Down the Rabbit Hole

Since the Hanuman langur incident  (in which I spotted the monkey but only had my iPhone 6 with me), each time I go outdoors, I bring my Canon Powershot SX720 HS  just in case I find myself an opportunity to take photos of animals.  For my trip this winter, I had a bit of a chance to take photos of a few animals. I didn't go out too much because I got hit by bronchitis ; a shame, really, because I wanted to go outdoors before I had to go back to my daily grind. There were wild animals in this collection but most have learned to live in proximity to humans.  Anyway, here are some of the animals I encountered along the way... I'm always confused whether the black bird I see is a raven or a crow . Same thing happened when I found this black bird up on a lamp post one afternoon in Concord. Based on it's size, I'm willing to bet that it is a crow. There are many of them roosting in the trees in the city. With the grey skies of winter, these birds just add ...

I have always wondered about what it feels like to be a visitor at IRRI  because I've been giving lab tours for more than a decade now and I haven't been in on a facilities tour in a long time... the exception being the Plant Growth Facility , which was inaugurated just a few months back.  So aside from my curiosity at what the Facebook HQ holds, I was excited to be a tourist for a change. Daddy's classmate from high school, Dom, invited the whole family on a field trip to the social media giant's offices in Menlo Park. His son works there as a chef; he could give us a guided tour during his downtime (before he had to be back in the kitchen). Our trip was supposed to have been scheduled way earlier; but I was benched by bronchitis  so we had no choice but to delay it.  On the day itself, we were welcomed by the famous thumb's up sign that signifies "liking" posts and photos in the social media site. We were given instructions where to par...

Die Luft der Freiheit weht (The wind of freedom blows) That is the motto of one the world's most prestigious universities. One afternoon, Mommy, Daddy, Anna, and I found ourselves on its campus, doing what tourists typically do: Mommy and Daddy were seated near the bus station, watching campus life go by, while Anna and I were exploring the more touristy spots on campus. ... Like this corridor of palm trees leading towards the main quad. Just being here brought back memories of my days at the University of Queensland . In Anna's case, she was comparing this scenery with what she saw in San Diego, a city I haven't visited yet. To find the quad, we checked out a map posted near the parking area. The bench on the other side of the street was where Mommy and Daddy sat down because Mommy's feet were quite painful that day. While Mommy was already exhausted, Anna and I were just warming up. The quad is very photogenic and Instagrammable. There were so man...