Being a little frustrated with the limitations of the on-board flash on my 30D I ordered a Speedlite 580EX last Saturday. It arrived today and looks pretty impressive. I’ve got to pick up some batteries in order to really test it, but the fit and finish are great.
Author Archives: Pat
The Batteries Are In
OK, I’m really surprised and impressed. I checked the mail when I got home from work today and what was in my mailbox? The batteries I ordered on Saturday. I’ve got them on the charger now, but they’re looking identical and are charging at about the same rate as the stock battery. The first one’s out of the charger and is working fine.
I’m really impressed by their prices and service and would recommend them to anyone looking for digital camera or camcorder batteries.
Spare Batteries for the 30D
With the big motorcycle trip coming up I wanted to have a little more power at my disposal since being in the middle of nowhere with a dead battery would really stink. After a bunch of searching I ran across this thread over at http://photography-on-the.net/ which had a link to SterlingTek. They had a pair of BP-511 equivalents for $29 with shipping. I’ve ordered them and they’re on the way.
Last Day Of Class, Last Day Of School
Today, after fourteen years, I’m finally finishing my final class in order to earn my bachelors degree. It’s a bittersweet moment because I’ve really enjoyed working with my classmates and at the same time I’m ready to be done with it. So here’s my last official assignment, the final weekly summary that I posted a little while ago.
Wow. The last weekly summary I'll have to write. As such I'm going to change it more to a program summary.
As the song says, "what a long, strange trip it's been."
I started down this road in July of 2003, having taken seven years off after leaving college due to some health problems. It had become clear to me that I needed to complete my studies in order to keep my career growth moving. So I said to myself, "how hard can it be?" and "I'll just coast on through". Little did I know how wrong I was, but in such a good way. From my first class to my last I've learned something important, valuable, and immediately useful in my personal and professional life.
The course of study here has had such a significant impact on my life, both personal and professional, that I will forever be grateful. I have learned so much, including how to deal with difficult situations, how to write in APA style, responsibility to keep schedules and due dates, discipline to keep showing up instead of blowing off class, how to calculate mortgages in Java, the difference between a T1 and a DS3, how to design SQL Server databases, and a literally uncountable number of other skills.
I really want to thank all of you, my fellow students and my teachers, for the past three years. You've all made it so much more fun and educational than it could have been. It has been an honor to work with all of you over the last three years and I'm more than a little choked up right now because I know that I am going to be losing something not having this interaction. I'm going to miss you all. So if you're ever going to be in Dallas, give me a shout at stjeanp@pat-st-jean.com and lets see if we can meet in real life instead of behind keyboards.
The 30D Arrived
It’s in, but I’m not bringing it home until after I’ve finished my final team project for school so there’s no big update now. I’ll try to get some pictures in this weekend, but since it’s the last weekend of the last class I’m going to have to keep the new toy a much lower priority.
Replacement ER-6i Filters
I finally used up the last of the filters supplied with my ER-6i headphones and have been needing to get some more before I get out on the road for the trip. They’re a little harder to find that I thought. Even though you can order them directly from Etymotic, I hunted around a little to see if there was a better deal. I found a small independent recording studio who is selling them cheap, and what the heck, supporting independent music, even if indirectly, is a good thing. So if you’re looking for ER-6i filters, head on over to Sage Arts and give them your money!
Going Digital
Amazon had a heck of a deal on the Canon EOS 30D so I finally bit the bullet and ordered one. I’ve been running a film EOS body and a digital point and shoot for a while and have been drooling over the 5D, but it’s not in the cards. For the same price I can get the 30D and some more L glass!
It should be in by next weekend and I’ll definitely be posting my experiences.
Motorola RAZR V3
I’m out of work until Monday, when I start the new job. When I left Nokia I had to turn in my phone, and since I hadn’t been carrying a personal phone, instead relying on the company supplied one, I was feeling a little disconnected. I stopped by the local Verizon store and got myself a personal phone and plan. Anyone who wants the new number should just e-mail me.
I decided to go with a Motorola RAZR V3. It’s a lot smaller than the Nokia Communicator I had been carrying and that’s fine with me. I like the size and form factor. There’s going to be a learning curve because I’ve been so used to Nokia’s phones, but that’s no big deal. The nice thing was that getting my phonebook updated was completely painless. The Mac’s iSync application has native support for the RAZR so it really was no more than connecting the phone, configuring iSync, and clicking sync.
Sound quality is good, I’ve got vibrating alerts again, and I’ve even gotten my ringtones moved over.
Last Day At Nokia
Today was my last day, and was definitely a bittersweet experience. I’d gotten really comfortable with what I was doing there, but it wasn’t a good comfortable because I wasn’t being challenged any more and was getting moved in to a career path without much chance of advancement.
There’s a lot of stuff I’m going to miss, especially some of the people I’ve been fortunate enough to work with. But there’s a lot that I won’t miss, especially the friction between teams and rampant communication problems. That being said, I’ve got a place in my heart for Nokia, it’s a great company to work for, and other than my frustrations with the IT portion of it, would recommend that anyone apply for a job there.
Judas Unchained
I finished Judas Unchained tonight. It was definitely a thick read, but worth the effort. It’s the sequel to Pandora’s Star, but even that’s not accurate. It’s more of a continuation than a sequel aince there’s almost no recap at the beginning and the story picks up right where Pandora’s Star left off.
It was a great book, I really liked the series and the universe created for it. The characters and situations were well designed. The heroes weren’t larger than life, and definitely had their flaws. The resolution of the main conflict has left room for more development in that universe, especially since the war with the Primes has really thrown the civilization into turmoil. I can see, if not a civil war, definitely a lot of change as the effects of the lost planets and their temporally and physically displaced inhabitants and the uncovery of how badly the Starflyer’s agents messed things up set in. I’d certainly buy another book set in that universe.