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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Eric Cheng's LiveJournal:
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| Monday, October 31st, 2005 | | 12:18 am |
| | Sunday, February 1st, 2004 | | 1:45 am |
| | Friday, January 2nd, 2004 | | 3:49 am |
| | Wednesday, November 19th, 2003 | | 12:25 am |
Updating
Hey, guys. LJ doesn't update well from B2 anymore, so it looks like my new entries won't be posted here until... well, until I have time to fix it, which definitely won't be for some time. Bye! | | Tuesday, November 4th, 2003 | | 10:46 am |
| | Sunday, November 2nd, 2003 | | 3:44 am |
Wetpixel wins at Antibes!
Wetpixel.com has won one of the most prestigious awards in the underwater photograpy and videography community: the underwater web site of the year award at the Antibes Juan-Les-Pins 30th Festival Mondial de L'Image Sous-Marine (30th World Festival of Underwater Images). The awards ceremony last night here in the South of France was not unlike a small version of the Academy Awards, and the two-hour ceremony honored winners for underwater web sites, books, images, and films.
Obviously, the entire ceremony was in French, and even though Andi and Lars have a slight grasp of the language, we sat in the audience futilely trying to figure out what was going on. In fact, we didn't even really know when the web site award was going to be announced; we heard something about web sites, but then someone else was called up to the stage (who ended up being the presenter, I believe). Suddenly, I heard, "Eric Cheng, Wetpixel.com!" and while walking up to receive my golden fin trophy, I was vaguely aware of some words being said in French. Actually, I was only vaguely aware of just about everything because the entire event was a bit surreal. I've never accepted an award in front of an audience so large -- and never in a country where I cannot understand the language. :) But it was very exciting, and it shows that the community is starting to accept the inevitable transition from film to digital imaging.
By the way, it was really nice to have met the Digideep boys and Aline and Laura. I spent the extended weekend with them, and I must thank them profusely for their wonderful company. I'll write more in an explicit Antibes report soon. [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Thursday, October 23rd, 2003 | | 8:40 pm |
Oh, England...
Update: [ Photos from London] [ Photos from Plymouth]
England has been fun so far. I'm here in Plymouth with Kristene, Marta, and Alan, all of whom I spent a month with at the SharkLab last summer. In what was ended up being a harbinger of further misfortune, the weather dropped ten degrees centigrade and the heavens unleashed a torrent of rain as soon as I tried to get to Plymouth. Steve said, "Oh, I usually leave an hour before the train is scheduled to depart. That will give you time in case of train delays." Well, as soon as I stepped onto the train, it stopped, and the conductor mumbled something over the intercom which was utterly unintelligible. An hour and a half later, I arrived at Baker Street and transferred onto the circle line to Paddington Station, having missed my train -- and the two next trains. So I sat there and ate crappy Chinese fast-food, whose contents have somehow escaped the "no fast food" rule that I adopted after reading Fast Food Nation. Eventually, I arrived at Plymouth, and much enjoyment was had at being reunited with souls with whom I had endured the constant onslaught of biting bugs in Bimini.
The woods near Steve's house
We (Kristene, Marta, Dan, Patrick, and Apple) spent today in Cornwall at some beautiful beaches (the sky had magically cleared up, although it is still frickin' cold), which somehow invoked to me images of the cliff-lined coastline of Northern California, with a hint of East Coast thrown in. Everyone has been exceedingly polite, asking me multiple times each hour if I'd like a cup of tea, and asking for constant validation in that Brit sort of way: "that's strange, itddn' it? that chap's a bit dodgy, itddn' 'ee?" However, I haven't yet had much interaction with the local people here (affectionately called by non-locals in Plymouth as " Janners," which I presume to be a derogatory name). The local student paper even has some stereotypical things to say about their appearance. Bizarre.
Anyway, Karma took over at this point, perhaps annoyed that it was possible to have such beautiful weather in coastal Cornwall. At dinner, I left my Olympus C-5050 camera with 1GB compact flash card on the shelf over the private, one-room toilet at Mutley Spice, an Indian Restaurant in Plymouth. The guy who went in after me said, "hi," on his way in. And den, not 120 seconds later, I darted back into the bathroom to find it gone. The guy whom I had passed was no longer in the restaurant, probably because he had come in for take-out and left with something even better. Patrick was nice enough to walk me through a phone-in of a police report, and now, the camera -- and the $900 (or whatever) in value that it represented -- is gone.
