Here comes the rain again, new equiptment, in the news

It looks like it is actually going to happen. Rain! We haven' t had any in quite some time. though I'm not a big rain fan, we really need it. The lakes here are hurting bad for water. Shasta lake is over 160' below the top and dropping like a rock. Luckly, there are a couple of lakes in the area that never get too far down. You can actually boat in them without hitting shallow objects...

As some of you may know, I like to take pictures. I haven't shot any 35mm film in a long time. I have mostly shot digital photos with either a Kodak EasyShare Z720 (now my wife's camera) and most reciently a Sanyo Xacti cg6 snapshot/video camera.

Well today, that all changes. It's been a long time coming, but I finally stepped up to a digital SLR. A friend and fellow blogger David Louis Harter (http://www.dlhweblog.blogspot.com/) emailed me (thanks Davester!) about a killer deal on a Nikon D50 with tons of gear. I scrimped and scraped and managed to scratch up enough dough to pick up this jem of a camera.

It came with the D50 body, Nikor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5g ED lens, Nikor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6d ED lens, Nikon SpeedlightSB-600 accessory flash, 2 Li-Ion battery packs, charger, 2 camera bags, and a Bogen 3205 Professional tripod, as will as software and camera strap. It's a used camera, but was owned by a life long photog and it looks and runs like a new camera. It's only two years old, and since the guy had 10 other digital cameras, it was only used occasionally. I think I'm going to love this camera!

On the car front, I got the new mass air sensor (actually a replacement for the one I had) in the car and am currently tuning it. Once tuned, I will complete the water/methanol injection system and test it. Unfortunately our local drag race track is closing for the season after this weekend, so it may be sometime before I can totally complete the testing. Wish I knew someone with a private air strip I could use...

In the news...

Boy shocked by campaign sign
Thursday, October 30
(updated 2:32 pm)
By The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill was tired of someone stealing McCain-Palin campaign signs from his yard.
So the man with a degree in electrical engineering hooked up a third sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday. Turschak also put up a surveillance camera.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Tuesday, a 9-year-old boy with an Obama-Biden sign grabbed the McCain-Palin sign and got a jolt.
The boy's father, Andrew Noble, then showed up at the Turschak's door, upset his son had been shocked. Soon an Orange County sheriff's deputy also showed up at the Turschak's home.
Noble says his son just wanted to see how the sign was put together. Turschak says the boy intended to swap out the signs.

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said he doesn't plan to file charges.

Watch the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBcasl2b0Ug