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This is what I looked like (roughly) after last night's early Chinese New Year feast with my family in Santa Cruz -- stuffed and furry. Okay, maybe not furry, but definitely stuffed.

It took every ounce of willpower I had to stave off the food coma that struck after we left the restaurant.

Of the numerous dishes that arrived at the table, my favorites were the Chinese broccoli with black mushrooms and the lap cheong.

This is the Year of the Tiger, which happens to be my year. Allegedly, this will be an exceptionally lucky and prosperous year for me. Normally, I don't put much stock in such predictions or beliefs, but since the tiger only comes around once every twelve years, I figure I should be open to any extra luck and prosperity it brings my way while it is in town.

Happy Chinese New Year!

p.s. If anyone has any tips on getting a red envelope away from a tiger without losing a hand, I'd appreciate it.

This morning, I had just poured the coffee in the cup and was putting the pot back when I caught a glimpse of the sunlight shining through the glass and coffee and on the cup. My eyes widened and my mind shot back to the days of physics class. "Refraction!" I exclaimed. I hastily set the pot down and raced off in search of the camera with a feeling very similar to glee. I spent the next minute trying to take a picture without accidentally spilling coffee on myself. And that's the story of this photo.

By the way, it was one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had.

On Monday evening, M and I went to Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park, which is on the eastern edge of San Martin, a tiny community sandwiched between Gilroy and Morgan Hill, as you can see in the following illustration...

For those who are accuracy-inclined, here is a more traditional map...

While M went for a run on the Martin Murphy Trail (a flat, paved loop trail, roughly two-miles long), I went for the briefest of hikes. Due to the lateness of the hour (it was nearly 4:30), M planned to only run four miles, which meant I had approximately 45 minutes to hike.

Since I knew I couldn't go far, I decided to do an out-and-back on the Harvey Bear Trail. In my head, I budgeted my time -- 25 minutes out, 20 minutes back, taking into account that "out" was all uphill.

I didn't have much time, but I tried to make the most of the time I had. This largely involved stopping often to admire the view and photograph the trees, hills, and horizon.

I got so caught up admiring and photographing, I overran my budgeted minutes. It was 5:00 and the light was fading quickly. I turned around and rushed down the trail. Halfway back, I spied the last of the sun dipping below the horizon.

I got back to parking lot just as M was finishing her run. The timing worked out perfectly. Now we just have work on getting there earlier so we have more time to enjoy the park.

To see a few additional photos, you can always visit Flickr.

I'm in the process of teaching myself jQuery, a Javascript library, for work and fun. To help me out, I've been toying around with the Flickr API and created a simple album (a.k.a. photoset) viewer.

It isn't much, but this (learning Javascript and more) has been occupying a lot of my time, so I thought I would share some of it (since it's also eating into what would normally be my writing time).

Last week, M and I visited Boston for a few days. She went for work. I went for fun. (Unlike M, I had to pay my way, but if one were keeping score, I think I still came out ahead (not that I'm keeping score).)

On Tuesday, I left San Jose at 9:30 AM, had a four-hour layover in Dallas, and arrived in Boston around 11:30 PM. It wasn't the ideal way to go, but it was the least expensive way. During the flight and downtime in Dallas, I managed to get some work done (unofficially, of course), so the day wasn't a complete loss.

M arrived in Boston early the next morning and after she got settled in, we ventured over to Newbury Street, which was only two blocks away from our hotel. We were only across the street from the Boston Public Library, in the heart of Copley Place.

The highlight of our Newbury exploration was the discovery of the Life Is Good flagship store (a.k.a. Jake's House). I showed some restraint and only bought a cap. It says "Get Lost" and was 30% off.

The rest of the day was spent wandering through Chinatown and the Seaport District (where M's conference was happening).

That evening, we ate at Legal Sea Foods and Palm Restaurant (early dinner and late appetizers). (I'd recommend Legal over Palm any day.)

Thursday was my favorite day of the trip. I walked down Boylston Street, past the Berklee College of Music and Back Bay Fens, to visit historic Fenway Park. It was my first time there. I can't claim to be a lifelong Red Sox fan, but I've been a big fan ever since my first trip to Boston in 1993. (I was an impressionable 19-year-old, which seemed old then, but hardly seems so now.)

