A Story As Told By Sang

The Danger of Falling Asleep

2009-08-26T19:05:00.001-04:00

Man I wished I had thought of something like this when I was younger.

The Danger of Sleeping - The funniest home videos are here

8-bit Trip

2009-08-24T17:36:00.001-04:00

For those who remember what 8-bit music sounded like back in the day. Add onto that Lego and old video games and the inner geek in me just errupted all over the keyboard.

Baby Room 2

2009-08-16T19:51:00.004-04:00

In a last minute decision to paint the baby's room this weekend, we made a mad dash to Home Depot, bought supplies and prepped the room Friday night. Early Saturday morning we began our first real coat of paint and by 3pm the room was done.

Now all I have to do is hand assemble the plethora of Ikea furniture that arrived at our place earlier in the week and we'll be all ready for the arrival! Wish me luck.

Speaking of arrival, Mel and I made a decision to start (and finish!) a book documenting our travels together prior to having children. Take a quick peek at Blurb.com below and if you're interested, buy a copy!

Travelling

Pre-parenthood trav...

By Sang Trinh

Book Preview

Next Big Thing in Transportation

2009-08-04T18:39:00.000-04:00

Definitely a buy!

2009-07-20T18:33:00.002-04:00

Fantastic idea and execution. Makes all you shy photographers into people-people!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-19T14:20:00.001-04:00

Skip to about 1:25. How the final battle should have ended.

2-Day Rearranging

2009-06-14T16:26:00.004-04:00

... all for this. Yes, the three rooms are finally in order. The rest of the house is now a mess, but at least the baby's room is all set to go. Now we just need a splash of paint, some storage and we'll be all set...

Shed Building 2009

2009-05-24T00:15:00.002-04:00

I never want to have to do this again. What was supposed to be a "1 hour installation" turned into a nine hour slog. Mind you, it took three stops at Home Depot, one broken drill bit and a property grade that made it impossible to level the damned shed to take us to that nine hours. Oh, and a stop of Italian sausage at the HD. How can you not resist that smell as you're leaving the place?!

Anyway, thanks to Charles for helping me put the damned thing up. You can see a time lapse video of us slogging along. And no, we're not.

I need a new umbrella

2009-05-22T18:45:00.000-04:00

Outakes From Engagement Photoshoot

2009-04-25T10:07:00.004-04:00

Early Saturday morning I entertained some friends by taking photographs for their engagement. Here are some of the outtakes from the shoot.

This first shot has a real commercial feel to it which is part of the reason why I like it and they don't. The light here is mostly coming from the rising sun, but I had to add a bit of fill by using an SB-800 on a light stand.

This second one just makes me laugh. It looks like some kind of robot with non-articulating arms has been sent from the future to chase after that one special lady. I was obviously trying for a certain feel in this photo and it just plain looks silly instead of romantic. I guess you can't win them all and I certainly fail with a fairly large percentage. Keepers from today? About 3%.

Hart House

2009-04-25T10:03:00.003-04:00

While down in Toronto we visited the folks who run Hart House, and absolutely gorgeous venue for everything from dance recitals to wedding banquets.

The building dates back to 1919 and it shows. It prompted me to see if I can rent some rooms for portrait session and make a trip out of it.

Porter Airlines

2009-04-25T09:52:00.005-04:00

A colleague got me onto Porter Airlines for a short business trip to Toronto the other day and I've discovered my new favourite airline. Not only is the flight service impeccable (they served breakfast on the way down and a sandwich pack on the way back to Ottawa at 4pm in the afternoon!), the lounge at the island airport is brilliant.

If you ever have to be downtown Toronto and happen to be flying from Halifax, Montreal or Ottawa, take Porter. The flight was cheaper than Air Canada, gets you closer to downtown Toronto (a free ferry and shuttle take you right to Union Station) and the in-air service is way better than anything you'll ever get on Air Canada. Simply said, fly Porter.

The photo above was taken on my iPhone and shows a rather interesting artifact from the way the iPhone takes photos. You can more about it here.

Stumbled Photos

2009-04-18T09:37:00.005-04:00

Some photos that I've stumbled upon in the past. The first one is a brilliant concept for a photograph, from the idea, right down to the one clown giving us the stink-eye. Every time I see this photo it makes me laugh and actually reminds me of the little scribbly cartoons in the margins of Mad Magazine.

The second one needs no description of why it's funny. It just is. And so is Chuck Norris.

Mike Ribeiro Goal

2009-03-29T20:30:00.000-04:00

$2300 Ginza Diorama

2009-02-06T06:34:00.001-05:00

Circa 1955? Sign me up! Akihabaranews.com?! Sign me up even more!

Sony Introduces TV that is 0.3mm thick!

2009-02-02T16:35:00.000-05:00

It's Alive!

2009-01-19T16:36:00.003-05:00

My computer that is. After having spent 30 minutes with an old Chinese guy with boxes of motherboards and LCD displays, the On-Site, Next Business Day service Dell gave me fixed my computer, although not quite Next Business Day.

I'm not complaining.

In any event, I'm back baby, only to share with you this very very special telling of the original Star Wars trilogy. Thanks Lysandre for pointing this goldmine of hilarity out.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Grand Shelters Icebox Part Deux

2009-01-04T20:21:00.004-05:00

This time Daniel and I (and a few others) set out to build the 11-foot igloo. Although our initial 8-foot stab took us almost 4 hours to build we had learned a few things (mostly from reading the manual!) and figured the 11-foot should take about 5 hours at most to build.

Wrong.

Even though we had a very high block survival rate, it still took almost 8 hours and we weren't able to finish it due to failing light (we were in Gatineau Park without headlamps).

We had started the day at 8:30am or so and built until 4:30 when we called it quits. There was one level left to make and it just wasn't sticking.

During this time I had set up my camera with the intervalometer set to take a photo a minute but both batteries I had brought with me died before we got even close to the end. Nonetheless, the time lapse video is still pretty neat!

If you're in the Ottawa area and want to go have a look at it, you can find it here. If you do visit, please take care not to destroy it as we're returning at some point to finish that sucker off.

Notorious MSG

2008-12-24T11:10:00.003-05:00

They've been around for years and years and... well, they're still around! Super cheese, over-the-top, and just plain fun to watch.

Completely unlike Chucky and V-unit. Totally unwatchable...

Grand Shelters Icebox

2008-12-23T13:52:00.007-05:00

Daniel and I built an igloo the other day using a tool bought from these guys. Apparently you can build an igloo out of sugar snow (the really powdery stuff looks like sugar).

We gave it a go on Sunday when the snow was particularly difficult to work with and it worked! Although the instructions say that it should take 2-3 hours to make one, Daniel and I took the better part of 4 hours, mostly because we kept breaking blocks near the top (had we read the instructions we would have known to build slanted blocks up top).

In any event, we'll give this a go a few more times before we lug it out into the wilderness as our only means of shelter...

Penguin Escapes Killer Whale Pod

2008-12-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

It's long but you have to watch to the end. It's crazy!

Elephant Falls

2008-12-20T09:20:00.003-05:00

In Dalat, Mel and I went to visit Elephant Falls as part of our Easy Rider Motorbike tour. Hiking down to the bottom of the falls alone was worth the stop, but a little save that Mel spotted actually got us behind the waterfalls where we both got drenched and where the little camera came in most handy.

LBP Metal Gear Solid

2008-12-19T20:04:00.001-05:00

Simply brilliant and the new splatter gun adds a whole new level of gameplay.

New Blog Look

2008-12-19T07:13:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, you've probably noticed a slight change in the look of the blog over the course of the last few days. It's taken me the better part of 5 minutes to fiddle with in, primarily to make it more photo friendly. If you're looking at the blog at a resolution anything less than 1280x1024 it'll probably look funny, but hey, unless you're on a laptop you should have a big monitor anyway and if you don't, for the love of all things sacred, go buy one, they're cheap!

Add to comments if you see bugs or unfriendly things (such as font size being too small).

Thanks.

Wat Pho Reclining Buddha

2008-12-19T06:34:00.002-05:00

Wat Pho Reclining Buddha, originally uploaded by inottawa.

If you visit anything at Wat Pho, you must visit the reclining Buddha there. At over 46m long and 15m high, it has to be one of the largest depictions in this particular configuration.

Lined along one wall are tiny black pots where you would drop small coins (one into each pot) as you progress down the entire length of Buddha. This apparently is meant to give you good luck but only gave us headaches as the clang of coins hitting the bottom of these pots permeates not only that temple, but almost the entire Wat Pho complex.

Cop Gets High, Calls 911 For Rescue

2008-12-18T15:35:00.001-05:00

Cop Eats Pot Brownies, Freaks Out, and calls 911

I don't know what to say.

More Gameshows

2008-12-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

Reclining Buddha Ayutthaya

2008-12-16T16:02:00.003-05:00

Reclining Buddha Ayutthaya, originally uploaded by inottawa.

Although not quite as big as the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, the one in Ayutthaya is nonetheless just as visually overwhelming. The stone statue was covered in an orange robe with gold leaf pressed into his arm as an offering from those wishing favours.

Angkor Wat Sunrise North Lake

2008-12-15T06:28:00.001-05:00

Angkor Wat Sunrise North Lake, originally uploaded by inottawa.

One of the very first photos out of the camera the early morning at Angkor Wat. This is from the North Pool where most people gathered to take photos of the temple, presumably because all of the trees line up for this almost perfect shot (plus, the South Pool is full of weeds and ants!).