"Can you describe the man you think took the camera?"
"Uh... sure. Caucasian male, just under 2 meters tall, short hair, maybe balding a little."
I just described just about every male in Plymouth. Yippee.
It's 4:35am now, and I am about to go to bed. I washed my face with water that was freezing cold, because for some reason, no faucet exists here that mixes both cold and hot water (the novelty!). Someone could make a lot of money. Heating is also broken here at Kristene's place, and while that means that I probably won't burn my leg on the radiator again while on the toilet, it also means that it is god damn cold because the windows don't close here nor at Marta's place. Actually, they do close, but somehow a draft can still be felt inside. It's magic.
I'm really enjoying my time with friends. Nothing can change that. :) Good night!
Photos: [ Photos from London] [ Photos from Plymouth] [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Tuesday, October 21st, 2003 | | 5:47 am |
London
Hello! I'm here in London, hanging out with Steve Kessel, who has been a fantastic host so far. We spent yesterday hanging out at his place in Northwood Hills, and went out at night to see "Kill Bill," which, despite its gratuitous gore, was a fun movie to watch. We're going to have dinner tonight with Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch, and later on I hope to meet up with Mandy's sister, who is temporarily living here for work. I have to go now. My time here at the internet cafe is limited. :)
Oh, before I forget, here are some photos from the past weeks. [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Wednesday, October 15th, 2003 | | 8:15 pm |
Muck Diving
Check out this bizarre animal. It's called a "red-lipped batfish," and although it exists in such exotic places like the Galapagos, it can also be found under a bridge in West Palm Beach! (although the one I saw there looked different than the one I saw here -- probably a different species)  I leave here tomorrow back from San Francisco, and will be home for a couple of days before I depart again. Craziness. But I'm having a great time as a nomad. :) [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Sunday, October 12th, 2003 | | 9:01 pm |
| | Saturday, October 11th, 2003 | | 12:16 am |
DEMA 2003 Show Coverage
I'm here in Miami, and it's 5:14am. I'm babysitting an upload of a preliminary trip report for wetpixel.com:
http://wetpixel.com/features/dema2003/
It's a pretty thorough report, and I am proud of it. But now, I should go to bed. I originally thought that we were checking out on Sunday, but it looks like I have to check out in six hours. That is going to be tough.
Miss you guys! (my friends and stuff) :) [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Wednesday, October 8th, 2003 | | 3:11 pm |
Unexpected Beauty
I have seen few things as beautiful as a 6:30am lift-off from San Francisco International Airport in the autumn. From above, the rippled fog layer laps against the shores of the foothills like a voluminous cotton ocean. The clarity of the sky is incredible; a darkly saturated crimson horizon blends slowly upward along the colors of the rainbow, a midnight blue expanse directly overhead, sprinkled with bright starlight sparkles.
Fifteen minutes later, the sun breaks the horizon, its piercing light still golden, an intense orange flare.
And now, at 7am, only a hint remains of what was before, a rainbow horizon washed out, fading quickly. [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Friday, October 3rd, 2003 | | 2:15 pm |
Whale Sharks, etc.
Darren Rice, of Liquid Image Productions, has completed the promo video he was working on while on the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer with me in August. (photos of that trip are here) If you want to see what the schools of hammerheads and whale sharks are like underwater, check it out. It's a great video. :) Go to the Sky Dancer site and click on the Galapagos video link at the top of the page! [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Thursday, October 2nd, 2003 | | 7:33 am |
I love RCN
Aside from an unannounced cable service disruption last night at 1am (a technician was working in the vicinity), RCN has been the best ISP I've ever worked with. I love them.
2003-10-02 12:30:35 EST: 3712 / 494
Your download speed : 3712231 bps, or 3712 kbps.
A 453.1 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 494926 bps, or 494 kbps.
You're jealous. You know you are. [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Wednesday, October 1st, 2003 | | 4:51 pm |
Catch up
 I've been getting behind in posting photos, mostly because I have very little free time. But what's great about my current arrangement is that I'm now "forced" to hang out with my friends all the time because I have to sleep on their couches and extra beds. So work and play have been juxtaposed again, as they were during college and graduate school.
