Wasted Continuum

I know. Everyone has talked about Flip Video Cameras. I’m about a year late. I never really gave the Flip Video a chance. It’s a barebone, feature-less, relatively cheap handheld camera that shoots 640×480 AVI’s. It’s not exactly a geek’s dream camcorder. It’s almost the opposite. I’ve been researching digital video cameras for about a year now. I’m mostly waiting for a 1080p camera to be priced for a consumer to buy. That hasn’t really happened yet. There are options for that out there. Then I heard a couple people I trust in the geek world talk about the Flip Video so I decided to check it out for myself.

I think the most attractive points to the Flip Video is that it is cheap ($100.86 for the 30-minute and $149.99 for the 60-minute) and simple to use. You basically press the red button on the back to start recording. You press a button to stop. To get the video off the camera, you flip out the little USB connector from the side of it and plug it into your Mac or PC. You can use the supplied software to edit it or even upload to AOL or YouTube, or you can just copy off the MPEG4 AVI files and edit them in your own software. You can even connect the camera directly to your TV and watch the video that way. The Flip Video also runs on AA batteries so when you on the go and forgot to charge your batteries, you can easily go to a gas station or convenient store and pick up some.

I got my camera back today from my aunt. Perfect timing, because I got my MacBook Pro today too. I was feeling very low tech for a good week. It’s all good now. I can sleep soundly tonight. I took a lot of photos of my new laptop, but I haven’t processed them yet. I’ll have them up tomorrow.

Last week, I let my aunt borrow my Canon Rebel XT for a day. It was not pretty. I had to use my Razr to take my 365 shot. I’ve become completely accustomed to taking photos on a daily basis. This is good. This is what I wanted to achieve. It’s not so good right now because yesterday I let my aunt borrow my camera again. I was even more prepared this time. I shot my daily photos before I gave it to her last night. I was going to pick it up today and not miss a beat. However, when I called her on my way back from work, she told me that she needed to borrow it for the week. So now I’m currently camera-less. I again had to shoot with my Razr today.

There’s been way too many twitter update posts in a row. I have obviously been lacking in the blogging aspect of my life. I have been keeping up with my Flickr 365 project. There was one day when I was without my Canon Rebel XT. I had to resort to my Razr. Thankfully, that was only for one day. If any of you photographers (of any level) have not done a 365 project, you definitely should. It really forces you to think more about photography and also get you more comfortable with the idea of shooting everyday. I thought I was going to run out of ideas in a week and end up with over 300 plus myspace-esque pics. I think I may have only a few of those kind.

I have not abandoned my blog and I will be more active. This is why the twitter updates help me. I have a nice visual marker of how long I haven’t been writing. There’s a lot of things I want to write about and I will try to get to them tonight. Thank you to the readers who are still checking Wasted Continuum. And thank you Google Analytics for letting me know I still have readers! Remember, you can always add my rss feed (http://www.wastedcontinuum.com/feed/) to your favorite rss reader. I have used Sage (a Firefox add-on), FeedDemon (standalone application, maybe Windows only) and Google Reader (web-based reader). Currently, I’m using Google Reader. It’s easy to use and I’m really liking the features.

It’s not real treasure. It’s just my old film camera, a Canon Sure Shot Telemax. I found it today while I was looking for some lucky money envelopes for Chinese New Year. It still has film in it. The battery is dead though. I wonder if it still works. It probably does. It’s a Canon and they rock. I think I’m going to buy a new battery for it.

So it’s one hour and thirteen minutes into the last day of 2006. I couldn’t say goodbye to it any quicker. It’s been a long, long year for me and I’m looking forward to the new year. I’m gonna make it a good one. As always, this is a time when we all reflect on the year passing. For me, it’s been a bit of a eventful (for better or worse) 365 days for me. Ok, not all 365 days were eventful, but quite a few were. Here are my milestones of 2006 in a semi-quasi chronological order:

• Jan - Accepted a full-time position as a web designer/developer.
• Feb 12 - Turned a year older (personally not very momentous, but it’s here by default).
• Feb 15 - My niece was born (tried to steal my birthday, but missed by a few days).
• Feb 15 (later that night) - Called up Marie to tell her the news. She, in return, tells me that she’s moving to Michigan. Awkward conversation ensues for the next two hours.
• Late Feb - Mai tells me she’s moving to San Francisco to study fashion design.
• Mar 1 - Got my first DSLR (Canon Rebel XT).
• Mar 4 - Helped Marie move out of her apartment. Had a lovely dinner with Marie and her mom.
• Mid Mar - Met the lovely Star. Watched V for Vendetta on the Ultra-Screen.
• Late Mar - Helped Mai leave for San Fran.
• Apr 7 - Drove down to KC with family.
• Jun 4 - Bought a JM Custom Strat from Guitar Center when all I went in there for were new strings.
• Jul 1 - Took first photo trek with the Canon. Star came as my photo buddy. Practice shoot with fireworks.
• Jul 4 - First real photo shoot with July 4th fireworks.
• Jul 6 - Bought my GTI.
• Jul 22 - Mai returned for her god-brother’s wedding.
• Aug 11 - Marie returns for vacation. Spend an amazing day with her. Told her how I felt at the end of the night. Everything implodes. Friendship slowly dissolves.
• Aug 25 - I fly out to SF to see Mai for her birthday. Stayed at the Hilton. Had the quickest tour of SF ever.
• Oct 6 - Watched Ben Kweller at First Ave.
• Oct 14 - Watched Shannon Curfman at Bunker’s with Ms. Linh - her first real concert.
• Mid Oct - Realized that I have a subconscious obsession with the character Rory Gilmore, not Alexis Bledel.
• Oct 21 - Watched David Sedaris at the Orpheum Theater again with Ms. Linh. She is now a fan of his.
• Oct 24 - The last time I hear anything from Ms. Marie.
• Oct 29 - Watched the Foo Fighters open for Bob Dylan at the Xcel with Ms. Linh.
• Nov 4 - The first time I listened to Mignon Fogarty’s podcast, Absolute Science. Reanimates my podcast interest.
• Nov 5 - My concert weekend streak officially ends.
• Nov 10 - Watched Roger’s band play at Half-Time Rec with Debbie.
• Nov 20 - Saw a girl at Caribou that looked exactly like Rory Gilmore who is now referred to as Ror-a-like.
• Dec 15 - Watched Shannon Curfman at Shaw’s Bar & Grill with Star - her first blues rock concert.
• Mid Dec - Saw a girl at Caribou who kind of resembled Rory. Now there may be two Ror-a-likes or this is the original Ror-a-like and she didn’t really look like Rory in the first place.
• Dec 24 - Took a photo trek to Rice Park to capture the giant Christmas tree.
• Dec 28 - Drove down to Sioux Falls to meet Mai at her family’s place.
• Dec 30 - Mai and I drive back to beautiful Minnesota to spend New Year’s here together.

Well, that’s my list. I think everyone should of made one of these lists in one fashion or another. See you all on the other side.