Blessings

Tonight I was blessed when my truck managed to start one last time at a gas station so I was able to make it to the show.

Steve's girlfriend Jan was blessing #2 because she went to AutoZone and picked up a new battery for me, then went above and beyond to take the old one back for my $12 core exchange refund.

I knew that my battery was about to fail and was trying to make it just one more day, but like all good plans...
It was a sweaty and dirty affair swapping them out in a bar parking lot in the dark by myself, but at least I had my tools and a good flashlight.
Mostly I'm glad and blessed that I didn't end up needing a jump-start at 3:15AM in some random bar parking lot.



Speaking of good flashlights, if you're interested in what I'm using now please take a moment to read this review I wrote for my friend Matthew's website.
It's been a long while since I've written anything over there, but with several of us contributing there's plenty of new content all the time.
Mostly Matthew, which is a good thing.
Y'all should bookmark it, or at least remember to use my handy link over there on the right and up 12 spaces or so-->

I Had The Most Amazing Day

One year and 3 days ago my first digital camera died for the last time.
I was heartbroken, panicked, sick to my stomach, devastated, etc.

As usual, Sylvia came to my rescue and within two weeks I had my beloved Sony Alpha300. It's a great camera, and is so much more advanced than the Sony F717 I was using that it took over a month to feel comfortable taking pictures again--so much to learn!

But my Alpha300 is a fairly standard consumer-grade camera, while my late F717 was state-of-the-art when it was introduced and had some features that aren't popular enough today to have been retained.
Mainly, the ability to take photos in the infrared spectrum instead of visible light with the addition of a few filters that screw onto the end of the lens.
I was just getting good at IR photography when my F717 crapped-out, and it was a major blow to my mood and sales.

For some strange reason I woke up at 9am (noon is more my style) and it's a good thing I did!
The US Postal Service truck in the street convinced me to put on pants and answer the doorbell.
I signed for a box from Toronto

On the right is my dead-meat F717.
On the left is it's improved successor, the F828, sent to me by my internet friend Matthew Robertson.

In addition to being able to shoot IR (again) this camera also takes much higher quality video, has a wider range of lens focal lengths, is built studlier than my older version. It's been improved in many areas and was pretty much the best digital camera in 2003.

How do you thank someone for sending you an awesome camera that gets you back in the infrared game?

Might as well send the flash, too?
You can see that the flash for my old camera had but a single power switch, while the HVL-F32X flash Matthew sent me has an LCD sceen and lots of buttons for more control.
I missed being able to shoot flashed macros of small animals (my Alpha300 system won't support this unless I buy an expensive new macro lens) so I'm also excited to renew this ability!

This level of kindness is not unknown to me, but is the exception rather than the rule for so-called 'internet friends', meaning people you have never met but get along with on the www.
My IR filter was a gift from Bruce, and my older Sony flash was shipped down to Texas from WA by C.Moore--also gratis.

The only way I know how to thank such kind people is to make the best use of their gifts as possible.
Let them see that what they gave to me is being used to produce better photos.
It's a challenge, but I'm ready to accept it.

Thank You, Matthew!!!