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So this week has been an exciting week for me – all my shipments have arrived this week (minus the filters) and I basically almost received a package each day (and the fact that I’m home to receive the package is pretty amazing too). So here is a list of things I received, plus the “thing” I bought at Henry’s Photo Show last week…

Hehe I think its obvious what I did not order – The Windows Vista and Office 2007 Ultimates are welcome gifts from MS, and the little white box was a Mont Blanc pen my aunt shipped to me as a graduation gift. 400D + accessories are graduation gifts to myself (*pats myself on the back*) for all the degrees I obtained thus far ;). The Tamrac messenger bag is what I picked up at the Photo Show – see it wasn’t anything big… and feels a bit empty at the moment with so little gear inside, but I’m sure it’ll start to feel heavier by the end of this year =p.

i scratched my glasses!!! i feel so sad now..like i must go replace the lenses….or else i’ll die from annoyance…

*update*
i went to the glasses store lastnight and the person helped get rid of this one ‘scratch’ it was the antiglare coating or whatever that was kinda smudged…..*Phew*….still have a hairline scratch but its not noticable and it doesnt inhibit my eye….dang…close call…almost was going to get new lenses…

then i told her i don’t wear my oakleys because they’re really tight but she said i dont wear them because they’re so much heavier than my frameless and she’s like ‘yeahh once you go frameless you cant go back! …no glasses will ever be good enough for you!!’

So I went to Henry’s Photo Show last Friday at the International Center, and it was surprisingly crowded for a Friday showing (can’t imagine how it’ll be like for the weekend). There are some deals, but not a lot… and I’m glad I got in for free (thanks jon). There were a number of interestingly titled seminar and workshops but unfortunately none of them turned out amazing. I think I forget that a) not everyone at the show are computer savvy geeks; and b) maybe half the people at the show only own a P&S so the audience isn’t strictly SLR people.

Anyhow the first seminar I went to (most of these seminars are held by Henry’s School of Imaging, and it is like a condensed preview of the course that they offer at their school) was on Flash & Lighting Fundamentals, and oddly what it taught was basically identical to what I read the night before online at some how to use a flash tutorial site. And then I went to some Stage Presentations that seemed promising – “Portrait Lighting” sounded pretty hardcore… but ended up being too hardcore – they were demoing how to setup those studio lights and softboxes and umbrellas etc. And then I went to another stage presentation that also sounded promising – “Exposure and White Balance Techniques” – but it turned out pretty disappointing. I recorded this stage presentation and just randomly cut out a clip below as an example, and hopefully you’ll see why its disappointing.

Anyhow at least the guy gave out his website which introduces some tools and gadgets he finds nifty. (Anyone know what Lensbabies are?)

And yes some of the stage presentations are more like marketing shows, like one for the Quik Pod – which is like a very tiny monopod that you hold with your hand so you can get the camera away from you to take a shot at yourself :S.

Then I spent most of my time loitering at the Canon booth looking at different SLR and lenses, but it seems like… the people there weren’t very helpful, at least to my questions (maybe my questions were just too… hard). But then I thought my questions are pretty normal, like I asked, what’s the diff between a XTi and a 30D… and the answer was….. “XTi has 10MP compared to 8MP; but 30D has a better light metering system and a better build…. but they are pretty similar”. At least I walked away from the Canon booth with a pretty Spring 2007 catalog with lots of pictures of goodies.

Then I went back to check out some more seminars – stopped by a Digital Darkroom seminar (also by Henry’s) which taught some stuff on PS Elements, and then I went to the Wedding and Event Photography Workflow seminar by Apple, which was by far (no competition whatsoever) the best seminar of the day. Hehe I really think Apple must have some amazing public speaking training program cuz the guy can present really well. The seminar was showcasing Aperture and how it can save you time and make your wedding photo workflow more efficient – and even though it wasn’t selling Aperture per se, comparing this seminar to PS Elements I think I’ll prefer to use Aperture any day.

Anyhow before leaving I picked up the ballhead for jon and the ___ for myself so at least I didn’t leave empty handed =P. Probably wouldn’t go again next year unless there’s something you’re looking for AND there’s a deal on it.

So yesterday there was a deal on RFD for a Energizer 15 minute charger from Dell.ca for $29 with free ship. Great! Since my charger is very.. unreliable.. it always says its fully charged after 30 minutes when it’s supposed to take 3 hours to charge 1800mah batteries. Then when I go to church and use supposedly charged batteries.. my BR dies shortly.

So.. after reading through the thread.. I learned that the 15 minute chargers charge at the expense of shortening the overall battery life (due to excessive heat during charigng).. so.. of course someone posted a link to another forum.. of flashlight fanatics.. who just.. like.. flashlights.. They have.. light.. get togethers.. where they admire the strength of each other’s flashlights ???. Anyway, since they use a lot of batteries.. they have lots to say about NiMH and chargers etc. etc. Anyhow.. I came across this entry-levelish smart battery charger. Which actually has an LCD for each battery slot which can tell you the current charge in mah, it can discharge and recharge your battery at different rates.. and it can “recycle” your batteries to maximize capacity. $39US + ship etc.

Review

Welcome to another episode of “what to eat tonight”?
Today I’ll present something that tastes kinda like the Korean Tofu Soup that we all love.
(by no mean does it compare to the retail one, but it still tastes good, good enough for me)

Ingredents:
Kimchi
Mushroom
Pork/Beef
Tofu (soft)
Chicken broth
Egg
Garlic

1) I’m using the stewing beef cubes, so take around 4 cubes and cut into slices.
2) Take a handful of mushroom and slice into size you want.
3) Take a rice bowl (about a cup-ish?) size of kimchi, don’t need to tip top the bowl, have some kimchi juice in there too, pour the juice in until you see around half the bowl with the juice. Cut the kimchi down to the same size as the other stuff. (You don’t want to be eating a whole kimchi piece when you’re mixing with rice).
4) Add some oil to a pot (instant noodle size pot), put down about a soup spoon of chopped/diced garlic on around 6-8 heat (out of 10)
5) add in the meat stir around until brown, then add in the just kimchi (no juice), and stir around a bit
6) add in the rest of the juice, mushroom, and around half a can of chicken broth
7) close the lid and wait till it starts to boil, then add in around half a package of tofu (you can cut the tofu on the spot with chopsticks into little cubes)
8) let it boil a bit, while you let it boil, take an egg and beat it down first (the eggs we get have more yolk than the small eggs we get at the restaurant, and if the yolk gets cooked first, it’ll give the soup a grainy feel)
9) turn off the heat, and pour in the egg and stir around a bit till you see the egg somewhat gets cooked
10) serve

Time taken: less than an hour.