VPI

Looks like a great time. I am in if you guys will have me.

CJ there are certainly some basic tips that the people here can give you but really, taking lots of pictures has been the best way for me to learn and would probably be the same to you. Early morning and right before sunset are typically best for outdoors shots. Don't shoot into the light/sun unless you want silhouettes. Blurry images are not that easy with a P&S as they don't typically allow for longish shutter times or wide open apertures, I have found it pretty hard to get an out of focus picture out of most of the P&S cameras I have used. I can definitely do it with DSLRs, I have that well figured out as I always get a few shots that look like I was jumping on a trampoline while taking them. I picked up the 7D today so now I need to seriously cut back on the bodies here soon.

So far the story line of the known gangster is fairly accurate. Colosimo was killed by Chicago mobsters because he was standing in the way or bootlegging. I think it will be like Deadwood and grab historical reference when it makes sense.

I am okay with him scoring 25 points but nothing more. I feel comfortable knowing he is on the cover of Madden '11 and will probably have a career ending injury tonight.

Yeah I would be in a great position tonight if the suck-ass Giants had just laid down instead of keeping everyone in for trash scores. Now I need Brees to lay an egg and I will be okay.

Well with Ryan Matthews out I am pretty much done for this week.

I have so many Canon lenses now that changing would be a last resort. I am supposed to pick up a 7D tomorrow when I trade in the 50D and then I will get the new 1Ds and be done for a while. Five bodies should be enough, right?

Frank, have you used both the Canon and Sigma 1.4? I looked at the Sigma and the guys at Adorama said it was a waste of money as the Canon was better for less money.

When stopped down I think the 1.4 is a bit sharper. I also think the Bokeh is a bit smoother with the 1.4. Playing with it wide open gets some interesting results but I do not really see much use in day-to-day photos for such a shallow depth of field. Wide Open focused on the weird standing mushroom. A few more wide open.

Much faster and quieter.

Actually Frank is right, I had the pics screwed up. What was posted was the 50 f/1.4 at 1.4 and then 1.8. I am working on fixing them now. I can say that in real world pictures, the 1.4 does have some advantages outside of the build quality. As far as Nikon, I actually looked at the top Nikon as I am looking to get a new camera but to get the equivalent lenses in Nikon I would either have to pay a lot more or give up on some lenses as Nikon does not have them. I also felt the controls were made for people with much smaller hands as nothing seemed to be in the right place for me. I really like the D3s and it is still on the table but it would have to be dramatically better than the upcoming 1Ds for me to switch.

It is bulky but everything else seems to small for me. I find I can use the phone much better in one hand with the bigger case than with one of the small ones. I guess I am not one that needs a small phone.

I am in the neighborhood all the time. Where do you work? I spent some time at Adorama this afternoon and bought some stupid Delkin CF cards that I cannot read with my current CF reader. Also decided to get the 35 f2 to replace the 35L I bought and traded off a few weeks ago. Picked up a 50 f1.4 and 85 f1.8 to add to the kit as well. I have found that the difference between the 50 1.4 and the 50 1.8 is not much at all. I guess the better USM focus and build quality are the basis of price difference. Focus was on the front edge of the red cap, both lenses at 1/60 f1.8, tripod mount. Anyone want to guess which pick came from the $100 lens and which from the $350 lens?

I need some memory card guidance. I bought a couple of 16GB UDMA 6 Compact Flash cards today for the cameras and they are not readable by my computers. Do I need a special reader or do I need to format the cards to make them work. I have not had to do this with my name brand CF cards but these are Delkin really fast cards so I am not sure what to do with them.

Some from an afternoon in NYC.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday.

I see someone trading away a RB that is relegated to second string now and is technically ranked as one of the worst Fantasy RBs in the league as he managed to get negative points in his first game and dropped the ball every time it was handed to him. The WR and TE are both better than what he has now as Keller is going to be limited by sorry QB play and most his current WRs scored less than Manningham last week. I would assume that he is eyeing someone on the waivers as a RB or is working up another trade. If I hadn't seen how miserable Greene was and how much better LT was yesterday it might have seemed more lopsided.

I will strap it to Colin and have him wander the halls. I think there is just something wrong with it now as last week everyone in the office was using it and getting at least 2 MBPS.

You worked the waivers last week so it put you at the bottom of the list for last week. I would assume it will change soon to the inverse standings. I seem to remember that you go to the end of the list when you pick someone up and looking at the order now that seems to be the case. The top of the list are the four teams that made no changes to their teams last week.

$69/Month

I now officially have 4G in NYC. Unfortunately it is dramatically slower than AT&T 3G.

Waivers are set each week in the reverse order of standings. I can either set the trade review to a shorter period or make waivers a longer period. The easiest way would be for 5 people to approve and then I make the trade official.

We have our first trade in the works. Teams need to vote on the trade to determine if it goes through. This is really to weed out the lopsided trades.

So Shelly starts the season in First Place, though she should be careful as she is a 5 point underdog next week when she plays against Deepak. Second and Third place face off next week so there will be some changes at the top. We will have to wait and see how our returning champ responds to Shelly's beat down but Raffy has some work to do. Dinny's team played almost as badly as his Jets did last night. Almost. Vicki and Ivan face off against Blows Goats and the Goat Blower has a slight advantage on paper. Ivan better look at his line-up. Somehow we ended up with all the 1-0 teams facing off and all of the 0-1 teams facing off so there will be a lot of 1-1 teams at the end of next week.