Author Archives: Filemon

Ping Pong Dim Sum

Ping Pong Dim Sum: Dumpling Course

Dumplings

I’m snacking on a veggie puff pastry after a cold Yuengling and a sake based bloody mary, when I think to myself, “This wasn’t what I expected.”

I’m at Ping Pong dim sum, a few blocks Northish of the Friendship Gate in Chinatown , and I’m eating what I can only call upscale non traditional dim sum.  Dim sum tapas is an accurate descriptor of this self created niche.

Thankfully, this niche is delicious.

My first experience with Ping Pong was actually the day before, I had spent some time there and I felt it warranted a return trip.

Ping Pong Dim Sum Lychee Rose martini

Lychee Rose martini

It’s a Monday evening, and it’s quiet.  It’s six o’clock and the after work crowd hasn’t come in yet for happy hour, which is four to seven.  Five dollar cocktails, all of which are exotic takes of traditional bar offerings.  For instance, the amaretto sour has wasabi paste in it, and the bloody mary is sake based.  Both were tasty.  I also had a passionfruit amaretto based cocktail which was also delicious.  Also good was the lychee and rose martini.  For the record, I didn’t drink all of these at once.

Elise, our waitress from Sunday is off duty, but hanging out and she recognizes me as I step up to the bar.  She tells me to order the wasabi amaretto sour that I didn’t order on Sunday.

My second cocktail is something with passionfruit and almond in a tall glass.  Sip by sip, Monday is fading.  It’s a new beginning for the evening.

The ramp up from quiet bar to happy hour “spot” is fast, and dare I say, furious.  Bartenders have moved into full production mode, and more than once I’m the target of an over eager muddling of lemongrass, lime, or lychee.

My bar fare arrives, hotter than I’m expecting, so  I sip on my drink to pass the time.

There are actually two bars, but one is actually just a seating area in front of the kitchen where you can watch the food being prepared.  I haven’t sat down there yet, but it does look interesting.

I’ll be coming back.

Tagged ,

The 75mm

This month is a new lens.  I’m shooting with the 50mm f/1.8, which is functionally a 75mm equivalent with the 1.5x multiplier for the DX format for Nikon cameras.  I’ve found it to be a different experience than my 52mm equivalent lens.  It’s the field of view.

With the 75mm, what I’m capturing is a lot smaller.  I know exactly how much of what I can see is going to be recorded to the sensor.  In this case, if I extend my arms directly in front of my shoulders and make a frame with my thumb and forefinger on each hand, that’s how much the D70 is going to capture.

It’s kind of amusing.  All this time I thought people were just being pretentious when they did that.  Now I know they were just seeing how much they could get with an 80mm lens.

Tagged

In Our Moment of Triumph?

I made Lt. Commander last night in Star Trek Online.  This is a milestone event.  This is the first time you get to pick your new ship, the second specialization you make after creating your character.  I was looking forward to leaving the Miranda class light cruiser behind.  The Lockheed had served me well for the first phase of my career in Starfleet, but I felt a new ship calling.

Mainly because I didn’t play enough of the beta to make it to the first tier ship selection.

So I did what any Star Trek fan would do if they were going to get a starship.  I started to obsess. Continue reading

Tagged , , ,

Star Trek Online: Beyond the Beta

Lieutenant Karina Prax, of the USS Lockheed.

Captain’s log, supplemental.

Our assignment was simple, scan Gorn facilities in this remote asteroid belt to make sure that they weren’t stockpiling weapons of mass destruction of any sort.

The Gorn, of course, were having none of it, and we found ourselves on the receiving end of a volley of disruptor bursts after attempting to scan the first outpost.  Calling on my background as an engineer I rotated the shield frequencies before the impact.

The Lockheed’s shields held gracefully. Rotating the frequencies had the desired effect and managed to mitigate most of the damage to the shields.

But there were still three ships.  I ordered engineering officer Ensign Kort to reroute EPS systems to boost the shield systems while I sounded the red alert.

Shields were holding, but I could see that there was another incoming volley of disruptor fire, plus photon torpedoes.  I reinforced the fore shields and told tactical to open fire on the lead Gorn cruiser.

The Lockheed’s heavy disruptor cannons locked onto the Gorn ship and opened fire.  Their shields dropped quickly, and without shielding the disruptors quickly ate through the rest of their hull.  The Lockheed was too close, and the shockwaves from exploding cruiser shuddered through the ship.  Thankfully there were no major casualties.

We moved to three quarter impulse and engaged evasive maneuvers.  Full power to starboard shields soaked a torpedo volley as we brought the Lockheed around in an arc to end up behind the second cruiser.

My science officer Ensign Sadi jammed the targeting sensors of the third Gorn cruiser, preventing them from targeting us for some of the fight although she warned that it was but “a fleeting dream that wouldn’t last forever.”  She could have just told me nine seconds.  I forget that her previous host was a poet.  Note: I need to speak with her regarding combat expediency.

My tactical officer, Ensign Noros prepared a high yield torpedo burst to impact just as their facing shields were dropped.  Commendations for Ensign Noros for her impeccable timing.

To this day, many Starfleet officers protest the academy’s admission policies from some of the more controversial systems, such as Ferenginar, but every day, new recruits like Ensign Noros continue to prove them wrong.

One on one the last cruiser was no match for the crew of the Lockheed.  We scanned the installation and moved on, although it was not the last of the Gorn we would see that day.

Tagged , , , ,

A Month of Shooting

It’s getting close to a month.  So.  What have I learned?

Specifically, with my D70 I’ve learned a couple of things.

  1. My filter tends to create green ghosts of light on the frame directly opposite the location of the light source.  If I remove the filter for indoor shooting, the ghosts do not show up.
  2. At 1600 ISO all of my low light shots tend to look like I’ve shot them and then post processed them as sepia toned images.  (Too “warm.”)  Correcting the white balance in post can sometimes fix this.
  3. The battery I have can keep the camera on for an average of eight hours a day for about three weeks, shooting an average of six or seven shots a day.
  4. I’ve used the on camera flash to illuminate a subject a total of zero times.  On the other hand, I’ve used it as a flash commander for the self portrait juggling shots indoors.
  5. The remote timer setting only lasts five seconds, regardless of whether or not I’ve set it to twenty seconds in the menu.
  6. Walking creates the opportunities I need to take photographs.  Staying at home and working in my office do not.
  7. No pictures of people, surprisingly.
Tagged