Rick and crew

1. While I enjoy my new job, I do miss my babies. Above, Rick and crew during the 2007 Christmas party. Rick, et al, are in Grade 4 this year. I remember when they were timid Grade 1s.

2. Thanks for those that voted for my self-portrait in the Fox Nomad Cheesy Travel Photo Contest. I placed 4th and won a Cabin Cuddler. I’m sure Mrs. Stevo will enjoy this blanket when the mercury dips to its winter low of 60F. I really wanted to win the multi-colored Sporks…

3. Speaking of Mrs. Stevo, she decided we should move last week. Our beloved landlord said he would no longer pay for repairs because, “he was losing too much money.” Note to Master of the House: When your appliances are 5 years old and of Chinese manufacture expect them to break. While Mrs. Stevo did find a very nice apartment and negotiated an acceptable rent, I was unwilling to pay the 4000 RMB ($600 US) penalty for breaking our lease. Seven months, then we can move and maybe buy.

4. My Canon 40D is (supposedly) returning from the shop today. While my Canon 400D is nice it’s no 40D. Canon’s announcement this week of its newest DSLR, the Canon 7D, has me assessing my finances.

5. I’ve been playing with lots of expensive toys: Pocket Wizards and Radiopoppers. If I can only get the factory girls to model for me…

6. Cow arteries are not “good eats” no matter how they are cooked. Even Alton Brown would have difficulties.

7. A bottle of beer after a week of antibiotics-induced abstinence will force you to bed at 8:40 pm.

8. Wearing pants to work everyday is troublesome. I much prefer working from home in my boxers and looking dead-sexy.

9. Working from home and an office, and three different computers, means you never have the files you need when you need them.

10. My assistant cum translator starts today. “Why didn’t you hire a pretty girl?” asked the boss. Because, unfortunately, the lad had more experience.

Some cool stuff:

Ron Dubin is on fire, almost literally. Check out his latest images of the California wildfires.

Robin, his partner in crime, is playing this little piggie, with balloons.

With the week-long National Day holiday to start October 1, I’m mulling over possible travel destinations. Taking Mrs. Stevo to Hong Kong and Macau is one idea. Another is visiting the kick-ass bloggers in Taiwan (a rebel province, not a country). Speaking of Taiwan bloggers:

Carrie and her husband John have launched a new site: Lay Your Head Here, featuring Accommodations Selected by Travelers for Travelers. She has also revamped Taiwan Photographers, both are great sites and I recommend them.

Mark Forman has a great series of images, Hut 2, 3, 4, taken at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial.

Photog extraordinaire Craig Ferguson has a great series on Kinmen, three islands that were a flash-point between Taiwan and the mainland numerous times during the cold war.

Time to take a shower from a bucket…wish me luck.

Vote For Stevo

It’s not November, and it’s not an election year, but you can still vote. I have a photo in Fox Nomad’s Cheesy Travel Photo Contest. My breathless self-portrait faces some pretty stiff competition. A vote for me is a vote for…  A vote for me will keep me from placing dead last. Who likes being last? Not The Stevo. I’d like to share the tales of an old friend and amazing traveler: YYZtrvlr (I won’t use his real name as he’s a secret agent, or a high school teacher, and tries to stay anonymous). Over the past month he’s climbed all five of China’s sacred Taoist mountains. He’s documented his summer journey, stopping by twice to see me. Give him a read, after you VOTE for me.

What have I been up to?

Life speeds along at an out-of-control pace. I do my best, but find often myself running-to-stand still. I miss my Lao Po, I work too much, work out too much, and eat to many vegetable. Oh, to be the dirty slacker I once was.

Blogging

Things have exploded here at Asian Ramblings. Traffic is up 231% thanks to some handy-dandy SEO work I did. Being a 2009 Bloggies finalist didn’t hurt things either. A plug-in I installed led to an email from my hosting company, informing me that Asian Ramblings almost crashed their database server. Bye-bye plug-in.

Asian Ramblings was invited to be part of Lonely Planet’s Blog Sherpa program. If you’re surfing the LP site you may see a post or two by moi.

My review of the Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera backpack was recently published on Matador Goods. Want my opinion on this high-security pack? Read it, and give it a green SU thumbs up, please.

So many projects, so little time.

