Sunday, April 13, 2008

Tennis: We're Sectional Bound!!!

Well, we did it this year! We're Sectional Bound for the 8.0 Mixed Team representing San Gabriel Valley! It will be the weekend of my birthday next month. From the beginning of this mixed season it is my goal to get the team to Sectionals after a tight lost to Hatty's team last year. We missed sectionals by a match lost. I'm so happy that we pulled it off despite all the obstacles we had in the past week. Two of my key players Tac and Judy were on the injury list. I had to leave work for a couple of hours to win with Beverly to clinch out berth to So Cal Sectionals!

Match summary is below. Who would've thought with 3 of my key players not on the lineup, we were able to pull it through losing only one match out of nine matches!!! That's phenomenal. It's much more than I expected!

Sat. 4/12 1PM vs. Santa Barbara
David and Sandy won 3-6, 7-5, 1-0
Tac and Beverly lost 7-5, 6-4
Alain and Lan won by default

Sat 4/12 4PM vs. Temecula Valley
Terry and Beverly won 6-4, 6-3
Lan and Alain won 7-5, 6-1
David and Sandy won 6-7, 6-2, 1-0

Sun 4/13 1PM vs. Ventura County
Terry and Beverly won 3-6, 6-1, 1-0
Lan and Alain won 6-3, 6-2
David and Sandy won 6-2, 6-4

Above is the team photo of all who played in the last round. Too bad, Tac, Raj, Linda, and Judy were not present. I'm sure we'll have another photo op at Sectionals!

P.S. Now I have a dilema. I wasn't expecting to have all 3 of my mixed team go to Sectionals. The schedule are directly conflicting with each other and at 2 different location. I'm gonna have to choose which team to play for. Perhaps, I can play one match with the SGV 7.0 team.

Friday, April 04, 2008

BODA Dry Lens Bag

I first came across BODA at the WPPI Convention in March. I didn't pay much attention to this bag at first. In fact, I walked by it a couple of times without even stopping, just casually glancing. Anyway, today is the last day of the Photoshop World Trade Show in Orlando Florida. I walked by the Boda booth several times for the past 3 days. Once again I was not intrigued enough to stop until today. They had a tiny little booth with just 2 salespeople, one table, and a couple of samples for people to look at. You have to understand that every other company has elaborate setups for their booths.

Boda features 2 bags, the Boda Dry Bag and the Boda Dry Jr. bag. Why do they call it Dry Bag? Beats me. :-) No actually, it's suppose to be weather proof because the zippers and the tough ballistic nylon is to keep your equipment from getting wet during inclement weather or being splash by a big wave while at a beach shoot.

This nifty little bag carries a whole bunch of stuff with its tiny little foot print. Its design is to carry all your accessories and several of your essential lenses. It has a compartment for batteries, one flash, one long lens (70-200mm), a divided compartment to hold 2 shorter lenese ( 16-35mm and 50mm 1.2), business cards, 8 CF/SD card compartments, pens, cell phones, a lens cloth, etc. The Jr. bag is essentially the same except smaller. It can hold one long zoom lens or 2 shorter lenses. It's not intended to replace your camera bag. It's used when you just need to be on the run and need quick access to your accessories. That means you still have to carry your camera on your shoulder. The Boda Dry bag can be worn with a shoulder strap or a waist belt. The belt comes in 3 sizes. Make sure you purchase the right length otherwise it would be hard to run around with 15 lbs strap around your ankle. :-) I think it's a great design because I don't want to carry my entire rollaway bag to a wedding anymore. Althought the cost of the Boda Dry bag is about the same as medium size roll away bag. Incidentally, BODA is "wedding" or "marriage" in Spanish.

I've been looking for something like the Boda for quite some time. And in fact, not long ago, I wrote a review for the Think Tank bag back in November 17, 2007. I was and still am very satisfied with this bag system. It fits snugly against my waist and I'm able to carry my essential lenses and memory card storage system. In fact, I can run with the system around my waist. I'm gonna give this baby a try and will do a follow up review later in a month or so. In any case, I couldn't pass up a really a good deal because the show special is $175 which includes a waist belt, a lens divider, and most of all... no sales tax and shipping. So, if you attended WPPI or Photoshop World, be sure to mention the show special when ordering online or over the phone.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Midnight Madness at the Peabody Hotel

It's Midnight Madness where it's the only Photoshop World session which they guaranteed that you will learn absolutely nothing about Photoshop! My good friend Jonathan joined me this time and he's a newby to Photoshop World and Midnight Madness. He initially stated that he can only stay for a moment, but he had so much fun, he end up staying practically for the whole night. :-)

The picture above is of course me in the middle sandwiched between the Layers Magazine weekly podcast hosts... Corey Barker and RC Concepcion. These guys teaches everything about Adobe which means they know every Adobe application inside and out... Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreaweaver, Flash, etc. Go to iTunes or to their website to view their podcast.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Epcot Center

Well, I landed safely after my red-eye flight to Orlando landed safely. It was still only 8AM after I rented a car. So, it was too early to head out to Epcot and also I was still pretty tired. So, I decided to head over to my hotel and check in first. Fortuntately, they had a room available and I as soon as I got in, I feel asleep in bed. I didn't get up until 12 noon. I know even though I lost half a day, I had a much needed nap and as I'm still very jet-lagged.

It's pretty humid here and the locals were laughing at me when I made that comment. Mainly, this is pretty comfortable for them. :-) I'm such a whimp now that I lived most of my life in southern California. It also rained from time to time but I managed to fit in all of Future World. I have not been back since 1996. I had a chance to sight see a day before the conference began and I had a blast at the Epcot Center.

Epcot Center hold a special place in my heart because when I was 16, I read that Disney World is opening a new theme park called Epcot Center. Ever since that day, I've been dying to go there. Unfortunately, I never had the money to go until after I graduated and started working. And even then, I had to wait another 8 years before I had the chance to go. I actually had a bit of anxiety anticipating my arrival to Orlando because of the Epcot Center. If I were to do this again, I would spend more than 1.5 days there because I had to rush toward the end before the park closes. Perhaps next time, I don't have to wait another 16 years.