But I guess it's just a name...
I think we may be venturing to a movie theater Saturday, November 8.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Bad name, but...
Quantum of Solace? Really?
But I guess it's just a name...
I think we may be venturing to a movie theater Saturday, November 8.
But I guess it's just a name...
I think we may be venturing to a movie theater Saturday, November 8.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Life is Good
My Mom has stated that when their baby is 6 months old, parents often start to think, "I can handle this, I could do this again!". I was recalling this as I was thinking how this is probably the easiest time in a kid's life to be a parent. Owen is sleeping better now (he can sleep 6-7 hours at a time; we just need to get him to start when I want to go to bed). We don't have to keep an eye on him all the time since he's not mobile (he just turned over for the first time this week!). He doesn't eat solid foods yet, so he doesn't make a mess and his diapers are still relatively tame (although you should ask Keith about his recent experience!). I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight and most of my pre-pregnancy activities (Ultimate practices). And he's as cute as ever with his smiling and babbling.
I think the only really tough thing right now is that I have to watch my diet. Owen is lactose intolerant and gets fussy if I have peanuts. It's amazing how much that limits my food choices (I feel for you Jason!). The good news is that he will probably grow out of it, although I'm not sure when.
So right now I thank God daily for giving us such a wonderful gift, realizing that I will soon wonder what the heck we got ourselves into!
I think the only really tough thing right now is that I have to watch my diet. Owen is lactose intolerant and gets fussy if I have peanuts. It's amazing how much that limits my food choices (I feel for you Jason!). The good news is that he will probably grow out of it, although I'm not sure when.
So right now I thank God daily for giving us such a wonderful gift, realizing that I will soon wonder what the heck we got ourselves into!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Pink Panther
Dead ant. Dead ant. Dead ant. Dead ant. Dead ant.
But not enough of them!
Even less spectacular than my actual posting is the updates on the "on topic" area. It's starred items from my Google Reader account. The most recent, on a cheap way to get rid of ants, is quite timely. Or maybe too late, I'm not sure. I linked it because we have an occasional ant problem. Well, occasionally inside. Most of the time for outside around the pool. The latter is annoying, but the former is upsetting. Generally when we get them inside, it's a clearly a matter of what we did wrong--getting lazy and not cleaning up after dinner. Leaving something sweet out. Or just doing something that has a tendency to attract them.
I swear last night we did nothing wrong. Or not that wrong, but there was a whole slew of ants in the kitchen. That is NG--no good. And of course I was not on the ball in preparing by having any boric acid on hand, not even after my mother mentioned it this past weekend. That meant I was stuck with killing them as I could and using a little ant spray. Just want I want to be using inside with Owen around. Awesome.
Fortunately it was a day one of us was staying home (Joanne in this case), so she kept Owen upstairs most of the day so the smell would dissipate. But this reinforces my goal/desire to up natural products and reduce chemicals in the household. This dovetails with the organic/healthier foods ideal--Owen being a good influence on us.
That leaves me with 3 items to buy/increase usage off: boric acid as a pesticide; vinegar for its loads of uses (we do use it a bit, but primarily as a rinse agent--it works great instead of fabric softener or hair conditioner), and baking soda (similarly linked in the side bar). Now I just need to figure out how to take adavantage of all the various options, add a couple more items to the list, and treat the stuff we do have as a sunk cost and toss it.
But not enough of them!
Even less spectacular than my actual posting is the updates on the "on topic" area. It's starred items from my Google Reader account. The most recent, on a cheap way to get rid of ants, is quite timely. Or maybe too late, I'm not sure. I linked it because we have an occasional ant problem. Well, occasionally inside. Most of the time for outside around the pool. The latter is annoying, but the former is upsetting. Generally when we get them inside, it's a clearly a matter of what we did wrong--getting lazy and not cleaning up after dinner. Leaving something sweet out. Or just doing something that has a tendency to attract them.
I swear last night we did nothing wrong. Or not that wrong, but there was a whole slew of ants in the kitchen. That is NG--no good. And of course I was not on the ball in preparing by having any boric acid on hand, not even after my mother mentioned it this past weekend. That meant I was stuck with killing them as I could and using a little ant spray. Just want I want to be using inside with Owen around. Awesome.
Fortunately it was a day one of us was staying home (Joanne in this case), so she kept Owen upstairs most of the day so the smell would dissipate. But this reinforces my goal/desire to up natural products and reduce chemicals in the household. This dovetails with the organic/healthier foods ideal--Owen being a good influence on us.
That leaves me with 3 items to buy/increase usage off: boric acid as a pesticide; vinegar for its loads of uses (we do use it a bit, but primarily as a rinse agent--it works great instead of fabric softener or hair conditioner), and baking soda (similarly linked in the side bar). Now I just need to figure out how to take adavantage of all the various options, add a couple more items to the list, and treat the stuff we do have as a sunk cost and toss it.
