raphtze's Xanga

it's 2009........should i continue to post here?

Wed, 20 May 2009 06:43:43 GMT

hehe just a quick entry before i go to sleep......hummmm :)

2002 Cadillac Seville STS

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:34:41 GMT

So I had to pick up a replacement long distance hauler for my trips from the San Francisco Bay Area to Orange County. My old 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS is nearing 300k (my guess, since the odometer has stopped working). I looked around on Autotrader.com and found this 81k, 2002 Cadillac Seville STS, in triple black. Cost was 10,990; tax, title, license, and it comes out to 12,000. I drove out to Crazy Cars Auto Brokers out in Glendora, CA to make this purchase. This car comes with optional moonroof and 17" wheels. Motivation comes from a very stout DOHC 4.6L 300HP Northstar V8. It's a heavy car at over 4,000 lbs, but feels quite nimble thanks to the powerful engine and other goodies such as the standard equipped Stabilitrak and Magnesteer. Stabilitrak is the traction control, and also has active damping. Magnesteer increases power steering at low speeds, and stiffens the steering at higher speed. This is my first front wheel drive car. A 2005 Cadillac STS-V would be dreamy, but I can't come up with the 75,000+ for it. No matter, this car was driven by an older gentleman, and is practically new. I have the original sticker for it, it was purchased at Lou Ehler's Cadillac on Wilshire Ave. in Los Angeles, CA--brand new in 2002, this car cost 54,000. Now it's mine, and I hope to get good mileage out of it on my trips to SoCal. With the '96 Impala SS relegated towards more weekend driving, it's time to think of, rebuilding the engine, freshening the interior, and a new paint job. Cheers!

Point Reyes, CA - 2/3/08

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:22:41 GMT

Took a brief trip out to Point Reyes, CA, and stopped at a turnout on Pacific Coast Highway. A nice break in the recent stormy weather we've been having. I've bought a "new" car, a 2002 Cadillac Seville STS, so today was a day where I just took my trusty ol' 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS out for a spin. Pics taken below are using the very pedestrian 1.3MP camera on my Treo 755p. Hmmm, now that Pentax is set to release a 14.6MP K20D, it is very tempting to pick one up--I can definitely see the advantages--instant gratification--of digital photography. No matter, I'll have to take a return trip with my old film SLR's and do these scenes proper. Cheers!

Philadelphia 8/3/07 and New York City 8/5/07

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:49:44 GMT

Sorry it has been such a very long time since I've posted on here. Just been really busy with work and all. Attached are two panorama pics. I will write up a longer post about my trip later!

NYC, Central Park's Great Lawn

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

OC roundtrip via jetBlue in less than 24hrs (and proposal!)

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:25:59 GMT

So I just got back into the office this morning, and I'll make this quick: I flew out of OAK to LGB the other night, and proposed to Linh. She said 'yes'. I'm very happy

Point Bonita, Marin, CA - 5/20/07

Sat, 26 May 2007 04:41:51 GMT

So after going to Fort Baker, we decided to double back, cross US 101, and head over towards the Marin Headlands. First time ever going there. So Mary, Cookie, Boomer and I walked out and parked our car at the trailhead that leads out to the Point Bonita Lighthouse. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed that day. But no matter, there's always time for more trips! Enjoy the pics!

full gallery on my website:

http://raphtze.dnsalias.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=114

Fort Baker, Marin, CA - 5/20/07

Sat, 26 May 2007 04:34:53 GMT

So it was just a gorgeous weekend and what better way than to bring the dogs out to play? My sis Mary and I took Boomer (who just recently turned 7 on 5/16/07) and Cookie out to Fort Baker out in Marin, CA. The dogs really seemed to enjoy themselves! Enjoy!

full galleries on my website:

http://raphtze.dnsalias.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=112

http://raphtze.dnsalias.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=113

La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, CA - 4/15/07

Sat, 26 May 2007 04:28:05 GMT

Whoops...so I took these pics about a month ago.....just been so lazy/busy that I didn't put them up sooner. Not too long ago, there was a story about why the tar pits at La Brea continue to bubble:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tarpits14may14,0,2989385.story?coll=la-home-center

Seems that it's pesky bacteria breaking down the sludgy oily stuff! If such bacteria can be harnessed for use, think of the possibilities, like cleaning oil from containers or clearing up environmental oil spills. Coolness! La Brea Tar Pits is near the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and can be found on the famous Miracle Mile of Los Angeles. A visit around this area isn't complete without a visit to Chinatown and/or Langer's Deli! Additional links at the bottom! Enjoy the pics!

http://www.lacma.org/

http://www.tarpits.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mile,_Los_Angeles,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown%2C_Los_Angeles

http://www.langersdeli.com/

and also complete galleries can be found on my webpage at the following two links:

http://raphtze.dnsalias.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=110

http://raphtze.dnsalias.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=111

Cookie! 4/7/07

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:24:34 GMT

My pet schnauzer mix Cookie is turning 3 on April 22, 2007. Ah how cute she is. I saw Cookie napping on the love seat one lazy Saturday afternoon and loaded up my camera with some cheap Fuji Film I got from Costco. The film is a 24-exposure Superia 400 ISO; I used my Tamron SP 24-135mm f/3.8-5.6 lens, shot mostly at the tele end, set at f/8. The shutter was mostly around 1/8 and 1/15th, so I positioned a small pillow on the loveseat and put the camera on there. This was only using available light....if I had a lightbox and flash for the right of Cookie, exposure might have been a bit more even on the right; still I'm quite pleased with the results. Scanned in this batch of film (as always) with my Minolta Scan Elite 5400 II at 2700 dpi (that's 9.5 MP for you digicam folks) and did a grain and noise reduction via Silverfast HDR. This Fuji film is a bit cool and blue, so I adjusted in Photoshop CS2 a bit more red and yellow for the midtones, and punched up saturation just a bit. Overall, I'm pleased! Cheap film and cheap processing. (about 1.50 each for a roll of 24 exposure, and 1.50 for processing). I still love my Kodak Portra .... but for general purpose shooting...this is pretty cheap and gets the job done fabulously.

I hardly ever use the Tamron SP 24-135mm, as I usually use my Tokina AT-X 28-70mm f/2.6-2.8 and 80-200mm f/2.8. But the Tamron does have it's virtues as it's minimum object distance (mod) is quite short, allowing me to get close up to the subject for near-macro shots. The lens can get a bit soft, and vignettes a bit when shooting it wide open, so I shot in aperture priority and stopped it down to f/8. Of course everyone remembers the rule about shooting at f/8--usually most len's most sharpest and best performance.

full gallery:

http://raphtze.dynu.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=109

Malibu, CA - 3/24/07

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 04:59:35 GMT

Here's a panorama, took over a dozen frames to put together:

a much larger version can be found at:

http://raphtze.dynu.com/users/raphael/malibu_3x24x07/panorama/malibu_panorama_3x24x07.jpg

I cropped and adjusted saturation on one of the frames below:

Lovely aren't we?

Film used is Kodak Portra 400VC.

more galleries below!

http://raphtze.dynu.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=107

http://raphtze.dynu.com/binn/ShowUserGallery.asp?PT=9&UID=1&GID=108