A Holiday Fit for a Man
Posted on January 11, 2012
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Or a woman...:) Anyway, January 24 is Beer Can Appreciation Day. To bad it's on a Tuesday. Regardless, I'm going to celebrate by hanging out in my Man Cave and throwing back a few cold ones. My current favorite canned beer is Steel Reserve - more bang for the buck. Not the best tasting beer I've ever had but it's OK if it's cold and really good in tomato beer. Anyway, be sure to mark your calendar and celebrate Beer Can Appreciation Day. Cheers!!!
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Posted on December 19, 2011
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We've been taking our son to Lowes Build and Grow clinics since summer time. They're a fun way to spend a Saturday morning with your kid. If you haven't heard about the Build and Grow clinics, you get to take your kid to build a free wooded toy. The first time you go, they give your kid a free shop apron and safety goggles. The toys are pretty simple to build - all the pieces are just nailed together and the kit includes stickers to decorate it with. A couple times I haven't had time to stay and they let us take the kit home with us. The kits also come with a really cool cloth patch and a Certificate of Completion. The Build and Grow clinics are held twice a month but for December 2011 they held 3 clinics, building a caboose, coal car (tender), and locomotive to make a Christmas train. My son loves going to the Build and Grow clinics and I bet your kid would too. You can learn more about it at my Build and Grow page.
Planning A Romantic New Years Eve
Posted on December 7, 2011
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Well it's that time of year... time to start planning a romantic New Years Eve with the wife. Forget the New Years getaways - we'll stay home. I don't like diving on New Years Eve - too many drunks on the road so why add one more? Actually I probably won't drink. We'll just have some New Years appetizers then settle back and watch a couple of movies. I'm not even really sure if we'll stay up till midnight - maybe just call an early night so I have energy the next day to watch the Macy's New Years Day Parade.
Like this post? Buy me a beer.Still Plays with Trains…
Posted on November 6, 2011
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It's nice to see that Southern Pacific is finally getting some attention from model train makers. I just got two Athearn GP-9s with the Black Widow paint scheme and they look awesome. Yep, more HO scale stuff. No matter how hard I try to make the switch to S Scale it seems like I keep going back to HO. It's hard to resist with all the cool toys available (in HO) and other than River Raisin Models, the supply os S scale locomotives and rolling stock seems to be drying up - which is a shame, because S Scale really is the "ideal scale" especially if you're into narrow gauge. Oh well...
We've got our house just about ready to rent out so hopefully soon I'll have time to start on a railroad so I can actually run some of my equipment instead of it just taking up closet space. HO or S it's going to be based on SP's Lone Pine (a.k.a. Jawbone) branch in the Owens Valley. Oh, and I just ordered my Fuji X10 from Amazon with an expected delivery date of November 15. Life is good:)
Like this post? Buy me a beer.Camera Porn
Posted on October 24, 2011
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If you're obsessed with cameras like I am, you might enjoy this site: Camera Porn. No, it's not what you might think from the title - it's all about high quality pictures of cameras - vintage, classic, and modern - and photography related gear. Today they have a picture of a gorgeous Yashica Electro 35 GSN.
In Love With Holga
Posted on August 10, 2011
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There's a new love in my life and her name is Holga. My wife doesn't know yet and I'm not sure how to tell her. I don't want it to hurt our marriage but I just couldn't resist Holga... Holga is my new 120N film camera:) I've been getting burned out looking at $800 lenses for my DSLR and I wanted to try something different. I was reading an interview with a pro photographer on a camera blog and he mentioned that he always carried a Holga 120N in his camera bag. I didn't know what that was so I did a little Googling... Turns out the Holga is a cheap plastic camera used for a style of photography called lomography. Lomography photos have soft focus, vignetting (darkening of the corners), and soemtimes wierd effects caused by light leaks and reflections inside the camera. The thing I like is the cameras are cheap - I only paid $30 for my Holga and that includes shipping. I think my first project is going to be documenting the clutter in my back yard and in my man cave.
