How much do you trust the reviews posted online?    Well its appears that Yelp is being sued after a dispute over a review.   HAHAHA!   I do know one thing…  a client who hired me about two years ago (the Mother of the Bride actually the one who hired me) did post a review of me at Yelp last year and in a few days or weeks later, it was taken off.   I didnt know of this until the Mother of the Bride informed me.  The review is still in her account.  Just no one can see it.   Later I found out that Yelp felt the review was not accurate.   LOL!!!!    Whatever!!!!  As long as the client and the Mother of the Bride are happy, it is all that matters.   But still, reviews like this can hurt small businesses. 

Here’s the article from the NYTimes:   Yelp is Sued After Dispute Over a Review.

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P.S.   I made a very tasty pot of Chilli last night.  YUMMY!

Finally Friday has arrived. I’ve been pretty busy lately with all the editing/processing images, a few shooting here and there, some projects I am working on… and even without my family here, I still have a lot of things to do around the house and at my parent’s house too. Hopefully I will get everything done before they return. I do miss both of them so much.

Saw this yesterday on YouTube and just had to share with everyone.

How awesome is that!?!?!

Its been a crazy week. Over the weekend, we went up to Windham, NY (Catskill area) for the weekend. Amanda’s friend has a place up there and invite us over to hang. It was great. Dylan had an awesome time as you can see in this beautiful pic. On our way home, we stopped in at Target to greet Daniel Hom. Thanks to Facebook for connecting us. It was great to see Daniel… Good Time

I like to give a quick shout out to Yvonnie and Ray… Congrats to you both being a new parent. WOOHOO!!!! Can’t wait to meet Baby Chloe!!!

Look what I got? heheh! That’s correct. It’s the new Canon 5D Mark II. What an awesome camera. OMG! the high ISO is just totally amazing! and not to mention the movie mode. A whole new world for photographers now. heheh! I still need to take the camera out and do some more shooting….. hopefully this weekend.

This week Amanda has off from work. School is closed in NYC, the kids are on their Midwinter Recess and the teachers are on vacation. Also this week is WPPI and unfortunately I am unable to attend due to other duty I need to be part of. That’s ok. I get to be with my son and I get to play with my new toy.

That’s right, its Blu-Ray/HD DVD drive. WOOHOO!!! well i still need to buy a blu-Ray movie and see if it will play smooth. I am not used to running Vista. So different from XP. But I can say this HTPC is super fast now.

Here’s the spec to my HTPC:
Shuttle SP35P2V2
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz
Asus EAH4550 Radeon HD 4550 512MB
4GB RAM DDR2 800
LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD Drive 6x also DVD Burner
Running Vista Ultimate x64 bit

We finished our taxes for 2008. We are getting back a nice amount of money, and few dollars more for having Dylan.

I just realized I never posted the pictures I took from Chinese New Year few weeks ago. AHHHHH.. I didnt even process them yet.. they are still in the card. I will post them tomorrow.

5 days ago, I posted about The Longest Day. After finally caught up with all the 9 Episodes from my iTouch. I got to watch the finale today. WOOHOO!! so funny. OMG it was funny. I love both of them. So if you havent seen it yet, please go check it out. and after you watch all 10 episodes, dont forget to vote your favorite. Its all for a good cause.

Thank you Rod Dawson for putting together such an amazing show. You ROCK!!!!

This year I wont be able to attend WPPI…. hopefully my schedule will allow me next year.
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I have been so behind with my blogging that I even forgot about posting this. To make the long story short, you just gonna have to watch it for yourself. 24 of the most AWESOME Photographers making a reality online TV show for good causes. The winner will be announced at WPPI which again I will not be attending this year… sigh!!! If you haven’t watch this yet… you have too. Its pretty good.. and funny too. hehehe!!!

Please visit The Longest Day other episodes at F-Stop Beyond Experieance and Don’t forget to check out WPPI

This is my first blog for 2009. So before I even begin, I like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I know, I know, we are already half way into January. Just been busy being a dad. ok, where should I start?

