Monthly Archives: July 2004

Mitsubishi Craziness

We sometimes have NHK news (Japan) on the tv in the evenings, and the Mitsubishi story has been pretty big. Mitsubishi cars and trucks have always been kind of sketchy, but the safety cover-up is just too much. It seems sales in May of 2004 dropped by 60% in Japan because of it. You can read a little about it here: Safety Scandal Shames Mitsubishi (Washington Post)

2004 TOUR DE FRANCE


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ESPN has a really cool “Tour Tracker” (click on the link at their site) so you can follow along live with the goings-on in France. It’s pretty cool. There’s tons of talk on the local (Austin) sports radio shows about Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and doping. I guess that’s to be expected in Armstrong’s hometown. At least it’s a small break from hearing about the Longhorns…

Dodgers Update

Well, the Dodgers finally lost last night after winning eight in a row. So, I guess I can’t jinx them by posting. Well, unless they go into one of their six-game losing streaks, which is entirely possible. Anyways, they are still holding onto first place. It’s a great season so far! Unfortunately, my fantasy baseball team hasn’t been doing so good the past few weeks. I started off strong, but have dropped from 2nd place to 4th… Oh well, hopefully my team can pull it together. I am about to complete a trade that will send Ichiro away for Burnitz. That should add a little power to my lineup, at the expense of batting average and steals.

Shoelaces

Don’t you hate shoelaces that always seem to untie themselves? This happens on the pair of shoes that I wear most frequently. I have tried double knotting them, but that doesn’t make a difference. I even tried tying them into a regular knot, but even that doesn’t help. I guess I could go to the shoe store and ask for some replacement laces, but that just seems wrong. I mean, shoelaces have been around for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. You’d think we’d have devised a standard design that doesn’t fail so often.

Mahjong

I was reading “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” the other night and one of the chapters involved a game of Mahjong. It was really fun to read because the players played a lot like my family (and I’m sure many other families) plays. The characters were discussing the murder, but also throwing out phrases like “pung”, “chow”, “concealed kong”, etc. And then one complained about “chowing” too early, and how her hand wouldn’t be worth anything. One was of the opinion that you should go for a big hand, the other was of the opinion that you should “go out” quickly. I could imagine my family gathered at the kitchen table at 11pm some of us going for a limit hand, while others looking to go out quickly. Such fun!

Old Film

A couple days ago I found a couple rolls of Kodak Tri-X in by camera cabinet. I don’t know when I exposed those, but I will find out today. I had them developed and contact sheets made. It’s always kind of fun to find out what is on those mystery rolls.

I am hoping that soon I will be rid of film altogether. As much as I love my old cameras, I don’t like paying for the processing. Each time I press the shutter, I feel like I am emptying out my wallet. I guess since I have been so used to creating “free” images with our Olympus E-10, I have shifted my perspective. But, if I figure in the cost of buying the digital cameras versus using the old cameras and film, maybe the film would have been cheaper? I guess having a digital means I can be a little more liberal with snapping several shots at a time, especially of the kids. I always was kind of jealous of when you see a pro photographer taking shot after shot and not thinking of the cost of developing.

Hmm, let’s see. My 2004 folder on my computer has 1445 pictures in it. My 2003 folder has 4370. Let’s take the price for developing (no prints) a 24 exposure roll at Walgreens, which is $1.49. (4370/24) x 1.49=271.30. $271.30? Wow. Keep in mind, those pictures were taken with a liberal “digital style” of shooting (which I love).