eric135

Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection

 

Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection

Happy New Year! We spent most of the night listening to our college-age neighbors test fire a jet engine (that's my guess, no way anything that ear-splitting loud is music).

Well after the ball dropped, I watched some of the Planet of the Apes marathon on TV. Roomie gave me the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray disc set for Christmas.

I remember watching these movies back in the 70's with my parents. It's not what I would think they would have liked but I remember how much we liked the movies when they first aired on TV.

The scene that I remember most was in the second movie, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, where Zera gets shot in the back and her newborn baby is shot half a dozen times.

One detail I missed when I was a kid was that Roddy McDowell was playing different roles. Back then, I just thought that was one long-lived chimpanzee.

That's also where I thought of myself more of an orangutan, and gods how I hated the damned gorillas in my junior high school.

Yeah, we orangutans were picked on a lot by those gorillas, even though we did most of their homework, and let them cheat off our test papers.

Frakkin' gorillas.

Cotman Watercolor Field Set Plus by Winsor & Newton; The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook; Winsor Newton Easel

 

Cotman Watercolor Field Set Plus by Winsor & Newton

 

The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook, by Gordon MacKenzie

  

This year has a bit of a watercolor theme going. The last thing I do before going to bed is to paint, which I believe has made it a lot easier for me to fall asleep now that I'm not thinking about all the things I could have done wrong at werk.

I've made some experimental dabs with my new field set. It opens up to reveal lots of mixing trays, 12 tubs, a water bottle, two deep wash wells and a little brush. When I ever do go out to paint something en plein aire, all I'll need is this, a block of paper, and my No. 3 round brush and I'm all set.

The book is on every list of "required reading" for watercolor artists. I've read a few of the chapters and have already learned a few things.

The easel is really nice considering my previous setup (I was painting on a folding dinner tray table). I feel like I've gone from a piece of floating driftwood to the Queen Elizabeth II. The nice thing is that it can completely fold up (sort of like a camera tripod) and comes with a carrying case. I also like the fact that it will easily go from absolute vertical to absolute horizontal -- a must for watercolor.

I've been off my regular pattern for the Christmas holiday, but can hardly wait to get painting again with all of my new stuff!

iPod Classic

 

Apple iPod Classic 120GB

I wonder if I'll ever fill 120GB of space? I had been doing pretty well with my iPod Mini, but watching videos, TV shows and even movies on roomie's video iPod was totally sweet. Plus the battery life is a lot better. I also gave Genius a try (a program that somehow enables the iPod to pick songs "similar to" one of your selections). It was uncanny how similar the songs were, with no glaring mismatches. The quality of the sound playback is also excellent.

Last summer, I downloaded Star Trek: Insurrection from iTunes, but could only view it on my laptop. I watched it on my new iPod and it was great, with all of the special effects and the orchestral soundtrack.

Now if I can just get over my fear of dropping it...

Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS

 

Garmin Nuvi 350

I dread driving. Part of it is that I get lost very easily (I assume I get this from my father, but lately HE's been better with directions than I've been, and on my most recent trip home, I made a wrong turn back from the grocery store).

Thus the Garmin.

I've had it for only a couple of days and I'm already really happy with it.

• It is really small and portable, so I can carry it around. Not that I do much random walking, but I like the fact that I can play with it in the comfort of my home, unlike built in units that have to be played with in the car.
• It came with a USB cable for software updates and hard disk use (MP3's, pictures). The unit came with a free update but I hear later updates are expensive ($70?).
• Satellite pickup is excellent. The worst case was about 15 sec, but usually it acquires a signal in just 1-2 seconds.
• It has really good data input. I can usually get an address entered in less than a minute.
• There are lots of pre-loaded business names/addresses, and lots of local presets (hospitals, restaurants, parks/recreation, stores).
• The Nuvi does give verbal commands, but unlike everything I've read, mine does not speak the actual street names. However, the verbal prompts are excellent, and if I need to know the street name it is printed in large characters on the top of the screen. [Update: I had to set the text from the default female voice to "English - Jill TTS". Apparently only the voices marked "TTS" can speak the street name. English Jill doesn't speak as fluently and naturally as the default voice but getting the street names spoken aloud is a real plus. ]
• It has a mode where you can "virtually" drive to the destination. The bad part is that it only displays in real time, but you can hit the turn-by-turn button and work through all of the turns in the trip.
• The lower right corner gives you the number of miles/feet to the next turn. For whatever reason, knowing how far it is to the next turn is a big source of concern for me.
• As I come up to a turn, if I'm not sure of the verbal prompt, the visual display is clearly marked and color coded. But I'm getting better with more use. I now know that, when the unit says to "Turn Here", not to slam on the brakes to make the random driveway that happens to be there. I know to wait the 200 ft to the next real intersection.
• The voice prompts are easily audible even when the radio is on fairly loud.
• I like the windshield mount better than built in units (where you have to look down). I doubt I really need to watch the screen and could go totally with the prompts, but it's reassuring to just turn my eyes slightly and get the info without having to take my eyes off the road.
• Battery life is supposedly up to 8 hours, but it also came with a car cable. As I'm writing this, I'm "virtually" going to Flagstaff AZ, a 2.5 hour "drive", and hopefully the fully charged battery will get me there.
• I took it out on a test drive yesterday. The first location was about 7 miles away and I already knew where it was. It worked great but oddly put me in a strip mall across the street from my destination. So I passed it, and it then told me to do an immediate U-turn and then put me where I wanted to go, on the proper side of the street. Weird but at least it got me there. The next place I picked was somewhere I didn't already know, but knew it was near the historic area of Scottsdale, where the streets are really screwey. It got me there without any problems, and then got me back home in a faster route than I would have taken on my own.

So what do I need a GPS for, since I never leave home and always get my roomie to drive?

• I'm hoping it will free up my roomie from the whole "Driving Miss Daisy" lifestyle.
• I want to visit some local parks and do some painting en plein aire.

• I want to visit some of the local art museums. Some are downtown and I hate driving there because I get lost so easily.

• Who knows what the economic future is. I might have to eventually work Agency nursing and work at multiple hospitals.

And besides, I just love gadgets!