I decided to send my camera and some lens for a long overdue check and servicing, especially after a few overseas trips where they took a beating.

Brought them down to the Nikon Service Centre at Anson Road today, and explained to the staff behind the counter that one of my lens gave off a squeaking sound during autofocusing. She brought it to the room behind to get a quote from the technician (presumably), came back five minutes later, and wrote something on a slip of paper. While she was writing, i could see from where i was seated opposite her, that it was a bunch of numbers with a dollar sign in front that seemed like the cost of fixing the lens. She then turned to tap some numbers on a calculator. While she was doing so, I was straining to see the numbers, and even though it was upside down from my point of view, i made out a 7…2…6…decimal place…and something…

While I had no idea how much the repairs were going to cost, I didn’t think it would be anything above $100…$200 tops…

When I first saw the numbers, I thought to myself “Naaaahhhh…can’t be. Maybe it’s the serial number…right?” Then she turned the slip of paper around, and i got the shock of my life.

It costs $726.55 to fix the squeaky lens.

I don’t know if my expression then betrayed my previously cool demeanour, but I was kind of hoping she would go…”Hah! Gotcha! Just wanted to see your expression!”

Wishful thinking…

At this point, my mind was in a whirl and I wasn’t really thinking straight. I stifled a gulp/gasp, tried to look calm, and blurted out something (can’t remember what exactly) about looking for the warranty card…if one even existed. This is because I bought the lens online from some guy who brought it in from HK…and I couldn’t remember if I even saw a warranty card. The lady said sure…but I also would have to produce the receipt (i could’ve sworn her eyes narrowed as she stared at me, and issued me that challenge).

It became a game of bluff…Russian Roulette…a high-stakes poker game…and who blinked first would lose…

I then decided to go the whole hog (why not?) and asked to check out the other lens too. She disappeared into the back room, and came back with another bunch of numbers that seemed to be arbitrarily fished out of thin air…

“$400″…was the reply.

I had half a mind to go ahead with that, as I really liked this particular lens and wanted it to be in full working order. However, the other half (probably the left side) was furiously doing the math and came to the conclusion that the price to fix both lens could easily buy a new lens…or at least go some way to paying for one.

“Let me think about it”…my mouth spoke before my mind could react, lest the right half won. In the meantime, so as not to make it a wasted trip, I just asked for the sensor on my camera to be cleaned instead. It was a hollow victory…

At the end of the day, it was $26.75 instead of $1126.55 (and I got a clean sensor too!)

====================================================

Latest update on the saga: I found the warranty card! And the receipt! Best part…the guy who sold it to me had asked the shop in HK to leave the date column blank!!! Hahaha!!!

Victory is mine!

In the mould of self-help gurus and “how-to” books, here’s my very own tip on how to get ahead in life…

Step 1: Find a willing subject.

Step 2: Get a really sharp knife…

I guess you can see where this is going…so i shall just let the video speak for itself (yes, i know it was a very baaaaaaaad joke…but it could’ve been worse. Just to let you know, my other idea for a title was “How to get someone else’s goat”…you decide which is worse).

Caution: Not for the squeamish (but i know you’re going watch it anyway)

Some days ago, i posted a comment on Facebook that i had something in common with pandas and Moses. There were a couple of good guesses but only one correct answer…

I had gotten a Wacom Bamboo tablet…

Been eyeing one for a while, but never really justified the need for one. Until that fateful day when I was getting a headache editing some photos and thinking to myself how much easier and more accurate it would be if i had a tablet (Wacom, not aspirin).

Anyhow, I explored the various options available on the online store, and narrowed it down to the “Fun” version, and the “not so Fun” version. I suppose the latter was marketed more for the office crowd, while the “Fun” was more for the creative set…but hey…it was cheaper by $20, and I wouldn’t have been stuck with a mouse that worked only on the tablet…apparently (now what’s the use of that?).

Anyway, I waited eagerly for a few days, and it was finally delivered to me a couple of days ago. Here’s a pic of the official unveiling…

When I got home that night, i promptly put it through its paces. I was disappointed to discover that the tablet did not live up to its promise of making me a better artist (at least i think that’s what it said on the box), and that i still cannot draw to save my life.

Nevertheless, I attempted my very first drawing on the tablet…a self-portrait!

It is not very life-like, but I like to think of the style as a cross between that of Dali and Picasso…and those who know me probably can see the resemblance.

