Maybe the best Impulse Buying Website Ever!

Don't visit this web site: www.steepandcheap.com.

...Especially if you like to play in the great outdoors.

You think you're strong because you have not drained this month's pay check at REI.com. You have kept your wits about you on Sierra Trading Post despite the pervasive deal time flyers spamming your inbox. But with Steep & Cheap you're toast.

Steep & Cheap is an online store that sells one outdoor product at a time for a ridiculously low price for 25min. or until it's gone. Outdoor Research, Arxteryx, Mountain Hardware, Sierra Designs, Black Diamond, Oakley, Smith... they sell the good stuff. And you know how great deals can often be found if you wear size 20 shoes? Or pants are heavily discounted if you are rolling with 42"x28" measurements. Steep and cheap actually has the range of normal sizes of stuff, but at very limited quantities for a very limited time.

What is the catch? Well I've looked into the prices and they actually are about the best deals I've ever seen. I google search each product that interests me and have yet to find that product for near the S&C price anywhere else. Generally the deals run 50-75% off of retail, and sometimes 80%+ off. Here are some examples:

Smith Serpico Sunglasses: $32.99.  Sold Everywhere for $80-$120.
Mountain Hardware Cohesion Jacket: $89.99.  Sold Everywhere for $120-164.

So the prices aren't the catch. But that's the problem! The price is right for only ~25min. and then it's gone and it makes me want to buy everything! I have yet to drop a dollar on it, but I've pined over about $500 worth of stuff already this week. The catch is that they have designed it to be impulse irresistible.

How I Plan to Score (and still have money left for food).

Well, there are actually 4 web sites running this same gig. They all carry a different variety of outdoor products. (Cycling, trendy, hardcore outdoor). I track all 4 of these web sites here:  http://www.sacalerts.com/steepandcheap_tracker.php

These 4 sites seem to be linked to the BackCountry Outdoor Gear Store. This is like the outlet for their outlet. What I don't like about the typical outlet is that many products have very limited sizes available. Currently S&C sells products that are available across a normal range of sizes--so the shopping experience is pretty high quality if the listing is a product you want. I wouldn't be surprised if other stores started copying this model soon. 

My strategy is to drop money on products I have already decided I want before they are listed. I've set a price bar in my mind. For example, I want the Black Diamond elliptical trekking poles. If S&C lists them for $45 or less, I'm in. This should keep me from going bananas (so I can afford bananas). I've noticed that they will often list products a couple of times if they didn't sell out the first time. Several of the products they have listed have been sitting on my Amazon wish list for a while at much higher prices--so I wait.

Of course if you don't like waiting, just buy everything that strikes your fancy. :)
Just kidding.

MP3 Player Quest (Part 5)

Sick of obsessing over options after losing my Samsung Q3 in Costa Rica, I purchased a Clip+ to tide me over.

We'll it does everything I want it--perfectly.  Combined with my MEElectronics M6 ear buds, which are really great ear buds that compete against much higher priced in-ear monitors, I've stopped thinking about mp3 players much. Yes, the Q3 had a great screen and battery life and I would have bought another if they were available, the Clip+ is more than a tide me over device. It's inexpensive, small, light, has a usable clip, has folder navigation, intuitive no look buttons, and the sound quality is brilliant. Everyone should own one if they primarily want an audio player for working around the house, changing the oil, running, or stuffing in your pocket for your next adventure.

MP3 Player Quest (Part 4)

I've been looking for the perfect MP3 player for a long time. My requirements:

• Great sound. 
• Good price.
• Good battery life.
• Tactile controls.
• Drag and drop content like a thumb drive.

That last one is huge. I tried the 4GB Zune and the physical player I loved, but Microsoft shackels users to the most inane and arcane software imaginable--Zune Player to manage the music. Windows Media Player, also a Microsoft product, doesn't work with the Zune. This I will never understand and it killed the experience for me.

Enter the Samsung Q3. It ticks all the boxes for me. Great sound. Only $54 for the 4GB model. 30 hours battery life. Tactile controls and drag and drop bliss. The bundled head phones were also really good. Usually bundled headphones are garbage. Here's a small picture from Samsung's web site.

I owned the perfect player for 1 month, then I lost it in Costa Rica! Well, good luck finding another one. Samsung doesn't ship this player to the United States. The retailer I purchased my first one from no longer has stock and will not be getting any more.

