We’ve always known that our dogs bark when we aren’t home and would always try to be out for 3-4 hours at most, so that they could go in their crates.  They love their crates and are happy and silent when they are in there, but we don’t like to leave them in too long (unless it’s bedtime).  If we were going for longer, which was rare, we’d make sure to be home by 10pm so that they don’t disturb the neighbours too much at inappropriate hours.

I think we had sort of fooled ourselves into thinking that they stop barking after the first few minutes.  It was how we coped and made it possible to go out without worrying the whole time.  Little did we know…

They are so lucky they are cute…

In order to see what the situation was my husband designed a robot that detects when the dogs are barking and sends a message to Twitter.  We call it the Tweeter Tattle.

I KNOW, he’s a GENIUS!  Seriously, this is a ROBOT that TWITTERS.  I love this man!

So once the robot was functional we decided to test it while we went to the grocery store.  We set it up, left the dogs loose with it in the living room and headed off to the grocery store.  We had our phones with us so we could check the robot’s Twitter updates while we were out.

Sweet baby Jesus, we had no idea what was going on while we were out.  Check this out, this is a screenshot of what went on in the short time that we were at the supermarket (the first few minutes are at the bottom, so read from bottom to top):

People, this all took place within the space of an hour.  I shit you not… my dogs are idiots.

As I said, we sort of knew this was going on.  We’d asked the neighbours now and then and they’d say yeah they bark a lot while you are out, no it doesn’t bother us, it’s not so bad… but clearly we have been blessed with some incredibly patient people in our building.

Not only did this bother me because of the disruption for our neighbours, but I also hated the thought of the dogs being so agitated the entire time we are gone.  I want them to be happy and feel secure, not miserable and distressed every time we walk out the door.

I started thinking of what we could do. When we are home we have been trying to Cesar Milan their asses as much as possible, but that doesn’t do us any good when we aren’t home.  We had considered getting one of those collars, you know the ones that give a small static shock or shoot out some citronella spray, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was not such a nice thing to do to them.

I went on Facebook and asked the opinion of some of my friends who also have dogs.  They had some great advice in regards to making the dogs a little less sad when we leave, the best being giving the dogs a Kong with treats inside just as we are leaving, so that they see us going as a good thing for the, rather than bad.

I didn’t think this was going to solve our barking issue entirely though, so I cracked my knuckles and got my Google on.

That’s when I found it…

The Petsafe Indoor Ultrasonic Bark Control System.  Otherwise known as, the gadget that saved my dogs’ lives.  Best. Money. Ever. Spent.

The way it works is, it detects when the dog barks and then sends out a really high pitched ultrasonic noise.  It doesn’t hurt the dogs, it just startles and annoys them, so they quickly learn that if they make annoying noise they will get annoying noise in return.  As humans we can’t even hear it, but if you are standing really close to the machine there is a soft mechanical noise that it makes that you can hear.

I was a little skeptical when I was reading about it, I mean how is this little thing going to stop my crazy ass dogs from barking?  There’s no way.  I mean I think there have been times that I got so irritated with them that my own shrieking reached ultrasonic levels and they didn’t stop barking then!  Still, I was desperate and we had to try.

I checked with Wesdijk.nl to see if they had it, and luckily they did!  What was also lucky is that they are only a few minutes drive from here so we were able to hop in the car and go pick it up right away.

You see, we had a BBQ to go to that night and now that we knew without a doubt that the dogs were assholes, we had to try this thing RIGHT AWAY.  Our sanity and their existence depended on it.

So we get this thing home and I look at it, still unsure… but we didn’t have time to worry about it. We popped the battery in, set up the Tweeter Tattle and headed out to the BBQ with our fingers crossed.

Oh the suspense!!   I think I checked my Twitter about 400 times on my phone that evening… and do you know what I saw?

That was IT, for the ENTIRE EVENING.  Omg… and that was probably just the amount of barks it took them to figure out “Wait a minute, wtf… when I bark that annoying sound goes off and I don’t like that!”

The next day we went out again to a party at a friend’s place, once again as we are on the way I check Twitter on my phone.

Again, it probably took them a few minutes to realize what was going on, but then they were silent for the rest of the day while we were out.

Honestly, this thing is FANTASTIC!  I sit here and shake my head because I don’t know why we didn’t look into this years ago.  When I think of all the times we’ve had to leave places super early to make sure we’d get home to make sure the dogs weren’t barking and bothering the neighbours, I could scream.

We also notice a remarkable difference in the dogs’ behavior when we are home.  They don’t bark nearly as much as they used to (which was pretty much anytime the wind blew) and just seem generally more chilled out.  I used to feel like we were constantly getting up and trying to get them to stop barking at whatever was under their skin at that particular moment, now they’ll let off one bark now and then and are quickly reminded that they need to zip it.

Since it can only detect barking within 8 meters, it really just works in the living room. Although I have had it on the balcony with me and manually pressed the button on the top when the dogs bark and dogs that are passing by.  I’ve also sat it on our shoe rack in the hallway when we were expecting someone, to stop them from barking like mad at the door (which they are terrible for).  I’m pretty sure we are going to pick up a 2nd one for that end of the house (by the entry) to also cut down on their frantic barking when the doorbell rings.

Honestly, if you have a dog and have trouble with barking and don’t know what to do, you must try this.  I can’t guarantee it will work on all dogs, as I read in the reviews that some just ignored it or became immune to it after a while… but so far it’s been a godsend for us.  I recommend it wholeheartedly!

Now, if only we could find a machine to make them stop jumping on people, or shedding, or licking between our toes… or eating other dogs poo…. *sigh*

P.S. I forgot to mention, there is also an OUTDOOR VERSION of this if you have issues with your dog barking outside!  It’s even cute like a birdhouse, makes me wish I had a garden to hang it in!

*I am in no way affiliated with Petsafe. I paid for this product and this is my own personal opinion, I was not sent this product for review.

Related posts:

1. Pet Turkey
2. Saturday Photo Hunt – Daily (Dog Drama)
3. The Finished Product

Also… why did you just come along when I won’t be needing you for very long?

I admit it, tonight I ate at McDonald’s.  I know I just moaned the other day about my weight but I did say that it might not be today that I sort my shit out.

One thing I have to say, when you don’t eat McDonald’s very often, it tastes pretty damn good.

Anyway that’s not why I’m writing this.  When I walked in I saw these things…

Wtf?? How long have they been there?  I know I didn’t eat McDonald’s for almost a year but jeez… it’s the coolest thing ever!  Xander and I went to this little console and put our bank card in.  We then used the touch screen to place our order and paid for it.

This is no lie… by the time we turned around and walked the five steps to the counter, the order was on a tray and waiting for us!

OMG!!!  No more waiting in line!  At dinner rush hour we had our food within approximately three minutes of walking through the door.

Of course, it’s probably the last time I will have McDonalds for a very, very, very long time, so I won’t be able to make the best of it, but I did get to experience it this once.  Xander and I (being the geeks that we are) were in wholehearted agreement that it is, indeed, the best thing since sliced bread. 

So, I’m curious… is the Netherlands ahead or behind the times with this thing?  Are these consoles already old news back in North America or are we actually ahead of the game on this one?

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It works pretty well.

People often ask how I find the time to watch all the shows I do.  It’s pretty easy really…

Firstly, I download every show I watch.  With the exception of the movie channels, Discovery and National Geographic I never watch anything on our real time TV.  It all gets watched on my laptop or via USB on the TV.

The upside to downloading everything is that I can choose when and where I watch it. The shows sit there waiting for me to get around to watching them, rather than me planning my day around what is on.

I quickly took this photo this evening when I realized I’d forgotten my Project 365 photo for the day.  This is a typical scenario in my house.  My laptop set up with a TV show (in this case it was NCIS) while I fold the laundry.

I HATE folding laundry.  I’m pretty sure everyone does.  Why not watch something I like to help pass the time?

