Author Archives: kreptonic

Rumble in the mock debates: Jon Stewart vs. Bill O’Reilly

There’s quite a bit of chatter about the recent presidential debates between GOP nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.  These timed spectacles are so tough for the candidates as they try to cram so much into edible sound bites that appeal to their party platform and the undecideds. Fact checkers have been working in overdrive and day-after articles focus on the stretched truths and distortions that are unfortunately present in both side’s cases.

In the mean time, I was pleasantly surprised by a discourse between Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart on Saturday night that had a more comic take on the presidential issues. I have not been a huge follower of each personality but have a general gist of their stances but I do know that O’Reilly and Stewart are very different in ideology. I really appreciated their view points and assesments of the current state of affairs. With a steady mix of youthful humor, pointed criticism, and honest admissions, a big part of the fun would be seeing which of these two seemingly polar opposite people would crack first.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nN6jbfgIIE]

Surprisingly, the conversation was great and shed a great insight into the fundamental differences between the two party’s stances.  Government that governs least is best vs. government that governs best is best…with the main intent of the event to encourage youth to engage and for young voters to get out and vote, I think this collaborative mock debate was brilliant. Differing opinions do not mean we cannot have good discussions and if O’Reilly and Stewart can do it…so can we.

It reminded me of the West Wing live televised debate between WW presidential hopeful characters Rep Matt Santos and Sen Arnold Vinick. The characters were loosely based off P. Obama and Senator John McCain and would become a surpisingly prophetic piece as this episode aired a year or two before Obama’s successful 2008 campaign.

The beauty of the debate is that it is fairly  true to each party’s platform and in line with each candidates character. The best is though that through their differences you truly see each candidate’s desire to do good.  Sometimes in the hoopla of the 24 hour news cycle we systematically tear down people and parties, cynicsm rises and apathy reaches new heights.

Despite the differences in ideology, social issues, financial issues, there’s significantly more that unites than divides and from time to time we do well to remember that.  And for everyone else who’s been standing on the sidelines, it’s time to get into the game!

Fluff Ice: shaved snow in Monterey Park

500 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754

$4.25 for a medium which is pretty decently sized, $5.50 for a large and a XL ($6.75) that’s just screaming to be shared by two or more. A take out shaved snow place that hits the craving. FI has a good assortment of flavors ranging from taro, green tea, mango, peach, original…and a few others. Good selection, free 2 toppings on a medium and above makes for pretty great snack.

once again jealous of those monterey parkians.

Runners Challenge: San Diego Triple Crown

2011-2012 was the Air Alert/Jumping Challenge.

When I plop down at my desk at work I look across at my coworker’s desk and hanging there are these ridiculously awesome medals from his half marathon conquests. His latest medal caught my fancy: a Triple Crown medal. It’s a medal bestowed on those who can complete the Carlsbad, La Jolla, and America’s Finest City half marathon in the same calendar year.

That got me thinking…why can’t I do that?

Now I’m calling all runners and non-runners; let’s do it!

Here’s what I know. The Triple Crown consists of 3 half marathons in 2013:

  1. Carlsbad Half: January 27, 2013
  2. La Jolla Half: April 29, 2013
  3. America’s Finest City: August 18, 2013

The only warning is that you must sign up using the same address for all 3. Well, I just signed up for the Carlsbad half so I’m committed. I don’t really know all too much about running other than it’s not necessarily much fun…but 13.1 miles should be manageable to train up to in 4.5 months. I think a full marathon’s a bit past being useful so I’m not going to attempt that one any time soon.

Here’s my challenge to you: If you’re up for it, join me in the pursuit of the triple crown! If that seems like a stretch, pick one target race next year and start training now. That gives you almost a full year to get up to 13 miles if you want to do AFC. I’ve added a run log on the top right menu section to start logging my runs.

Most importantly, let me know so we can keep each other accountable…and if you’re in SD, let’s take a run together!

Day cruise on USS Peleliu with LTJG I.Wang

IMG_0848

Naval Logistics Precision

Email thread:

“J says 7p works for her. How about you guys?” (civilian #1 referring to civilian #3)

“i have something until probably 8:30pm. Can we meet later?” (me: civilian #2)

“Ok no prob. does 9:30 work for everyone? If not, please propose another time.” (civilian #1)

“Silly civilians, 09:30pm rdvz time when I have a 0600 liberty expiration? Negative.
Recommend the following timeline:
0700: J, J, and I rdvz for dinner..
0830: J,J, and I depart restaurant and relocate to J’ Residence  ETA 0845.
0845: Recover LHui at J’ Residence. L finds own dinner prior to arrival. LOL
0900: Commence Pax transfer to LTJG Wang’s Residence
ETA: 0915
0945: Group prayer
10:00 Taps (silence on deck)
0445 Reveille
0450 Head Call
0500 Morning Chow
0515 Depart LTJG Residence
Enroute to USS Peleliu ETA 0545
0600 Liberty Expiration

Very Respectfully,
Lt. Wang

Liberty Expiration

Prior to deployment, a brother from church invited a few of us on board his naval carrier for a “open house” of sorts for friends and family. We asked for the full naval experience and we got it. Starting with a 4:45 wake up call. Sleep deprivation seems like a common thing both in training and in deployment. 4 hours of sleep of night is a great night, 4 hours of continuous sleep makes it an amazing night.

