted, I did see some yucky pictures from other sets.)
Rainbow effect
The manuel admits from time to time in some rare situation you can see that. I see that too, primarily in white scenes. But that doesn't bother me much.
Talking about white scenes, the white has a shining quality to it, it's almost glaring, I don't know if it's a DLP thing or not. I adjust the set to low lamp and non-sport mode. High lamp and sport tend to give even a brighter picture. You probably need to wear sunglasses to watch it, if there are lots of bright scenes.
HD picture is just awesome. SD picture varies from station to station, I guess if it's digital, chances are it's better, if it's analog it's not so good, just like any non HD set.
Video and Audio Synchronization
I don't hear and see a problem here. I read and did experience some sets that exhibit this problem. It's just awful. I don't know if it's the set problem or more like a broadcast thing. Or a DLP thing. I have no clue. My set doesn't exhibit any syn problem.
Geometry
I notice some slight pin cushion on the picture, by that I mean the vertical lines tend to concave in a bit. It becomes "obvious" when you watch 4:3 TV with vertical bars running on the left and right. If you stretch the 4:3 mode to Wide 1, the set leaves some 2mm 5mm blank space to the left. I would like to slightly horizontally move the picture to the left. But I fail to find that feature. I guess primarily, Toshiba thinks you shoudn't touch those settings. When I have time, I will call Toshiba.
Connection
It's a new model, so it comes with 2 HDMI inputs. I got a SA 8300HD from Time Warner and sadly the audio doesn't work (at least for me) using HDMI. So I ended up using component, not a huge deal. This seems to be a TWC STB issue.
Miscellaneous annoyances
Time Warner provides TV guide already. At some point I tried to setup the set's own TV guide (when TWC screwed up my service), but then it never quite works the way I thought it would work. Now every time I turn on the set, TV guide appears, one more button to press to get rid of it before I can actually watch TV.
"Fan" noise. The set seems to be running some fan 24x7. Yes, I do mean 24x7. The manuel isn't very clear to me, I thought the fan would remain on for a few minutes if you have Quick Restart active after you turn the set off. And by induction, it should be off right away if Quick Restart is off. No matter, my experience is the fan or so I thought that's what it is, runs all the time even when I power off the set. It's not loud like my refrigerator but you can hear it. Does it bother me, a bit yes. When I am home and have time I will call Toshiba to see if that's normal. Their succint email reply is yes it's normal. To totally quiet the set, I have to unplug the power cord. I just wish their manuel could be clearer.

3/22/2008
Long Term Usage Review
Toshiba sent me a new bulb a couple of years ago. And I changed the bulb once already. And the thing is running like new. Except now almost all the HDTV's are in 1080p so this 720p seems a bit dated.

12/6/2011
Long Term Usage Review
The noise.  I don't know if it's the color wheel or the fan(s).  But there is this noise coming from the TV which makes the TV unbearable.  It's perhaps time for a new TV.  Everything works but there is this crazy noise.  No good.

46" 16:9 HDTV

Here it is, in all its 46" glory, sitting in my living room. The 46HM95, the Toshiba website neither admits or denies its existence. There is practically no information on this model. And you can't register this model via their website as their model drop-down list doesn't provide this model option, and denies free-form fill-in. I ended up mailing the product registration form using first class USPS. So there you have it, a Macromedia site of the day on 6-24-05 that's neither informative nor useful to me, the owner and user of their latest product. It almost merits a case study.
Harry is busy playing with his action figures, he himself is an action figure, busy beating me up all the time.
Picture captured using my Canon Powershot G3, the 4 MP point-and-shoot digital camera. I think Toshiba should learn from companies like Canon. When they announced the 5D, the latest full frame 12MP digital SLR camera, they actually have the specification up on their website, even prior to their October launch. I personally think it's good marketing, and yes plus the leak prior to their press release.
Sid, I am sorry I didn't spell out the spec re the 46" here and just assumed I stated it or it's understood. My fault no doubt about it.

