We 3 Tings

The themes of the pictures posted here will quickly change... because of the birth of our baby girl, Zoë!  Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support!  Mother and baby are doing well.  More pictures and a detailed update to follow.  After we catch up a little bit on sleep.

We are absolutely SMITTEN!

Super update.

 Jaws of NOT life.

Focused Badlands.

Didge on the range.

Smiling Bird.

Mama Roo.

Not in the Shire anymore.

Quite a view.

Loungin' Lizard.

Hungry Hippo.

Giraffe Family.

Release and Relief.

Blue Jellies.

Never-ending Glass.

Nestled in.

I don't give a hoot.

More shots.

A few more lovely pics on this 2 year anniversary (and baby's due date - the little one decided to stay in just a little longer).

Mid-mouthful.

Twelve Apostles in Australia.

Peek-a-boo croc.

Almost 2 years...

About to celebrate 2 wonderful years of marriage with my wife.  But first, here's some new pics:

Loungin' Roo.

God peeking through the clouds.

One does not simply walk into Mordor.

Some more favs.

This first one is one of my absolute fav shots.  The others are pretty fun too.

Koala Peek-a-boo.

Green Twirly Thing.

Landing Birds.

Pics part 3.

Still no baby. Come on out, little one!  The world is so beautiful out here!

Camo Croc.

Colors of the Wind... of Uluru.

Dueling Jellyfish.

Of Birds and fish.

Some more delights.

Proud Little Penguin.

View from the Shire.

Nemo Found.

Welcome back again...

 So as I sit at home, waiting for the arrival of our first baby, I decide to go through some of the pictures of the last few years and post up some of the ones that I enjoy.  We've had a DSLR canon the last year and I've really enjoyed learning how to use it.  Stay tuned for more pictures, though I've found most of the themes of my pictures include: wildlife, nature, cityscape, aquatic animals and flightless birds.  Soon it may include newborns. 

Rock Meets Water.

Busy Little insects.

Good daddy seahorse.

2 cultures in 24 hours

Every time I travel back from China to the US, I'm smacked with the reality of just how different the two cultures are. It's a telling picture of how society affects how we interact with one another and how we dictate the kind of society that we have. In order to be unbiased, I'll leave out any terms that will lead to identifying which culture is which.

"We will begin boarding for flight 090. Will those sitting first class please come to the desk please?". With those words, the airport rep opened the floodgate of many tired travelers to crowd around the desk. No line, no waiting, no courtesy. And it seems like the older grannies are the ones most guilty of pushing and impatience. Their jagged little elbows always seem to hit their mark as they make their way to the front of the line.

Upon finding my seat in the plane, I was surrounded by two very different people. My left was a younger (20's-30's) man who looked like he had encountered both culture. To my right was a slightly older (40's) woman who had only recently moved from one culture to the other, but still clung tightly to attitudes and actions of the older culture.

This was my first flight on Continental, you gotta love the personal entertainment screen for each seat. It's a good thing they were on when we first boarded, because train taxiing and other complications delayed our flight by an hour. So we were sitting on the plane, waiting for takeoff. The guy on my left just put on his huge noise-canceling headphones and adjusted his seat. The woman on my right was up and down about 5 times per minute, asking me to help put up her heavy suitcase and bring it down. I finally asked her polite, "there's space under the seat in front of you, why don't you put it there if you need it so much?". She agreed and the plane soon took off.

I think she started a few conversations with me but most of them were questions that were too blunt, personal or offending so I ended the interchange and started a long movie on my screen, hoping to show her I wasn't interested in talking.

The first meal came and it's always interesting to see how people treat the flight attendants. This treatment of people actually is bigger than just what culture you are from but it's obviously that our views of service and what flight attendants do are very different. The lady was at it again, loudly asking and interrupting the attendant what options we had and placing her order while the attendant was serving another passenger a few rows ahead of us. The food service began a few hours after the flight, so many passengers were watching movies or had their seats reclined for more comfort. When the flight attendant set the food on the tray table in front of our good friend, she decided she didn't have enough room. She forcibly struck the seat in front of her and loudly demanded, "I have no room here! Put your seat up!". The flight attendant was embarrassed and assured the passenger in front that they did not have to do anything. Throughout this flight, I tried to stay detached to this woman and make it clear I had no connection with her.

Of course, arriving at my first stop didn't mean that everything would get better. I did have to go through security where everything but your underwear is scanned, felt or x-rayed. And the people like to gripe. My connecting flight was also delayed about an hour and many people waiting in the gate were complaining and short on patience. I struck up a conversation with a nearby passenger and I said "we're going to get there eventually. This is just the last 2 hours of my 20-some hour travel day. Just wait it out."

So far, my time back has been a good refresher of the good and bad points of both cultures. Stay tuned for more stories.

The king is dead

Most of the sports world yesterday turned into "The decision" by LeBron James on ESPN. With the news of his departure from Cleveland to Miami, sports fans all over the US and the world (except for Miami) cried in agony, groaned in disgust or just turned their focus back on the World Cup. Everyone talks about history being made, how the NBA will be changed forever, but really it's about a 25 year old kid who doesn't know how to make mature decisions.

The most aggravating part of the decision isn't that he left Cleveland or that he's joining Miami. He said he's all about winning, so yes, Miami does field a team with 3 all-stars. It's how he handled the process that rubs people the wrong way. The self-centered egomaniac self-promotion in holding an actual hour long special on TV to make his decision. He didn't respect the other teams pursuing him or even the Cavs organization enough to let them know from his own mouth what he's planning on doing. This self-absorbed hour of BS only shows how immature he is and avoids taking the responsibility of such a momentous decision. And he was clearly shaken up by the Cavs fans that burned his jersey. What does he expect? This season will a long one for LBJ, he'll most likely receive boos whenever he's not in Miami, but especially in NYC, LA, Cleveland, Chicago and NJ. And he deserves it.

Quick, here's a practice SAT analogy problem:
Wade:MJ as
a. LBJ: Pippen
b. LBJ: Toni Kukoc
c. LBJ: BJ Armstrong
d. LBJ: Dennis Rodman

The point is, LBJ < MJ. Actually, it's LBJ<<<
And where does that leave Bosh?
a. Bosh: Ho Grant
b. Bosh: Luc Longley
c. Bosh: the late Brian Williams (aka Bison Dele)
d. Bosh: John Salley

The claims of Bosh being a HOFer is laffable. He's talented, got skill and speed but he still hasn't shown much in his career. He's a louder version of HoGrant. He's just excited that people are paying attention to him now. Let's see him do well in the playoffs before we consider him a world talent. Right now he's a servicable PF (like HoGrant), but he sure isn't a Malone or a Duncan. And if he steps up, he can hope to be a Shawn Kemp. But for next season, he maybe be getting about 14-16 pts and 10 boards - much like our goggled friend Hoarce.

All this crap about LeBron staying humble is absurd. Since losing to the Celtics in the playoffs, he's been looking forward to being the center of the basketball world on July 1st. He's soaked in making each team come court him and helping him get so much face. He even jointed twitter, which I think is a big waste of time. Athletes are tweeting from the sidelines... stupid. "Coach called a timeout, I have leg cramps." LeBron, you need to change that twitter account to CourtJesterJames. Nobody bows down to you anymore, not even in Miami.

Last point is about Shaq wanting to join Miami. He's going to be good for 20 minutes a game, 6 fouls, maybe 6 pts and 8 boards. But he will definitely bring a lot of attention and help stoke the egos of LBJ and Bosh. So if only look at his stats and age and what he can actually bring to a team, you have:
Shaq: Bill Cartwright