Ramblings | Ryoh's Blog

Archive for the 'Ramblings' Category

Feb

Blair’s Death Rain

Categories: Ramblings
Tags: 7-11, blair's death rain, chips, habanero, junk food, spicy food

I was wandering around on Saturday taking pictures of the city, when I suddenly found myself in front of a 7-11. Although it was cold, I was craving some Slurpee action. I was waiting for my turn in line when I saw Blair’s Death Rain Original Habanero Chips. They proclaimed to be Crazy Hot. I took that as a challenge.

I will admit that I am a spice fiend. I love spicy food, but not to the point where it’s doesn’t make any sense to spice it up. For example, I wouldn’t eat spicy pancakes. Spicy chips? Definitely.

Spicy Chips have always been a favourite of mine–but always disappointing. You have the Jalapeno chips that are not really spicy. Habanero is a spicier pepper than Jalapeno so I was excited.

I took a bite of the first chip in anticipation and was surprised that it was truly hot! I downed the whole bag in 5 minutes. These things are really really spicy. I was gulping down that Slurpee to quench the bonfire that was my mouth. And in the words of Ralphie from the Simpsons: “it tastes like burning!”

Feb

Happy Valentines Day

By ryoh 2 Comments

Categories: Ramblings
Tags: valentines

Happy Valentines!

Feb

View from Cambie Bridge

By ryoh 1 Comment

Categories: Photos and Ramblings
Tags: cityscape, photo, picture, sunset, vancouver

DSC00684.JPG

Originally uploaded by Ryoh A

Who says that construction delays and congestion on Cambie is a totally bad thing. Granted, most of the time ~~you~~ (edit) it bugs the crap out of me to be stuck in traffic on the bridge. In fact, I avoid that area like the plague now. Sometimes, and only sometimes, it’s good to be stuck in traffic and take a little bit of a breather. Lina snapped this and a few more (click picture to see the rest of them on flickr) while stopping and going.

Jan

Nikon D60

By ryoh 1 Comment

Categories: Gadgets, News, Photos and Ramblings
Tags: camera, d60, dslr, gadget, nikon, photography, pma 2008

Image from CNET

Hot on the heals of the exciting news of the Canon XSi is the announcement of the Nikon D60. Being the NERD that I am, I couldn’t wait to find out more about the replacement for the D40x. I’ve checked out the feature list and was quite disappointed with it’s lack luster enhancements. Where as the XSi added new features along with the tweaks, the D60 only seems to be a slight revision of the D40x.

The only thing that’s worth noting is the ability to do stop motion video. This new feature will let you do your own version “Wallace and Grommet.”

Canon and Nikon have battle it out very heavily in the entry level digital SLR market. In the last generation (XTi vs D40x) Canon was losing ground to Nikon but now it looks like Canon will be regaining it’s lead. We can only hope that Nikon will come out with a D60x.

[Cnet Article]

Jan

Dexter Update

By ryoh Leave a Comment

Categories: News, Ramblings and TV
Tags: ctv, dexter, drama, new shows 2008, tv series

Looks like CTV has picked up this series to air on Sundays starting Feb. 17th, 2008.

I know that Gils didn’t enjoy the show very much, since he fell asleep in the first 15 minutes (see comments on Dexter post) of the show. But, if you are interested, they are showing the pilot episode on the date mentioned above. The 2 seasons have only 12 episodes each, so they have about half the episodes of a regular weekly series per season. Considering that, maybe CTV will be showing the 2 seasons back to back in one year. That way we’ll all be caught up for the 3rd season, when or if (due to the writers strike), it starts airing later this year.

[CTV Article]

Jan

Canon XSi

By ryoh 1 Comment

Categories: Gadgets, News, Photos and Ramblings
Tags: camera, canon, dslr, gadget, photography, pma 2008

image from CNET

As some of you know, I want to get more into photography. And browsing through some of the pictures on Flickr has been truly inspiring. Thanks to Lina and her mother’s Christmas Gift of a digital camera, I’ve been doubly hooked. Maybe I get obsessively compulsive about things like this. I’ve been drooling over both the Canon Rebel XTi and Nikon 40Dx. Oh, the choices…What should I do? Should I get the Body only and get better lenses? Or, should I get it with the lens (or 2 lens kit for the XTi) and start snapping.

Well, now, thanks to the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) 2008 show, Canon introduced the XSi: the successor to XTi. There are some impressive new features that will make it more appealing to me (and probably many others). Notable features include: Live View, which allows you to frame the shot through the LCD instead of the view finder; Upping of the Megapixel count; DigicIII processor; and a move from CF cards to SD cards.

I guess I will have to keep dreaming about them, because cameras like these are still overkill for my level of photography.

[Cnet Article]

Jan

Dexter

By ryoh 2 Comments

Categories: Ramblings and TV
Tags: boxset, dexter, drama, dvd, showtime, tv series

During the Christmas holidays, on one of our dinner nights with friends, Lina and I became addicted to Dexter the Showtime series. Addiction may not be the right word; consumed by an obsessive and compulsive craving would describe it better. After dinner with Athena, Scott and Kuntheary we were invited over to Athena & Scott’s place to hang out and chat. That’s when Athena asked us if we had seen a TV show called Dexter. She gave us a brief intro to the show and the lead character. Which, of course, inevitably leads us into watching the show (because she just happens to have the dvd box set of the first season). We watched the first two episodes and were instantly hooked.

It’s about Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police homicide department forensics who also happens to be a serial killer that kills other serial killers. It’s based on a novel by Jeff Lindsay called Darkly Dreaming Dexter. There is a major antagonist/rival as the main arc for the season, but each episode has it’s own separate story as well.

If you have a chance, check it out: Find a friend with the boxset or watch it on Movie Central MC4.

We’ve also hooked Lindz and Vu onto this show. Look what you started Athena 🙂

Dec

Merry Christmas

By ryoh Leave a Comment

Categories: Ramblings

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Dec

Bayshore

By ryoh Leave a Comment

Categories: Photos and Ramblings
Tags: boats, city, pics, vancouver, view, Westin Bayshore, yatchs

I’d like to say the I love my new camera that Lina and her mother gave me for my birthday gift. I carry it around everywhere! A few Fridays ago, we had our company Christmas Party at the Westin Bayshore. And, as usual, there is drinking involved at the party, so opted for a hotel room. We were lucky enough to get a room with a decent view of the North Shore and some very nice looking yatchs. There are also some more pics on Flickr.

Dec

Mac vs PC Christmas

By ryoh Leave a Comment

Categories: Apple, Mac and Ramblings
Tags: apple ads, claymation, get a mac

I love the “Get-a-Mac” ads that Apple puts out. This is a new one made in classic claymation and looks to be an homage to the 1964 TV classic “Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer.”