Office View

Here's the Empire State Building from our office window. Nice view here. Took this with the new camera, which I love more and more every time I use it.

Of course, I wasn't able to get professional quality. But then again, I'm not a pro photographer.

This little Sony T1 is perfect for me. It's quick on the draw, takes great images and has a wide range of features. Can't wait to take it up to Maine or down to Florida on vacation, not to mention out on the trails.

Anyone else out there have this camera? What accessories have you bought? Seems to me like it could use a nice case. Also, if anyone else out there has a camera that uses the old Memory Sticks or InfoLithium batteries, I have that stuff in my old camera bag for ya.

New Camera

Some gambling winnings, combined with a couple hundred bucks I got from cashing in my change at the CoinStar machine on Sunday, funded the purchase of a new camera. Best Buy was running a special on the Sony DSC-T1, which is a camera I've wanted for a while. Several months ago, my Sony DSC-S70 somehow managed to get crushed in my luggage, and I've been without a digital camera since (unless you count the piece of garbage built into my Treo). The DSC-S70 was a great camera and had been through a lot of abuse, including being jostled around in my ride-along bag on my quad for many a trail ride. I was really satisfied with it.

Love the new camera. It takes really nice photos, including this one of Sara. (I have a high-res version that looks terrific.) My only issue is that nothing from the DSC-S70 is compatible with the DSC-T1. I have a few Memory Sticks from the S70 that I could have used. Instead, I found myself having to buy a 256MB Memory Stick Pro Duo to use with the T1. Same goes for batteries - I had a spare battery for the S70 and now I have two batteries I don't need.

Some plusses of the T1 - First, I like how the camera is ready to shoot once you flick the lens cover on the front down. No missed shots waiting for the camera to "boot" like I did with the S70. Secondly, I love how small it is. With the S70, I found myself not taking a lot of pictures unless I was on vacation or something and remembered to take my camera bag along. The T1 can easily fit in a pocket, so I'm more likely to take it with me and actually take some pics.

It's a beautiful, sunny day in NYC. Might be a good day to go on a mini photo expedition at lunch...

Mohegan Sun Recap

This past weekend was the annual Donation To The Mohegan Indian Tribes Trip. Thankfully, after all the money I've poured into their coffers over the past several years, this time they donated to me.

I went up $300 on Saturday and paid for drinks and dinner on Saturday night with those winnings. I also paid cash for my hotel room.

After one monstrous hand of blackjack on Sunday afternoon, I went up another $400 and quit while I was ahead. Some kind pit boss put $100 on my Player's Club card, so I stocked up on sweatshirts and golf jackets for the family. I also topped off my gas tank with Player's Club cash.

So the whole weekend was paid for with winnings and I still went home with a few hundred dollars in my wallet. Woohoo!

Where's the Pool?

Took this pic on Saturday from my window. (Sorry for the screen marks.)

Anyway, the snow was already deep enough at that point that you couldn't even tell that there was a pool in the back yard.

Monday morning's commute was hell. Got the car out of the driveway okay, but I was doing a significant amount of skidding and fishtailing on the secondary roads. The LIE was fine, but I lost traction a few times on the William Floyd Parkway and on 35th and 27th streets once I got into Manhattan. I would have taken the train today, but we have an afternoon meeting at a client in NJ and need to drive there.

Something's wrong with my quad again. After a weekend of romping around in the snow, I think it fouled another plug. Only one way to tell...take apart the whole machine again. We'll save that for weekend after next, when I have some time.