Virginia Breeze

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

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Beth and I both enjoyed this sailboat.  Blue is a favorite color for both of us.  Doesn’t this look like a lot of fun?  One person can run things and I bet it goes fast under the right conditions. I will add a few NextGen photos of sailboats here this evening.  They are a cheerful island in a sea of gray photos I took this past weekend.  I’m so sick of looking at most of them.   Everything is gray and white.   I thought maybe the camera was busted after looking at them awhile.  But occasionally a colorful bathing suit or sail will pop up in a photo.

First, the D40 is twice as sensitive to light as the D40x and D80. (The D40’s ISO defaults to ISO 200 instead of the less sensitive ISO 100, making for sharper photos in any light.)

Second, the D40 is far more flexible with flash in daylight. The maximum shutter speed of every Nikon other than the D40 when used with flash is only 1/250 second, while the D40 easily shoots at 1/500 with flash with no loss of performance.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

It’s pretty interesting stuff ( I thought my D70 defaulted to ISO 200).  He has without question guided me towards a lens that has been just amazing in terms of taking photos thru a wide range of distances with amazing clarity.

It’s a miracle! I bought mine in November 2005 and love it. It’s replaced an entire bag of lenses. All I bring anywhere is my 18-200mm, and maybe my 12-24mm for 99% of everything I shoot.

It’s small, fun, flexible, sharp and fast. VR, instant auto/manual focus override and macro and zooming all work perfectly. This lens is too much fun!–Ken Rockwell

He is talking about the Nikon 18-200mm  VR

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htmI

You can save a lot of money reading this guy.  I swear.  Eventually I will get a Nikon D700 most probably.  But right now I still have too much to learn to plunk down 2500 bucks for a camera.   Although I did spend that much for a computer a few years ago (it’s all about conditioning).    And  televisions can easily cost that much these days.   But some of these cameras are heavy.  And this one ( the D40) is supposed to be very light.  I saw a couple of guys at the beach this weekend with some very heavy cameras and lenses sitting on a tripod.  I’m just not ready to go there yet.  i want to travel light and (hopefully) capture more just by being in the right place at the right time.

I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home…. I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby. ~Nancie J. Carmody

Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. ~Author Unknown

Just a cheerful photo to end the blogging day on a positive note. Part of my problem is that I manage to get down on myself for not being better at doing so many things. From fixing toilets to making software work the way it is supposed to I generally fail miserably. And I have a father who can fix anything.

Well, he might not be able to fix the space shuttle if it was supposed to fly tomorrow.

The recent video I posted here about the doctor who had a stroke was very informative because it went into great detail about the left and right sides of the brain. Some of us use one side a great deal more than the other. Fortunately or unfortunately blogging usually requires that we use BOTH sides in equal measure.

It’s a balancing act only a Libra could really appreciate.

What side of your brain do you use more? Do you feel frustrated sometimes because you have trouble fixing things? Why don’t they have more courses in school about how to fix stuff that is going to break down on us?

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The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished and put inside boxes. ~Dave Barry

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I think this is worth thinking about at this stage of the game when America starts voting for the next American Idol winner. Who can handle the rigors of the job? Because as this video demonstrates it is a lot of work being the American Idol. And you have to be UP a lot. I’m not just talking about being up as in “Out of the bed and running around”. I mean that you have to be cheerful and outgoing and excited about meeting strangers all day long. You need to be confident. And you have to be willing to work your butt off for long periods of time.

And you can do all of this and still have problems. Jordin talks on this video about going on tour with Alesha Keys. And now in spite of all her hard work she has had a setback. I feel confident that she will overcome it and prevail but what about the next American Idol? Look at the six contestants and imagine them out there. Who can do the things we see Jordin doing on this video? * *

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And BTW I am very impressed with Jordin and the way she is dealing with her new found fame. It hasn’t changed her a bit. She does talk about how “crazy” it is to be famous. She can’t even go out in public without total strangers inviting themselves into her life. I would be going around in a total disguise after about a week. But she is still her cheerful self although she acknowledges here that she will “run for the car” if she needs to be someplace and doesn’t have time to chat. Randy used to say that Jordin “at eighteen” impressed him with her singing ALL the time.

But I also find the way she is handling herself now to be very, very impressive for an eighteen year old. Hopefully the next American Idol has been thinking about this and asking himself or herself some honest questions. Because the road to success in this business is not easy. We just see the finished product most of the time. And that’s why this video has a charm of its own. ***

I hope I didn’t write anything that ticked everybody off. But it sure has been lonely around here the past week. All my sidebar buddies must have gone on their vacations.

In any case I have a slew of photos that need somewhere to go. Maybe I can lure Bernie out of his cave with this one. . .

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If this isn’t a cheerful little trio I don’t know where we will ever find one.

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