The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard – Page 66

Soon, Brussels

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Grote Markt (Grand Place), Brussels Belgium.

Grand Place

No, I did not take this photo. I grabbed it from the Winter Wonders Web site.

We leave in a few short days and I find myself hyperventilating with anticipation. We’ve done our preliminary test packing and it looks like we’ll be able to fit most everything into our respective backpacks. This includes my recently acquired Manfrotto super deluxe tripod so I can take extended exposure shots. Travelling light and without checking luggage is HUGE in terms of piece of mind and rapid mobility.

The overseas flight from Atlanta to Brussels is not even half full at this time. I am hoping this translates to some stretching out and maybe some sleep before we get there. If not, we know how to beat the jet-lag by now. You just have to push through that first day.

In terms of camera gear I will, of course, have the Sony Alpha 700. My lens arsenal will consist of the the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 as my primary walk about with the 11-18mm for wide angle shots and the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for evenings and other low light situations that require me to shoot handheld.

On the fence regarding the Minolta 70-210mm and the Sony fisheye. We’ll see.

The forecast looks good. Cold, but no precipitation.

On the agenda for Brussels:

Mini-Europe because I want to do some fake miniatures of a real miniature. It’s also the location of Atomium which was created for the Expo ’58 (the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair).
The RenÃ© Magritte Museum because, well MAGRITTE!
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences to see some whale skeletons.
Royal Museums of Fine Arts to see ‘The Death of Marat‘ by Jacques-Louis David.
The Belgian Comic Strip Center to see the cartoons!
Delirium Cafe which boasts over 2,000 different beers to choose from.
La Mort Subite for more beer.

And as much more as we can squeeze into the time we’ll be there. We are tentatively planning a side trip to Bruges which is only an hour away by train. There’s an ice sculpting festival going on that I would like to check out.

If we have the energy, we’ll ring in the new year at the Grand Place which I believe will have a fireworks display before heading back to The States on new year’s day.

Forecast

Clear skies and cold. No snow (boo) no rain (yay!)

Talkin’ Netbooks

I was interviewed by ABC Channel 13’s consumer reporter Jeff Ehling about Netbooks.

See the video online at ABC13.COM by clicking this link.

Blue Jay

Winter Coats

Winter Coat

Hello dalink, have you seen moose and squirrel?

Winter Coat

We have acquired new winter coats along with hats, gloves and wool socks. We’re also packing scarves. Highs in Brussels are in the 40’s and lows are near or below freezing.

Travelling Digitalia

Digitalia

I think I have the tech for the upcoming trip to Brussels sorted out. The G1 Android has been unlocked and I have been in communication with Belgacom and they indicate I should be able to pick up a “pay as you go” SIM card for my phone that will allow me to make voice calls and data connections over their 3G network. This will be much less expensive than paying T-Mobile roaming charges and will allow me to utilize the features of my phone like the GPS and Google Maps. Not that I have a real need, but the geek in me wants to play….

I’ve also acquired a MSI Wind U100-420US 10-Inch Netbook. 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM (upgraded to two), 120 GB Hard Drive, XP Home and a 3 Cell Battery. Built in WI-FI as well as an Ethernet port this computer should be all I need to keep up to date with my online obligations as well as allowing me to offload and process my pictures. Web cam, nice large keyboard and display and it weighs under 2.5 lbs making it something I can tuck into the pocket of my backpack for easy toting!

For the price, this thing rocks! There are some newer models coming out at the beginning of 2009 which have more features (and cost alot more) but this is all I need. It’s snappy and easy to use and being relatively inexpensive it would hurt my feelings to lose it while abroad, but it would not be devastating.

Landscape Lighting

I am not the handiest guy around. I can manage the technical stuff, but when it comes to home maintenance and improvement I like to “leave it to the professionals.”

I’ve been wanting some landscape lighting for awhile now. For decorative as well as security purposes. I decided I would go to Lowe’s and check out my options. It took some time to sort it out, but I bought some lights, some cable and a timer enabled power converter and worked all day last Saturday installing it. There’s been a few tweaks over this past week and the above picture is the end result of my efforts. The pic doesn’t do it justice. It’s really something to see in person and I am quite proud of myself.

Perigee Moon

Tonight was a full moon. Not only that, but the moon was at perigee. What that means is that the moon was full at the point it was closest to the Earth in it’s elliptical orbit.

From The Royal Observatory Greenwich

“On average, the Moon is 378,000 km away, and at furthest, it is 399,300 km away from the Earth’s surface. So the full Moon is 6% closer than average, and so 11% brighter than average! (Or, to put it another way, it is 11% bigger & 20% brighter than when the Moon is at its furthest point away from us).”

NASA estimated that the moon could appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons this year.

What that meant to me was I could try shooting it with my 200mm lens rather than my 300mm lens, which is a little soft fully extended.

The above shot is a 100% crop of the photo I took. Not something that could be printed, but pretty nice for the Web.