The Holidays are (mostly) Over!

Happy 2010 to the (probably) 1 person who reads this thing. I finished out my fall semester doing slightly better than I thought I would.

For the (christmas) holiday I received the one thing I really wanted which was a NEW digital camera! I will (hopefully) not have to subject anyone to crappy cell phone pictures ever again!

The camera I have is a Canon A2000IS

The camera is pretty nice for the price. Most of my pictures come out clear and fairly vibrant. It lacks some of the nice manual controls, but you can at least change the ISO when in P (program mode). It also lacks a viewfinder, but the beauty of digicams is the large preview screens.

I keep the little beauty tucked away in a Built Case 

The case is made out of neoprene which will keep it dry and safe (for the most part). It lacks proper sealed seams and the zipper may leak if submerged, but hopefully that won't happen!


It seems like photography has been the theme of 2010 for me (so far). I'm taking a 35mm black and white photography class this semester and it allowed me to buy a new toy for myself.

A beautiful 1984 Minolta x700

 

 It came with a nice case, several lens/body covers, and a strap. 

I have also purchased a Joby tripod

My tripod is actually orange. They come in almost any color you can imagine and they are amazing little guys for the price. The legs are flexible and you can wrap them around almost anything for a nice, steady, clear shot. I've used it for both of my cameras and love it. The Minolta is a little heavy for it, but it holds up pretty well.

I'm hoping at some point during the summer (if I save up enough) I can buy a nice digital SLR so I can have a handy arsenal of cameras on hand.

Deathly Hallows

 Today...er well yesterday was the official release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince so I'll celebrate by posting a teaser trailer for Deathly Hallows Part I. Enjoy!

Degrees? So many...

I finally ironed out all of the classes I'll be taking this Spring. I just found out that all along I could have been taking courses for the multiple degrees I've been wanting to get! I thought I had to go through this big, long process but it turns out I don't! I'm just having a hard time choosing what it is I want to get accomplished. Right now I'm wanting to finish up the Liberal Arts Transfer program although I don't want to transfer anywhere at the moment really. Then I want to do Business Management and Graphic design. I'm not in too big of a rush to figure it out. I'll be in Madison for probably a couple more years at least. Oh what the future holds.

In other news...I had my first official bike spill of the winter! I'm now laying in bed with a sore left side, some whip lash, and a huge bruise under my left knee. I've never heard so many of my joints crack in my life. It seems any time I move something creeks or cracks. I'm considering seeing a chiropractor. My back is bad as it is and now it's just awful. I'll wait it out until Friday and if I'm creaking like your grandma's floor I'll probably make a few calls.

Until then my bed is my sanctuary.

Winter Bike!

Here she is! My "new" 1995 Specialized Crossroads Cruz. It's on the lower end of Specialized bikes, but it'll make a great winter ride. All I need to do is throw some studded tires, a rack, and some lights and she'll be ready to ride!

*This isn't my picture..I stole it from someone else, but my bike is the same style minus the pie plate on the rear wheel.

Route Planning

Even though winter is about to set in I'm itching to start planning out my rides for 2010 spring/summer. I'm hoping to get a nice geared road bike that I can use for training and in the fall I'll probably turn it into a cyclocross racer assuming I get enough training in to compete.



Route #1 - Spring Green to Richland Center - 24mi.

Spring Green To Richland Center 2

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Route 2- Madison to Devil's Lake- 38 mi.



Route 3- Madison to Paoli- 38mi. round trip

pedal to paoli

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Route 4- La Crosse to Milwaukee - 237mi.

LaCrosse to Milwaukee

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Route 5- Ocooch Mountain (Ricland Center/Boaz) - 45 mi.

For all you bike enthusiasts

              CLICK HERE FOR INFO.

Help raise money for MS! Sheldon Brown the beloved bike guru had MS and there are many that have learned a ton from this man. Please help others who suffer from MS by participating in this contest or by just donating to the cause.

I got a new cog today!

All summer long I've been rockin' the 21t Surly Cog because of the loading camping trip I took. After riding painfully slow I finally saved up my eBay bucks and got a BEAUTIFUL new 19t cog from EIGHTHINCH.

These guys are a subsidiary of Wheel & Sprocket (awesome bike shop) out of the Milwaukee area. They recently expanded the EIGHTHINCH brand by offering framsets, wheels, cranks, cogs, handlebars, pedals....basically the whole works. It's all fixed gear based and lots of their stuff is quite colorful so you can customize your bike endlessly.

I haven't mounted the cog yet, but when I do I'll be sure to put up a review. All I can say is that the pic doesn't do it justice. They put a beautiful coated finish on the cogs that just make them gleam. It'll be a shame when I start riding in the crappy weather and get it all filled with grime. I guess that will be the true test of how well they'll stand up!

Check out www.eighthinch.com
I also need to mention that they have excellent customer service and they are really great about shipping things fast. They almost always give you a tracking number and the shipping is usually FREE!

*Just so everyone knows I don't work for any of these places I talk about. I'm just a true advocate for spreading the word when a company makes a good product and has amazing customer service.