February 4, 2012 at 06:19 PM

A Smoggy Day Stuck at the Beijing Airport
 Asia, Beijing, China, Daily Photo

We flew from Harbin to Beijing on the evening of January 9, 2012. We planned to stay the night at an airport hotel as we had an early flight to Taipei the next morning. When we arrived, there was a thick smoke in the air, and the massive airport was filled with a soft haze. It smelled like Yosemite, as if there were hundreds of nearby campfires burning. By the morning, the overnight fog had combined with this smoke to form an impenetrable layer of filth that entirely obscured the sky. It was unt...(click to read the full text).

 

January 23, 2012 at 07:18 PM

The Harbin, China Snow & Ice Festival
 Asia, China, Harbin, Travelogue

Aside from the wedding in Beijing, the highlight of our trip to China was a brief overnight visit to the city of Harbin in northeast China. Harbin is home to the Harbin International Snow & Ice Festival, the largest winter carnival in the world. The 2012 Festival started on January 5, so we traveled 2 hours north of Beijing to see the enormous snow and ice sculptures that are the hallmark of the event. We left Beijing the morning after the wedding for an easy 2-hour flight on luxurious Air Chi...(click to read the full text).

 

January 11, 2012 at 07:50 PM

Tour of the Summer Palace: Beijing, China
 Asia, Beijing, China, Travelogue

We arrived in Beijing on January 4 and had a few days for sightseeing before the wedding on January 7. Jessica's Uncle John, the groom's father, arranged a number of bus tours for visitors to see the sights of Beijing. We skipped the Great Wall having done that during our visit in 2010, but caught a ride with the city tour headed to the Palace Museum and the Summer Palace. The Palace Museum is the proper name for the Forbidden City, and since we had seen that already, we split from the group and...(click to read the full text).

 

January 10, 2012 at 11:51 PM

Exclusive: Dinner in Taipei with Michael H. Lee
 Friends, Taipei, Taiwan

Arrived in Taipei on Tuesday and met up with good friend and former colleague Mike Lee. Mike and I were colleagues at Banana Republic back in the day, but since then he's moved to Taiwan and teaches "American English" in the South. Thanks to Mike for making the 4-hour bus trip up to Taipei for dinner and drinks. It was great to catch up. Dinner at Xiao Fei Yang (Little Sheep), followed by drinks at Stream...(click to read the full text).

 

January 6, 2012 at 11:49 PM

Ni Hao from Beijing, China!
 Asia, Beijing, China, The Chiangs

We've been in Beijing since Wednesday of this week, in town to attend Jessica's cousin Calvin's wedding. The entire Chiang family is here from the Bay Area, Taiwan and points in between. We arrived a few days early to do a bit of sightseeing, but since we were here last year there weren't too many stops to make. Jessica's uncle organized a number of bus tours around town, so we hopped in a few and visited the the Qianmen Shopping district, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Imperial ...(click to read the full text).

 

January 1, 2012 at 04:03 PM

Unseasonably Warm
 Christmas, Daily Photo, Holidays

For this year's holiday photo, featured atop our annual electronic holiday greeting card, we traveled the world in search of more Christmas-like weather. Its been in the 50s and 60s throughout December, which is quite unusual for New York. Its either going to be a mild winter, or we're going to get hammered by blizzards any day. I'm banking on the former. Seasons greetings from the South Pole (click to enlarge) Browse the daily photos...(click to read the full text).

 

December 29, 2011 at 09:51 PM

The 2011 kriskoeller.com Year in Review
 Geekdom, kriskoeller.com

I've been using tools from Google to monitor this website for a couple of years. These tools give me anonymous insight into which pages are the most popular, how people find pages (via a link or web search), what kind of computer they're using, their browser, etc., etc. Most of this information is simply interesting, but some of it is useful. For example, I don't spend any time optimizing for Internet Explorer because that awful technology is down to less than 8% of all traffic (if you're still ...(click to read the full text).

 

December 27, 2011 at 06:08 PM

The Official 2011 Koeller Family Holiday Photo - World Edition
 Christmas, Holidays, Kansas City, The Horners, The Koellers, The Occhipintos, Turks & Caicos

Here are a few proofs for this year's holiday photo. I've taken the liberty of selecting the first photo as our official Holiday Portrait, though the others are also quite nice. After the first photo, we hit the road and took to the skies to meticulously replicate this same photos at iconic locales around the globe. First draft of the photo in Olathe, Kansas (click to enlarge) Take 2 at our Villa at Parrot Cay in the Turks & Caicos (click to enlarge) Take 3 after cocktails at the Forbidde...(click to read the full text).

 

December 25, 2011 at 10:17 PM

Happy Holidays from Kansas
 Christmas, Kansas City, The Horners, The Koellers, The Occhipintos

Just got back from four days of celebrating the Christmas holiday with extended Koeller clan in Olathe, Kansas. Seasons greetings and happy holidays! Happy Holidays from Kansas! (click to enlarge) Pictured: Kris Koeller, Brian Occhipinto, Rylie Occhipinto, Kathy Occhipinto, Cailey Occhipinto, Kelly Horner, Kirk Horner, Kelsi Horner, Keane Horner, Kellan Horner, Suki, Jessica Chiang, Lynn Koeller, Buddy, Warren Koeller and (planking) Brennan Occhipinto....(click to read the full text).

