digital dystopia

with a market here...and a market there

2009-04-13T09:33:00.002-04:00

day 4

busy busy day...woke up and headed on a bus to stanley. they have this almost gigantic flea market, down a mass of roads and buildings. we stopped for lunch at a british place and i had an awesome club sandwich: ham, bacon, fried egg, lettuce, cucumber, tomato on a cibatta roll. after lunch we manuvered through the crowd to find souveniers. after spending what felt like an eternity shopping, we headed back and had italian ordered in, i wasn't feeling too well so i went to bed around the same time Titus did.

day 5

woke up and skyped with my 'rents. had breakfast, then went for dim sum at the city hall, we then hopped on a bus and headed out to the various markets, (think distritcs in nyc) we went to the flower/bird/electronics/shopping markets and pushed our way through the crowd and got titus some awesome clothes. after that it started to rain, so we came home and let it pass. Titus then got into the pool for the very first time, and loved it. we swam for a little bit, then came in and got changed to head out to dinner at a chicago style restaurant. after dinner we walked home while munching carmel corn, and are calling it a night after a game of mah-johng. we have to get up early as we're doing disney tomorrow. (i'm super excited.) (no really, i am...i may not sleep tonight)

-dubbs

i would walk 500 miles.

2009-04-11T19:39:00.002-04:00

Day 3.
Off to Lantau to see a giant buddha. we took a speed ferry across the sea to lantau, then a 30 min bus ride where we saw water buffalo as we wound up and down and all around the mountain. Finally after what seemed like forever we made it to the top, where there sat in all of its glory, buddha. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan_Buddha
we stopped into a little consumer square area to have lunch and gelato (new favorite i think), then off to make the trek up 250 initial steps to see buddha up close. it was pretty amazing, we were able to go inside to the museum to see paintings made in blood, and the bone relic of the original buddha i think. after we headed down to the temple and saw some really ornate architecture and lots of incense burning. now it was off to the wisdom trail, and after a 15 minute walk along a path designed not for big americans, we made it to where the heart sutra was layed out. a short rest and it was off to the skycars where we went to yet another island, then to the northern territories. we got off, hopped onto a subway then took it back to HK where we stopped in soho to have tapas for dinner. (you can add morocan and spanish food to the list now). after a breif cab ride home we decided to call it a night and get some dessert. gary and i stopped down to the honeymoon cafe for some designer deserts. I had no idea what i was eating so i went only by the pictures, kinda like i do at dennys. after getting the desert home, we went at it tapas style. I ended up trying fresh kiwi juice (smoothie esque) some weird cold red bean and tapioca dish, coconut milk and black riceball thing, a "banana pancake" that tasted like banana cream pie, and this cool looking dish, which i later found out was durian. OH MY GOD! this was the worst thing ever. it just so happened that i was taking out the durian dessert as gary was opening the window which led me to loudly proclaim, "ugh, *gag* what is that smell?" everyone "what?" me "you don't smell that, it smells like raw sewage." gary "oh...you must have gotten the dorian" me "it's this?" gary "yeah, you gonna try it?" needless to say i didn't. I couldn't get past the smell, sharon tried, and based off her reaction, it was decided to wrap it in a plastic bag to contain the odor, and throw it out. We had a good laugh, and called it a night.

Happy Easter everyone from Hong Kong. I am a day ahead then most of my readers, so my good wishes to you. Today brings church and shopping, hopefully we'll take it kind of easy today. My body is super sore. I may have to get one of those massages i keep seeing advertised....

