the 24-70 is here...

24-70
Originally uploaded by tylernol

but will just be sitting around until the D700 arrives. It just shipped and is due in one week.

first lens is ...

probably going to be the 24-70 f/2.8 lens, it arrives today. Amazon dropped the ball on the 50 f/1.4 and it is now on backorder , so I cancelled it, perhaps Precision Camera has it in stock. And supposedly Amazon is shipping my D700 today. Excellent!

34x19 @ Walnut Creek in 103 degree weather

that was 18 miles of pain. I cant believe I have lost so much strength in my legs for singlespeeding -- too much riding geared road bikes has led to my downfall. I was super-fast a few years back, but that was when I was only riding essentially two bikes -- my singlespeed for mountain biking, and my cross bike for the urban assaults and road rides. I think I could get up halfway the Hill of Life in 34x18. Not going even try it right now.

Hellboy 2..

saw it at the 10:40 screening at Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar. I was pretty excited to see it, having been a fan of the first Hellboy movie, Mike Mignola's comic, and Del Tora. I left very disappointed -- it still had great Del Tora/Mignola character designs, especially the tree elemental, but it was a bit too heavy on the trite melodramatic soap-opera cheese and did not work for me.

Dr. Horrible

great!

first lens en-route

The 50 mm lens is shipping before the camera body, hopefully the camera body will ship next week and I should be all set. I think I will probably stick with this as my single lens for a few months ,renting other lenses until I figure out what I want next. It is super-fast, and will be great for all sorts of subjects, and not weigh a ton like the zooms.

I was just climbing Lost Creek and *CRACK*

I was just climbing Lost Creek and *CRACK*
Originally uploaded by tylernol

climbing the super-steep (~ 45 degree? ) climb out of Lost Creek up to Bee Caves, I stood up and started cranking as hard as I could and then I heard a loud "CRACCKKK" and felt my left foot smash into the ground. It was amusing trying to ride back with only one foot clipped in. I think I am done with Time road pedals ...I still like the off-road XS pedals but I am going to give Shimano Ultegra pedals a shot -- they have a stainless steel platform, not fucking $150 carbon/plastic.

return of the tii?

lightweight, 2.0 liter 4-banger turbo, rear-wheel drive, manual gearbox? If BMW brings it, I'll buy it, and keep my Audi around several more years.

midlife

classic song.

nikon

good weather sealing, full-frame, 5 fps, high ISO sensitivity, 51 focus point autofocus. That Nikon restructuring is paying off.
I'll take it.

wall-e

I saw wall-e last night at drafthouse s. lamar. Overall I thought it was fantastic. Well-told story, beautiful animation and cinematography, very poignant anti-consumer message that could not come at a better time. I love that all the conservatives are pissed off by this movie. The influence of movies such as star wars, 2001, and tron, are very apparent in it, and most definitely so is Short Circuit. Johnny Five must be pissed. The blatant influence of Johnny Five on the design of Wall-E cannot be denied. It has to be deliberate, right? I kept on waiting for Wall-E to say "nice software", but it never happened.

buy low sell high

I am getting so used to these stock market min-crashes that it does not phase me that much anymore. At some point the economy will turn around, so I have to keep on viewing days like this as a buying opportunity. However, I really wish I had less money invested in the banks via my index funds. I would like to shift back towards individual stock picks and not get dragged down anymore by bankers who did not understand risk.

pavement ruins lollapalooza

classic.

pavement ruins dollopof loozas

superchunk back in the day

When I think about how long ago this came out, I feel really old. I think I saw them several times when I was in college in Philadelphia at the Trocadero. I think I only saw Fuguzi more live.