2007 – Hungry Mike

Duncan’s One-Year Old Birthday

Choon-Chern Lim — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:00:00 +0000

We were invited to celebrate Duncan’s one-year old birthday. The party was initially scheduled to be held at the west playground of Soldiers Field, but the location was changed to O’Neill’s Pizza Pub at the eleventh hour because the weather wasn’t too cooperating at that time.

My job in this party was pretty simple: eat and photograph the birthday event. It was actually a little tricky to photograph in the reserved room because of the large mirrors on two sides of the walls. While the mirrors help to increase the ambiance and the lightings of the room, the last thing I need is to have a reflection of me on every photo I take. That would make me the second most important person besides Duncan in this event.

The party went smoothly and Duncan was pretty well behaved, considering the fact he was not annoyed by the camera flashes. The O’Neill’s Pizza Pub employees were generous enough to present Duncan an ice-cream, a birthday song and a free pizza toss, and they helped to make this event even more special. Somehow, Duncan wasn’t too interested in the pizza toss. He was more interested in eating it rather than making it. So, Duncan’s not probably going to be a pizza maker anytime soon.

Happy Birthday, Duncan!

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Fourth of July Fireworks

Choon-Chern Lim — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:00:00 +0000

After playing a couple of tennis games at Soldier’s Field, we decided to join the crowd by the Silver Lake to watch the fireworks. Even though we live only several minutes away from the lake, this was our first time having the motivation to actually walk over there to watch the fireworks display. By the time we reached there, the whole place was already packed with people. I managed to find a nice spot by the road to setup my tripod (the road was closed, by the way). The event started at 10 pm and ended half hour later.

Fourth of July fireworks.

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Olympic & Mount Rainier National Parks

Choon-Chern Lim — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 05:00:00 +0000

We flew to northwestern United States to visit Seattle, Olympic National Park and Mount Rainier National Park. I consider this trip to be very special because both my dad and my sister were able to join Angelina and I in this trip. This is my sister’s first trip to United States and the third for dad. We spent four days in visiting Seattle area, three days in Olympic NP and three days in Mount Rainier NP.

People in Seattle are very friendly. I was able to meet and chat with virtually anyone I came across. The weather in Seattle was very nice too. In fact, it only drizzled one time, and we took that opportunity to seep some coffee at Espresso Vivace, which is dubbed as one of the best coffee shop in Seattle from the internet. The food over there? Muy Excellente! We had great sushi, oysters, salmons, Malaysian food and one of the best Thai food at University of Washington area.

We did plenty of trail hiking in both Olympic NP and Mount Rainier NP. Both national parks have their own uniqueness. Olympic NP has one of the weirdest weather where it can be really cold at some places and warm at other places. The rain forest is nothing I have ever seen before. As of Mt Rainier NP, half of the park was still closed when we were there. It was due to the major flood early this year and most roads/trails were damaged. Virtually all hiking trails at high elevation areas, like Paradise and Sunrise, were covered in snow. Nevertheless, we managed to find good times in the park. We hiked about 5 to 10 miles for several hours each day.

Fresh seafood at Pike Place Market.

Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

Our cabin, located right beside Pacific Ocean.

Hiking on snow in Mount Rainier National Park.

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