Monthly Archives: January 2009

Getting Back on Track

★ Posted on at 07:24 pm ★

barossa valley

A pretty nice view from the Bethany cellar door at Barossa Valley. Still rummaging through the images I took and just editing a few every now and then. I was looking through the images I took in 2004 with my first digital camera and I was just terrible at everything from blurry images, blown out highlights, bad framing etc.

Having a way better camera helps, but taking pictures isn’t an innate skill for me (figuring out how computers work is!). It’s taken 4 years now from taking my own photos, looking back at them, looking at other photos, reading books and just trying out new stuff that helps you improve and provide more satisfaction with each subsequent click you take.

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Just upgraded this blog to WordPress 2.7. The new interface is pretty snazzy. I’m trying to go more for a Twitter/blog style and I think I will be making incremental changes to this site over the next few months. A different approach compared to before when I had plenty of time to just sit and think things through. These days I have like 30 minutes here and there to indulge in personal pursuits. Too many things to do, too little time.

Have also been testing out Linux on my Eee PC. It’s fascinating that you can install an operating system on a USB memory stick, boot it up, and have a web browser, instant messenger and other utilities to get things done. All this is run from memory and from there, you can go on to do a permanent installation on a separate SD card, which is also permanently residing on the Eee. I wasn’t keen to mess up the default Windows installation on the SSD and this is currently a good compromise (at the expense of performance due to the slower read/write times of the SD card).

Geek speak aside, I’m very much a sponge again at the moment wanting to learn and try everything. Have a backlog of posts to type out, like the Adelaide trip as well as the previous year in review. More exploits to come.

Starting January – 2009

★ Posted on at 07:11 am ★

pelicans

Starting out the new year not in front of a television set or within visual or listening distance of any fireworks. It was all rather quiet as I was out at Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island when the year rolled over.

Spent the days post Boxing Day in South Australia, just visiting places, trying the local foods, and taking plenty of pictures. The above was from the pelican feeding at Kingscote on KI, a daily event where they’d show off the pelicans of the island in a feeding frenzy when fish is thrown into the water.

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The weather was relatively nice, ranging around the low 20′s and it’s a far cry from freezing this time round last year in New York. Had a little seafood for dinner and saw the penguins in their natural habitat that night. It was slightly cloudy but you could see the cascade of stars over the southern hemisphere.

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2009. Every year seems to be just work hard and play hard. I’m in a different field now, less finance, more bean counting (accounting). My programming skills still come in handy every now and then, and it’s one of the few things I’m keen on to learn in my spare time, so I’d continue doing that. Took the CFA Level 1 exam last year. Failing the paper means the end of it, although it’s sad to see 3 months of effort go to waste. Passing the paper is just as bad, as it means that I have to consider that some time down the road I need to sit for the next paper. Will see how it goes.

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Seem to have a few items lined up for the year. Tickets I booked last year for shows I’d watch sometime this year. My cousin’s wedding in September. A vacation to someplace I haven’t been, either Europe, Taiwan or Japan. More effort into improving my photography. Less gadgets hopefully, but making the most out of what I already have (sounds hard!).

Wasn’t really waiting for 2008 to end to start anew, but now that 2009 is here, I’m just keen to do it all over again.