Death Valley Trip Part 2

More Photos

The Sunday morning is our last day in Death Valley. Everyone was excited about Zabriskie Point, it is an elevated overlook of a colorful landscape of mud hills at the edge of the Funeral Mountains. The scenery is best at sunrise therefore we pick the spot for our last sunrise shots for this trip. We almost missed the sunrise so I was driving really fast to beat the sun. We got there around 6:15am and I quickly ran over the edge of the view point and started my setup. After a good 30 minutes shooting, Patrick suggested we shoot do a group pictures. So I told him to setup the camera, he was slow and we waited 10 minutes for him.

Finally, we headed back to the Inn and get ready to visit Mosaic Canyon. It was close by to where we stayed about 15 minutes away. We got there and started to hike the Canyon with our heavy equipment. Only the first quarter mile offers good photography so I don’t bother to go any further. On the way back I met a couple photographers, they were using large format. It was interesting, one guy wearing a reflective cape and I was wondering is he shooting aliens?

Mosaic Canyon was our last leg in Death Valley and everyone can’t wait to get back to Vegas to have a nice meal and do some shopping. Especially me, I am very picky about food. We got back to Vegas around 2:15pm. We stopped in the new LV Premium outlets, and I brought some t-shirt in FCUK. Surprisingly, it was more tired in a 1 hour shopping than a 1.5 hrs Sand Dune hike. I told Cherry shopping is not for guy hiking is!

We still had about 3 hrs before we need to check-in in the airport, so Patrick suggested visiting Wynn Casino. The only impress me in Wynn is the waitress, other than that it just a casino for rich people.
We got to the airport around 6:30pm.

Death Valley Trip Part 1

More Photos

This is our semi-annual major photography outing. Specially thanks to Henry Wong to plan this trip and Steve Kossack’s DVD.

The Death Valley trip began an early Friday (3/23/2007) morning flight to Las Vegas. I took the 7:15am UA flight to meet the guys in Vegas. After we got our rental car then we headed to eat dim sum for our first meal. We ate some awful dim sum and got our water for our trip in Ranch 99.
We made our way to Death Valley from LV (I slept most in that 2 hrs drive). Death Valley is different from what I expect in article, TV, or my though because the word "Death". It reminds me of Grand Canyon. After we check-in the Inn in Stovepipe Wells, we rested a little and started to head to Racetrack for sunset photos. We finally made it out to Racetrack Playa after a 2.5 hrs rough drive. We were off road most of the time and it was a fun driving. We finally got there and lucky it was not sunset yet so we had some time to explore the site. The hugeness and the flatness of the playa are breath taking. The most interesting thing in Racetrack is rocks slide across the ground, and it’s the wind blowing through the canyon that makes them move. You can tell it moved by the mud track trails behind some rocks. We had fun and we had dust all over ourselves. We headed by to the Inn by 9:30pm and all the restaurant were closed in Death Valley, therefore no dinner for Friday night, just beers.



We woke up at 4:30am and get ready to our sunrise destination Bad Water. Bad Water is the lowest point in North America being 282 feet below sea level. Temperatures in here can range from up to 130 degree in the summer to below freezing at night in the winter. The evaporated water leaves a dry and interesting salt formation on the ground. We took a lot of pictures in here until the sun was get too bright for good pictures.


We left around 8am and move on to our next photo spot “Devils Golf Course”. The towering columns of salt stretch for what seem like miles in this devil’s golf course. I carefully walked around and took some photos on these interesting strange rock hard formations from the ground. It was getting hot about 80 degree and I was hungry so I ask the folks to leave and get some lunch. We ate lunch buffet in Furnace Creek Ranch then headed back to Inn to get some rest.


The next photo spot is Sand Dune. We hike about 40 minutes under the hot sun and created our own trail along the hike. The dunes are most photogenic area in Death Valley so it was worth all the hard work and sweat. By the time we finish it was already dark. We hiked back to our car under moonlight. It could be very romantic if I was not with a bunch of dudes. We did a lot on this Saturday, it was somewhat painful but it was fun and good experience meeting the Death.

No Long Commute for a while

My Boss complains about the progress of the project with the consultants and wants me to work with them closely. Next week I will start working from home or in the consultant's home office.
Hopefully we can code complete in 6 weeks.

Piece of Cake ... ?

