Rambling into the Ether

While it’s great to go somewhere to shoot sometimes you get get the best photos in your own back yard.

When I got my BlackBerry Curve (8320) for Christmas I became addicted to it. It’s the best phone I’ve ever owned and I’ve been telling everyone that will listen how much I love it. Well, my brother wanted to get his own cell phone (he’s been using his work phone) and he must have remembered me gushing over my Curve because he decided on a 8320 for himself. He’s loving it so far, other than the free Mac sync software, PocketMac, which frankly sucks. I’m going to hook him up with a copy of MissingSync.

Oh, and BlackBerry Messanger rocks. I know it’s just IM for BB snobs but I still like it.

The last week or so has been a bit of a bitch. First, my girlfriend is getting laid off. The serverence package is amazing so it’s not a complete fuck over but it’s still making life worrysome.

Then a good friend of mine is in real dire straights and is going to have to move out to the Midwest for a while. Today I gave him my old phone and hooked him up with a prepaid plan so he could sort out a job and place to live out there. I also went through his appt with him to see what he could sell to get cash to get out there.

Finally, today one of our dogs, Rufus, had the trots and started bleeding from his back end. We rushed him to the vet and, thankfully, it looks like he just has a bug and by going so much he burst a blood vessel back there. Still a stressful couple of hours

It has been an emotionally draining week.

It’s been in the high 90s with matching humidity all weekend and it’s not breaking until Tuesday night. I ain’t built for this shit.

When I got my MacBook a couple of years ago I got the white one because it was cheaper (the famous Apple black-tax). Big mistake. Not only does the white plastic scratch easily but unless you use it wearing a bunny suit in a clean room it gets dirty real quick. So I either have to clean it at least weekly or I look like a complete slob.

I wish Apple didn’t make you pay for the black finish but I’m definitely paying the premium next time.

Summer’s almost here and for anyone that doesn’t know the Mid-Atlantic region this means temperatures in the high 80s to 90s (Fahrenheit) with matching humidity. This Saturday is going to be 90 and sticky, as is most of next week. The worse part is this year we don’t have a car with AC so when it gets this hot the last thing we’re going to want to do is drive anywhere.

I finally took a photo of all my camera equipment. I’m linking to it instead of just embedding because I tagged the hell out of it over on Flickr.

Other than the fact that I usually only carry the monopod or the tripod at one time I have the rest of it with me 99% of the time.

My Flickr feed broke 2000 views this morning. It had taken longer than I had thought (I was getting 50 views a day for a bit there) but I’m still happy it happened. I know others are in the 100s of thousands but I’m still thrilled to get 2000.

I’ve been looking to get a camera flash that will work fully with my Canon. Right now I’m using an old Promatic flash but I want something more automatic; something that can tell how my camera is set and only fire as strongly as needed. The problem is E-TTL flashes (Canon’s standard) are very pricey. Even used they’re going for too much on eBay. I’m still looking though.

Today I finally figured out how to record tracklogs with my BlackBerry and GPS puck. This means I can finally start geotagging my photos again.

When I got my S5 I picked up a small camera bag that had enough room for the camera, flash, and a couple of SD cards. Then I picked up a 58mm adapter and a lens hood. With those attached the bag started to get tight. When I decided to always carry an emergency set of batteries it got really tight. Then my brother gave me a polarizer which was the last thing I could possibly fit in the bag without bursting a seam.

Well, I was innocently browsing eBay the other day (cough) when I stumbled across a set of 2x and 3x filters for cheap. There is no way they would fit in my bag so I had to pick up a new one tonight. It’s about 50% bigger with enough room for my current kit plus a little left over for a few more filters. I got this one because, first, it’s big enough for what I need without being so big that I feel the need to fill it and second, it was only $15.

One of these days I’ll need to borrow a camera and get a shot of my complete kit. Hopefully I do this before I outgrow the new bag.

My Flickr page is getting about 50 hits a day. At this rate I’ll have 2000 views in a couple of days. They like me! They really like me!