Salt Peanuts

Porcelain (as opposed to porcelain-fused-to-metal) crowns are more expensive than gold crowns.

Argh, this reminds me that I need to call my dentist. I hate dental appointments.

^ That sucks, Reks. I'm wondering if your LCD glass/cover is defective - never had issues with them chipping in variety of devices I've owned in the past (at least not without some kind of accident).

I don't know how they are now, but compared to the Canon menus, the menu on D700 was painful. Of course, there's always the convoluted menus on Olympus. I wonder how the menus on other companies compare.

Sigma: World's first f/1.8 constant aperture zoom for Canon, Nikon, Sigma APS-C DSLRs I wonder how much this sucker is going to weigh (and cost).

I don't know how you do your job and stay sane, Vicki.

Went to couple more museums. As we expected, the National Museum of Natural History was a big hit with our daughter - she loves dinosaurs.

^ Nice stack you got there, Shelly!

Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home for $75 with a free Industry Disgrace strap (Black/Brown/Orange) over on Adorama. Search on Google for "Adorama Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home deal" or something along that line, since linking directly to the deal page reverts it back to original price.

^ Do keep in mind Nikon generally will not honor warranty on items outside of its specific regions, though they'll still service it (e.g., Nikon USA will service items bought in Japan, but it won't be free even if it's within warranty period). Also, doesn't Europe and US have different video format?

^ Trying to figure out what's the catch.

Nothing wrong with the lens, actually, in itself. I just want a lens to be at f/2 or faster when it's going to be my primary lens and majority of my shots are taken indoors. I know I could use an external flash, but I prefer not using it if possible. This, of course, is a moot point for me until I go see my doctor/OT again about my tendonitis. I did just realize that both D600 and D7100 are god chunk lighter than my old D700 - this does not help with the temptation to go back to Nikon, especially since my tendonitis still hurts with m43 setup, just a little less than before. Should just get a monopod.

That looks fun, Doug. Makes me wish we still used our fireplace.

Should return the new D7100 for a new D600 (or D800 or D4). One thing I don't like about Canon and Nikon croppers is that there are no affordable prime lenses that would result in equivalent focal length of 35mm in 35mm format. I like the photo, Jacob. Is that hair in one of the vials?

Happy Birthday!

Camera issues all day today at the National Zoo, including ruining a roll of film by accident. It doesn't help the matter that we are generally in foul mood com lack of sleep.

I'm sorry to hear that, Knuckles.

Family vacation with in-laws, and visiting my wife's extended family in the area as well. The in-laws somehow managed to avoid most of traffic so they actually got to DC only hour later than they were planning. Much to our (my wife and I) joy, the complete change in the routine meant that our daughter (almost 3) would not fall asleep (or stay asleep) and then she woke up way too early. Consequently, neither my wife nor I got enough or good sleep. I think I'll be injecting myself with coffee today.

Drove down to Washington D.C. Between needing to stop for our daughter, lunch, and various traffic congestion, the drive took 11 hours instead of 7. At least the apartment we're staying is nice.

Speaking of mechanical pencils, Tombow Zoom 505 was my favorite one while growing up in Japan (I permanently borrowed one from my mother). I had lost mine over two decades ago during a move and I figured I won't find one again, with Tombow not exactly a household name in this country. I guess I was wrong - Tombow Zoom 505 Mechanical Pencil. Now that I've found it, I probably will end up with one, along with its rollerball sibling (which is called Ultra for some reason in this country).

Went to work, came home, and packed for family trip.

Prepped my car for a long, long drive in couple of days. I really hate installing/uninstalling car seats.

IIRC from when I looked into the same thing, 50/1.8G is supposed to be noticeably (whatever that means) better optically than older 50/1.8D. Between 50/1.8G and 50/1.4G, 1.4G is supposed to have much, much better edge-to-edge performance, though 1.8G (newer lens than 1.4G) is supposedly wee bit faster in focusing. Obviously, the usual caveat of I-didn't-actually-go-get-all-three-lenses-and-test-them-out-myself applies here. I ended up with 1.8G mostly because it came back in stock before 1.4G did, and it costs less than half of 1.4G.

Hope you get the award, Shelly!

Didn't even realize this thread existed. I spent about 10 minutes today trying to get a stuck ink cartridge out of my Vanishing Point. After I managed to get it out, I realized that my box of ink cartridges was empty. I guess I'll be ordering them along with more of my favorite pen - Pilot Precise V5. Oh, and love the photo, Ari.