 

December 21, 2011 at 10:45 PM

Winter Solstice Sunset - 2011
 Daily Photo, iPhone, Kansas City, Sunset

Keeping my tradition of solstice sunset photos, here's one from Kansas. I had not yet unpacked the camera so this was taken with my iPhone. Its as cold and bleak as it looks, but that's Kansas in December. Winter Solstice in Cedar Creek, Kansas (click to enlarge) Related posts:Two Solstices from 2010...(click to read the full text).

 

December 10, 2011 at 10:06 AM

It Works
 Daily Photo

A self-portrait taken after charging a battery and inserting a memory card. Works like a champ. I need to get working on the annual Christmas photo, so the timing is just right to tackle that this weekend. As an aside, I need some advice on shooting in extreme cold. I'll be in Northern China in January, and the temperatures will be around 25 below.

 

December 8, 2011 at 06:54 PM

Welcome Back
 iPhone, Photography

My Nikon D7000 just came home today after a month-long visit to the Nikon repair depot in Long Island. According the work order, the entire shutter mechanism was replaced. I guess the "Err" message is pretty serious after all. For grins they also cleaned the sensor, upgraded the firmware and cleaned the camera top to bottom. It looks great, but I haven't had a chance to actually shoot a photo with it. Stay tuned. Related posts: In Which I Lament the Lack of a CameraDeath of a Camera: The Dreaded...(click to read the full text).

 

December 4, 2011 at 05:09 PM

Gingerbread Houses
 Christmas, Holidays, iPhone, Pixelmator

There was a tradition in Congers, New York wherein a group of girls would gather each Christmas to make gingerbread houses, gossip and eat indulgent holiday treats. That tradition was resurrected and updated yesterday, adding the guys, but also adding BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and bottomless Manhattans as an added incentive. The gingerbread village pictured below is the result of this effort. Before too much undue admiration is given, these were built from a kit, but the decoration and landscap...(click to read the full text).

 

December 3, 2011 at 05:42 PM

Just Moved In
 Daily Photo, New York City, Sunset

Got my new Mac last night and been working on the setup and configuration slowly over the weekend. This new one is a screamer, you'd never imagine the difference a solid-state drive makes. Here's an old sunset image with some tweaking done in Pixelmator. It turned out very post-apocolyptic, but at least the new system works. Running my new system through its paces (click to enlarge). Update: here's a better crop of the same image. (click to enlarge). ...(click to read the full text).

 

December 2, 2011 at 07:42 AM

In Which I Lament the Lack of a Camera
 Photography

There's no photo in this post, as there's no camera around here. Actually, that's not true. We have a Samsung point-and-shoot, two iPhones and somewhere in the closet a Nikon D40. I have a number of photo projects to do for the holidays, namely our annual holiday photo so I may have to use the D40. Its a great little camera, but it can't auto-focus the better lenses I have for my D7000, which makes for more work. It also doesn't have nearly the resolution I wanted for a couple of my Big Ideas, b...(click to read the full text).

 

November 26, 2011 at 07:00 PM

Lower Manhattan on September 11
 Daily Photo, New York City

Friday I bought a new Mac, and in anticipation of its arrival I've been tidying up the archives and getting ready for the Big Move. Since my camera is still out for repair, here's one from the archives that I forget I had been working on. The Tribute in Light can be seen just behind this building. I liked the crop on this one. Related posts: Tribute in Light...(click to read the full text).

 

November 20, 2011 at 06:20 PM

Waiting on the F Train
 Daily Photo, iPhone, New York City

Another iPhone photo. The repair status on my camera hasn't changed from 'Parts Hold' for over a week. We waited on the 23rd Street platform for about 30 minutes. Its been unseasonably warm here in New York City, so I suppose most city dwellers were enjoying the sun above ground. Waiting on the platform (click to enlarge) Related posts: Other iPhone photos Browse the Daily Photos...(click to read the full text).

 

November 18, 2011 at 2:03 PM

Its That Time of the Year Again
 Birthdays, kriskoeller.com, The Horners, The Koellers, The Occhipintos

Thankfully, birthdays coming but once a year (although I do enjoy a breakfast of French toast, bacon, sausage, ham and eggs). I'm not saying which one is me in the photo below, but hopefully you've narrowed your choices to two. The Koeller Family circa 1971. In other milestones, this is the 2,000th blog entry on kriskoeller.com since the blog feature was added to the site in 2003 (though the site has been around since 1999)....(click to read the full text).

 

November 15, 2011 at 09:40 AM

Madison Square Park in Fall
 Daily Photo, Geekdom, iPhone, New York City

I'm sharing another iPhone photo from this weekend. My camera is still in the shop, and its status has been "Parts Hold" (waiting on parts) for the past week. I'm not expecting it back soon. Regardless, the unseasonably warm weather has been terrific and the nearby Madison Square Park foliage was at peak color over the weekend. This photo was taken with the iPhone with a "Vintage" filter applied by the Pro HDR app. Fall foliage in Madison Square Park (click to enlarge) Related posts: Madi...(click to read the full text).

 

November 11, 2011 at 11:31 AM

Madison Square Park via an iPhone 4S
 Daily Photo, Geekdom, HDR, iPhone, New York City

A big selling feature of the new Apple iPhone 4S is its much-improved camera. It is a great camera, and is quickly closing in on the pocket camera market. Although it wouldn't replace my pocket camera in terms of quality, especially in low light, its incredibly convenient and does a terrific job in bright, daylight conditions. With my Nikon still in the shop, I took the dog for a walk through Madison Square Park yesterday and shot a few photos. All of these were shot and edited on the iPhone, ...(click to read the full text).

 

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