Every day this week seems packed. There are a lot of things going on… I’m doing as much computer work as possible to save up money for a month in which I’ll have little income. I’m also trying to do some shooting. Tonight I have a “ghost” shoot planned with Nicole. We’re going to dress her up fancy and make her transparent with some long exposure magic.
Today I picked up a scrawny little travel tripod. It’s pretty impressive. It weighs 1.78lbs and folds up to about 10″ long. It extends to over 51″ high, which is maybe chest-level for me. That’s better than most small tripods. I’m not certain how stable it’s going to be. The tilt/pan head holds quite steady, but the legs are thin. I’d feel better if I had a cable release, so I don’t shake the cam when I press the button, but I suppose I can be patient and use the timer for now.
I found a fantastic travel tool on the Internet. Metro for the PocketPC and Palm is a free program that calculates routes between subway stations for you. It has a massive database including around 350 transit systems from around the world. Some of the bigger cities have separate databases that also include major attractions, so you can navigate between them. This is going to come in very handy in Paris. I wish I had it when I was in Thailand!
My final thought for this entry is that I love the smell of chlorinated water from swimming pools. I was walking by the YWCA downtown this afternoon, and got a good whiff of it. It takes me back to my childhood, when I took a lot of swimming lessons. I don’t remember liking swimming lessons. In fact, I think I probably hated them. There’s also the story of the “Aqua Tots” class my parents put me in when I was about 2. The instructor tossed me in the pool and assured my dad that I would float. After I had been lying on the bottom of the pool for about 30 seconds, my dad couldn’t stand it anymore and dove in to get me. I probably suffered permanent brain damage from that one. I also had a bad experience getting stuck in a room where there was a spill of concentrated chlorine. It burned my lungs and I had trouble breathing for a couple of weeks after that. But for some reason, the smell of swimming pools always makes me smile and feel good. I guess I’m just determined to like it. 🙂
You have got to be joking. Chlorinated swimming pools have some crappy smells. And heated pools are even worse. The mere smell just reminds me why they use it.
But that said……being that it was coming from the YWCA……it is kind of forgiving.
oh, dude, i wish i had that when i was in paris.
back in the day 😉 there was only this non free demo with 5 free paths which you could see. (for paris only too). i used 2 and saved the rest “just in case”, and the rest of the time figured out where to go by using guess and check. messed up, isn’t it?
and that’s some messed up experiences with swimming… chroline smell takes me back to when i worked in a swimming pool store. it peeled my hands. its not a good thing. 😛