Out of my league, and I didn’t win this month’s lottery

Alas, the long awaited date had come and gone… As the time drew nearer it was certain there would be no appearance for the D700’s replacement :)

As expected Nikon had released the D3s, and a millisecond later, various photography’s Internet forums instantaneously burst into fiery flames…  as usual the ‘I like’ and ‘I don’t like’ camp were (and still are) having a good old time ducking and diving while making punches and counter punches, of course there is also a third camp, the ‘I don’t care’, and through their actions, appointed themselves as the forums’ referees.

Here is a link to my absolute fav forum;

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1021

 

Just talked to your mother on getting the replacement DSLR, it must be psychological thing as I found myself not wanting to go back to the D90 (stolen), instead somehow my mind is set on getting a higher spec. camera. Returning to the “par” or even a lower spec. unit just doesn’t feel right, it would just multiply my bitterness… “they came into my house took the camera and now I have to suffer with a lower spec. unit?” that must be it…

My heart was set on the D700’s replacement, and since I am not a particularly close friend of Nikon’s President thus I can not see it materialising any time soon. Here was the list we were discussing… D300s, 5DMkII and the D700, pretty short list isn’t it.

Well earlier on I said ‘discussing’, when in fact the conversation was pretty one way, your mother was kind enough to let me rumble on and on about things she down right finds boring (to put it mildly).

Still no solution, Nikon still had me at “FX sensor at a (kind of) reasonable price”, I am just another slave to one of the seven deadly sins, Greed :) so I am going to wait and wait until the next announcement (there is no point spending so much money on something you are only partially satisfy  (the rumour mills are beginning to once again, starting to spin, ‘Something in December? (may be)’, or ‘at the latest Q1 2010’).

Goodnigth P’John…

Early last Friday afternoon your mother called me while I was in the office, she was all fluttered, but the single sentence she said, was very clear… “P’John is no longer with us”.

Your mother went on to tell me all the information she had heard, and like all the others to whom I had later on spoken to, for a short while we were all in denial…

P’John (the letter P’ in front of a name means we treated him like an older brother/sister) came into our lives while your mother and I was still working at BMW (we weren’t even together then), he came to head up the Super Duper VIP Sales team, and that was where  your mother was working (while I was in the Dealer Network Development), after BMW, P’John was the one who asked your mother to join him at Nok Air…

In a normal Thai Wedding’s reception, the bride and groom will have an elder (each) to give a short speech and blessing… in our case I had chosen my boss (P’Papon) and your mother also chose her boss (P’John) (whom happened to be classmate so many, many, many years ago), as soon as they opened their mouths we knew they were the wrong choice… haa haa haa, they ripped us to bits… what a great night…

Just wanted you to get the feel that I very much respected P’John although I was not as close to him as your mother was (no where near). I certainly was more than glad to see him when our paths crossed, he was a totally sincere person, very wise and knowledgeable, especially in the field of photography.

The final day of his funeral will be this coming Monday… it will be a very sad day, all our hearts are now with his wife (P’Gai) their daughter… there is nothing else to say…

Giving it a rest…

Have been waiting and waiting for November the 15th, because that is the day when Nikon will be announcing their new products, and there have been so many rumours flying around on the Internet. Because of the D90 (which was stolen a few weeks back), I am totally hooked on Nikon and was hoping they would release a replacement to the D700 (I don’t want much, just a D700 with VDO).

From my latest visit to www.nikonrumors.com, it looks like there will be a no replacement to the D700 after all… what a disappointment, I was willing to go all out and jump into the realm of the FX sensor (and I even got the misses’ permission already).

Here is a small quote from the article I have just read (www.nikonrumors.com)…

 

Q & A session with Peter Giesen from Nikon Germany (no D700x/D700s in the near future)

On October 2nd, 2009 there was an online photo fair that took place in Germany. The fair included also a presentation by Peter Giesen from Nikon. He talked about flashes, wireless lighting, Capture NX 2, lens technology, accessories, etc. Here is a brief description of the Q&A session that took place at the end of his presentation:

• On the question “will there be a 28-300 lens for FX cameras” he answered that at the moment this was beyond his knowledge
• On the question “will Nikon bring more than 12 MP on a DX sensor” he answered indirectly by pointing the disadvantages of a bigger sensor  (noise, etc.)
• On the question whether there will be a 24-70 VR II lens soon, he said that he didn’t know because no one would tell him before new products were released
• When asked about the successor of the D3 he dodged the question by going to the next one
• The only question he gave a definitive answer was about the D700 successor: “the D700 has been introduced only last year, and we won’t have a successor in the near future”

 

I knew it was wishful thinking to be hoping for a D700’s replacement, but after reading so many rumours and speculations, I was beginning to believe that there could have been a replacement, but only recently the speculations had suddenly shifted towards a D3s, and now it looks like that could be true…

What now? Canon 5DMkII is looking pretty good right now… but on the other hand, the article did say “in the near future”… I wonder how long that is… haa haa haa… 5 days? :)

I am going to give all these rumours/speculations/guesses a rest and just wait for the announcement, perhaps the D3s won’t be that expensive (oh… another wishful thinking again…).