I know a lot of people don’t like TV, some don’t watch it at all or even own one.  Whatever.  To each their own.  I happen to love it in all it’s forms…  action, comedy, drama, reality TV… I love it all.  Like I said, there are worse things I could be into, right?

Feel free to just agree with me.

Speaking of my laptop, it’s still working!!  Well, I shouldn’t say still like it hadn’t broken down again, because it did.  The day after it died on me I put it to sleep while I went to the hospital and when I came home it was dead again.

Xander did the hairdryer thing again and it fixed it.  So now I’m afraid to turn it off or put it to sleep.  Whatever it is that cools down, it makes my laptop not work.  We are pretty sure that replacing the video card will fix it, but that itself is 200 euro.  If it turns out to NOT be just the video card we’d be out 200 euro that could have gone towards a new laptop.

Although… no new laptop would live up to Xena (that’s what we call her).  She’s big and tough, with a 20.5 inch monitor and lots of space for me to do all sorts of things at once.

It will be a sad day in the Soldaat household when I lose her.  A sad day indeed!

Related posts:

1. Game Addiction Therapy in Amsterdam
2. 30 Days of Truth: Day 27
3. Laptop Guy

OMG IT IS SO TOTALLY MY LAPTOP!!

Seriously, if you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you are all too aware of my cardiac arrest this evening when my laptop died on me.  I got up from a nap and realized it was really slow so I decided to reboot it.  When it came time to start back up, nothing happened.

PANIC!!

I got my husband to do his magic cord pulling and button pressing maneuvers but nothing worked.  That’s when the panic really set in.

While he was messing around with that I got on my phone and started Googling the model number and “won’t start” … I found lots of posts.  That didn’t bode well…  in the end I found this one post where a guy said how he took the laptop apart, removed the video card and used a hair dryer for four minutes (very specific) on this one certain chip.

My husband was like, ummm… I’m not so sure about that.

After watching the video numerous times, and having exhausted all of his magic button pushing, he decided he had nothing to lose.  He took the laptop apart, got out the hair dryer and we both crossed our fingers.

Wouldn’t ya know it, the damn thing started right up!  We couldn’t believe it!!

He suspects that there was something soldered that had come lose and the heat somehow reconnected it.  That sounds feasible.  Whatever it is, I’m sooo glad it’s working again because we really aren’t in position to buy a new one at the moment, and just the thought of going without a laptop gives me the shakes.

Literally… the shakes.

So that is that is the best thing that is going for me at the moment.  My laptop is going and it damn well better keep going or I just may lose the few marbles I have left!

Related posts:

1. 30 Days of Truth: Day 6
2. 30 Days of Truth: Day 9
3. 30 Days of Truth: Day 29

Day 6 – Til’ Next Year Frosty
I was saying goodbye to my Christmas decorations which have been up far too long.  Ok, they are still up, I admit it… but I’ve stopped turning the lights on. Baby steps!  Today is the day, I can feel it! No really, I swear!

Day 7 – Rainbow
This was the day the yarn arrived for my next knitting project.  I love the bright colors, they make me happy.  With all the dreary weather lately it’s brought a bit of sunshine into my day.  Isn’t it pretty? One day I will show what I made with it but for now it’s going to have to remain top secret! I’ve already given away too much!

Day 8 – I Love My Harmony One!
My husband and I used the Santa money my parents sent to us to buy a universal remote, the Logitech Harmony One.  We were so tired of having to use three different remotes just to watch TV, and plus, we just love this kind of geeky shit.  I spent hours programming it and I’ve still not got it all right but I’ll spend some more time with it soon and get it all just the way I want it.  My DVD player is being a little bitchy and doesn’t want to turn on and off the way it should. Pesky thing…

Day 9 – Bailey’s Bath
I took this photo of Bailey after his bath. He’d gotten sick during the night in his crate and the smell clung to him, it was disgusting. A bath was in order and he was none too pleased about it.  Once he was out he went on with his usual post bath ritual of running around like a maniac and rubbing himself on every surface in the house.  As you can tell by the photo, a haircut is also in order!

