As a Living Circles sponsor for World Wildlife Foundation Canada (and possibly, my age group and ethnicity), I was asked to be one of several interviewees endorsing WWF Canada, to potentially provide material for their tv show. They were looking for 10 seconds worth, but would shoot far more so as to cull the most appropriate.
Archive for August, 2006
Fame remaining: 14 minutes 50 seconds
Posted by GJ on August 22, 2006
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Pigeons on the balcony
Posted by GJ on August 20, 2006
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Feline modelling
Posted by GJ on August 20, 2006
Feline model? Sure, why not? She’s already got a shoe fetish:

(She really does. Slippers, sandals, running shoes… if my shoes are out, she’s claimed it).
To prepare for her future career, as her dedicated photographer, I’ve taken to “photoshopping” her pictures:
| Before | After |
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I diligently removed the leftover lint from, uh, previous indiscretions, and the stray dust particle obscuring her dark, mysterious eyes.
So really, as I find (i.e. make up) reasons to practice with digital editing, I’m finding it’s surprisingly easy. It requires some patience, but hopefully I’ll get faster as I learn.
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Mother’s Dumplings
Posted by GJ on August 17, 2006
Featured online on NOW Magazine, Mother’s Dumpling was billed as a “cheap-eats champ”. Considering that most dumplings avaialble from grocery stores (Asian or otherwise) are actually quite poor, I was looking forward to seeing what these dumplings might be like.
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The cost of cats
Posted by GJ on August 10, 2006
Now I remember why I bought a new litter box last year rather than wash it. Blech! They’re lucky I like them so much (or is that the Toxoplasma talking?).
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Seattle wedding 2006 : take two
Posted by GJ on August 9, 2006
A scant three weeks after one wedding in Seattle, I was on my way back to Seattle for a repeat. I really like heading out there to see familiar faces and reconnect, but Pearson and SeaTac aren’t conveniently placed (unlike SJC). As usual, however, I had a very good time.
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Homemade ice cream: super-vanilla sugar bomb flavour
Posted by GJ on August 6, 2006
On a lark, I trotted out the old ice cream maker, froze it overnight, and picked up some whipping cream on the way home from church.
Being a creature driven by whimsy, I looked up a sample recipe on the Internet, figured out the ratios, and guesstimated two cups of sugar for four cups of cream, with a “splash” of vanilla extract.
Lesson #1: my ice cream maker can’t handle four cups of liquid. Not only does it not fit, but there isn’t enough refrigerant to freeze even three cups of cooled mixture.
Lesson #2, which came after rescue measures for Lesson #1: eyeballing the ingredients is fun, but ultimately risky. I had a teaspoon and I think I’m on a sugar high already. The fat and sugar content would put Haagen Daaz and Ben&Jerry’s to shame.
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Gray Wolf II Panoview projector screen
Posted by GJ on August 6, 2006

I was able to order this screen as a free benefit of purchasing the Optoma DV10 projector. Unfortunately, they only delivered to the United States, but through one of the receipt-and-delivery services, I got the screen for a cost that was still substantially less than retail.
I had some doubt about whether it would make a difference. I eventually discovered it did, but I initially didn’t pay enough attention to the instructions. In particular, the instructions say to position the screen so that the bottom of the screen is at seated eye level (i.e. look slightly upwards to the screen).
It achieves its contrast boost by taking the light that would normally scatter to the sides and focusing it back down the centre, in a downward angle. The change in light intensity by moving the eye elevation (sitting vs. standing) is quite noticeable. The screen position in the picture above was a poor one, as it was too low.
Compared to the walls, the colour was much more “blue” - probably from the grey colour, and probably more accurate than the wall.
The screen also has a chemical smell when unrolled. It was stronger when I first got the screen, but even months later has yet to dissipate. I don’t know if it ever will. Perhaps it persists due to infrequent screen use and generally being left rolled up.
Overall, it definitely makes a difference when using the projector during the daytime. It doesn’t substitute for thick curtains, but it turns an unusable image to a tolerable one when complete darkness isn’t an option. I do wish the chemical smell would go away though.
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The Sugar: HK style snacks and desserts
Posted by GJ on August 6, 2006
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The cruel grasp of an MD-90 airplane seat
Posted by GJ on August 3, 2006
I’ve never been particularly afraid of flying. I’m cognizant that I am thousands of feet above ground, and that I could plummet for as many seconds before landing in a very painful way… but I can rationalize that it’s like worrying about being struck by lightning, i.e. out of my control.
However, selection of airplanes, and in particular, airplane seats, is under my control. The design of the seats on Delta’s MD90 fleet was also presumably under the control of some sadistic chair engineer of some sort.
Hopefully I’m being unfair, and the MD90 chairs grew into a crippling, convoluted, C-shape from years of use, rather than intelligent design. If the latter, that would mean that similar seats are being designed for other airplanes not yet in production! The horror!
Am I really so old that the shape of a seat for 90 minutes can be so painful? I hope not, because as I write this, 240 minutes of the same are coming up!
[Update: Thanfully, I ended up sleeping through most of the second leg. I'm definitely going to start taking into account plane model for future trips!]
[Update: Forgot a picture. It's a mannequin for some clothing shop in the Salt Lake City airport. It's rather frightening, no? Clownlike I guess.] 
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