Back To Jakarta

After a morning of shopping at a clothes store (not my favorite thing to do), we got to the airport at 2:00 sharp to check-in for our flight. We got to the desk, and the agent told us our flight had been canceled. Welcome back to Indonesia, right? We had to wait until 8:00 at night....ok, decision time. Do we go back into town and do something, or do we just hang out at the airport for six hours? We decided to wait it out. At least the Singapore airport is a nice place to hang out....there are actually lots of things to do at the airport, and if there is an airport in the world to be stuck in, Singapore Airport would be my choice. So, we hung out, ate, walked around, watched people, watched TV, ate some more, hung out some more, and finally boarded the plane at 9:00....the flight was delayed....of course....we are talking about Garuda. So much for the organization of Singapore...it's back to Indonesian chaos.

Orchid Gardens

Tika said she wanted to go to the Singapore National Orchid Gardens. I am not usually into flowers, but reluctantly followed. It turned out to be my favorite thing we did in Singapore. The Orchids were simply amazing, and I had to delete photos on my card to fit more in.....I took over 100 shots of flowers. It rained for about an hour which cleared most of the people out of the park. When the rain stopped, we had the place to ourselves. Wow, what a place.

Jurong Bird Park

Today was bird park day. It was great. We had the park practically to ourselves, and were also proud of ourselves that we were able to get there using the subway (MRT), and bus saving us a fortune in Taxi fares. Kayla really enjoyed the park. They had bird shows most every hour, and there were only about 20 people at each show...it was like a private tour of the bird park. Very cool.

We had dinner down at Clarke Quay at one of my favorite restaurants, Brewerks. I had a gigantic burger, and Tika got the seafood pasta, and of course I had a large beer brewed right at the restaurant...awesome day.

Arrival in Singapore

It took some major effort finding a hotel for our 4-day vacation in Singapore. Everything was booked, and our usual hotels that we stay in were all booked. Still not sure what is going on in Singapore, but we managed to find a basic hotel in a good location.

Today consisted of driving to the airport through busy Jakarta traffic, flying to Singapore (hour and a half), getting to the hotel via taxi, and then a walk down Orchard Road where Tika did some shopping and I bought Photoshop books at Borders.

My Graham Babes

Had to throw this photo onto the blog...I like it. Sure is nice to have two cooperative models living under the same roof as their Daddy/Husband photographer. They still pose with a smile...my Graham Babes. (click on the photo for a larger version)

House Update

I hadn't visited the house in over a week, and was surprised to see how much progress was made. The pool is starting to take shape (top photo). The big square hole is for the foundation of the Balinese gazebo that will be built with stairs leading into the pool. There is a problem though....notice all the water? That water is coming from the ground. The engineer assures me that once they pump the water out, and put down concrete and seal it, the water will not be a problem. I am not completely convinced, but will see....I guess I need to have some trust as he knows a lot more than I do.

The other photo shows the support beams are being installed. I bet you don't see bamboo used in the states like you see here....aha haa...Indonesia. We have a large Rambutan tree in the back that has a truck load of fruit. The guys picked a bunch for us, and we now have a huge bag of fruit to take home.

New Portrait Gallery

I created a new gallery of my favorite portrait shots I have taken the last few years. Check it out by clicking on the pbase.com link to the right.

Today is the last day of school before Spring Break. Yes, finally get to sleep-in. We are leaving on Tuesday for four or five days in Singapore. It should be a nice, relaxing vacation. We are going to try to hit some places we have not yet visited. I look forward to sleeping, clean air, good restaurants, and nice parks.

Gorgeous Weather

We have had unusually good weather the past couple of weeks. It was so nice yesterday, I had to go out and get some photos of the campus. Mom and Dad have seen the school, but the rest of the family has not seen where I work, so I thought I would share some photos of JIS. It is not often we have blue skies in Jakarta....

One of the things kids say when they leave JIS is how nice the campus is....it really is a nice place to work. I don't think there are many high schools around the world as nice as this place....

Experimenting With New Ideas

I went to pick up my computer last night. I thought all was back to normal, but when I turned on the computer, my 23-inch monitor was not working, and my speakers were not working as well. Looks like that lone lightning strike did more damage than I thought. Arggggh...that monitor was expensive....I am hoping that it is just the power box that is blown and not the monitor itself. We will see.....

I had Corel Painter IX installed at the computer shop. I am learning to mix Corel Painter and Photoshop to make my photos a little more "art" like. The above was my first experiment. What do you think? There could be some real cool effects I can get with this...never ending fun.