I had set up pretty early with only a few people surrounding me and as it got busier and busier I noticed that no one was taking the primo spot to my left. As the sun started rising and the light got better I caught the reason why no one was standing there. There was a good 15L pile of poop not one foot away from me. Had I stumbled a bit in the dark I'm sure I would have put a foot or hand in it, but as it was, my spot was clear and I never got any closer than that magical one foot.

Final Countdown

2008-12-13T09:57:00.001-05:00

For Rob and Hoa and whoever else grew up in the 80s. Check out out serious the guy is!

Strangler Figs

2008-12-12T16:38:00.001-05:00

Strangler Figs, originally uploaded by inottawa.

If you've ever seen Tomb Raider you'll probably recognize these strangler figs. These are at Ta Prohm, which is a temple in Angkor that was left in the original state that it was found, completely overgrown with trees. It was surreal to see how these figs had completely grown over the temple with roots stretching out like hands and feet to get at the earth. The temple itself still lays in ruin with only a small path cleared for people to explore. All around there are fallen rocks and walls with little doorways leading to more and more interesting places. I felt like a kid exploring undiscovered territory every time I stumbled across another corridor or door. It was awe inspiring and a good reason why Mel and I kept coming back to this place.

Coconut Husks

2008-12-11T06:40:00.001-05:00

Coconut Husks, originally uploaded by inottawa.

During our trip to the Mekong we visited a Coconut Candy factory. When I say factory, I mean a shack in the middle of the jungle with about 20 Vietnamese women making and then hand wrapping each individual candy and then hand packaging the entire thing into marketable little flats. The process of making the candy is quite interesting as nothing is left to waste on the entire assembly line. These leftover husks are to be used to fuel the fire that heats the coconut flesh.

It was obvious that the folks working there were used to visitors as they had set up a tiny little shop to sell the candies "factory-direct" along with other coconut related paraphernalia.

The Fertility Shrine

2008-12-09T11:28:00.001-05:00

The Fertility Shrine, originally uploaded by inottawa.

Yeah, we were praying. This fertility shrine was in Cholon (Chinatown in Saigon) and is one of many shrines that you can go visit on your tour of Chinatown. We braved the public bus from Ben Thanh to get there and although we knew which bus to take (the 1), there was still some confusion at the station that could only be resolved with speaking Vietnamese. Thank god at least someone in our group knew it!

Bayon

2008-12-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

Bayon, originally uploaded by inottawa.

One of many faces carved into the Bayon temple in Angkor Thom. Mel and I arrived early at this temple and found it to be largely free of tourists but by the time we had explored the bottom portion of it and started climbing higher many other tourists had descended upon the temple and it got to be more and more difficult to get a photograph that didn't have other people in it. This particular photo was taken just as a procession of brightly dressed Thai women passed in what appeared to be either a commercial or some sort of cultural display. Either way, it gives you a real appreciation for how these things were carved and put together!

Ben Thanh Market

2008-12-05T12:34:00.001-05:00

Ben Thanh Market, originally uploaded by inottawa.

Very close to being set up, the Ben Thanh Market sellers start urging you over with their downward-facing-come-hither motion (if you've been to Asia, you know what I mean... "Motobike?").

The Ben Thanh market in Saigon would open every day starting around 5pm. When I say open, I mean that before 4 the market does not exist. The street that it is set up on is lined with cars and motorbikes. Around 5pm the street is cordonned off and people come out with their wares and set up entire restaurants in the span of about 30 minutes. It is an incredible thing to see a market spring out of thin air in a matter of minutes.

Angkor Wat Reflection

2008-12-04T18:11:00.001-05:00

Angkor Wat Reflection, originally uploaded by inottawa.

This is shot from the south pool as it was getting rather crowded at the north pool. I ran over there with tripod in hand and the pool was completely bereft of people! Not a single other soul was at this pool. I noticed an ant mound nearby and set up close by, making sure not to disturb it. Of course, Mel completely missed the mound and stood right on top of it while trying to have a conversation with me. She must have been bitten a good dozen times and ran off complaining. I only noticed that she had been standing on the mound after I saw her foot prints in it. I didn't laugh. I didn't even dream of it.

Muang Hoa Valley

2008-12-03T16:50:00.000-05:00

Stitched Panoramic View of Muang Hoa Valley

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Rickrolled

2008-12-03T10:59:00.001-05:00

Tickle Him!

2008-12-03T10:17:00.001-05:00

For Mortal Combat fans, the folks at Maxim got the guy who does the voice for Mortal Combat to record a few inspired sayings.

We're Home!

2008-12-03T10:15:00.003-05:00

.... but pretty much out of commision. Despite various snafus at the Saigon Airport and then again at Chicago O'Hare, we managed to meander our way back to Ottawa safe and sound.

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone and we hope to be sharing more photos and stories through this blog.

If you are reading this on a regular basis, take note that Mel will start blogging our trip from her eyes (and camera) which will more than likely give you a very different view of what we actually enjoyed while away.

S&M

We're going home!

2008-11-30T22:08:00.004-05:00

After much fuss, JAL finally caved (well, what else were they going to do?) and are flying us out of Saigon in order for us to catch our second leg from Narita to Chicago and then on to Ottawa.

We figured we're in the hole about $500 because of cancelled flights, reservations, etc, but at least we're going to be leaving South-East Asia for the welcome arms of a cold cold winter storm warning. It's too bad we weren't stuck in Koh Chang... perhaps we'd never come home (partly because it's in Thailand and partly because... well... winter storm warnings and all that).

We actually redirected our flight from Hanoi and got on a standby flight to Dalat on Thursday and have been biding our time there. We took the overnight bus back into Saigon Saturday and have been waiting for JAL to change their minds since Sunday morning, but we are finally going to be heading home.

Photos from the last few days follow.

We caught our stand-by flight out of Hanoi to Dalat!

Our flight from Siem Reap to Saigon many moons ago fed us pate on bread and ever since then, we've been waiting for it on our flights only to be disappointed... until now! Except there was disappointment because it wasn't pate but salami. My favourite... Mel's mortal enemy. Mel is really happy right now because, well, she hasn't discovered the salami yet, but also because we had been so downtrodden about missing out on Koh Chang that any good news (catching a full flight out of Hanoi on standby and then getting food!) was welcome news.

Gladioli fields in the Giant Chicken Village

Yeah, we're not kidding about the giant chicken. There's a 12' statue of one in the village centre which really was no more than a loose collection of huts. This is where we started our hike up and over some mountain.

Sang Making Cooo Noises

We visited Crazy House in Dalat. No words or photos describe it. You can read about it here.

Sang and Mel at Elephant Falls

Sang Taking Photos of Vegetable Fields

Mel doing what she does best

Hope to see everybody in a three days!

S&M

Bangkok Protesters

2008-11-26T21:49:00.002-05:00

Did we not mention in a previous post that while we are on vacation, governments get over-thrown? In this case, Bangkok airport has been taken over by protesters, preventing us from getting to Koh Chang, but further may actually prevent us from getting back to Canada as our flight back departs from Bangkok. JAL won't change the flight either because it doesn't leave until December 1st.

Mel and I are doing alright as we spent the night at the airport hotel and are trying to make plans to get to Dalat while we wait out the turmoil in Bangkok.

We will try to keep you up to date as much as possible on the situation and if anyone from work is reading this (in particular Michel or Anne), I, uhhhh, might not be back when I said I'd be back. Sorry!

S

Good Bye Vietnam

2008-11-25T21:26:00.007-05:00

It's our last day here in Vietnam as we pack up our cool clothes and unpack all of our beachwear (to tell you the truth, I never packed my beachwear but Mel pulled out all of her fleece and down for our trip to Sapa) for our final stop in Ko Chang.

Last night we went to see the water puppets in Hanoi, apparently the most famous troupe that tours the world. Who would have known? It was... interesting.

A few more photos from our trip to Vietnam and then off we go. This time next week we should be back in the freezing cold Canada and wishing we were elsewhere (and likely planning our next trip!).

Mel Enjoying her morning Pho on Hoan Kiem Lake

Morning sunlight shining through onto our breakfast spot

The Golden Turtle that Le Loi returned his sword to!

Soviet-Era Sleeper Car on the way back from Sapa

Muong Hoa River

Hoan Kiem Lake

Mel and Sang enjoying 3000d beers. Total Bar Tab: $1 for 5 beers!

Sang Enjoying Street Meat Kebabs

Caves and Sapa

2008-11-24T01:24:00.005-05:00

Photos with stories as we wait to board a Soviet-era commie-style night train from Lao Cai back to Hanoi. The train sucks. But there's a story! Read on.

Ain't no party like an S-Pub party!

This is the S-Pub that is down the road from our Hotel. We had to take a picture because... well.... read the caption.

The view from the hotel restaurant.

It turns out that we got a fantastic deal on our hotel. We thought it was a bit expensive at $30 a night, but when we got here, the cheapest room is $32 a night and doesn't include the $8 breakfast! So in the end, we basically got the room for $22 a night which is a great deal. If anyone is thinking of traveling to Vietnam or around Vietnam, please have a look at the independantly-run Viet Viet travel in Saigon on Chua An Lac alley off of Pham Ngu Lao. The owner, Mr. Phat and his wife run a very friendly and very competetive traveller cafe.