Photography

I am slowly wading into an uncertain sea called flickr. I have been  a member of Photo.net for three years, but think Flickr, (for the same price, if I pay the “pro” fee) offers a lot more. All the features I used on Photo.net were ones I could receive without paying the $25-a-year fee. Check out my flickr stream.

Craig Ferguson has taken his photography blog in a new and interesting direction. I’ve been playing, using his latest lighting tutorial. I shot an interesting self-portrait (which Ron will love) and am looking at getting a second flash, stands, and umbrellas.

Bountiful Healing, Robin’s photo blog, gets better and better. A recent post, Dead Giants, featured some stunning images.

Fitness

Only 7.48 more pounds to lose and I’m at my “goal.” I used to think trousers with elastic tops were the last resort of overly fat men. I’ve since learnt that a man shedding pounds can also use these evil garments when his belts and pants are too big.

To spice up my cardio fitness routine I bought a Dance Dance Revolution pad for my PC (a whopping $6.75 US). If I was to post a video on Youtube of myself attempting to stamp on said pad, I’d be infamous. Watching someone with no rhythm trying to dance is amusing.

Reflecting on eating right and dieting I wish:

1. Vegetables tasted like steak,
2. There was a high-protein, low-carb beer,
3. Eating deep-fried food was extremely healthy,
4. Water had a more interesting flavor.

What’s ahead?

I have some cool posts coming up. My feature on the Opium War, and some interesting tales of Chinese Canadians fighting in World War II will soon grace these pages, as well as a photo essay on the Battle of Hong Kong. I hope to post a regular cooking article as I continue to decipher Chinese food. Speaking of food: amuirin at Stop & Wander was suppose to start a week-long food series, but has postponed it. Damn, I was looking forward to reading it. I’m always looking for new ideas.

Also

An RSS email subscriber sent me an email, telling me that Hong Kong was not the real China. Yes, I know. My post on how I Hate Hong Kong is testament to this. That said: Hong Kong is extremely photogenic.

A very unflattering photo of Stevo in Piccadilly Circus.

It only took 23 hours to get back to my beloved Middle Kingdom. The immigration official was very understanding of my two passports, the canceled passport containing my Chinese Resident Permit. We even shared a laugh about the woman in the next line answering her toddler’s questions.

Child: What’s that?

Mother: A device to rate the official’s performance.

Child: What does that button do?

Mother: You press it if the official is “good”.

Child: What’s that one?

Mother: It’s for “very good”.

Child: Which one will you press?

The conversation was amusing. The hangover I suffered from later, after many two-for-one happy hour beers, was not as amusing. Jet lag + hangoveredness = very bad.

For Ron and Robin: The music.

Ya, I haven’t posted a self-portrait in a while, a Saturday night ritual I engage in when extremely bored. I was bored last Saturday, hence the photo. Thanks for reminding me, Ron.

I hauled all my stuff to the roof and set up with a flashlight, thinking I would be relatively safe from interlopers. I was wrong. Just as I started to get the image I was after a random guy walks across the roof, at 9 pm on a Saturday night. What was he doing on the roof? I have no idea. It was obvious what I was doing: Engaging in vanity photography out of boredom. He decided to stay and watch.

I packed up, took my lovely Phottix Cleon Remote Shutter Release back to my apartment, and drank a can of Shandy (I can longer seem to stomach beer. Ya, call me a girl. I wish China had Beer Gift Baskets.)

Captured: September 23, 2008.

I haven’t posted a self-portrait in a week or two. My vanity must be on the wane. No, that’s not true. You’re not vain when you know you’re the coolest man in China. A snarky blogger recently called The Stevo “tasty vittles.” I’ll take that as the ultimate compliment.

If you view this image large you may notice my ensemble. A purple plaid shirt and camouflage shorts is Stevo’s China Wear at its finest. My rationale is simple: I’m going to be stared at any way, I might as well be entertaining to look at. If you saw some of the clothes in Mrs. Stevo’s closet my above look would seem tame.

Clothes shopping, actually all shopping in China, is cheap. Instead of buying used clothing (as I did in Canada) I can now afford the ugliest of un-preowned shirts. I’ll take you shopping in China, if you visit, I know some place with reasonably attractive garments, and a great tailor.

Captured: July 23, 2008.