Interleague Play

My beloved SF Giants took on the Cleveland Indians for 3 games series interleague play this past weekend.  I am fortunate to have a best friend who is a long time season ticket holders.  The called came in early on Thursday morning to see if I have a plan for the weekend.  He have 4 tickets for the Saturday afternoon game and see if I want it.  Duhhh… of course I jump on it right away.  It didn’t take my brother long to changed his plan for the day as well.

The weather on Saturday afternoon was perfect, awesome day to be spending at the park.  Also, the Giants is giving away Aubrey Huff  Bobblehead to the first 25,000 fans.

so many people are in line waiting to enter the ball park. thanks to my buddy, his tickets allow us to enter at special gate with no line.

let's play ball... so beautiful, love this park..

Matt Cain is the starting pitcher for the day. i didn't switch the lense back to 18-200mm

All the home games are all sold out so far this year.  As you can see on the above pictures.

my nephew is getting ready to run down by the dugout to catch balls from players as they coming in

my nephew is on the bottom left corner of the picture.. waving his glove to Pablo.

Aubrey Huff toss the ball into the crowd of kids and my nephew caught it. It made his day for sure.

showing off his prize major league baseball from Aubrey Huff.

even the kids in front of us wants to check the ball.

 

Andres Torres and Nate Schierholtz

Cody Ross and Andres Torres

Andres Torres and Aubrey Huff

For those folks been following baseball should knows who is Barry Bonds.  He is one of the best player ever wore the Giants uniform.  The steroid usage allegations drive him to retire from baseball few years ago.

another Giants fan express his feeling

Brian Wilson "fear the beard" is warming up to close the game.

the picthing staffs... game over!!! Giants won 1-0

$96 per ticket x 4 = $384, $30 parking, $60 hot dogs and drinks for 4, spending a day with niece/nephew/brother = PRICELESS!!!!!!

last ferry to the East Bay..

ferry boat is making a U turn..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Dad’s Backyard

Last weekend I stop by to see my folks and took them out for lunch.  Growing up we never really celebrate any holidays, let alone mother or father’s day.  Perhaps, we didn’t know any better or thought it was weird to have a reason to spend special day with your parents.  Maybe, because we are always together cramped in this tiny two bedrooms apartment.  On the weekends my dad would always took us fishing or camping out at some lakes.  As a kid, I never really questions or wonder why my parents did what they did.  Later on, I know their reasons behind it.  They didn’t want us to be around some other laotian kids at the apartment complex and afraid that we might be involved in something negatively.

Now as I’m older, I really appreciated all those things my parents did for us.  I tried to spend as much time with them as I can.  Even though I don’t give them hugs and kisses every time I see them, but I’m sure they know I love them:-).

Oh… hhmm the title of this blog doesn’t quit match what I’m ranting about.  As I was waiting for them, I checked out my dad’s proud backyard.  His apple tree is growing out of control and puts my apple tree to a shame.

I'm not sure what kind of apple... But, it is growing out of control

notices my dad's homemade tree ties... whatever material he can find.. hahah

My dad is so typical laotians... No waste of spaces, his grape is growing into his apple tree.

Can't wait til the grape gets little bigger... "tum mark grape :-)"

His pomegranate seems to be kind of late this year..

**Click on the pictures to see the larger size**

 

 

 

 

 

Help!!!!

I am so clueless when comes to giving people gifts for certain occasion.  I got an invite to a friend 20th anniversary this coming weekend and I don’t have a clue what to give them.  Pretty typical guy huh?  I also waited til almost last minute to even start thinking about getting them the gift. hahhahah  I did some research and the typical answer is China for 20th anniversary.  Almost 100% sure that these people aren’t into China collection and now what??  I thought about giving them gift certificate to Napa Spa or Bed n Breakfast along the coast.

So, I need you guys help… at this point of time, I”ll consider anything.

D.Y.I. “Bounce Card”

Most of you probably wonder what the heck is bounce card?  Just like its name, the main purpose of the card is to deflect lighting from flash.  Lately, I’ve been shooting a lot of portraits and wasn’t happy with the finish photos.  So, my coworker thinks he might have the solution to my problem.  Hopefully, this bounce card will solve some problem with harsh flash.  I took some pictures with the bounce card mounted on my flash, but I haven’t got a chance to download the pictures.

i picked up some foam sheets at the local craft store... in this case, both white and black foam sheets comes with sticky back.

I choose velcro to strap the bounce card to the flash... most people just use rubber band, but looks a bit tacky to me..

this is the blueprint my co-worker gave me... after i stick those two foam sheets together, i tape this blueprint to the foam sheet and cut it away.

the inside of bounce card..

exterior of bounce card with velcro attached..

the bounce card attach to the tip of my 430 EX II flash.. with the velcro, it is easily to remove and store it away.

looking at it on the front view.. as the light from the flash hits the bounce card, it will helps distributing the light to the source evently.

finally... this is how it looks

Sorry about all the pictures.  It is not the best pictures from my iPhone.  Stay tune for pictures that I took with bounce card mounted on the flash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Takkatan Chonlada Concert

On Saturday night I had a chance to attend Takkatan Chonlada concert.  At first, I thought the concert would be cancel due to the rain and thunder storms.  By the evening rolls around, the weather seems to be a lot calmer.  As long as I lived in Northern California, I never experienced this kind of weather during the month of June.

This will be two consecutive weekends I got to see Takkatan performed.  The previous weekend she performed at Cache Creek Casino, but they wouldn’t let me with my camera.  So, this past weekend I took full advantage of it.

I had to fight my ways through crowds to get some up close shots.

It is tough shooting at such a concert... where the lighting aren't so edequate.

 

She is a good entertainer... I think she sings better live than some of her cd. The song that made her popular.."Mai Chai Fan Tum Tan Mai Dai"

She constantly squad downs to accept lei and $$

I got luck out with all the colors on the background.

Later on the night.. I found myself shooting randomly. His wife is to my left trying to capture the moment.

Now is the husband turn to capture the moment. She kept asking her husband, did you get it?... Too bad she didn't ask me :-)... I got it!!

Now a day, people with their smart phones and video recorders..

After all, I didn’t mind spend $20 for this concert compare to the Cache Creek Casino concert.  I got to enjoyed the concert up close and personal.  Plus, I ending up shooting so many photos that I had to reached for my back up camera and flash batteries.  I had bunch of people that I don’t know asked me to take pictures of them.  They never bother to even leave me an emails, not sure what they were thinking:-).  I’m not sure if the event organizer, in this case is the temple will recoup their money back at all.  I heard that her fee was about $7,500.00.  She is into her 2nd or 3rd weeks on U.S. tour and probably have few more weeks left.  With the rate she is charging, she will be needing few LV bags to carry her cash back to Thailand.