_decibel_

Ok, so to continue the meme, these are the places that I've slept in 2011:

Columbus, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Maumee, OH
Proctor, WV
San Juan, PR
St. Johns, Antigua
Fredericksted, St. Croix
Castries, St. Lucia
Basseterre, St. Kitts
Atlanta, GA

This just re-inforces the fact I need to travel more.

This is becoming more of a tradition than anything. for the past couple years, it seems like i give an annual update on this thing around this time of year. Hard to believe that in about a week, this journal of mine is going to be 10 years old.

Unbelieveable.

So.... what's been going on here? well, last time i wrote in this thing Chris was living in Indy. Well, that all changed in December when Chris quit his job because they were treating him like slave labor. you can only work 20 hours a day so many days in a row. I think he did it like 15 or 16 in a row. it was really getting to him, which I totally understand. he's in nursing school now, and will be graduating with an RN in 2013. He's really loving this and I hope he will do extremely well.

Me? it's the same ol, same ol' here. Been with my company for 20 years now, and I really don't foresee any changes coming with that any time soon.

I am going on a cruise though. I leave next Saturday, the 12th Looking forward to it. I haven't really had any time off this year and i need a break.

i miss going places. I miss all the people that i know. i miss.... well I miss travel. But you need to have money to travel, and that's hard to come by these days.

I guess I miss having a social life. being responsible kind of sucks.

So, ok..... for the past few weeks I've been trying to eat better. This means actually going to the grocery store for more than dog treats for Roscoe, oreo cookies, bread and peanut butter. Now, I haven't been thinking about it, I've just been doing it. More Chicken, making my own burgers, salads, cooking my own breakfast.

It wasn't until yesterday that I realized something. Yesterday at work, management threw a Black Friday Pizza party and bought Network Services pizza from LaRosa's Pizza, which I am under the opinion is the asswipe of pizza. Very sweet red sauce and very greasy. Now, since it was free i decided to take a piece or two. One was an all meat pizza and the other was a Bacon Chicken Ranch pizza slice. I ate the all meat slice and halfway through the other slice I started to feel not so good. So i threw the other slice away, went down to the cafeteria and got a salad and I felt better.

HUH? when the hell did this happen? I used to be able to toss back at least a half a pie. I'm done with pizza after a piece and a half?

Also last night, I was out making a few stops and I decided to stop in to Chipotle. it settled in my stomach like I ate a rock and I felt awful all night.

So, I learned something today. no only do I feel better eating what I make at home, I'm saving money to boot. Every little bit helps.

so, i'm up on a Saturday morning. guess I'll get moving and head to Micro Center to see if I can get a mini USB cable for data transfer for my DSLR. It's annoying when you know you have something and can't find it. I'll either get the data cable or I'll get a high speed sanDisk reader. kybearfuzz inspired me to find a new purple shirt.

Taken in Toledo, Ohio. This was a spectacular sunset. I was able to get the sunset's reflection in the Fifth Third Tower.



and here's the actual sunset that was being reflected:

So, I get this email last week.

"We are unable to authorize payment for your paid livejournal account".

My first reaction would be to break out the wallet and re-up for a paid account. But the more I think about this, the more I feel like I don't need a paid account anymore. In fact, this is entry #6 for the whole year.

Who knew getting a Facebook account would bring my journalling to a halt like this? Not I.

So, i'm sticking with the free account status. And I'm definitely not closing this journal. There are way too many entries and memories that I have in here.

soooooo... I guess I should also talk about the Blackest Night storyline that's going on in DC Comics. This has to be one of the most original and captivating storylines I've read in a while. Personally, I think this blows Final Crisis out of the water (which isn't hard, since the majority of Final Crisis was a scattered mess). And there's zombies. Soul-less corpses being manipulated by a dark, mysterious and deadly force. I can't wait to see what happens when all 7 color corps come together to beat this thing.

SO..... I just want to say that I think mikiedoggie's F-Stop is hot. His pictures are so beautiful, even when he's taking candids.

Anyway, back to my plea for advice.

Last week I decided to invest in a upgraded lens for my SLR. After about 4 months of looking, I decided on the Canon 28 mm - 135 mm - f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. So, I get it on Friday and start taking pictures with it.

Now, I'm thinking that this lens should, in theory, work like any other lens and be very easy to use. What I found is that it would not increase in zoom past 70MM unless I turn the camera off, adjust the focus, then I can get it to 135MM for close up shots with the macro. I also found that it would not take a picture in the full auto mode- I could only take pics in AV or TV or complete Manual. I can adjust shutter speed or F-Stop all the time, but that gets tedious. Once I started playing with it, the pics were dynamic but I noticed a slight haze on the right side of the picture... like I was taking a pic thru a partial filter.

I started playing around with it more today, and I took the lens off the camera when I noticed the haze was getting worse. When I took it off, I heard a slight rattle.

oh, this is not good.

I looked through the lens and it looked like there was glue or some splatter on the side of the lens on the inside of the casing. Well, this makes sense that I had that haze.

So I sent it back to techforless.com. They were very understanding and sent me a return UPS label immediately, and will be crediting me back in a few days.

At least they better.


So, now I have my kit 18mm-55mm IS lens and the 55mm- 255MM IS lens.

Any suggestions on a better quality lens? I liked the range of the 28mm-135mm but since the lens was defective, that kind of tainted my view on it. Do all the upgraded lenses stop halfway when you try and zoom? Mind you, I can't afford an L-Series lens.

mrsarcastic poked me, telling me it's been three weeks since my last post. I assure you, I'm not dead. I've just been in lurker mode with not a lot to say.

Well, to recap:

The weekend in DC a few weeks ago was fantastic. Big thanks to roguecub and largemilk for the wonderful hospitality. They're the awesome.

I turned 38 a week ago. I didn't do a lot for my b-day since I was in a stupid depression about turning 38. I think it irked Chris more than me because he's used to big parties for birthdays and I'm not. Also, the realization that I turned 38 means I've been out of high school for 20 years now. That depressed me more.

Last night, Chris and I went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I left disappointed. It started out so good too, especially with Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool. Perfect casting on that one. But the more the movie went on, the more I wanted to leave. I didn't see the leaked version of the movie last month, but some of the CGI was just crap. I mean come on..... Some of the scenes where his claws are out - the CGI was akin to the cartoon characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Sure the action was fun to watch. but that's the only thing that made this trainwreck bearable.

Going to see Avenue Q today. Finally!!!!

Believe it or not, I've never been to DC.

This will be changing in a couple weeks. Chris and i are flying down and visiting roguecub and largemilk in DC! We're both very excited about this trip. Since we're both history nuts, we'll definitely be hitting a couple of the Smithsonian museums. He wants to go to the Holocaust museum. I want to go to the museum of American history. What else can y'all recommend?

I came down to get some coffee and I found Roscoe on the couch. He looked so cute on there, I couldnt' tell him to get down.

Ok, So last week Final Crisis #7 came out. It was a pile of poodoo. I won't go into details, just in case someone hasn't read it yet but color me both disappointed and hella confused. if you understood it, please let me know.

So, Legion of 3 Worlds.... Issue 3 came out today. What I want to know is why the Final Crisis storyline wasn't as detailed and understandable as this one.
( Legion of 3 Worlds spoiler.... you've been warned. )