Jared0×90

After searching for a Digital SLR for some time I finally settled on a Nikon D40. The battle was down to the Pentax K100d and the Nikon. I read quite a bit of reviews and talked to some other friends who are into photography at the same hobbyist level or so that I am.

What intrigued me most about the Pentax was its image stabilization built into the body of the K100d. However after looking at a few reputable sources such as DP Review it was clear that the stabilization technology in the K100d was nearly completely ineffective. The Nikon Digital SLRs that I had been looking at don’t have stabilization built into there body’s. Instead they offer as part of the VR (Vibration Reduction) series lens.

The only other downfall I had been worried about with the Nikon D40 was the lack of a focus drive motor. In order to use auto focus the lens must have its own focus motor. That means it only works with the latest AF-S and older AF-I lenses. That effectively kills your ability to auto focus on a large number lenses that Nikon has made in the past but you have to ask yourself is that a problem for you. Do you have a collection of Nikon lenses you intend to use on an entry level Digital SLR? If so why not spring for the D80 or D200 and get a body only? The D40 is actually only sold in the US with a very nice AF-S lens included and even with the lens it is still quite cheap. It also works with Nikon 18-200 AF-S VR, as you can see in this article on KenRockwell.com, which is probably the best general purpose digital camera lens I know of for Nikons.

So I bought a kit that included the D40 with all its goodies (charger, batteries, strap etc), AF-S 18-55, a big Nikon brand bag, a SD wallet, a cleaning kit, a USB SD card reader, some random image recovery software, 25 4×6 prints and 5 5×7 prints free from Shutterfly and a subscription to PC photo magazine for $569+s/h from Cameta Camera on eBay. They seemed pretty reputable as they have an enormous amount of positive feed back and a 1-800 number listed on all of there auctions that actually takes you to a friendly support team. I know as I wound up calling twice. Initially just to see how responsive they were and ask about there return policy (store credit only which is there one weaknesses to a lot of other vendors.) and then to verify my package would get shipped that day. It is pretty clear they have a clue what they are doing and not selling these out of the back of there van.

Next up was an 8GB SDHC card from the gods of quick shipping over at newegg.com. With this thing in D40 I think I should be able to take around 4,000 shots at the maximum JPG quality as they seem to take up about 2MB each. I also picked up a ton of USB Mini-B cables from iofast.com so I will always have one on me.

This will blow your friends’ minds.

Seeing how I haven’t posted in a while I thought I’d throw something useful together and post it up here.

Here is a list of some of the better free and/or open source software I have come across. Feel free to submit programs you think are great to add to the list.

I wrote up a quick CRC16 routine tonight for VB. Check it out in the source code section. Also I made a list of common of phone star (*) codes a few days ago that is also available from the main menu.

I have started a mirrors subdomain with mirrors of interesting finds and hard to get files I come across. Check it out on the main menu might find some cool stuff.

I have added a bunch of streaming videos provided by google that range from a car soccer game to michael jordan tributes.

Funny picture on the front page of whitehouse.gov today but I will link to the actual story as it will likely be a valid link longer:

Hmmm…..

Lisa:
??? (I wound up getting everything thus far)

Jared:
$
Best Buy Gift Cards
Circuit City Gift Cards
Game Stop Gift Cards
EB Games Gift Cards
Ebay Gift Cards
[Insert electronic store here] Gift Cards
Xbox 360 Live Gold Starter Kit
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
Xbox 360 Hard Drive
Xbox 360 Memory Unit

Post a comment anonymously if you are actually getting one of these things so nobody gets the same thing!

Added a video of a Nintendo Choir that was recently posted on big-boys.com. It is quite a funny video for all those who loved the NES back in the day.

So I noticed Cox’s Easypay didn’t show up on my latest checking account statement. Interesting. I go back another month. Nope. Another month. Nope. So I go on line to pay the obvious bills that are waiting. It informs me my account is locked. So I call them and they tell me they have sent me an email informing me that they have been unable to bill me. Gee, what if I don’t use your P.OS. email service? Apparently lifting a finger to contact someone is impossible these days. So I tell the lady I have been locked out of my account and she says she will forward me to tech support. After sitting in a 25 minute wait to hear her 20 seconds of information and resolving nothing she thinks I want to go sit in another call line. So before she is able to forward me I abruptly stop her and inform her that I at a minimum want to get the billing straighted out before I go sit in another 20 minute plus line and then have to come back and sit in this one. We go through the payment system and get the bills paid yadda yadda yadda and she forwards me on to tech support. I inform some hot-shot of the situation and he informs me I can now login to my account. Great. I am on the road at this point on my way home from work so I clearly can’t check it. So I get home and try to login and wow - what do you think? It is the same error message. Sounds like the hot-shot didn’t know what he was talking about. So I call back and sit in another 20 minute wait for someone to answer my call. I get a young sassy girl (and for me at 22 young she must be very young!) who is clearly reading from some sort of automated manual. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the there automated customer support program on there website she is using. After making tons of completely ignorant and/or meaningless statements like “there is one main computer connected to every router - that is the one you need to shut down”.. Yes because that will affect my cable modem right? Even though neither one is aware of the others existence since they are on a router. Or perhaps because it has some magical weight the other machines on that switch and wireless network don’t have I suppose. Anyhow after debating this point with her I give in and follow her instructions like a zombie for about 20 minutes. Nothing is resolved and at the end of this I now have another account I cannot login to supposedly on there EasyPay system that is registered to a non cox email address because she claims that was the problem. Another one of her brilliant statements. She informs me it is a billing problem and they close at 5:00 EST which is a lie because my initial call to them was well after 5:00. I don’t call her out on it and hang up. I call back cox about an hour later and speak with an admittedly nice lady who listens to me and forwards me to another person who I am on the phone with now. My password is now being reset for the second time today. Whooptie-whoo let’s see how this goes. Nope! No dice surprise surprise! Now I am on hold for a “quick check on the system”. 1 minute passes… Another… And another.. So far this call has just hit the 30 minute mark. OK after 40 minutes on the phone with this guy he realizes nobody knew what they were talking about. He resets my password and unlocks my account. I can now login again. Amazing. Now I can view my EasyPay account which is separate from the view and pay your bill info. Amazing…Simply amazing. Why cant they have one login screen with a SIMPLE easy to follow interface? So 3 hours and 5 levels on competence later ranging from absolutely none to decent I am fine again. Or so it seems. They still can’t find the other account stupid woman #3 had me create. I will have to call back later this week I suppose. Give them “48 hours for it to process in there system” Anyhow there goes a day down the drain.