entrepreneurs

I realized that I have several friends who are trying to start or are already running their own businesses. I am continually impressed! I'd like to show them my support. Please take the time to check out their websites linked from the sidebar.

advice

So, the unfortunate has happened and my trusty digicam has bit the bucket. Technically, I can still take pictures with it, but none of the buttons actually do anything anymore, so I am forced to just be happy with the default settings. Clearly, this will not do.

So I need recommendations on what I should purchase as its replacement. I'm going to buy something this month, so no advice to wait for the new year... The list of things that are important to me is relatively short, but here they are anyways in rank order:

1. SIZE: I am primarily a spontaneous photographer, and the last thing I want is something that requires effort/planning to carry along.

2. PRICE: I'd like to keep this under the $300 mark if possible.

3. PICTURE QUALITY: I've heard a little about the Image Stabilization stuff some cameras have... Sounds pretty useful, but I don't know how well it works, anyone that has tried it - please chime in!

4. MEMORY TYPE: It would be really nice if it used compact flash so that I could just use my current memory card, but that's not a huge requirement.

Other than that, I don't think I have many specifications. I'm not looking for something ultra-professional, I hardly used all the features on the one I had - the Canon Powershot S410. Speaking of which, if anyone has any advice on how to just fix my current camera, that would be very useful as well.

Okay, I know most of you have lots of experience and opinions with cameras, please help! :)

testosteroni

The real San Francisco treat.

ahem, now that we've gotten that out of the way.

So apparently, I'm a guy. Err, let me back up.

I picked up my mail today, and as is often the case, there was a new magazine waiting for my perusal. I seem to have gotten on some weird mailing list where they decided I need to be enlightened with new subscriptions from time to time, none of which I've paid for. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I've been able to drool over many pictures in Cooking Light this way. What, you want me to actually *cook* the recipes in there? Pshh. You obviously don't know me very well.

Anyways, back to today's magazine. It's an issue of a magazine I've never heard of, Sync. Ignoring the scantily clad, airbrushed model on the cover (because really, what magazine cover doesn't have one of those?), I zoom in on a few snippets of headlines: "Mind-blowing New Gadgets for 2005!" "Free Gear! Flat Screens, DVD Burners, Digital Cameras..." Woohoo, this sounds right up my alley! Eagerly, I dive in, and start flipping through the pages, and... hello. Something's a bit off, and it takes me a minute to figure out what it is. There seem to be just a few too many pictures of lingerie, women in skimpy bathing suits, and columns with topics like Baby Spice's Top 10 Pink Items, replete with a picture of her in a dress slit up to there and cut down to there. I flip back to the cover, and there it is. The explanation. The subtitle. The mission statement, if you will. There, in a font about a tenth of the size of the title, it says, "Stuff for a Man's Life".

Oh, but why. Why, I ask?? This is clearly a geeky gizmo magazine. The content would have survived on its own. I, for one, loved the short interview with Robert Adler, the guy who invented the tv clicker. And the review on noise-cancelling heaphones? Spot on. Those Bose babies are amazing, it's like your life has been transformed into a movie montage. Things are happening "on the screen in front of you", but all you hear is the music of the soundtrack.

But back to Sync. Why did its creators feel the need to window-dress it with "manly stuff" and lose any chance of a female readership? I'm guessing they read this and decided the gals were a lost cause anyways. Ah well, I guess it's a good thing the mail gods have decided I'm a guy. Where else am I going to find out about things like MP3 vending machines?

plunge

"Sellout."
"I knew you'd cave."
"It's about time."
"You've gone over to the dark side."
"Just now? You??"

These were warm words I heard after I shared my news. Such encouraging friends I have.

But it was true, I'd been holding out for what seemed like months, employing my delayed gratification attitude to this just like anything else. My reasoning was simple, if I really wanted it, I would still want it later. If not, impulse averted. It's like the second set of ear piercings that I wanted when I was 16. My mother, wise woman that she is, said I wasn't allowed until I was 18, at which point, she'd no longer hold me back if I was still inclined. A mere matter of months later, they had lost their 'coolness' factor. Today, I'm happy with just the regular one set.

But this was no choice in self-mutilation. This was consumerism pure and simple. To buy or not to buy. Last night, it all came to a head. I finally gave in to the urges and threw caution to the wind...







I am now the happy owner of a 6GB silver ipod mini, the second generation with the famed 18hour battery life and all.


le mini


Ain't she purty? I'm pretty sure that's 90% of why I wanted an iPod so badly. Again, I'm a sucker for good marketing. Check out Apple's final words on the display. I thought they were a charming touch though I know they might start Round 3 of a debate at work :)