Hungry Baby

Actually he just ate. Drank his milk rather but he still wanted more hehe

Woohoo...

Finally, My Own Apartment

Got a lot done this week. I closed the deal on a new apartment and got the electricity and water activated. I chose and bought some new furniture. Talked to some people I found on the net selling 2nd hand beds and a table but I chose a new bed from Ikea. I liked the design and it had free delivery. The other items I found required me to take care of the transportation myself. It would have been a bigger hassle and more time spent.





I also bought appliances and got everything delivered and installed by today. Most of my stuff has already been moved over so i'm basically just waiting for the internet, cable, and phone line to be installed. Mainly the Internet. I won't move to anyplace that has no Internet. Internet is lifeline to home and family :-)





I can't wait to be in my own place. Finally, after more than a year and four months I have privacy again. And it's much bigger than where I am now. I'll actually be able to stand and walk around. The place I'm living in right now is alright, but it's just too small and lacks privacy. It's mainly just a temporary spot to park my tired beaten butt after a field assignment and the people are great. But nothing beats having your own flat.

Project 365 - Day Ten

My New Apartment Sans Furniture

The View Outside

Project 365 - Day Nine

Another Sad Tale of Unrequited Love

"A mighty pain to love it is,
And 'tis a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain." "A mighty pain to love it is,
And 'tis a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain."

The 1st century BC Roman poet Catullus wrote about his unrequited love for Lesbia (Clodia)

- From Wikipedia

Can you guys fathom the reason for Lesbia's apparent indifference towards Catullus?

Project 365 - Day Eight

Just felt like shooting

Project 365 - Day Seven

World in Black and White

Project 365 - Day Six

Chopper at the Abu Dhabi Big Boys Toys exhibit.

Project 365 - Day Five

Mosque in Muscat

Procect 365 - Day Four

I'm not an Arsenal fan but I like this shot.

Project 365 - Day Three

Wine

Project 365 - Day Two

I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to put down in this caption. Can't think of anything good. Oh well.. ho hum. Hi everybody.

Project 365 - Day One

Our little spot in the middle of nowhere. Doesn't look that bad does it? Note, we have green grass and that's a good thing. No dust.

A Special Day?

Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday Happy Birthday .... Happy Birthday to Me

------------------------------------------------------------

And here I sit.. All alone in my room in some obscure little camp in the middle of Kabul .. going over my life.. I think to myself.. as I turn 30.. what have I accomplished so far?

The answer is ... not that much...BUT there are two things, and they are most important things. Persons, in fact. The 1st - a shopaholic (window shopper hehe) little girl back home who's also hooked on taking pictures of herself with her rinky dinky little point and shoot :-p The 2nd - two little boys who sleep next to her at night hehe

Missing you all on my Birthday. I love you

Muah

Art

Kabul

Well, here I am in Kabul. First experience, cell phone disappears right after I get through passport control. Great, first time in a new country... and a war zone.. and my only means of communication is gone. Hmmm what to do.. panic. Yes.. I ran around the airport screaming bloody murder. And I jumped the security guard to give me his cell phone instead.

Ok ok.. that's not what I did. I ran to the airport authority and reported it. It was lost in the baggage claim area so they managed to do something, somehow and actually got my phone back in about 10 minutes. Not bad at all.

Anyway, that was done. If it wasn't for the cell phone incident, my arrival would have been completely hassle free and pleasant. Hmmm well, there was also the matter of the Immigration Police Officer winking at me about 5 times a minute trying to hit on me. I said, "Sorry, I don't find people with beards that appealing." hehe Ok, I didn't do that either. I just ignored him and ran away. That's probably where I dropped my phone, in my hurry to escape that weird situation, maybe I dropped it.

Ok.. anyway.. now I'm out of the airport, no Immigration Officer for a date and with my cell phone back in my pocket, I promptly meet my detail. They are pleasant enough. They welcome me and give me my briefing and off we go. The ride through Kabul was interesting enough. I was looking out and observing daily life. It's pretty messy. Kinda like you see in the movies. Traffic is worse than Manila.. in terms of discipline. Only the lack of vehicles make it slightly bearable.

The trip to the camp was short and uneventful and we arrived safetly soon after. It's nice here. It's actually not a bad set up for a camp in lock down. I've got a bedroom, a little living room / sala, a bathroom with a bathtub.. all nicely laid out. The weather is nice and cool. Very pleasant, the air is clear and crisp and you can see the snow capped mountains off in the distance.

My Bed

Well, I've just arrived here and just finished off my first complete day so I will sign back in when / if I have more to write about.

Sofa and My Bags

Cheers all

In My Room

Someone is always watching ........

and listening .......

