We had over two feet of snow in Duvall. It was beautiful to look at and fun, until it wasn’t. While we were prepared for it personally, the cities in the area were not and probably wouldn’t be again if happened tomorrow, due to lack of equipment to handle a storm of this magnitude. Once again, I’m grateful to have neighbors and friends that stuck (trying to get unstuck) together to make our way around it. I put together a small clip of what it looked like before it all melted.

View the Video

View the Video

http://www.ted.com/index.php - Ideas Worth Spreading.

http://wmbriggs.com/blog - Got stats?

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com - Fun with clips and chains.

http://www.audioholics.com - I can stop anytime.

http://www.markmonitor.com - A superb company for domain management with kind people that go above and beyond.

Homeward does a great job, are very professional and can hook you up with your own new best friend. There’s no need to look at pet store with so many stray and abandoned animals in need of loving homes.

If you are full on your fur quotient, there are other ways you can support this great organization. Check them out today at http://www.homewardpet.org/

The beauty of IS (Image Stabilization) on this lens is that it “allows the lens to sense movement from “shake” or vibrations, and instantly apply an optical correction by moving a group of lens elements”¹. It reduces vibrations and blurring when shooting w/o a tripod, and can turn what would have been a ruined image into something usable.

Once the weather clears (probably in July), I hope to get out and shoot with it. “L” is my favorite letter this holiday season!

Take some time on this holiday to reflect and you may find that you have more than you thought.

A few things I'm thankful for:

On this Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for what we have and also for what we don't have.

The Pioneer can play XM content at home or in your car (with optional car kit) and can also be used to play recorded mp3’s and/or XM content. It was easy to setup - plug in the antenna and power to the base, attach the player to it, turn it on and then sign up for the XM service. The service registers the player and then begins loading content to it.

Both kits come with an antenna and several feet of attached wire to locate the best reception. Like other satellite products, it works best with the antenna towards a south-facing window with few obstructions. Out on the road, it doesn’t seem to matter as much. I put the antenna on the dashboard and it worked well. You can install the antenna outside the vehicle, but it’s not necessary.

The best part about a portable player is being able to listen to the same station in your vehicle, driving through three different states with minimal loss of signal. If your vehicle has an “aux” line out, you can run a cable from it directly to the base without having to use the included FM receiver plug-in. You can also add your mp3’s to the player and eliminate the need to travel with an extra player.

The UI is very intuitive and is easily navigated. The player also comes with a remote that includes the same buttons and functionality as the player.

One downside to XM in general is the quality of the sound. It’s fine for news and talk radio, but for music, it’s highly compressed and seems on the level of FM radio. That’s a good trade-off for receiving a lot of content anywhere, anytime.

If you don’t have an XM-ready receiver and want a portable solution to satellite radio, look no further than the high quality Pioneer Inno.