I took a right turn after dropping off my older son for pre-school in the morning. I visited this coffee house the very first time even though I had driven by this place many times before. What a special treat! It is a very special place indeed. I thought it was a small coffee shop, am I so wrong before. It is very spacious inside and it has the best coffee that I have tasted in Fremont. How can I not know about this place. This coffee place is full of character and it is one of a kind in Fremont.

It is very odd that sometime we take a different turn in our life and we meet something totally awesome to one's imagination. I thought visiting this coffee shop was the best treat of my day -- a very different day indeed. My next treat in the coffee shop is to bump into Sue whom I had worked together in iPlanet time, a joint venture between AOL/Netscape and Sun Microsystems. It is the best treat for me to meet an old friend that I have not seen in about five years. Since I met Sue, I went back for the 2nd visit with a cup of 'Don's Blend' and time flies when I talk to Sue. What a place and what a great treat for me for a different turn on a road that I drive everyday.

My family love Japanese restaurant. We find it heathier in eating out. I visited Rokko Japanese Restaurant in Sunnyvale Town Center across from Macy. I find the weekdays lunch very inexpensive. The food is great for the price and the staff are courteous.

I have to remember that they close on Saturday afternoon. For new places that I visit with friends and colleagues, I always bring my family whenerver I get the chance. My family don't dine out often and I like them to enjoy as much as I do.

It's been one of those days
When everything just feels so far away
Hope don't be a stranger
Won't you help me make it through today?

Then a voice comes calling out to me
You're never alone cause I am with you
And I will always be
I will hold you cause you belong to me
You're never alone cause I'll be with you
For all eternity

--
lyrics from Never Alone in Mercy Me

I have been a group moderator for close to three years ever since leaving Netscape/AOL/TimeWarner in Decemeber 9 of 2003. It is a fun job in moderating a yahoo group and I even have it as my current job in my Linked Profile, yes you get that right, I am a proud moderator for 317 people. I miss the coffee event that I had arranged for the group in the past. Good time passed and I do hope friends can stay in touch in both good and bad times. A picture can certainly bring back the good old memory in this fast paced world.

A special moment was captured in the picture that carries us into the future where each one of us may have pondered the moment every once in a while.

I can only imagine, what it will be like
when I walk by your side
I can only imagine, with my eyes to see
when your face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
Surrounded by your glory,
what will my heart feel
Will I dance before you Jesus or
in awe and be still
Will I stand before your presence or
to my knee that I fall
Will I sing Hallelujah or
will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

--
lyrics from "Imagine" by Charlie & Jill LeBlanc in"Amazing, live in Nashville"

Around the time of neighbor's children birthday party, I shot a pony show. I will have instructions in posting video in photobuckets and youtube later on in my tech blog page.

I took this shot in last year neighbor's children's birthday party. It was a great party and I never find the time to post the pictures. And while in the party, we had a friendly neighbor visiting us with an apricot, I think, and he was not shy from joining us for the fun in chatting, eating and partying.

I love my home and so do my family. And I get the best neighbors besides the friendly and frequent visitors of this cutie. I will have a story book to write on my neighbors -- they are the most fasinating people that I feel compassionate about. My household is very blessed to live in such a wonderful neighborhood.

How lovely is your dwelling place,
I savor times like this.
I feel your presence in this place
just like a morning breeze.
And as I look upon your lovely face,
I fall down on my knees.
Oh how I love your presence, O Lord




--
lyrics from "Favorite Place" by Charlie & Jill LeBlanc in"Amazing, live in Nashville"

My favorite place to be is to worship at you feet and
linger in your presence all day long

My favorite thing to do is to spend my time with you
and live my life to praise you with my song




--
lyrics from "Favorite Place" by Charlie & Jill LeBlanc in"Amazing, live in Nashville"

I am a software engineer stuck in the cube all day. Pathetic I know. And I have little time for photos. This picture comes from 32 pictures running through autostitch with default settings. I could have cropped it but I don't like the results in the cropping and I leave it as is. I post in a photo forum once asking a very admired forum member with beautiful shots of Oregon to find me a job in Oregon, I am only half joking.

This is a great music site that I highly recommend my friends and family in visiting. It is a free internet radio station with intelligence on your preferred type of music. No extra software is required except your internet browser. Cool music is played all day long on my desktop. And one can explore music matching one's favorite artists and albums. Great site! Fantastic music. And I have the following artists and albums playing all day in my desktop at work:

• George Winston
• Yanni
• Keith Jarrett
• Jan Garbaret
• Five for Fighting
• Bad Day
  

This is my current beloved and trusty Casio ex-z750 and I had it since early 2005. Like many others, I still think it is the best compact camera back in 2005 for both picture and video. It is odd how I miss it everyday when I leave home without it. My wife takes great pictures and videos for our kids at home and many of her work are posted here in this blog. And I will take away her photo and video opportunity if I have it with me leaving home.

So here comes my next camera dilemma: I want another point and shoot while I am also on the prospect of venturing into dSLR and perhaps prosumer type of camera. So far I have boiled down to few choices:

• dSLR: Pentax k100D with lens kit 18-55, 50-200, 50 f1.4
• 2nd p&s: Fuji f30/20, Casio ex-s770
• dSLR like: Fuji s6500, Panasonic fz50, Sony R1

If I get another p&s, I will definitely enjoy the casual shooting everyday with the portability and flexibility in a p&s. But if I go prosumer and dSLR, I will definitely advance in the hobby going into a different level of experience with photography. The caveat is the time split (or shared) between hobby and family. What is stopping me from having fun -- Time and Money.

Update: I have purchased Fuji f30 as my 2nd p&s camera. Test shots of fuji f30 can be seen in Fuji f30 Test Shots. And I have purchased Pentax K100D with kit lens and Pentax DA 50-200.

I just find another tool 'Motivator' for poster. Here is one picture that I always go back to in Flickr.

I love colors and I am short in time in taking new pictures. Having the Mosaic Maker really helps me in combining existing pictures to make new ones. What a wonderful idea. It is not as good as having a new picture from scratch but no complaint here.

Everyday I come to you and lift my voice
to honor you and worship you.
Ervery hour of every day I will bow my heart to praise and worship you.
For you are the most holy, almighty, beloved, the ever living God
You are the savior of the world, the ever living God, the living God
Almighty, beloved, the savior of the world,
So holy, most holy, the ever living God
The ever living God.

--
Lyric from "The Living God" by Charlie & Jill LeBlanc with "Amazing, live in Nashville"