This is about the time of year when I start complaining about Canadian winters, how they're too long. But at least there's only around 2 months left of snow. :D

Last year I didn't have a car until the end of summer, and the beginning of school for my friends, so this year I want to take them to the mountains or anywhere. I also didn't get my 40D until November, and my favorite kind of photos to take are bright colorful summer day shots, and long exposure night shots... when it's warm. lol

I went to the mountains in November, but it was too cold to do all the shots I really like, such as hiking around and taking nature shots. When I was there, all I could do is run from the cabin to the lake and grab some shots, and head back, or even try to get good shots from the car, which is always a bad idea.

I turned 19 today, nothing really special happened... I got CoD World at War for PS3, and a black 360 controller. :D This has probably been the most bland birthday ever, it just feels like another day off work. >.<

I found a new lens that I have become particularly fond of, the Canon EF 70-200mm lens. But here's what I need help with... This is an L series lens, so it's good no matter what, but they give you 4 choices, each with a greatly different price. Should I buy 70-200mm f/4L for $700, or with IS for $1200, or should I buy the f/2.8L for $1200, or IS $1900. I know I probably wont go f/2.8 IS, but I'm kinda stuck deciding weather or not I want F/4 IS, or F/2.8 non IS... I want to buy either one of those two choices I had in mind, or if you guys have different lenses to refer, go straight ahead, I'm all ears for opinions or anything. :D

Hey there folks, I'm in a good mood (as always!), so I thought I'd make postings. I got a $1.50 raise, plus a $1500 bonus, as you guessed it, I spent most of it already... On two things, a 360, and a Sony Bravia LCD TV, for my bedroom. :P

Back when I bought my laptop in January, I thought I would get no use out of it's HDMI port, well I was proven wrong... by myself. Laptop + HDMI + Sony Bravia = lots of lovings. Plus the 360 is hooked up via HDMI, of course!

I'm still loving my 40D lots, and as seen in my submissions, I got a lens hood for it. Recently it's been too cold outside to take it anywhere, so I'll be resorting to indoor photography for the time being. Yay!

One last thing, if you're interested, my Xbox Live Gamertag is: goldaddiction
I expect to see at least 20 new friends by the time I get home from my haircut! :P

When I get home from work you'll see!

Something will happen, something new... something that's going to be a nice little upgrade.

Yay! I bought a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix SE recently, and I got it yesterday. It has the optional GM 3800 series II 3.8L V6 @200HP, so it has some kick to it... though I'm going to treat my baby nice and not kick it. =P

I love this car, it's in good running condition, and everything is perfect. The seats have no rips, inside and out it's visually appealing. To be quite honest, the only problem I've found with it, is... dun dun dunnn... the clock doesn't work. The radio works fine, it just don't display anything. I love the little secret door to the trunk behind the middle back seat. The electric drivers seat is nice too. ^^

I have a picture of it in my gallery on here as well. :P

I'm still saving for a car... this might take a while, looking for a deal and whatnot. I'm still not sure what to get for a vehicle... but that discussion is for another time.

As for now, I'm thinking I have another big purchase in mind (after the car of course)... I have the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, and I love it... performs well, takes great pictures... I know I haven't even had it for a year yet, but I'm thinking of giving my XT a new friend. Not an XTi, XSi or any of those Rebels, I'm thinking of moving up to the next level, as in the 40D. The XT is the only camera I have... it is a little out-dated, feature wise. Plus the transition into news paper photography is a little more demanding of equipment. The XT just isn't fit for the news paper, really. I'd be getting the bundle with the 40D and 17-85mm IS lens. It may be close to $1500, but I think it's worth it. I'd carry both the 40D and XT around, instead of switching lenses all the time, just pop one lens on one camera, and the other lens on the other camera before I leave, and just switch back and forth between the two cameras.

I've gotten requests to do wedding photography next year! The paper even offered to take me in as a full time photographer and everything.

So... I'm not going to MFF anymore. I decided it's far too expensive for a first time. But on the other hand, I'm still attending a fur con! I'm going to a smaller one closer to home, RainFurrest in Seattle. Really looking forward to that one, and it's less than half the cost as it would have been to fly to Chicago. I might even have some friends tagging along. ^^ So yeah... new plans, new con and a lot of fun. :D

Just thought I would update my journal a bit and fill in the little gaps here and there.

Alright, my photography... haven't done much in the last little while because of cold weather, school and work. Trust me, by the time the temperatures are around or above freezing, I'll be getting a lot more pictures.