During my subsequent visits to the city, it was either not baseball season or the Red Sox weren't in town, so I never got to see them play at Fenway. This was the first time when they and I were in Boston at the same time, so I wanted to make the most of it.

To start things off, I took a tour of the park. Tours are $12 a person and they start on the hour (between 9 AM and 4 PM during the season). I caught the noontime tour and it was packed. Our group numbered in the fifties.

Our tour guide was an elderly gentleman named Steve. He must have been in his sixties, but he had the energy of a man decades younger. He told plenty of silly jokes, but also plenty of great stories about Fenway. A place can be saturated with all of the natural beauty and historical significance in the world, but they only represent two dimensions. To make it real, to bring it to life requires stories told by somebody who knows and loves it deeply. Steve was that somebody for Fenway. By the end of hour together, he and the park held a special place in my heart.

The park was built in 1912. The wall in left field, a.k.a. the Green Monster, was built in 1934 by the owner, Mr. Yawkey. He built it after receiving complaints about broken windows from neighbors and discovering fans peeking over the then ten-foot wall to watch the games for free. It's 37-feet high and 230-feet long. The seats atop the wall have been there for four years and there are 275 of them.

The red seat in right field stands marks the spot where the longest home run in Fenway history landed. Ted Williams hit it in 1946. The seat is roughly 502-feet from home plate.

The scoreboard is one of three manually-operated boards in the country . The same two guys have been running it for thirteen years. Over that time, they only missed one game. (One was getting married. The other was his best man.)

Fenway has the shortest home run (302 feet to right) and the longest home run (420 feet to center). The right field foul pole is called Pesky's Pole, named after Johnny Pesky who hit 12 home runs in 12 years, just past that pole.

Steve told us that last story as we sat atop the Green Monster. From there, we got to sit on the oldest, most uncomfortable seats in the park. Personally, they are fine to look at, not to sit on.

By the time the tour wrapped up, I only had enough time to walk back to the hotel to grab a jacket before walking back to the park to wait in line for day-of-the-game tickets. I didn't even have time to stop at the gigantic Apple store on Boylston.

Getting in line four hours before the game was good enough to get a chance to buy premium standing room tickets on the left field roof (not ideal, but still tickets).

From there, we saw the Red Sox pummel the Texas Rangers 10 - 0, thanks to an amazing nine-run second inning and stellar pitching by Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Friday started with breakfast at Finagle a Bagel. M had to prepare for her conference, so I took the T to Stony Brook for a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery, which is free and includes, besides a lesson about beer brewing, actual beer tasting.

After the tour, I met up with M and tagged along to her conference, spending the rest of the afternoon at the convention center. Later, we had dinner at the Bull and Finch Pub (a.k.a. Cheers).

On Saturday, I only had enough time to pack before having to hop on the T to the airport. I left Boston at 11:30 AM, made stops in St. Louis and Santa Ana, and touched down in San Jose around 5:30 PM.

And that was my Boston trip.

It has been several years since I owned a video game console. The last one I had, which technically belonged to my folks, was the old NES. I was hesitant to invest in one, but I saw no good reason to postpone exploring another avenue of potential fun.

Okay, enough talk. I'm eager to play some virtual baseball.

I just thought I'd share a photo of the completed Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb LEGO set I mentioned yesterday. By the way, I used my new Gorillapod to get this shot. Who knew it would come in handy for LEGO photography, too?

Inspired by Two-Heel Drive's "Year in Photos", I thought I would dig through the photos I posted this year and choose a favorite from each month. Let's get to it, shall we?

January

In January, we visited Solvang and Hearst Castle. Hearst's study was one of my favorite rooms on the tour.

February

For 28 days in February, I produced a photo comic I haphazardly called "The Daily Brick". This was one of my favorites. I have been meaning to revisit this project and it's on my Action List for 2008.

March

In March, I had a brief fascination with taking photos in downtown San Jose. It happened around the time the NCAA Basketball Tournament came to town.

