Some of you may know, I had a bit of computer issues a few weeks ago.  Don’t know why, but my computer froze while I was using it, and never wanted to restart afterwards.  Something about the CPU clock overrunning.  Typically that’s a BIOS setting.  And last I checked, I’m not able to edit my BIOS settings while watching AutoTune The News…  So, after trying to restart it a few times, I gave it a few days.  Still didn’t work.

A few weeks later (just a few days ago) I decided to rip into the case and see if there was anything obviously weird…  The CPU heatsink was dirty as crap.  Removed the sink and fan, cleaned ‘em out, restarted, same issue.  Afterwards, I noticed it was giving some options for defaults in the BIOS, so I decided to give ‘em a shot, and eventually it fired up.  Yeah, I’m totally confused.

But it’s up and running, and I’ve got some photos from my adventures in downtown in August, and some other random stuff.

So, why this pic of a parking meter?  Well, it was just something I snapped after a cancelled shoot in old Sacramento.  And now that the computer is back up and running, it seems to be running FASTER…  Again, confused.  But I thought I’d test out Lightroom through some basic processes.  So far, it’s running a bit faster and more smooth… Good times.

I still need me a Macbook Pro though.  lol.

So after getting off work on Wednesday, I hit up the Ritz Camera on Sunrise in the Birdcage Center, and of course as is expected with a business that’s liquidating all of their stuff due to closing, they didn’t have much to offer at this point.  About a week or two from closing, most of the good stuff was gone.  I did manage to score an oldschool iogear CF reader for a dollar (I kid you not) and a Kodak CF reader for fifty cents (although it transfers so slow, I actually regret wasting half a dollar on it–oh well, it’ll be a “My camera battery’s dead and I’m not home” backup for emergencies).  At least the iogear reader’s fast-ish.

The real score, however, was this Polaris Flash Meter.  Ritz had it retailed at $300, got marked down to the hundred-something mark, and then down again to like $90.  One more markdown showed it at around $40.  So, against my better judgement, I passed until I got paid, talked to my wife about it, who was pretty shocked I didn’t just buy it and made it a point that I should at that value.

Went back Friday (Thursday I was busy and in Davis), and it wasn’t in the old spot, freaking me out.  Luckily it was one shelf higher.  Whew!!  Happily I told the lady working that I wanted that meter, and she promptly replied with “Oohhhh, the guys are gonna’ be mad at you!” and laughed.  Eh, two days, no one bought it, their loss.

So now I find myself in posession of a reportedly pretty accurate light meter that does both incident and reflective metering, flash both wireless and wired, and multiflash modes.  Not that I’ll use most of it now, but I’m learning to make use of it as much as possible.  Never used one before, and could never afford one at over $300 hehe.  B&H Photo lists the Polaris Flash Meter at about $179.  Still not bad at all.

As it is now, Ritz is pretty much cleared out of ALL the good stuff.  Canon gear?  Nonexistant.  Nikon?  Eh, a lens or two.  Some Quantaray and Sunpak flashes, and some pretty weaksauce flash units for all systems, but they’re CHEAP.  Also, apparently the one in Elk Grove has a STACK of K10D grips.  WTF, seriously! 

And of course, all that they really have are frames, paper, ink, tchochkes, shitty one-dollar webcams, and some PS2/PSP games.  Some alright games, actually, so if that’s all your gaming budget allows for, go for it.

This has evolved into a pretty long blog post that probably no one will read, but hey, I’m just stoked with my $40 light meter, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

So, part of the point of this post is to let you in on what’s going to be housed here.  Part of it is to see what this theme does to a post without a picture.  I have no idea, honestly.

At this point, I’m definitely making much more of an effort with my photography, and would like somewhere to make it viewable where it’s my own.  Chances are this site will change shapes later on, but for now, this is a quick and dirty way of getting something up quickly.  Yeah, it’s not a Showit site or anything, but it’ll do for now.

I’ll have both random and portfolio images up here, just basically as a way for me to have a highly focused, targeted site project for me to work on, as well as a great showcase for my images.  I’m going to try and put up a few images a week to start, since I’ve never been great at the whole “post one thing a day” deal.  We’ll see what happens though.

And now, time to see what this post looks like!

Edit:  Post doesn’t show any content.  Just the start of the image display, with the post title.  Lame.