The bubble has burst and watching the news, they make it almost seem like we’ve reached a point of no return. After a decades of the stock market going up and millions of American's joining the ranks of home owners, the tide has turned. Words like deflation, recession, depression are catch phrases that are flowing off people’s tongues. In the midst of this, some people are breathing a sigh of relief. The people who have rented instead of buying, who have lived paycheck to paycheck, who didn’t listen to the advice of their elders, didn’t gamble their money on stocks, the slackers, this time is a blessing, in the short term anyways. If you do have a job that hasn’t been affected the downturn, you’ve lucked out and your hard earned dollars are reaching further then they were just a few months ago. The horrid term called deflation has kicked in, gas prices are falling and the price of goods are going down. Businesses are worried, deflation is horrible for them but for us the consumer, tired of inflation, this is a windfall that we should take advantage off.
I admit it, I’m a renter, I don’t own a single stock but I do own some property in Arizona. When I first moved to San Diego, my wife and I had a roommate and we rented a 4 bedroom house in Mira Mesa for 2200 dollars a month. The house was for sale for 700,000 which would have given us house payments close to 5000 dollars. I couldn’t imagine spending that kind of money on a place to live plus not buying saved us 3800 a month and for the year we lived there saved us $45,600. Not that I see that sitting about but I’m sure I would be a poorer person right now, both emotionally and financially then I would have been if I had bought. While many people I know did opt to join that dream and buy a house, I knew it wasn’t my time. I had people all around me saying that I should buy a house but I held tough. I don’t know where I’m going to end up after I retire but I doubt it’s going to be in San Diego unless I become independently wealthy but I’m not holding my breath. I love the city but living here comes with a premium price tag and a body needs to work too hard to just make ends meet plus, I’ve seen too many people who couldn’t make that cut. I’d rather survive then have to live through some of their stories.
So enjoy this reprieve we’ve been granted and hope the genius’ in DC can fix what ails our financial market without causing further inflation or the total collapse of civilization. Remember, it’s political season and I’m not telling you who to vote for, just vote.
Showing posts with label big picture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label big picture. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Milblogging is tough..
..on electronic gear. Over the years, this has turned out to be quite an expensive hobby but then again, I'm a techno geek and would have probably bought most of the gear anyways. Not that I would trade blogging for anything but since 2004, I have gone though 5 digital cameras, 4 laptops (shopping around for number 5), 2 8mm camcorders and 2 external hard drives and an assortment of thumb drives.
I can tell you how most of them went down, the first digital camera died in the middle of trip number one in 2004, the dust had made its mark so I ordered a digital Rebel which lasted till my Thailand trip in January of 2006, then the autofocus went out and my old eyes couldn’t get it to focus right so I passed it on to my photo taking niece. I got a second pocket Panasonic pocket camera in the middle of trip #2 and it lasted till the middle of trip number 3.
Trip number 3 was expensive. I lost an external hard drive which spontaneously combusted with a couple thousand pictures in the midst of all of that I had another HP snap and shoot that the zoom went out of, then a Panasonic lasted till it fell apart a year later for no apparent reason, the hundred dollar camera I got over last Christmas break? It took such horrible pictures that I was embarrassed to show them.
My old 98 desktop was replaced by a laptop prior to my trip in 2004 (thanks, know who you are), when coming back to the states from that trip, the heat from the desert fried the video card. The replacement laptop’s power cord got tripped on at a party and broke up the inside, then my wife’s computer had a problem with it’s power supply and battery. Now the HP 5000dv that I'm currently using is in it’s last days, the battery won't hold a charge and the fan sounds like there are little screaming banshees living inside of it, well when it turns on that is. So I’m pricing out a new one to handle the heavy video editing that I foresee in my near future because I’ve been tapped for being the squadron photographer.
Believe me, I take care of my gear but I also probably utilize it more then the average bear, if I'm covering an event (like the basketball game), I'll take 4 or 5 hundred pictures which eventually get turned into videos and posts. I'm just doing the first month of deployment complaining and no, I don't expect any sort of help in getting a new one (unless you are Bill Gates then help away!). I can handle buying it on my own.
It's my hobby and my world would be a much lesser place if I wasn’t doing it.
So far my out of pocket is reaching into the 5000 range easily but it's hard to produce the product without the gear. Well in actually, I could just type up blog posts and put them up at the internet café, my photography life is something I raised my hand and volunteered to do but was it expected of me? No and do I care about the cost? Not really, just noting it as I take a financial management class. The positives outweigh the negative and I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way.
I can tell you how most of them went down, the first digital camera died in the middle of trip number one in 2004, the dust had made its mark so I ordered a digital Rebel which lasted till my Thailand trip in January of 2006, then the autofocus went out and my old eyes couldn’t get it to focus right so I passed it on to my photo taking niece. I got a second pocket Panasonic pocket camera in the middle of trip #2 and it lasted till the middle of trip number 3.
Trip number 3 was expensive. I lost an external hard drive which spontaneously combusted with a couple thousand pictures in the midst of all of that I had another HP snap and shoot that the zoom went out of, then a Panasonic lasted till it fell apart a year later for no apparent reason, the hundred dollar camera I got over last Christmas break? It took such horrible pictures that I was embarrassed to show them.
My old 98 desktop was replaced by a laptop prior to my trip in 2004 (thanks, know who you are), when coming back to the states from that trip, the heat from the desert fried the video card. The replacement laptop’s power cord got tripped on at a party and broke up the inside, then my wife’s computer had a problem with it’s power supply and battery. Now the HP 5000dv that I'm currently using is in it’s last days, the battery won't hold a charge and the fan sounds like there are little screaming banshees living inside of it, well when it turns on that is. So I’m pricing out a new one to handle the heavy video editing that I foresee in my near future because I’ve been tapped for being the squadron photographer.