Gothic Cathedral in Sapa

Mel particularly like this photo of this Cathedral in Sapa mostly because of the fog coming in and the underexposure the little camera affected to it when it tried to light the whole thing from 50m away with its tiny flash.

A black Hmong villager waiting for Sang to take a photo

This woman followed us all the way from Sapa to the top of this mountain near Lao Chai. She was either trying to sell us something the entire way or was on her way back to her village, not suprisingly, Lao Chai. It's hard to tell, but she hiked up the mountain in what looked like plastic slippers and not once faltered on the steep and slippery slopes despite carrynig a basket filled with villager goodies.

Sang and Mel on top of a mountain somewhere near Lao Chai

Muong Hoa valley

From the top of our hike and then all the way down again, we followed along the Muong Hoa valley which was lined with terraced rice-fields. It was a absolutely gorgeous day as the previous day had apparently been so foggy that you could not see 5 feet in front of you. Hopefully we'll be able to post more photos from the big camera when we get back.

Lisa and Ben

We spent the night on the shitty night train from Hanoi with Lisa and Ben and partied it up like rockstars and promptly fell asleep at 9-ish or there abouts. I blame it on the Hanoi beer. We got along really well and thought of hiking around with the two, but when the train finally came to a stop in Sapa at 5:00am, we were so groggy that we stumbled out of the station and into a car without first getting their details. We spend a foggy night peering into various shops to see if we can find them and hike the next day, but to no avail.

The next day we booked a particular tour to Tavan but when the car never showed up, our guide decided to change the itinerary and walk us over to Y Linh Ho then Lao Chai and then onto Tavan instead where we got the spectacular views of Muong Hoa. As we got near to Lao Chai for our lunch break, we spotted the two again at a tiny hut of a restaurant grabbing their lunch as well. It was so odd to find the two in such a no-where place after having searched for them in the very town that we were staying and gave us the opportunity to exchange email addresses and Facebook details. Yay! We ate our luches loudly while we laughed at Ben's completely mud covered Converse shoes he took hiking. Yeah, they planned it well.

Sang Dunks His Head

After lunch we parted ways and as the day got hotter I got the opportunity to dunk my head in the Muong Hoa River along with a bunch of other kids. No adults wanted to follow. Idiots. It felt fantastic!

Today we woke up early to climb up the mountain within the city of Sapa to see the sunrise and try to get a glimpse of Fansipan. We got neither as the clouds socked in on us so ate a hasty breakfast, checked-out and are awaiting our train back to Hanoi where hopefully we'll spend the rest of our Dong on Choco-Pies and fake Northface pants with the double asses.

S&M

Pigeon and Kayaking

2008-11-22T20:37:00.004-05:00

We took a trip to Halong Bay, yet another UN World Heritage site. This place, in the South China sea, is full of these little rocky structures sticking out of the water, called karsts. Halong Bay is also full of other tourist boats.

During our boat cruise, I took the opportunity to get pleasantly drunk on the top deck. Sounds perfect right? But no: just as I was getting a good buzz on, the kayaks were brought out. This involved some amazing feats of balance and acrobatics for me just to make it into the kayak. Luckily they were 2-person kayaks, and Sang was left to do all the paddling while I just splashed around a little.

Us kayaking. Only one of us is perfectly sober. That person

did not take this picture.

View during supper at sunset on the boat. Each meal on this boat was like,
10 courses.

Then, back to Hanoi. We ate at a place that served steak and pigeon. I ordered the pigeon, and when it arrived, the head was still attached!

Pigeon's head, complete with cooked eyeballs. I didn't eat this part.
But I did pick it up and peck Sang with it.

What the hell, we're on vacation - this is our opportunity to be adventurous. I should point out that we haven't been brave enough to go find a resto on a street near our hotel, Duong Thit Cho, which in Vietnamese means Dog Meat Road (I'm not kidding).

[Sang's Note] That restaurant that served pigeon? Yeah, we had to go through tunnel-like alleys to get to it (I guess the Vietnamese never got away from digging tunnels after all). Here's what it looked like...

Halong Bay

2008-11-21T04:53:00.004-05:00

We've just come back from Halong Bay and are waiting for the train to take us to Sapa. We'd upload more photos but the connection here is slower than molasses uphill in the winter (as Rob would say).

The entire time that we've been in Vietnam we've seen boxes of these Choco-Pies everywhere from tiny little storefronts to mountains of them stacked on the back of a minuscule motorbike. The photo on the box appears to be that of Jos.Louis and has tempted me from the moment I saw them but I never really brought myself to buy some.

During our trip around Halong Bay, we were approached, at sea, by enterprising women in rowboats pushing their wares, including Choco-Pies! How many chances does a person have to purchase Choco-Pies off the back of a junk in the middle of the South China Sea? Probably not many. Which is why I likely paid too much money of a box of these things and enjoyed them profusely from the confort of our cabin aboard the Minh Hai.

They taste nothing like Jos.Louis.

The legend of Le Loi

2008-11-21T04:35:00.005-05:00

Hoan Kiem Lake

In downtown Hanoi, on the edge of the Old Quarter, there is this large beautiful lake called Hoan Kiem lake. Legend has it, 500 years ago, the warrior Le Loi came here in despair, to mope around at the fact that he would ever defeat the Chinese. Two turtles (Hoan and Kiem) emerged out of the water and handed him an enchanted sword. With this enchanted sword, Le Loi the hero defeated the evil Chinese and drove them from Vietnam (thus setting the precedent for all subsequent booting-outs of foreign imperial pigs - yes I'm talking to you US and France!). Le Loi returned to the lake, and the turtles took the sword back and disappeared into the lake.

Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple

And to add to this story, two (real) giant turtles are known to live in the lake. One died around 20 years ago or so, and was assessed to be up to 500 years old, old enough to be one of the legendary turtles. The other turtle is still seen occasionally. Apparently it's the size of a minivan, and might be just as old as the other turtle. No word on whether the surviving turtle is Hoan or Kiem.

Hanoi in Photos

2008-11-19T06:05:00.007-05:00

The North Vietnamese Monument in the DMZ near Hue

Our climb from one tunnel exit to another

Can you spot the VietCong?

Our ride back in a *very* Vietnamese van. Those are food baskets! Ask us about this when we get back!

The old Trinh home in Hanoi

... on our way to Hanoi

2008-11-19T05:50:00.002-05:00

With all of the traffic woes in Bangkok, Cambodia, Saigon and just about everywhere else in Southeast Asia, we've never once seen anything close to resembling an accident. No doubt there have been some close calls, but everyone seems to just meld through each other and emerge unscathed. Until today.

On our way from the airport to our hotel we saw one and it looked like what you would expect a motorcycle accident to look like. It was shocking to see the red motorbike laying on its side all bent metal and broken plastic. As our car slowly made its way around it we noticed the rider wasn't near the bike. He was in the other lane. Somewhere someone yelled in Vietnamese "keep moving, keep moving" and we did.

I remember thinking in Bangkok how impossibly traffic moved without accident. But it didn't and the proof was on that stretch of highway heading into Hanoi.

We Missed The Bus and It's Something We'll Never Ever Do Again

2008-11-16T22:30:00.017-05:00

Sunset From Our Hotel Room

Apparently "open bus" means "not really booked" as that's what we were told when our bus didn't show up this morning. No worries though, we're "booked" on the one heading out at 1:30pm but what it does mean is that we've lost half a day due to this cock-up and we weren't the only ones. Another pair of Canadians were told the same thing when their bus didn't show up either, and although they were two different companies, Mel and I suspect that they probably pool their resources together for these open buses and the same bus just didn't swing by our hotel to pick up the four guests that were supposed to be on it.

Mel is currently defusing poolside while I do a bit of blogging.

Yesterday morning we spent walking around the town of Hoi An to visit the pagodas and markets and although nice, the day had washed off much of the charm of the city which by night is absolutely unforgettable.

The afternoon we rented a bicycle to ride to the beach where two old ladies "watched over" our bikes while we swam and then tried to sell us a rip-off can of Coke. I didn't budge and in the end payed what we should have paid for the can which was 10Kd.

Pre-Rip-Off Coke

During our little excursion to the beach, Mel broke her 50Kd sunglasses not 3 days into ownership. She apparently "fell" ass-first into her glasses, breaking off one of the little twig-like arms and sat crying over them as if the small pieces of plastic were the broken bones of a long-time companion. I just laughed at her. It didn't make her feel any better.

Mel's Sunglasses, Precious

Surf's Up!

Oh well. I'm sure we'll find a shop somewhere where Mel can buy another cheap pair and in the mean time, she can just squint just like the rest of us.

Hoi An and Marble Mountain

2008-11-15T20:49:00.003-05:00

Marble Mountain Buddha

Yesterday we decided to try to climb up Marble Mountain to visit the pagodas there in the pissing rain. It rained hard on and off for much of the morning and only really cleared up in the afternoon once we were back in town. The mountain was gorgeous and I can only imagine what the caves would have looked like with sunlight pouring through small cracks in the ceiling to light up various shrines within the caves. The best it could muster was a light mist over everything which added a bit of a mysterious air to the entire mountain...

Streets of Hoi An after the Rain

The old quarter of Hoi An is gorgeous with its Chinese and French Colonial architecture permeating througout the entire city. It was one of only a handful of cities that were not destroyed during the war and many of the buildings are being restored to their former glory. Most of this work is being done under the auspices of the UN World Heritage status bestowed upon it in 1999.