Samsung does produce a similar player, the R0, which is $85 for an 8GB player. I may end up with this player eventually, but I'm still holding out for the Q3 to be shipped to the US market.

In the mean time, I purchased a Sandisk Clip+ for $44 to tide me over. It ticks almost all the boxes. It's main failing is the 12 hour battery life (and less as the player ages). I'll be monitoring Samsung's offerings for now and hoping that the Q4 is amazing and available on these shores.

If you are anything like me and would like a tactile player with drag and drop control and great sound, our options are slim. I'd say that right now, the Clip+ and R0 are two of the top contenders. The Cowon i9 is pretty close to the mark as well. Cowon sound is renowned, but the price is higher than the Sandisk or Samsung offerings.

Thus continues my quest...

E = A + S

Exposure is the most important photographic concept to understand.  We've all heard Einstein's famous equation: E = MC² which states that matter and energy are basically two forms of the same thing, but for photographers, E = A + S. Get this one in your brain, and your skills as a photographer will improve.

Exposure = Aperture + Shutter Speed

Here are some practical definitions:

Exposure: The total amount of light that hits the sensor (or film) for a given picture. If too much light hits the sensor, then the picture will be overexposed (too bright). Too little light and it will look underexposed (too dark).

Aperture: The size of the hole that allows light to shine through a lens. Aperture is referred to by what photographers call f-stops. Typical f-stops are f2.8, f3.5, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16 The smaller the number, the larger the hole. For example, f2.8 is a large hole and f20 is a small hole. Each f-stop lets in twice the light of the previous f-stop.

Shutter Speed: How long the camera's shutter is open. This is easy to understand. If light hits a camera's sensor for a very short period of time, the exposure will be less than if light hits the sensor for a longer period of time.

Aperture + Shutter Speed: These two settings effect the amount of light hitting the sensor and for how long the light hits the sensor. To achieve the correct exposure these two settings much always balance out. (The Equation balances just like any other math equation--yes, this is math in real life).  So if the lens is opened wider (like f2.8 verses f8) then the shutter speed must be shorter to achieve a correct exposure. Stop down the lens to f8 (as compared with f2.8) in the same lighting conditions and the shutter speed must be increased for the same exposure. Photographers are always keeping this balance in mind.

The Exciting Part! 

Depth of Field: The effect of changing the aperture (lens opening) is called depth of field. This is the first thing I consider when taking a picture. Do I want everything in focus (as in a landscape shot) or do I want the background to be blurry (as in a portrait).

Most portraits work best with a blurry background. That means I want a very shallow depth of field. The eyes may be in focus, but their nose may not be. To achieve this, use a wide open aperture (f2.8 or wider). You can think of it this way:  small f-number yields a small depth of field.

Most landscape shots work best with near and far objects in focus. To achieve this, choose a larger f-stop like f11 or f16 (some lenses close down even further to f20, f22, or even smaller). Remember: larger f-number yields a very large depth of field. 

It's counter intuitive because a larger number means a smaller hole in the lens for light, but a larger depth of field (more things are in focus). Just remember: small number (large hold) yields small depth of field and larger number (small hole) yields a larger depth of field. 


Shutter Speed: The effect of changing the shutter speed controls motion. Sometimes you want things to be blurry (like moving water). Sometimes, you want motion to be frozen in time (like a sports shot).  Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of a second. When the camera shows a 60 on the screen, that means 1/60th of a second. If the camera shows a 500, that means 1/500th of a second. Most cameras go up to 1/2000th of a second. What do you think the shutter speed was for this picture?

It was about 1/80th of a second. Pretty slow right? But I wanted the background and the cyclist's feet to look blurry to show motion. For this picture I used a technique called panning in which I moved the camera to follow the cyclist. This created a nicely blurred background which communicates motion. It's a lot more exciting picture than if I had taken it at 1/1000th of a second.

This pelican was about to land and I wanted to freeze the action. The shutter speed here was more like 1/800th. A slower shutter speed would have given me a blurry wings or even a blurry bird.

Think about the picture you are wanting to take. Is it bright outside? That means you will require a faster shutter speed to achieve the correct exposure. Are you taking a portrait with a shallow depth of field (like at f2.8). That's a wide open lens and a lot of light is coming in. Therefore, you will use a faster shutter speed to achieve a correct exposure. But if you are taking a landscape shot at dusk then the settings would be very different. First off, you would want to select a larger f-stop number like f16 to get a deep depth of field. But that's a very small hole for light to enter the camera. If it's already dim outside, that means you would need a very long shutter speed and it might require a tripod. Every landscape photographer carries a tripod for just this reason.