I'm going to be asking for a few more hours a week at work here soon, I'm hoping to pump out at least $510 a month. Why, you ask? Well... recently someone convinced me to go to MFF, yup... attending my first con. So I'm saving up a lot before going, hopefully everything will work out and I can keep these plans. It's going to be my first flight ever, and by myself... first time into the state of Illinois, first time being in a big city by myself, first time attending a con, first time being around more than 3 furries, and lastly, first time staying in a hotel by myself. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see all those crazy cool fursuits I adore so much, and I hope to make a few friends! ^^

That's all for this journal... keep watching for updates! Hope to see some of you at MFF!

I have a hair stuck to my image sensor, and it's visible in almost all my pictures. I tried the sensor cleaning with a rubber blower, followed the instructions and all, but it only moved the hair around a bit. The only thing they suggested is to keep using a rubber blower inside my camera, but the hair is stuck in something and it's getting annoying. D:

I really don't want to send away my camera to get cleaned, nor do I want to wreck the image sensor.

I just spent my whole bank account on a new laptop! $1055 on a new Toshiba A200 series, 180GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 128MB shared video memory and so on... It's not a powerhouse, but it's great for me... and even a little more than what I need. heheh

Yep... I was bored and thought, hey! I should do that too! The camera he's holding is not copy/pasted from an actual picture, I spent maybe an hour drawing it in Flash, it looks so real. @_@

I've been waiting 18 years for this day! Now I am finally legal to do anything, yaaaaaaay! *dances* December 23, 1989 is the day. :P

This is a time line that I made in photoshop when I got bored... shows the cameras and stuff that I've used since I got into photography! I have to use photobucket because the image dimensions are too large for FA to handle.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/.....1/timeline.jpg

After almost 2 years of waiting, I finally saved up enough to buy the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. I already have my wonderful 70-300mm lens, and everything is so cool! I haven't got too many 'good' shots with it yet, mostly quick stuff of friends and parties. I've had it for a week this Thursday, just the FA outage kinda changed things. Anywho... one good thing always seems to lead to a bad thing for me... I spend $700 on a camera, expecting to upload pictures like 5 every day, no... the weather goes ahead and takes a turn for the worst. You see, the camera can operate fine in 0C and up, but the day I get my camera, the tempurature drops from +3C to -20C, so now... I can't use the poor camera outside without killing the battery, and possibly doing other things to the insides. So... still expect more pictures than normal, just not too many outdoor ones. :>

A whole $460, though that might seem nice, it's a whole months worth of working. I could use more than 10 hours a week. I missed my first paycheck because the store didn't get my banking info right away. I am almost able to afford that Rebel XT *dances around* maybe at the end of the month! My brother offered to get it through direct buy to save me at least 25-40% on it. ^^ I love my job though, it's very easy and I work with 7 of my friends in the same store.

Now, the "other stuff". So... I gots me a boyfriend. ^^ He slept over Friday night, it was an epic night. You don't get no details though. :P

</Journal> teehee

So... I got a job at Superstore, started today. $9.40/hr and $10.40 on Sundays. It was a lot of standing up, but with this job I'll finally be able to afford that new camera. I only work Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday this week.

This girl from my school works in the same department, and she said my hair was sexy, and was constantly watching me stock shelves >_> yeah... she's pretty hot. <_<

Well, I finally got more film for the camera... so I'm gunna head out with the camera again sometime this week.

My mom works at the newspaper, and she spoke with the boss, he said if I can come up with any good pictures of accidents or other news stories that their photographers can't make it to, I can submit my pictures and will have published pictures for a portfolio. ^_^

Well.. thats about it for this journal, I'll keep trying to get pictures in as much as possible.

I'm got back last night from Vancouver. I had a lot of fun on the trip, took lots of pictures, though I only picked out a few to be posted. Went a little south into Washington as well, got stuck at the border crossing for hours, all just to go see a volcanic mountain for about an hour lol. Well, I'm keeping this journal a little short so I can get right to uploading my pictures.

This coming up Thursday I'm headed off on a long old road trip. My parents are I are taking the car down to BC, and were driving all the way to Vancouver! We also plan to go a little south of the border into Washington. I think it should be a fun trip, I get to drive as much as I want, until we are in the states that is.

I'll be bringing the camera for sure! Expect a lot of pictures when I get back ;)

I'm tired after all that uploading, and reading over comments and stuff! Thanks guys for all the support with everything. I think this'll be the last journal entry for a little while, until I go out on my next photo adventure anyway. :P

well, I thought I would take a quick break from uploading and do a journal. Hi everybody! I hope you guys are liking my photography... it seems I have 23 new messages already, and I've been on here what.... 30 minutes! xD I love you all!