colinwoon

2012 Houston Auto Show

2012-02-03T02:00:00.161-06:00

There were plenty of cars on display at the 2012 Houston Auto Show. Cars from 37 manufacturers, states the program guide. Some beautiful, some ugly, some exciting, some boring, some affordable, and some insanely unaffordable.

Ferrari F2004. Michael Schumacher's 2004 Championship winning F1 car.

If only I can sit in the cockpit and rev the engine a little, just a little.

The body just scream speed.

Lexus LFA - MSRP start at US$375,000. Yup, keep dreaming.

Took 10 years to design & develop, it has a V10 engine and a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer body. Definitely a state of the art machine.

Lamborghini Aventador - A V-12 700hp beast.

Looks like a spaceship.

Looks fast too, doesn't it? And it is, 0-60mph in 2.9sec.

The tail of a Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante.

Scion FR-S a.k.a. Toyota FT-86 in Asia.

A 200hp rear wheel drive "fun" car.

On sale in 2013 with an estimated MSRP at around US$25,000, a steal!

Pineapple Tart (Tired)

2012-01-21T21:03:00.001-06:00

Chinese New Year is almost here.

Being away from our family, one way to create Chinese New Year atmosphere here beside gathering with friends is to bake some Chinese New Year delicacy, pineapple tart (or roll) that is. It is one of the many wonderful Chinese New Year food in Malaysia.

Required main ingredient, plenty of them.

A wonderful wife is also required.

Enlist some girls power.

Plenty of girls power are needed.

Many hours in the making. The results are simply delicious.

Though we don't have many pieces to go around, hanging out with a bunch of good friends on a Saturday afternoon are definitely worth it.

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Another Year Another Set of Photos

2011-12-30T03:00:00.003-06:00

Remember those kiddos I took photos of last year? Well, I took another set of adorable photos of them again last month. They are definitely fun to photograph.

This is my final blog post for 2011. Hopefully I'm able to update my blog more frequently in 2012!

Vancouver Trip - Final Chapter

2011-12-28T02:00:00.002-06:00

I figure I should update my much neglected blog with some of the photos taken this year before the new year roll around.

So here it is, some snap shots of Vancouver, as well as Whistler(home of 2010 Winter Olympic).

Outside of Vancouver Convention Centre.

2010 Winter Olympic Torch

A quite unique gas station.

Pixelated Orca

The Gastown Steam Clock

Obviously this is the Granville Island Public Market.

Vancouver Public Library's Central Branch

Whistler, British Columbia

Whistler's Village Stroll. A HDR(High Dynamic Range) photo.

Plenty of chairs around to relax.

Splendid Vancouver

2011-10-18T01:00:00.125-05:00

I think the reason Vancouver is such a beautiful city is partly due to the awesome public parks it offers. Agreed?

Cherry Blossom at Burnaby Mountain Park

We missed the full bloom by a few weeks, fortunately there are still some for us to admire.

Serenity Now!

Queen Elizabeth Park

Many variety of tulips at Queen Elizabeth Park, obvious?

Typical landscape of Vancouver, as view from Queen Elizabeth Park.

Flower around the neighborhood.

I think this is what dandelion are for.

More neighborhood flowers.

Somewhere north of Vancouver there is this park.

And there is a bridge.

As seen on the bridge.

A relaxing spot on the other side of the bridge.

Do not attempt to hike this path with high heels.

A totem pole at Horseshoe Bay Park.

Street lined with Cherry Blossom at Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia.

Prospect Point at Stanley Park.

An interesting unknown flower.

More totem poles at Stanley Park.

Coast Salish Gateways. Vancouver's Stanley Park is a great park. At 1001 acre, it's a huge urban park!

Magnificent Vancouver

2011-08-03T23:57:00.005-05:00

Vancouver, Canada, is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have been to. More photos from this wonderful city in the coming week.

A spectacular panoramic view of the city from Stanley Park.

A Weekend in Seattle

2011-06-03T02:00:00.268-05:00

Seattle is the northernmost major city in the contiguous United States, and the largest city in the Pacific Northwest and the state of Washington (per Wikipedia), about 4.5hrs flight from Houston, TX.

Seattle was also the first destination of our 2 weeks trip. Though a short stay, it was great one for us.

Pike Place Market, a must go, said one of my friend. Great atmosphere, great food, plenty to explore, what not to like?

