New camera

I just got a new Canon camera as my old one had a spot that wouldn't go away and would crop up in pictures on people's faces and such. I wanted to see how much better the new one is, so here are cropped images from the old and the new.

Ringback Tones

I just read something on http://www.engadget.com about ringback tones. So I geeked out and gave it a whirl. Now when someone calls me they don't hear a normal ring, they get Run DMC's It's Tricky

I'm sure it'll bug one of the 3 people who call me and I'll remove it.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

I just bought a T-Shirt supporting the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The site goes into how FSM is another alternative to the normal Intelligent Design (ID). As I think ID is a crock, I want to support FSM. FSM at least can explain our global warming as an inverse relationship to the number of pirates.

Compostable Tableware

I was looking at this site treehugger.com that has links to interesting tree hugging things, like solar or wind power or super earth friendly cotton.

I saw they talked about compostable plates and thought that looked interesting. It's really not that more expensive than plastic, but you can compost it. I was thinking back to the Pig Roast and when I cleaned up I would put the scraps in my composter but then throw away the plastic. So with these plates and forks I can just put everything into the composter.

I also bought a T-shirt for the hell of it. They're supposed to have olive oil soon, so I'll pick some of that up too.

iPod card reader

I just bought a card reader for my iPod. It's going to allow me to upload pictures from my camera to my iPod.

It didn't work at first because the software version of my iPod was too old. And I can't update the software from my computer because Windows Home XP sucks, and that's my techinical opinion. I went over my my work buddy Dipesh's house to use his computer. Everything went smoothly and I got the little reader to work and now I essentially have a 15GB flash card for my camera.

VW Bus

After getting a call from my mechanic regarding the laundry list of crap to fix on my car, I've decided to buy a VW microbus. An old one that I can fix. Or at least steal parts from my parent's bus. My repair bill is going to be around $1000, or $1300 if I decide to fix the brakes. Who needs brakes?

So I looked on craigslist and found a VW for $1200. Or the price of a new water pump (that was just replaced, I might add), some hoses, a flex disk (WTF?), a boot, transmission seal, thermostat and oil change.

I emailed a buddy at work with a link to the bus I want to get. His response?

"What a piece of shit. You like that?"

I didn't think it was that bad.

Craigslist again

Well, it's time to get stuff for my new home, and what better place than craigslist? I realized a while ago that I don't have time to make all of the things I really want, like bookshelves, coffee table and TV stand.

I already bought a fair amount of paduk wood for a coffee table, so I better just make that. I made a bookshelf a few years ago and really like it, it'll just take too long to make shelves for all of my books (and National Geographic magazines). A TV stand will have to be made, I think.

So I've been visiting craigslist again and finding stuff to buy from there. I'm gonna see a teak bookshelf today, hopefully it'll be pretty dope.

House offer

Yesterday I made an offer on a house on 10th and Failing. There were 3 other offers as of yesterday and the owner was reviewing them last night. I was hoping to hear back last night, but haven't heard anything yet. So I'll have to wait today and if nothing comes back I'll assume someone plopped down a larger offer.

Well, the house didn't come through so I'm gonna have to keep looking. Someone must've way outbid me, and I had offered over $5000 more than the list. jeesh.

iTunes

I downloaded iTunes this weekend and started buying music. It's pretty slick and works well with a cable modem (not so good with dial-up). It's nice to be able to buy a few songs and not the whole album.

My main complaint is that with Windows XP Home Edition iTunes does not see my iPod and I can't directly download them to it. Instead I'd have to burn a CD, rip it and then copy it over with ephpod. Kinda lame.

New Camera

I just walked back from Camera World where I bought myself a new camera - Canon PowerShot s230. It's pretty damn small and has the features I want, like taking movies at 640x480. Hopefully I'll get some good shots during mountain biking.

I'm trying out a program called Zempt for posting blog entries. Thanks to Radwin from Brown. Pretty slick.

many books

After sorting through the large pile of books lying on the living room floor I finally took them all to Powells. And Powells rejected 160 of them, taking 3 for a grand total of $6.50 cash or $8.00 store credit. I was a little surprised that they didn't even want the Grisham or Tom Clancy books. So Goodwill got a bunch of books laid on their doorstep.

175 books

Yesterday I picked up 175 books from a woman on craigslist for 25 dollars. There are a bunch of Windows books, some programming, some Henry David Thoreau, some self help, cook books. All sorts of stuff.

Now I just have to get rid of it all. Want any books?

Trader Joes

So I'm going into Trader Joes last night to pick up some of their dope blueberry jam. As I'm walking in I playfully push on the automatic sliding doors (like you do when you go through a revolving door.)

It promptly stopped in mid motion and wouldn't move when budged. So I did what any normal man does when they break something - I took off for the dairy section and hid.

New BBQ

Over the weekend I bought a new BBQ, just for around the house and when car camping. It's kinda dinky, but I figure I just need an easy to use gas grill for frying up some burgers. The important part is the electronic ignition. I know how to light a fire, but it's nice to have some comforts.

New speakers

I just bought a pair of Infinity Qb speakers for my surround system downstairs. I was using my grandma's old speakers that are pretty dinky. These Qbs are freakin' huge, standing 3 feet tall.

Now it's time to get Terminator 2 on DVD to check them out.

This is all thanks to the power of craigslist

Rio mp3 player died

I just recently bought a Rio mp3 player at Frys, down in Wilsonville. I even got the "backpack" that has more memory. Everything was good until I tried to run it off of the charger and some circuits got fried. Now it'll make a humming sound, but nothing else works.
If anyone has a need for a broken mp3 player, let me know. :(

National Geographic

I was browsing the portland craigslist looking for stuff to spend money on. And I came across a woman giving away 15 years worth of National Geographic magazines for free!

So I picked them up and now have 50+ year old magazines sitting in my room.