Still in power
Despite the news publications I do get (and sometimes read), I am fairly woeful about keeping on top of a story--my reading comprehension is somewhat lacking, particularly when it comes to names--Russian novels were always tough to read, for example, because I would essentially skip past the names because of the complexity and unfamiliarity--so keeping abreast of a story is more difficult if you don't know the names.
This year, though, I have followed the election in Zimbabwe to some degree. Not enough to know how to pronounce "Tsvangirai" or remember Simba Makoni off the top of my head. I remember what was probably the first story on Makoni in a January Economist; how it was dismissive of Tsvangirai as a political hack and that Makoni might be the best hope for a turnaround in Zimbabwe. I followed the optimism in March that Robert Mugabe's rule might actually end. And then he did get defeated in the election, and it looked like he might be finished.
But then it all fell apart. Again.
Paul Wolfowitz wrote a piece in Wednesday's WSJ about how to place pressure on Mugabe. I think it's unconvincing in its approach--basically give Mugabe a "get out of jail free" card if he just leaves the country and retires to South Africa or Angola. As an op-ed piece, though, it provides more anecdotal interest than most news stories:
An easy answer is a greater respect for the institutions and the rule of law in the US/developed world. That a transfer of power need not be bloody. That no matter what you think of our political leader ship over the past 8 years, 16 years, 40 years--we are lucky that our ability to live freely or safely is not at the whim of a maniacal despot. But, like I said, that's easy.
Perhaps the real pull of the story, especially in March, was the hope, the realization, that a country could kick out a tyrant, that it could overcome its obstacles and choose a better path, that there was hope. And that's what makes the past 6 weeks a shame--that the possibility of a better future that was so close is still far off in the horizon.
This year, though, I have followed the election in Zimbabwe to some degree. Not enough to know how to pronounce "Tsvangirai" or remember Simba Makoni off the top of my head. I remember what was probably the first story on Makoni in a January Economist; how it was dismissive of Tsvangirai as a political hack and that Makoni might be the best hope for a turnaround in Zimbabwe. I followed the optimism in March that Robert Mugabe's rule might actually end. And then he did get defeated in the election, and it looked like he might be finished.
But then it all fell apart. Again.
Paul Wolfowitz wrote a piece in Wednesday's WSJ about how to place pressure on Mugabe. I think it's unconvincing in its approach--basically give Mugabe a "get out of jail free" card if he just leaves the country and retires to South Africa or Angola. As an op-ed piece, though, it provides more anecdotal interest than most news stories:
Morgan Tsvangirai is no coward. He has persevered despite arrests, beatings and assassination attempts. But Mugabe has made clear there will be only one result from elections. 'We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X [on a ballot],' he told Zimbabwe's state-controlled Herald newspaper last week.Going meta for a bit, one of the things I wanted to do when I started the blog was to actually have commentary on topics. Reviews of things, explanations of things I'm learning about--those are easy, even if I don't post enough. But what kind of insight, what is the reason to care about what is happening in Zimbabwe?
An easy answer is a greater respect for the institutions and the rule of law in the US/developed world. That a transfer of power need not be bloody. That no matter what you think of our political leader ship over the past 8 years, 16 years, 40 years--we are lucky that our ability to live freely or safely is not at the whim of a maniacal despot. But, like I said, that's easy.
Perhaps the real pull of the story, especially in March, was the hope, the realization, that a country could kick out a tyrant, that it could overcome its obstacles and choose a better path, that there was hope. And that's what makes the past 6 weeks a shame--that the possibility of a better future that was so close is still far off in the horizon.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Made up numbers
In previous finance posts I've mentioned how Joanne & I are currently maxing out our 401k plans and Roth contributions. With employer match, that's a nice chunk of change. It occurred to me back in January that perhaps we were overdoing it--our savings was approximately 40% of our gross salary. Not that that is bad, as our flexibility to do so was possibly nearing an end, and we weren't going without to do so. Still, the argument that investment house calculators were on the extreme side to get investors to stash more money in accounts did make me wonder--was our savings rate a function of need or fear?
To check, I created a quick and dirty spreadsheet of my own, very simplistic, but capturing the major elements of a 60 year plan. I didn't keep that one in no small part because it wasn't postable, but then last week I realized/remembered about the existence of google docs, so another one was born. Just as simple, even if not fully explained.
So what does this capture?
First, there's some initial data/assumptions:
Even leaving our contributions largely flat (only increasing when Owen prospectively is done with college) and getting an average return that is hopefully not too optimistic (7%, falling to 5% closer to retirement), we'll get there with some room to spare. However, this assumes the flexibility to maintain those contributions, a willingness to stick the the investment plan, no catastrophic decline in markets, particularly as retirement gets closer, etc.
The numbers don't really indicate we're saving too much like I'd hoped. They did the first time I did this exercise--I think I used some combination of a slightly lower inflation rate, a higher rate of return and/or increasing contributions. Either that, or I messed up a calculation. I remember finding we'd have a SOL more than twice as good as we currently do, which is a bit much.