Hmmm…

I think i will stick to photography…

(PS. as you can see in the “self-portrait”, the Photoshop window is visible. That is because I realised that Adobe CS3 and Snow Leopard do not play very well together, and I was not able to save files in CS3 without it crashing…so i had to circumvent that, and find some “creative” way to save the file instead. The *bleeps* at Adobe released a statement earlier to say that they are not supporting CS3 on Snow Leopard, but after much hue and cry from the Mac community, they have relented and according to their latest statement, are “working closely with Apple” to solve the problem…which is not soon enough…)

If you are on facebook, you’d pobably have seen my comment about not being able to go away without being moved somehow, after having been in contact with a true artist and his art. You would also probably have seen an earlier comment about it being a packed and interesting weekend. Allow me to go someway in explaining those two statements, and how they are intertwined.

A friend had asked me to go to an exhibit by a local photographer. I was hesitant initially, as such exhibits are usually just opportunities for the photographer to blow his own trumpet, for the “artsy” set to schmooze, and for participants (and wannabe photographers) to ask “how-to” questions, especially since there was going to be a coffee session for a chance to speak with the photographer himself in a cosy setting.

Up till this morning, I was still undecided…and only made up my mind to go about 45 minutes before I was supposed to meet my friend. Anyhow, I made my way to meet him, and to my chagrin, I saw that he had asked other people to come along. I was a little annoyed that I would have to socialise with unfamiliar people, and go through the usual niceties.

To my own utter surprise, I took to them extremely well, and within minutes, were talking and sharing thoughts/ideas as if we had known each other for years. We made our way to the exhibit, and even more surprises were in store. The photographer was a truly humble and down-to-earth guy, and spent time talking to each and every visitor. And he was even willing to share how he took each shot, the approach taken, the equipment used (there was no running away from that), the difficulties faced, the editing process, and the final selection process. Now here was a guy who was truly confident in his own God-given talent and abilities, and was not afraid to share his “secrets” with others.

I found it a really refreshing change, and listening to him speak seemed to lift photography above the techno-babble and petty debates in online forums about Nikon vs Canon, which lens was better, whether an 11-blade diaphram gave a “creamier” bokeh over the 9-blade one, or whether HDR really made a photo better…and restored it to it’s rightful place as an art form.

While there were the usual “what lens/exposure/setting did you use” questions, he took them all. Throughout the afternooon, one could really sense the passion he had for his art…his craft…and his camera was merely an instrument, a tool…an extension of himself.

It made me think a lot about myself, my photography, why I do it, and what I want to do with it. While I was not moved enough to shell out thousands for one of his works (heh), I bought a copy of his book.

The afternoon was truly one which was inspirational, and meeting other like-minded photographers has restored my faith in the local photography community…well, some of them at least…

(If you are interested, more information about the artist and the exhibition can be found at www.alexsohphotography.com. The exhibition is on till 18 September. And if you find some of the artwork/photos familar, it is probably because you saw them before in Our Daily Bread.)

I just got my copy of Snow Leopard delivered to me this morning! Pre-ordered on Wednesday, and wasn’t expecting to get it today since it’s launch day today.

Yay!

*grrrrrrowl*

After almost one-and-a-half years, I am back on Facebook.

It wasn’t peer pressure, the need to get “with it”, or the search for old friends which led me to re-activate my account. In fact, I must say that I have been totally happy without Facebook all this time, and I did not at any time feel “out of it”. What made me get back on Facebook was a course which I attended at SIM, touching on Social Media Marketing. The lecturer spoke on using social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc.) as marketing tools. I decided to give it another shot, re-familiarise myself with it, and see how it can be used for purposes other than people-poking and zombie-killing.

Cautiously, I keyed in the URL in the address bar of Safari, entered my email address and password (and said a silent prayer). The familiar wall of text (and graphics) loaded onto the browser window, and I found myself overwhelmed by hundreds of requests of various kinds…from friend requests, to joining mobs, accepting gifts, taking quizzes, etc. However, I found that the ‘ignore’ button did the trick for the majority of them.

Before I logged back in, I did set some rules for myself though.

1) No stupid apps/time-killing games.
2) No senseless poking.
3) No gratuitous adding of friends.
4) No accepting friend requests from people I don’t really know.
5) No using Facebook to keep in touch when a personal touch works better.