Day 10 – FU Scale!
You know how a photo speaks a thousand words? Well, I have a thousand swear words for my scale at the moment.  I still have not shaken that last kilo I gained over Christmas and it’s ticking me off.  In the last month I’ve not gone down at all, and yeah it’s only one kilo I’m up, it could be much worse, but still… it’s not where I wanted to be right now.  It’s also irritating me that I broke a diet that was working so well for me and I am having trouble getting back to my usual routine.  Most people would think it’s extreme, and that fretting over one measly spoonful of jam in a day is ridiculous, but I hate that I am in that “oh one won’t hurt” state of mind.  I am going to have to do the detox part of the diet again to get the sugar out of my system, and I will know better next time when I think it wouldn’t hurt to go off track just for a little while. It’s really not worth it.  The happiness I get out of seeing the weight come off is far far more pleasure than any piece of cake, cookie or spoonful of jam will ever give me. That’s what I need to remember.

Day 11 – Battered Keyboard
I type a lot, me and my laptop are joined a the hip, so to speak.  I am a touch typer and I can type like the wind, probably faster than anyone I know.  I’m also long winded and wordy and I like to chat, so there’s been a lot of typing on this keyboard.  The evidence is showing because I’m starting to wear the keys down.  I’m not sure the keyboard will last through the lifetime of the laptop itself, so it would probably be a good idea to start looking around the internet for a replacement, before they don’t exist anymore.  This has happened to every keyboard I’ve ever had, so it’s no surprise.  The N is always the worst for some reason… I suppose I use a lot of N words like uhhh,  Nigeria and Neapolitan and necrophilia and  Nostradamus and narcolepsy and nanocephalous and necessarianism… you know, just the usual N words that come up in everyday conversation.  I must try to keep them to a minimum in the future.

Related posts:

1. Project 365 (Days 4 & 5) Food and Fire!
2. Project 365 (Day 2) Painting With Light
3. Project 365 (Day 3) Ten Years of Christmases

Isn’t it pretty?

My preciouuuuusssss…

I love that I can lay in bed and read, and if I’m still awake and reading an hour later I can check my email and maybe throw out a few messages on Twitter before I go to sleep.

I love that when I’m going somewhere I can use it as my mp3 player to listen to music or as a GPS if I need directions.

I love that if I’m out and see something interesting or funny, but don’t have my cameras with me, I can use it as my camera.  I can even quickly pop the photo up on Facebook and share it with my friends if I want to.

I love that if I go to the doctor and need to make a new appointment, or am out with friends and am making plans, I can open my Google calendar and have my agenda at my fingertips.

I love that when I do enter the appointments that my phone automatically syncs with Google so when I get home all the appointments I’ve made are already automatically added to my agenda when I look at it on my laptop.

I love so many things about this phone that I won’t bore you by continuing this list…

There is one thing I don’t love though, in fact I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns.

This POS headset that comes along with it.

If there is one complaint I would ever have about HTC it’s that they are yet to really put thought into what consumers are looking for in a headset nowadays.  Does anyone even buy this type of headphone anymore?  I absolutely despise them because the sound is terrible, they don’t fit in my ears properly, the foamy little covers always get all manky no matter how much you clean your ears.. ugh.  HATE.

This lead me to a rather frustrated search for a replacement which wasn’t a very easy task as I was quite fussy about what I wanted.

It had to have a remote that allowed me to control my music which included skipping back and forth between tracks and volume control while also having the ability to answer calls.  It’s more difficult to find than you think!

Then I found this baby… the Jabra BT3030 Bluetooth Headset.

I was a little unsure at first because I’ve never used bluetooth for anything other than transferring things between my laptop and my phone, but I loved the idea of not having to deal with cords connecting my earphones to the phone.  Many times I’ve dropped my bag just to have my earplugs wrenched painfully from my ears after forgetting I was attached to the phone!

