I guess some of you have no idea what I’m doing. On the off-chance that you are wandering by here to find out, here ya go:

I’m finishing up a chapter for a book on advanced digital photography techniques. I’m practicing and rehearsing for Sarah‘s wedding on Saturday (in Scottsdale, AZ), and for Vienna‘s show on Sunday. I’m thinking about what I’m going to present about at the Boston Sea Rovers‘ Clinic in Boston next weekend, and wondering how I’m going to get my suit (it’s a formal affair), my camera, my computer, my big bag, and my cello from JFK to my new place on the Upper West Side on Monday night. Once I make it to Tony‘s place, I should be ok. He’s going to take me down to Pat‘s place, and then back up to the Upper West. Speaking of Pat, she’s been a wonderful host and studio-mate so far in New York, and although I think we’d be able to get along living together for the rest of my time there, it’s probably a good idea to move out. But thank you, Pat. You’ve been great. :)

I’m also doing all sorts of work on Wetpixel, as usual. During the week when I’m working a “normal” (albeit short term) job, I still put in 4-6 hours (or more) into Wetpixel every day when I get home, which has lately been preventing me from seeing everyone I want to see, both in the Bay Area and in New York.

In addition, FIVE of my friends have somehow found themselves in relationship trauma in the past month. The combination of all the shit that’s been on my mind has been making me an anxious bastard. I sometimes manage to overcome it all and clear my mind when spending time with friends, but other times it’s just overwhelming, and I start to get really stressed. So I apologize if I’ve been stressed, or if I haven’t been responsive.

There it is. The state of Eric, in a nutshell. :)

OK, I just finished the chapter. I’ll read it once more time in the morning and send if off before hopping on the airplane.

I should also thank Vienna, who has been keeping me company almost every day this week despite her crazy schedule (we both sit here at our respective notebook computers, tapping away). And to my roommates Elliot, Mandy, and Mike — thank you for allowing us to rip up the living room, and for allowing me to impose, again. I’ve been having a great time at home, with you guys. :)

Hey, all. Check out Tasks Pro, a really cool web app written by my friend Alex King. I’ve just started using it to manage Wetpixel work, and it’s been a great way to keep organized.

Details about the app:

Tasks Proâ„¢ is the multi-user version of Tasks: a powerful web-based task manager (to-do list manager) that allows you to organize your tasks in a hierarchical structure. Group controls allow projects to be set up only for people who need to see them.

The easy browser based interface lets everyone in your groups work together easily and efficiently.

The Tasks Proâ„¢ server component is cross-platform compatible and can be installed on any Windows, Mac OS X or Linux computer running PHP and MySQL.

I’ve been having more anxiety dreams. Last night, I dreamt that I left my entire camera bag somewhere in New York, dreadfully spending the next few hours retracing my steps. The strange thing is that I kept finding other people’s camera bags — full of camera gear — and the bags always looked similar until I approached close enough to study them closely.

vienna teng @ borders

I’ve never seen so many people packed into Borders. (I’m told there were around 350, with CD sales well over the 200 mark) Vienna Teng‘s Warm Strangers release show last night was a lot of fun! She’s got this local fan base that includes for some reason many people I know; it’s always neat to see who will show up. As usual, her singing was fabulous, and her commentary, funny. She talked about violating fire code, and keeping the stairwell open in case we had to “flee.” Choice of words has always been one of her fortes. ;)

I tried to take some pictures, but I wasn’t very successful. There was always someone’s head — or a book — between me and her. Ah well.

Afterwards, I caught up with Oliver, his sister, and Leighton at Pluto’s before returning to Borders to help Vienna pack up her stuff. [see some photos]

[buy Warm Strangers from amazon -- through this link to support Rice Bowl Journals!]

Looks like Kenny is revving up for another cease-and-desist meeting with his hospital.

Just a reminder that Vienna‘s Fort Mason/San Francisco show this Sunday isn’t sold out yet. You should get tickets ASAP if you want to go.

Will I ever get tired of plugging her? And… will she get tired of me plugging her? Who knows. :)

Some photos from New York

I finally bought a Creative Labs Muvo 4GB MP3 Player, took it apart, and ripped out the Hitachi 4GB Microdrive nestled inside. This is a FANTASTIC deal! Hitachi 4GB drives are around $500 purchased separately, and the Muvo 2 is only $199. J&R had them in stock last week.

I did run into one hitch, however. When I took the drive out, I immediately stuck the thing in my Canon 1Ds and formatted it, resulting in a 2GB FAT partition and 2GB of unused space. Those of you who are familiar with Windows XP know that it is impossible to repartition CF media using the operating system, but luckily, there are two Powerbooks in the house. OS X was able to repartition the drive, and now have a huge 3.81GB microdrive working in my camera, at full capacity.

Note that it is possible to format the drive to 4GB FAT by using XP, Linux, and some trickery. But since my camera supports FAT32, I didn’t have to resort to those methods.

