renovation

You may have noticed a new look to this blog, I figured it was time for some change and hopefully it's for the better. I tweaked the layout to allow for a little more width in the main body column (that's the column you're reading this text in), and removed some redundant ads and links. I still have links to Amazon to the side and at the bottom if you want to keep helping me out whenever you purchase anything from them.

I enjoy buying stuff on Amazon myself... recently I've bought and thoroughly enjoyed watching The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One (TV Series) on Blu-Ray. The full length movie (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) that preceeded the TV series is not nearly as good (pretty lame plot-wise), but it is the starting point that introduces some new characters and reinterprets some of the old ones from the Star Wars double-trilogy. I got them both just to have a complete set.

I've also decided to try and get back into reading again... by which I mean something other than magazines and internet sites. I used to be really into the Tom Clancy novels like The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising. One of my favorite books of all time was Without Remorse.
Now I've tried to pick up where I left off in the Jack Ryan series, with a book that's 10 years old at this point, The Bear and the Dragon. It's been years since I read books on a regular basis, so wish me luck.

decade(nce)

Happy New Year and welcome to the new decade! Wow, I can’t believe it’s 2010. It’s one of those futuristic numbers that I thought when I was younger, it would be so far off. So I have managed to cheat death and apocalypse for another 10 years.

It’s pretty customary to take a look at the end of a year, at the past year and try to remember the major events. I suppose it helps you to know where you’ve been, before you plan where you want to go next. So bear with me as I recap the highlights of 2009, even though I am a little late.

I think the biggest personal development for me in 2009 was taking one of my interests and moving it up to the next level – if you have been following along on this blog you probably already know what I am speaking of – Photography. It had always been an interest of mine ever since childhood, but this spring I really went into advanced mode by buying a Nikon digital SLR camera and a couple of lenses. I am fortunate to have a supportive wife who always encourages me to go out and get the best equipment, not just the best deal. And as I ended up traveling quite a bit in 2009, I got plenty of opportunities to get out there and just shoot, learning as I went. Some of the shots even turned out decent, if I may say so myself. Of course due to the nature of my work most of my free time to shoot was at night, which made it even more challenging. But I have much to learn still. I have found I favor static shots like landscapes and architecture, and shooting portraits and action definitely are not my strong points.

Professionally, it was almost certainly the busiest year of my career. Almost immediately following the trial I had in September 2008, I jumped onboard another pair of trial-bound cases and worked virtually non-stop. We had two trials in Washington DC in the fall, which meant lots of travel and ultimately I spent over a month in the capital. I haven’t run the numbers yet but I think I have 2700 hours logged for the year. I also hit my 10-year anniversary with the firm which is both amazing and depressing at the same time.

Thankfully, I was able to take a refreshing 3-week vacation with my honey V. once the trials were over. It was also our belated celebration of our 5th year anniversary, since I missed it while I was away at trial. We traveled to Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia to soak up the sun and devour the cuisine. And to take lots of photos, of course. It was just what I needed to scrape off the battle scars and regain my sanity.

In the electronic gadgets world, I’ve continued to collect nifty toys to keep me occupied in the rare free moments I have. V. somehow always manages to find me the greatest gifts! I have a Sony PSP to play games on the go, and a new pocket-sized projector to bring giant-sized movies with me wherever I go. Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto IV (with their multiple iterations of great add-on content) continue to provide me hours of entertainment.

On the automotive front, not a whole lot has changed with my rides. The biggest thing to happen was I ordered, and after 4 months of waiting, put on some new rims and tires on my Lexus. I’m very happy with how they turned out, and doing everything I can to drive and park carefully to keep them in their brand new condition.

So what’s next for 2010? Well it is the start of a new decade and therefore a great chance to make big plans and aspirations. Personally, I hope to keep taking more photos and learn to take better shots. Learn to be a better husband. And if the economy starts to pick itself up, move to a bigger house. With a bigger garage or driveway. And drive bigger and faster cars. Take more vacations. Lose weight and get in shape. Eat healthy. Improve my quality of life. You know, live the American dream, writ large.

Professionally, I am kind of at a crossroads. What I see ahead of me where I am, is the same thing over and over. I’ve already been put on another new case that is headed for trial later this year. I might make more money each year but the same challenges and tasks await. Arguably, I am near the top of my game here, so perhaps it’s time for a change? But with the economy in the tank right now changing jobs or professions doesn’t seem like such a brilliant path.

Executive summary: it’s a new dawn, a new day, a new life. Time to get out there and start living it. I suggest you do the same.

seasonal

Season's Greetings to everyone! Yeah I know it's a little late for the Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus holidays, but better late than never. And I can get a head start on the Happy New Year wishes.

