Sunday, April 09, 2006

Max is One


Happy Birthday Max! 04/03/06 One Year Old.

Mmmmm, cake!

Old age and youth.

Henry has been painting his cars, I can hardly wait to start building and painting models with him!

Two happy, suspciously so, boys.

So we had a successful birthday party for Max, although all the children that attended now have various ailments which I'm assuming they contracted somewhere else. That's my story.
The house is full of mylar (the balloon that never dies) ballons, some sent by my mother, others purchased at the dollar store for, um, a dollar. The effect is somewhat like being 3 feet below the surface of a multicoloured sargasso sea, or jellyfish convention.

At the dollar store the guy ahead of me had a total purchase of $2.50. That confused me until Felice revealed that things at the dollar store can cost less than a dollar, just not more. (she now confesses that in a Cliff Claven moment she just made that up, it may not be true...)

I finally put something up on Ebay a few days ago. Why I even bought it in the first place is a mystery, but that someone has bid is a miracle. I think my description is accurate.

If you watch "Lost", this will help.

I was reminded of the Maparium a week ago, it is a wonder.

I am trying to figure out which "mini DV" camcorder to buy - if anyone has any hints about what is a good or bad brand/model, I'd love to hear about it, I'm trying to spend less than $400.

Felice stayed home from the market yesterday, although the promised rain never arrived I think we all needed a day off. This morning I fixed the door to Max and Henry's bedroom, it didn't engage the striker, so I filed the opening slightly larger using a square bastard file.

Then I started the DR mower up, and after much cursing and my determination that I did have spark, gas and air it finally roared to life. I also killed a sleepy yellowjacket, who was sitting in the shed toolbox, with a ball peen hammer. I used to feel guilty killing yellowjackets when slow moving but now I kill without compunction. We have too many in our neighborhood.

The other day while driving to the post office, I glimpsed a stray dog wandering alongside the road, as I came closer I realized that it was a stray goat! I love rural living.

4 comments:

Rob Tsou said...

Hey Nick, looks like Max polished off that cake pretty well! ;)

I too have been shopping for a MiniDV camcorder in the same price range and have more or less settled on something from Panasonic. I have an older Panasonic VHS-C recorder that still works great and the quality / durability is good so I am biased. Reviews place the Panasonic models pretty well currently with good feature sets and quality build as well. Let me know what you decide, my money's not spent yet.

Rob

Felice Luftschein said...

I was leaning towards the Canon Elura 100, but am put off by the bad interface design yet it seems to perform well. What models from Panasonic are you looking at?

Rob Tsou said...

I was leaning at the PV-GS36 or 39. They're in the same price range and have about the same feature set. I think all of the lower end Panasonics have the same optics and body, mostly you're looking at small features from the GS29 to the GS59 and only an $80 price difference. If I could scare up the extra cash, I'd definitely look at the 3ccd models. You lose some optical zoom but you pick up some still camera versatility (one less thing for me to carry). I liked the Canons but I had read in a couple of places that the tape transport mechanism was prone to breakage. I can't verify the validity of that through first hand knowledge but it did stick in my mind.

Rob

Felice Luftschein said...

I had both those models bookmarked as my other choices, so I guess we're on the same page. The GS59 has a "special price" on Amazon so maybe I'll get that one. Panasonic means not having to worry about the battery, which is a big consideration.