The market overlook the Elliott Bay.

Raw tuna from one of the fish store. So buttery, so flavorful, so goood!

Yup, they sell boneless banana too!

"Really Freakin Sweet" - no kidding, we tried.

World first Starbucks is there too, still using the original logo.

Springtime in Texas

2011-04-15T02:00:00.051-05:00

The sign of spring next to a Texas farm road.

A Laugh & A Smile

2011-04-08T02:00:00.052-05:00

A laugh...

& a smile like this...

ought to bring you some joy right?

Supermoon

2011-04-02T02:00:00.022-05:00

Supermoon of March 19, 2011

Kiddos Photos Encore

2010-12-11T22:19:00.000-06:00

Remember those adorable kiddos from "Kiddos + Chocolate = Happy Mess!"? Well, I took some more photos of them last weekend. It was a blast to capture playful moments of these loving brother and sister.

All these photos were captured with my brand spanking new 5D Mark II, I just love this new camera!

5DII, Really?!

2010-11-07T21:18:00.001-06:00

I pinched myself, not to verify if I'm dreaming but to verify if I have lost my senses. Yup, I bought THE Canon 5D Mark II. Finally bit the bullet and went for it.

Will it help me take wonderful photos? It better be, for the amount of the money I spent on it, it should give me a nice massage too!

Lotus Exige, Yet Again!

2010-10-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

The same Lotus Exige as featured in "2 Guys 1 Car 1600 Miles", roughly a year later with some minor face lifts. And I have yet to own one, maybe, just maybe... Ah!!! Who am I kidding? Life goes on anyway.

Free time, where art thou?

Kiddos + Chocolate = Happy Mess!

2010-09-02T20:18:00.051-05:00

Photographed these adorable kiddos a few months ago at a birthday party.

Wild Flower Photos?! About Time!!!

2010-08-03T08:03:00.001-05:00

The wild flowers in Texas were long gone and I have yet to post the photos I captured months ago. I think I should post it before the next wild flowers season...

"Yellow wild flower" is all I know about these flowers.

That's "Guts", our friends' dog.

Texas State Flower, Blue Bonnet.

I wonder which is the dominant wild flower color this year? Yellow maybe?

Hard at work.

What do you think? Better than last year wild flower photos?

Apologies to all my blogger friends, I know I haven't checked out your blog for a while, I should and I will, soon, I hope...

Koci

2010-06-11T18:13:00.013-05:00

Another wonderful Malaysia delicacy whipped out by wifey last weekend.

Kuih Koci, glutinous rice flour filled with a sweet shredded coconut - simply fantastic!

Blogging has been relegated to a non-priority task in my weekly schedule these days, buried under tons of other unfinished tasks and projects. Wouldn't it be nice if I don't need sleep to function.

Recharging...

2010-04-22T17:22:00.043-05:00

At 2, little Ben's few simple responsibilities are to eat, poop, play, and sleep. Calling it responsibilities might actually sounds a little exaggerated, it's more like a routine - I'm envious!

Yet I remember how badly I want to be a grown up when I was kid. All because grown ups get to do cool things, they get to decide what they want to do, they can eat whatever they want, they can drive, and they have money!!!

Now that I have experienced grown up life for the past...well...many many years, I want to be a kid again, I want that carefree and blissful life! And with a few drop of tear down the chubby cheek, all faults can be and will be forgiven. Such trick will never works as an adult, especially when you're a man.

Little Ben ~~napping~~ recharging, so he can wreak havoc again when he wakes up.

For those new to my blog, little Ben is the kid of our close friends here, who's frequently featured on my blog HERE and HERE.

6:31AM Spring Time Houston

2010-04-13T17:30:00.004-05:00

Taken on the way to work. Color like this occur mostly during Spring or Fall when the temperature is cool, I think.
Probably a dumb thing to do while driving, so, don't try this at home, kids!

Playing With Lights

2010-04-05T17:00:00.005-05:00

Photography is in fact light capture. Something I've been trying to learn in the past two and half years. So many things to learn, so little time...

Pooh sitting there, unwillingly, while I snap away.

My "simple" lighting setup, that's all I can get with my limited budget. Talking about that, I'm accepting donation for a new camera...be generous!

Note to self - Master flash(E-TTL) on camera with GF diffuser pointing up, flash on left(remotely triggered, group B), flash on right(remotely triggered, group C).

