Tuesday, June 29, 2010

More from the A550.

Again...these are unedited ...


Oh my dear A550 !

My Sony A550 that is !!!At last ..... I'm still speechless.. its so far ahead of the old A300 ! here are some photos which are TOTALLY unedited !

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

My poor homeless squirrels !

I just don't know what to say.

There is a lovely garden in front of my apartment. Trees and plants at close view from my balcony ! Often, I would be at the balcony with my camera to take photograps of birds, butterflies, caterpillars....and the many squirrels that crossed from one tree to another just by running on the thin intermingling branches. They are a joy to watch. Scampering all over the place with their own excitement. Whenever I threw bread crumbs for the birds, they would also join in the fracas for these food. You could find them under cars , nibbling something and scampering off again whenever they hear any noise.

This morning, the air was sliced by the ugly sound of chain-saws ! Outside , to my horror, a crane and about 10 workers were busy pruning the trees. My first thought was for those poor squirrels. Where would they go ???  Unfortunately, the pruning had to be done as there were cases of fallen branches on parked cars and so far no one had been injured. I guess it was a difficult decision but one hat had to be done.

Picture 1 - 7 -- home and playground of the squirrels !

Nothing much left for the aquirrels !

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A victim of the country's "legal poison"

...that bloody msg that is. That bloody poison that is being freely and liberally used by all cooks and chefs alike in this country ! I have written on this when I suffered stomach pain which was caused by msg after eating at a hawker's stall.

Well I'm writing again because I became a victim again....and this time after having lunch in a hotel. I was attending a workshop organized by the college. Lunch was provided by the hotel and at that moment , I thought the food was good  (much to my regret later). That night I suffered terrible dizzy spell. 'Bad' was an understatement, because I became terrified . Was it a stroke ? Was it high blood pressure ( mine went up to 178 measured with an Omron instrument) or was it something new.  Aftyer 2 hours, which was about midnight,, my daughter, a medical officer at a hospital and who happened to be working that night , asked me to come in. My son drove me there straight to the Trauma Department.

There my daughter did some physical tests, then an ecg, then a blood test. Nothing points to any signs of a stroke, which was her major concern, Then I was wheeled in to do a CT Scan. Anxiously I waited for the results. Nothing . Which means good. So I went back home after a medication to ease my dizzy spell.

It was tough cause I can't move my head without the room spinning round like a CD. Anyway the next day I went to see the old family doctor. After giving him the background, immediately he said "msg". Don't eat in hotels he said. He further related to me how he was struck by the same dizzy spell ON REACHING THE CAR PARK EVEN BEFORE HE GOT HOME after a meal in a hotel at a medical convention. He diagonosed my ailment as vertigo.

Anyway what I'm saying is, when will the authority take some effective action on this poison that has been allowed to be used by cooks at various levels from the hawker to the hotels ?????? WHEN ?

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Convo Dinner..

So I missed out the convocation as I wasn't feeling too well with a touch of flu. Anyway I did gp to the Dinner.

The hall looked very grand , the function was organized to the satisfaction of most, the food is nothing to shout about' but that's ok. The performance by  the students (I stress, by the students) were stunning and good , be it the traditional dances , the singing or the jive sessions.

The customary speeches are expected and understandable.The  costumes of the dancers were colourful, impressive and fantastic The dances were even better and almost professional. The concept of multi-racial was appropriate. The guest singer was entertaining. The work put in by the organizer was impressive and enormous.

But the sound system was a real pain in the ear because the voulme was pushed to the red zone and at the peak of the volume ( and this was frequently reached)  distortion and crackling was just attacking our ear. The concept that ' "loud" loud is good' simply gave what would have been a really good show into a cheapie fun-fair festival.

The rest  ?(eg the impression and image).......is better left unsaid...

Anyway here are some photos...



The following three photos are comlements from AzTech.


Sunday, June 13, 2010

15th Convocation Rehearsal !

These were taken during the rehearsal and looks like I have to pass the actual convocation because of slight side-effect of my 3 in 1 vaccination. I'd rather reserve my strength for the dinner tonight.