Worst Clam Chowder. Ever.

While we were in Monterey, Charity and I stopped at Sly McFly's on Cannery Row, primarily because they claimed to have the best clam chowder in Monterey. This turned out to be a horrible mistake. The soup was like something from the glue factory with some salt and clams thrown into it. We didn't bother finishing the thing and just beat a hasty retreat.

Nikon D40

I've been taking my time replacing my poor old Nikon CoolPix 4500 which died a few years ago. Charity had just bought a Cannon SD700, so it wasn't too big a deal. I'd been contemplating a DSLR, but I've been very skeptical on how often I'd lug such a big camera around. Well, after much hemming and hawing, I finally settled on a Nikon D40. It arrived just in time for our trip to Monterey over the Memorial Day weekend.

I shouldn't have worried. The D40 is a lot of fun to use. So much so that we sometimes have to fight for the camera. The click you hear when you snap the picture is just so reinforcing that it has a sort of Pavlovian effect on me. Must... take... more... pictures... to hear sound again...

The fun and games ended last night though when I finally uploaded all the pictures and started looking at them. And the big dark spot I'm guessing is caused by a speck of dust on the sensor. Grrr... I guess this batch of shots will definitely be getting the Photoshop treatment.

Joey recommended that I get Giottos' Rocket Air Blaster to deal with the dust, so now I'm just waiting for it to arrive.

Desktop Tower Defense

Timesuck alert! Desktop Tower Defense is freakin' addictive. Wasted most of my day on this... Normal was a breeze, and then I made the mistake of trying the 100 challenge. Best I did was level 77.

Rob warned me about this a while back, but I promptly forgot.

Women in Art

Speaking of something different, check out this YouTube video of women in art through the centuries. After the first few, there were very few I could identify.

Whim

Thought I'd try something different...

CFL Bulbs

There seems to be quite a bit in the news about CFLs lately. The one that raised the most eyebrows was a sensationalist article claiming that it costs $2000 to clean up a broken CFL due to the mercury inside it. However, it seems that this urban legend has been debunked.

I've been on the fence with CFLs for a while now. On the one hand, I like the fact that they use less energy and last longer. On the other hand, the ones that I'm familiar with tend to take a while to reach full brightness, emit a low buzz, and/or have a strange hue to them.

The last time I did any research on this was a few years ago when I was remodeling my house. I just bought a few brands and tried it out to see how I liked them. I wasn't very impressed back then, and decided to only use them in certain applications.

I've started paying attention again since Charity and I are remodeling our house, and we'll be putting in lots of new lighting. The good news is that it looks like things have improved. Popular Mechanics has an article reviewing newer CFLs and it looks like the color problem seems to have mostly been solved.

Dungeon Twister

Played Dungeon Twister for the first time last night against Danny. It's a pretty fun dungeon crawl-ish sort of board game. The fact that I won may have contributed a wee bit to my enjoyment. ;)

The only negative thing about it so far is that it's only a two player game, which limits the chances it'll be played. Fortunately, there's a 3-4 player expansion available...

"New" Bike!

Yee-haw! I've just bought a used 2004 Yamaha FZ1. From Ohio. Off eBay. Now I just have to figure out how to get it shipped here...