ISKL Invitational Golf

It was a great weekend of golf in Kuala Lumpur. The weather today was perfect, and we got an early morning start (got to the course when it was still dark). The course was spectacular to say the least, and the tournament was very well run and organized by our hosts, ISKL.

Here is the JIS team...

Here is our group...from left to right are Will (JIS), Mark (ISM), me, and Bob (ISB). We had a great time. Bob Connor, from Bangkok, was the only one of us that played well, but he did manage to pass on some pointers to us that helped our game. Thanks, Bob.

That's me hitting a pretty decent drive after trying one of Bob's teaching tips...

...Dad, this one is for you...

There are King Cobras on this course (and I am not talking about the clubs). Luckily, we didn't run into one, but I am sure they were lurking in the bushes...gotta be careful when hunting for a lost ball...

That is Scott Muir, who organized the tournament. He also took the photos above. ISKL was a wonderful host, and the golf and the tournament as a whole was just great.

At night, we cruised downtown for our team dinner. I sure wish I had brought my tri-pod, as the Petronas Towers were just amazing. There was a real low cloud cover, and the lights from the towers shined on the clouds above...it really was spectacular, but I couldn't get any photos as it was too dark to hand hold my camera....oh well, next time.

Krabi

One of the coolest things about Krabi, Thailand are all of the limestone cliffs that poke out from nowhere all over the place. I would be interested in knowing what formed these strange peaks....but they sure make for an interesting landscape...

I am off to Kuala Lumpur today...I will return on Saturday night, and will be sure to share some photos from the golf tournament...

Koh Samui

My attempt at glamour photography with Tika. You think I could be the next Sports Illustrated Swimsuit addition photographer? Now THAT would be the job!!

Both these photos were taken at the beach of Koh Samui...a great little island to vacation at in Thailand...Kayla was conceived here...maybe that was a bit more information than you really wanted, but hey, it's true...

I am off to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. I have to be up and ready to go at 0515 in the morning...yuck! But, it will be a fun couple of days there playing golf. I will try to keep the blog updated while there. I already have my photos picked out for the next two days, and will bring them with me to KL, so that all I have to do is get to an internet cafe to upload.

Koh Phi Phi

Actually, the photo on top is from Phuket...the tide got so low, you could almost walk to that island across the bay...

The bottom photo is of Kho Phi Phi. Both Phuket and Kho Phi Phi were hit hard during the Tsunami of 2004. I heard a story of some divers that were underwater when the Tsunami hit, and all they felt was the surge of the wave....when they surfaced, they found Koh Phi Phi totally devastated. One of the safest places to be during a Tsunami is either out to sea, under the sea scuba diving, or of course, up on high land...

Thailand Week

Believe it or not, it is getting close to vacation time again. I only have to work three days this week, and then I am off to Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days for some golf, and then back here in Jakarta on Saturday night. Then next Monday, off to Bali for 5 days with the family...

Not sure if I will be able to get to a computer to update the blog while in Malaysia, so will update when I return...and then there will be a 5-day dry spell while in Bali, but be rest assured, I will have plenty of photos to share when I get back from Bali.

The photo below is of Koh Phi Phi...one of my favorite places in Asia...check out that water...that is what it really looked like...unreal, yea?

Happy Birthday Meagan!!

Happy birthday to Meagan, who is the oldest of my two nieces. My sisters have a flock of boys, and only one girl each. Meagan is a lucky charm born on Saint Patrick's Day!! So Happy Saint Patrick's Day too!!

Thanks, Dad, for the photo....what a great shot!!

Focus 2008

After Brunch at the Shangri La, we were close to the Jakarta Convention Center, so we stopped in to see one of my photos displayed in The Light magazine's photo exhibition. Pretty cool. Untung, in charge of the exhibition, told us that another photographer had said that my photo and one other (behind the wall) was his favorite photo in the exhibition...

Always a nice thing to hear... I had trouble exiting the building as my head was to large...

Brunch Downtown

One of Tika's group of "Indonesian JIS Mom's" had a birthday today, and we were all invited downtown for a nice brunch at the Shangri La Hotel. Wow, what a spread, and what a brunch!! It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon gorging ourselves with great food...

Here is a shot of the Jakarta Sky Line as we exited Senayan...usually the skies are not blue in Jakarta, but it was a gorgeous day today in Jakarta...I took this shot through the front window of my car as I was driving...

Tika and I eating our first round of appetizers...we made many trips to the buffet line...

Here is Tika's wild group of Mom's...

...and this was our table of wild people...

The birthday girl is standing next to tika...

Last Day of Vietnam Week

So, here are three more photos from Vietnam. The top one is from the famous Halong Bay, the middle one is a little girl in Sapa, and the bottom one is a floating village in Halong Bay...

It rained most of the day today, and is still raining as I write this entry. I played golf early this morning, and started with a par. After I sunk the putt, I said, "getting a par on the first hole is always a bad sign"...sure enough, I followed that hole with three doubles, and my round just got worse from there. I guess that is what I deserve when I only play twice in two months...gotta get back into the game...

After golf, we took Kayla to see the movie, Horton Hears a Who which was one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books growing up...I think she liked it, but it may have been a bit over her head...

Sapa Kids

I got so wrapped up playing with the textures, I forgot to include a photo from Vietnam to continue with my "Vietnam Week"...so here is one from Sapa in Northern Vietnam (close to the China border). I also used a couple of textures on this photo. I am not too sure on this one though...I think the original actually looks better...

This is the original...

Stuck in Custom's Textures

I was finally able to find some time to play with Trey Ratcliff's textures from his Stuck in Customs web site. I had a blast playing, and can't wait to use some of his textures on some of my other photos.

Here is an example...For this photo of Kayla, I used three different textures, changed the blending mode on each, the opacity, and then masked out the textures on Kayla's skin...pretty cool, heh? The options are infinite...

The photo at the bottom is the before look...

We Got Ducks

Not often you see a basket of ducks for sale...