Category: Tech

Cut Off

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Yesterday evening we took the Ford Escape to rent a movie and grab dinner. As we were pulling out of the garage, Joe mused on when our free Sirius satellite service would be disconnected as it marked the one year anniversary of purchasing the vehicle and we hadn’t opted to keep the service after the free period.

We got our answer a little later on the way to the restaurant when in the middle of a song the service stopped and a message popped up on the screen to call Sirius to reestablish it. The time? 6:38 pm, which I would say is about the same exact time a year ago we signed the paperwork and took the Escape home. I guess Sirius doesn’t mess around. “No satellite radio for you!”

I heart music

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iHome We got this iHome iPod speaker at Office Depot yesterday on sale for $30.

We’ve been looking for something like this for awhile but I don’t know about you, most of the units being sold are ugly, not to mention expensive. My brother paid nearly $200 for a speaker for his iPod which I think is insane. We didn’t need anything fancy, just something small for the bedroom and this fit the bill nicely.

The remote is especially useful. No more getting out of bed to skip tracks! ;)

Oh and did I mention it charges the iPod too?

Canon Powershot SD870 & Canon 40D Accessories

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I know I said I’d review my new camera in depth, but I don’t have much more to add to my original observations other than I really love this camera!

On Sunday we decided to visit Cosley Zoo so I could test out the 40D, but idiot that I am, I left the camera turned on the day before with an image stabilized lens attached so the battery had died. Doh! I’ve left the camera on before with the 20D but not with a lens that is constantly moving so it never drained the battery like that.

We didn’t have enough time to charge the battery before going to the zoo so I decided I’d just play around the with the Powershot instead. I have to say, I am really impressed with the photos I got. Obviously they don’t compare to a digital SLR but they are much better than I expected. Check them out for yourself.

I ordered more accessories for the 40D from B&H Photo and we Joe decided that’s it for awhile. I don’t blame him – there have been a lot of photography-related purchases in the last month.

I just can’t help it; I really love getting good shots so I need some decent equipment. And that’s all it really is – anyone who is really into photography can see from the list that these are not the best lenses or filters that money can buy. They’re good enough for my hobby, at least for now, however.

I tried to make Joe feel better about the money spent by saying I cut back on groceries this month but I don’t think that worked.

Suck it, Newegg.com

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As you know, I ordered the Canon 40D kit from Newegg.com last week. On Friday, I got an e-mail saying they couldn’t fulfill my order because my billing and shipping addresses didn’t match. They said I needed to add my shipping address (which is my employer) to my Discover account. I did just that and tried to resubmit my order but it wouldn’t work. So I canceled the order and placed a new one thinking they’d call Discover, verify my shipping address, and that would be that.

I was wrong. Yesterday I got a voicemail from them saying they still didn’t have enough information to verify my order was legit and I had to call them back Mon-Fri. I was also told that my order would be canceled three days from the order date if I didn’t contact them in time. Well, considering I ordered on Friday but wasn’t able to contact anyone until Monday, that means they’d possibly cancel my order before I could set things straight.

At this point it was becoming too much of a hassle to deal with these people. I get that they want to protect themselves against fraud but come on already. I did what you told me to do and still it’s not good enough? How do you think that address got added to my Discovercard account if it wasn’t me? They ask you for three pieces of identifying information you know. So whatever.

I canceled my order last night and found the camera at Buydig.com for $10 cheaper plus a free 2GB compact flash card. So nah-nah, Newegg.com. You just lost a sale because you’re a big pain in my ass. I would have ordered from Buydig from the very beginning but the camera wasn’t on their site last week. I’m so glad I was able to get it from them, though, because it shipped out today from New Jersey and will likely arrive before Friday. That means Joe and I will be going on a photo excursion or two this weekend.

Cameras

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My new camera was delivered this afternoon only 45 minutes before I left work so I didn’t get a chance to charge the battery until I got home. It just finished a bit ago so I quickly configured the settings and took a few test shots.

Canon Powershot SD870 IS

I’ll post an in-depth review in about a week but here are my first impressions –

Small and light, just like I wanted.
The screen takes up much of the back of the camera, therefore I am getting fingerprints all over it! I see that I will need to buy a screen protector.
The door to the battery and SD card seems a little flimsy but then again so do they all and I’ve yet to break one (knock on wood).
Nice clear indoor shots with the image stabilization.

This baby will be going everywhere I go once I get a case for it.

And don’t hate me, but I ordered another camera today – the Canon EOS 40D. I got the kit with the 28-135mm IS lens from NewEgg for $1,130 (no tax or shipping, whee!). I’ve been tossing around the idea of upgrading for awhile now. I’m happy with my 20D but Joe isn’t happy with my old Nikon 5700 that he’s been using. Not only is it inferior to a digital SLR, the batteries – and we have several – are all shot and barely hold a charge so he’s constantly having to swap them. Instead of buying new batteries, we decided he’d get my 20D and we could pretend we’re serious photographers. I also ordered a 50mm lens so we’ll have a few to rotate between us.

I’m pretty excited because lately Joe hasn’t been too interested in going on any photo excursions and it’s not as fun if he’s standing around bored while I’m trying to get shots. He really enjoyed using my 20D last year when we were in Indianapolis so I know he’ll be more motivated with a new (to him) camera.

Now I have two cameras to sell – a Nikon 885 and a Nikon 5700. I wonder how much I can get on Craigslist for them. I might end up selling the 885 to my brother since he says my dad wants a digital camera. Otherwise he was going to buy him some suckass p.o.s. from Aldi’s. Please. Even my 7 year old camera is going to be better than that no-name junk.