My Cable Service is back

On Saturday, the cable engineer came, and basically he just made some calls to headquarter and problem solved. There was no swapping of any boxes. When we first got our new box, we got some premium channels for 2 nights, and apparently when the 2-night trial period was over, somebody made some mistakes to our service and we got no service at all. We tried to trouble-shoot over the phones 3 times, the first 2, we made the calls, the 3rd time, actually TWC called us. So it's not lack of trying on their part, it's just I don't know how to say it in a polite diplomatic tone. Anyway, I found out something interesting. During the 2 days I didn't have cable service, I just directly plugged the cable into the HDTV ANT1 plug, I know I would get some channels but it didn't occur to me that I would get the network's HD feed over the cable as well. I guess that's one of the good thing with an ATSC tuner on board. One day, if the cable service becomes too bad, I might just cancel all the services and plug in the cable.
I ordered an HDMI cable, and surprise, the audio doesn't work, I searched the Internet and seems like it's an known issue, TWC just doesn't really support HDMI from their SA 8300HD box. So back to component again. Good thing I didn't buy any $100 HDMI.
46HM95
I was trying to register my 46HM95 via Toshiba's website. Guess what, their model drop-down doesn't have the HM95 models listed, and it doesn't allow free form model input. So much so for their award winning website. I am getting tired of their website, how can they not even put out product information for their production models? It's just pure frustration for any owner or potential owner of their products. I mean the TV is good but their marketing or website really leave something or a lot more to be desired.

My Cable service is disconnected.

And I am enjoying my blockbuster video rental, just like the Blockbuster webpage below. The movie I just saw was the critically acclaimed Sideway. It's not bad a movie. I enjoy it, probably because I am middle-aged.
My SA 8300HD STB told me in the morning my cable service is disconnected and I have to call my cable operator. So my HD days are very shortlived, less than 2 days. We made an appointment to have the cable guy come in to see what's going on. Good thing I have blockbuster.

We all enjoy Time Warner Cable and Blockbuster

I use Time Warner Cable and Blockbuster, and I am sure a lot of people do. TWC and Blockbuster do have a lot in common, say their webpages. I read from hoovers.com that they do have some kind of marketing partnership. So when you are tired of watching cable you rent a blockbuster, or vice versa.
Cable, seat yourself on the right, Blockbuster, seat yourself on the left, just like so as illustrated.
I am proud of the stock photographer.

HDTV, Toshiba 46HM95

Finally. It's here. Toshiba 46HM95, the yeti of a TV, it's existence can't even be confirmed on Toshiba's Website as of August 16, 2005. Essentially, Toshiba doesn't have its latest on sale production model on their website. I emailed the good folks at Toshiba for information, and I got some conflicting data: the Customer Service Support folks insist it's using TI HD4 chip as it's one of their 2005 models. However, any of their web authorized dealers who bother to put up the spec says it's TI HD2+ Chip (just like last year's HM94 models). And their press release, kind of says the same thing, only their 2005 1080p models use HD4 chip and the 46HM95 isn't a 1080p model.
This is my first HDTV set, so any comments herein are just like very personal.
I feed the HDTV from TWC's SA8300HD VCR via component input. I thought they only have DVI so I bought a DVI to HDMI. Again their TWC's website kind of lacks the information I want. I always fail to appreciate any website with fancy graphics, I mean they don't mean anything at all to me, all the fancy flash, context drop-down menu, if I can't find the spec I want, the hard facts I am looking for. The SA8300HD set actually has HDMI output...so I could have bought a $6 HDMI cable instead of the DVI to HDMI cable....but the component feed looks pretty good to me already.
In summary, the set lives up to my expectation. HD stations are great, indeed beyond great. SD feeds varies from station to station, overall, definitely no worse than my old SD set. The brightness, the contrast, the color are all good. I guess it now comes down to durability, long term usage experience.
I have some legacy A/V hardware, I just spent some time to set them up....

Cellular, "Ryan I can't loose you"

I am watching the movie Cellular, starring Kim Bassinger. I have the caption on, and I keep reading, "Ryan, I can't loose you." I don't know, I think it should be "lose." They spent $25,000,000 on the film so perhaps they are right, I don't know. On August 3, I got an email from Sony's ImageStation, it's signed off like this
quote
Sincerely,
You're friends at Sony's ImageStation online photo service
unquote
I wonder how much the PR or whatever firm got paid for writing that. Whatever they got, I will do it for half. And yes, I will write the movie caption too for half. My English is just as good or ehhhh bad but I am half as expensive. So email me, we will talk.