A lantern shop in Hoi An

At night the entire city is lit up with lanterns like these, and several times a month, all of the lights in the old quarter are turned off with streets closed to traffic, giving the old quarter a semblance of what it might have looked like 100 years ago...

The architecture of Hoi An

Street Vendor Walking a Partially Flooded Street

The food in Hoi An has its own particular flavour with our favourite being Cao Lau. Not only is it delicious but can generally be found for cheap, we suspect because only locals eat it. A bowl of the stuff only cost 15Kd!

Unfortunately, Hoi An is very quickly turning into a tourist trap with giant hotels rising up out of the sands around the city. We suspect that without protection, those same hotels might have even showed up inside the city. The tourists here are growing with a number of high-end restaurants popping up everywhere, notably the Cargo pastry place (which was equally ridiculously delicious and ridiculously priced) and Mango Room which is run by a Viet chef who travelled the world only to return to open this resto in the heart of the Old Quarter.

We count ourselves fortunate to have seen the city before it will become, we suspect completely overrun with tourists.

Saigon Traffic

2008-11-14T05:54:00.008-05:00

It's shit. Crossing the road is a crap shoot. Night time makes it only more interesting.

Here's a short video of us crossing a very quiet street in Saigon.

Oh, and bonus! We arrived just at the right season for Hairy Crabs. Apparently they fish for them with hot dogs.

Hairy Crabs! Sweet!

Last of Saigon

2008-11-14T05:19:00.007-05:00

Our last hurrah at Saigon ended at the War Remanents museum (formerly the War Crimes museum but changed its name after pressure from the US Government) and saw some of the most shocking images, read some of the most shocking stories and came to understand that war is a messy affair. We had to leave after having only been there 30 minutes. If you're ever in Saigon, you need to visit this museum. Be prepared however for a serious and somber retreat from the compound.

On a lighter note here's a series of Mel shots that help you understand what our vacation has been like from the standpoint of eating and drinking. It's been good! Beers cost around 10Kd ($1CDN ~ 13Kd), and just about any kind of dish you can imagine can be had for around a dollar unless you hit the tourist traps where things almost triple in price. And, the beer's been good! We've become particularly fond of 333 but were particularly disappointed with BGI.

Tessa's Treat (for Rob)

Mel getting our bearings after visiting the citadel

Mel enjoying some pastries at Tous Les Jours

Mel enjoying BGI at some dive bar

Mel enjoying Saigon at another dive bar

Mel's so happy after I negotiated to buy 1/2 a kilo of strawberries from a street vendor

Mel and I enjoying street food (bun thit nuong)

Finally we're here at Hoi An and it's raining. It's also raining tomorrow. And the next day. And then the last day that we're here. Then we're heading for Hue where the forecast is calling for... you guessed it. Rain. Freakin' sucks. We'll try to make the best of it and hopefully the weather will change in our favour in the mean time.

Rainy Hoi An

Touring Saigon

2008-11-13T20:27:00.004-05:00

We've been making Saigon the base for activities that have taken us to the Mekong Delta and the Cu Chi tunnels but we haven't explored much of Saigon until yesterday. Our first stop in the morning took us to Chinatown (Cho Lon) via public bus. It was a bit chaotic finding the right one, but once we got on it was quite a simple ride over. We did the pagoda tour there where Mel visted the fertility pagoda and prayed heavily. Who knows, maybe it'll work?

In any event, it got pretty hot around 11am and we headed back to our Hotel for a siesta and then headed out again to the Ben Thanh market to buy some crappy clothes and checkout the old family home which has been turned into a most upscale Anh & Em Hotel! It's crazy how nice this place is... way nicer than the places that we have been staying...

I have to cut it short today as we're catching a taxi to the airport in 30 minutes and are flying to Danang today and then off to Hoi An for some relaxation.

Instead of talking anymore, I'll let the following photos talk for me...

S&M

The GRK in Saigon. Free Wifi!

La Vache Qui Rit!

Mel outside the first Pagoda we visted in Cholon

Our Bus Ride to Cholon

The inside of Anh & Em Hotel! Yeah, we know!

City Hall

Anh & Em from the Market

The sunset last night from the market

Southern Vietnam

2008-11-12T08:26:00.008-05:00

Acting Strange in Saigon

You know you've reached Saigon when the crush of motorcycles deafens you and the bus slows to a crawl because people are swarming around it like bees to sweet water.

Then.... try walking across it. It's an adventure. Despite painted-line crosswalks everywhere, no one obeys them. In fact, no one obeys anything, including the relatively safety of the sidewalk.

We awoke our first night in Saigon to a gong-show... literally. We stayed across from what looked like a very quiet Chua (temple) and were hoping for a good night's sleep, which we got. However, around 4:30am the monks started gonging. For a good 15 minutes. It was deafening. And very game-show-like. What can I say? I love the gong-show.

The Gong Involved in the Gong-Show

Next day we headed out for a two day trip to the Mekong which started out at My Tho and ended up in Can Tho near the largest floating market in Vietnam. It was quite the sight as we had arrived at the peak of action at around 8:00am. The riverboat then took us through little canals to arrive at numerous different islands to see how coconut candy is made, how banh da (rice wraps) are made and finally to have a lunch in the company of chickens and coconut trees.

Floating Market

Little Canals

Arriving back in Saigon, we found that our hotel lobby area had been completely vacated! We had wanted to use the computer there to check email from some folks we had met on the trip (Erin and Matt have a *very* interesting story to tell about their trip that, if they ever blog or write about it, I'll point you to. Lets just say it involved shady gambling, followed by obvious illegal activity and then the theft of their camera bag by their moto driver... all in the span of a few days!). The reason our hotel was completely vacated was because the owner passed away while we were gone! So they were clearing all of the guests out and preparing the front lobby for the casket! We got out of there in a hurry and found a place down the street that, albeit more expensive, aforded a much nicer view of the city from the 8th floor window.

The next morning we headed to the Cu Chi tunnels (Mel and I were singing Rock and Roll Coochie Coo the entire time) and walked through what turned out to be not so narrow tunnels. Apparently they made the "tourist" tunnels larger so that fat Americans can make it through. Nevertheless, a few in our group chose not to go through them, despite the tour being specifically to see these tunnels! Idiots.

Mel's feet around the cover to one of the "real" tunnels. Yeah, it's that small!

We're back in Saigon again and are trying to sort out our travel to Danang, Hoi An and Hue. We went to a travel cafe and they're quoting us 4x what it should actually cost! We'll go back tomorrow morning and see if they'll break it down for us, but it looks like we might just book transport and figure out where to stay once we get where we're going.

A sea monster has invaded Mel's soup

Tally Ho Saigon!

2008-11-08T20:32:00.003-05:00

Down the Road from our Guesthouse

Banteay Kdai

We're on our way out of Siem Reap and Angkor for Saigon now. It's been a bit of a whirlwind for us and we're hoping to get some down time in French Colonial Ho Chi Minh.

Here are some more photos from Ta Prohm, Mebon, Ta Som, Preah Khan and the growing town of Siem Reap.

Ta Prohm

Mebon

Ta Prohm again. We loved it here!

... and more Ta Prohm.

The Blue Pumpkin. Don't ask. We don't know either.

Angkor

2008-11-07T04:51:00.009-05:00

Lo Pan Uses Duelling Cell Phones

A few days ago we were greeted by what can only be described as an Asian pirate. No, not the kind that have eye patches and parrots, but the kind that you find in Life Aquatic. If you've seen the movie, you know what I mean. I was so distracted by his long mangy hair that when he introduced himself all I caught was that it had a "Lo" in it, like Ping Lo or Lo Pan. Either way we're both sure that we've seen him in movies before...

Welcome to Cambodia!

In any case, we were shuttled away to Siem Reap in a tight little shuttle that took us to the border, got us the visas we needed and then passed us off to a private taxi which ferried us to our guesthouse, the Two Dragons. If you've ever followed the blog called Tales of Asia (and not Tails of Asia... that's an entirely different blog) you'll recognize the name as the author, Gordon Sharpless owns the Two Dragons.

Angkor Wat Sunrise

If you are ever in Siem Reap, stay here. The food is delicious, relatively cheap, and although simple, the rooms are clean, fully furnished and a welcome respite after a days worth of walking. Oh, and the hot water stays hot, something that didn't happen in the Reno.

More Angkor Wat

We arrived late and pretty much went to sleep right away. We were in for an early start the next morning (4:30am pickup to get to Angkor in time for sunrise). Yeah, ask Mel how happy she was to hear about that!

Discovering Bits and Pieces of Angkor Wat

At 4:30am sharp, our tuk tuk driver Joe showed up at the front of Two Dragons and whisked us away to the so-mysterious lands of Angkor Wat. It's gorgeous there. In fact, so gorgeous that I can't wait to get home and start editing photos. The photos from the little camera do it no justice (in fact, I'm sure none of the photos will do it justice) and as we went from temple to temple, it only got better. Angkor Wat was simply stunning... the Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom was even better. The final temple we visited, Ta Prohm(sp?) was apparently the site of some of the footage from Tomb Raider and was absolutely stunning. It was the spookiest of the bunch as it appears right out of the jungle, is surrounded by jungle and is permeated throughout with jungle and where ever we went, there were little nook and crannies that surely some still-pumping-heart-bearing Shaman (Temple of Doom anyone?) was laying in wait for us with a shrill (but quiet) cackle.

Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom

We're currently getting ripped off for internet access while I figure out how to install drivers for the little camera on this DOS5.1 machine.... do enjoy once I get it all working. All photos courtesy of Mel! Yes, she's getting better at this thing call photography... if only she can fix her detox-style shaky hands.

Strangling Fig at Ta Prohm

S&M

Our Vacation Signals Governmental Change

2008-11-05T04:55:00.007-05:00

Sang Relaxing In the Pose of Drunken Tourist

It's weird. The first time we left the country together to St-Lucia, Chretien left the ball to Paul Martin who later won that election. While we were in Costa Rica the Liberals fell to Harper's Conservatives and now, while vacationing in South East Asia, the Repulicans fall to the first black President ever to reside over the United States. We're convinced it's us. If ever we want the Green party to ever run the country, we'll be sure to leave it for somewhere exotic like Bhutan, or Bali.

Back to Thailand. The food. Ohhhh, the food. I've never had more of a craving for street meat than I have in this country. I have to admit that I do enjoy the Ottawa-street-rip-off-sausage every once in a while, but that stuff doesn't come close to what you can get on the streets of Bangkok. Every morning we (okay, I) deliberate over having breakfast at a "proper" place or lining up with the rest of the country to procure a piece of meet on a skewer and revel in the flavours that surely must accompany the smells that assault you the instant you leave the security of your hotel, guesthouse or hostel.

And it's cheap too, depending on where you go. I recently had to discover what real Pad Thai and Pad Sew was like and for 45bhat I could get either, with 20bhat more providing me with a refreshing drink of Logan juice.

We're looking forward to venturing into Chinatown tonight for either authentic Chinese or Indian food depending on where our mood takes us.

This morning got us up pretty early to catch a bus into Ayutthaya. We had decided to make it a day trip instead of staying there the night as it afforded us to leave early tomorrow morning for Siem Riep.

Ayutthaya is *incredible*. The Wats are very different from the ones found in Bangkok and offer up several different styles (from Thai to Cambodia to Ayutthaya) often all found within the same complex of Wats.

Ayutthaya

After visiting 3 or 4 Wats along with the awe inspiring Summer Palace, we took a river boat down the Chao Praya (yes, it's not just a Restaurant in Bell's Corner!) back to Bangkok where Mel is now napping off the beer she had on the boat and I'm catching up on news.

Sang Doing What He Does

Mel Posing at the Summer Palace

-S&M

Bangkok

2008-11-04T05:58:00.005-05:00

On the bus to Wat Pho

Yeah, Mel too!

Apparently the lines that are painted on the road are merely suggestions. In fact, they're not even suggestions as no one actually pays them any head. I think at any given point in time, there were at least 8 lanes of tuk-tuks, taxis, buses and other vehicles meandering through a (marked for) 4 lane road. It was insane. Mel couldn't watch.

No street meet for Mel!

We spent the morning heading to see Wat Pho and eventually wanted to head to the grand palace, however after leaving Wat Pho we encountered what seemed like someone wanting to rip us off, but he scored us a Tuk-Tuk driver that basically drove us around the entire afternoon for 30bhat. For those of you conversion-challenged, that's less than 1 dollar.

Our crazy Tuk-Tuk driver in the rain

He took us to a Wat normally not opened to foreigners but was today because it's Buddha day. There we met a very kind gentleman who, although didn't work there or even in the tourism industry, pointed out a few other places we should see, namely the Marble Buddha Temple as well as a suit factory that is open only one week a year to the public, Thai and foreigners alike. Today was the last day! So, we had some cheap suits made that we'll pick up on our way back to Canada.

The morning greeted us to sunshine but around 1pm it started it piss and, looking out the window now, still apears to be raining...

Tonight we're heading to Chinatown where supposedly we can get the best food in town. Hopefully we'll be meeting up with another Ottawa couple we met on the plane for a few beers and shared stories.

Tomorrow should see us in Ayutthaya bright and early with hopefully less rain and even more photo opportunities.

S&M

Finally Incommunicado

2008-11-03T13:57:00.003-05:00

Well, actually, with the proliferation of Internet Cafes everywhere, we're not totally Incommunicado but it's as close as it gets with no cell phones, no laptops and no Blackberrys. After a grueling 30 hour trip, we've finally made it into Thailand. We're spending the day here in Bangkok to explore the city, see the grand palace and will be heading up to Ayutthaya in a few days.

Our plan was seeing us end up in Hanoi, but with the flooding that's been going on (1m of standing water in the streets!) we're not sure anymore. Depending on how things dry out we may have to change things around.

In any event, we've made it relatively safe and sound and will be keeping everyone who reads this up to date as we stumble across Internet Cafes.

S&M

Ottawa Snowstorm?!

2008-10-28T23:33:00.003-04:00

Yeah, this is what it looked like at around 10pm in Ottawa with an expected snow fall between 15-20cm. Check the date. Is anyone talking about global cooling now?

Duke Nukem Outtakes

2008-10-20T21:33:00.001-04:00

If you played the game, you'd appreciate these outtakes. If you didn't... skip it.

The Combination Post

2008-10-19T22:42:00.015-04:00

Lots of stuff has happened in the last little while and I feel I need to show the world what's been going on in the world of Sang and Mel.

First off, we both had a small trip to Montreal for a conference Mel was attending so I took the opportunity to take some photos while I was there.

Set one is from a shoot at Atwater Market with Sarah and it turned out to be more of an instructional day than a full morning of shooting, but at least I got the camera out and dusted the .... dust off.

Set two is from a session with our sister in law looking for an update of her portfolio. He agent has asked for different looks and I'd like to think that we'd at least done that part!

Last weekend we attended a wedding where we both drank too much and cheered at inappropriate times during the ceremony and the dinner (during which a very odd speech took place to which we were laughingly dumbfounded). Congrats Mark & Sophie BTW!

And this weekend I ended up taking a long-time friend canoe camping for his first time and that was a bit of a story.

We arrived later than anticipated but nothing we were originally worried about. The trail centre at Frontenac, however, was closed already! We ended up using the self-check-in which requires the check-in board to be up to date.

Once we had canoed in about 1 hour though, it turns out that the board was *not* up-to-date and all of the sites at the cluster were taken! So Chuck and I ended up camping about 100m into the park, well away from the other sites and, it turns out later, right next to a hiking path we had not seen before.

The next day we packed up early and made our way back to the Trail Centre where we would try to figure out whether or not we really had our next campsite booked or if they had made a mistake there as well.

Thankfuly, they did not and we ended up putting our canoe back into the water around noon and headed out to campsite three where I went for a swim, took a hike and then some photographs.

The next morning we awoke to frost everywhere and the most brilliant fog to ever descend upon a campsite. It was in this beautiful light that we ate a very long breakfast packed up and headed home for the day.

Take on Me Literally

2008-10-15T22:38:00.001-04:00

... and here is Take On Me.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

It IS Dave Coulier!

2008-10-15T22:35:00.001-04:00

Some funny stuff here with the folks over at Funny or Die writing words to what they are literally seeing in those videos that made absolutely no sense from the 80s...

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Get a Load of Milk

2008-10-06T19:46:00.003-04:00

Did anyone notice the new campaign that those Milk guys are using to push their wares? Yeah, check it out at Get A Load of Milk. So if that wasn't enough to turn you off milk forever, have you seen the posters these advertising geniuses have assembled?!

Honest, would you want to get a load of anything from a one-eyed monster?!

Chase Jarvis is my Hero

2008-09-21T21:05:00.003-04:00

If you've been following the Strobist movement or if you're involved at all with the Flickr Community, you will have heard the name Chase Jarvis. He's the guy who has totally ignited the Seattle Flickr scene by lending expertise and money to a group of Flickrites enabling them to get out a shoot some absolutely brilliant photographs.

Anyway, check out the video above. Even if you're not into the camera geek shit, tell me in the back of your mind you're thinking, "Kung Fu HD?! Where do I sign up for that?!". Check it all out here on VOOM HD and please please watch the entire trailer.

Murphy's Point Camping

2008-09-21T19:51:00.003-04:00

It has been a very long time since Mel and I have been car camping. The majority of our camping trips involve hiking, canoeing or both but this time around, we drove right up to our site, set up our tent and kept the food in the car, a luxury we haven't had in many many years.

A large reason we canoe camp is that it weeds out 90% of campers who don't relish the thought of having to canoe out somewhere and then pitch a tent which typically means a quieter park. This weekend, Murphy's Point was absolutely dead, despite us having stunningly gorgeous weather.

Which I guess brings me in a roundabout way to my point, which is if we are to go car camping, do it in the Fall when the parks are almost empty. Don't tell Mel, but I've looked at all our open weekends and have booked getaway camping trips for all of them! Shhhhhhh!

Sony Ericsson HBH-DS205 Review

2008-09-21T18:02:00.002-04:00

In the last six months or so I've been trying to find a better way to listen to music while on the bus. Until recently I was using the bundled headphones connected to my Sony Ericsson W580 which was fine but I found the cord would snag on things as I walked so I ended up tucking the phone into my pants pocket and running the cord up the inside of my shirt. This works relatively well but surely there must be an easier way to do this.

Enter the SE HBH-DS205. I ordered one off of Ebay for $67USD from Hong Kong from this guy and if you're going to do the same, I would highly recommend him. The item shipped the day after I paid for it and arrived in my mail box 4 days after that.