Believe me, I take care of my gear but I also probably utilize it more then the average bear, if I'm covering an event (like the basketball game), I'll take 4 or 5 hundred pictures which eventually get turned into videos and posts. I'm just doing the first month of deployment complaining and no, I don't expect any sort of help in getting a new one (unless you are Bill Gates then help away!). I can handle buying it on my own.
It's my hobby and my world would be a much lesser place if I wasn’t doing it.
So far my out of pocket is reaching into the 5000 range easily but it's hard to produce the product without the gear. Well in actually, I could just type up blog posts and put them up at the internet café, my photography life is something I raised my hand and volunteered to do but was it expected of me? No and do I care about the cost? Not really, just noting it as I take a financial management class. The positives outweigh the negative and I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way.
Milblogging is tough..
..on electronic gear. Over the years, this has turned out to be quite an expensive hobby but then again, I'm a techno geek and would have probably bought most of the gear anyways. Not that I would trade blogging for anything but since 2004, I have gone though 5 digital cameras, 4 laptops (shopping around for number 5), 2 8mm camcorders and 2 external hard drives and an assortment of thumb drives.
I can tell you how most of them went down, the first digital camera died in the middle of trip number one in 2004, the dust had made its mark so I ordered a digital Rebel which lasted till my Thailand trip in January of 2006, then the autofocus went out and my old eyes couldn’t get it to focus right so I passed it on to my photo taking niece. I got a second pocket Panasonic pocket camera in the middle of trip #2 and it lasted till the middle of trip number 3.
Trip number 3 was expensive. I lost an external hard drive which spontaneously combusted with a couple thousand pictures in the midst of all of that I had another HP snap and shoot that the zoom went out of, then a Panasonic lasted till it fell apart a year later for no apparent reason, the hundred dollar camera I got over last Christmas break? It took such horrible pictures that I was embarrassed to show them.
My old 98 desktop was replaced by a laptop prior to my trip in 2004 (thanks, know who you are), when coming back to the states from that trip, the heat from the desert fried the video card. The replacement laptop’s power cord got tripped on at a party and broke up the inside, then my wife’s computer had a problem with it’s power supply and battery. Now the HP 5000dv that I'm currently using is in it’s last days, the battery won't hold a charge and the fan sounds like there are little screaming banshees living inside of it, well when it turns on that is. So I’m pricing out a new one to handle the heavy video editing that I foresee in my near future because I’ve been tapped for being the squadron photographer.
Believe me, I take care of my gear but I also probably utilize it more then the average bear, if I'm covering an event (like the basketball game), I'll take 4 or 5 hundred pictures which eventually get turned into videos and posts. I'm just doing the first month of deployment complaining and no, I don't expect any sort of help in getting a new one (unless you are Bill Gates then help away!). I can handle buying it on my own.
It's my hobby and my world would be a much lesser place if I wasn’t doing it.
So far my out of pocket is reaching into the 5000 range easily but it's hard to produce the product without the gear. Well in actually, I could just type up blog posts and put them up at the internet café, my photography life is something I raised my hand and volunteered to do but was it expected of me? No and do I care about the cost? Not really, just noting it as I take a financial management class. The positives outweigh the negative and I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way.
I can tell you how most of them went down, the first digital camera died in the middle of trip number one in 2004, the dust had made its mark so I ordered a digital Rebel which lasted till my Thailand trip in January of 2006, then the autofocus went out and my old eyes couldn’t get it to focus right so I passed it on to my photo taking niece. I got a second pocket Panasonic pocket camera in the middle of trip #2 and it lasted till the middle of trip number 3.
Trip number 3 was expensive. I lost an external hard drive which spontaneously combusted with a couple thousand pictures in the midst of all of that I had another HP snap and shoot that the zoom went out of, then a Panasonic lasted till it fell apart a year later for no apparent reason, the hundred dollar camera I got over last Christmas break? It took such horrible pictures that I was embarrassed to show them.
My old 98 desktop was replaced by a laptop prior to my trip in 2004 (thanks, know who you are), when coming back to the states from that trip, the heat from the desert fried the video card. The replacement laptop’s power cord got tripped on at a party and broke up the inside, then my wife’s computer had a problem with it’s power supply and battery. Now the HP 5000dv that I'm currently using is in it’s last days, the battery won't hold a charge and the fan sounds like there are little screaming banshees living inside of it, well when it turns on that is. So I’m pricing out a new one to handle the heavy video editing that I foresee in my near future because I’ve been tapped for being the squadron photographer.
Believe me, I take care of my gear but I also probably utilize it more then the average bear, if I'm covering an event (like the basketball game), I'll take 4 or 5 hundred pictures which eventually get turned into videos and posts. I'm just doing the first month of deployment complaining and no, I don't expect any sort of help in getting a new one (unless you are Bill Gates then help away!). I can handle buying it on my own.
It's my hobby and my world would be a much lesser place if I wasn’t doing it.
So far my out of pocket is reaching into the 5000 range easily but it's hard to produce the product without the gear. Well in actually, I could just type up blog posts and put them up at the internet café, my photography life is something I raised my hand and volunteered to do but was it expected of me? No and do I care about the cost? Not really, just noting it as I take a financial management class. The positives outweigh the negative and I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way.
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