Bridge Over a River Kwai

It must have been late on Thursday when your mother had decided that all of us were going to skive off your usual Saturday Gymboree class (it was fine by me, and you didn’t object) to take a short trip up country.

After a quick debate, Kanjanaburi was where we were heading, only 129 Kms to the North West of Bangkok, as usual we were late leaving the house (can I hear you say “again?”), well, this time the gas stove wasn’t working so we had to find an alternative way to make your breakfast (we did at the end), which meant we hadn’t left the house until around 11:00.

Kanjanaburi will be a place that history will probably never forget, as one of the main highlights is the ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’…

 

“The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).”

Commonwealth War Grave Commission
http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=2017100&mode=1

 

The drive took just a little over an hour and a half, after arriving in Kanjanaburi, we headed straight to the Bridge. Right before our port of call we had to drive pass a couple of the cemeteries for the POWs, and that had really put things in perspective.

The last time I was here, I must have been around 8 or 9 years old, and like so many other instances, somehow the bridge felt quite smaller than I remembered.

 

 

Guess what we did as soon as we got here… yes… we decided to eat (lunch time), the options were rather limited, there were 2-3 restaurants near the bridge, usually we would choose the busiest one (sign of having good grubs), but now that you are here with us, our first option is always to choose the least busy restaurant… :)

The food was decent (above our expectations), the service was rather slow but the staffs were really nice and understanding.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After lunch we headed off to look more closely at the bridge, it is unbelievable how many lives were lost in building this line, it must have been so very different then, no real roads, no restaurants and certainly no tourists…
 

There was this so called train running across the bridge, totally touristy :) and of course we had to get on it, 20 Bahts/person. 


 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Your face says it all here, this is hardly Disneyland, but for the historical value of it, it was certainly worth all of the 15 minutes of it. Of course we were feared for our lives, I had assumed it was just going to cross the bridge and come back… instead it just kept going.

While crossing the bridge it was at no more than a walking pace, but once it arrived on the other side it suddenly shot off, guessing at round 50-60 Km/hr and creaking all the way.

I was glad once it was all over… :)






 

My technique of one handed photo taking is getting better all the time :) Really missing the stolen D90, this G7 is woefully under spec for what we need. From the ever amazing Internet, it looks like Nikon will announce something within the next 2 weeks, all the rumours are pointing towards some new lens and a perhaps a D3s… a what? D3s? Where is my beloved D700s (or x)? I have this feeling I am going to be so disappointed, as often these rumours do come true… Don’t really have the budget for a D3 (s or x), and the incumbent D700 has no vdo… Oh what to do, perhaps the only alternative for a FF DSlr is the Canon 5DMkII… lets wait until October the 15th…


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides the bridge there was a private War museum, your mother and I love galleries and museums, and this one was ok for a small private museum (meaning not free), there was a decent enough section that is directly connected to the bridge (with often the same photo posted several times), however the majority had nothing to do with the bridge. The best thing about the place is that it was quiet and had a great view of the bridge, a perfect place if you want to cool down have a break from the crowd of people.

One of the first thing we saw was this old Mercedes, your mother and I both started off in the automotive industry (BMW Thailand to be exact), so we have a soft spot for cars (your mother still wants a Mini)… and this was a rare one.

After the bridge we headed off further north to another popular spot, the Srinakarin Dam, approximately 60 Kms from the Bridge. It was a really nice drive, we all took a deep ‘gasp ‘ once we turned left onto the dam, what a view it was… Because of the left turn (up hill) the view of the lake (on our right) and the valley (to our left) was hidden, and it suddenly jumped out at us once the left turn was over… :)

   















 

 

  

It must have been around 17:30 when we set off from the bridge, by the time we got to the main town of Kanjanaburi it had started to rain, and it kept raining harder and harder all the way home (20:00). All in all it was a great idea from your mother to take this break, and just to leave BKK (and our normal routine) behind, although for just one afternoon…

(Next trip, Siam Ocean World…) :)

 

What a Morning…

Over the past few days South East Asia have been hit by the Typhoon (Ketsana), and now a new typhoon is brewing (Parma), Philippines seemed to be the most affected so far. As for Thailand, we have been fortunate enough to only be suffering from a very heavy downpour, especially last night.