To check, I created a quick and dirty spreadsheet of my own, very simplistic, but capturing the major elements of a 60 year plan. I didn't keep that one in no small part because it wasn't postable, but then last week I realized/remembered about the existence of google docs, so another one was born. Just as simple, even if not fully explained.
So what does this capture?
First, there's some initial data/assumptions:
- Age - self explanatory. I didn't include a retirement age, rather letting the spreadsheet do (most of) the work to determine when the savings target was hit
- current savings - another easy one. how much we have now. I do fudge on this a bit, since i count all liquid assets, which would include the "emergency fund" and Owen's 529 (we went with West Virginia)
- planned contributions/savings - a little trickier, but I kept a rather high baseline, with a small increase in a couple of years (still less than inflation)
- expected return - I left this one open ended, in which i could input a random assortment of returns. I got bored with that, but it's still an option.
- expected inflation - somewhere between 3-3.5%
- withdrawal rate - standard practice is 4%. that is, you withdraw 4% of the portfolio in year 1 of retirement and increase that by 3-4% each year (inflation). growth is supposed to maintain portfolio size to mitigate the erosion of value from inflation, giving a high probability of the portfolio lasting 30 years. an alternate approach is to withdraw a fixed percentage of the portfolio, so retirement income may vary depending on return.
- current standard of living/desired standard of living in retirement in 2008 dollars. this would be the most important non-assumption input in this, as it dictates contributions. Pre-Owen, Joanne and I managed to spend $50-55K per year. Debt payments (ie mortgage) is about $13K. So we'll call that $40K/year would be necessary in retirement to match our current SOL. The general rule of thumb is that 80% of this would be necessary in retirement. However, this does not take into account taxes, or an increased SOL because of travel and other things to keep busy with no job. Income taxes are not included in the spending total, and since 401k/non-Roth IRAs are taxable income need to be included, that requires some adjustment to the standard 80%. So I left it at 100%--the mortgage payment budget line simply becomes a tax payment line.
Even leaving our contributions largely flat (only increasing when Owen prospectively is done with college) and getting an average return that is hopefully not too optimistic (7%, falling to 5% closer to retirement), we'll get there with some room to spare. However, this assumes the flexibility to maintain those contributions, a willingness to stick the the investment plan, no catastrophic decline in markets, particularly as retirement gets closer, etc.
The numbers don't really indicate we're saving too much like I'd hoped. They did the first time I did this exercise--I think I used some combination of a slightly lower inflation rate, a higher rate of return and/or increasing contributions. Either that, or I messed up a calculation. I remember finding we'd have a SOL more than twice as good as we currently do, which is a bit much.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Reading is Fundamental
I have a very clear period in my life in which I was a "reader": January to August of 1997. Oddly, August is when I met Joanne, but that is coincidental, not causal. This period of lots of reading on my own was largely the result of a certain amount of peer pressure resulting from Alex, the other American in my flat when I studied in Edinburgh. He was always reading. In his room, while walking to class, while eating. I think he even read before the lights went down in a movie. So despite all the reading my courses there required, I added on a bunch of pleasure reading on top of it. This was pretty easy to do, though, with no TV, no radio and no internet in the flat. And I read a lot, frequently going to 3 of the bookstores nearby, including one used bookstore where I scored first editions of Churchill's account of WWII for 20 pounds. (completely unread). I ended up with enough books to bring home that I send a couple of shipments as they wouldn't fit in my return luggage.
Alas, it did not last. It wasn't an abrupt stop, but it became less of a habit. Oh, I'd occasionally finish something, and Book Club helped a bit, but my small collection of Revolutionary books remains started but unfinished, and the last book I read completely on my own was... dunno. It's been a while. I'm afraid it might be the Da Vinci Code, which I realized was crap at a certain point while reading it, but that didn't stop me from finishing in very short amount of time.
This isn't to say I don't read, but that Google is making me stupid. That is, so much of my reading is internet based that my attention span is not what it used to be. Long cogent thoughts or narratives are lost on me. Of course, part of this could be the material I'm choosing to read when I do read. Not that it's a book, but each issue of Foreign Affairs is like one, as is the Economist with its condensed print type. But the amount of each I read when I get them is lacking. As is the retention. I've had an excuse the past couple of months, but still--it's an area that needs some work.
And Owen is helping. Or at least I hope he does/will. We occasionally read some of the baby books we received to him, but he still doesn't show much interest in the pictures, so we're left with realizing (as Joanne did) that baby books are horrible--it seems like anyone can (or everyone has) written one. Since it doesn't really matter what the words are (since it's more important that he hears our voice) and Owen would rather look at the ceiling fan than colorful pictures, I decided to read a regular book to him. Why not start with my favorite?
Joanne loaned my reading copy of this book to a friend last year and it was finally returned. Oh, I have the first edition on my bookshelf, but that's a collectible more than a book. So I started reading A Prayer for Owen Meany to Owen last weekend (hopefully it's not too adult for him).
