Of course that video I mentioned a few entries ago about the ad I saw on TV is available on youtube. The difference is this one has a voice over and the one I saw on TV didn’t:
The whole campaign is described here.
I have a few more Outer Banks pictures I wanted to share.
We spent a lot of time on the beach, of course. This first photo we turned into a printed photo and frame for Sue’s Dad’s 80′th birthday:
Below you can see the Kitty Hawk test flights. Off in the distance you can see 5 stone markers, one marking where the plane took off and three close together plus one much further away where the plane landed for the four flights that day. The last marker is about 800 feet, the first three markers are within about 150 feet I think. The path leads from the monument where we’re standing to the where the plane took off. BTW, I never went to those stones so I could be completely wrong:
I need to buy another computer. Should I go mac again or should I build my own PC? I think the thought of running Windows XP again is worse than forking out the extra cash for one of those sweet Mac machines. Should I get mac mini or iMac? Mac mini means I have to go buy a monitor some place else, which wouldn’t be so bad except I might end up with a Mac mini and no monitor, which is just like getting your potstickers without the chopsticks.
What is a good monitor to get? A Dell? Those seem popular.
Today I noticed that Applecare is twice as much in the UK as US. The computers are similar prices except that VAT is 9 points higher than CA sales tax.
We need the following items for our place:
- 3 bathroom garbage cans
- 2 bedroom garbage cans
- drying rack
- dressers
- a bed for the guest room
- 3 or 4 night stands
- another computer
- a printer
- wireless router
- filing cabinet (desperately)
- one or two small desks
- end table
We better stay here more than a year is all I can say! Sheesh!
When it was really hot a few weeks ago one of our extremely nice neighbors lent us one of his portable A/Cs since his family was back in the States. I actually didn’t want it but I was trying to be friendly and I thought it might help. It was heavy though. We barely used it and then just before we headed out on our vacation Hugo and I moved it back into our neighbor’s apartment. Hugo leaned the thing back on its back two wheels, which struck me as not a good idea at the time, and then I grabbed the bottom. Anyway, we got it into the house and then one of the wheels fell off. I was freaking out, about to get on a plane, and dumping a broken, borrowed A/C back into our future neighbor’s house. While we were messing around a second wheel feel off and I starting screaming like an - never mind. Anyway, we couldn’t get the wheels back on and couldn’t convince ourselves that they had been sheared off. They both looked exactly the same. Finally I figured out how to get the wheels back on (it was not easy) and I was extremely proud of myself and relieved.
Well we saw those neighbors yesterday and I remembered about the A/C and I started to thank them, and tell them how I had freaked out because I thought I had broken the wheels, and before I could finished my sentence they said, “Oh, you broke them all right.” Apparently they popped right back off again. I’d like to take a look and see what’s the deal but really what I’d like to do is … SOMETHING. What I said at on the spot was, “That’s terrible!” They said that “They were probably about to break anyway …” and I just disagree. The conversation moved on but I was upset.
So … what would you do? Just let it drop? I know if somebody broke my wheels on my A/C that I lent them I would be (1) a little pissed off that they were so careless, in private to myself and (2) very understanding and forgiving in public and (3) very reluctant to accept anything from the other person, especially money of any sort.
So what would you do?
1. Are you wearing capris in the OBX family photo?
2. Can you buy your neighbors’ a new AC unit?
Yes to the capris.
They don’t really want me to buy a new unit for them. I think it’s OK. They took the other wheels off it and so it’s harder to move around but otherwise fully functional. And now they know I care.
I like your family photos. For some reason, the only ones of mine I ever like are the closeups of one kid or the other; I have almost no shots that I like with more than just one kid. I have nothing with both kids, and just a handful with one kid and their mother or a grandparent. I need to work on that.
On the monitor question, be careful about the new Dells. Some of them are 6-bit instead of 8-bit (so they can only display 262K colors instead of 16777K).
The upside is that the 6-bit monitors are much faster, which is important for gaming, if you care about that sort of thing. But since you care about photography, be sure whatever monitor you get is 8-bit.
Also remember that if you choose Windows, you may need to reinvent how to manage your photographs, assuming you’re still using iPhoto or Aperture. And even if you choose MacOS on a Mini or iMac, you may not be able to run Aperture.
Personally, I have a new 17″ MacBook Pro on order, but work is paying for it. :-)
Thanks Mark,
I bought a Mac mini today. Such a sweet computer and really really small. I got the bluetooth mice and keyboard as well.
You took a photo of me and Sue at Josh’s wedding which completely changed how I take photos. I don’t even want to tell you how it changed but perhaps I will send you the photo.
That’s good advice about displays - I assumed they were all at least 16M colors. I saw a bunch which advertised themselves as have 8ms response time. Are those the ones you’re talking about?
Speaking of MacBook Pros, I am dropping mine off at AppleCare later this week to replace the motherboard. This one makes a noise when running on batteries which they fixed. I think they finally have the kinks out though, so you done good ;-)
Yes, those are the ones.
Here’s a link to a page that offers a way to guess at the bit depth if it is not explicitly listed.
Is the picture you’re talking about of you and Sue with the mountains and water behind, framed by trees? I think I took that at relatively widish angle, standing close to you, with fill flash dialed down a bit. I think I took it with your camera, right?