I'm off to San Diego this weekend, but I don't think I'll have any free time to see any of you down there. :( I will be at a big underwater party thingie on Saturday, and will spend Sunday and Monday helping a friend out with his computer and boat.
Photos: [ see some photos]
I've also updated the Austin entry with some photographs. [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Tuesday, September 30th, 2003 | | 9:49 pm |
Peter and Karine\\\'s Wedding
Peter and Karine, September 20, 2003
On September 20th, Beverly and I drove down to Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara to attend Peter and Karine's wedding. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and both Karine and the wedding itself radiated beauty and happiness. Allon was funny; he stood up there, a nervous groomsman; a casual observer might have assumed that *he* was the one about to marry. :) The ceremony was short, and Peter showed a nostalgic slide show he had put together featuring both of their lives (separately), and then their life together. The "young" ones had a great time at the reception until the bar closed at around 1am. Emile, Beverly and I walked on the beach for awhile to sober up and to let the day's event settle before driving back to the cheapie hotel where we were staying.
A beautiful wedding -- one of the most beautiful I've seen. Maybe it was because I've known Peter for ten years? It's great to see him so happy.
There are photographs, of course. [ public photos] [ private photos (passworded)] [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Saturday, September 27th, 2003 | | 2:27 pm |
Cars
I'm thinking of selling my lovely M3 and old-ass 1992 Volvo and buying a Subaru WRX Wagon. It's fast, cheap, and it holds lots of stuff. My priorities have changed lately; no longer am I cubicle-bound and bored, and I certainly don't *need* to have two cars, especially being based in San Francisco with only one garage spot. 2001 M3s are not selling for much less than did when I bought mine. I guess it's the tax and delivery charge I paid on the thing I would really be losing.
*update*
ok. it's final. selling! 2001 E46 M3, Silver/Black, sunroof, nav, premium sound, cold weather package (hah!), lojack, new bridgestone potenza S-02 tires, 28K miles. Not sure how much I'll ask for it. Autotrader shows around $40-48K, depending on mileage, and my car would be somewhere in the middle in terms of mileage, plus nav and lojack. I've put up a page with details.
Also available is a 1992 Volvo 960 Station Wagon, for $4K. Needs new side mirror motor. AC just refilled. [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | 7:46 am |
Server Migration
If you're seeing this message, my server migration has worked! Do me a favor and go click around, will ya? There are bound to be problems, and it would help to have the troubleshooting expertise of more than just one person. :) [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] | | Friday, September 26th, 2003 | | 3:59 pm |
| | 12:58 am |
Kerby Lane, Vienna Teng, Andy Biggs
 Elliot and I left the house this morning at 4:20am, and by mid-afternoon we were shucking corn in Dan's backyard here in Austin. Well, *I* wasn't shucking corn, but I kept them company while they did it. It's great to see Dan; we get to see him far too infrequently these days. :( And because of that, I had some guilt over leaving his place this evening (with Andy Biggs and his wife Leslie) to hear Vienna Teng sing at the Cactus Club at the U.T... but I'm glad I went. She was amazing, and sang one of the best shows I've heard her sing. The acoustics were good, and she clearly was enjoying herself on stage. I get to hear sing fairly often, but each time I still think, "Damn, she's good." The audience was quiet -- but responsive -- and they sang with perfect intonation to Soon Love Soon, which requires audience participation. It was quite impressive, and even Vienna could hardly contain her excitement on stage. At the show, I bumped into a bunch of Stanford CS/Trilogy people: Toli, his wife Christine, and ... one other person, whose name I cannot remember. I do remember, however, that he was in the class of '95 and went to Trilogy, so that puts him squarely in the middle of a lot of people I know. Toli, Christine, Vienna and I went to Kerby Lane (the "real" Kerby Lane, they called it) afterwards for a bite to eat, and it was just as I remembered it, even though I've only eaten there once since living here in Austin during the summer of '96.
Before the show, I spent some time with Andy and Leslie for a Tex-Mex dinner. I chat with Andy over IM almost every day and have spoken with him on the telephone, but it was my first time meeting the two of them in person. Our virtual friendship has now very naturally carried itself over into real life. It's nice when things work out. :) Oh, and you should check out his photography. He's good.
*UPDATE* [ see some photos] [ photos from dan] [cloned from [ECHENG.COM] Web Journal] |
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