At this point, you may be thinking to yourself that we named Owen after Owen Meany. That's not really the case. I was the one pushing/advocating for the name, but I don't recall the book explicitly being talked about. I didn't say I want to name our son after the main character of my favorite book. It's more that the book gave me a certain acceptance of the name that might otherwise not have existed.
But I digress...
We're already on page 72! Owen (my son, not the character) in 4 of the 5 reading sessions so far has starting "talking" a lot after 10-15 minutes of my reading aloud. It's the most babble I've heard from him, and I don't hear it with such volume or constancy in any other situation. It gets to the point where I have to speak over him and Joanne tells me I'm reading too loud. Or perhaps I'm just missing the cue that he wants me to be quiet, as he just wants to look at the fan and drift off to sleep.
A couple of notes/passages of interest in the first chapter:
Alas, it did not last. It wasn't an abrupt stop, but it became less of a habit. Oh, I'd occasionally finish something, and Book Club helped a bit, but my small collection of Revolutionary books remains started but unfinished, and the last book I read completely on my own was... dunno. It's been a while. I'm afraid it might be the Da Vinci Code, which I realized was crap at a certain point while reading it, but that didn't stop me from finishing in very short amount of time.
This isn't to say I don't read, but that Google is making me stupid. That is, so much of my reading is internet based that my attention span is not what it used to be. Long cogent thoughts or narratives are lost on me. Of course, part of this could be the material I'm choosing to read when I do read. Not that it's a book, but each issue of Foreign Affairs is like one, as is the Economist with its condensed print type. But the amount of each I read when I get them is lacking. As is the retention. I've had an excuse the past couple of months, but still--it's an area that needs some work.
And Owen is helping. Or at least I hope he does/will. We occasionally read some of the baby books we received to him, but he still doesn't show much interest in the pictures, so we're left with realizing (as Joanne did) that baby books are horrible--it seems like anyone can (or everyone has) written one. Since it doesn't really matter what the words are (since it's more important that he hears our voice) and Owen would rather look at the ceiling fan than colorful pictures, I decided to read a regular book to him. Why not start with my favorite?
Joanne loaned my reading copy of this book to a friend last year and it was finally returned. Oh, I have the first edition on my bookshelf, but that's a collectible more than a book. So I started reading A Prayer for Owen Meany to Owen last weekend (hopefully it's not too adult for him).
At this point, you may be thinking to yourself that we named Owen after Owen Meany. That's not really the case. I was the one pushing/advocating for the name, but I don't recall the book explicitly being talked about. I didn't say I want to name our son after the main character of my favorite book. It's more that the book gave me a certain acceptance of the name that might otherwise not have existed.
But I digress...
We're already on page 72! Owen (my son, not the character) in 4 of the 5 reading sessions so far has starting "talking" a lot after 10-15 minutes of my reading aloud. It's the most babble I've heard from him, and I don't hear it with such volume or constancy in any other situation. It gets to the point where I have to speak over him and Joanne tells me I'm reading too loud. Or perhaps I'm just missing the cue that he wants me to be quiet, as he just wants to look at the fan and drift off to sleep.
A couple of notes/passages of interest in the first chapter:
- In baseball, Owen Meany wears the number 3 (representing the trinity). Our Owen was born on March 3.
- Tabitha Wheelwright, Johnny's mother, tells Owen, "Everything you need, Owen, it will be taken care of" in reference to him attending Gravesend Academy when he's old enough. I read the line twice (or maybe three times) to Owen. Joanne got a little choked up.
- Owen was small perhaps due to being born premature.
Monday, June 16, 2008
In the Woods
Two topics to talk about today - one I've been meaning to write about for a while, and one more current.
First, golf. If someone says that golf is boring to watch, they didn't watch the US Open this weekend. I've never been a fan of Tiger Woods (too dominating, too much of a following, too whiny about the Phoenix Open...), but after watching him play on Saturday, I jumped on the band wagon (albeit just for a weekend). For someone to be playing in such pain and end up in the rough/crowd so many times and then make 3 Eagles and end the day in the lead was just fun to watch. I've had my share of injuries, including to the knee, so I know how much it affects your game, (whatever that game might be), both physically and mentally. How he could bounce back from the pain and still manage to win a tournament that ended up being 19holes longer than normal, is crazy. The TV crew showed a slow motion replay of one of his tee shots and said that they could find absolutely nothing wrong with his form. How in the world do you do that with a bum leg???
Now, don't worry, I still rolled my eyes when they announced that you could check out every single shot that Tiger made this weekend at NBC.com. And by the end of Sunday I was kind of hoping that Rocco would win (how could you not like his personality and the fact that at 45 years he was the oldest guy there?). But for a while there I bought into the hype.