Links:
My Holga Photography page has a good overview of the different Holga 120 cameras.
lomography.com is the best source to learn about lomography. Lots of cool cameras for sale too...
Like this post? Buy me a beer.Back to Film?
Posted on July 16, 2011
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Well, I really do love my new digital camera. It's easy to carry, blah blah blah... but I also like the versatility of a 35mm SLR. In fact I own a Pentax K200D and I just bought a new lens for it, with plans to buy a couple more lenses over the next few months. But then I got to thinking... I have an ME Super left over from my high school days. Back then, taking pictures was like magic. With digital, not so much... I remember having to be careful... film and processing cost you for every shot you took. Digital did away with the cost, but also did away with the magic.
Anyway, while trying to decide what lens to get for my DSLR, I started playing with my old ME Super. It still handles pretty nice, and the view through the viewfinder is about 1000% better than the K200D (maybe the K-x is improved). It doesn't have auto-focus, OTOH it doesn't have built-in electronics that will eventually fail. Lenses are harder to find, but also much cheaper. I just paid almost $600 for a wide angle lens to fit the K200D. My next lens was going to be a 100mm Macro - which costs almost $900. I found a 135mm lens for the ME Super in like-new condition for less than $100. Film and processing cost money, but I'm guessing I can pay for a lot of both with the $800 difference in just one lens. And I want more than just one lens...
So digital cameras are cool - and I'll keep mine - but I think in a big way I'm going back to film. What else would you expect from a guy who has a 62 Buick for a daily driver?
Like this post? Buy me a beer.My Newest Toy
Posted on July 14, 2011
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I just bought a new digital camera (Canon Powershot ELPH 100 HS) and I've been having a lot of fun with it. Three things I love most about it - it turns on instantly (my old camera was really slow), it's small enough to take anywhere, and it has some really cool built in special effects (like the fish eye mode I used for this post's picture). It also has a nice, bright 3" LCD which is really nice for me since I'm farsighted and I don't always have my reading glasses (aka old man eyes) with me when I want to take pictures. I've only had this camera for a few days so I haven't had much time to play with it but it's very easy to set up and navigate around the menus. Check out my Canon ELPH 100 HS Review or check out some pictures I've taken with it here and here. If you're looking for an easy to use camera that is very easy to take with you everywhere, I think you'll like the ELPH 100...
Brass Trains
Posted on April 22, 2011
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I've been finding some really nice deals on brass trains on eBay lately, especially for steam locomotives. I picked up a very nice, brand new SP 2-6-0 a few weeks ago, then a couple of Santa Fe steamers, then just last week I picked up a very cool Sandy River & Rangley Lakes Forney in Sn2. Of course I don't yet have a place to build a layout - my Man Cave is full of car stuff and my wife has informed me that my "New and Improved" man cave is going to be used as a rental if our son doesn't want to live there. But I digress...
If you're into model railroads and you've never had the chance to check out a brass locomotive, you should because they are very cool. You won't find anything else as highly detailed, and with the economy in the tank you can find some really good details. One of my Santa Fe engines was only $225 which is less than many plastic RTR locomotives. If you want to know more about brass trains, check out this page: Brass Model Trains
Like this post? Buy me a beer.Grilling Season
Posted on April 10, 2011
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It's been kind of hectic lately, my dog died last week, and the weather really sucks - 25° nights in April??? So... I took a week off, the kids are going to Bishop, my wife works tonight, and I'm going to cook Beer Can Chicken on the grill. This will be the first time I've ever tried it but it looks like a pretty easy recipe. Actually I plan on grilling every night this week if the weather cooperates (i.e. no snow or rain). Beer Can Chicken tonight, bacon wrapped scallops and shrimp on Monday, brats on Tuesday, steak on Weds, salmon on Thursday, and I haven't decided what to grill on Friday. Should be a fun week