When we woke up this morning, we discovered a couple of floods on two small balconies, so I had to spent some time clearing those out, which meant it was getting late in leaving the house, so we had to rushed around getting everything ready.

While carrying everything (4 huge bags and a note book) and making my way down the wooden stairs (with a pair of super slippery socks), I took a bit of a tumble. I must have made a real racket, because your mother rushed out from the bedroom thinking that one of the cupboard had fallen on you.

Just like in a cartoon, sliding on my behind down 7 or 8 steps, followed closely by all the bags must have made one amazing sight, because you were transfixed at my misfortune. Luckily I didn’t bang my head, but my elbow, ankles and bottom was and is very sore.

After your mother rushed out, I had discovered later that she was more concern with her notebook more than the bruise on my behind :)

The Prices are in…

After spending so much dough this month on home security so that there won’t be a third time… I am back on the trail of the pc upgrade project, managed to visit a local hardware store to get some prices, after a short discussion it looks like I may need to replace my power supply as well…

Going back to the net, here are the bold park prices for the hardware (based on US$ 1 : 35 Baths);

      CPU - Core i7 920                  10,490 Bahts (US$ 300)
   MB  - Asus P6T Deluxe V2           10,490 Bahts (US$ 300)
   Ram - OCZ 2x3 6GB, 1333            4,950  Bahts (US$ 142)
   GC  - Asus GTX 275 896MB DDR3      8,790  Bahts (US$ 252)
   FAN - Coolermaster V8              2,350  Bahts (US$ 68)
   PSU - Tough Power 850W             5,800  Bahts (US$ 166)

                          Total       42,870 Bahts (US$ 1,225)

Whooooow, I think that is just a little too much… and I haven’t added the cost of Windows 7.

I still can not believe my existing Enermax 535W won’t be enough for this new system. Thinking of leaving out the GTX 275 for the time being, making the whole project down to around 34,080 Bahts (US$ 974), not too bad, although I can not see Gio approving this… :) (that is about the price of an iPhone here in Thailand).

 

Been Burgled: My Batcave (sort of…)

All done in only a day and a half, first day was a full day of just wiring… On the second day, it only took half the day to install all of the cameras and set up the DVR.

I am glad this project is over, it went much quicker and smoother than I had anticipated, the next coming project is the burglar alarm, there will be no wiring this time (decided to go with a wireless solution), they should be coming in to set it all up within a couple weeks.

It was all rather a great novice experience at first, sitting and watching the world going by… a cat taking a nap on the car, a car going pass the front gate… and so on.

Now the little TV is off, and I can not see it coming on again any time soon, lets hope this investment becomes worthwhile when it is really needed, yet again I hope I never have to use it, ever :)

Test: Mobile Upload.

Testing, testing, mobile upload from Nokia E61i via e-mail... :)

Been Burgled: Security 2

Have just spent most of the day talking to security system people, the burglar alarm decision was finalised weeks ago, now it was the CCTV system, and there are so many of them, again we talked to 2 of the suppliers that were recommended through friends.

Choosing the hardware was a simple matter, but the installation and wiring discussion took forever, the 2 companies had totally different strategy (the pricing was totally different too… hee hee).

The next step will be the quotations, the burglar alarm is already setting me back around 100k, and it looks like this will be in the same pricing bracket, that is a lot of money, but I think this will bring peace of mind for Gio and that is the most important thing of all :)

Inspirational: Sir Nicholas Winton

Prior to the start of the second world war, Sir Nicholas Winton with an absolute clarity in this foresight, initiated and ran an operation to evacuate children from the Czech Republic who would have surely been sent to the concentration camp, all in all 669 children were saved. All the children travelled by specially charted trains from Prague to London where they were placed with their adopted family. To me this is an absolutely fantastic true story.

 

The link below will only take you 5 – 10 minutes to read :)
     http://abcnews.go.com/International/holocaust-children-honor-sir-nicholas-winton-saved/story?id=8493151

Or you can watch this short VDO (about 9 minutes)
     http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/internationalus/return_to_slovakia.html

 

What a great way to end a Sunday… totally not looking forward to a difficult meeting at work tomorrow… :(