The headset is fairly small, about the size of a cigarette with controls enough to manage volume, music track and handle calls. The box came with bud headphones (not the in-ear ones that originally came with the W580i), a (US) power adapter and the headset. I've yanked the earphone piece off of my W580 and have plugged it into the top of the DS205 to make a very short and compact listening device that clips to my shirt or jacket. The phone continuously stays in my, uhhhh, ahem, ... purse.

How does it sound? Great. I haven't had any major problems with it, the volume controls seem to have smaller graduations allowing finer control, the track controls work as advertised and I've made phone calls on it and the noise-reduction appears to work very well with very little outside noise transfering onto the line (the headset that came with the W580i was *very* succeptible to outside noise such as the bus).

I've only noticed two problems so far. The first is that the headset (and perhaps all Bluetooth devices) don't like power lines. I was walking under some while on my way to the bus stop and the music cuts in and out until I get out of range of the wires (about 10 meters or so). The second problem, perhaps not necessarily a problem with the headset, is that the phone now no longer automatically pairs with my car or my laptop. It only auto-pairs with the DS205 which is a bit of a pain in the ass as while I'm driving I want to turn on Bluetooth and have the phone find the car and just pair as it did before. Now I have to go into a menu, choose HandsFreeLink and then it will pair (as an aside, it looks like the new Acura HandsFreeLink supports A2DP and AVRCP allow me to play music from the phone to the stereo system in the car!).

As far as a stereo Bluetooth headset goes, the DS205 works perfectly for my commuting needs. The battery seems to last a long time (I charge it every day at work so don't know what the full life is), the sound is great and the ability to control my phone is an added bonus. My only wish is that it could display the Song Titles and Incoming Caller ID which the DS980 does but at the cost of losing the ability to plug in my own headphones. I think it's something that I can live with.

Kingston DataTraveler

2008-09-09T21:52:00.002-04:00

My 256M Kingston DataTravler I got for Christmas a few years ago has outlived its usefulness. At 256M it can still be used in some circumstances, but I've just noticed that its replacements from Kingston have dramatically dropped in price over the course of the last 3 months or so.

Futureshop is currently having a sale on the Kingston DataTraveler USB2.0 8GB for $19.99! Yeah, imagine my surprise. But careful now. I noticed that there was a bit of a price discrepancy between the advertised one and another similarly spec'ed 8G USB key. It turns out that the write speed of these for sale keys are 1.5Mbps. If you do the math, it would take you 763 minutes or almost 13 hours to write 8GB to that particular key. Ridiculous isn't it? Yeah so don't buy those keys unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Comparatively, the $50 version of the same key, you write the same amount in 114 minutes or about 2 hours. Still frickin' long but considerably faster.

Lack of new movies

2008-09-08T09:58:00.003-04:00

... getting you down? Check out Ping Pong Playa. Yes, it's pure cheese, so if you're lactose intolerant in any way, don't click on the following.

Japanese Game Shows

2008-09-06T11:57:00.003-04:00

Wipe Out and now The Hole have made it to US television, both originally Japanese game shows. Although there has been a plethora of Japanese television shows that have made it to US airways, there are still a few worth mentioning, especially given how obscure these seem to be (no one at the office had heard of these clips).

For The Morbidly Obese

2008-09-03T17:07:00.002-04:00

Don't know who you are? Chances are if you're looking up the word morbidly right now, you fall into that catagory. For those even too lazy to look it up, the definition is here. Yes, you have to click on the link.

Buses aren't designed with your fat asses in mind. First of all, when you're standing in the aisle, I can't get around you to get to the door. Even if you could feel my presence through the incessant poking in your back-fat, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. It would be like watching Austin Powers try to turn around that golf-cart thingy in the first movie. Completely futile.

Secondly, the air-conditioning units simply aren't equipped to cool your lardness down. What that means is that you sweat all over the handle bars, the seat cushion and worst yet, my newly pressed shirt. When asked about the sweat marks all over my shoulder I have to lie about some right-side glandular problem I have instead of telling them your sweaty ass soaked through your XXXXL shirt, my dress-shirt *and* my undershirt. It's gross.

Finally, when I see your sweaty self hungrily eyeing up the 2x2 foot space next to me, I can't help thinking that I would easily give up my choice for savings in fuel, convience of parking and ultimately helping out with the environment just so that your rolls of glistening fat don't bulge into my side and build in me that desire to write a blog entry about the entire experience.

Perhaps you can do us all a favour and walk to work with the hopes of one day meeting the 1-roll maximum I surely hope OC Transpo will enforce on all public buses.

More from the Mill

2008-08-25T22:06:00.003-04:00

These ones are all about light and where it falls.

Look at the first photo. Yeah, there's light, but it's flat and it spills and it's simply not dynamic. Patrick and I decided to move the light outside of the hallway . All of a sudden the photo is much more interesting. Light is falling in just the right places. The main light is coming from camera right and being shot through two different fences, a wooden vertical fence and one chain-link fence. The second light was on the right and fired left to bounce off the left wall to provide some fill on my back.

The next photo is shot in completely natural light. The fill is being provided by the white walls in the building. We tried this one with different flashes for fill but it just wasn't natural looking enough so we shot it naked. Again, different but just as effective.

And finally a shot that I ended up not liking that much but the light is just divine. One grided flash is aimed a bit high to feather the light into Mel's face and a bare SB-600 is fired directly into my face. The rest of the exposure was left up to shutter speed which was just enough to reveal the rest of the scene.

Something Funny Happened on the way to Montreal

2008-08-18T19:04:00.014-04:00

Okay, many things happened.

1. Our original convoy never developed, so we ended up with 3 cars, none of whom knew how to get to a photo shoot in Montreal
2. We got lost on the way there because instructions were hastily written on loose leaf paper (yes, hole-punched, blue-lined loose leaf paper. Who uses that anymore?!)
3. Someone's iPhone's built in GPS "lost" us somewhere in Quebec and couldn't tell us which way we had to go, even though Google Maps new exactly where we needed to go.

All these conspired to make a small convoy of cars, mine included, to be late for a photo shoot that was supposed to be chock-full of models at a super cool location. Well, that failed miserably as well and although we did end up at an interesting location, it was chock-full of photographers and nary a model in sight.

So what typically happens in this case? The photographers become the models and for a day, I was art director, set designer, photographer and model... and it was fun! Of course, I would have preferred to have models, but this would have to do and we set out to get some usable shots.

Almost the very first frame of the day yielded the above photo. It's actually fellow photography Mel (not, not my Mel but a different one) dancing around a bit for me. The idea actually came to me when I saw the broom laying around on the floor just outside this room.

Once that frame was taken it set the mood for the rest of the day for me and you can see the progression throughout the rest of these photos with the final culmination coming off of Patrick's brand new D700.

Of course, while Mel was a great model to work with, it was my turn to be the stand it. There were two scenes that Patrick and I worked on together in terms of the design of the scene, the light and the "models". The first scene was my idea and my light design, however throughout the shooting process, Patrick and I worked the light around a bit. You can see a bit of the progression here:

The final frame, with some post processing and a bit of cross-processing later :

Hopefully you'll get an apprication for how much tinkering amateur photographers go through for that absolutely right shot.

Next post I'll hopefully be able to share with you an idea that Patrick came up with, one in which we both worked at the light until we got it just right.

Eastward Bound

2008-08-15T19:48:00.006-04:00

Jay and Jen

Halifax is a georgous city. I've never been further East (in Canada at least) than Quebec City and if Halifax is any measure of what Eastern Canadian cities are like, I need to get East more often.

Mel Getting Ready for the Flight. Yeah, that's beer.

We ended up in Halifax for a wedding of a good friend of mine and decided to spend an extra few days there to visit all of the extra places and do the extra things that tourists must do in Halifax such as visit Peggy's Cove, have a donair at Pizza Corner, do the Alexander Keith's tour, get smashed on said tour, climb up Citadel Hill and take a trip on the Bluenose II. In that order.

Peggy's Cove

Although we didn't get to do everything on that list, we did a good chunk of it, including getting smashed and eating donair at Pizza Corner. I was a little skeptical at first because I've had some good donair in my time, but there was something about the sauce that really puts these donairs at the top of the list. Or it could have been the fact that I could barely walk let alone taste donair sauce. Either way, it was delicious!

Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove is an absolute treasure except for the hoards of tourists surrounding it. The lighthouse isn't so much of a draw for me, but the small fishing village around it and the 2-3km of barren land all around reminded me of being in an alpine meadow. It was surreal.

... aaaaaaaand, Peggy's Cove

Although the trip was too short, it certainly gave us the flavour of the land and we will definitely be making a return trip East.

Batman Mumbles

2008-08-15T19:47:00.001-04:00

Whats Up With The Dark Knights Voice - Watch more free videos

Last.fm

2008-08-01T19:34:00.002-04:00

Okay, I have to admit, I thought Last.fm was a little cheesy, but it works well and best of all, it has Blogger Widgets! Check out the new Last.fm Widget in the side bar. Yes, those are the songs that I have been listening to, in real time. And best of all, you can listen to clips of what I am actually listening to by pressing the play button on a song in the list. Very slick indeed. The best feature, much like that provided by Pandora (no longer available in Canada... booo), prompts you for similar music that you might be interested in based on your listening preferences.

In the past I've had to peruse CDNOW in search of music that meets my tastes and here we have something that pushes it to me directly with no prompting. Chuck, if you're reading this, this is perfect for someone who has no time to find new music but wants to keep expanding his/her musical boundaries.

