Category Archives: General

Camera Store Justice

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Thomas Hawk’s blog has a tale of his attempt to buy a new Canon 5D digital SLR camera from an outfit in New York called PriceRitePhoto. Seems that this particular online store is a classic bait-and-switch outfit and will get you to order, then call or email to tell you there’s a problem with your order and try to sell you more things you didn’t want.

I had a similar experience with Adorama when I tried to buy my 20D, though I did not get any of the abusive comments – just the call about the problem with the order, which was really just an attempt to sell me more things.

Interestingly, many people in the comments for Thomas’ story suggest Adorama is an OK place, and my dealings with them previously had also been good. I suspect that the trigger is certain high price, hot items that they are selling at lower than normal margins to attract people in. When I refused the extras, the order was suddenly delayed because they only had “bundles” in stock. I called their customer service the next morning and cancelled. I should add that their customer support line was excellent, and opened an hour before the sales dept. Within an hour I had the salesperson on the phone offering immediate overnight shipping if I reinstated the order; I declined and bought the camera elsewhere.

I also sent them a detailed email explaining why I cancelled the order (and it was for more than just the 20D) and that when I shop online I do so to avoid having to deal with salespeople. I hope the message got to somebody who cares, and it does seem from the other comments on Thomas’ site that they are still considered one of the better online photography stores by many others.

Spencer

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I found out today that 4 year old Spencer, son of my good friends Chris and Jessica in New York, was diagnosed with leukemia in October. He has been receiving intensive chemotherapy at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and is being a very brave young (spider)man. Our thoughts are with the whole family and especially with young Spencer who will likely be starting another round of treatment this coming week.

Get well soon Spencer

BART to the Airport

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I don’t use BART to get the airport that often, but when I do it never ceases to amaze me how badly planned it is; was it even planned I wonder, or did it just happen that they ended up at an airport? Firstly, at Lake Merritt where I got on the train there is an up escalator to the street, but not a down one so you have to carry all your luggage down the stairs into the ticket area. Next, there are still no wide barriers to allow people with luggage to pass through easily (they have these at SFO to get on and off there, but apparently it never occurred to them that people might need access with that luggage at the other end of their journey).

Once on the platform, they announce a 4 car train (at peak commute time) for the airport which arrives packed to overflowing. Squeezing onto this without luggage would have been difficult; with luggage made it no fun at all. Onboard there is no place to stow luggage of any kind, letalone suitcases; I guess people are meant to fly without luggage if they plan to use the train to get to the airport.

Finally, to add insult to injury, they then announce that there are delays getting trains into the airport. Lucky I left early (the taxi driver had another job at the same time as my pickup, so he turned up 15 minutes early and I had left plenty of time for delays having used BART before). I don’t know whether the shuttle van would have been better; probably not given that it is commute time.

Stay tuned for postings from my destination… I have my camera with me for this trip 🙂

Say Please and Thank You

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We were in Reno at the weekend and since I was not having much luck with the slot machines, I took a break and went outside with my camera. Along the river walk I came across this sign, mixed in with others explaining rules for the park and it made me smile.

Seems that there are lots of these signs dotted around the Reno and Tahoe area, though I did not see any of the others. There is a website mentioned on the signs too: www.welovethisplace.org. Check it out – they have signs you can order, as well as other merchandise.

Whoa!

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This billboard was outside Balboa Park BART station in San Francisco last Monday when I was there on my way to the airport. I don’t recall ever seeing any billboard ads for emergency rooms before; I didn’t think it was the kind of thing you had time to consider shopping around for.

SF Marathon Start

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Around 5am on Sunday morning as crowds of runners prepare for one of the three races. Down at the ferry building it was becoming a pleasant morning; further around the course, up by the Golden Gate bridge and even in the park, the morning fog so typical of San Francisco was still dense and the air was cold and wet as a result.

By just after 8am (5 hours into the day for me) my girlfriend was finished with the run, and we were heading off to dim sum with friends. All of that before I normally wake up on a Sunday, or, for that matter, any day of the week.

Check on your results (or results of friends) over at the official marathon website.

London

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I have been wondering what, if anything, to say about this week’s cowardly attacks in London. In the end, I think the message that I took away from the many posts I’ve read on news websites, and perhaps more importantly blogs, is that London has demonstrated to the world exactly how to deal with terrorist attacks: pause to treat the injured & respect the dead, support their families & friends, and then calmly resume life.

In addition to the photo reproduced here which I believe captures what I see happening (albeit from 6000 miles away) in London almost perfectly, I also recommend London Bombings: Personal Reflections at PhotoSydney, A Letter To The Terrorists, From London from the London News Review, a posting at The Triforce that starts “A funny thing happened to me on the way to work this morning. My tube blew up.” and a posting at Casino Avenue.

Finally Flickring the London Bombings at the Daily Irrelevant ends with: Yesterday, the reaction from Brits seemed to be “Eh, fuck yeh, we’ve been through this before. I’m going down to the pub for a pint.” ‘Nuff said.