Snap snap...

So, I bought a new camera from Circuit City on Thursday, after work+gym. As I did price research online, I found that it's 276.99 for the Panasonic FZ8- black. It's a superzoom camera (12X optical), and it's loaded with functions and all. I was thinking about getting a dSLR, but, I don't think I have the time and money to invest in a dSLR and lenses.

One thing I found out about Circuit City is that, always check the price online, as they are kinda 'shady' in the pricing. This was because the price tag of the camera at the branch showed $329.99. If I were to buy it without knowing the online price, that would be the price I pay. That's not really good practice. That's about 20 percent price differential.

As I didn't have time to really fiddle with my camera yesterday, it was late when I got back from the gym, and the weather wasn't that good, I decided to do it all today.

So, after working out this morning, I went to Elm Park, about 5 minutes drive from my sublet, to test drive my camera. And here are some of the pictures I took.

Don't ask me what kinda of birds they are though.. :P

Ducks!!! Yummy...
Show off...Izzit just me, or it looked like it's smiling?
who's the boss now..?
Clouds... always a good bet...
Squirrel or squir-rel?

Enjoy... :)

Happy 4th of July!!!

So, I got a day off today. What did I do? I managed to finish up a book, Fortune's Formula, kinda an interesting book for a Math/Econ geek I should say. Not too technical, but good enough with all the ideas and all.

Then, at about 9.50am, I left my sublet for Brandeis University. According to Google Map, it will take me about 50 minutes for the 42.3 miles journey. It took me probably about 45 minutes, and I didn't get lost at all. The traffic was surprisingly good, and wow, I was there to meet up with Sher Mern (after 1 and a half year), early, at about 10.35am.

Brandeis University is kinda small, but it's a pretty good location, I mean, less than 30 minutes from Downtown Boston, how bad could that be? I'm such a sucker at taking photographs, maybe next time. Or, maybe when I get a new camera, my passion for photography will be revived. I'll see. I've been eye-ing for a superzoom camera for quite some time now. Panasonic FZ8 looks like a pretty good deal to me. Might be getting it tomorrow actually. I'll see.

So, after that, his friend, Daniel picked us up to his church's 4th of July picnic + volleyball, on a field at MIT. It was fun. I got to meet with too many people with names that I couldn't remember now. (not really, but I probably met like 30+ people, if not more), and I think I can remember like maybe 15 of them. (thanks to daily training on BrainAge, my memory is getting better.) :)

So, after all that, we had dinner, and then, after some rest, Daniel took us back to Brandeis, and I drove back, in the rain to my sublet. The drive back was even easier, just I-90 all the way, and i'm back in Worcester in no time.

So, that's pretty much it. Even though I missed the live-telecast of Nathan's Hot Dog eating competition, well, I don't have a tv at my sublet, so, I would have missed it anyway, but, finding out that Kobayashi's loss wasn't that surprising, since his domination had been 6 years, and people were trying hard to knock him off.

So, happy independence day to all!!! And to my bro, happy birthday!!!

Public Service Announcement...

If your camera is experiencing CCD problems, like having lines on pictures (like those I took), and also blurry, shifty images... Like this one: (I took this with my camera...)


"Initial service advisories by Sony, Canon, Fujifilm and Konica Minolta were soon followed by announcements by Nikon, Ricoh, and Olympus."

For more information on this, and the complete list of affected cameras, check out the following link:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/badccds.html

And, fortunately (or unfortunately?), my camera is among those having this problem. But, well enough, Canon, being the good company, is:

"Canon's Response:
Effective immediately, and regardless of warranty status, Canon will repair, free of charge, the products listed above exhibiting the above-mentioned malfunction if Canon determines that the malfunction is caused by the CCD image sensor. Canon will also cover the cost of shipping and handling in connection with this repair."

So, most probably, my buying of a new camera will need to be postponed...