All-in-all a very well put together free product. Download it now!

Bejing Traffic

2008-08-01T10:31:00.004-04:00

No, not quite what you think, but I've been checking the traffic coming to this blog over the course of the last month or so, and it has steadily turned into about 90% directed towards the volleyball photos that I took at a Montreal FIVB tournament last year. The reason? Leila Barros. She's playing in the Olympics in Beijing and if you do a Google Image Search for that name, two of the photos show up on the first page, one of them coming in at #1!

Maybe I should publish it and try to get some money once and for all!

A Photographic Mobius Loop

2008-08-01T00:38:00.002-04:00

Look carefully and try not to let your brain explode. Hint: there are two cameras taking pictures at the same time...

Cucumber Sandwich

2008-07-28T15:03:00.001-04:00

Gross. But funny!

Dumbo

2008-07-23T23:45:00.008-04:00

Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Yeah, that's what that stands for, and you've probably guessed by now that I was recently in New York.

Business travel is generally pretty boring as you're stuck in meetings all day long and end up eating Saran-wrapped nastiness from the local sandwich place. All of these things my trip was not, although the day-long meeting did get a little grating towards the end of it all.

It all started with a delayed flight out to Laguardia. We were originally supposed to land at 3:00pm but ended up not getting to our Hotel until around 5pm. Still plenty of time to explore the city, but we had hoped for more.

The "walk" the first night took us to pretty much every single tourist spot you can imagine and Manhattan did not disappoint. Our meander brought us to Rockefeller Center, Trump Tower, through electronics bazaars, giant Prada shoppes, Grand Central Station, the Glass Apple store and more. It was a full-on assault of the senses.

The next morning we got up early so that we can yet do another touristy thing: run in Central Park. Our thirty minute amble was yet another assault of the senses, the olfactory sense this time. Perhaps it was the humidity in the air, but ever second was a new smell, from perfume, to sweat, to horse shit, to sewage, to diesel. I felt like every cloud of odour I came across stuck to me, penetrated my shirt and shorts, and entwined together to form what could be best described as the essence of New York. Yeah, it stank. Don't go to New York in the humid summer and expect sunshine and flowers.

As far as meetings go, it went... well... as well as meetings could go. What was most curious on the day was our trip to a Kosher, vegetarian, dim sum place. Yeah, you read that right, dim sum. Now, I know Jews love Chinese food, but this is taking it just a bit far. I don't believe I will ever in my lifetime come across another place that was so distinct in its clientele. It was either giant families of Asians or giant families of Hasidic Jews and nothing in between but our clearly out-of-place table of whities. The food, although vegetarian, was a welcome surprise and although my boss (meat and potatoes kind of guy) was barely able to stomach it all, I quite enjoyed all of it.

Our flight back to Ottawa was of course delayed, but by then I was so tired, I couldn't be bothered with being angry. I just wanted to go home, go to sleep, and think about what real multi-culturalism means.

Hamitlon Clinches the German Pole

2008-07-19T10:43:00.002-04:00

Doesn't look German to me

Yes, I'm a child, but what can I say? You've got to love motorsports even more for this little lovely saying...

Algonquin - Colden Lake - Marcy Dam

2008-07-14T18:48:00.007-04:00

Early Morning Colden Lake

Saturday morning dawned early for me and Mel. We were heading to the Adirondacks to hike with some friends and we were looking at a 3.5 hour drive down. There were a number of idiocies that took place that day and it started not 30 minutes into our drive down.

After chowing down on a quick breakfast at Tim Hortons, we made our way to Cornwall and missed our exit by a good 31km. Yeah, I wasn't paying attention. I partly blame it on my autopilot which likes to turn on when I'm traveling in the general direction of Montreal, but Mel tells me it's because I'm an idiot for not looking at signs. I like to think it's more the autopilot.

That small little detour put a 35 minute dent into our trip down which then followed with us getting lost somewhere in Lake Placid (never listen to Google Maps for directions... take the simplest route!) and then, to top it all off, the parking lot at Heart Lake was full! This meant us driving back down 2km and then hiking it to the trailhead where we arrived a full hour late! I'm sure everyone was amused at our tardiness.

After short pleasantries, we started out towards the trailhead where we passed a tent that was left as an example of what happens when you bring food into it. It had several claw holes and then a large hole right in the middle. This image would stick with us for the rest of the trip and would actually come into play our first and only night out on Colden.

A quick entry into the log book and we were off towards the top of Algonquin!

The day turned out to be quite hot as many of us stopped pretty early for water and a quick break before heading out again. You can see Martin checking out the Funky Cold Medina. It was funkier than Marky Mark's Bunch. Alright, sorry. Enough 80's references.

Marty Martin and his Funky Pits

After climbing for what seemed like an eternity, I started bringing up the "slab" and explained that it was just a large piece of rock that we needed to climb up. We had actually climbed quite a few of them on the way up, each time reassuring them that this was not, in fact, the "slab". I told them that they would recognize it when they got to it.

The "Slab"

Sure enough, 5 minutes after I said that, I heard a low, "Ooooh, myyyyyyy, Gooooood". I looked up and there it was. As far as the eye could see, one steep, sharp piece of rock. As we made our way up it, Martin had started to cramp up and my legs weren't feeling so hot either. I blame it on the stopping all the time for Martin ;).

In any event, neither of us were looking forward to the climb, but we were just able to get up the damned thing and kept pushing towards the summit.

We ended up taking a lunch break just below the summit at a small outcropping of rocks. It was a well needed rest for some of us, and a well needed feeding for all of us. I think we were on the mountain for almost 3 if not 4 hours at that point in time.

Lunch Break

We finally broke summit and celebrated by promptly heading down the other side! We didn't even spare enough time to take a group photo and to have some of that Scotch I had brought specifically to celebrate this accomplishment!

Summit Flowers

Part of the reason we were so haste in our decision to leave was because we were told by one of the Rangers that the bears at Colden were *very* active. If we were cooking anytime after 6pm we should forget about it because the bears *will* approach you. After this sobering thought, I actually thought it would be rather neat to see a bear come sniffing by for some food. We were seven people, and from what we had heard, Colden was going to be pretty busy so there was no real fear of anything drastic happening...

... and of course no bears showed up.

Joanne filtering water on Colden Lake

We hit Colden around 5:30pm, pitched the tents, started the boiling water and then took a quick swim. The water was absolutely divine. I've never been happier to be swimming around in eighteen degree, leech-infested swamp water than I was that day.

Pekka Walking on Water

The Swim

Our small tent enclave

After dinner we hung around with some kids from Rochester who were up for the night. We finished the Scotch during a heated crayfish battle royale. I think Kimbo Slice won in the end...

Crayfish Octogon

Joanne, filtering water yet again!

Next morning we arose to cloudy skies and lucky for us, everyone was completely packed up just as things opened up and pissed all over us. And it wasn't just one of those little downpours. It started out being one, and then at one point, just got louder and louder as more and more volumes of water came pounding down out of the grey skies above. It didn't look like a pleasant start, least of all for Pekka who didn't have anything but a very, and I mean *very*, see through mesh jacket.

Snake at Marcy Dam

So he did what any sensible outdoorsman would do: he poked some holes into a black garbage bag and wore that Roluman-style. Check it!

Live Long and Prosper

Live Long and, uhhh, yeah, Prosper

Live Long and... ahhh screw it!

Shortly after we started hiking though, the rains ebbed and we got out relatively unscathed.

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge Around Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

Curiously, the rain started in again just as we got to the parking lot and Pekka had to throw on that bag again. Personally I think he liked the look and I wouldn't be surpised if Fins everywhere start wearing this new fashion. Tommy, Marcus, Kimi and Heikki, they'll all start looking like Pekka! Bonus points if you can tell me who all those people are and what they have in common.

We parted ways just then and Mel and I drove home in the driving rain. We took the "direct" route back which consisted of, lets see, 5 turns total: 73 -> 86 -> 30 -> 37 -> 417. Yeah... it's *that* simple. At least we now know for next time.

Cuteness Squared

2008-07-08T22:18:00.000-04:00

I don't know what else to say...

Carbon Credits

2008-07-08T09:56:00.004-04:00

Pushing Daisies (okay, they're not daisies...)

908 pounds. That's how much CO2 will be generated, for me, during my flight from Ottawa to New York. To put things into perspective, TerraPass tells me that driving in a single occupant vehicle would be 500lbs (assuming 25 miles per gallon, which both of our cars better) or 274lbs if I were to take the train.

So where am I going with this? You've been able to purchase carbon credits for a few years now, and some public figures (most recently in my memory Bare Naked Ladies) have purchased credits to offset their endeavours (concerts in the case of BNL).

How does it all work? According to TerraPass, your money

supports clean energy and other projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hmm, that's interesting and I certainly want to help and to be honest, I'm a little dubious, so I give the check box a try and see what it tells me my cost is to offset the 900lbs of CO2 I'm spewing into the atmosphere due to my little business trip.

My cost? $5.95. Yeah. You got it. Doesn't seem right does it? $6 doesn't even buy me breakfast in the morning, let alone erase 900lbs of CO2 (okay okay, maybe erase isn't the right word here, but something like that). Maybe they've priced it in such a way that it makes it palatable, but lets be honest here, my $6 isn't doing much to help improve the situation.

