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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Parade









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Attended the 4th of July Parade with my family. There's a parade in almost every town and community. My kids love to go to the parade to watch the decorated floats, fire trucks, interesting costumes, candies, and other goodies. It's fun, it gets you out of the house, and gets you in a celebrative mood. Never once I thought while growing up in Malaysia that I would be doing this.
Happy 4th everyone!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

4th of July Fireworks










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I went downtown this evening to catch the 4th of July fireworks display by the City of Burlington. The main reason I was there was to practice some techniques I had learnt on photographing fireworks. I brought my Nikon D70s, 3 lenses, a couple of batteries and compact flash cards, Nikon remote control, and a tripod. I got there a little early and scouted for the ideal spot which was hard to find. There were lots of people around and most had chosen their spots. I did find a nice location after peeking over a wall at Battery Park. I setup my tripod and camera, took some test shots and then waited for the show. I have to say that it's not easy to capture a fireworks display for many reasons but I think I did pretty good. A small apperture and a long shutter speed was the key. These are some of the shots I took of the fireworks at the Burlington Waterfront.
Happy 4th of July y'all!!

Happy Birthday, Bill & Robin


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Robin and Bill both share the share birthday and today it is. But one has a little more mileage than the other! :-) Heidi made a strawberry shortcake to celebrate their birthdays, however Bill wasn't around to celebrate with us as he was on vacation. So, Robin (as seen above) did the honors for both of them.
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Happy Birthday, Guys!

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Dana New Computers






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The Dana Medical Library at UVM recently received new computers as part of the replacement cycle. Mark and I completed the first half of this project in June (20 computers) and we'll finish the second half (21 computers) sometime in July. The only challenging part of this project are the cables. There are so many per machine and they are of various lenghts and sizes. They have to be neatly bundled and zip-tied under the desks and does require two people. One to hold the cables together, while the other zip-ties. Mark and I generally lay on our backs when we work with the cables. We always find something amusing to joke about and we always make light of the situation by having a good time. Usually, we play "Dell Tech Support", where one of us is the helpless computer user and the other is the tech support person, usually from India with an Indian accent. With some reason changes in my department, this may be one of the last big projects I'll be working with Mark. Hopefully, it's not the case.
Cheers!

60,000 Miles


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My Honda Civic hit 60,000 miles on Friday (6/29/07).
I was driving home after work and noticed my odometer. I did the math and figured I would be able to pull it into my driveway at exactly 60,000 miles but it turned 60,001 when I drove 10 feet into my driveway. Not bad with the math huh! Oh well, this car has been good to me for the last 4 years and I love it. Hopefully, I'll get another 60,000 to 100,000 out of her.

Stress and Ahhhhh!


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Seriously busy working. This is the face I make when my buddy Mark continues to bug me. Dude, go away!
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Ahhhh! Now, I have time for you. What you need, buddy?!!
Talk to me!

Canada Day 2007


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It's Canada Day today (July 1, 2007) and 140 years of independence.
I watched the Canada Day celebrations on TV this afternoon which was broadcasted live from the Canadian Parliament grounds in Ottawa. It was a great feeling to see the unity and diversity of the people from all over the world who are now proud citizens of a great country called Canada.
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Happy Canada Day, everyone!