The driveway is now ready to be poured. But we might be delayed as the concrete company didn’t have a record of our order that was supposed to be scheduled for Tuesday. I’m waiting for the contractor to let me know where we stand…So for now, we’ll have a dirt driveway. 🙁
7/31 Update: Looks like the concrete company scheduled the pour for “Tuesday” next week. We are now scheduled for Monday. Ugh…
They hauled out the old concrete on Saturday. It took 3 trips to the remove the driveway. They plan on grating the surface on Monday and then pour the new concrete on Tuesday.
One of the perks of running my own small business is being able to use any profits to buy new toys without touching the primary family budget. I’ve purchased recording audio equipment, dvd recorder, new guitar, computer equipment, etc…
My latest purchase is a new MiniDV camcorder to replace the aging Sony Hi8 camcorder we bought before Christian was born in the late ’90’s. Standard definition MiniDV technology is actually on its way out the door and is being replaced by DVD, Hard Drive and HDV camcorders. The problem with DVD technology is that you can only record 18 minutes at the highest resolution and High Definition camcorders are just out of my spending budget right now. I primarily chose to go with the MiniDV format as it was cheapest digital technology available today.
The data rate of DV is a fixed 25Mbps, versus a variable rate of 8.5Mbps for the MPEG-2 compression commonly found in DVD, memory card, and HDD-based camcorders. The higher data rate delivers relatively crisp lines and true colors with less noise and artifacts than standard definition MPEG-2. If quality and editability in a standard definition format are your primary concerns, DV is the way to go.
Since I have a good Canon digital still camera, units with picture taking capabilities were not even considered. I looked at 4 models, the Sony DCR-HC36, Canon ZR800, Panasonic PV-GS320 and Panasonic PV-GS80.
Sony DCR-HC36
Pros: Top loading tape bay, AC plugin external, 0 Lux ability, Connections all external
Cons: Digital Image Stabilization, Picture Quality, 20x Optical Zoom, Touch Screen controls.
Canon ZR800
Pros: External Mic Input, power connection external, Picture Quality, 35x Optical Zoom, Built-in Lens Cap
Cons: Digital Image Stabilization, Bottom loading tape bay (Can’t change tapes on tripod), Internal mic picks up tape motor noise.
Panasonic PV-GS320
Pros: 3 CCDs, Best Image Quality, Optical Image Stabilization, Leica Lens, Top loading tape bay
Cons: Higher cost, 10x Optical Zoom, Firewire and power connection behind battery
Panasonic PV-GS80
Pros: Good Image Quality, Optical Image Stabilization, 32x Optical Zoom, Top loading tape bay, Price
Cons: Firewire and power connection behind battery, Lens Cap External
I ended up picking up the Pansonic PV-GS80. It came down to price, Image Quality and Optical Image Stabilization. The Sony’s picture quality was just not on par with the others, but had the best connection layout. The Canon lost on the bottom loading tape bay and internal mic picking up the tape motor noise. Even though the Panasonic had the worst Firewire location, dc power location and battery charger (Can only power the camcorder or charge, not both at the same time), the OIS was the winning factor.
I’ve only had it for a couple days, but its been performing great so far. Will be using it this weekend for the Grace Lutheran Vodcast. Stay tuned…
Here’s a couple pictures of the first day of work.
This year’s home improvement project is getting a new driveway. I’m sick of stepping in the mud when it rains. 😉 After getting several quotes and deciding either concrete or asphalt, we are going with concrete. The main reason for going with concrete is resale value, looks better and lasts longer.
Here’s how the driveway looks now. I will post pictures over the course of the project.
It’s been awhile…This is the first of several small updates….
It was time for Jesica and I to upgrade our phones. Our trusty Samsung A670’s were loosing their battery life and it made sense to get new phones.
We’ve been longtime Verizon Wireless customers and currently on an old grandfathered plan which is a lot less than any plan available today. It would have been nice to get an Apple iPhone, but not at the purchase price of $600 and switching carriers.
We were eligible to upgrade our phones on our plans, so we decided to look at all the new phones. Jesica did most of the research this time and decided that the 2 for one special on the LG Chocolate was the phone for us. She picked the red “Cherry” Chocolate and I went with the standard “Black” Chocolate.
The VX8500 is a sleek slider phone that features EV-DO, Bluetooth, MP3 and Video support, 1.3 megapixel camera, V-CAST support, speaker phone, Internet, and just looks good, don’t you think? It has support for a 2 GB MicroSD card and has stereo headphones that also serve as a hands free kit.
I have been able to use it as an iPod replacement and also use it to sync our Google Calendars. As an added bonus I have been using it as a high speed internet connection through Bluetooth with my laptop. It’s nice to have an internet connection without using WiFi hotspots.
We’ve been really happy with the phone so far, but of course they come out with the VX8850 Chocolate v2 a few weeks after we got ours. I did look at the new version and while they made some improvements, didn’t return my VX8500 to upgrade.
Here’s a little video from the Quest for Truth VBS at Grace. Enjoy!
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