Shots of Paris

Link to Flickr set

Finally uploaded some pictures taken during the trip to Paris in Nov. Had to retouch some of them due to the dirt on the sensor, which should be cleared in my next set of updates from Istanbul.

Enjoy!

Collection of thoughts

Still missing my old but reliable bike after losing my keys. The trip journey back from the office has increased from 20min to almost an hour these days. I am starting to wonder if there are any other ways of cutting through my ABUS lock after exhausting my efforts with the council and police. Maybe I should just get a new bike instead; new year, new bike, makes perfect sense.

Sometimes I do wish what it will be if I am one of the Goldman Sachs employees, earning those amounts that some will probably associate the exorbitant numbers earned by Premier League footballers. One thing for sure, is that I will certainly not have the problem of deciding whether to pick the lock to my bike or treating myself to a brand new £1000 bike if I want.

Another NY Times article wrote recently on why he thinks Amazon should buy eBay which I find to be quite intriguing as I always admired Amazon for the way they have change our perspective of internet shopping since the mid 90s. But the more interesting points raised was how the industries continue to consolidate both to derive innovation as well as to inject freshness into the other which may seem to be losing its way abit.

And in many case, seems to be the same for the company that I work for. It was officially announced last week that Microsoft has acquired Multimap on my way back from Turkey. I am quietly excited about the change, but also worried how the changes in culture, policies, etc, are going to affect us all. However, I like to believe that if we can continue to hold on to the biggest assets of the company, which is its people, we can definitely make a difference to the mapping industry in the new year to come.

D80 woes

I first noticed these marks on my new D80 several weeks back after I uploaded the photos to my laptop. After multiple attempts at cleaning the lens and not not able to see any marks on them, I was under the impression that I have got over the problem before my trip to Paris last weekend.

To my horror, I just noticed them same marks again on the same spots after copying the files to my computer. It really seems weird as I can't see any 

dirt/scratches on the lens with my naked eye, but I guess I will have to bring it to a Nikon specialist to find out what is wrong. 

I hope the repairs will be covered under the warranty since I have bought it for only 2 months!

Update 18 Dec:

Well, it seems like the issue was caused by dirt/hair particles in my sensor, which I confirmed after bringing my kit down to Fixation to check. Did a few shots when I was over in Istanbul but have yet to sort through my pictures in detail, but initial checks seems OK.

Is this English?

If you have been to China in the last few years, you would probably have noticed some of these signage translations. Due to the massive influx of Western tourists, they are indeed a rush for this posts!

The Daily Mail published a centerfold of strange but extremely hilarious signs, go grab your Chinese friend to explain some to you! :)

Although I have to admit I feel slightly ashamed of this embarrassed.