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Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Gadget Heaven
I've been spending the last few days fiddling around with the new camcorder, figuring out all the features. So far it seems to work very well. The test will be taking it out on a trip somewhere and seeing how it performs. Still trying to get over the smallness of the thing and working on ways to increase stability while shooting. Dianne has been in Saskatchewan for the last couple of days visiting the folks and comes home this evening. I have been working evenings all week so it hasn't seemed too much different than usual having her gone. We sometimes go for days without seeing each other. We're hoping to make up for that with a little trip to the mountains this weekend. The last dump of snow is slowly ebbing away and I'm hoping the weather will stay nice from now on, especially while we are in the mountains. I guess it's time to get out and take down the Christmas lights again for another year. It's sad to see that the far east has been hit by another earthquake, and just as they were trying to recover from the tsunami. It obviously wouldn't be the best place to plan to go to for a holiday now. Thursday, March 24, 2005
Dianne Gets To Poke A Little Fun
It was a tough couple of days with lots of snow to shovel but it looks like the end is in sight. The skies have been sunny for the last couple of days and even though the temperature hasn't ventured much above zero, the snow on the roads has been melting from the heat of the sun. Unfortunately the partially melted stuff freezes real good overnight causing a little havoc. I picked up a new set of contact lenses yesterday with a new prescription and immediately found out that I could not read with them. Great! So I am back to wearing the old pair until I go to the optometrist next week for a little tweaking. Yesterday was kind of a tough day all around as I also had my teeth cleaned. That's bad enough ordinarily but when it's your better half that is attacking your mouth with sharp metal objects while you are flat on your back, that's a real test of the relationship. I made up for yesterday's discomfort today by going out and purchasing my new Panasonic camcorder, on sale at A&B Sound for $250 less than the regular retail price. So that's a good thing. After doing a bit of grocery shopping for this weekend's Easter celebrations I spent the rest of the afternoon getting familiar with the intricacies of the new toy. It is quite the gadget, with lots of functionality that blows my old Sony out of the water. The video looks nice and crisp with vibrant colors thanks to it's 3ccd pickup. But I am still put off by how small the thing is and how hard it is to get a steady hand held shot even with the built in stabilization. Not like the big lug I am used to. However, I have been doing lots of reading lately about how to overcome some of the drawbacks to such a small camera, and have even tried a few of the techniques, so I am optimistic about getting some very nice video from now on. And with the advent of video editing and DVD authoring which I have been dabbling in, I can look forward to documenting the family Hilton saga in an entertaining and efficient manner. Sunday, March 20, 2005
Winter Wonderland ver 2.0
Well it had to happen. I guess too many people were out in their shorts raking their lawns during our warm spell last week. Couple that with the fact that it is officially the first day of spring today. As a result, we have had snow every day for the last 4 or 5 days so that now, instead of feeling like the beginning of spring it feels like mid November. Again. I seem to recall writing these same words at this time last year. Are we seeing a pattern here? It makes me want to roll down the window and yell at those foolish people raking their lawns, thinking this is it, "Put that rake away! Get some clothes on! It's NOT over!!!" See you when spring actually arrives, sometime in mid July. One less thing for me to do for the wedding. I picked up a new black suit on the weekend and a new white shirt. Just need to find a nice tie and I think I'm set. That is... unless...there's something else I'm supposed to do. Oh yeah. Something about writing some sort of speech or something. No sweat. I'll do that the night before. Sunday, March 13, 2005
Wedding Day Prep
Well, most of the invitations have been sent and the responses are slowly starting to trickle in so I guess we're committed. Dianne has bought her "Mother-of-the-bride" dress and I am told I have to get a new suit. So it looks like there's some clothes shopping ahead in my near future (oh joy!). We are still a couple of months away from the big day so I don't think the pressure is on quite yet although I guess there's no real pressure for the father of the bride until the checkbook comes out. So far things seem to be going smoothly from my perspective, however that may change as D-Day approaches. Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
There is almost no snow left on our side of the street here, which can only mean one thing: we are in for a nasty dump of snow. Just when you think it is safe to go out and rake the lawn in your shorts, you find yourself digging out ten feet of snow on the driveway in your skidoo suit. Sunday, March 06, 2005
New Toy Coming
I see a few weeks have passed since my last post. I can't have been that busy, but it seems my time has slipped away quickly (again). As the wedding looms closer (only 2 months 21 days, by the spinning heart on the wall) we have been gearing up some of the pre-wedding activities. Most of the invitations are out finally after spending a week compiling, checking and rechecking the list. Then someone (me) had the brilliant idea of printing the addresses right on the envelopes which caused all kinds of problems with the printer until a very simple solution was found to correct it. Progress on the video has been slow as I am waiting for pictures from the groom's family as well as a new video camera to shoot some special footage. The kids have been taking their premarital course at church this weekend and have really enjoyed it. So things are slowly coming together. After a couple of weeks of poring over articles and reviews online I have decided to purchase a new digital video camera, a Panasonic model. I am just waiting for them to go on sale at A & B sound where I should be able to get a good deal in a couple of weeks as they are going to be cleared out for this years model. One thing that has blown me away in all my research is the amazing way everything about these cameras has been miniaturized, almost to the point where it is hard for me to believe that these little things will do what they are touted to do. They look like toys. But of course, these little wonders do quite a bit more than my old analog camera. They just don't have the "heft" of the older cameras, something us old broadcasters are used to. Thank goodness for image stabilization! And tripods!
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