Golfing in Thailand

Wow, what a weekend of golf. I left Friday after school, and was in Bangkok by 7:00 at night. I met up with my golf buddies, had a great Thai dinner, and then crashed for the night. The next morning, we left the hotel at 8:00 in the morning and drove to the Bangkok Golf Club.

The course was in amazing shape....especially the greens....fast and true. I was paired with a teacher from ISB, a teacher from TAS, and another teacher from JIS, Kevin Callahan (pictured above in that order). I played really well for a change. I shot a 92, but that included three putts missed by mere millimeters....should have broken 90. However, I was really happy with the way my game went....good drives, good fairway shots, and my short game was on fire. A couple of water balls kept my score from breaking 90 as well....oh well.

The best part of the day was the JIS boys. They were nine stokes back from ISB on Friday. They really rallied to not only catch up to ISB, but they beat them by five strokes by the end of the day. These kids are amazing. 3 of the six kids (9th graders) shot in the 70's, the best shooting just 4 over par. I wish I could play like them.

New Gallery

I just created a new gallery on my pbase.com account with a few of my photos from my recent trip to Cambodia on the "Jamie Trip". I will be adding more later when I get the chance...my computer is still in the shop, so I can only work on photos at school. Anyway, click on the pbase.com link to your right, and then go to the "Images from Cambodia" gallery to check them out.

A Few More Shots of Kayla Posing

I couldn't resist these as well...

I am off to Bangkok tomorrow for a golf tournament with some students...yea, I know, life is tough.

My little Model

Kayla got a new hat from Mommy, and the first thing she wanted to do after putting her hat on was to go outside and take photos. What more could I ask for? She wanted to climb on my volkswagon, so I complied, and she instantly struck a pose....she must have been born with "model" genes or something. Later, when we went to the construction site, she posed again...my little model.

Lots of Work Done

It was a nice surprise to see more of the foundation put in place...you can start to see the layout of the house....lookin' good.

Blown Away

I can't say that I am usually one that likes to watch dancing. However, I was blown away with the talent I saw today on stage, and I am now a fan of watching dance..."wow" is all I can say....you had to be there to believe it.

I was told I could only take photos if I didn't use a flash...I didn't think I would be able to get any decent shots, but I got lucky with the two shots above....I really like the top one in red...it says it all.

JIS Hosts IASAS Cultural Convention

I am busy again as photographer. All of the IASAS schools arrived yesterday. JIS is hosting the dance, drama, debate and forensics events for the first time in many years. The atmosphere is great with kids running around everywhere, attending workshops, and showing their stuff in front of the podium. There is a lot of action around campus.

I heard from Dad this morning with a nice update on golf and the weather. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to be in warm weather year around.

The Art of Eating

Tika made me spaghetti last night for dinner. Since I had pasta, Kayla wanted some as well so that she could eat with Daddy. She sat across from me at the table, and as she ate, I couldn't help but laugh as she tried several different methods of eating her pasta. So, I grabbed the camera and got some shots....I guess you forget that sometime in life one has to learn the best method for eating slippery noodles....fork, slurping, or fingers?? Too cute.

More Building on the House

I haven't been able to get out to the building site in almost a week, so was pleased see some progress being made. The foundation work continues, and you can start to see the floor plan taking place. The weather has been better lately...in fact, beautiful in the mornings, but still rains in the afternoon. They keep building though, rain or shine.

Softball Exchange

My day on Saturday consisted of softball, softball, softball. The other coach, Tom, has been sick, so I had to coach both the Varsity and JV teams giving me hardly a break on Saturday playing games from 8 in the morning until 7 at night....long day. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur brought their teams to Jakarta for some competition before the big IASAS tournament in April. We didn't play even close to our potential, so there is lots of practice to be had.

New Babies In Jakarta

Our good friends Butch and Lorly brought Katarina Nicole Koltai into the world today. I stole this photo from Butch's blog which you can access from one of the links to the right. Also born earlier in the week was our other good friends, Chris and Indah who brought Lucian Eko McCarthy into the world. Babies everywhere!!

Portrait Work

I have been messing around with some new Photoshop techniques I learned recently for touching up portraits. The photo above is one I took in Cambodia a couple of weeks ago, and I used some of the techniques to touch it up...I like the way it came out.

We have a softball exchange that starts tomorrow. Tom, the other coach, is sick, so I have my work cut out for me. We have a good team this year, and I have high hopes for them. This weekend will be our first test.