UPDATE – it appears that my 1Ds doesn’t work with the Hitachi 4GB drive. I tested it on Elliot’s Digital Rebel, and it works just fine (with the full 3.81GB available)! I’m going to have to figure this out. :(

UPDATE 2 – here’s a link at robgalbraith’s site that talks about the fix. I ended up using Elliot’s digital rebel to do the actual formatting, and now it works!

[16:25] eric: well, come over anytime.
[16:27] vienna: will do. :)
[16:27] vienna: i’ll finish this “session” of uploading, and come over.
[16:28] eric: sounds good.
[16:29] eric: I’ll “query” you again soon.
[16:29] eric: HAHAHAH
[16:29] vienna: oh lordy
[16:29] vienna: i don’t know if my semaphore will be working
[16:29] vienna: but i’ll have a thread waiting :)
[16:29] eric: You can “join” me later.
[16:29] vienna: okay, i can’t beat that.
[16:29] vienna: :D
[16:29] eric: hahah
[16:30] eric: we’re dorks.

Also, I put some photos up of her playing in NY this morning.

Another episode in my relentless plugging of Vienna Teng‘s music: she’s playing with Jim and Marika on the Saturday Early Show on CBS in a few hours. She mentioned on the phone that they are playing at around 7AM EST, but the show isn’t broadcast here on the West Coast until 7AM PST.

I love Haydn. Goosebumps all over.

(45 minutes later)
Wow. I love Beethoven. Goosebumps all over.

You know, because I have nothing interesting to say, I’m going to just post photos for awhile.

I have not taken a single inspired photograph since arriving in New York. I wonder why. Mostly, I’m using my big, expensive camera to take documenting snapshots. What a waste.

Ever wonder what it feels like to be underwater with a camera? Here’s an old photo that my friend Andy Sallmon took:

How the !#&@ do people get non-work work done around here? I have several responsibilities I have to deal with outside of what I’m doing at work, and I feel like I’m procrastinating for a college paper. I’ve been getting home from dinner at around 11 or 11:30pm every night, which gives me roughly half an hour to unwind before I have to go to bed if I want to get a good night’s rest.

Pat has been quite the social coordinator lately. We (Pat, Liza and I) went out to the premiere of Robot Stories tonight; it’s a collection of four related shorts by half-Korean director Greg Pak. Two of the evening shows were sold out, and it was great to see how much local support there was. (You should go see it when it hits your town, if you want to support Asian Americans in cinema.) The vignettes I liked the best were the more emotional, human ones. The film was fun to watch, but I thought it showed promise for the director more than being a strong, stand-alone film.

Afterwards, we took a cab up to Hotel Gershwin for the after-party and discovered a long line out front; apparently, the club was already filled to capacity! I’m not a big fan of waiting, and I have in fact never waited to get into a place. I usually just turn around and leave (there’s also a high likelihood that I’ve been dragged somewhere if it is the type of place that has a line out front). But then Bobby showed up, and since he knows Greg, when Greg showed up, we were let into the club without having to wait in line. I actually felt rather guilty. Bobby is a friend of Pat’s, which means that I was let in because I was a friend of a friend of a friend! That’s far too removed to be treated preferentially. I didn’t introduce myself to Greg. I’m sure he’s heard it all, anyway, and he should be celebrating with people close to him. There were many, many people at the party. An unusually high percentage of the people there were extremely well-groomed, with well-thought-out hair styles (especially noticeable were the nicely groomed guys — a rare sight, normally). Presumably, they were part of the New York Asian acting circuit.

w/peter, karine, allon, pat

hotel gershwin

robot stories after-party

As usual, I didn’t know anyone but the few people I came in with. Most of my friends aren’t the going out type, I guess.

I’ll stop rambling now.

Hey! I have the cover and cover article of the current Shark Diver Magazine (issue #5). I believe the magazine is on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, although I have yet to see it myself.

Here’s how the article is listed in the TOC:

DARWIN WASN’T KIDDING!
Galapagos Adventure

Eric Cheng shows us why Galapagos is still the best place for whales sharks and hammerheads. This article takes us to some of the best diving in the Pacific and has a lot to offer to your “average” explorer.

I’m pretty excited to see it. It’s my second cover! The photos were taken on a trip aboard the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer; you can see them here, if you are interested.

Joechang, Tony Lu, Vienna Teng

Here are two extremely depressing articles on fish and sharks. Sharks are on their way out. Good bye! Please stop eating shark fin soup, people.

1. Sharks suffer population crash (nature)

   “Oceanic whitetip sharks, once the most common shark in the world, are almost completely extinct, according to a new census in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past 50 years, their numbers have crashed by more than 99% in the Gulf. Researchers think the same drop has happened around the world…”

2. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities (nature)

I was feeling a little hypocritical because I ate kangaroo tonight at Eight Mile Creek (which I do not recommend. the food was not good.). I worried, “what if their numbers are in tremendous decline?” Then, I did some web research and discovered that they are “harvested” in such a way that population levels are not adversely affected. AND, they breed like rabbits. ;)