I received a package yesterday from Hong Kong.

I opened it up to find two copies of the most recent issue of the Asia Literary Review.

Late last year, I got an email from one of the staff at the magazine. They had found the photo below on Flickr and wanted to use it. I said it would be fine as long as the attribute the picture properly.

I was only expecting the picture to be used in an article.

To my surprise, it is also featured on the back cover!

This year I received some awesome holiday gifts!

First up is Monty Python Fluxx. My roommate John gave it to me. I can’t wait to play it.

Next is the gift I received in the annual secret santa that my group of friends from Columbia do together. Sean was my secret santa this year and he gave me this awesome DIY twin lens reflex camera kit. I already built it and hope to try it out soon.

Last year was the first year I participated in Reddit Secret Santa. My secret santa was really awesome. He did some stalking on the internet and found my flickr page. He then framed and matted the photo that he liked the best. It was a great gift. This year’s secret santa again didn’t disappoint. He bought me a load of stuff from thinkgeek.com. My favorite item is the remote controlled LED bulb. I think it is going to make great mood lighting for my room.

Last week, Sean, Vinny, Meixin, and Phil came to the bay to hang out and sight see. Since a bunch of us from the same group in Columbia were already living in the bay, we had a holiday potluck and white elephant exchange. I first picked an angry bird plushie, but that was stolen from me. In the ensuing chain of stealing, I ended up with a Lego set!

Caroline sent me a great travel journal. I wish I could travel soon so that I can use it. ^^ She also sent me a load of candy. She explained that the flat rate box wasn’t full and that she sent the chocolate to fill it. I’m pretty sure she actually sent it to try to make me fat. ;P

My parents sent me a huge K’NEX roller coaster set. It is actually the first K’NEX set I have ever owned. As a kid I was a huge Lego fan and never bought into any of the other construction toy systems. When completed, the set features two mirror image tracks, plenty of inversions and curves and a motor to drive the chain. It also came with a speaker to connect a music player to.

The biggest surprise was the gift Chithra gave me. She bought me a KitchenAid stand mixer! I always dreamed of having one, but I never expected to have one before I settle down and have my own place. Time to do some baking!

The first thing I noticed when I moved from Plano to Palo Alto is the beauty of the area. The streets are lined with colorful trees and the houses are all painted in cute pastel colors. I started documenting the beauty in photos and this is the first of probably many posts featuring them.

The first three photos are of my street after many of the trees all started losing their leaves.

At the end of November this year, there was a day when most of the bay was blanketed in fog. It was too cold and I was too hungry to venture out for a long time to capture some shots, but I did manage a few.

Finally, a self portrait.

Back in October, Caroline made a visit to California for a week. I didn’t take too many photos when she was here, but I did carry my 30D and 28-135 along when we visited the Natural Bridges State Beach. The state beach is famous not only for its rock formations on the coast, but also its population of Monarch Butterflies. The eucalyptus grove on the grounds acts as a sanctuary for migrating butterflies.

The first butterfly we saw wasn’t a monarch, but it was beautiful nevertheless.

We spotted a few chrysalises in the caterpillar nursery.

Caterpillars were munching away and becoming fat in preparation for their transformation to butterflies.

The sanctuary was packed with butterflies. I have never seen so many in my life. Next time I go, I’m going to go with a lens with longer reach so that I can capture much bigger photos of the monarchs.

The views off the coast.

Looked like mother was teaching her baby how to fish.

After some time at Natural Bridges, we made our way over to Año Nuevo State Park to take a short hike and to get a look at the Elephant Seals.

This guy was fearlessly resting on the hiking path. He looked battle worn.

The hiking terrain varied from gravel paths to sand dunes.

At the end of the hike, we finally reached the seals. Unfortunately, most of them were sleeping. -_-

Before heading home, we rested and made zen gardens in the sand . ^^

I recently installed Skype on my work PC. When I tried to exit, I found that I had to jump through hoops to close Skype. It isn’t the most favorable experience. Here is how it went:

In most Windows applications, pressing the large red X button on the top right closes that window. If that window is the last window left of that application, the whole application exits and you don’t see it in the start taskbar or in the notification area. You can assume that Skype on windows should behave the same way. Right?

Wrong! Pressing the X just collapses the window into the taskbar. That is the exact same behavior that is observed when you press the minimize button. I don’t get it. Whey even have the X up there if it does the exact same thing as the minimize button?

At this point, I am tempted to just ctrl+alt+del and kill the process, but instead I give Skype a chance and right click the icon on the taskbar to see if it gives me any options. And there it is! The elusive option to actually quit Skype.