Consumed - Promptly

2010-03-30T17:15:00.029-05:00

Orange Agar-Agar(Jello) - seen on somebody's blog. Wifey tried and succeed.

Promptly consumed approximately 5 mins after I took this shot - just can't resist!

Photography note to self - Tripod mounted camera with external flash(pointed up with diffuser) for fill light, sun light from left, remotely triggered flash on the right pointed up, reflector above subject to cast light onto orange cap and to eliminate harsh shadow.

Cards from Across the Pond...

2010-03-18T17:00:00.139-05:00

Without a doubt, internet has brought us many ways to communicate, make it much easier too!

It is also the internet(plus a little bit of laziness of course) that has eliminate many traditional form of communication such as letters and cards, well, for me at least.

I admit, I have substitute letters and cards with emails, ecards, and now facebook messages. Yes, I'm that lazy...

Still, I'm very excited whenever I found a personal card in the pile of junk mail I received daily. Especially when the thoughtful cards are from thousands of miles away...across the Pacific pond...

This was last year Christmas greeting from our best friend, Yin Yin & Annie.

A greeting from a good old friend, H.C., whom I have known since college.

Here's one from Felvinc, a nice blogger and an amazing baker.

She even include a drawing from her son.

And one from Summer, another nice blogger, a student and a great writer.

Yin Yin, Anie, H.C., Felvinc, & Summer, thank you! We really appreciate the thoughts and the efforts in sending these wonderful cards to us!

Where Has All the Time Gone???

2010-03-08T20:49:00.000-06:00

What?! It's March already?! It felt like we just celebrated new year just yesterday!

So what have I been up to other than, well, not updating my blog. Let's see...

I was working mostly. Work is good...I'm not complaining.

When I'm not working I was doing post processing work on A.S. & Sandy's wedding photos I took back in December last year. Yup, last year, procrastinate I will. Took 1600 photos that day, deleted about 700 "bad" photos and took me 3 weeks to post process all 900 plus of them. Fortunately A.S. & Sandy are very very understanding.

And then there was Chinese New Year. Friends + foods + celebration = joy.

Oh, we did "Lo Sang"(Yusheng) on the 7th day of Chinese New Year too! Nicely prepared by Faye, vegetarian style! And we have a very special guest that day, my cousin, all the way from Malaysia. It was awesome!

That's about sums it up. Spring is almost here, hopefully I will have more photos to share soon...

Ready For CNY?

2010-01-22T18:00:00.001-06:00

CNY (Chinese New Year a.k.a Lunar New Year) is getting close. For those of us living in a country where CNY is not that big of a deal, certain food is a good reminder of such great day. Food like...

These Kuih Kapit for instance. Bravo to the girls for enduring the frigid weather to make this!

Faye's specialty, pineapple cookies, a family's recipe too! My photo just don't do justice for this yummy cookies.

Rumor has it, the girls are gathering to make some more CNY delicacy this weekend. Oh yeah!

Frosty Washington DC

2010-01-15T01:00:00.034-06:00

Friend: Why haven't you posted your DC trip photos?
Me: Errr...
Friend: Lazy or busy?
Me: ...

Well, here it is...at long last...

#1 - Frigid temperature, gloomy sky, not a good day to tour Washington, DC. Overcast was so low, we can't even see the top of the Washington Monument from Lincoln Memorial.

#2 - The MAN!

#3 - Definitely sub-zero temperature here.

#4 - Korean War Veteran Memorial.

#5 - Potomac River is beyond these trees.

#6 - Washington Monument.

#7 - The dome inside Capitol Hill.

#8 - And the dome from the outside.

#9 - Hehehe...

White Christmas

2009-12-30T18:15:00.063-06:00

I hope everybody had a great Christmas holiday. I know we did! Uh-oh, I'm bragging, am I? Life's short.

Faye and I visited some good friends in the Washington DC area and for the first time, we had a white Christmas. Yup, the real snow, unlike the 1" of snow we had in Houston a few weeks ago.

I can wake up to a view like this every morning. Wait, no I can't, I don't mind looking at it but I do mind dealing with it.

White snow and blue sky...what a view!

We manage to get some ski time on this trip too! This is where we were on Christmas eve, Wisp Resort, Maryland. The view from our room - can't get any closer to the ski slope than this.

Some shaky video to show too. I was going faster than I had hope, thus the shaky video.