Month: June 2005

Zoo & IMAX

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We both took a vacation day from work today so we could see the last ever (in this area, anyway) afternoon showing of Sharks 3D at the IMAX. I think the girl made a mistake in our favor and didn’t charge us enough for the tickets, though. I didn’t see any movie prices for $6 except child/senior, but that’s what our tickets cost. Score!

Anyway, the movie was really cool even though it was only 45 minutes long. I love nature films, and when they are in 3D, they are even cooler. I especially liked the part where it felt like you were in a sea of jellyfish swimming all around you.

Since I had acquired two free passes that expired today, we went to the zoo in the morning. I almost thought we weren’t going to be able to go because at 5:30 am there was a huge thunderstorm, but by the time we got up at 7:30, it was clear blue skies.

The zoo was a lot more crowded than we were expecting for a Thursday, but it wasn’t horrible. The weather was really hot and humid, but I got a lot of nice photos, so it was worth it.

Since we had time to kill between the zoo and the movie, we drove around the area and stumbled upon the location of the Lisle Eyes to the Skies Balloon Festival. It wasn’t open yet, but since we plan on going on Saturday to see the balloon launch, it was good to know the area a bit.

We also stopped at Starbucks to try the new Mint Mocha Frappachino and let me just say that it is delicious! I think I’m going to have issues this summer trying not to drink one every day. ;)

After the movie, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. We have seen them around lately, so we decided to give it a try. Their food was ok; nothing really to write home about. We got an order of their boneless chicken wings, but I wasn’t very fond of them. I prefer the wings at Hooters.

After dinner we went to Old Navy to look for some shorts and jeans. Joe found a pair of shorts he liked, but I wasn’t so lucky. I did come home with two more tank tops to add to my collection, however! One is purple and the other is royal blue.

It was a long and fun day. Back to work tomorrow, though, so I should get to bed!

Indecision

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I got my hands on the Canon Powershot A520 at Target this weekend to test it out, but while browsing, I also stumbled upon the Powershot A95 which is also very appealing. The A95 is priced around the same, but has an extra megapixel and a cool flip-out LCD screen which I really like.

The A95 isn’t perfect, however: it is larger in size/weight (even without batteries), takes 4 batteries as opposed to 2, and has a shorter zoom (114mm v.s. 140mm on the A520). I’m not sure how much that is going to matter since this camera is really for when I can’t bring along the 20D, but I really like tight shots v.s. wide angle even with my everyday snapshots.

I checked out both cameras in person at Target again yesterday, and I’m still no closer to making a decision. There’s so many cameras out there, but they all have their pluses and minuses. I remember when I bought my first digital camera: I knew right away I wanted the Nikon Coolpix 885 and that’s what I got. Why is this so difficult? I didn’t do this much research when I bought a car!

Joe warned me I better find something I like because that’s it for cameras. Who can blame him? Since 2001 I’ve purchased 4 digital cameras. I don’t even want to add up how much I’ve spent for all of them, plus accessories, combined. Granted, Joe has made use out of the 2 hand-me-downs, but it’s still bordering on ridiculous. And no matter what I choose, there’s going to be something smaller, yet better, just around the corner.

I even looked at other brands to ensure I’m not being short-sighted, but I really do like Canon the best, mostly for their body design and image quality. Ideally, I wish I could combine the strengths of Nikon and Canon to get the best camera possible. Nikon has better metering and a few nice features like Best Shot Selector where the camera takes several shots in succession and only saves the sharpest photo. It also has a better menu layout and macro capabilities. However, Canon has better a better sensor, color-representation and a nice AF-assist light to help in low-light situations. I think Nikon and Canon need to partner up to make me a camera!

I’m going to mull over this decision over the next month if I can manage it. I’m impatient and if I want something, I want it now, so it isn’t easy to wait. However, I can’t wait too long as I need to learn how to use the camera before our wedding. Plus buydig.com has a special through July 17th where you get a free photo printer when you buy any digital camera priced $129 or higher.

Sunday Brunch: Love

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Let’s talk about looooove.

1) Are you currently married or involved with a significant other? Give specifics and length of time that you have been with that person. I’ve been with Joe since January 2001 and we’re getting married October 25th this year.

2) Where did you meet your significant other? We used to work together at the cable company. We met April 1999.

3) What is your anniversary or special day of ANY kind and what did you do on that day with your significant other? We started going out on New Years, so we celebrate on that day.

4) What is the nicest thing that a person that you are or have been involved with has done for you? When Joe and I first started dating I was really sick and I was still living with my ex. Joe went to the Walgreens and bought me medicine and brought it over and then went home. I thought that was so sweet because he did all that and we couldn’t even spend any time together.

5) Do you have a special song or movie or place with your significant other? Describe. The Family Man starring Nicholas Cage is a special movie for us since it’s the first movie we saw together. There’s also a particular Mexican restaurant that is important to us because it was where we had our first non-date date.

Milwaukee trip

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I’ve got a lasagna in the oven, and Joe is waxing my car, so I’ll tell you about our trip to Milwaukee yesterday.

We arrived in the city a bit after 9 am and headed straight for the museum. It wasn’t hard to find even though the exit ramp on the highway we needed to take was closed. In fact, the entire downtown area was a snap to navigate, but we’ve come to find that growing up in one of the largest cities in the U.S. (Chicago, in case you don’t already know) does have its advantages.

The museum offers underground parking for a decent price (it was $8 for the four hours we were there) and we got a spot right near the entrance. In fact, the museum was pretty deserted when we got there even though it was past opening time. Do the people in Milwaukee sleep late on Saturdays? In Chicago the museum would have been swarming with people no more than a half hour after opening but it was pretty quiet until after noon. It was rather eerie, but nice, because we had the whole place to ourselves.

I didn’t do much research into what exhibits the museum offered since the real reason we were going was for the IMAX movie, so I was surprised to see they had a live butterfly atrium. We ran back to the car for our cameras (it was really close, so we made a habit of running to the car several times). It was hard getting good shots, however, because the exhibit didn’t get much natural light and the artificial light wasn’t very bright. It was still cool, though.

We browsed the exhibits on the first floor of the museum until it was close to the IMAX showing time since it was on the lower level. We were the first in line so we got the choice seating. While we were waiting to go into the theatre, I mentioned to Joe that the projection room (which is visible behind glass) looked identical to the one at the Omnimax theatre which is at the museum here in Chicago. Sure enough, it is the same exact system where the screen is actually curved and the seats are quite steep, giving you the impression that the movie is wrapping around you. To be honest, it kind of gave me a headache even though it was cool. We learned about the history of Nascar, which was fitting since we had tickets to the SBC 250 Nascar race later in the day.
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Dust free

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Thanks to Joe, the sensor on my camera is much cleaner. We did some tests, and there is still some dust on it, but it’s only showing up on long exposures. Those two huge spots that were plaguing all my photos are gone. I figure quit while you’re ahead. Maybe after tomorrow (we’re going to Milwaukee) we’ll do another cleaning. For now I’m just happy those spots are gone.