I got this from a good friend of mine and I like to post this message from god. This is not for me but for someone who had a really bad time right now.
Sometimes we ask ourselves:
What did I do to deserve this?
Why does God let these things hapen to me?
Here is the explanation ...
A daughter tells her mother how everything is going wrong for her; She probably failed her Math exam, ... Her boyfriend just dumped her for her best friend. In times so sad, a good mother knows just the thing to cheer up her daughter... "I make a delicious cake." In that moment the mother hugged her daughter and walked her to the kitchen, while her daughter attempted to smile.
While the mother prepared the utencils and ingredients, her daughter sat across from her at the counter. Her mother ask, "Sweethheart, would you like a piece of cake?" Her daughter replies, "Sure, mom, you know how I love cake."
"Alright..." the mother said, "Drink some of this cooking oil." Shocked, the daughter responded, "What? No Way!"
"How about a couple of raw eggs?" To this the daughter responded, "Are you kidding?" "How about a little four?" "No, mom, I'll be sick!"
The mother responded, "All of these things are uncooked and taste bad, but if you put them together, they make a delicious cake."
God works the same way, When we ask ourselves why does he make us go through these difficult times, we don't realize the what/where these events may bring us. Only he knows and he will not let us fall. We don't need to settle for the raw ingredients, trust in Him... And see something fantastic come about!
God loves us so much... He send us flowers every spring... He makes the run rise every morning... And anytime you need talk, He is there to listen! He can live anywhere in the universe... But He choses to live in your heart!
I hope your day is a "Piece of Cake"!

Unhappiness season has moved on

I have a very good mood and happy today. Maybe the unhappiness season has finally moved on…

I was driving to work this morning, yes it was a long commute from West Sac to Fairfield, I was thinking I should be release because I finally detach my rebounder and I don’t need her anymore…..
Let me explain….

I was miserable last month about relationship, ex-married, and the broke up. Life seems like the end and I blame myself for it. Soon, rebounder appear, she is very pretty woman and the odd thing is she looks like one of my ex (the one I really love). She looks like her and sounds like her. We both used each other for filling the void of our heart. I knew we will never make a good couple and she is too complicated that I knew it would never work out. We had rules in this game, and I told her that the reason I like her because I got what I had lost in the past and feel good when people find lost things back. My rule is the day I start feeling in love that’s day I will leave.

I leave her couple weeks ago…

Stumbling on Happiness

I started to read a book call "Stumbling on Happiness" by Daniel Gilbert. Only a couple chapter, but yet the meaning of "Money can't buy happiness" I totally get it. I have a couple questions about happiness and hopefully the book can reveals on how our mind works? and What make me happy?
Friends always told me I am too demanding, yet I am a perfectionist. Satisfactory come from achieving goals, and I always have a plan for me to follow it. Which makes me unhappy, why? Because things might not always goes by what you planned for. To understand and solve this problem I need to know how my mind works? And what is my purpose of life? If I have kids no doubt that they are the purpose, but what is my purpose now?
Here are some of my goals in the next 18 months:
One of my new goal is I am going to do 70,000 push up in a year!
Bike to the top of Mt. Diablo.
Travel alone (never tried before, so it would be a new experience)
Double the size of the company and department.

Company Retreat in Monterey.

I went to Monterey 3/16-3/18 for company retreat. I had a great time with all those drunk business people. It was nice that I can get drunk with my boss. The whole event was more a supportive event for all the loan officers in my company. We had about 450 people show up for this event and It was a good networking opportunity for me. Being a new hire was difficult to fit it, but I think the environment was natural for me. Hopefully I can make a different and my department will be grow big in the near future.

My Ex is getting married.

My friend told me to write it out.
My ex is getting married and it’s not like we ended on bad terms, we just grew apart. It has been bothered me for more than 2 weeks now. I feel moody, pissed off, and depress...
I have been dating different type of women in the past 2 years, but I haven’t found anyone serious yet. Each new girlfriend was totally different, and the reason is I want to find out what I really like.
I know I would never get back together and I let it go a while ago, but I can’t get past this right now. Why? I know I have a ton to offer someone, but haven’t found her yet, and that’s ok with me. I guess I feel cheated in a way. They not even dated a year and she is getting married.
Maybe I felt I lost the race, just not fair that I don’t have a serious someone.
Maybe I missed the feeling being in love.
I am very confuse and miserable right now...
Well, I do wish her the best and I am happy for her to find someone she really loves.