Ski

I think it's a little overpriced at roughly $800. I used to shoot Nikon F3HP's, but Nikon also made a great lower priced FE-2 (with the MD-12 motor) that could handle professional assignments. It seems like they try to jam every possible feature---both good and bad--- into these mid-level digital cameras and it makes them too expensive for what they are.

Not a lot of people can answer the question "What does a lubricated condom taste like?"...

From today's online Times-Tribune: Lackawanna County

Got it. Sequences. Definitely the lottery. When I 'check out' pool equipment for a big event, I sometimes walk out with $13,000 worth of gear. And it's sometimes raining really hard.

So, uh, how many fps is your current 'film' camera?

The shutter is 1/4000 to 30 seconds, plus bulb. You should actually use a remote cable release (not included in the bundle) when using bulb, just to get rid of the camera shake when you release the shutter. The camera definitely needs the EG-E3 battery pack, or it feels a little too light for me. Even the 20D are a little whimpy. The battery pack attaches where a typical motor drive would and gives you an extra pack, or you can use six AA's. The other drawback is the 3 frames per second "burst". It's just barely acceptable. I still shoot film for work and use Canon T90's, which run at 5 fps. Having that little built in flash is pretty cool. The hot shoe accepts "real" flash units, even the old, high power Vivitar 283's that I use, but it's awesome to have the pop up flash for snapshots.

No, it's okay...I tried prank calling his mom, but she was into it and we phone sexed six or seven times in the last week. And thanks, Skifreak. Just screwing around with a new toy. I like film a lot more, but digital is so easy for snapshot stuff.

Ha, how about I show Ty your post about her great gramma? Hmmm?

Sounds a little disrespectful to me, MS...

Just a couple of shots from yesterday as I'm trying out my new camera, which is a Canon Rebel XT 8mp. The pool cameras I use for news assignments are the 20D's, but I didn't want to spend too much for a camera I'd be leaving burried in a plastic bag under a beach towel when we're surfing. This is at our shore house on Barnegat Bay, near the bridge to LBI. Anyway:

The two issues to watch for in shooting fireworks and lightning are kind of the same. As long as it's well past dusk, you can use the bulb setting, which, especially for lightning, takes away the guesswork. But, the flashes that aren't really bolts, but light up the clouds will trash your photo. Same with those bright 'boom' fireworks. Both things will wipe out any good bolts or fireworks that are on the image. The hardest thing about fireworks---and lightning---is to include a reference point. Something in the foreground to add another dimension. For example, the shots of the Statue of Liberty, with the fireworks around it. And lightning over buildings, or whatever. It's a heckuva lot easier to cheat doing it with Photoshop, though...but it's not the same. Because I moved around from newspaper to newspaper, I was always the new guy on staff that got stuck working holidays, like the 4th... Great shots, empt!

Well, I'd just like to thank all those Lackawanna taxpayers that want to continue to foot the bill for our skiing/riding enjoyment. It's very generous of them to want to continue shelling out a $1,000,000 or so a year, while their equipment continues to break and degrade.

Cool, MS...that's really the best that was coming out of this meeting.

Yeah, the creepy Washo was saying Sno Mountain wanted a fast answer for nefarious reasons, wherin they really want a fast answer because it would give them time to complete some of the major---and NECESSARY---upgrades for this winter.

Ha, toast still beatin' on Doug. Anyway, I took in two sets of them as donations from library patrons to sell on eBay. And they are, in fact, the most gay invention this side of the assless chaps that I heard one guy on this MB owns. But both sets sold for a pretty good price.

Excellent! Thanks, MS!!!

I think CB went for $48 million.

Something I didn't realize: Snow Time's sale of Windham was finalized just this January. They flipped Windham, which was far and away their flagship ski area. It really appears like they are looking for a bargain and just want to flip Montage. I highly doubt they'll be investing $10 million. No wonder they gave up so fast when the county said no the first time around. They bought Windham with a bunch of grand promises, then sold it to some locals that had Wall St. money and ties to MLB. And Washo called Sno Mountain LLC "suspect"? Snow Time had NO plans on paper; Sno Mountain LLC had reems of architectual drawings, plans, and tentative agreements with SMI snowmakers. I say Walsho is the suspect one.