Now to a different woods - Owen and I went to Flagstaff with my parents May 31-June 3rd. My parents own a time share in Sedona and traded their week for the Wyndham resort in Flag. I was worried at first that Owen would not like being away from home and that the elevation might bother him. But apparently he enjoys going on vacation to a cooler clime. He didn't cry hardly at all, and slept better than he had ever slept before. By the second day I was able to relax myself. It was a very laid back vacation, as we didn't feel like we could go out for more than 2 hours at a time (Owen is eating every 3 hours during the day). We had lunch downtown, went to Walnut Canyon National Monument, walked around the Flagstaff Arboretum (where we saw a really neat bird show), went on walks around the resort, and enjoyed the hot tub (my first time being in one since before my pregnancy). Owen cried a little on the way home and then wailed when we got home - it was like he knew vacation was over!!
In other news, Owen is sleeping better now - he is close to "sleeping through the night" (the books define that as sleeping 5-6 hours). After the last feeding at 10 or 11pm he sleeps until 3 or 4am. We're still trying to figure out what to do for daycare, so I'm still working part time. The Grandmas come over a few days a week to let me go into work a couple of hours. Owen is getting bigger and bigger, and is smiling & talking more and more!
First, golf. If someone says that golf is boring to watch, they didn't watch the US Open this weekend. I've never been a fan of Tiger Woods (too dominating, too much of a following, too whiny about the Phoenix Open...), but after watching him play on Saturday, I jumped on the band wagon (albeit just for a weekend). For someone to be playing in such pain and end up in the rough/crowd so many times and then make 3 Eagles and end the day in the lead was just fun to watch. I've had my share of injuries, including to the knee, so I know how much it affects your game, (whatever that game might be), both physically and mentally. How he could bounce back from the pain and still manage to win a tournament that ended up being 19holes longer than normal, is crazy. The TV crew showed a slow motion replay of one of his tee shots and said that they could find absolutely nothing wrong with his form. How in the world do you do that with a bum leg???
Now, don't worry, I still rolled my eyes when they announced that you could check out every single shot that Tiger made this weekend at NBC.com. And by the end of Sunday I was kind of hoping that Rocco would win (how could you not like his personality and the fact that at 45 years he was the oldest guy there?). But for a while there I bought into the hype.
Now to a different woods - Owen and I went to Flagstaff with my parents May 31-June 3rd. My parents own a time share in Sedona and traded their week for the Wyndham resort in Flag. I was worried at first that Owen would not like being away from home and that the elevation might bother him. But apparently he enjoys going on vacation to a cooler clime. He didn't cry hardly at all, and slept better than he had ever slept before. By the second day I was able to relax myself. It was a very laid back vacation, as we didn't feel like we could go out for more than 2 hours at a time (Owen is eating every 3 hours during the day). We had lunch downtown, went to Walnut Canyon National Monument, walked around the Flagstaff Arboretum (where we saw a really neat bird show), went on walks around the resort, and enjoyed the hot tub (my first time being in one since before my pregnancy). Owen cried a little on the way home and then wailed when we got home - it was like he knew vacation was over!!
In other news, Owen is sleeping better now - he is close to "sleeping through the night" (the books define that as sleeping 5-6 hours). After the last feeding at 10 or 11pm he sleeps until 3 or 4am. We're still trying to figure out what to do for daycare, so I'm still working part time. The Grandmas come over a few days a week to let me go into work a couple of hours. Owen is getting bigger and bigger, and is smiling & talking more and more!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Sprouting Whole Foods
Back when Owen was still LBA, I started to dabble in organic foods more for the possible taste benefits than any health reasons. Initial forays were (and still are) in eggs, occasionally milk, some processed foods (we got Fig Newmans once; and Costco has some organic "back to nature" crackers that are quite tasty), stuff from Kashi, and so on. But not too much in the way of fruits or vegetables--not much beyond carrots, which is a little odd since that's where one would think the greatest difference would be. I recall reading a discussion of what fruits and veggies had the biggest differences, but I failed to utilize google notebook to keep track of that info, so I've been reluctant to spend twice as much to take the taste test.
Driving home from the store Sunday, I listened to an interview on NPR to a rep from the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed
pesticides in fruits and veggies based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. The suggestion was to think more about going organic for those at the top of the list (peaches, apples, lots of berries and potatoes) and not to spend extra for those at the bottom (broccoli was suprisingly near the bottom). In looking at the list, though, I think I would focus more on the pesticide parts per million over the overall score. The total amount would seem to be more important than the other factors, but I haven't taken the time to look at the methodology of the final score.
Driving home from the store Sunday, I listened to an interview on NPR to a rep from the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed
pesticides in fruits and veggies based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. The suggestion was to think more about going organic for those at the top of the list (peaches, apples, lots of berries and potatoes) and not to spend extra for those at the bottom (broccoli was suprisingly near the bottom). In looking at the list, though, I think I would focus more on the pesticide parts per million over the overall score. The total amount would seem to be more important than the other factors, but I haven't taken the time to look at the methodology of the final score.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Sports photography
Joanne got to play in the hat tournament. I got to babysit and take my first stab at sports photography while doing so! And doing it while not knowing what the heck I was doing. At all. All I know is what Joanne has taught me, which is use aperture priority.