Lest you think it was 100% laziness that prevented me from posting recently, 'tis not true... well maybe 50% laziness. The other 50% can be attributed to some last minute craziness at work, that resulted in my spending a week, with very little notice, in NY and Boston for a hearing. Let me just say, it's pretty dman cold out on the East Coast. At least it didn't snow while I was out there. On the upside, I got to take some photos of mid-town Manhattan just before Christmas -- enjoy the photos here:



I also haven't had the time to post up the photos from our SE Asia trip. I took probably over 6000 photos in all, but here are some of the best shots I rounded up in my first pass through them. Hopefullly more to come at some point (and a little more story to go with it), but this should give you a taste of our trip -- and maybe spread a little more warmth than most of us are experiencing this winter:

Thailand:


Singapore:


Malaysia:

portable

Coming back from two back-to-back trials, the return to normalcy is almost a bizarre and unsettling experience. After being accustomed after over a month away from home, to working 100+ hours a week and sleeping for a few hours during the daytime, returning to a regular work week and sleeping at night is somewhat difficult. My sleep pattern is still a little out of whack, but I am historically a fairly nocturnal person. I think I almost kind of thrived on staying up all night and going to bed in the morning. It's certainly nice to be back home but I almost don't know what to do with all the extra free time I now find myself with; it's like I suddenly gained back 40-50 hours a week that I didn't have. Well, sleep is certainly high on the priority list. But when I returned home my honey V. had also bought me a few toys and games to help kill some time with. Specifically she bought me both the PSPgo and the PSP 3000
"Slim" so I could try them both and see which one I liked better. She also picked me up a copy of the newly released Halo 3: ODST game for the X360.

The PSPgo is a real neat little device--all the abilities of the previous PSPs but in a smaller package. The slide-down controls allow most of the frontal area to be a screen, and it's about the same footprint as an iPhone when closed. Because it doesn't include a UMD drive it's ultra light and quiet. And with its launch in early October the online Playstation Network Store saw a barrage of new digital downloads added to the roster.

The thing is, the older PSP 3000 does everything the PSPgo does, plus it has a UMD drive to play the older sold-in-stores PSP games. They both have wifi to connect to the internet and a basic web browser. They both use bluetooth to connect with other players. And they both have large, bright displays which look great with games and videos. The downside is the 3000 is larger, bulkier, and doesn't come with onboard memory -- you have to buy a Memory Stick card in order to download and store games on the PSP 3000 whereas the PSPgo comes with 16GB onboard. Although when you add up the cost of a PSP-3000 and a Sony 16 GB Memory Stick card it still comes out to less than the list price of a PSPgo. And when you compare the 3000 with its predecessors (the original 1000 and the "slim" 2000, the 3000 is significantly thinner and lighter.

I downloaded several demos on both PSPs such as the addictive Patapon 2, the speedy reflex-testing Wipeout Pulse, and the slash-tastic blood-splattering God of War: Chains of Olympus. I played the same games on both so I could really compare and contrast the two, get a sense of their strengths and weaknesses. And then to really put them through their pace, I bought a digital copy of the newly released Gran Turismo for PSP, which the Playstation network gratifyingly allowed me to install and play on both handhelds at the same time. Sweeet. Some of my coworkers also had GT on their PSPs so we got together several times after work and had some hilariously fun racing parties. Plus with the game's ability to share cars we were able to give each other the cool rides we had been accumulating on our own. I highly recommend this game for any racing fans, it's like having the old GT4 game from the PS2 in your hand wherever you go. Good times.

So what's the verdict? Which version of the PSP did I choose? It was not an easy decision, but ultimately I chose the PSP 3000. Mostly for the way the controls just felt better in my hands, on the PSP-go my fingers felt a little cramped when playing for anything more than a few minutes. I will have some disadvantage from the fact that the 3000 won't fit easily into the pocket like the go does, but when you factor in the UMD drive, the lower cost, and better controls I felt the 3000 had the best combination of features.

That's not all in the gadgets department... in anticipation of our upcoming vacation trip to SE Asia (Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia) we also decided to also pick up a netbook for convenient portable internet access, and an HD camcorder. V. really wanted a pink laptop so I ordered her a ASUS Eee PC 1005HA 10.1-Inch Pink Netbook. And then we got a Sony HDR-XR200V 120GB HDD High Definition Camcorder to document our travels. So you can look forward to plenty of photos and video clips from our adventures in Asia! We're getting pretty amped up about it, we leave for Bangkok in just three days!

resurgence

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." - Old English proverb

It's me, back from the dead! At long last I've returned from my two back-to-back trials in Washington, DC. I barely had any time to take photos on this last trip. I was pretty much working around the clock, no time for monkey business. I previously would use the expression, "I'm busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest." Reviewing some of my time records, I managed to work 116.55 hours one week. It was also a long time away from home, 33 days in total this time. The funny thing is I hear that you can qualify for residency in DC if you've lived there for 30 days, so I could in theory apply for it. I don't think you'd want to though, after all, the city motto that's stamped on every auto license plate says, "Taxation without representation".

While I was gone I missed a few major events -- our 5th wedding anniversary on Sept. 26, and then my mother's birthday on Oct. 4, and my own b-day on Oct. 10. Like that Adam Sandler movie Click, it does feel sometimes like some part of life has passed me by. Fortunately my family has been waiting patiently for my return and welcomed me back with open arms.


Loyal readers may remember that I ordered a new set of wheels for my Lexus way back in March... well they did finally arrive in July but I just realized that I hadn't found the time to post up photos of them on the car yet. Here's a link to some photos I took:

new rims

Anyways now that I'm back with some free time and some overtime paychecks to spend things may pick up around here again... as always stay tuned. And hey, just a quick reminder, if you happen to like shopping on Amazon.com, just help me out by clicking through on the links to the right or at the very bottom. Thanks.