This link shows examples of the effects of fast and slow shutter speeds and large and small aperture settings. Notice how the depth of field changes (aperture) and how motion is either blurred or frozen in time (shutter speed).

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=29686375

You're on your way to becoming a much better photographer.

Starting Chess Clubs

Here's what I think I know about starting a chess club at school. Tomorrow is the first meet.

I have 8 boards (about 35 pounds of competition chess peices and vinal boards in a box).

Will 16 people show? My guess: 12.

I think 10 of them will already have some chess experience.

I'll have some that give up after the first meet.

Others will want to stay and play for 3 hours.

It will be more fun than work.

"Check mate": Ange, can I start a chess club?

Crossing my fingers.

**********Update************

I wasn't too far off. 14 people showed and 2 of them had no chess experience. We had a dandy time matching up for some friendly game play. So we take the first step to world domination.

I hate blogging.

Just kidding.

"Seth, Come Down! For I'm Going to Your House Today"

The Obama inaguration was the highlight of my week. We arrived at Union Station at 8:30am. Should have been there by 5. The line for the bathroom was an Anaconda. No toilet paper and impatient woman from the much longer snake to the ladies room were using the men's room too. Talk about change. 

Anyhow, we saw Dikembe Mutombo in Union Station. He didn't need to arrive early. He can see over the crowd. 

So we waited on the bathrooms for 45min. then hit the streets. I had 15 government students with me and 3 other sponsors. We tried the southern route to get to the mall, but there was a crowd jam because a little boy had been hit by a car. The crowd was so thick that the ambulence was marooned there at the intersection, so we turned around to hike north around the capital building.  May barricaded streets let us to make quite a detore so that we approached the mall from the south near the Washington monument. They had closed off entries to the mall due to a maxed out capacity. We could see the crowd over the crest of a hill, but the mass was not moving, so even the jumbotron monitors were out of range. We were able to hear the address from our section of the sardine can. 

Folks were climbing trees, perching on top of the porta potties, and on each other's shoulders. It was warm in the mass and the mood was light despite our distance from the action. 

Idea for Christmas

I've been wanting to write up a short review of Forschner knives for a while--because everyone cutting food anywhere should have a few sharp knives.

Angela and I are knife snobs. She has Wusthof knives and we recieved Cutco knives from Heather on our wedding day. You get what you pay for with knives at this level. They are a joy to use. But for non-snobs who havn't thought to ever plunk down $300 for a few good knives I'm happy report that there are Forschner knives. They are good enough for production kitchens (Chipotle for one). 

Forschner knives don't have the glitzy sports car look. Most have hypo-allergic nearly indestructable Nylon--"Fibrox"--handles.  Right then. Life time warranty. High carbon stainless steel rust proof blades. 

So what? Well, they are as sharp and hold an edge like the Wosthof knives we own. And... they are cheap. Cheap! (for the quality). They are better than what you can buy at Kitchen Collection or Walmart. They compete with the best overpriced peices at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. 

Check them out: www.cadcutlery.com

If you have no high quality knives you should start with a Chef's knife. Then add the following to your set. 

• 7" or 8" Chef knife (one wavy edge and one straight edge).
• A couple paring knives. (one wavy edge and one straight edge).
• 10" wavy edge bread knife (under kitchen knives).

Or see if one of the knife sets fits your needs. Keep them in a block. Don't put them in the dishwasher and the edge will last for a very long time between sharpenings. 

Non-Writing

Non-writing is my new hobby. It a lot easier to find non-readers and stimulate non-creativity.  Granted, I've been busy. 

• planned a wedding.
• got hitched.
• moved 3000+ miles.
• started teaching Geometry.
• havn't taken Geometry for 12 years.
• trying to unpack the house.

So there! 

That's a Lot of Hot Air

It felt like the tropics, only at high velocity. We wore jackets more for protection from small flying projectiles than for warmth. Last weekend's storm formed from typhoons out near Hawaii and left me stranded in Astoria without power for a couple days. I was able to return home to Portland Tuesday morning when they opened one lane of I-30, but even then we were forging rivers. Dozens of electric company trucks were passing me headed into the disaster zone from as far away as Salt Lake City.

