tow.com

I woke up early as is customary on the weekends even though I hadn’t slept that much over the past few days. On Thursday, I was in hung hanging out with a friend. We saw Startup.com, the real-life documentary of govWorks.com. Overall, I thought that the film was pretty good, though a bit too focused on the relationship between the two main characters. I didn’t feel that there was a good sense of the startup life beyond the two characters, Tom and Kaleil. Apparently, the directors combed through 400 hours of footage to fit into the 1.5 hour running time of the movie.

On Friday night, I just hung out at my place, alone. Sometimes the solitude of being alone is much preferred to the hustle and bustle of hanging out with friends. After I long day of work and cycling, I needed the peace and quiet of my place! I went to sleep around 1:00 am and got up at around 6:30 am. I stayed in bed until around 7:30 am, when I dragged myself out and got ready for the day.

The first thing that I did was get my clothes out for dry cleaning. I had a bunch of stuff to be cleaned, since I’ve been to a number of formal events lately. It’s going to get busy next month, as I have about three weddings to attend; gotta have the nicely pressed and lightly starched clothes to wear!

Castro Street Fairs

I left the house a little before 10:00 am, heading first to the bank to handle a little financial transaction action. There’s a street fair happening on Castro Street this weekend, something they seem to have every month during summer. Whenever that happens, they close the entire street to traffic. People have to either go through the side streets or take a major street like Shoreline to get over to El Camino Real. The street fairs are pretty fun, as there’s ample food, drink, and performers to provide hours of entertainment for the whole family! One of these days, I’ll shoot one of the fairs and post the results on the Web. I’ve shot a couple of them, but never bothered to post ’em up. Now, with my more efficient workflow, I can get these photojournals out much faster. Here’s to technology!

After the bank, I drove over to Delia’s Cleaners where I dropped off my dry cleaning. It sure can get expensive when you have a lot of clothes to deliver, let me tell you! They’ll be ready by Tuesday morning, well in time for the wedding I’ll be attending next weekend in San Diego for my friend, Steve.

Fry’s and Buying Cheap or Good?

The next stop was the good old Fry’s Electronics on Portage Road in Palo Alto. I was surprised to see that there weren’t that many people shopping today. Usually on the weekends, Fry’s is teeming with people looking for good deals… or returning their goods! I checked out the new PowerMacs. They are fast but expensive. If I got into digital video, I’m going to need a new high-speed, high-powered computer. This PowerBook that I’m typing this photojournal on isn’t enough.

Would you rather get cheap or the best products that money can buy? Being mindful of budgetary concerns, I’m always faced with this question. For instance, do I get the Sigma lens or the Canon lens? Both are tools used to take pictures, but one of them is many times more expensive (Canon) than the other (Sigma). In the past, I’ve done both. With regards to my camera equipment, I typically get the best that money can buy (Canon). For other things, like the first battery charger that I got, I went cheap. The second battery charger that I got, the MAHA MH-C204F Rapid Charger with Conditioner, along with some Power-X rechargeables, was much, much better. The first charger, which I incidentally purchased from Fry’s, was a piece of crapola. I basically wasted the money because I was looking for a good deal. I could have saved it for the purchase of the MAHA charger. There are other examples, but what I’ve found is that quality sometimes does come with a higher price tag; it’s worth it sometimes to go for the higher priced product. It’ll last longer and you won’t be cursing it with each passing moment.

Well, that’s easy to say for a $50 battery charger, but what about a multi-thousand dollar camera lens or computer? Tough decision, since the computer that you’ll buy for $3000 will likely cost $1500 or cheaper within a few years. The question you have to answer is, “Can I make maximum usage of this computer such that the added cost today is better in the long run?” It made sense with my cable modem, and it might make sense with my next computer purchase. On le verra.

Digital Cameras

After Fry’s, I drove down to California Avenue to Keeble and Shucat Photography, where I looked at camera bags and DV equipment. I then went over to the professional department across the street and held the newly released Nikon D1X digital SLR. This was one serious piece of equipment, let me tell you! The build quality far exceeds that of my beloved Canon D30; since the D1X is based on the Nikon F5 and F100 bodies, it is weather sealed (rain, rain, go away!) and solid.

The D30, while not bad itself, doesn’t possess the same rugged feel of the D1X. I took a couple of sample pictures with the D1X using my MicroDrive, but the pictures turned out pretty bad since the camera was set to high JPEG compression and a high ISO setting.

Since I’m not familiar with Nikon camera controls, I found it difficult to figure out how to set the ISO settings or the compression levels. Still, the camera felt like it would product fantastic images. The pictures that I’ve seen on Phil Askey’s DPReview.com site or Steve’s Digicams were very, very nice. The shutter button on the D1X felt especially nice, making my D30 sound like a toy! With that said, I’m definitely anxious to seeing whatever Canon comes out next for their professional digital SLR. It’s certainly on my list of things to purchase in the near future!

Car Wash

After Keeble and Shucat, I drove by my old workplace on 390 Cambridge. That’s where DoDots used to be located. There was a sign at the front door that read space available. I guess either (1) the company that was there after we had left went out of business or (2) they upgraded to new office space. Either way the place is vacant and waiting for yet another dot-com company to set up shop. Ah, progress! After watching Startup.com, I thought about my own experience at DoDots. There were many things that happened there which could have been made into a movie. We had political intrigue, inappropriate relationships, and technological hurdles to overcome at that company! I could do a photo montage of the DoDots experience from the moment I joined to the day that I left… an idea for a future project, I imagine.

My last stop before heading back home to Mountain View was checking out heart rate monitors from Mike’s Bike Shop, formerly the famous Wheelsmith Bike Shop. I asked a few questions, but didn’t buy one at the shop; I’d rather purchase that type of stuff online from a place like Colorado Cylist.

It’s been a long time since I last washed the car. Before I got home, I went to a nearby gas station, pumped a full tank of gas and waited in line at the car wash for 15 minutes while the people in front of me were getting “The Works” car wash, a long process of getting a foam bath, a wash, a clear coat and a lenghty air dry. I was cheap and got the free car wash from having pumped more than 8 gallons. Hey, just a wash here and there goes a long way. At least no one had written on my car, “Please wash me,” as they did to my neighbor one day. That was tough to see, but funny at the same time.

Welp, it’s 14:01 right now. I have about an hour before I drive up to Oakland to see some new friends and a Greek Tragedy play happening in some park in the Berkeley area. Should be fun!