This is the slideshow of the "best". A loose term since there's not much action, not much quality, but it's the best my rudimentary knowledge of the 30D can do (I simply find the manual unreadable) with the limited post processing capabilities of Picasa (which I should note, seem to be much more considerable/useful with the 30D than the A520 we previously used). Most have added fill light; I think all I one level of sharpness increase; about half have been cropped. All were taken with a canon 28-135 IS USM lens. Comments are in the photo captions.
This is the slideshow of the "best". A loose term since there's not much action, not much quality, but it's the best my rudimentary knowledge of the 30D can do (I simply find the manual unreadable) with the limited post processing capabilities of Picasa (which I should note, seem to be much more considerable/useful with the 30D than the A520 we previously used). Most have added fill light; I think all I one level of sharpness increase; about half have been cropped. All were taken with a canon 28-135 IS USM lens. Comments are in the photo captions.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Mother's Day
As you might be aware, when it comes to projects, I'm not exactly the most timely or quick person around. And despite the monumentalism of May 12 (Joanne's first Mother's Day), I didn't quite have her grand present ready/purchased--a DSLR camera. In my defense, I did share with her my idea for a gift a couple of weeks beforehand, which she appreciated, but I/we dawdled on doing the necessary research. So Mother's Day came and went without anything wrapped prettily in a box. It was about that time that we finally got on the ball about looking into what best fit our needs/wants. Just after all the Mother's Day sales ended.
Actually, that's not true. Sony had the A200 and A300 with 2 lens kits heavily discounted through May 19th, and Nikon (still) has a sale on 2 lens kits for the D40 and D60. But my previous research/awareness was that when it comes to cameras, you buy the best Canon you can afford, so that's where my research started.
Funny thing, though. Camera reviews are unreadable. Or at least they are unreadable to non-photographers. 20 pages of comparison shots with very minute differences. Discussions of features you didn't know you need, but in reading about them, afraid not to have. Realizing that to make the best use of an SLR, you should know how aperture, ISO, and shutter speed (among other things) interact to get the picture you want than what the camera gives you. Trying to figure out if features like 3200 ISO, live view or 5 frames per second is really needed. Or if it's better to have image stabilization in the lens (supposedly better quality) or in the camera body (supposedly cheaper lenses). And that's not even touching the issue that what matters most are the lenses. A good camera, afterall, will reveal the weaknesses of a bad lenses, just like a good sound system will reveal the weaknesses of a bad recording.
Taking all this into account, we took the approach of looking for the best deal (having just missed out on the last batch) and finally got around to actually taking a look at the cameras. When we did that, we both found the Canon Rebels to be uncomfortable--the grips were tiny and the interface was lacking a bit compared to the Nikon (Joanne liked the Sony as well). The Canon 40D, a step up from the Rebels was too extravagant, but the Canon 30D was generally available used/refurbished at a price competitive with the Sonys, Nikon D60 or the Canon XTi. Even before we missed the window of opportunity for the Sony (A300 plus 18-70; 70-300 lenses for $600), the 30D was my favorite because it seemed to offer the fewest compromises: reasonable cost, no bloated picture size (I viewed its 8mp a good thing, not bad), extra features of Canon's prosumer line, and Canon lens availability as all good things.
But there was 2 negatives. First, the weight. It's magnesium body weighs quite a bit more than a Rebel or Nikon, and it's quite a bit bigger. Some believe, though, that the extra weight can be a benefit by providing a better balance when telephoto lens are attached. Second, when I asked Megan about it, she said "that's a better camera than I have" (she has 2 20Ds), so we thought we perhaps were getting more than we needed (or even overstepping our bounds).
She came over one day to let us check out the 20D, and soon after Joanne took another look at the other options at a Best Buy. After time holding, checking out the interface, looking at the condition of the demo models (as a sign of durability), she agreed that the 30d looked to be the best option. Next came trying to find a deal.
We already missed out on one prime opportunity. A woman listed a full kit for $500 on Craig's List. I called about it, but didn't hear anything. The ad stayed up, and I convinced Joanne to call on it as well, as it was a price too good to pass up (this was before we decided for sure it was the camera we wanted). Joanne spoke with her and found out that Kate, the seller, had received a number of calls, mostly from men, many rude, so she just decided to follow up with the first woman who called. Which made Joanne second in line if that fell through. It didn't.
Adorama sells refurbished kits for $650, which was the fall back option. Ebay prices seemed to be between $530-600, so I started tracking auctions. Last Saturday (the 24th), an auction was winding down. A 30D with a lens far superior to the kit lens was being sold by a Las Vegas pawn shop. It was missing a fair number of kit items (manual, some cables, software cd), but it was over $100 less than what I expected it to go for with under 5 minutes left. Joanne said sure put in a bid if I didn't think it would go for that low. So I put in a bid with a minute left (which was about 10 minutes after I made the comment "maybe we shouldn't even get an SLR" after Joanne made a comment about the convenience of not having that many lenses, a reflection of her leaning, at the time, to getting a Nikon D40 and the two lens kit (18-55 and 55-200)).