HDTV, Nikkor and confused

I went to P.C.Richard and watched TV. The Mets game was on, and they had it playing for quite some time. I believe they have the signal from Time Warners. The Mets game wasn't HD but people liked to watch the game. I managed to watch some HD nevertheless. The non-HD feed isn't very nice.
I checked out the SONY KDF-E42A10 and the E50A10. I found the 42" model looks better. The 50" color for some reason, doesn't look quite right, the color is muted, the contrast is lacking. I want the SONY to look good because that's what I wanted and researched. I also got to see the Toshiba 52HM94, the contrast is better, seems more detail, or not as smooth as the SONY's. At times, the Toshiba seems too bright. I did try to adjust the 50" SONY but to no avail, I just can't get the contrast right. The Toshiba uses DLP while the SONY uses 3LCD.
I am also looking at the Nikon 80~200 f2.8.
I CONSUME THEREFORE I AM. I am just another consumer.

Yellow Flower, Nikon D70 mated with MF 35~105 f3.5~4.5

Taken in my backyard. Nikon D70 with ehhhh Nikkor 35~105 1:3.5~4.5 manual focus. D70 won't meter with this old lens, but doesn't matter, the instant replay on the LCD certainly helps and the good thing is there is no such thing as corrrect exposure. I expose the way I like it. I found the lens actually take sharper picture. I shot this in macro mode.

Mozzarrela, tomato & basil - Nikon D70

Another shot using my D70 and Nikkor 35~105 with macro. The lens was bought quite some time ago, more than 15 years I guess. The meter doesn't work with older lens so I guessed the exposure. The lens is well built, by that I mean it's all metal and kind of heavy. When I have it attached to my D70, the whole camera suddenly feels front heavy, not as well balanced as when the 18-70 is attached.

Superman

...need I say more. Harry is just not quite ready to be photograhed.

Superman

Harry doesn't like to be photographed. He likes just being superman.

Alex as Superman.

Alex as Superman. Costume courtesy of Yuen and Christina. Thanks. Notice it comes with a cape, although it doesn't really let you fly.

Backyard Pathway

Backyard pathway
It took me 2 years to get to this stage. The bricks were bought from Home Depot at, I think, 49 cents a piece. It looks easy when somebody is doing it. For me, every step is difficult. Dig the soil out, level the ground, lay down the foundation layers, lay down the pavers, cut them. I borrowed a electrical tile saw but turned out too small for cutting the brick, I didn't even try. I ended up buying a big chisel and a hammer to break the pavers. I didn't cut every curve and corner in the end. Just left them the way they are. I guess it's always a work in progress. I am quite happy with the result.

Backyard Pathway

Backyard Pathway.
This is another view of the pathway. The plants there are basil, rosemary, and some yellow flowers. The bench bought brand new from Ikea, little did I know I shouldn't bother to apply a layer of waterproof. It took forever for it to get dry or realistically not too sticky. After a month, it's still a a little bit sticky but one can definitely sit on it. Hopefully it will be very very waterproof or weatherproof.

Nikon Coolpix

Nikon Coolpix. This is my Coolpix 990. It did take some great pictures and silent video. It was serviced twice by Nikon, one was a drop, and another was a drop. Seems like I couldn't keep it in my hand. The last time it failed it was out of warranty, not even the American Express Buyers Assurance program can help. So I set it aside and bought a Canon G3. In the end, I decided I could service it myself with some help from the Internet. I serviced it myself a few months ago and it went great and this is where it stands now. Another work in progress. I am in denial it can never be fixed.

Movies I saw: The Thing, Collateral, War of the Worlds, Wedding Crashers

I saw The Thing many years ago when I was a student back in Hong Kong. I rented it again via Blockbuster mail rental, which may not be the exact name, but I think it's kind of like the Netflix model anyhow. The movie holds up pretty well, I saw some of the bonus material and was impressed by the matte paintings that eventually turn into the Arctic backdrops.
The other see-again-on-DVD movie was a recent release, Collateral. Cruise plays against type and does deliver. I like the movie, the look, the tempo and the dialogue. I think it's rather underrated, although box office wise, it did make over $100M, but then again, it's Tom Cruise, we wouldn't expect anything less. I also saw his recent release, War of the Worlds. One thing I don't quite get is his jeans. Why would a character like him choose to wear a rather low rise, slightly flair jeans? I think one might even have rivets on the back pockets. I just don't quite get it. I mean it's possible. But I think it would be more 'appropriate' for the character to wear something like Carhartt or some Levi's or Wrangler....
I saw Wedding Crashers in a movie house, it's a Lowe's in Queens, I didn't expect much but I really wouldn't go to that theatre again. I saw 'The Hulk' there, and the film was not even focused. And history does repeats itself. I was in the theater watching not very focused commercials, hoping that the feature would be focused. But hell no, the feature is not focused and the picture is simply sub-par. But the funny thing is nobody seems to mind or notice. Sometimes I rather spend $10.75 to watch a movie in the city, they have better quality control. I watched Batman, and the picture is just top notch. Wedding Crashers doesn't make a whole lot of sense, even in its own manufactured environment. But it sure has its fun moments. My wife and I had a pretty good time albeit the not so focused screen....

