Tag Archives: nature

by

Catch The Spring Beauty Before It’s Too Late

There are so many hidden treasures in the East Bay of Northern California, I just began to explore them after living in Livermore for some many years.  Treasures, parks, where the beauty of nature is in its full display.  Here are some more moments I captured for this season before the dry heat of 2015 hits East Bay.

IMG_6435 IMG_6501 IMG_6515 IMG_6532 IMG_6559 IMG_6574 IMG_6576 IMG_6587 IMG_6593 IMG_6598

Nature simply inspires me, to think, to appreciate, and to do my best in making this world a more secure (did I mention that my company Cyphort just won the Rookie Company Of The Year from SC Magazine 🙂 ) better place for us all.  You may ask what do I get out these moments.  Confession time!  Cow and Feeding Calf – I decided to let her show her love for the baby in public; Butterfly and Flowers – Enjoy the beauty, add to it but without ruining it; The tree with bright clusters of flowers – no blazing color or big pedals like others, but still adding its beauty to the blue sky in the warm Sun; Two turkeys or pheasants (please tell me what they are) – my curiosity tricked me into disturbing their nice outings in the meadow; Two different flowers (I wish I knew what they are) – they proudly persuaded the Spring to stay longer for us, simply elegant and outstanding; Trees, oak trees – the first displayed amazing character through its branches, the second makes you wonder how are oak and rock related or connected?  The boulder-oak pair – I see harmony and beauty between that boulder and the oak, don’t you?

by

Earth Day Visit To The City, San Francisco

Finally, I got to pay a visit to San Francisco on Earth Day last week.  To be exact, my short excursion included a stop at the Civic Center where a dance event marking the Earth Day was happening, and a hike in the Golden State Park where hatching herons supposedly could be seen.  Before that weekend, a lot of disturbing things already happened upon us: the Heartbleed exploit on HTTPS websites, data breach disclosure at more companies, ferry accidents in Hong Kong and South Korea, lack of progress with Ukraine situation.  I am not the most optimistic person, but I was hopeful that the Earth Day weekend would be better.

How did it turn out? Well, let me just say that I am still savoring the experience after a week even though I missed hatching herons.  Here are a few things I captured through my lens.  I was not able to see anything reflecting a cybersecurity threat, a ferry or airline disaster, or the shadow of cold war.  Maybe that is the beauty and power of the nature? I feel recharged so that I can go back to my cause of fighting advanced Malware threat at Cyphort.  I hope you enjoy these moments as well!

Enjoy Earth, enjoy dance, do Earth justice and smile!

Enjoy Earth, enjoy dance, do Earth justice and smile!

Different colors, different kind of beauty

Different colors, different kind of beauty

Just enjoy the scenery, Chckling 4 & 5 will catch up soon!

Just enjoy the scenery, Chckling 4 & 5 will catch up soon!

I like water, but I like up here now!

I like water, but I like up here now!

by

Two Pictures For An Observation

To be exact, I would like to share two pictures with you and offer up an observation, hoping to hear your feedback. As you can tell, the two pictures below have nothing to do with usability of any kind that may directly come to your mind.  I won’t argue with that. One picture was taken at the “rainbow cascade” place in Yellow Stone national park, the other was taken at Lewis Lake in Grand Teton. I just like the magnificent marble-like color and texture in the first one, and the tranquility of sunset in the other. I hope you enjoy them too. You can have a better view by clicking on the photo.

Two minor incidents during my recent trip to China triggered this observation. First, one day I almost stumbled over a set of stairs in an expensive restaurant because the pitch suddenly changes for some steps. Later on, I saw a few other places with similar issues in the stairs. Second, I found myself having to stretch and twist to reach for toilet papers in several 4-star hotels (don’t try to picture it :-). Being a technology geek I am, I think this may reflect a poor level of usability design in these buildings. Usability is in my mind lately because I happen to be dealing with software usability issues. I certainly hope what I experienced were just exceptions; Otherwise, we should all look forward to better design and better construction with good usability in mind!