We were allowed to leave a little early from work today which was a blessing since my stomach had been bothering me. Plus it was a boring day – two coworkers had the day off and the other one took a half day, and like it always seems to happen on the day when you least feel like working, I had a higher than usual volume of requests while I was also trying to prepare for my big billing cycle that starts on Monday.
On my way home I got stuck behind two garbage trucks for a good two miles on a one-lane road and it literally smelled like shit but even that could not ruin my good mood. How can you not be happy with three days off?
Although I am finding it difficult to mentally prepare myself to get up at 3:45 am tomorrow so we can see, and photograph, the hot air balloons at the Eyes to the Skies Festival in Lisle, Illinois. We haven’t gone since 2005 thanks to our love affair with sleep. I wouldn’t mind attending the balloon glow in the evening but that requires festival admission and at $15 per person that is just ridiculous. I can’t even understand why you’d have to pay for the opportunity to spend even more money on rides, games, and food. That’s just dumb!
I’m getting all the camera equipment ready tonight and in the car so in the morning all I have to do is shower, do my hair and makeup, and go. Last time I didn’t shower and it wasn’t such a big deal because my hair was longer and didn’t look like a disaster when I woke up. Plus we didn’t spend the whole day out. This time it’s different – in addition to the balloons, we have a parade to attend because Joe’s son is in a marching band, and after that we might hit a fest as well, so it’s going to be a busy, but fun, Friday.
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I need to buy more compact flash cards for my digital SLR because I’ve decided to start shooting in RAW only. I’ve been shooting in JPEG+small RAW but the small RAW files are pretty much useless (I think they are only 2 MB compared to the 10 MB the camera is capable of) but I love how you can change the white balance and other things that cannot truly be fixed in a JPEG file. RAW files are huge so one 2 GB card is just not cutting it for me. I tend to take 200+ photos at one location. Many of those are later deleted, but I’d rather take 5 shots of the same scene and get one good one than try to conserve space and end up with all crappy photos. I’m leaning toward Sandisk 2GB cards but if anyone has a better suggestion, I’m all ears.