Foto-la...

I just realized that I don't have a label for Photos and so, am just creating one.. (^.^)

Anyway, on Friday, I had a day off since the company recognizes Agong's b'day on 1st Saturday of June.

Yes, yes... Agong's b'day will always be 1st Saturday of June, regardless of when his actual b'day is. Anyway, this is just an official b'day for the Agong.

So, I decided to scout around the garden to take some photos. I've been playing around with my aged Nikon Coolpix 5900 for a while now, learning to use some of the advanced functions without a manual. Kekeke.. I'm a geek and hence, by default whenever we get some gadget, we're such lazy bums that we don't read the manual at all.. *phhbbbbpppttt*

The first picture I took were of the pandan leaves which my father planted in the garden. We brought this over from our old house and we frequently use it for cooking and also as car de-odourizer. My Dad heard that pandan was very effective in removing odours from cars as well as prevent cockroaches from entering it as well. So, he used to place a few pandan leaves (knotted up) in our cars.

Imagine how the smell of pandan + durian is like... Mmmmmmm... Heavenly!!

Later, I thought that people would be bored with looking at just pandan leaves and so, decided to take a picture of the lonely hibiscus flower blooming in our garden. Hibiscus flowers tend to bloom during the dry season. However, lately due to the wet weather, we didn't get many flowers and so, just had one flower to look at.

My dad also planted a guava plant - I think back in 2000-something. We got it from our granduncle's place in Kepong that Chinese New Year. So, he brought it back to try to plant it. As of now, the plant still stands at 3-feet tall and still growing.... slowly. Not sure why it can't grow... Maybe need Snoopy's help to "fertilize" it. Kekekee...

Here's another herb which we almost take for granted in Thai cooking - sweet basil. My mom got this from her friend and after we planted it, it multiplied like crazy!!! My mom likes to use the leaves when cooking with eggs. Tastes absolutely yummy and sweet!

Anyway, it was raining very heavily on Friday and after the rain, I went out to take a few nice photos too. This is the best picture I've taken.. :P

Anyway, I didn't just take pictures of plants all day long. I also managed to take one photo of an inanimate object...
I'm not sure why the clock is stuck at 4:59. Anyway, this is an old, wind-up clock which requires frequent maintenance by winding up the spring. We also have to oil the spring if we want it to work. However, we've not used it in a while because my sis finds the chimes to be irritating. Yes, it chimes every half and full hour.

Of course, aside from all of this, there's my trusted camwhore - Snoopy... :P She's my favourite subject to photography because she's a natural and always, her white body makes a very nice contrast against any background. Hahaha...

Snoopy: Oiii!! Don't simply take my photos without asking for my permission first, ok???

Anyway, I'm still trying to get a foothold on this digital photography. Somehow, one must always remember that what you see with your eye may not be what the camera "sees".

Recently, while scouring dpreview.com, the samples gallery for the Canon PowerShot G7 caught my eye. Now, this camera was released in September last year and the photos were fantastic! Got to tip my hat off to the photographer who took those beautiful shots which showcased the camera's sharpness very close to the fine image of what a DSLR can produce.

Some of these pictures I've corrected using Picasa, a lovely tool by those nice folks at Google. I've blogged about them quite some time back. Anyway, have a look at Picasa if you can't afford to buy/install expensive apps like PhotoShop. ;)

So, I'm still learning... OK? :P

Google RSS Reader

As I was trying out the new GoogleDocs, I came across a new RSS Reader (beta) by GoogleLabs. Quite cool!!

Here's a screenshot taken from the site.

(Taken from GoogleReader tour)

I've subscribed to my favourite blogs, Janesse, Joel on Software and even Screenshots (Jeff Ooi). ^^

The posts are organized in e-mail formats, thus making the posts easy to read. Give it a shot, am sure you'll enjoy it.

Meanwhile, back to my MU-vs-Wigan game. So far, its not going United's way.. (T__T)

Virtual Office?

I'm not referring to where we can setup a virtual office in cyberspace ala Matrix styley, but more about the latest trend in office productivity - software hosted on the web where users can login and create documents online.

Anyway, a couple of sites caught my eye after I saw a piece of news on eWeek, regarding latest news on what Google was offering --> GoogleDocs. This is kind of cool! If you have the time, do check it out.

What is the pro/cons of having such a service? Well, for one, you can create/view documents on your web browser without installing any office productivity software. Pretty neat idea for a mobile roadwarrior who is lugging a large notebook around. All you need now is an Internet connection which is reliable and fast enough. (^-^)

HOWEVER... I do have some issues in regards to document security as these documents would be stored at some server somewhere. So, security and privacy would be the main issue of why this idea may not be adopted so soon.

It was interesting to note that Google announced this so soon, ahead of Microsoft, the forerunner of office productivity software, which nearly 90% of the world's office workers use (both legal and illegal.. *hee*) . Anyway, don't be surprised that after Office 2007 is released or prior to that, Microsoft would have a version for customers (who have bought Office 2007) to use online, via Microsoft Office Live (still in beta).

Anyway, besides GoogleDocs, do check out Zoho as well as these guys have also launched their services in beta mode this week as well (news from Techcrunch). This is certainly taking collaboration to another level..... Wonder what is next, developing code online?? (^___^)

Note that if you have signed up for Google Spreadsheets before, you can access this with no issue.

Google Calendar

Ah...

Google has released another application - Google Calendar

Nothing earth-shattering. The application is cool, looks like a standalone application but after a second look, it can link to your e-mail and SMS as well as the default pop-up.

I would like to be able to use the SMS option but unfortunately, this is open only to US now :(

Anyway, it's a cool app to check out. So, try it out!

Playing with Picasa2

I'm not a good photographer.

I have a couple of cameras, one of it is a basic Olympus all-weather camera which doesn't seem to work properly now and another is my nearly brand new Nikon 5900 digital camera.

So, I just started fooling around with digital photography last year when I got my Nikon. The pictures I took were pretty ok but I quickly realized that the digital photos were a bit too "white" for my taste.

Anyway, lately, I was surfing and saw a post about Picasa2 from Google. It seems pretty good and so, I decided to download it.

Here is a picture of Snoopy, which I took yesterday using my digital camera. There is NO other manipulation other than my name placed at the bottom left corner of the photo.

Here is another photo of Snoopy, which has been modified. I've added a "Glow" and "Soft Focus" look to make Snoopy more angelic. Besides that, I've increased the colour saturation of the picture as well.

What a big difference Picasa has done to my mediocre picture. I really like this software. I've been trying for months to play around with other software like Gimp to do some of the image manipulation and it has been a long process.

Picasa is just great for us who don't really know how to use sophisticated tools such as Gimp. It took me less than 5 minutes to figure out what I wanted to do with it. The interface is fairly intuitive and easy to use.

I just love Picasa! Another great product from our friends at Google. Go buy their shares, or better still, work for them. LOL!!!