20+ years already and yet you haven’t change much… and that’s a good thing!

In 1988, I left Hong Kong to continue my college study in the US. Since then I lost contact with most of my friends and classmates. Through Facebook, I get to reacquaint with some of them. It was amazing. This summer, one of them came to visit me with her family…

Last night, I dined with a high school classmate and her family. We were classmate for two years, F.4 and F.5, in HK. I/We called her “San Jei” which also means big sister. She now has a 5+ years old boy and a 3+ years old girl, adorable kids. As for herself, she hasn’t change much… and that’s a good thing.

I still remember what a straight forward person she was, talked loudly and with a big smile on her face all the time. Although she is pretty tall for female, I got to meet her sisters, one older and one younger, and surprisingly she is indeed the shortest. I now know why I was so small comparing to her back then. :-) Her younger sister’s boy is expected to be about at least six and a half feets tall if it’s not taller.

We have great fun chatting during dinner. As I mentioned, I got to meet her sisters and their family. For this summer trip, ten people were traveling, five adults and five children ranging from one to eight years old, to Arizona, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. I am sure it’s going to be one heck of a trip that will be remembered and talked about for many years to come.

Someone who share a slide of your past reapprear after so many years... what a wonderful feelings!

BB Boy held his own bottle

Day 148, my son is holding his own bottle…

On four months and twenty-eight days old, my son held his own bottle and finished it for the first time. What an accomplishment! After the first agonizing three months trying to adapt to the new lifestyle (I meant us, not the babies to be specific.), this is the second most helpful good news come right after them being able to sleep through the night. Although my daughter is still leaning how to hold her's, I am sure she will catch up to her “younger” brother very soon. I am encouraging the competition early. :-)

My daughter's first word... Helppooo

4 months and 10 days old, my daughter looked at me and said "Help" clearly, slowly and softly. I felt joyful that she started practising how to speak, and then felt a bit weird... "Help"?

I know it was not what she really meant because immediately after saying "Help" followed by "pooo" and bubbles... cute and adorable.

I was told by my parents parenting is hard as my mother always say to me "... wait until you have your own child and then you'd know how it feels" Now I know. The babies would go from happy to unhappy, satisfying to irritating and back and fore in a split second. Just right about when you're going to pat yourself on the back... they started crying. Arrrggg! I calmed down, I started right the way to diagnose, of course the check list... in my head I ran the list... hungry? no. wet? no. burp? no. too hot too cold? no. nothing works... then I laid her down in her crib and she stopped and felt asleep. "... I am tired... put me down you idiot" OH! for crying out loud that's what she was saying. Sighs!

Then, it got me thinking... Is it gonna get better or worst? which leads to the next question Do I know my parents better now than say 10 years ago? better yet... Do they know/understand me more now than 10 years ago? Sadly, now I know the answer to my first question. I know if I do what my parents did and my kids do what I did, history will repeat itself.

In the most humble way possible I ask God what can I do then I pray... and that's all I can do. Thanks God for giving us Lance and Shana. Thanks God for speaking to me through my daughter... "Help".

35mm DOF Adapter for Canon HF S100

In the picture:
Canon HF S100
DIY DOF Adapter
Nikon 50mm 1.8 D Lens

It took me about 5 man hours but span over 2 mos to build my version of this DIY DOF Adapter. I spent most of my time sourcing for parts. Once the parts are found, it is pretty easy to put together. Why DOF Adapter? I think I am a bit obsessed with it for the effects that it brings to an otherwise normal and boring camcorder. Here is a picture of how it looks like... the final product!!!

Now, the Adapter:

I made it with PVC pipe's joints (Joint A looks like a reducer with external screw threads and Joint B looks like a cap that fits nicely to the screw threads of Joint A), bayonet from a cheap canon macro extension tube, 58mm UV filter, 58mm PL, 2x 49mm UV filter, Canon Ee-A focusing screen (FS), tiny motor from an old broken Treo 600 or any cell phone that can vibrate, and both ends of a phone cords with RJ11 connectors.

I glue most parts with super glue, quick and easy, except for the motor as it is located right on the glass surface of one of the 49mm filter that is facing the 35mm lens. The 49mm filters, with glass, sandwich with the FS in the middle which fits perfectly, and the whole thing fits right inside Joint A... what a geometry!!! It's a bit tight but it fits and you do want it tight in order to fix it in place. The 49mm filters provide a good casing to protect the FS and fixing it in place at 42.6 mm from the bayonet. The bayonet was also glued onto Joint A for attaching to 35mm lenses. Next, glue the 58mm UV filter, without glass, to Joint B for attaching to a 58mm PL, also without glass, and then to the HF S100 camcorder. The 58mm PL allows the DOF to turn freely to align the FS to the camcorder. You will find it handy! The tiny motor was soldered to a regular phone cord with the RJ11 connector for attaching to an external power source (an AA battery) then was glued on the 49mm filter. That's pretty much it. The total costs for this adapter was about $50. Test footage @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvq9dv5E8AA

no good deed goes unpunished

finally, it's about time for me to put this bag of #%#@ behind me...

in my own private life i have a few principles so as my work life... things like... never hire your friends and/or relatives, never conduct any business transactions with your friends and/or relatives, and never ever buy from or sell to your friends and/or relatives... well, come to think of it, there is only 1 principle... do nothing serious with your friends and/or relatives.

why do i say this? because in my past life, i've always wanted to help especially the ones that are close to us i.e. friends, relatives... however, it always turns out ugly.

i helped a friend once to find a job. so i introduced him to my boss and we ended up working together. it was great at the beginning but then it got worse by the day. at the beginning, he'd deliberately introduce himself as me, took my credits, confused my clients and co-workers. in the end i confronted him... he said, "this is my only chance to advance..." i thought... ok, if that's what you think. i was young and therefore i was quite mad but there was nothing i can do about it. we're not friend anymore... at least not to my standard...

i helped a relative once to find a job. so i introduced him to my boss and we ended up working together. (that sounds awfully familiar)... well, to cut the store short... this guy ended up went behind our company's back and promised the client that he can handle the work with or without us. so he was hired by our client and we're outed. never confronted him but he's not my relative even we still are technically... but definitely not to my standard...

i helped a friend once when she needed money. my wife and i both agreed to lent her the money. never heard back from her...

the list goes on and on... i thought i might be rude and arrogant at times but i never intentionally trying to hurt anyone... right? or is it one of those things like the one in a movie where you might have done it but you don't know, "the fact that you're here hurts me" like that...

never ends... so i decided i need to break this off by archiving it... in other words, write in down, record it electronically, then remove it from my brain permanently. it seems to work with my emails :)

i think these things that i did were stupid. will i do it again? probably... it's in my genes... in the end i asked... did i help someone? hmmm... perhaps that's all that's matter...