Rants & Reviews

I wanted to follow up on a post I made recently where I tried to find out what a non-photographer could do with a so-called “easy to use” point and click camera (Nikon Coolpix p100). The problem is, I feel like on my previous attempt I was trying too hard to fiddle with all the settings. This sort of negated my original goal of finding out how the camera performed in a real-world application.

This summer I picked up the Nikon Coolpix p100 digital camera. I wanted something decent, but not overly challenging for an average, non-camera savoy user. I had been using the Cannon PowerShot A540 with fair results, but after it took a swim in a local river as I pulled my kayak out – it just hasn’t been the same. Besides, the Cannon was old technology. I wanted something a little newer.

I went Kayaking today with a friend of mine. We didn’t have a ton of time, so we decided on someplace close to both of us – The Powow River. I’ve lived in Amesbury for a few years, and lived in the area (Newburyport) for something like 25 years. When Justin (friend I went with) said we should try the Powow, and put in near the center of downtown Amesbury, I was a little less than excited.

This past weekend my wife, daughter and I met up with some friends (Analise, Derrek and Tristan) and decided to do something “family’ish” for the afternoon. I’ve been so busy with band stuff, home projects and freelance work lately, that a day out of the house sounded great. To this end, we piled into the car and drove down to the Franklin Park Zoo. I wanted to spend the day with everyone, but would probably have picked a different venue…

My wife and I recently took a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon. Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before, and figured now was as good a time as any to do it.

Shopping for a cruise line was actually way more difficult than I had expected. There was Princess, Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Disney – they all look really nice. After doing a lot of research, and asking as many people as we knew who had taken cruises, we settled on Royal Caribbean. Our friends had great experiences with them, and the reviews were generally very favorable.

Until recently, I thought I had a truly kick-ass home theater system setup. I mean honestly, it was freaking awesome. I was sporting a 50inch Hitachi LCD television, Denon high-power surround receiver, Definitive Technologies speakers and a ground-pounding subwoofer. The houses next to me hated it, but I loved it. It was expensive to build up, but not once did I regret the cost.

Living in New England is just awesome. The weather is never boring, the people are generally decent, and I love the fact that I can sip coffee on the beach in the morning, take a hike in White Mountains in the afternoon, and catch a movie in the city at night. New England rules. I’ve lived in the Amesbury, Newburyport area most of my life. Now that I’m married, with family on the way, it somehow seems “right” that I own a home here.

Ok, first off – I never rent movies. I think I’ve rented like three or four movies in the past four or five years. I usually get On-Demand titles from cable, but lately the selection has sucked, big time. The other night I decided to stop by the local movie place and see what they had. We walked around for like twenty minutes and finally settled on two videos – “Children of Men” and ” Pan’s Labyrinth”

Whenever I see a story like this it reminds me of when I was teenager and witnessed my first REAL fire. I sat on the street and watched a 5-Alarm blaze gut the historic YMCA in downtown Newburyport. I remember the heat coming off the building, the flames shooting a hundred feet above the four-story roof, the smells, and the sounds of the building buckling under the heat.

A few years ago, while I was working as a grower in a local greenhouse, I had a conversation that has echoed in my mind for years.