This or That

I think indecision might be one of my areas that I need to focus on for improvement.  Or more plainly put, one of my big flaws.  When it comes to my job I don't have this issue as much as other areas of my life.  My job is technical support and generally speaking the systems I support have a logic to them that can be looked at with reason (contrary to what some people believe like "computers just do what they want").  

Most other areas of my life aren't always so logical where the results of a decision can be determined somewhat closely.  When a choice is presented there may be a number of options and optimally you want to make the choice that provides the best outcome.  With computers, you execute a command or action and should be able to get an expected result.  When you can expect the result of an action, it makes the decision somewhat easier.  But when your decisons involve the futures of others and variables that include social interactions, emotions, and all that human stuff as it does when raising kids and taking care of a family, the decisions don't always come as easy.

These decisions affect and shape peoples lives.  Maybe not a single decison but a pattern of decisions perhaps that defines how you react to situations.  I believe this has the most impact in the lives of my kids but it also applies to my wife, other relationships that I have with family & friends, and anyone I interact with.  Sometimes it's like the Butterfly Effect.  Nonetheless, it's still a learning process for me as well and I use my best judgement and hopefully I can learn from my mistakes and be open to constructive criticism without getting defensive.  

Canon with a big BOOM

I thought I was going to write more about my trip to Yellowstone but I now feel there are reasons not to. 1. The time for it may have passed. The post wouldn't be timely. 2. In addition it might be too close to the last Yellowstone post I did so I'm sure you don't want to hear more about the same topic. 3. I have another somewhat related topic that I want to discuss that kind of stems off my experience at Yellowstone.
Any time I went to take pictures at Yellowstone, along with all the other people that stopped to take pictures, I felt like a total noob. Also known as someone inexperienced or doing something for the first time.

Everyone else had these nice cameras with lenses that were even more expensive (and usually bigger) than the camera body itself. Many of them looked like they had professional equipment to take these beautiful pictures of wildlife, landscapes, and natural wonders. While here I am with this little 7 year old pocket PowerShot A75 that only has a 3x optical zoom and takes pictures at 3.2 mega pixel. I felt like a one-legged man showing up an Olympic race. So it was a big slap in the face that told me that I really need a newer camera, especially when trying to get pictures of wildlife and the animals are so far away that my dinky zoom hardly does anything.
Well this weekend I attended a Digital Photo Expo with experts from Nikon & Canon, the two top brands for professional photo equipment. The presentation that was most beneficial to me was the one on all the new PowerShot cameras. Sure I attended the one on the new Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR and how it compares to their previous models, but after attending both of those sessions and seeing what they both have to offer (including prices), I decided that I may not be ready for all that SLR has to offer. I still have much to learn about photography like aperture, composition, lighting, shutter speeds, ISO settings, etc. And for the price of the SLRs ranging from several hundred to a few thousand on average (the 50D MSRP is $1399 for example while the Rebel Xsi is $800) I'm not sure I can justify that right now without generating some income from it.
While I would really like many of the features of the SLRs, I think it might be too much for my limited experience and funds right now. Besides, I still want something a little smaller that's easier to carry around. After listening to the presentation about all the PowerShot cameras, the one that impressed me the most was the SX10 IS because it has a 20x optical zoom and yet can do the 28mm wide shots as well. That gives it a 35mm film equivalent: 28-560mm which is a huge range for any camera.  That means for example you can have a range demonstrated by the following example:
That doesn't even count the additional 4x digital zoom and up to 10 Mega Pixels.  This also has Canon's newest Digic 4 Image Processor for high-performance face & motion detection with faster & quieter image processing than the Digic 3.  This also means that you'll be able to take more shots with the same amount of battery life than before.  340 shots (AA-size Alkaline Battery), approx. 600 shots (AA-size Ni-MH Battery).  They've also gone from recording movies in .avi to .mov which means the movie size is smaller giving way to longer videos with the same amount of space previously.

You can read all about it via the link I provided above or other review sites but those are some of the highlights that grabbed me and made it stand out from other cameras.  That and the fact that the price range for it is in the $350 range +/- $25 or so depending on where you look.  

By the way, some of the reasons I chose Canon over anyone else was because I've liked my current PowerShot for the time I've had it, my Dad & brother has had some great results with their Digital Rebel, if I get an SLR I can swap lenses with them, and most importantly...if you go to a professional sporting event you'll see 50 private  individual photographers taking pictures with one of them using Nikon and the rest using Canon. (*source Jim Dececco- Professional photographer and Canon educator.)

Look at me!

Ok, I was curious so I thought (hoped) other people might be as well.  Here's a snapshot of my blog counter statistics for the recent past: