Memorial Day - Monterey Bay - Weekend Photoblog

This is not our first or last trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium. This time it was with my sisters family. They made the holiday memorable..

To top things off we decided to stop at Santa Cruz on our way back and met a bunch of friends. We had a great time.

Some photos from the Aquarium (courtesy the Sigma and the 50 mm prime lens). Focusing through thick glass is still a challenge. You can manually focus on slow moving aquatic subjects and get a shot.



















If you know tricks to get through thick glass shots with an all in one zoom for things that move fast (you have to be 1/400 ~ 1/650 or greater to get a clear shot) do let me know.


.

Let there be light.. lots of it - Photoblog

Nice nap, an hour at the park with the kids to make up for working in the morning.

Time to tune out work and get into the Memorial day spirit.

Say a prayer for military folks who make this quiet day in the park possible, fill up the gas tank, go on some local drives in the next two days. .

The mind wanders through a bunch of thoughts. . . oil dependence, oil spills, oil wars... how everyone knows what the right thing to do is but as a collective we fail!

A wise man told me recently "Sundar, commonsense is more difficult to implement than you think!"

Everyday there is a bitter realization that he is right.

Time for that optimist in me to take a different view of things?


.

Saturday morning, mini idlis, TV, sunlight dancing - photoblog

A looong weekend has started... one breakfast done.. two more to go!



.

Size matters

Came home and tried to engage both kids at the same time.

The little one having spent the last two days pretty much in bed with me all afternoon was missing me terribly. Well, when one gets better, one has to go to office, no?

Told her to draw something for me while Jr. and me were going over math.

LO : I am going to draw our whole family!

Me : good.

LO : So far I have drawn daddy and mommy.. next I will draw Akka (jr.), then me then Paati (grandma)

Me : (was looking at it from a distance) why do I have long hair?

LO : No.. that is mommy. This is you!

Me : bring it here.. show it to me..




Me : so why am I smaller than Amma?

LO : (gives me a sheepish grin) Oh that? This is a picture of you when you were a small boy and this is a picture of Amma when she is already grown up.


To save face at that point, the conversation was stopped.. next thing you know my growing up will be highlighted with a bar graph or pareto chart...

.

Time lapse

A week went by and we are trying to figure out how it just slipped past.

we were there outside the public library playing on the lamp posts and taking photos one minute..




Then we had Jr. bring in a cold. She got out of it in a day but passed it on to the little one. The little one for her turn braved a cold for almost a week.

Even dressed up nicely and supported her sister and helped beautify daddy last weekend..




Did you see how she wiped her nose on her brand new Paavaadai seamlessly before putting that stuff all over my hair? Did you also see that neither Jr. nor myself even noticed it... till we replayed the video!

Then daddy took a turn for the worse. What he thought was allergies went into a full blown infection of sorts to the point of forming pus inside the nose and sinuses.

Now the family has folks waiting in hospital rooms with masks on.




We are almost all recovered with Mom still sniffling and the little one coughing with her mask on.

We are told that things will be back to NORMAL in a day or max two.

Today the parents made a trip outside to get some medicines and it definitely did not look like a summer evening outside at 7PM. It looks and feels like mid December out there!

We have been in the bay area for more than a decade and have never seen this kind of weather in May. Just does not make any sense.

No wonder then that the bodies are reacting the way they do!

Let's keep ignoring the environment and see where this takes the planet and its inhabitants..

I can almost hear my grandma say "Kaliyugam da Sundaram!"


ps. On the plus side, learnt that the hospitals have these masks for kids with Mickey mouse and Donald Duck on them and the kids actually like to wear them and protect their parents from the cough!

If the existence of such mask was known to daddy earlier, would have used it and never gotten into this situation in the first place.

Then again, nowing Jr. and the little one, they would have always found some other creative way to get me sick.

.

I need a day off

Imaginary conversation (that could be very real)

Me: I need a day off tomorrow

Boss : Why?

Me: have to download an iPhone app.

Boss :??!! so? download it. why a day off?

Me: I tried to download it and it says "Apple terms and conditions for iTunes have changed. You have to agree to new terms"..

Boss: so agree and download

Me : It is a 72 page document and I am on page 1 reading about "one click" which belongs to Amazon. have long ways to go.. it says I have to READ and UNDERSTAND and AGREE to the terms before downloading a Flickr app..


Seriously, it is a 72 page document that has to be read and understood before we Agree.

How many iPhone/iTunes users would have actually read this thing, leave alone understand it before agreeing to the terms?

why cannot apple have a voice recorded version of this document? it is faster to listen to 72 pages being read than having to read it, no?

the world becomes sillier by the day..


.

A thousand clicks

Today was a record day of sorts..

First it was the graduation day program at Tamil School.

Jr. has graduated first grade in Tamil! I had a blast watching kids from my class graduate.

Volunteered as a photographer for the event and took close to 900 pictures.

Then a bunch of friends went for a photowalk to Uvas Canyon county park.. and took another bunch of pictures..


Don't remember the last time the shutter took a 1000 counts in a 24 hour period. Came pretty close 6 years ago on my brothers wedding day..

Now the eyes and the hands need a rest..

.

Mothers day

Mother's day is a lot of things to a lot of people... depends on country, culture, commerce.. etc.

All said and done a day where you thank Mom's with an open gesture. It was conceptually new to me because as a kid growing up in India, do not remember any special plans for mothers day or my dad deciding to kiss my mom or buy her special gifts or cook breakfast for her while she woke up late or do a special archanai in the local temple on that day just like he would on her birthday (the archanai of course).

When in Rome, do as the Romans do is what they say (still don't know how the Roman's celebrate Mothers day, but we do know how Californians celebrate) and that means we should have been on the program and schedule.

