Another Photo Weekend

Looking forward to a weekend of forced R&R by being away from the office or house.
Too bad the D4 won’t be in my fat hands for a good try-out

Pimping the M9

For months I had a great little gadget on my desk awaiting its mate, the Leica M9.  As soon as the camera got in, the Thumbs Up got mated to the camera and served as promised by the great Leica guru, David Farkas at Dale’s Camera in Hollywood, Florida.

Then came the guys at Really Right Stuff who responded to Leica users’ request to come up with a L-Bracket setup that would allow the camera to be placed in either landscape or portrait orientation.  Since I had already bought these brackets for the Nikon bodies, I pre-ordered mine.

It has been a few weeks now that the RSS bracket and the M9 hooked up.  Unfortunately for the Thumbs Up, it got the boot!  There have been a few complaints from other users about the new setup, but it appears to be a tolerance issue at Leica, not RSS.  My set-up happened to fit beautifully and I have been extremely happy with it.

Anyone with a M8, 8.2 or M9 out there who has wondered about buying one of these…. Don’t!  Go ahead and order yours.  It is a well-designed, and great functioning component.  My setup has all three parts to it.

Droid X

Motorola and Google have hit a home run with the new X.

I have now been using the phone since Thursday and must say I have been impressed.

At minimum I must say that as far as functionality goes, it beats the Blackberry hands-down and perhaps surpasses the iPhone as well.

1. Coverage: The Verizon system proved to be much more reliable and covered me in areas where the iPhone showed “no service”. Both on the highway in Dallas as the byways between Madrid and Albuquerque.

2. Apps. The only app that does not work as well on the X is the Accuweather app; all the others are identical.

3. Screen. Larger screen equals easier typing

4. Clarity. Phone calls sound crisper from both sides

5. Camera: Better images with included flash.

Testing the phone on my flight back I came to realize that there was phone coverage for large portions of the flight between ABQ and DFW; not once did the iPhone show a single bar. “No Service” was the theme for the day! I wonder now…. Did all these people who called their spouses from a flight on 9/11 have a Verizon phone? There must be significant antennae differences between these systems.

For now, the iPhone stays wit me as it will be the one to be used overseas. That is the only huge drawback of the X; it isn’t GSM capable – yet!

One thing all phones have in common…. The new screen technology on these phones and the iPad is the future of computing.  No more huge laptops to lug around.  Give me some disk space and voila!

The Rangers Club of NM

Probably the finest steaks, both cow and bison, I have EVER had the pleasure of eating.  When in Albuquerque this restaurant in the Hilton is a must stop!

Droid X

My first 24 hours with the new Verizon Droid X have been pretty decent with only a couple of frustrating Google hiccups. I do like the format, screen, build, and most importantly the reception ATT could not provide along roads frequently traveled.  More tomorrow.

Some downloads seem to be much faster on the Verizon network as compared to the ATT service on the iPhone.  I will be using both side by side for a while.  The Blackberry is now gone!

ABQ

Heading to Albuquerque for some work and will take advantage of my time there to walk around with the M9!

A wise man…

Finally someone who agree with me; and not some no-one mind you!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Andy-Grove-How-America-Can-bizwk-2858061652.html?x=0&.v=1

And I firmly believe that until we change this attitude in corporate America we will keep on racing towards becoming the next largest third world economy.
You can take that quote to the bank!

Technology in Soccer

More soccer has yet to be played, but the incredibly stupid calls we have witnessed these past couple of days makes it clear that it is time to bring FIFA into the 20th, if not the 21st, century.

While all stadium goers can see the jumbo screens with replay, t.v. fans can see hours of replay, and FIFA officials sit in their boxes with replay, the blind referees on the field are not allowed to look up and watch the screen to see what really happened.

All it takes is one official watching a small replay screen to help the ref decide the accuracy of a call, whether it be a goal or a penalty decision.

FIFA saying that technology has no place in refereeing is like the Pope dismissing claims of clerical abuse of young bys as “petty gossip”.  Both positions are reprehensible and deserve wide scrutiny by the public.

Leica M9 and the Summilux

Following months of patience, today was a great day. I picked up the new 50mm Summilux from my local Leica dealer, Arlington Camera.
The first opportunity to try the lens was at dinner, where chef JP was preparing another wonderful selection of fresh sushi.

Here is JP at f/1.4 not more than 2 feet from the counter top; ahh the magical bokeh of the Summilux.

Texas Country Roads

This weekend was too hot to stay home and too nice to stay home, so I went looking for some abandoned Ghost Towns around the area.
There is actually a website dedicated to Texas Ghost Towns. Access to Climax, TX was blocked due to road construction, but I did make it to Frognot where I found these two barns within “shooting” range. Of course access to most of the fallen buildings was an issue – as always!

Here are two fallen barns:

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