I click the option and guess what! Skype pops up a dialog box asking me if I actually want to exit. Really? You think I right clicked the icon on the taskbar, and then clicked “quit skype” all on accident?

This sort of stuff really bugs me. Why is Skype ignoring already established patterns? Why is Skype making it so annoying to use their product?

Last month, we at Brohaus finally had our house warming. To prepare, we blew up balloons and put LEDs inside.

We made food.

We set up tables and a grill outside.

After we all ate, we released the balloons and the real party started.

Sometime later in the night, an impromptu dance party started inside.

At the end, everyone said they had a great time. I think we can declare declare Brohauswarming Mission Accomplished.

Fortunately, Andy was in town for a conference that weekend and was able to stop by.

See all the pictures here or below in the slideshow.

Around 4 years ago during freshman year in college, I started systematically changing my fashion choices.

First, I started wearing a lot more black. This is a practical choice. I figured out that I could wear roughly the same outfit everyday to class, concerts, semi formal events, parties, etc. without having to change. Putting on a slightly dressy sweater let me blend in at more formal events.

Second, when trying different brands of clothing, I try to find which ones fit me the best. Once I find something that I like, I stop buying all other brands and models and buy only the one I like. Owning a lot of the same articles of clothing has two huge advantages. First, I don’t have to go clothes shopping that often, and when I do, I know exactly what I want. I don’t have to worry if shirts look good on me or if a pair of pants fits. Second, I don’t have to worry about what to wear when I wake up. I just put on an roughly the same outfit I wore the day before. This saves me a bit of time every day.

Here is my basic outfit that has remained relatively unchanged for the last two years.

Black Levi's 514.

First up are the Levi’s 514 Jeans. I found them to be a straight and slim but not so tight that they are uncomfortable. They look good enough that I can wear them to classier events.

American Apparel 2001 Shirt

I love these shirts. They have a great ratio of comfort to cost. I also have a bunch of Woot shirts that are printed on these.

Onitsuka Tiger Ultimate 81 shoes.

I bought my first pair of Onitsuka Tiger Ultimate 81s in spring freshman year. I loved the classic design and colors. The thin sole and breathable fabric construction make these extremely comfortable. I can run in them, drive in them, and then wear them to a club or dinner party.

Casio Riseman GW9200-1.

This watch is rugged and durable. Its best features are atomic clock syncing and solar charging. Since it requires almost zero maintenance and is completely submersible, I can wear it everywhere.

Back in August, I read on a design blog about the then upcoming Dieter Rams exhibit at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. If you don’t know about Dieter Rams, check him out in the documentary, Objectified. Katherine, Jeffrey and I decided to check it out. We drove over the the BART station and took the BART to San Francisco. We then made the short walk over to the museum.

The museum is quite small compared to other modern art museums in the US, but is nevertheless a great museum.

The special exhibit showcases the beautiful objects industrial design genius Dieter Rams designed. Many of the things he designed more than thirty years ago are still produced. They also influence modern designers, most notably Jony Ive of Apple.

I was amazed to finally be able to see one of his most iconic products he designed at Braun, the SK55 SK4 record player nicknamed “Snow White’s Coffin”.

A beautiful white Alexander Calder mobile in the lobby.

Some guys studying or working at a nearby park.

One of the many exotic cars I spotted on the trip.

Two months ago, my uncle (one of my father’s older brothers) was in town from India. During the weekend, I went on a short trip to Lake Tahoe along with one of my other uncles (who is also one of my dad’s older brothers).

After a short morning drive from the bay area, we arrived at where we would be staying, the Forrest Suites Resort. The great thing about the resort is that it is a short walk from the Heavenly Ski Resort‘s cable car.

Marveling at the cable car:

After checking in at the resort, we went to the beach to soak up the sun and eat lunch.

After lunch, we went on a rather long cable car ride to the top of a mountain.

The views from the top were awesome.

Raghu found a barrel of his favorite drink.

A little chipmunk.

A map of all the slopes you can enjoy during the winter.

Using the decent magnification of the 28-135, I was able to get some psuedo-macro shots of the flowers near the cable car station.

The next day, we woke up and took duck boat tour of the lake and surrounding areas.

This boat is made to launch hot air balloons from the water.

I spotted this SLS AMG in one of the marina parking lots.

It still isn’t sinking in that a man who was such a phenomenal force in the industry has passed away. Steve Jobs was an inspiration to me. His successes stand to show how creative thinking can lead to spectacular results.

Steve, You will be missed.