As fate would have it, I fell sick and pretty much blotched any semblance of plan or schedule.

Woke up this morning with a terrible stuffy nose and painful sinus. Told the little one "wake up.. we have to wish all the moms on mothers day"

LO : Let us go wish mommy

Me : she is still sleeping. don't wake her up. I will call Madras Paati(grandma) and wish her.

LO : why should you wish Paati for mother's day?

Me : what do you mean? She is MY mother. I have to wish my mother on mother's day!

LO : it is MOTHER's day. Not GRANDMA's day!

Me : we have to wish all mothers we know. especially our own mothers. you go wish Amma. I go wish Paati. Amma will wish Bombay (San's mom goes by Bombay Paati or just Bombay in our house)

LO : Now I get it. should I wish Madras Paati too?

Me : yes. and every mom you meet today!


at that point we decide to call Madras Paati.

Me : happy mother's day

My mom : (very hesitantly) Thank you

Me : enna pannindu irukkeL ? (what are you guys doing?)

My mom : silence.....

Me : Enna maa.. pesave maatengare? (what mom.. you are not speaking?)

My mom : was trying to figure out who was on the other side. You must have a really bad cold. what is wrong with your voice? I cannot even recognize your voice? have you been taking care of your health? is it the job? etc. etc.. she almost went to "are you drinking your horlicks every night or not?" we just stopped shy of horlicks and the ennai theichu kuliyal (oil bath). You know you are in trouble if the oil bath makes it into the list of questions.

Me : Please let me talk. I DO have a bad cold. the weather keeps changing outside. Yesterday we went to a birthday party at a local park. it was very warm when we left and walked around in a T-shirt. Suddenly it got very cold and chilly and by evening I had a stuffy nose. It will get better.

Mom : what is the point of wishing mothers day when you are somewhere and I am somewhere and can only see you in pictures? and cannot even recognize your voice?

Me: you have a point there. will come home soon and we can talk, okay?

that cheered her up, at least temporarily...

the sickness kept going. An afternoon nap that was more than a nap. Then we decided to go out and have a drive. San pretty much said "come on now. just sit in the car and I will drive. let's take the kids and my mom out to eat someplace"

so off we go to do some errands and then hit Baja Fresh for an early dinner for the four of them (just had to watch as my stomach wasn't food ready).

We are waiting for San to come out of some store. There is a huge banner on Saratoga Avenue for Lumix Point and shoot camera's.

Jr. : Daddy, when can you buy me my own camera?

Me : I told you that I will buy you one before your next birthday and if not will give it to you as a birthday gift, no?

Jr. : Amma cannot take pictures with your camera anymore. the lens you have there is too complicated for Amma. she doesn't know how to use it.

Me : stop. I can teach her.

Jr. : NO! you cannot. It is very complicated. I have seen it. It has many rings and you keep moving buttons on it and she thought about it that other day and told me "it is too complicated and I don't want to break it and get in trouble with your daddy". We need to be a "camerologist" or something to use your camera. Can you buy me something easy where I can just see the picture on the screen and click?

Me: A camerologist? don't you know a word for someone who takes photos?

Jr.: (sheepishly) Oh yeah! Photographer!

Me : okay. we will think about it.

by the time this conversation was over San showed up and we were off to Baja Fresh..

we were happy, mad, silly, sad and all of the above over a 45 minute period.

Somehow we were all happy that we had each other.

Then we got home and Jr. and the little one insist I sleep with them for a few minutes.

Me : cannot lie down now. Nose is completely blocked. have to inhale vicks

LO : otherwise you will die?

Me : no. I won't die. will feel miserable.

LO : okay. we were worried.

Me : don't worry. everything will be fine.

LO : When is father's day?

Me : Don't know. But don't do anything special for father's day. just pray that we will all be healthy.


Mother's day went with the true realization and appreciation of what Mother's do for you and why they hold such a special place in your heart..

Here is to moms, who make you feel better, who support you when you are up or down and teach you constantly it is not a bad idea to listen to them...


.

Robins - Photoblog

The backyard had a visit from two baby robins..

The older robins were watching from the roof line while the babies were getting the worms, just after the water sprinkler had finished.

Guess they are not old enough to understand the danger of letting humans come close.

Was very close to them and they were so busy with the worms that they didn't even notice me...







The backyard sure provides a lot of amusement for a few minutes every evening to take my mind off work and bring me back to house, kids, quiet, calm..

A big thanks to the baby robins and my babies who spotted them!


.

Portraits....

Love taking shots with the sigma lens at 18mm, with ISO set all the way to 1600 (all the way the 400D will go) and setting the white balance to cloudy. Gives a candle light feel to the shots taken indoors with diffuse lighting.


.

Pencilukkum Eraserukkum Kalyanam (Pencil weds Eraser)

In a move that could make TamilNadu Chief ministers proud, the little one decided to have a mass marriage ceremony for all of Jr.'s pencils and erasers..




The ones on the laptop get free thali, saree and dhoti.. the ones on the couch get only a thali..



.

Time travel

Could not resist this juxtaposition...


.

Cute - Photoblog

this one was sooo lost in the whirlpool created by its parents..


.

An hour at the local Park - Photoblog

Not to mention another half hour with Photoscape playing with some ideas on presenting photos.

Did not know that you could use a spline fit to control the luminance to adjust relative grays to different brightness!

Also caught up on much needed sleep today. An 4 hour afternoon nap?!, if it could be called a nap. Hopefully the energy balance has been restored to keep moving forward for another week.


.

Black and white - Photoblog

Jr. managed to get into the same dress from two years ago. The little one, not so successful.. found a sepia tone dress instead..




Previous B&W photos here..


.