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I still wouldn't trade it in for a DSLR.... yet.
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I'm speechless. x
I will say however, that the article sheds a new light for me on a question that I've had. As a SLR and DSLR user, I've been wondering why Nikon (specifically) has chosen to upgrade their 10 and 12 mp cameras (and with video) rather than come out with a new camera with say... 15mp. There are point and shoots out now that are capable of 12mp at a price in the same neighborhood as a DSLR with 10mp. It's an uneasy feeling waiting for that 15mp DSLR and watching everything around it 'upgraded' for image quality. Is Nikon trying to appease the masses and draw in crowds of people to DSLR by offering their old flagships as new flagships with video capabilities? Thereby keeping the DSLR alive?
If so, it could be a long wait for that upgraded D90
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I went to the zoo again today. But that's not really what this post is about. As I was leaving I saw that Nessie had arrived. I'll have to go back again sometime to get some photos of her. But this post isn't about that either.
I sat on a picnic table and watched as parts of Nessie were unloaded. They took a break and I heard someone say they wouldn't start back up for another hour so I left. But during the approximately hour that I was watching the action there were two squirrels trying to see if I had anything interesting. And to them interesting meant food.
Neither was scared of me. In fact they both came within inches of the camera.
And both squirrels were fat. Really fat. We have a lot of squirrels around our house but these "city squirrels" really needed to go on a diet.
The squirrels' diet wasn't helped by the mom and two kids who were feeding them fries. Both squirrels would get a fry and come back toward me to feast.
I probably should have ordered 2. One for work and one for home. Maybe I'll transport it back and forth.
What a week this past week has been!! Here's a short recap..
Tuesday I took another PTO mom with me to Sam's Club to do shopping for our Fall Festival. PTO was providing and serving all of the concessions. We were planning on serving Nachos, Hot dogs, Popcorn, Cotton Candy and various drinks as well as having some candy on hand. Since I'm the only one on PTO that has a Sam's Club membership I had to do the bulk of the work. Of course it didn't help that the one PTO mom that offered to go with me is our Raging Alcoholic PTO mom..so I'm not sure she was entirely useful that day. We got what we thought we needed purchased and I took it all home to store it until Saturday.
Thursday I got a call from PTO president that apparently we hadn't purchased enough food. So off she and I went on Friday to Sam's Club again. You ever known someone that you just can't take shopping with you because they want to buy everything in the store? That would be PTO President. We went in there for more Hot Dogs and Buns and came out with Hot dogs, buns, chili, more candy, a coffee machine, and a cash register..LOL.
In all honesty the Cash register wound up being a great purchase..it's small and light and very easy to use. It also makes my job as treasurer easier since the journal feature automatically tallies all of our sales and tells us exactly how much should be in there after it's all over. It was good to have for the Fall Festival and we'll get a LOT of use out of it in the years to come.
Saturday was our Fall Festival. I arrived at the school with all of our food, every crock pot I own, and other various items at 8:30 am sharp. The festival was scheduled to begin promptly at 10 and I knew that if we were using crock pots to heat up the nacho cheese and chili that would take at least an hour. Unfortunately NOBODY was at the school at 9am. I had to call the principal to let me in so that I could start setting up concessions. The other ladies arrived about 30 minutes later.
We had some serious electrical issues with all of our crockpots and one of the PTO ladies had brought two large electric roasters for cooking the hot dogs in. We didn't realize that you couldn't plug all of that into one surge protector. Even after splitting them into two different surge protectors we still blew breakers and melted one of the cords.. Eventually we got it all worked out and going.
Fall Festival was a success. We sold out completely on Nachos an hour before the festival was over. Bart brought the boys and they had a blast.
After I got home from Fall Festival I collapsed into bed to take a power nap. Bart woke me up at 5:30ish and told me that he had just gotten tickets to see Widespread Panic and The Allman Brothers Band at the Woodlands Pavilion.
Initially I was cranky and tired and not prepared to get straight into the car, then I remembered most of the people there would be unwashed hippies so I just ran a comb through my hair, threw on some sweatpants and a tie dye and grabbed my hippie sweater. I fit right in and the show was great.
The funniest part was that when Widespread Panic went off stage and The Allman Brothers came on the cloud of Marijuana Smoke could have been seen from space. I seriously think we all got stoned just from sitting there.
This morning I made a trip to the grocery store, and immediately went back to bed, which is where I still am now. I am literally just wiped out today. I have slept most of the day or dozed or just laid here....Tomorrow begins yet another crazy week... At least I have all of my meals planned for the week....two days this week the Crockpot will be doing all the work. LOVE the fall!!
I'm off to make some dinner and make sure the kids clothes are ready for school tomorrow.
Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!!
At least a good part of it. I spend installing this new kitchen faucet. The spray part on the bottom of the old one broke off, so whenever we turned on the faucet we got a shower. And the sprayer part, which was a separate piece, had a broken handle, so it didn't work at all.
It was time. I had put this off for weeks, probably a month. I needed to buy the new one. I was never really sure about doing it myself. Something just happened on Saturday and I said what the heck. I'm going to do this. "There is no try, only do or do not."
I went to Home Depot and purchased the new faucet, a basin wrench, plumbers putty, and a cover for where the old sprayer was. About $150.
I cleaned everything out from under the sink. Found a few tools. As the morning went on, I went back and forth to find a few more tools. Of course most of the old sink was pretty well attached and stuck. WD-40 became a good friend. Along with the eye protection.
One side of the water to the sink had been replaced when we had the fridge with water and ice maker installed. So there was a nice, new shut-off valve on the cold side. I was not so lucky with the hot side. There was no shut-off. I had to turn off the water to the entire house.
Eventually i got the old sink out. It was at this point I realized I needed a shut-off valve, what I had under the sink was NOT going to work to connect to the new faucet. A quick trip to True Value in town and some great help from the gentleman there and I had a new supply line, and two choices of sizes for the shut-off.
Got them home and the 5/8 didn't fit, neither did the 3/8. I realized I didn't need anything special to put this on a different part of the pipe. I just had to cut the pipe. And for that I did have a hacksaw. A little sawing and mission accomplished. Shut-off installed. I made sure they were turned off and turned the main water back on. NO LEAKS.
I had removed the new faucet from the box and looked over the contents. But it was at this point, with the old faucet and sprayer removed (thanks to a chisel and a hammer to loosen it up) that i found out, i was missing the base of the new faucet that covered the three holes.
A trip back to Home Depot. And a quick exchange and a hope that this one would have all the parts.
It did.
The rest of the installation was pretty simple. I even managed to do a decent job with the plumbers putty.
The new sink works and you don't get a shower, unless you want one.
I feel a great accomplishment for completing this all by myself without professional help.
I spent most of the day cussing at the old sink. And I came out of it with just one injury. At the end while climbing under the sink to check for leaks, I bumped my forehead on the drain pipe. I soon noticed my forehead was bleeding from a tiny scratch.
Not bad for about 5 hours of work.
This morning was the annual running of Bailey's Doggie Dash. Andrew hasn't been running much at all this year due to a back injury so he decided to enter the costume contest. He has had this idea for a couple of years but finally got costumes this year. Andrew's race number this year was a cool one. His birthday month and year.
Since we call Haven Miss B when she's naughty (get it - Miss B Haven) the bee costume is fitting. Andrew had to be a sunflower to go along with her. They ended up placing fourth in the costume contest.
These two collies have creative costumes each year. One year they were "collie flowers" with head gear similar to Andrew's! The football player took first place and the cheerleader took second in the costume contest. A pirate was in third place even though we thought Haven should have been there if the collies were going to be first and second. Haven was doing her screaming while being *judged* so we told her she got points taken off her score for her behavior. You can see video of Haven screaming here.
Once the race started Haven settled in. But Andrew said that she was mad that they weren't running as fast as they usually do!
After the race we hung out while waiting for everyone to finish. Haven was all over getting treats and watching the people. She didn't mind all of the dogs but they weren't as interesting.
Back at home we took our yearly photo of Andrew and Haven in front of the burning bush with whatever they took home from the race that year.
After throwing a ball at the bumper it eventually came down. Now both dogs are happily sleeping - Beacon in a sunbeam and Haven on a double decker soft bed.
More photos that I took this morning can be seen in my Doggie Dash Flickr album.
Are you on twitter? Do you follow Tony Hawk? If so, you probably know about the current THTH (Tony Hawk Twitter Hunt) that is currently underway.
tonyhawk Madison, WI: SP WI Sheehan sk8 park, creek bed between diamonds and park. look in the bushes. you will find your prize. #THTH
On Wednesday someone hid one of Tony's skateboards in my town. I saw the tweet two minutes after it was posted. And I grabbed my coat and keys and told me coworkers I was heading out the door and would be back in an hour. By the time I got to my car, someone had posted that the package was found. It took less than 10 minutes.
Evidently he was skating that day, in the rain, and saw someone digging in the bushes. He then found the package. I was so close to finding a Tony Hawk skateboard. That would have been cool.
Granted I don't skate. But it would have been sweet to find. I'm not really sure what I would have done with it. If it's signed I probably would have donated it to the local skatepark so they could raffle it off to build their new park. Or I could have it framed and hung on the wall at home.