*1975-76: Civic groups, led by the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, propose a ski resort and recreational area at Montage. *1975-76: Civic groups, led by the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, propose a ski resort and recreational area at Montage. *1984: The $11.5 million ski area opens in December under the ownership of Montage Inc., a nonprofit company. During the warmer months, a water slide operates at the site. *1990: While operating revenue doubled since 1984, consecutive warm winters add to mounting debt. Both the city and the county step in with financial backing. *1991: With money woes continuing, the county buys Montage for $14.7 million. *1991-96: In its first five years of operation, the county profits three times and loses money twice, with a net loss of $87,000. *1996: Republican minority commissioner John Senio suggests the county sell Montage for $20 million. The idea eventually dies. *1996-97: Warm winters take a toll, with losses of more than $1 million. *2000s: Democratic majority claims modest profits in first years of decade. Minority Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro blasts their accounting, says the county should sell. *2004: Mr. Cordaro and A.J. Munchak take office in January. In April, they put the 140-acre resort up for sale for $9.6 million, $1 million more than Montage

Part of an editorial from today's Scranton Times-Tribune, in which they encourage risking losing the offer and the greed: Friday

With the local newspaper editorial telling them to slow down and commissioner Washo acting like a b*tch, I'm not loving the odds for tomorrow. I can almost hear them saying, "We got an extra million out of them, lets try and hold out for three." But my fingers are crossed. It's just another step in negotiations, but a "no" answer definitely means no chance of upgrades for next winter. Here's the jist of the two proposals: Sno Mountain LLC, Philadelphia *Purchase price: $5.1 million. *Investment: $14 million for ski-related activities and new water park. *Received by Lackawanna County: June 23 ($4.1 million), June 29 (upped to $5.1 million). Snow Time Inc., York *Purchase price: $5 million. *Investment: $10 million for snowmaking, tubing and related activities. *Received by Lackawanna County: June 29.

Yeah, the commissioner chairing the meeting had to keep reminding the lead architect to "move it along" as he did his power point presentation. There were dozens of drawings. He even had a 3-D presentation that looked like a video game, where the 'camera' walked you in and around the interior of the new lodge.

I believe money was first raised for Montage plans in 1976, and it opened in 1984. Lackawanna County bought it out---or it was headed for NELSAP---in 1991. A million dollars? IDK, it may be inflated, but when you consider the amount of time and people involved in the presentation, I could see it being pretty close. The architect hired for our library, with just a single, 7000 sq/ft building cost us $30,000. And he was by far the cheapest bid. Sno Mountain's drawings were for multiple buildings that are more complicated and larger, by far. I bet t would be close to $100,000 to get a good Philly architect involved. My guess as to what Sno Mountain had to pay for includes a retainer for a law firm, architect, SMI to do an estimate, Drexel University for a survey of hotels, salaries for the entire team of people (they spent months interviewing employees), and insurance related estimates and cost analysist. Consider having 10 "experts" in any given field work for one year, with a salary of $80,000 each, and you eat up most of the million just with compensation. So I really don't see a million as all that surprising.

Yeah, I got the feeling that Cordaros knows it's not the time to be screwing around with serious offers from people that have money. And he did make a valid point when he said that the people who made a bid previously, as well as Snow Time, were more than welcome to have been working on a plan all along. Sno Mountain is the group that stepped up and said let's do this. Scared? Nervous? F*ck yeah. I HATE public speaking of any sort. I can be a loud mouthed tough guy in a club after a few Absolut Citrons, but that crap reminds me of being in court. I used to be a volunteer legal advisor to a fathers group in Mercer County and often had to present motions in MC Family Court. Picture the angriest most hateful teacher you ever had...then double it, and you have Judge Feingold, who was assigned to most of the cases I worked on. She once held me in contempt because a father I was helping FOR FREE was late. I was handcuffed and sat in a holding cell for five hours. I'm glad I didn't know that the people who run ASRA were also somewhere in the audience...woulda been worse. Def. four shots of vodka before the next meeting... I readily admit Ty showed more nads than me up there.

Yeah...Chile.