-dubbs

Around the world, around the world

2009-04-10T12:29:00.003-04:00

day 2.
i decided it'd be easier to put all the photos on the mobile me gallery. http://gallery.me.com/emmdubbs
today was fun. after breakfast at home, we walked "the peak" aka. a really big freaking hill. we took a tram all the way to the top, checked out the "tourist trap" that was there. took some photos, and ended up walking an hour and a half around the darn thing. After that we got some lunch. I had chicken himilayan tandoori. It was pretty good. we then took a double decker bus all the way back down and ended up coming home for a bit to rest up before going to kowloon. there we went to diner at the jade garden, where we had authentic chinese fooood. i had to learn how to use chopsticks and learn to use them quick. I tried duck, *yum* and choi. after dinner we caught the light show on the harbor, which happens every night at 8 and is set to music (kinda like that youtube video of the TSO wizards of winter and the xmas lights). After that we walked through a shopping center, then Sharon and Sue and Titus, went back to the apt. and Gary and I went out for some drinks and music. We ended the night at this rugby themed bar, where I put down a pound burger with bacon, fried egg, chili, lettuce, pickels cheese and whatnot. it was awesome. then came home, and here I am. Coming up this week is a giant buddah, some shopping, history museum, and possibly disney. stay tuned.

Foreign food tracker: Thai, Chinese, Indian, English (UK)

- Dubbs.

I can see the future!

2009-04-09T09:05:00.003-04:00

Day 1/Night 1 Hong Kong. After a 15 hour flight, and Titus being practically molested by asian people, we arrived in hong kong. The weather is a balmy 70 compared to the snow we have in Buffalo. The flights weren't bad, didn't get much sleep, as I was keeping an eye on Titus. The food actually wasn't too bad, bbq everything, steak, then chicken that tasted like pork, and some weird potato/broccoli thing. After touchdown, we went through immigration with no problem, then took a train through all of the "boroughs" and went up some super long hill that Gary and Sue live on in a suicide cab that drives on the wrong side of the road. Saw the apt. and thats where we lie. I think we may go get some food now. havn't slept since 6.00 am 4/8/09 it is now 9.09 am buffalo time, and 9.09 pm hong kong time.
pics to follow.

and...here...we...go!

2009-04-08T07:18:00.002-04:00

7.20 am. bright and early. bags are packed. waiting for anna to finish ironing so she can take us to the airport. 2 checked bags, 1 diaper bag filled with electronics, a carry-on suitcase, titus' car seat, and the baby bjorn carrier. checked and double checked the list, pretty sure we got everything. nothing to exciting to report yet. hope the weather holds up and their is no delays. Will try and get a new update from Jersey.

-dubbs

New Beginnings

2009-03-17T00:25:00.004-04:00

Start from scratch, rinse, repeat. I'm feeling the urge of creativity again, and thought that blogging may satisfy that urge. So here is what we have on the menu today.
A logo design for the Western New York Linux Users Group aka WNYLUG. For those of you unfamiliar with Linux, it's an open source operating system that is an alternative to Windows. The group was looking for a new logo and identity, and one of my friends who is in the group suggested I make something. Linux's traditional mascot is Tux, a penguin. He can also be seen with the BSD devil, and the Red Hat guy. For my design I wanted to stay away from the classic iconic mascots, and give WNY there own to stand out amongst the other groups. Thats where the Buffalo shape comes in. The anamilistic elements are hand drawn and the type face is Arial Round Bold. It was a fun and interesting project that went through a few revisions before I was happy. Here are the beginning stages.

This is the original sketch idea, sharpied up and scanned in. It was then brought into Illustrator.

In Illustrator I went for a more "drawn" typeface as opposed to actually picking a font. I don't know what I was thinking with the color choices.

After some critiquing I went and found a font I was happy with and redrew the tail, legs and horn. I also found it to look nicer with the front legs being on a seperate letter. I was happy with this version, until someone pointed out that it would be more concise if the G were actually a head. I switched it to a lowercase G and the rest is as seen above.

That is pretty much how I work. I hope to be putting more sketches and designs up, even if they're just doodles, and ramblings. I'm currently working on a project for Camp Good Days. Last year I designed their Gala cover, and this year they asked me to do the same. It's Star Wars themed, and I've been having a kick with Munnys and Dunnys, ( http://www.kidrobot.com ) So they were the models for my creations. I should have those posted soon as well.

It looks like that's bout it for today. Make sure to drop a note, lemme know what you think, or if you have something that you want done, I'll see what I can do.

All the best - Dubbs.