This remote can either hang around your neck dog tag style or clip onto your clothes using the clip on the back.  The earphones are corded to that, but that’s not really a nuisance at all as I wear it around my neck and the cord doesn’t get in the way of anything.  I can walk around with my phone in my bag while controlling music and phone calls with the remote hanging around my neck.  I can also sit my phone on a table in my house and wear the headset around while I do housework or cook.  It’s fantastic!

If you don’t like the dog tag style thing that goes around your neck it is also easily removed and can be replaced with a lanyard or something else of your choice.  I quite like it though.

I worried about it draining the battery on my phone, which has not been an issue. I don’t notice the battery going down any quicker than it did any other time.  Also the battery in the remote seems to last quite a long time.  There are different sequences of button presses for different things you want to do, and to check the battery you press the volume + or – button which causes the “Jabra” on the bottom to flash either green, yellow or red to show the battery level.  I’ve used it for a number of hours already and it’s still green.

Also, as you can see on the photo to the left, it’s backlit. So if you are using it at night, listening to music in bed or in a generally badly lit area, you can still see the buttons.  It doesn’t stay lit, so you aren’t walking around looking like a tool.  It just stays on for a few seconds while you do what you need to do.

So if you, like me, have an HTC phone or other mobile and are having trouble finding a headset for all your needs, you really should check this out.  I recommend it wholeheartedly.

If you want more technical details you’ll need to click one of the links.  That’s really not my bag, sorry.

No related posts.

Was wondering if I could write a blog with my phone. Found a WP app on the Android market and decided to test it.

Here goes nothing!

Adding some random photo I took months ago to test the camera. No idea how it will format it.

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Each year my husband and I each get our own gifts, but we also decide on one large combined gift that we share.  Either something we want for the house, an activity we’d like to try or something we really need that both of us will use and enjoy.  This year we have been undecided and Christmas passed us by without anything being settled.  Strange for us as we always seem to have something we want.

Recently I asked friends on Facebook whether they preferred the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 because my father wanted a good, realistic console for racing and flight simulation games.  I passed on the info and he ended up buying himself the PS3, and appears to be enjoying it.

My husband and I have often tossed around the idea of getting a console, but the same thing happens every time.  Lack of knowledge turns into information overload when we ask people, and we can’t decide and give up.  It’s a lot of money for us to spend on something we don’t know a lot about or are not sure we’ll enjoy.  I think it goes back to the day when we bought a Nintendo Game Cube on a whim.  We enjoyed it for a short while, and then it collected dust in a drawer until I sold it on Marktplaats.   It was a lesson learned in not doing our research before buying a console.

When you ask people who are into gaming about these consoles, you often get quite heavy opinions which are based on their own personal experience and what they enjoy rather than them taking themselves out of it and helping to advise based on what we are looking for.

So I’m here to try and get that from you, dear readers!   I know that a lot of the people who read this blog are gamers, as that’s probably how we met.  I also know many of you play games on each of these consoles or have friends, children or spouses who do.  So please weigh in!

Here is what we are interested in and are looking for in a console, our choices are the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii:

1. FUN!  We are both gamers, having played various MMORPG’s in the past.  More myself than Xander, but I’ve played World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies, Lord of the Rings Online, Dark Age of Camelot… all the way back to the good old days of Ultima Online.   We enjoy games and although we have gotten away from playing MMORPG’s seriously due to their addictive nature and demand on personal time, we do still want to have fun games to play.

2. The ability to play together.  As geeks we spend our fair share of time doing our own thing behind our separate computers.  While we will probably still play on our own from time to time, the main goal for getting a console is to spend time together playing the games and having fun.  We don’t want it to be a situation where one sits playing games loads while the other sits in frustration, bored and alone.  Multi player games is a must, and I’m not sure if one console is better than the others in regards to this.

3. I’d be lying if I said we weren’t people who were impressed by graphics.  If I was interested in just game play rather than how a game looks, I’d still be playing Ultima Online over any of the newer more impressive looking MMORPG’s.  It is not a deal breaker though.  I know the Wii lacks seriously in this department in comparison with the other two, but if the Wii fits more of our other criteria, we are willing to overlook the graphics issue.