Central Park, New York City

another one. not sharp. blame it on Jin. The hot helicopter toy Alex is playing is from Tony and Misako. thanks.

PowerRangers found in Central Park. The two rangers were having fun enjoying the Summerstage '05 event with Dan Zanes and Friends. I saw the band on Noggin.

Sunday in Central Park, Manhattan

This is a sharper one. The 18-70 is OKAY sharp. not very sharp. Or I have yet to test it. I havent' sharpened my pictures for the longest time. Just post them as is. Good expression, taken by Jin.

Bryant Park, NYC, WiFi hotspot connected

It works, like expected. When things work like expected, I think it's just great. I don't know if I have lowered my expectation or what, I tend to think if only things work as they claim it's great already. More often than I'd like to experience, things simply don't work according to their spec. I work in the IT field, sort of, so nothing really surprises me.
I bought a SanDisk Connect-Plus low power Wi-Fi card from Amazon's marketplace. The buying experience is OK, i mean the ordering experience from Amazon has always been very good. The communications between the seller and I were less than satisfactory. To cut to the chase, I did receive the card all right and it works, like expected. My only complaint is the card doesn't come with any utility for Windows Pocket PC 2003, not from the miniCD nor from their web site. I downloaded their latest driver from the website and it works. I emailed SanDisk, seems like they have no intention to release any utility for Pocket PC 2003. That said, I think their service is an OKAY. Any wifi card add-on is obsolete by today's standard anyway so I can see that there is no reason to support this product. I use a hp iPAQ hp2210.

It's almost Done

picture by Jin taken with a Nikon D70, AF-S 18-70 f1:3.5-4.5G set at auto.
I really have no complaint on my Nikkor 18-70 lens, the sharpness and all. The color rendition and the skin tones, when used with D70, are really pretty good, considering sometimes I shoot everything JPEG fine in auto with no post processing at all.

Hair Cut on July 18, 2005

Just some touch up. Photos look better when I am in front of the camera (Jin took better pictures not that I am photogenic). Photo taken with a Nikon D70, AF-S Nikkor 18-70

Harry Got A Buzz Cut

I myself need a haircut too I think.

ck one, live billboard in Times Square

ck one, calvin klein's latest live billboard campaign in Times Square. Essentially it's sex in a bottle. It didn't really stop traffic, but certainly attracted gawkers like me. I got some samples and have yet to put it on. It's summer if you must wear cologne or such, make sure they don't smell anything. I heard Japanese perfumes actually achieved that essential odorlessness.

Catherine's Six Year Old Birthday Party

Vivien and her buddies.

Caterpillar Roller Coaster Ride, Adventureland, LI

Caterpillar roller coaster ride. Jin and Alex. I am quite happy with the D70's focus speed and tracking.

Catherine, Alex and little Harry.

Catherine and Alex. The young and happy. I wish I could be this happy.
Nikon D70, AF-S 18-70.

Catherine and Alex, and Harry too...catching bubbles.

Catherine and Alex, catching bubbles.

Catherine, the happy 6 year old Birthday Girl

Catherine, the taxi driver. One of my favorite pictures of the day. Nikon D70, AF-S 18-70, aperture priority with in-camera exposure compensation +1 or something close.

Catherine and Vivian

Catherine and Vivian

Adventureland, LI

Catherine and Alex

Catherine and Alex

Catherine and Alex

Adventureland, Long Island

it was Catherine's 6 year old party. We were invited to Adventureland to have some fun. And fun we have. Jin flying high.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Jim Carrie at his most tolerable, natural, if not the best performance so far. Kate Winslet, it's always a pleasure to look at a pretty woman. Then you have a good story that actually makes sense, that is in its own way. Kristen Dunst dancing in her underwear doesn't hurt either. Enjoyable.

A Better Tomorrow

Watching A Better Tomorrow on DVD. It's not a good transfer but at least it was in its orginal Cantonese dialogue. The actors were at their best. The movie jump started Chow Yun Fat's career.

When Flushing Smells You Know it's Summer

Downtown Flushing is where I take the number 7 train to and from work. It's starting to smell as summer is heating up.