I also felt a little lost…much like Rip Van Winkle would have felt, when he woke up, and found that the world had moved on while he was asleep. I saw photos of friends’ kids (when i didn’t even know they were even pregnant), saw updates of friends’ lives, and of course, saw totally random “bo liao” comments put up by friends…

And within the first 30-45 minutes of being back on Facebook, I realised and remembered what made me deactivate my account 1.5 years ago. I was looking at photos put up by friends months ago, commenting on them, and searching for old friends…that I did not even realise 45 minutes had passed. It felt like only 10-15 minutes…

Even though it was a “reunion” of sorts, I still maintain that while Facebook has its uses in reaching a large number of your friends and contacts, a personal approach to maintaining relationships still works best for me. So the next time you are thinking of poking (or super-poking me for that matter), pick up the phone and give me a buzz instead. And if you are thinking of giving me virtual gifts, or buying me a virtual beer…remember, i prefer the real thing… ;P

Now to reactivate my Twitter account…

Just saw a segment on the evening news (YES, THE NEWS!) about one man’s fight against an airline. Kinda like a David vs Goliath story. Anyway, this guy – Dave Carroll – travelled on a United flight, checked in his Taylor guitar, and landed only to find the neck broken. Well, it was a one year odyssey that ended in this next video clip…

I must say that Dave Carroll did an amazing job, because apparently, United wants to compensate him now, and use this incident as a learning point for its staff on how to handle similar situations. For the low-down on the incident, visit Dave Carroll’s website. Well done, Dave!

I wish I was as musical and creative as Dave though, cos a few years ago, I had a similar incident with a major Singapore carrier on my trip back from France. Except that mine wasn’t a guitar…check out the photos of my tripod…or what was left of it…

After numerous calls and emails, I finally got $70 as compensation, which was not even enough to buy one of the legs (but not after signing something which said I would not pursue the matter further).

Anyhow, I learnt never to check in stuff unless they are packed in a shatter-proof, damage-proof, leak-proof, nuclear bomb-proof suitcase.

I’ve been running about 2-3 times a week for the past few months in a bid to lose weight and shape up (round is no longer the shape i want to be in).

Anyhow, I got this nifty app on my iPhone called Runkeeper which tells me how far I’ve run, how fast, how many calories I’ve burned, and how to roast a turkey for Christmas.

All the stats get uploaded on the website, and my runs (haha, very funny) are tracked for me. Each and every one. And if i want to be a bit more exhibitionistic (is there even such a word?), I can share it with the world. Actually, i would much rather include the iframe code, but apparently, WordPress doesn’t allow it for security reasons. So, since i can’t embed it here, a link will have to do…

Regular route, 23 July 2009

I’ve been running the route above for the past few months, and for a bit of variety, I took part in a charity run on 5 July called the Streetwise Run with some friends and colleagues. The run is tracked in the link below…

Streetwise Run, 5 July 2009

Cool huh? Yes, yes…still not running very fast, nor very far…but i’m working on it…check back again with me in a few more months.

Ever had one of those “intellectually stimulating” conversations which go off on a tangent, and then it just runs away and takes on a life of its own because the puns are just there for the taking, and if you don’t you’ll feel you let yourself down?

Well, my colleague and I had another one of these. Some background info…his “smart” phone had been giving him problems, and he was looking forward to upgrading the OS to Windows Mobile 6.5 *pui* to help rectify the problems.

Well, he finally got the chance to do so, and SMS-ed me with news of its success.

Him: Yo…this message is coming to you courtesy of Windows Mobile 6.5

Me: Nice!…is it more stable?

Him: Still exploring, but so far no random reboots. Some of my old apps don’t work so well with the new OS though.

Me: I see…well, that’s good…and not so good. Maybe the apps will be updated to suit the new OS? After all, it was just released right?

Him: Hehe, it’s not officially released yet these are based off developer builds. I’m looking forward to customizing the new front-end

Me: Ah so…heh…to make it look more like an iPhone?

Him: It’s similar to the Zune interface. Textual

Me: Zune? ee-yur…that would be considered textual harassment…

Him: Yes, and then need to listen to Marvin Gaye for textual healing.

Me: No no…that would lead to textual misconduct… ;P

Him: That would involve texting someone you shouldn’t be texting to. And if you text 144 ppl you shouldn’t be texting to, that’d be gross textual misconduct.

Me: We should stop…this conversation is getting too textually stimulating…literally…

Him: lol

I think we should stop this shameless flirting over SMS. The phone bills are adding up…

(by the way, it’s the same colleague who was mentioned in Quotable Quotes 2…people with the exact same sense of humour are so hard to find…*sigh*)

…and counter-punch…

Here’s an ad (apparently) by the people who make the Blackberry (RIM or Research In Motion)…symbolically (or otherwise) taking a shot at Apple.

Now, watch the response to the ad above…not sure if it really is by Apple though…