The I-House ball is yet another chance to put on a tux!

More info in the Dance Blog

To get updates on my website via RSS, use the following url

http://raphaelpungin.com/rss.xml

Subscription Services:



Mozilla Live Bookmarks

RSS Resources:

Thanks to Kerrie, I get to experience the things that kids do for holidays. First she came up with the Easter Party where we painted eggs. And today we had the Pumpkin Carving Party on the eve of the Halloween, which was also her idea.

Click here for photos.

Here I am on my way to one of the best halloween dance parties in New York City. It is held at DanceSport dance studio located next to Columbus Circle. I've been going to their annual halloween parties for several years and they are always a blast. They do a great job decorating the room. Most people come in costumes to participate in the costume contest. Kerrie got selected into the finals of the contest with her half angel and half devil costume. There was also a comic dance show put up by the DanceSport staff. This year the theme of the show was the Olympic Games. The dance routines incorporated the moves from various sports like Boxing, Kun-fu, Gymnastics, Synchronious Swimming etc...

Click here for photos

Below are the videos.
Videos:

My colleague Christine has given me the nickname Pumpkin years ago. We've been working together since JPMorgan times. So today, in advent of my holiday, she gave me a nice pumpkin cup cake! It was veeery yummy. Thanks Christine!

To get into the Halloween spirit, Angi, James, Joanna and I went to the Haunted House located at 107 Suffolk Street. It was an impressive and quite scary experience. The four of us were privately escorted by a guide through 10 rooms of the house. Almost every rooom had live actors in grizzly makeup appearing from the most unexpected places, talking to us, and playing skits. But it ain't no sitcom.
If you have weak nerves or are disguisted by blood, I don't recommend to see the photos. Note that since I took the photos with the flash, you can't tell by looking at them that most rooms were actually dark and had special light effects which made the experience more scary than it looks on the photos.

This weekend Javits Center is about to be filled by more than 50,000 attendees and exhibitors displaying the latest video game and gadget technology. What I am excited about the most is the DDR Tournament with the top cash prize of $1000. On Saturday is the Experts division. I'll definately be there to watch some of the best DDR players from the East Coast!

Read more in my DDR Blog.

The following previews have been rated G by the Motion Pictures Association Of America.

Ever wanted to call someone and conceal your real voice? You can type a short text message below and click on the SPEAK button to hear it spoken by the selected voice.

Text:


Voice: Crystal ... US English Mike ...... US English Rich ...... US English Lauren .... US English Claire .... US English Rosa ...... Latin Am. Spanish Alberto ... Latin Am. Spanish Klara ..... German Reiner .... German Alain ..... French Juliette .. French Charles ... UK English Audrey .... UK English      

Display the link for the audio file.

This is really cool stuff to play with. The speech is amazingly clear, yet still sounds quite funny. My favorite is Audrey - with her impeccable Queen's English pronunciation :)

To save the audio file on your computer, check "Display the link for the audio file" before clicking SPEAK, right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..."

Don't forget to turn on the volume on the computer and make sure you have the speakers or headphones plugged in.

Stayed up late tonight and finished the new layout of quadrilleball.org. One of the x-quadrille dancers Luba has desinged the background images from some of the photos taken at the ball. Nice job! I am glad she made the push and created something that made the website look more professional.

Oh by the way, if you are a young (in your 20s) New York City professional who would like to become a part the feature performance at one of New York's most elegant events, poke around the website and if you decide to join this year's Quadrille dancers, fill out the application form to be invited for an interview.

More information about Quadrille Ball:

• New York Sun Article
• Photos and Videos from last year's ball
• New York Magazine Article

I've been to Central Park countless number of times and I thought I have seen it all. But today Joanna took me to the part of it that I had never seen before. It was the Conservatory Garden. It was a very beautiful place and I was surprised that I have not known about it until now. The garden entrance is on 5th avenue at 105th street. The garden was full of colorful flowers, exotic plants, trees, and creatively designed lawns. In addition to the beautiful flora, there were several fountains, statues, and alleys with benches where one could sit and enjoy the beautiful views.

We walked around and took many photos. Taking the close-up photos of the flowers made me realize why the button to turn the camera in the macro mode has the symbol of a flower.

The garden was quite crowded. There were a lot of people taking wedding pictures. Joanna said that on a weekday it's much better to come there, since there are far fewer people.

After visiting the garden, we walked towards the nearby lake. On the way I got a chance to make friends with the geese.

Later Joanna had to go to the office so she took the Subway and I opted to walk back home through the park to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day. I decided to go through the alleys of the park that I have never walked before to see if I could discover more cool places that I have not seen yet. I ended up going underneath a charming bridge and saw a small waterfall.

Click here for more information on the Conservatory Garden.

I wish I could take another vacation to document my Grand Canyon vacation... Anyway, I have finally finished my review of the trip. I am still waiting for James to give me the photos from the flight to Grand Canyon from Las Vegas which were left on his laptop. I will add them as soon as he gives them to me.

Click here for my review of the Grand Canyon trip

Review of my stay in Las Vegas

I am back from my trip to Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. I had a awesome time at both. I took hundres of photos and dozens of videos and am in the process of sorting them and uploading to my website. It will take several days until I fully finish this process. For now here is the beard that I grew during the nine days at Grand Canyon.

This is my last post before my departure. I will spend 9 days hiking and rafting down the Colorado river. I will be in complete wilderness sleeping in a tent. This also means that for all that time I will have no access to electricity and internet. So I will not be able to post any new content in my blog during the trip. But when I return I am sure I will have plenty of photos and videos of my trip that I will post on the site. I am taking 3 batteries for my camera to ensure I have enough for the trip.

Three of my friends and I are going to meet a larger group of people who come from all over the country to experience the Grand Canyon with the help of Moki Mac River Expeditions, Inc.. The Grand Canyon trip will be from August 31 through September 9th. Then my friends and I are going to spend 3 days in Las Vegas. I will be back in New York on September 13.

Click on the photo to download the full-size version (3MB).

This photo was taken at one of the biggest conventions of young computer enthusiasts called "The Gathering". It is an annual event that takes place at a multipurpose hall The Vikingship located in the city of Hamar in Norway. More than 5000 participants get together to compete in programming of computer graphics put together to computer generated music, playing computer games, modifying computer hardware, and other "geeky" activities...

At this year's event the first European Cup tournament in DDR took place.

Check out my review of the New York Salsa Congress in the Dance Blog featuring photos and videos taken at the event.

R	Realistic
A	Astonishing
P	Patriotic
H	Hardworking
A	Accurate
E	Emotional
L	Luxurious

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com