11 January 2009
Trip to Victoria & a New Toy
11/01/09 18:43
So this week it finally warmed up. We've had 40 degrees and rain for most of the last several days. The snow is going rapidly but it's taking longer than we expected and the entrance to the driveway is still a narrow slot between compressed snow berms. At least the roads are clear now. We especially appreciated it because this was my first week at the new job with Aviawest. Monday and Tuesday I had to go to Victoria for training. Marsha went with me and while I was working she toured the town. Here are some of the things she saw:
At the Victoria Historical Museum they have a display of life sized cardboard cutouts of famous BC natives. Did you know that Pamela Anderson is from a suburb of Vancouver? Well, part of her is. About 5% of her is from California but we won't get into that. Anyway, as a famous BC native the museum asked her to submit a photo for the display. Unfortunately the one she sent was a bit, well, she was wearing, sort of not a lot.. Rather than causing a controversy they included her picture in the display, but they put it near the back and have a blanket carefully pinned in place.
Along the waterfront Marsha found a shoe, but it did not have a foot in it.
In Victoria you need to beware of roving gangs of ducks. Here the Fort Street Quackheads are about to set upon a couple of hapless tourists.
We returned to Nanaimo Tuesday night. Wednesday I was back in Nanaimo, Thursday I was in Parksville and Friday back in Nanaimo. There is so much to learn. I feel like a total newbie, but it will come with time. Once I learn more I will feel more comfortable about working from home.
The other big news is that I used the proceeds from selling the PowerBook to get a new camera for the Japan trip this summer. After some research I settled on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS. I've only played with it for a few hours, and the weather, gray and rainy, is not great for taking pictures, but so far I'm impressed. Here are a few test shots I took around the house:
Here is a shot of the front yard at widest resolution. Note the ceramic chicken in the middle of the yard.
Here is the same scene shot at maximum magnification. The camera has 20x optical zoom and an additional 4x digital zoom. The only way we can take a hand held shot at 80x is because the camera has digital image stabilization. Cameras have come SO far in the last 6 years since we got the Olympus, it's amazing.
Her are the masks we got in Africa taken with the 10 megapixel Canon and the built in flash.
Here is the same picture taken with the old 3.1 megapixel Olympus, note how grainy the image looks due to the lower sensor resolution.
The Olympus would not focus closer than 4 or 5 feet. The Canon will focus much closer. This is a picture of a 2 inch long fossil fish in my collection taken from around a foot away. In Macro mode the Canon theoretically can focus within an inch of the subject, AND the zoom works even at close range. The last picture is of the fossil at maximum magnification.
More Next Week
Doug & Marsha
At the Victoria Historical Museum they have a display of life sized cardboard cutouts of famous BC natives. Did you know that Pamela Anderson is from a suburb of Vancouver? Well, part of her is. About 5% of her is from California but we won't get into that. Anyway, as a famous BC native the museum asked her to submit a photo for the display. Unfortunately the one she sent was a bit, well, she was wearing, sort of not a lot.
Along the waterfront Marsha found a shoe, but it did not have a foot in it.
In Victoria you need to beware of roving gangs of ducks. Here the Fort Street Quackheads are about to set upon a couple of hapless tourists.
We returned to Nanaimo Tuesday night. Wednesday I was back in Nanaimo, Thursday I was in Parksville and Friday back in Nanaimo. There is so much to learn. I feel like a total newbie, but it will come with time. Once I learn more I will feel more comfortable about working from home.
The other big news is that I used the proceeds from selling the PowerBook to get a new camera for the Japan trip this summer. After some research I settled on the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS. I've only played with it for a few hours, and the weather, gray and rainy, is not great for taking pictures, but so far I'm impressed. Here are a few test shots I took around the house:
Here is a shot of the front yard at widest resolution. Note the ceramic chicken in the middle of the yard.
Here is the same scene shot at maximum magnification. The camera has 20x optical zoom and an additional 4x digital zoom. The only way we can take a hand held shot at 80x is because the camera has digital image stabilization. Cameras have come SO far in the last 6 years since we got the Olympus, it's amazing.
Her are the masks we got in Africa taken with the 10 megapixel Canon and the built in flash.
Here is the same picture taken with the old 3.1 megapixel Olympus, note how grainy the image looks due to the lower sensor resolution.
The Olympus would not focus closer than 4 or 5 feet. The Canon will focus much closer. This is a picture of a 2 inch long fossil fish in my collection taken from around a foot away. In Macro mode the Canon theoretically can focus within an inch of the subject, AND the zoom works even at close range. The last picture is of the fossil at maximum magnification.
More Next Week
Doug & Marsha