Harry has returned to Vermont. I am sad, but it does mean I can work from the desk in his room again. I’ve already taken over again.
The windows are open, though it’s going to get into the mid-90’s this afternoon so I will probably close them soon. The cats are happy.
The plants (Bertha the plant clipping, Bertie Bots Every Flavour Plant Clipping, and Bertrand Russel the Plant Clipping) are all happy too. I think… they are plants… their thoughts are tough to read.
Is it a cop out of an answer if I say all of them?
Why limit yourself to a subset of the globe when you can see it all? This is all hypothetical, isn’t it? Spin a globe, stop it with your finger at some random spot, go to that place. That’s how it’s done, folks.
If we are going to limit ourselves to some hypothetical subset…
I’ve only been to one country outside of the United States and that was Canada. As I am a little on the lazy side when it comes to traveling, all of my top choices of countries to visit would likely be places where most folks speak English, and most road signs are also in English. The UK and Ireland would all more or less tie for first place on the big destinations list. Australia and New Zealand would be on the short list too, but only after the British isles. After that, how about literally everywhere in Europe. Start in the West and work my way East. Simple.
After that? I really don’t know. Brazil, Morocco, India, Japan. Maybe a road trip from the Southern tip of South America all the way home. That would be pretty fantastic. Then we could rerun the plan starting at the Southern tip of Africa and ending in France or Spain, and then fly home from there. Just imagine how much the rental car would cost for a trip like that. Yikes, but totally worth it. It would make our epic drives to and from Disney look like a walk around the block.
I’ve kinda gotten off subject though, I think. The short answer to the which countries would I like to visit question is every country in the British Islands and more of Canada. I want to go to Newfoundland, where my maternal grandparents came from, and Ireland, where my paternal grandmother came from, and Scotland, where Jen’s family came from. I want to trace our roots, as it were. That would be fun.
We have to go back to Disney World twice before we leave the country though, and after that we need to go back to Southern California which will likely include a day trip into Mexico… which just implies that any plans I have for international travel are likely to never get too far beyond hypothetical. It’s like John Lennon said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.
I live in greater Boston. I don’t follow the NBA or the NFL. I do follow the NHL and MLB.
While I don’t really care about the Boston Celtics, I am pleased that my city apparently just won another pro-sports championship. The Celtics just won it. Game five ended a few minutes ago and the Celtics won the game and the series. That’s 18 NBA Championships.
Congrats, Celtics. Now I just have to avoid sports radio for a couple of weeks as they aren’t going to cover anything other than the Celtics.
Oh well. Hey, the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays tonight too. That’s good, right?
All this talk of the new Pentax half frame camera has me wanting stuff. What kind of stuff? I don’t know, stuff.
I’d like a bunch of new lenses for my mirrorless camera. I’d like a bunch of new lenses for my two film cameras. I’d like to get my hands on a decent medium format camera. Rather than stepping down the resolution with a half frame camera, let’s up the resolution with a great big honkin’ 120 film. Maybe a Pentax 67 or something. I think an old (ancient) folding camera would be cool. Maybe a Zeiss Ikonta. The downside being that these cameras were initially manufactured in Germany prior to World War II which means there may have been slave labor involved. I would have to make sure the manufacture date of any camera I bought would be post-war. Just for my own piece of mind.
I want a new guitar. A Les Paul Junior. A Les Paul Special. A Les Paul Deluxe. A Firebird. An ES-135. An ES-125. An ES-355. I want a new amp. A Marshall 1962. A Marshall Plexi. A Mesa Boogie California Tweed. A tweed 4×10 Fender Bassman. A tweed Fender Deluxe.
I want a new MacBook Pro. I want a new iPhone, but not a 15. I’m willing to wait for the 16.
Forgive the conspicuous consumerism. I am just in a retail therapy kinda mood for some reason. Not honestly though. I’m saving my pennies for not one but two future trips to Disney World. Well… that and getting film developed. There won’t be any money left over after those two things.
Still…
I want. I want. I want.
The blinds on the dining room window are closed for the first time in ages and Miss Robin Sparkles is pissed.
A new film camera. Who woulda thunk it?
I was really excited when I heard that Pentax was going to make a new camera model. My Dad’s camera, which hurled me down the film shootin’ rabbit hole that I likely will never be able to crawl out of, is a Pentax so that’s kind of karmically fitting.
Then they announced it was going to be half frame. Huh. Okay, I guess. I have enough trouble getting things to look half decent in a full frame resolution, I can only imagine how shitty my stuff would look at half of the resolution. I was still interested, but a little less interested.
Then I learned that it’s not an autofocusing camera, and it’s also not a manual focusing camera. It’s just a zone focus deal and since it’s not an SLR you don’t see through the lens when you look through the viewfinder, so focusing is literally guesswork. Huh.
Am I still interested? Yes. Am I as interested as I was a few days ago? No.
The YouTube is suddenly riddled with review videos. Today must be the officially sanctioned Pentax Press Day, or whatever they call it in the biz.
Here is one I haven’t watched yet:
Here is another one I haven’t watched yet:
Here is one that I am watching as I type this:
Here is one I have watched:
The Bad Flashes video just said the sale price will be $499 and the on sale date will be June 24th via the Pentax website. $499 is too expensive for me. My interest just dropped to very near zero. Sorry, Charlie. Maybe if the price comes down I will check it out, just to be a part of the party and stuff.
Here’s hoping it’s successful and leads to a new full frame SLR. That would be really cool.
Today has been a tough day. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night. I was up until about midnight and then I was out of bed before 5:30am today. I was extremely productive this morning, but round about lunch time the lack of sleep caught up to me and I’ve been struggling ever since.
I think today is my last day working in the cellar. At least for a few weeks. I should be back in my step son’s room tomorrow. that’s good because it is ridiculously cold down here right now. It’s 85 degrees outside, but 66 degrees at my desk and I am freezing. We are supposed to be having a heat wave roll in starting tomorrow (I think). That’s fine with me. I probably won’t wear a sweatshirt if it is 100 degrees out. Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.
I had some trouble with lunch. I made a little piece of chicken and some french fries. I think I went too fast eating the fries and something got stuck. It took about an hour to clear. That made me sad on top of being tired. The fries were really good and I had to stop. Bummer, dude.
I need to take the cameras out and shoot some photos. I can’t seem to dredge up any motivation though. I need to play guitar. I can’t seem to dredge up any motivation though. Bummer, dude.
Bellana brought me a new friend yesterday. He’s my new buddy.
It is Monday again. Blah.
We had both kids here last night for the first time in ages. It was wonderful. Talk about a full heart, right? It’s over now though. My step son, Harry left for Vermont this morning. He’s on his way home. I was on a conference call when he left, but I got to say goodbye. I’m happy about that at least. My step daughter, Bellana will be here for a couple more days. She’s going out to do some stuff during the day today but she’ll be back this evening. I’m happy she’s here. I was happy that Harry too. I just really love them both and I love having them around the house.
Work has been busy so far today. It will continue for a few days at least. I am planning on working from home tomorrow but I have to go into the office on Wednesday. I’m not sure what my second office day will be this week. I hate the idea of going in on a Friday, but I think this week it will probably happen. I just don’t want to commute two days in a row this week. Especially after doing it four days in a row last week.
I haven’t taken a picture yet today. The photo a day challenge is still open. Where are the cats?
Inside the Red Head's Head 