As might be expected to maintain karmic balance in the world, our impulsiveness led to shopping victoriously, but we were a little surprised we did so. Joanne was fine in the aftermath, but I started to have doubts. THe missing accessories weren't a huge deal, with only the software disc being an issue. What concerned me the most (but only after we won) was the missing body cap for the camera, meaning perhaps a dusty (or damaged) sensor and that the camera would be shipped with the lens attached. The other concern was that the camera came with only those things that one would take on a vacation--meaning that it was hocked by a gambler. This could go two ways--the camera could be lightly used; or it could be not well taken care of because, well, it's just a camera (I suppose both might apply). Concern continued to mount when the seller was a less responsive in responding to emails than would be considered optimal. The sales ad noted they would ship within seven days of receiving payment (which meant it wouldn't arrive before Joanne's trip up to Flag), and they sure did use that entire window, but they never did send a shipped notice.
Anywho, that's kind of a long winded way of saying "I got Joanne a DSLR for mother's day, and it arrived today". And only days after our other accessories, including the "nifty fifty" arrived.
We are now proud to present some of the pictures taken on day 1 of the Camera, or what will henceforth be known as "Owen in 30D":
Camera info:
Actually, that's not true. Sony had the A200 and A300 with 2 lens kits heavily discounted through May 19th, and Nikon (still) has a sale on 2 lens kits for the D40 and D60. But my previous research/awareness was that when it comes to cameras, you buy the best Canon you can afford, so that's where my research started.
Funny thing, though. Camera reviews are unreadable. Or at least they are unreadable to non-photographers. 20 pages of comparison shots with very minute differences. Discussions of features you didn't know you need, but in reading about them, afraid not to have. Realizing that to make the best use of an SLR, you should know how aperture, ISO, and shutter speed (among other things) interact to get the picture you want than what the camera gives you. Trying to figure out if features like 3200 ISO, live view or 5 frames per second is really needed. Or if it's better to have image stabilization in the lens (supposedly better quality) or in the camera body (supposedly cheaper lenses). And that's not even touching the issue that what matters most are the lenses. A good camera, afterall, will reveal the weaknesses of a bad lenses, just like a good sound system will reveal the weaknesses of a bad recording.
Taking all this into account, we took the approach of looking for the best deal (having just missed out on the last batch) and finally got around to actually taking a look at the cameras. When we did that, we both found the Canon Rebels to be uncomfortable--the grips were tiny and the interface was lacking a bit compared to the Nikon (Joanne liked the Sony as well). The Canon 40D, a step up from the Rebels was too extravagant, but the Canon 30D was generally available used/refurbished at a price competitive with the Sonys, Nikon D60 or the Canon XTi. Even before we missed the window of opportunity for the Sony (A300 plus 18-70; 70-300 lenses for $600), the 30D was my favorite because it seemed to offer the fewest compromises: reasonable cost, no bloated picture size (I viewed its 8mp a good thing, not bad), extra features of Canon's prosumer line, and Canon lens availability as all good things.
But there was 2 negatives. First, the weight. It's magnesium body weighs quite a bit more than a Rebel or Nikon, and it's quite a bit bigger. Some believe, though, that the extra weight can be a benefit by providing a better balance when telephoto lens are attached. Second, when I asked Megan about it, she said "that's a better camera than I have" (she has 2 20Ds), so we thought we perhaps were getting more than we needed (or even overstepping our bounds).
She came over one day to let us check out the 20D, and soon after Joanne took another look at the other options at a Best Buy. After time holding, checking out the interface, looking at the condition of the demo models (as a sign of durability), she agreed that the 30d looked to be the best option. Next came trying to find a deal.
We already missed out on one prime opportunity. A woman listed a full kit for $500 on Craig's List. I called about it, but didn't hear anything. The ad stayed up, and I convinced Joanne to call on it as well, as it was a price too good to pass up (this was before we decided for sure it was the camera we wanted). Joanne spoke with her and found out that Kate, the seller, had received a number of calls, mostly from men, many rude, so she just decided to follow up with the first woman who called. Which made Joanne second in line if that fell through. It didn't.
Adorama sells refurbished kits for $650, which was the fall back option. Ebay prices seemed to be between $530-600, so I started tracking auctions. Last Saturday (the 24th), an auction was winding down. A 30D with a lens far superior to the kit lens was being sold by a Las Vegas pawn shop. It was missing a fair number of kit items (manual, some cables, software cd), but it was over $100 less than what I expected it to go for with under 5 minutes left. Joanne said sure put in a bid if I didn't think it would go for that low. So I put in a bid with a minute left (which was about 10 minutes after I made the comment "maybe we shouldn't even get an SLR" after Joanne made a comment about the convenience of not having that many lenses, a reflection of her leaning, at the time, to getting a Nikon D40 and the two lens kit (18-55 and 55-200)).