April

April would see our second of six trips to Yosemite in 2007. While we don't usually need an occasion to visit the park, this one happened to correspond with Earth Day.

May

Four months before the devastating Lick Fire, I had hiked to Mt. Sizer in Henry Coe State Park and had taken this photograph of Booze Lake, the spot where the fire began. I never wrote a trip report, but photographs from the hike can be found on Flickr.

June

While backpacking through Desolation Wilderness, near Lake Tahoe, we happened to witness the Angora Fire from a distance.

July

We returned to Yosemite in July and I hiked to the top of Clouds Rest. This hike and the one to the top of North Dome would likely make my list of Top 5 favorite hikes of 2007. (Note to self: Look into the feasibility of creating such a list.)

August

We traveled to Arizona in August. One of the places we visited was Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. The next trip to Arizona will involve more hiking and less heat.

September

September saw a romp through the Forest of Nisene Marks and a visit to the top of Yosemite's North Dome.

October

After the Lick Fire, a return to Henry Coe State Park was in order. I hiked to China Hole and came across this golden field on the way back along the Springs Trail.

November

After an adventure to Dewey, Crocker, and Stanford Points in Yosemite, we stumbled upon this moonrise above El Capitan and Half Dome. (For those keeping score at home, I realize that is now four photos from the same park in one year. I promise the next one will not be from Yosemite.)

December

In December, we visited Sequoia National Park and the Nation's Christmas Tree. The next day, I would hike to Silliman Pass.

Whew! So that was just a taste of 2007 in photographs. I hope 2008 provides as many (if not more) opportunities for some great shots and great adventures. There are still many sights to see and places to explore. I can't wait to get to it.

I apologize for the unexpected nine-day hiatus. Actually, the time away from the computer wasn't unexpected. I knew I wouldn't have access to one while visiting Walt Disney World in Florida. I just thought I would be able to blog from my iPhone while I was there. Obviously, that didn't happen.

I did give it a try when I first arrived, but Movable Type's interface was nearly impossible to use on an iPhone. The iPhone also doesn't have copy and paste commands, which didn't help. Maybe now that Apple has opened the iPhone to third-party developers, somebody will produce a nifty word processor for it.

Another factor that might have contributed to a lack of writing was a lack of motivation. It was bizarre. There I was, immersed in a world of imagination, and I couldn't seem to spark my own creativity. It was like my mind was locked in attentive mode. All I could do was look, listen, and experience. It wasn't until I was on the plane home that I could finally switch it to expressive mode. All I did on the westward flight was write.

While I was gone, a couple of things happened that I didn't get a chance to write about: Boston won the World Series and NaNoWriMo began (it began, I haven't). I hope to catch up on both of them over the next few days, in between sharing photos and writing about the trip.

By the way, contrary to any rumors I might try to spread, this hiatus was not due to a writer's strike. I was not holding out for a greater percentage of the revenue generated from this site. Goodness knows I should, but it would make more sense to do so if this site didn't generate a negative cashflow.

My Canon PowerShot S40 has been with me for five faithful years. It has knicks and scratches and dents and chips. The only things holding it together are four screws and two pieces of duct tape. I don't know how many more photos it has in it, but I'm hoping it doesn't die before I invest in a new camera, which will be any day/week/month/year now.

Last weekend, M and I were in San Francisco. We parked near the Embarcadero and walked to Union Square. The building in the photo above was one of the many "urban mountains" we passed along the way.

While M shopped at H&M, I ventured over to the square. The open space was packed, but I found a spot to sit and read for a while. At the time, I was halfway through The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years, 1913-33 by Robert Cahn and Horace M. Albright (the second director of the NPS). I found it amusing to be reading such a book in one of America's most urban settings.

Before leaving the city, I finally spotted an R2-D2 mailbox. It was probably more exciting to me than it should have been. Nobody else seemed to be interested in it, but I couldn't help but take a photo...

It was just after two o'clock yesterday afternoon when I first saw the plume of smoke in the eastern hills. I was in San Jose at the time. From where I stood, it looked as though the fire was somewhere between San Jose and Morgan Hill.

