Canon Digital Rebel / 300D

Canon Digital Rebel / 300D, originally uploaded by immauss.

I finally found a DSLR that fit my budget. Its used, its a little older than I was thinking, but its still a great camera, and it didn't break the bank. Now I can break the bank buying lenses. :D I've already done a few pano's with this rig, I'll be posting them to flickr soon.

For the family update, Diane is studying hard for her Masters, we have a house guest, John, who is also attending the Masters program with Diane. I'm taking two classes with UMUC one in programing, and the other on Network Security. Planning to have my Degree done by the end of this year. Woot!

July we will be going to London for a few days for Diane to take the teaching certification exams with ABCTE. We are planning to drop through Dublin for a few days on our way back and stay at the same B&B we stayed at the last time we went. Looking forward to the break from work, but I'll still be taking my online classes. Oh well. Real break for a week in August maybe. Time will tell.

American Idol

Well, the results are in!



Apparently I didn't have enough friends at the popularity contest. I failed to receive enough votes to move on to the next show. I say it that way, because many people have told me how much better they thought I was than several of the people that did make it. One of them, I know I was better than. Small time talent contests are a real bitch. You are basically stuck to whoever has the most friends at the show to vote for them.



Oh well.... maybe next time.

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Some crazy driving in Italy is still frowned upon.

"Hang on, lads - I've got a great idea."

Or perhaps not so great, as this driver found after appearing to
recreate a scene from The Italian Job, by driving down the iconic
Spanish Steps in Rome.

After hurtling down the 138 marble steps, a 24-year-old Colombian was
found slumped at his Toyota Celica's steering wheel by police - and
more than twice the drink-driving limit.

The driver was unhurt, but several of the 200-year-old steps were chipped and scuffed.

An eyewitness said: "It was like something out
of The Italian Job - this car was coming down the steps at quite a
speed but the driver didn't lose control.

Full Story and more pictures here.

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Idol

So,

The USO in Naples has decided that American Idol should come to Naples. They are sponsoring an American Idol like contest this month dubbed, what else, "USO Idol." The tryouts were last weekend, and of course I had to go and try out. They threw me a curve ball in that when I arrived, I found out that I would have to do the audition acapella. (without music). Apparently I did ok, they called me yesterday to tell me I'm one of the 12 people selected for the contest. The first audition is this Saturday morning, with three Saturday night shows on the 16th, 23rd, and 30th.

Wish me luck!

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5th Grade trip

Last Thursday and Friday, I went with Diane and her class down to Bari to see the trulli houses, Castellano caverns and Fasonolandia. In two days, I took over 1600 pictures. Half of them after I had a near fatal camera drop the first night. (It didn't look good there for a while, but the camera eventually reset, and seems to be working fine.) The selected pictures, only 222, are posted on Diane's class flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsascoolkids/

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