Experiment 626

Pluey Days

I remember how excited you were to get these boots hehe But you never wore them. Then one day it was raining and we needed to go to La Vista for the Bazaar and you were feeling lazy. I said, "Why don't you wear your Pluey's?" I remember how your face lit up, "Oh yeah!!" On went the boots and off we went hahaha

By the way.. I'm still having a hard time working with photo's here... I want to change the order of photo's and the layout.. but blogspot is too rigid.

A Few Shots at the Farm

I don't know what kind of flower this is. My mom just pulled me over and pointed it out. It was tiny but nice. If anybody knows what kind of flowers these are, feel free to let me know. I do know that they're common in Zambo. It was a bit difficult getting down there though.. with no tripod and waning light. But it was a fun learning experience.

Another flower taken in front of the house at the Pasonance Farm.

And another one just a few feet down.

One thing I love about Zambo (or any other place in the Philippines) is the great light. You can't get this lighting in Dubai. It is always a dusty haze here. I miss the deep rich colors of home.

My Dogs house, shot take from the house.

Amazing Baby Yawn Caught on Camera

There I was, sitting by the bed quietly holding my camera and not expecting the slightest movement from the direction I was facing. Then suddenly.. I noticed a slight movement out of the corner of my eye and heard a faint gurgling sound. Could it be? I thought to myself, "Maybe this is it."

Slowly, so as not to startle my subject, I flipped on my camera and quickly set it to Shutter Priority Mode and set the White Balance to back to Automatic. Only moments ago, I had been playing with the different Color Temperature settings. Then, when a soft fluid motion, I simultaneously brought up the camera and set my Shutter Release to Continuous (H). It was perfect... as soon as I brought my subject into focus, it happened. I pressed the shutter release and . . . .

Dubai is in Recession

But you wouldn't know it from all the fancy cars driving

around town. What you see here is a silver Bentley parked beside the taxi stand at the Mall of the Emirates. Silver all the way through from top to bottom, it was attracting curious passers by such as myself. There were other cars there too, including a Rolls Royce, but this one was attracting a lot of attention cause of the color. It was completely metallic silver in color, so it stood out.

People weren't even paying attention to the Lamborghini parked a few meters down. No one except me of course. I took the liberty of taking a quick snapshot. There are just too many fancy cars for people to be amazed by. So what is this post about? I dunno.. just me rambling about the shots I took earlier.

Challenges of Wildlife Photography

They say that just like some other types of photography, it is very important to focus on your subject's eyes. This will help provide impact and a connection between the viewer and the photograph. In wild life photography it is also important to create a good composition. However, experienced photographers can tell you it is not always easy to get a clear, well focused shot of your subject's eyes.

See below.

So what does one do to overcome a challenge such as this?

Simple: Get your subject a Haircut   ...   or a trim?  

Happy 3 Weeks

Carlos is 3 weeks old today!!!!! I don't know how heavy he is now though or if he's grown any taller. I miss him. My wife says he's been drinking a lot and burping endlessly.. it's a good thing we're talking about milk here and not SML. She loves him dearly and is just as excited as I am about him turning 3 weeks old.

Tender Moments

Soon he'll be a month old and before I know it he'll be a year old. I miss his little sounds and his smell. I want to go home and see him again. hehe I sound like a mom. Well, it's my first time.

Back in Sunny Dubai

As you know from the title, I'm back in sunny Dubai. For a change, I think I'll actually be here for more than a week to do some paperwork on my visa. When I'm in town, all my friends are out. When they're in.. I'm out. It's a rare moment when all of us are here at the same time. So I have to occupy myself. What to do.. I've been thinking a lot about my newborn baby boy and want to post lots of new pictures. But to post everything I want would simply clutter up my entire blog hehehe I want to post them all :-)

Instead, what I'll do is try to choose certain pictures to tell a story. That and the narrative that goes along with it should do nicely. I'm not sure how this will work out but i'll try. I'll also post a few random shots which I think are nice. So please be kind.

The First Step

Here I am, almost done with the two weeks off my company has given me. I am trying not to thing about it but it is always at the back of my mind. I have spent the last couple of weeks getting to know my newborn baby boy and it has been the best 2 weeks of my life. Soon I will have to leave and return to the fast pace corporate world and wait another 3 or 4 months until I can come home again.

I know i am going to miss him immensely; the little sounds he makes when he is stretching, his baby smell, the way he looks when he just wakes up and the sleepiness is subsiding. He looks around sleepily, often times with one eye open. Sometimes he just lays in his crib, wide awake, playing with his arms and legs and just looking around. I will miss feeding him when mommy is asleep and I will miss burping the little guy. I will miss carrying him around and putting him to sleep. I will miss checking to see if he is hungry. I put my nose close to him and he thinks it's a nipple. If he is hungry he lets me know hehe

Well, there are a few more things I need to do before I return but mainly, I just have to make the most of the next few days I have with my family. I love them very much and they keep me going no matter what I face abroad at work.