Well, large flying projectiles (such as 2x4s and corrugated metal siding) and trees fallen across the road were the only dangers we encountered on the way to the beach Monday morning. The wind was blowing hard enough then that even the soaked sand of the beach was taking to the air. In all it was quite an adventure. Electricity is slowing moving back up the county line to warm, feed, and entertain the people who lived through this really fantastic storm. I've never been to Hawaii, but as of last weekend, Hawaii has been to me.

When Nature Goes Bizzerk

I've never seen a sea bird act like this. Psychotic bats despairing over blindness and badly befuddled sonar I'd expect to flirt with death like this. Even well adjusted bats have buzzed me at times, but nothing like this bird that buzzed Jenna last weekend. The bird hovered just a few feet over the dogs head, easily within striking distance, and just long enough for the kill instinct to pump adrenalin to her Malamute brain. A 200 yard chase down the beach ensued with Jenna launching into the air, twisting, and nipping. Picture how teenage cats romp when teenage boys tease them by shining laser pointers on the wall. Well, the bird failed the suicide mission if that was it's goal. But the chase lasted a surreal minute and a half--most of which I was too dumb and confused to capture anything exciting. Just these.

God's Will

I found it in Astoria. Though not exactly what I had in mind, when God does try to fit inside my mind, it's usually to change it.

MP3 player saga: c150, e240.

The Apple iPod, as everything Apple does, is aggrandized iCandy, and you don't need an iExam to notice that the prices are a bit higher than the competition. Though the billions of people sporting an iPod right now think they are different and technologically discriminating, there are still a few who like products that work well without the "get mugged on the street" appeal (though the iPhone is the new product to be mugged for).

So I've been looking around for the simple alternative. Nothing wrong with the iPod I suppose, but I don't want to spend that much, and I don't care for being forced to use iTunes and proprietary file conversion. (I also like an FM tuner and the option to record voice notes). Not to mention that when the iPod battery goes south in a year or so, it's an expensive repair. The Sansa E240 seemed like a perfect fit. I wrote an article on it in Jan. 2006. Problem is...


Yeah, a cracked screen put an end to that party within the first week of ownership. I must admit that Sandisk sent me a new one that is working fine today, but I carefully shroud it in an expensive leather case and gingerly play music when needing some gentile relaxation. I don't think I would sumo wrestle with this player though it is advertised as having a rugged titanium back--the screen is fragile

Now my other (lost then found) cheap Sandisk 512mb player is about unbreakable. I paid $60 for that one and it has proven more hardy than my $130 Sandisk e240 which was the intended replacement. So now I have two Sandisk players. The little cheap 512mb one that is rugged and very easy to drag and drop media to quickly; and the larger more feature rich, but seemingly fragile 4GB player. I suppose I'm satisfied with this combo, but it has taught me that maybe less is more. I loan the 4GB player to Angela, and it holds most of my music collection, and I am constantly swapping podcasts to my 512mb player for running and toting around.

But I'm still on the lookout for new solutions for versatile players that could fill the cheap, sturdy, iPod alternative niche. The Creative Stone Plus is worth a look. It's sturdy, very small, drag and drop, and inexpensive. I like it because it will support mp3/WMA files, has an FM tuner, a voice recorder, is extremely small, 2GB of memory, has a screen, and looks and feels sturdy. That's all good really, but the price is the same as the 1GB iPod shuffle which lacks a tuner, recorder, and screen. So with several useful features, twice the memory, and a price of $69, it's quite a deal. Of course it comes in various color options.

Could be a good first or auxiliary mp3 player. Creative also makes a Stone without a screen at 1GB for $39 which is as good as the iPod shuffle which cost's $74. The extra price of the Stone Plus is worth it in my book just for the screen and extra 1GB of memory.

Day at the Grotto

Dressing up for a date is the closest life comes to being a butterfly in a rose garden for a day. It really was a nice setting, and here are some pictures of Angela from the Grotto.

New Macros

Greetings,

I'm still alive and have some new macro shots in my galleries. The featured flower is the wild Columbia lily, with a 1.5 inch bloom. It's the only lily native to the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks for looking.

Angela

Angela and I met in college on a snowboarding trip. Five year later we seem to have stumbled onto the same trail and into love. God's surprises are best.

Alphabet Soup in Astoria

Darcy's rules were to find the Alphabet in non-letter shapes. I added a few rules of my own:

1. Alphabet must be taken sequentially. 2. One shot per letter. 3. We couldn't shoot the same subject for the same letter.

Here's what I came up with.

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Soup