In the pics below you see just how compact things are. There is no real private space and there isn’t much room in general. In the officer dining hall the ceiling was ~6 inches above my head. As we were eating we spotted a 6’10” naval officer. It was painful to watch him duck everywhere.

For the rest of the day we shadow LTJG Wang around USS Peleliu as he shows us his living quarters, explains to us the differences between an officer and an enlisted, and demonstrated some naval ops. He patiently answered all our questions despite the constant urge to say “silly civilians”. We even got to go into the combat and bridge room (where navigation and missile commands were…no pics) and see Wang in action as he navigated the ship through the San Diego harbor.

Near the end of the day, we’re sitting in on the flight deck watching the SD skyline in all its glory and he finally mutters “no more questions”. We’ve broken our host.

 

So much happened throughout the day that it’s hard to recap even a fraction of what went on. A little snapshot here and there only tells part of the story but there’s no mistaking it; these guys and girls are sacrificing a lot to fight for our freedoms. It was a real honor to see a side of things I’m quite ignorant of and want to thank our host and the Navy for giving us a glimpse of their world.

click left/right to scroll image gallery

IMG_1019

Canon T3i

Tamron 17-50 2.8mm

Kimmy & John

Location: The Dana Hotel, Mission Bay
Graphic Design: Mary Young

“So let me get this straight, you don’t want the vows?”

“correct”

“you don’t want any of the toasts?”

“right”

“No prep, first looks, or rings…you don’t want a normal romantic wedding video?”

“Exactly. Just capture the fun. I don’t care about the rest.”

With that, I got my requirements to go and shoot a fun wedding video for a pair of awesome coworkers who met each other here at work years ago. Despite the bride’s clear instructions, I couldn’t help but put in the first part of the video because as you’ll see, it’s the first time I’ve witnessed an almost real ear-to-ear grin. Just had to show it.

Shooting wise, this wedding gave me a chance to try out some new gear I picked up. The Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 and the spider rig were used in this shoot with a set of Canon T2i’s. Editing in FCPX.

Fun fact: The first song is the one John sang as he proposed. Shout out to H.Vuong for providing the proposal footage.

emotions & faces: a cursory wander into self portraits

IMG_1308

At Comic con everyone and their mother is trying to get you to take an ad or a free post card to sell their brand. On the whole I’m fairly good about waving them off but one of the booths had a card that caught my eye (shown above: @prideclothing). I looked at it and thought, “I think I can do that”.

Well it became painfully obvious that I would not be able to reproduce her half snarking/half mean mugging face. But while I had the camera set up, I thought, why not give other faces a shot? I’ve never done something like this before but I cannot deny it, it’s really fun! Usually I’m one who enjoys staying behind the camera, it was slightly disorienting but really fun to be in front of it.

I tried running through the gauntlet of emotions that I knew/learned about while doing Masterlife. Unfortunately most of my emotions are characterized about feeling “positive” or “negative”, or in dire cases, feeling “really positive” and “really negative”. We even joked that if we were to quantify it we’d feel +1 or -1 about something. “Emotionally ignorant” is a fairly apt description of me.

So I explored my emotional spectrum…and it was limited. After about 2 or 3 I ended up just making faces and reactions. Do reactions = emotions? Is surprised an emotion? Is exhilaration?

What’s an easy way to define emotions? Is it something you feel or something you are? If I said, “I am happy” vs. “I feel happy”. Do both describe emotions or is one a state and not an emotion?

As you can tell, I still got quite a lot to learn in the emotional department. In any case, this was really fun session of self portraits. I might even try working on some fresh faces and capture another batch another day. If you’re interested in doing something like this, let me know! You never know what could happen!

IMG_1393 IMG_1489 IMG_1483 IMG_1481 IMG_1469 IMG_1449 IMG_1420 IMG_1407 IMG_1402 IMG_1398 IMG_1394 IMG_1391 IMG_1384 IMG_1379 IMG_1373 IMG_1367 IMG_1362 IMG_1347 IMG_1343 IMG_1341 IMG_1337 IMG_1308 IMG_1293 IMG_1281 IMG_1275 IMG_1269 IMG_1266 IMG_1257 IMG_1490

San Diego Comic Con: Walking Dead Experience

Couples that survive zombie apocalypses together stay together…or something like that. J and K are getting married this coming weekend and to prepare for all that craziness they did the “Walking Dead Experience” with a few friends. It’s essentially a zombie run through a deserted Petco Park (home to the SD Padres). The course covers 1.5 miles, there are huge portions of straight up sprinting for you life, dodging zombies, clearing obstacles…this was no joke, real blood was spilt! It took them ~35 mins to finish.

At the end of the course is an inspection zone; all survivors are screened and any that infected (touched by zombies) are quarantined and dealt with.

Their experience was recorded on a GoPro and I edited it down to a 8 min exhilarating ride. Didn’t ask permission from J yet actually, so I might take this down later. In the mean time. Enjoy!