I came across a digital camera yesterday that really struck me with its good looks: the Leica Digilux 2. Always drawn by something a little different, here's a digital camera (5MP) that still retains a classy, old-time look. It reminds of the Leicas seen in some of my favorite movies -- older James Bonds and Indiana Jones.
Update: You can now order this camera directly from Amazon for $1,850 USD. Click here to buy it.
This is our holiday picture -- including "a few of our favorite things".
Thank God for His son, and thank God for each of you that touched our lives this year.
Having just returned from the Post Office, I was pleased to be able to find some new stamps with which to adorn our Christmas cards. Here they are! The stamps are called Holiday Music Maker.
What we have here are your normal holiday icons making a joyful noise. Which made me think of a bible verse: the 100th Psalm.
Psalm 100 (NIV)
A psalm. For giving thanks.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
It really wasn't as bad as it looks...Hale experienced a brief moment of terror when it came time to sit on "Claus'" lap, but just as quickly as his mood changed from excitement (when he first saw Claus) to horror (right in time for the "click" of the photographer), he was comforted by a big green lollipop! Miss Addison, on the other hand, was indifferent to the entire situation.
And as for "Claus"... well, he wasn't the jolly ol' elf we expect him to be.
Please pardon the mess as we transition out of our Fall website -- into the icy cold!
UPDATE: I added my usual screenshot to this post, so we can remember what this Fall looked like at 348north. For Winter I've decided to try my hand at becoming a "standards compliant" website -- at this point I'm not sure what that all entails. But as I get it figured out, I'll let you know.
Jill and I got a nice surprise this week -- a tax refund! Apparently the state auditor decided our bill was higher than it should have been and gave us a small break. They even included 5 dollars worth of interest!
Bizarre, but we'll take it!
I admit it: I'm spoiled by bandwidth. I've seen the other side of the mountain, have lived here for a while, and don't want to go back. I spent last evening literally wanting to pull my hair out because I've become too impatient with the "speed" that most people enjoy from their dialup Internet service. And when I say speed, of course I mean the lack thereof.
Back at our old house, we used to listen to Christmas music provided by our iMac and iTunes -- mp3s stored on the computer. This was possible because we had snaked an audio cord down through the floor in the dining room closet, along the basement ceiling to the other end of the house, and back up under the armoire that houses our stereo equipment. At the new house, this just isn't possible. Luckily, we've got a line from space that fills up the missing music.
Dish Network activates a Holiday Music channel on the satellite every year -- channel 986. It is all music, with no video other than a floating block of text describing the song, album, artist, and label information. The selection of songs is also much broader than our small set of songs on the iMac. Many hits from Barbra Streisand, Harry Connick Jr., Michael W. Smith, and more! It's great!