4. Availability of games.  I know games are expensive, and we won’t be out buying every new game that comes out.  While we would never buy a console second hand, we probably would buy used games, just to save a bit of money on them.  I don’t know what console, if any, have more games out there that are available second hand here in the Netherlands, but if one has far more out there than another, perhaps that would make a slight difference.

5. Wireless.  One thing that drove me absolutely bananas with the Game Cube was all the wires.  When you have 2 dogs and a cat roaming and running around the house, it always ends in disaster when you have lines crossing the livingroom.  I’ve not done a lot of research into the different consoles and their controllers but if one has wireless controllers and the others don’t, this would be another big point in their favor.

6. Online stuff.  Yeah I know, very technical!  I know some of the games can be played online with other people, or that it’s possible to connect to the internet with some of the gaming consoles, but beyond that I don’t know exactly how it all works.  It would be fun to at least compare with other players or be able to join some sort of community with them.   I don’t need to sit with a headset on playing some FPS while screaming how I just PWNED some loser, if we want that we can play WoW.

7. Entertainment value.  If we have friends over I’d like to have something that we can get out and enjoy with them.  Not games that are so incredibly complicated that it would take me so long to explain that by the time we pressed play they’d have to go home in 10 minutes.  Something with games that are easy and fun to play with friends and family of all ages.

8. Price.  While this isn’t a dealbreaker either, if they are all relatively even in regards to our other requirements but one is outrageously more expensive than the other, then we’d probably count that one out, or on the other hand if they were all stacking up the same and one was quite a lot cheaper… perhaps we’d consider that as well.  Obviously, the less you spend on the console itself the more you have to get the extra bits and bobs… and we love our bits and bobs!!

9. The best future.  That stupid Game Cube seemed like a great idea when we bought it, little did we know that before long Nintendo would go “oh screw that” and scrap it.  We hardly had time to enjoy it before it became a thing of the past, without a future.  I want something that if we get it, we can add to and use for a long time without it sort of being deemed too crap to bother doing anything more with.

That’s pretty much it, we aren’t totally fussy but these things are important to us.  We’re really interested in hearing people’s opinions but based on these things, not just some hardcore gamer telling us how much better some console is because of how it all all the things HE wants.  That’s not a lot of help to us, as great as it is for them.

So, what do you think?  Do you have experience with the different consoles and think one is better for us than the other?  If so, why?  We are new to these things and the more info we have in regards to what their advantages are for us, the better.  We can read up online all we want but nothing is better than hearing from people who have experience themselves and can take what will be fun for us into consideration.

Thanks and I’m looking forward to hearing what you all have to say!

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2. Temptation

If you are a photographer of any kind, you probably understand the annoyance of carrying your camera on a strap around your neck.  At least if you are like me and you still have the nylon strap that came with your camera, those things are so scratchy.   I can imagine that after a certain amount of time it must get painful for professional photographers with heavier lenses as well.  This is where the Spider Holster may come in handy.

Still though, while it does look convenient, I’m not sold for a number of reasons.

• I don’t wear a belt.  Nor am I going to start wearing one so I can use the holster.   Belts are probably more uncomfortable than the neck strap, in my opinion.   I know a lot of people DO wear belts though, so this is a purely personal thing.  It doesn’t make it a bad product, just not for me.
• Having the knob attached for the holster means that while that is attached, you cannot attach your camera to a tripod if you choose to.   I’m not sure everyone is going to want to remove the knob in order to attach the camera to their tripod, and then reattach it again every time.
• How is this thing going to be for walking?  When I walk with my bag at my hip, it bounces all over the place.  Maybe it’s just because I have larger hips but I don’t think so.  I would imagine that with the placement of the camera hanging by your hip / leg area, it would cause the camera to bounce around significantly more than it would if it were around your neck.
• If you are in a crowd, I would think it’s easier to protect your camera and make sure people aren’t banging into it easier if it is straight out in front of you, rather than sticking out at your hip.
• My biggest concern is safety.  This may not be a concern when you are out in a field on your own photographing a sunset… but if you are like me and live in a big city where theft is a major issue, do you really want to walk around with your camera in this thing?  If he can grab it out so easily, what stops some dude passing you on the sidewalk from doing it?  At least with the neck strap they pretty much have to rip your head off in order to make off with the camera, this seems like it screams “STEAL MY CAMERA”.   On their website it does state that there is a locking mechanism, but what stops them from ripping it from your belt, holster and all?