My family and I spent the 2008 holiday season in Georgia with my wife’s (Amanda) family. We started driving on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 evening at 8pm and didn’t arrive until about 4pm on Christmas eve. Normally it would take us 16 hours from New York to Georgia, but because we have a kid now and our body are not as young as it used to, we decided to crashed at a Hotel somewhere in Virginia. we did the same on our way back… so much easier and better.

The visit were very nice. Everyone got to see Dylan and he seem to enjoyed himself very much. He got some awesome gifts.. one was a waterproof digital camera. I didn’t have the time to check it out yet. I wonder how many megapixel is in that device?!!

We also looked at some land/houses when we were down there. Even spoke with a loaner and got some numbers to play around in our head. I have a weird feeling that this move might happen sometime this summer. As much as I don’t want it to happen (A New Yorker all my life – over 30 yrs), I think this move will be good for the family. The amount of land you get for the $$ you pay, you can only get a closet space in New York City. LOL!!!!

We got to see and spent the New Year’s Eve with our good friends, Mandy and Justin. They are such an awesome couple. I finally saw their wedding photos. Very nice. Their wedding photographer, Jared Baker got some really cool shots and got a REALLY awesome one of me and Dylan. hmm, need to ask them for it.

Oh almost for got to tell you. After arriving in Georgia I had to call Toyota Service because the engine light came on. It turns out the Air filter wasn’t install correctly and things went inside the engine. No damage were caused but I will tell you who caused all this. Juffy Lube on Coney Island Avenue (near 18th Avenue/Ditmas Avenue) in Brooklyn New York. DO NOT GO THERE. I went back the other day and told them what happened, they said I should have let them check the car when the engine light came on. HAHAH!! It was my first time using Juffy Lube and it will be my last. NEVER NEVER AGAIN.

After returning from Georgia, Dylan did some damage to the Lo Family. He got sick last Monday. Amanda took the day off to care for him and she ended up getting sick too. Then on Wednesday morning, I got sick and my company had to sent me home early in a cab… and I slept until the next days. When my wife returned home from work and picked up Dylan at my Mom’s on Wednesday, she informed me that my mother was also sick. Thursday afternoon we took a trip to Dylan doctor to make sure he was ok and not too dehydrated which he wasnt. YAY!! Finally by Sunday morning I was pretty much back to normal. and I believe my mother got better sometime on Saturday. I just been informed yesterday night that my Dad is now sick too. LOL!!! My bro and sister in law wanted to visit my parents this week. she’s planning to tell them not to come just in case germs are still in the air. Crazy week it has been. What we had you might wanted to ask!?! A Stomach Flu. We have no idea how and where Dylan got it. Amanda thinks Dylan got it at Stop & Shop on Sunday when we were doing food shopping. I’m just glad I no longer have to spent my time in that toilet. hahahah!

What is my goal for 2009??
1) Love my family – Spend time w/ Amanda and Dylan.
2) Be organized.
3) STOPPED wasting time and just do it.
4) To get more bookings in my 2009 calendar.
5) To provide and give my bride and groom their best wedding day to remember.
6) Save money.
7) Network with more people and other photographers out there. (facebook, Twitter, Forum, or wherever)
Improve the lighting skills (photography related)
9) Carry my camera out more and USE IT.
10) Win the lottery?! – but 1st I need to start buying lottery.

As briefly mentioned last year. I’m gonna have two websites up. www.johnlophotography.com will be about Wedding Photography, and www.jklimagery.com will be everything else, of course photography related. I am still working on it. Don’t have the time, especially when I got sick last week. Hopefully every soon.

Oh I got a new toy today… went out and purchased myself a Netbook. What’s a Netbook you asked. well its a laptop, but its not. its a notebook, but its not. A Netbook is a light-weight, low-cost, energy-efficient, highly portable laptop. I got myself Asus EEE PC 1000HA – white. its a 10″ screen. Weight about 3lbs with battery attached. Very small and portable. Planning to use this for presentation to the potential client.

Two more weeks, its gonna be Chinese New Year!! YAY!! Another New Year celebration. Oh great, now that I have a kid, it means I have to give out Red envelopes to my friend’s kids. Anyway, I’ll blog more about that next time.