RIP Grandma

Hope you are in a better place now. Although we didn't know each other well, you were the only grandparent I've had, and I want to thank you for what you have done to raise your family. RIP.

New camera!

My faithful Canon A85 finally succumbed to old age (~4 years), and I was actually amazed by how it managed to last this long. 3 years ago it suffered a dramatic fall from the top of a full size fridge (in some Mr Jones' house back when I was in North Carolina), and it went hay-wired for a while before working normally again as if nothing had happened. Lately though, noticeable bands started to appear in the photos it captured, and that's when I decided I need a new camera.

I should thank my dear girlfriend for giving me this wonderful present. It's Canon PowerShot A2000 IS, a model came out as recently as September (yup this month). Let's look at a self portrait:

 

Wanting to do some testing, I took it out to a park across from my apartment and a small lake nearby to take some pictures. I didn't really try out the features, just taking random shots instead. I wonder when I will actually get the chance to use the various functions packed in it, to name a few the fireworks mode and the aquarium mode.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

Meadowland Park not far from my apartment

Small bridge that connects the park and path to lake

Looks like a resort huh?

The lake I mentioned...it beats Yosemite's mirror lake (haha at least in this picture compared to what we saw in winter)

Another view..

Trying out the micro function.

Yesterday also we had a potluck (8 people in total), and I prepared my favorite Malaysian food - Bat Kut Teh!!

The main ingredients

 

End product

Also, when I was done with jogging at Monon Trail today, my neighbor (an Indonesian, but his wife's a Chinese) invited me to his apartment and we chatted for quite a while. Then his wife suggested that we have dinner together, which I did not reject :P. I found out that he has the same surname as me (I do not have a common one), and also discovered that the very first guy I met in the chinese church for badminton is actually his uncle!!! What a small world it is!

In Shapiro Library

I'm currently writing this in UGLI using my laptop which is connected to the UM wireless network. Glad to know that I can still login to the university network using my umich name and password...or should I be worried??

Sports

Recently I have been playing quite some sports. In fact, for the past few days, I managed to play (just to be clear, I am not talking about wii sports here :P ):

Sat - Tennis

Sun - Bowling

Mon - Badminton

Tues - Golf

Wed - Tennis

Fri - Volleyball in AA??

Had my first golf experience 2 days ago, wasn't too bad. I stole some balls from Ken and Jill to practice some swings. Personally I think that driving wasn't too hard, as long as you practice to the point of being able to swing consistently (well that's the key to most sports). We also played some putting on the green. I ended up treating both of them Coldstone because I foolhardily challenged them to a putting game...(gosh)

For sports listed above, other than badminton I'd say I'm playing at beginner's level. Hope as time passes by I will get better in those games...and be a sporty actuary! (as Kai said, insert evil laugh here)

Labor Day

Let me start with an interesting discovery (pardon my ignorance):

"Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer."

                                               -Wikipedia

So I guess fall has officially taken over. For the labor day weekend, I drove back to Ann Arbor to meet up with py and friends. It was another great weekend yet, and as usual enjoyable time flies by. I'm really glad that the Umich Malaysian kampung now has two more members of my age: Wei Ping and Billy. Welcome to the big family!!

On Saturday afternoon, py and I finally got the chance to watch Wall-E. The show had been running for quite a while, and I was quite surprise that they still showed it in Showcase. We enjoyed the movie a lot, and I was again awed by the creativity of and originality of Pixar production. Before the show I had read a lot of great reviews about it, but the movie still topped my expectations, unlike the Dark Knight which disappointed me due to me having high expectations. I personally think this is the best movie of Pixar, even better than my old favorite, Monsters Inc. I'd really like to see this movie get at least a best picture nomination in Oscar...

Speaking of which, I'm actually upset that Pixar is making Cars II. It is understandable why they want to do Toy Story III, but Cars??? I thought it was the lesser one of Pixar's production. There should be a Monsters Inc II....

Back to topic. During my stay in AA, I managed to attend a "Merdeka" bbq organized by UMIMSA. The food was...hmm did I even eat? (lol), and there wasn't much activity going on except chatting. This year the park was pretty crowded, compared to the previous few years. It's sad to say that now I'm already among the oldest in the community...

Also, this time I managed to play some real tennis in daylight. Jason must be pretty impatient seeing my bad strokes, but I learnt a lot amidst the chaotic flights of balls. Now I start to realize that tennis isn't as easy as it first appeared... Well, I'm still learning and hopefully this weekend Ken will be able to give me more tips.

I shall revisit this lovely college town (and lovely person living in it)soon.

Google Chrome

In no time after the existence of Chrome was made known, geeks all over the world have been rushing to download this latest product of Google, unalike to how those Ah Lian-s change their wardrobes once the latest trend in fashion is revealed on Vogue. And yes, geeks and Ah Lian-s alike, they do not forget to flaunt it.

So just let me finish by saying that I'm one of the geeks (nerd might be more appropriate) before they start taking it personally and clamor...