Yeah, I don’t know.   I do see how this would be handy for professional photographers in cases like secure photo shoots or wedding photography, where theft and a lot of moving around isn’t an issue.  Perhaps those people will see more good than bad in this product.  I give the guy kudos for coming up with something new and different, but I don’t think I will be rushing out to buy one.

Found on Engadget

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That was the main reason why I never bought a digital SLR camera, because I was worried that I’d get it, feel overwhelmed and then not bother using it.  So in the meantime I just toted my point and shoot with me everywhere and tried to get the best pics I could with the limited knowledge I had.

Recently I made a new friend who lives about five minutes away from me who shares a number of interests with me, including photography!   We went out a few times on photo taking adventures and it wasn’t long before I grew impatient with my point and shoot (even though it’s a VERY good 10 megapixel camera) because no matter how good it was it wasn’t something I could truly learn on (for example, I was not able to set the aperture myself, etc).

After a lot of careful consideration, research and accepting that this would pretty much be an early (enter the next 4-5 gift giving occasions) present, we went out and bought me a new DSLR!

(Some of the photos are of the A350 but they are basically the same)

I spent a lot of time researching the different cameras in my price range and in the end my choice came down to the Canon EOS 1000D (Digital Rebel) or the Sony Alpha 300 (the camera my friend happened to own).  They both fell comfortably within our budget with an extra lens, both had really great reviews, and they each had their pros and cons.   The Canon was popular because it’s a good camera but also because Canon is a very popular brand with a bit of a cult following.  The Sony, while not as popular had just as good or better reviews as well as the vari-angle LCD screen and someone who knew it inside out that could give me a head start on learning how to use it.  So that is what I got, and I’m loving it.

My best friend’s son Noah.  I already have many many photos of him!

I’ve started looking at some digital photography tutorials online, as well as various downloaded (pirated.. oops!) videos on photography and Photoshop.  I’m learning a lot and having such a great time with it.   It’s a great camera from what I can tell.  It’s user friendly, feels sturdy and I’ve already used the live view function a number of times with the tilt screen.  I’m really not one for crawling around on my belly or standing on top of things to take photos so being able to see what I am getting from all angles really works for me.

Trompenburg Tuinen & Aboretum

I also got an amazingly cool bag to carry around it in, made by Crumpler.   I needed something safe to carry the camera around in that didn’t scream “HEY COME STEAL MY EXPENSIVE NEW CAMERA”, which is what mostly any camera bag says here in Rotterdam.   The great thing about the Crumpler bags is that they don’t look like camera bags, and I like that.

Mine is called the Muffin Top 7500 and it’s awesome.   It has room for my camera, my extra lense and any other crap I want to carry around with me (wallet, phone, Tictacs, you know… the usual).  It’s not cheap but neither was my camera so I want to make sure it’s protected.  It also comes with a 30 year warranty, which helps a lot when rationalizing the price.

My photo-friend belongs to a photography club based in Den Haag that she seems to really enjoy.  She’s asked that I join and attend the meetings and events with her so I figured what the hell.   What better way to learn and meet people with similar interests!  Best thing is, everyone is English… so we can all discuss photography freely without stopping for translations or easier ways to explain things.   I just hope they are cool with me being a complete newbie and are able to keep it simple on occasion… and be gentle with their critiques.

So yeah, happy every gift-giving holiday for the rest of the year to me!!

Related posts:

1. Happy Easter Everyone!
2. Happy Birthday To Meeee – 32!
3. Happy Birthday Grietje!