Did I purchase? Sure I did. For $6? Why wouldn't I? The taxes alone on the flight are ten times that cost, so $6 is a drop in a bucket. But what am I really buying here? It's certainly not peace of mind.

I'm going to have to do some digging, but I know there are those of you out there who read this blog on a pretty regular basis who have your own opinions (Lysandre and Ivany come to mind), so speak up. What do you guys think?

RaceDV

2008-07-04T07:57:00.002-04:00

If you love car racing games and you also love car racing, you'll love what the guys over at RaceDV do for your track day. Basically they attack your car and hook up multiple machines and cameras to measure speed and tach, track position, G-forces, etc. Very very cool stuff here. You can browse the site for vehicles, events, tracks, etc. The demos that they provide also give you an idea of where cameras can be placed. Check out the last demo with a "heel-toe" camera! For those of you not in the know, heel-toe is nothing like camel-toe except for maybe coolness factor. Okay, maybe not even that. Just check out the video!

Lastly, a good friend of ours was recently at a Viper Day event at Calabogie and here's the online version of his lap.

Happy Canada Day

2008-07-01T23:21:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's that day.

Happy it.

Rideau Street

Parliament

Canada Day Sunset

Wolf Trail (from Blanchette Beach)

2008-07-01T12:47:00.003-04:00

Wolf Trail Waterfall

Today marked the second time this long weekend that we've climbed up Wolf trail. We originally climed it counter clockwise (our preferred route) but today decided to go clockwise to mix things up. Originally we were going to do Big Slide via The Brothers down in the Adirondacks, but it mean leaving Ottawa at 5:30am and not getting back until 7:30-8pm or so and we just weren't in the mood to get up that early.

The first time through was almost a recon trip as I had spotted a few places on the trail that I wanted to take some photos, so early this morning (well, not that early!) we got up and made our way to Blanchette beach for a secluded (except for the cleaner dude who was picking up trash at 7am!) breakfast. After hummus and pita (a typicaly Canada-day breakfast for those of you who aren't from Canada) we headed up the trail towards the lookout.

Wolf Trail Lookout

We saw no one until we were about halfway around the trail and then only a few more people after that. The trail was dead!

Getting back the parking lot, however, was quite a different story. The lot was full! I'm not sure what it is with Ottawans spending Canada Day in Quebec, but there you have it, irrefutable proof!

Wolf Trail Lookout

Diablo 3 Announced

2008-06-30T17:33:00.002-04:00

Weird, I wasn't specifically looking for this one, but it was just recently announced by Blizzard and does it every look like a doozy. Diablo 2 just didn't cut it for me, but looking at the 19 minute (yes, 19 minutes!) of gameplay preview has convinced me that they've gone back to the old formula but have amped up the graphics, environments and storylines. Can't wait!

Crossing your arms

2008-06-26T11:42:00.002-04:00

A recent study shows that,

The mere act of folding your arms increases perseverance and activates an unconscious desire to succeed.

It's quite an interesting read about how body movement can lead to different psychological states.

In a related study, researches found that crossing your legs increases your ability to hold it in and activates an unconscious desire to get the hell out of traffic so you can take that damned piss. Rob.

More Montreal Grand Prix

2008-06-15T14:03:00.004-04:00

A few more photos from the Montreal Grand Prix. Yes, there were some weirdos there and at the same time, some pretty awesome weirdos. You figure out which is which.

Most Awesomest Bicycle Ever

Most Awesomest Hat Ever

Worst Hockey Player Ever

Most Awesomest View Ever

Free Climbing in Thailand

2008-06-11T23:57:00.002-04:00

Yes, we're planning a trip to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and I just stumbled across (well, more like Stumbled Upon) this video. It's just insane.

Formula 1

2008-06-09T22:31:00.006-04:00

It was weird watching the Formula 1 guys strap some lights to our TL and then drive the snot out of it around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but there you have it. And Mel, before you go on a rant about taking the TL onto the track, it's not our TL, although it does look remarkably like our TL.

Mel's TL Fast Lap

And to the meat of this post. F1 cars! This is a photo of Kovalainen being followed by Nakajima. Kovalainen would finish 9th with Nakajima retiring after 46 laps. I actually scammed a spot on a grassy mound that allowed me to shoot through two fences. People kept jostling around me and I kept waving my giant lens around to get them away. It was quite the spectacle, according to Chuck.

Heikki & Kazuki

And finally, a shot from the stands. This is Nick Heidfeld coming around the hairpin. He'd finish second, behind Kubica who took his first victory ever, vaulting him ahead of both Hamilton and Raikonnen to take the championship lead. A very funny thing happened to Hamilton and Raikonnen in the pits. You can read about it on the F1 Website.

The Practice

2008-06-08T21:31:00.003-04:00

After having what was probably the easiest time getting scalped tickets, we ended up exactly where we wanted: grandstand 15 at the hairpin for the practice. The Formula 1 practice. As well as a few others. But we were really there for some 200+mph, screaming, throbbing, chest pounding F1 cars as they made their way around a partially wet Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on one of the windiest days I've ever witnessed in Montreal.

More photos to follow, but this was the view from our Grandstand.

A Birthday and a New Place

2008-06-02T19:23:00.003-04:00

Mel and I went down to Montreal this weekend and helped celebrate Christine's birthday as well as to check out their new place. And it just so happen that while we were there we got to visit probably the most beautiful baby in the world, Vinh.

Man, that's one good lookin' baby.

In any event, while I was down there I decided to take a panomara of the new place and then turn it into a planetoid. Isn't that cool?

Starting at 12 o'clock and heading clockwise, you have the stairs leading down, the stairs leading up, the front hall, the kitchen, the diningroom chandeliere, the dining room with the three flowers followed by the patio door, couch (complete with Guitar Hero guitar), fireplace and TV system. If you look carefully, you can see Mel at 9 o'clock checking out some plant of some kind.

Neato!

Steven Seagal

2008-06-02T17:39:00.001-04:00

Check out the trailer for his new movie!

Body Work

2008-05-26T21:36:00.012-04:00

A Very Sad Side Mirror

Through a series of unfortunate events, the nose of my pristine 11 year old Integra met with the 8 year old walls of my garage. I'm not going to say how it happened, only that in an attempt to avoid a wheelbarrow that likely would have just scratched up the car, the driver took out the passenger side mirror, right quarter panel and partially tore off the front bumper. It quite reminded me of that scene from Snatch when Tyrone the getaway driver backs up right into the van holding Benicio Del Toro except that I think that that car fared better in the exchange.

The Replacements

In any event, it was time to try my hand at some body work and with the help of Charles (okay, Charles did most of the work. I just sat there looking damned fine), we attempted to replace the side mirror over the weekend.

Charles found a (free!) side mirror off a scrapped Integra at the junkyard and we used that as the replacement.

Taking apart the motor

The first step was disassembling the junkyard mirror (which you'll notice is red and not the Jet-Black that I was looking for, but we fixed that later on).

Four screws later we were at the motor and trying to pull that apart because Mel, I mean.. uhhh, the driver, also broke the little control knobs that connect the motor to the mirror and we needed to salvage that part for the replacement.

Part 1 of 2

Control knob that connects motor to mirror

Next, we had to take apart the door which was a bit of an adventure because there are only three visible screws holding that thing together (and one of them only holds the handle in and nothing else). We undid the three screws and tried to take the door panel off but it wouldn't budge. It turns out that, much like a Wonderbra, we needed to lift and separate to get the panel off, and again much like a Wonderbra, we were woefully ill prepared to remove it. So, like a fifteen year-old, we groped around for a few minutes and finally figured it out.

Screw Location. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Once we got the panel off we could finally get at the nuts that were holding the side mirror on and it was a simple thing to remove those and get the mirror off.

Mirror is off!

Now we had to prep the new mirror which required us to sand and prime. This was relatively easy and once the primer went on, it looked a bit like a carbon fiber part! I was ready to let it go like that, but Charles had already bought the new paint to match the car so we ended up putting on a few coats of the new paint and a final coat of clear coat. I said coat waaaay too many times in that sentence.

Faux-Carbon-Fiber

So, four, uhhhh... layers of paint later, we have the final product:

Ready to install

Notice the little flicker in the paint? Yeah, small metallic flecks to match the paint on the car! It was actually really quite nice and I was feeling almost bad because the new side mirror was going to outshine the rest of the car! Fear not, however, as karma would have a little surprise for us as we installed the new mirror.

You probably can't tell too well from the photo above, but karma decided to hand me the wrong screws (and by karma, I mean Charles) and the too-long screws poked speed holes in the side mirror. Just after having re-painted the whole thing! Now, in Charles' defense, I did use the short screws inside the motor assembly by mistake, which cause there to be a shortage of these screws and eventually lead to Charles' conclusion that the longer screws must have been the right ones because they were the only type that had sufficient (4) numbers to complete the assembly.

In any event, what this means is that we're going to have to sand down those holes and repaint the whole thing, but the good news is that we don't have to take the whole thing apart again and further, the mirror, motor assembly and controls all work! So how I can see out my side mirror again. I'm so happy.

Next week's tutorial:

Defensive Driving 101: Inanimate objects will not move even if you drive into them

Chemistry Class

2008-05-24T08:12:00.001-04:00

If only it was actually this fun.

Gary Kasparov

2008-05-24T08:02:00.002-04:00

If Gary Kasparov is speaking at an event and you want to disagree with his views, what should you do to interrupt the conference?