It's funny how distance plays tricks on one's eyes. As I traveled south on 101 yesterday evening, the smoke seemed to travel with me. By the time I got home, the fire appeared to be in Henry Coe State Park.

People in the neighborhood were congregated at street corners. I didn't join any of them, but I imagine most folks were conjecturing about what started the blaze, how big the fire was or would, or how many firefighters were responding. Perhaps a few were relating how they knew somebody who lived on one of the many pieces of private land surrounding the park.

As I took this photo, I wondered if the fire was burning through areas I hiked back in May, charring the landscape I had ventured through and photographed. (I could have sworn I wrote a trip report about my hike to Mt. Sizer, but apparently I didn't.)

According to the Mercury News, the Lick Fire (named after Lick Observatory, which is ten miles north of the fire) has burned more than 3,000 acres of brush and vegetation in and around Henry Coe State Park, near Booze Lake and Mt. Sizer. One would think they would call it the Henry Coe Fire or the Booze Fire for geographic accuracy, but that might make too much sense.

No fatalities have been reported and only one "out building" has been lost, but the fire is still zero percent contained, which means plenty of land will burn before it's through. I'm hoping the wind and weather will cooperate so firefighters can get a handle on the blaze.

Update: For the latest news and statistics on the fire straight from the source, check out Cal-Fire's Incident Information Page.

As I continue to mine the depths of the mundane, let's see what Days 3 and 4 bring in terms of daily chores. Oh, there's scooping the litter box...

That's always exciting. It's a bit like digging for treasure. At least that's the way I like to think about it. It makes completing the chore that much easier.

Another exciting chore is recycling...

Okay, it isn't really all that exciting, but I do get a pinch of joy every time I'm able to recycle something instead of throwing it away.

By the way, I correctly predicted two of the bottom three Idol contestants. Chris Sligh and Haley Scarnato were definitely there. I didn't expect to see Phil Stacey there again. (Maybe his hat selection is turning people off.) Of course, the person I expected to go home was safe by a country mile, so instead, we said goodbye to Mr. Sligh. I'm going to miss his curly mop.

Inspired by the photo I took yesterday of common vacuum cleaner tracks (one of my favorite things)...

I thought I'd make it this week's theme to take photos of everyday chores. Day 1 was vacuuming. Today is laundry...

Photographing the chore is so much more fun than the chore itself. On a positive note, it was the first time in a long time that I was actually excited to see the inside of my washing machine.

Since I'm not comfortable taking pictures of complete strangers or scalpers (who are really just complete strangers who want to sell you something on the sidewalk), I kept my camera angled upwards to capture any evidence of the NCAA Basketball Tournament in San Jose. Here are a couple of photos I took...

On Monday morning, I was rolling the garbage bin down to the sidewalk for pickup day when I spotted two ducks across the street in the park. They were waddling across the soccer field towards the pool where I could hear another duck quacking.

Since it's rare to see animals in the park (other than dogs and children), I raced inside to grab my camera to get a photograph of them.

As I was running back out, I noticed a nasty looking insect attached the front door. I grimaced, but ignored it and said to myself, "No time to deal with that now. Must photograph the ducks."

I reached the sidewalk and scanned the field, but the ducks were nowhere to be seen. That's when I noticed a neighbor from other side of the park walking her dog across the field.

Only a minute had passed, but that had been more than enough time for the dog to scare away the ducks.

Defeated, I retreated to the house. As I opened the door, I noticed the insect was still clinging to it.

"Well," I said to the bug. "You don't look like you're going anywhere and I'm too big of a sissy to smash you, so how about a photo instead."

Unlike dogs and children, who seemingly remain motionless for hours, but move the instant you try to take a photo of them, this insect didn't flinch or spook when I photographed it...

And just in case you were hoping for a photo of a duck, here's one that doesn't run at the sight of a dog...

I'm going to keep my eye out for the ducks in the neighborhood. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to post a picture of them soon.

I first noticed the snowmen over on Yosemite Blog. I hopped over to the Sentinel Dome Cam to see if the snowmen were still there today. They are!

Who knew snowmen enjoyed the view, too?