/* */ Snippets of a Wanderer

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

He's a healthy boy!!

Yeah yeah. I know. We should've checked first before naming him Dante. Well heck...he looks like a Dante. Anywayz, my sis and I have been concerned about him these last few days. These last few nights between 8pm and 10pm, he'd vomit. He'll be weak and he'll voluntarily stay in the kitty litter box for long periods of time to vomit or relieve himself. Yeah, I know...smart cat. Anyhow, we couldn't figure out why. We only feed him formula since he's way too young to eat solids or other types of cat food. All day long, he'll be up and about playing and running and jumping all over the apartment. It just seems like it's a nightly routine for him to be sick between 8pm and 10pm. Well, we finally brought him to the vet and we got our answers.

1. He is definitely male.
2. He eats too much. hahahah!!

Ok...maybe it's the combination of stuffing his face and immediately pouncing on his favourite toy and us rubbing on his belly. I still find it strange that he vomits around 8pm and 10pm. Last night was different though. No vomiting. He was up and about, doing his usual playful routine and sleeping. But no vomit. Good thing too because I was starting to get really worried.


Anyway, he's healthy, he's cute...and he sleeps a lot. Yeah, take a look at some of these pics. My sister caught him sleeping in a plant pot. Last night when I came home from work, I found him sleeping on my sister's bed. While I was working, he disappeared. Twenty minutes later, I found him sleeping in my luggage. He'll sleep on anything and on anyone. He's not shy at all.







Friday, November 03, 2006

Crouching Tiger?


Hehehehe! I couldn't help myself. My sister and I ended up with this cute furball. Meet Danté. He's a 4 week old kitten. The story with this kitten is that his mother was dropping off his 5 siblings all over the office grounds. Some window cleaners found them and started giving them away. Poor little guy. The last person who tried to care for him didn't have the time so he had to go back to the office looking for other people to care for him. Haaayyy!! I'm such a sucker for kittens. Well, anywayz, here he is.


And so...let the training begin. For the last 6 hours, I've been feeding and training him the basics...where his bed is and where his litter box is. I'm actually quite surprised that Danté is pretty darn smart. He hasn't made a mess since training started and everytime he needed to take a little catnap, he'd curl up in his bed. Cute!! Tomorrow, I have to somewhat retrain him 'coz I'll be getting him a real bed and kitty litter box and some toys. I'll have to keep his old bed blanket in the new one to keep the scent so he'll recognize his bed. As for the kitty box...well...I'll have to keep some of the "used" paper sheets and put it in his box. Hmm...I hope training him not to scratch up the furniture is as easy as this. hehehe

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Seattle Part 2

Yup, I'm here again. I'm sure this isn't the last of my trips here. I just hope my company doesn't send me here all the time. I'd like to see other places such as Florida or Virginia. Hey...I'd even take a trip to Alaska just for a change! Oh well. I didn't have enough time to really walk around and take pictures of places that I never visited from my previous trip. Well...it's not like the weather would've cooperated with me anyway. Seattle is infamous for its rainy days and nights.


In any case, I ended up with a couple of really good pics such as the picture taken from the marina in front of my hotel. I think it's my favourite picture up to date. The reflection of the skyscrapers on the water, the docked boats and the pier. From what I've seen so far, I think this is life for these people. Unlike some of us who are used to being in the city, or the islands, the beach or the nightlife serves as an outlet for a carefree weekend bliss. People in Seattle "dig" the marina.

A few beers here and there while eating fresh oysters or just a simple stroll down the pier to catch a glimpse of the sun setting on the horizon.







This pic's taken from a restaurant called "The Fish Club" by Todd English. Must be a famous guy. I swear, there are a lot of really well known or most talked about chefs in Seattle. It's got to be the seafood. I heard the Alaskan Crab is a favourite here among the natives. Well, this restaurant is really posh. I felt a little out of place myself when I went in in my jeans and a polo shirt. Everyone was really well dressed as if there was some big shindig happening. I'll be prepped next time. This restaurant serves not just seafood, but also "turf" food for us land lovers. What's to die here is their Clam Chowder. I have never had clam chowder so damn good in my life. It was rich and creamy, it had scallops and fresh clams. It was so good I ordered it throughout my whole stay in the hotel. Good thing they have room service. heheheh

Well...for now, I gotz to jet. I gotta prep for my next flight tomorrow. Back to Seattle!! hahaha! Hopefully, I'll get a chance to a take a pic of the Pike Market Place shows. It's something to do with fishermen who throw fish at each other when they're ordered. Yup! People order fish, the fishermen juggle and throw it around before getting cleaned and packed.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The City That Doesn't Sleep

Yeah, I know. I haven't posted since my trip from Seattle. I'm actually in Seattle again as I'm typing this out for another engagement. Yup...busy busy busy. I'm just glad that I'm being sent to interesting places and not some place that's out in the boonies.

So in any case, let me post some pics that I took from my engagement last week. You got it...the Big Apple! Yes oh me oh my!! This city really does not sleep. Sure I've been here a couple of times before but I tell ya...even at 12am on a weekday, this city is buzzing with people.





My first stop after a very late flight into NYC is a famous Japanese restaurant called "Benihana" and oh my. The food...exquisite!! You got your Japanese chef doing his little juggling act infront of you as he cooks your food.







The next day, I figured I'd take a stroll. HAHAHAH! Funny how I define "taking a stroll". I walked 15 blocks in the last 3 hours of sunlight I had left. I first ended up near Radio City and the NBC building.



I was contemplating whether to spend the extra bucks for entrance to take pictures of the interior. I figured nah. There were better pictures to take such as the Rockafeller Center.





