Pizza, "Dancing" and Swans

It's been a while. My schedule's been a bit crazy since getting back to SA. Parents came to visit, winged a 20min presentation, and playing email tag with various research groups around the world. Here's a bunch of photos.

Anyway, this week is the week of ethics that comes between major modules (week of fun). We had our 3rd potluck on Monday - it was a pizza-baking party. Many of the calories were worked off via XBox Kinect - Just Dance or Dance Central. Also, based on drawing names, I have the honor of the next "last meal" - might do something like a grill-out by the pool, now that the weather is warming up.

This week is Austin Restaurant Week! Four of us went to ATX for lunch and dinner. Lunch was at Korea House and in between, we went kayaking in Town Lake, where I was attacked by a swan. Who knew that roasted swan tastes so good? :) We also hit up Castle Hill - an ever-changing sanctuary for graffiti. Dinner was Fogo de Chao - that said, I'm avoiding red meats for a few days.

EOL RRF

	Rice Fight!
	Nobody knows what it means. It's provocative.
	Hadoken!

I Spy...

Dallas Through 80mm

Since I'm shooting with a x1.6 crop sensor camera, the Nifty Fifty becomes essentially an 80mm. Thoughts?

I've also started a Flickr account to put up my favorite works: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyho168/

Getaway

I've been out of sorts of late. It's been one thing after another and I just felt drained - physically and emotionally. This weekend (last night), I headed up to Dallas to visit a few friends in hopes that the change of scenery will help me get re-sync with the rest of the world. Today, I was up around 6:30am. This marks the first time in a week and a half that I got out of bed before 10-11am. It felt good.

Below are some pics from this morning, when I went exploring on my own.

 Thanksgiving Square

Nasher Sculpture Garden

Game of Thrones - Dallas Edition

"Follow Your Arrow"

<3

Food trucks!

Dallas Museum of Art - Sculpture Garden

Contemporary Design

My interpretation of "rainforest"

Terrific Transactions & Slippery Slopes

Last weekend, I put in a bid for a 28mm f/1.8 lens not expecting to win and ended up winning. I've been looking for a nice prime lens to use as a go-to walk-around lens, since I like story-telling / showing more of the scene. This one is $510 new and I got it for a fraction of that for perfect condition used. Can't wait for it to come in. Funny how each subsequent lens you purchase only increases in quality and cost...

Today, I received my free special edition Sony Walkman W - Meb Keflezighi Edition from Klout.com. The new toy factor is definitely high. This Walkman is wireless and water resistant (hence the W?). It also boasts superior sound quality to the Ipod shuffle. I sold it to a friend who's wife was interested in something for the gym (I have a phone and shuffle, so I guess I didn't need this Walkman). Klout is a website that calculates a score for you based on your social media / networking activity and influence - from there, they sell the statistics to companies about you for marketing trends and recruitment. Depending on your individual level of influence, you gain access to various "perks." I have a score of 60 which made me "influential" enough for them to send me free stuff.