As might be expected to maintain karmic balance in the world, our impulsiveness led to shopping victoriously, but we were a little surprised we did so. Joanne was fine in the aftermath, but I started to have doubts. THe missing accessories weren't a huge deal, with only the software disc being an issue. What concerned me the most (but only after we won) was the missing body cap for the camera, meaning perhaps a dusty (or damaged) sensor and that the camera would be shipped with the lens attached. The other concern was that the camera came with only those things that one would take on a vacation--meaning that it was hocked by a gambler. This could go two ways--the camera could be lightly used; or it could be not well taken care of because, well, it's just a camera (I suppose both might apply). Concern continued to mount when the seller was a less responsive in responding to emails than would be considered optimal. The sales ad noted they would ship within seven days of receiving payment (which meant it wouldn't arrive before Joanne's trip up to Flag), and they sure did use that entire window, but they never did send a shipped notice.
Anywho, that's kind of a long winded way of saying "I got Joanne a DSLR for mother's day, and it arrived today". And only days after our other accessories, including the "nifty fifty" arrived.
We are now proud to present some of the pictures taken on day 1 of the Camera, or what will henceforth be known as "Owen in 30D":
Camera info:
- To purchase: Amazon, B&H or Adorama
- Canon gear reviews: The Digital Picture
- Nikon gear reviews: Thom Hogan
- Lens reviews: FredMiranda.com
- Discussion forum: Digital Photography Review
- General reviews: DP Review and Steve's Digicams
- Third party batteries: Diamondback Batteries
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The third of the month
The third of the month has been fairly eventful this year:January 3rd: Diablo got shutdown, casting doubt on the plans of spring league. We showed them! We got in two leagues!
March 3rd: Goes without saying...
April 3rd. Actually, not much happened. It was a Thursday. Nothing for May either. A Saturday.
June 3rd: Owen comes home from his first vacation. That's Grandpa K. He's come a long away in a couple of weeks. At the baptism, when offered the choice between the wine or Owen, he chose the former. It was a matter of priorities. I guess he figured it wasn't actually an either/or. I'm not sure about this, though. I thought we had a clear "No drinking and holding" policy, but Joanne says we never discussed this.
Oh yeah, and February 3rd: The second best day of the year:
It's a very well done fan vid. Couple of notes: BJac's 4th and 1 isn't in the clips, it should be. Also, the last Brady pass shown is the third down throw, but it cuts to the 4th down pass deflection. The third down was downright scary. And I found it ironic that on Moss's TD, Webster fell expecting the fade, and on Plax's Hobbs got juked expecting the slant.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Off the wagon
Joanne and Owen have been in Flagstaff since Saturday with her parents, meaning I've been severely Jacked Up. Don't let her know.
But the jacking up has been the fuel necessary to near completion of Owen's room. Between the late starts to the day, grand parental visits, and the usual decorative indecision, Owen's room hasn't been touched since February. But that's changed!
The beadboard is in, most of the trimwork is up, the window is cased. I'd include pictures, but Joanne has the camera. Somebody with a modicum of talent could probably knock it what's left in under 3 hours--I'll probably turn it into a full day. Or more. But the goal would be to finish-finish by next weekend. Owen won't quite move in yet. Probably give the room a couple of weeks to air out from the new painting (the best it can with the windows not normally open). So his target move-in day is July fourth.
Independence Day!
As for my own independence, I've been asked a couple of times if I miss Owen. But no one asks if I miss Joanne. A little odd. At any rate, I do, but it's not that acute since I know he's with Joanne. What I do miss is not being there for when he does something new--from Joanne's updates, apparently he likes traveling--he was the happiest/smiley-est he's ever been, and last night was the longest he's slept. Apparently missing me hasn't crossed his mind!
But the jacking up has been the fuel necessary to near completion of Owen's room. Between the late starts to the day, grand parental visits, and the usual decorative indecision, Owen's room hasn't been touched since February. But that's changed!
The beadboard is in, most of the trimwork is up, the window is cased. I'd include pictures, but Joanne has the camera. Somebody with a modicum of talent could probably knock it what's left in under 3 hours--I'll probably turn it into a full day. Or more. But the goal would be to finish-finish by next weekend. Owen won't quite move in yet. Probably give the room a couple of weeks to air out from the new painting (the best it can with the windows not normally open). So his target move-in day is July fourth.
Independence Day!
As for my own independence, I've been asked a couple of times if I miss Owen. But no one asks if I miss Joanne. A little odd. At any rate, I do, but it's not that acute since I know he's with Joanne. What I do miss is not being there for when he does something new--from Joanne's updates, apparently he likes traveling--he was the happiest/smiley-est he's ever been, and last night was the longest he's slept. Apparently missing me hasn't crossed his mind!
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