Yup…we’ve seen this place in a lot of movies. My biggest regret is that I never waited ‘til evening to take a shot of this place. I’m sure it’s quite pretty at night with all the coloured lights and all.



Across the Rockafeller Center is the "Top of the Rock". It's an observation deck where you could take pictures galore of the entire city. Geezuz...I swear. This place is a tourist spot.





I bumped into people who had better cameras with lenses big enough to zoom into someone's nostrils who are taking pictures with the same type of cameras at the top of the Empire State Building. Geez...I wish I had a camera as good as theirs. Well...for now, let me at least outgrow mine.


Sooooo, anywayz, I figured I'd take two different types of pictures of NYC. One while the sun was setting and the other when the moon was up. Hmm...somewhat hazy. Well...that's because it just stopped raining. I wish it had been clearer. If it had been, I'd definitely print out a poster sized pic, frame it and hang it in my living room. Oh well...there's always a next time and another place. :)



Ok...time to go back to my hotel. Oh wait!! Time Square!! How can I forget!? Yeah, it was definitely worth the time to walk over to Time Square and take some night pics. I finally got the chance to try out my new filters. You can tell from the streaking lights of the taxi cabs. I can see why this is the place to be during New Year's. This place is lit up like a Christmas Tree.



So many places to visit such as the Hard Rock Cafe, Toys 'R Us (yeah, I'm still a kid), the Art Nouveau and the Paramount Building. Well lots more. I just didn't bother going in anywhere else. Can you imagine the "block" parties they have here? Woooh! Exciting!!









Alright...it's 10pm. I really need to get back. After all, it's still NY and I value my life as much as the next Joe. Here's a picture of a fountain situated in front of Chase Manhattan. The cool or somewhat "electric" blue light caught my attention and I just had to take a pic of it.



Well…it was good ‘til it lasted. Anywayz, the other shots I took of NY can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanderingwanderer/. The next pics I’ll be taking when I go back will be the Twin Towers Memorial and definitely Liberty Island.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Purple Shrub







Nothing biggy. I just figured this pretty little thing that I shot deserved a spot in my blog. :)

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Sleepless in Seattle?



So I just came back from my 2 day stint from Seattle. As we all know, it's always raining there. People treat the wet weather like nothing. Needless to say, coming from a nice sunny city such as Toronto and getting rained on, I got myself the flu. It sure didn't make my 2 day training sessions easy. It was bad enough that I passed on the colds and the flu to one of my trainees. Poor gal. Oh well.


In any case, I did enjoy myself. I crammed as much as I could in the last 5 hours of my trip. Yup. Talk about a new world record in touring. I was able to go around downtown and see some sights. I managed to take a few good photos. First and foremost, I had to visit Salty's. I've been told that it's a great place for oysters, beer and the view of the city. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to take a shot of the city. It was misty and the lighting was bad. Not to mention that it was drizzling. I was only able to capture this neat picture of the beer I bought. LOL! Well, Salty's is located across from the bay and I wanted more action...not to mention the fact that I can tell people that "I've been there." heheheh




Next stop, the Seattle Space Park! Here, they have the Space Needle...well...it's not the CN Tower of Toronto but it's a nice view from the top. It's a good thing that the rain finally decided to stop. It'd have killed me since I was already tending to my flu. Hey, for $14, it's still a bargain and it was definitely a good call.


Just 2 minutes away from the base of this tower is the International Park. Oh my...the waterfall in this park is HUGE!! Let's just say that it'd be a skateboarder's dream to go up and down in this "bowl" like fountain on a hot summer day. Actually, there were kids going down there to take a shower. I found it cold.





One of the most magnificent architectures I've seen in my lifetime has got to be this one. Seattle's Public Library...the new one. It's about 8 stories high and takes up a block.



Taking a picture from the outside would've murdered the achitectural beauty and ingenuity. Instead, I decided to take some photos inside.





As you can tell, there are a lot of inter...you know what, just look at the pics and see for yourself. heheheheh


Well in any case, the most interesting and most groovy part of this huge library are the escalators. Lime Green. This was heaven for bookworms and digital arts students...who by the way are armed to the teeth with Apple gadgets.





So anywayz, as the hours were ticking away knowing that I'll only have a few hours to pack my stuff and wake up at 3am for my flight, I suddenly felt the hunger pangs. I figured I'd get a quick fix at the nearby McDonald's but then I realized, "WTF am I thinking!?" I'm in Seattle and my company is paying for my meals. I figured, "OK! Let's try something a little more posh."










Lo and behold, I ended up at this great little place called Dahlia Lounge. That place definitely hit the spot. I went ahead and ordered rotisserie style peking duck and my was it exquisite! While waiting, I went ahead and ordered my favourite drink, 7 of 7...it's a combination of 7up and Seagram's 7 Whiskey. Yum!! Yup...that hit the spot alright. Dahlia Lounge is one of the loveliest dining rooms in Seattle, the sexy Dahlia has deep Chinese red walls, cheery lanterns and plenty of banquettes, perfect for snuggling.



Well...it was time for me to call it a night. It was around 9pm. As I walked towards Starbucks to meet with the limo driver...yes, a limo. WHEEE!! Well...it wasn't a stretched limo, just a nice regular white Lincoln, but it was damn close enough! Anywayz, as I got closer to Starbucks, I noticed some nice waterfalls that I just had to take pictures of. Well...I tried as best as I could, but in the end, most of the pictures turned up blurry and me wet. Even if I had brought my tripod with me, my camera would've been soaked. In any case, I think this shot is just way cool. Slightly blurry, but still cool.

So let's see...next week, New York City. The week after that...Seattle again. Hmm...this time, I better pack my tripod. I'm sure there will be more eye candy to shoot.





Thursday, September 14, 2006

It's Meez!! SweeEEEEeeet!!