Upgraded To Nikon D7000

I have posted a couple of months ago that I was planning to upgrade to FX format camera. With the release of the Nikon D600, I thought it was within reach. The D600 body was not very expensive, however, I do have to change all the lenses that I have as well. I happen to find a Nikon D7000 that is being sold at Kijiji for $900. I offered $700 and the seller accepted. It had around 10,000 shutter actuations. That is probably why the seller agreed to what I have offered. I am not worried though because the camera is rated to do 150,000 actuations. I have a Nikon D5000 camera that I have for more than 3 years and I have not even reached 5,000 actuations. I believe I made the right choice. One thing that I like about the D7000 is that it has high-image-quality full HD movie recording of 1,920 x 1,080/24p. It is fast and quiet. The battery consumption is great. I charge its battery half the time I used to with the D5000. It also is compatible with a almost all Nikon lenses available in the market. I am very happy with the purchase.

Nikon D600 DSLR

I had the impression that Nikon's line of DLSRs are like the peoples camera. Main reason would be it's price compared to other brands such as Canon. Having said that, it does not mean that anyone can realy afford a DSLR. I happen to own a low-end which is a D5000. I wanted to switch to a full frame but am not financially able to get one. Basic needs for the family if first and foremost when budget is being discussed.

Nikon has announced the D600, a full-frame DSLR camera that is more affordable. At a little over CAD 2,000 (Body only), it may seem like its still expensive, however, it is still cheap compared to other brands. I need to save all my pennies and maybe get one Christmas time. That is still a big question mark. That probably is my goal for this year.

Below are some of the features of the Nikon  D600

24.30 megapixels

3.2" 640-by-480 LCD

ISO rating (50-25600)

Moisture-sealed magnesium-reinforced body

Crayola Crayon Maker

Finally after 4 months, I was able to purchase the toy I wanted to give my kids. As early as November 2011, I was looking for a Crayola Crayon Maker which according to the website of Walmart was available. I went to all the nearby Walmart locations I could not get one. I guess the toy was in demand that the persons in charge of updating the inventory was not able to keep up. I asked my friends and even my brother in the USA to keep an eye out for it. I even frequent the Kijiji and Craigslist site to check if someone is selling a used one. I was surprised to see ads for it with a price range of 100-150 dollars. I decided to just wait.

Just yesterday, while shopping for something else I happened to see 3 of them in the shelves of Walmart (Queensway Branch). I immediately took one and paid for it. My kids are excited about it as they can combine different colors and make a crayon. I was a little disappointed because it does not make a full size crayon. However, melting a crayon as small as half an inch and molding it half the length of a real crayon is nice. No need to throw away the old crayons. Old ones can be used to make new usable ones.

One Hundred Peso - ARROVO Bills...

While preparing my documents and money that I will bring back to the Philippines, I came accross several Philippine 100 peso bills that I have kept for more than 5 years. These are part of approximately 1,000 error notes were released into circulation. Apparently, in an attempt to save money in printing the bank notes, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) outsourced the printing to an unnamed French Security printer. Unfortunately, the outsourced 100-piso notes (Pick 194c) delivered to the BSP bore President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s surname misspelled as “Arrovo.”

I actually have at least 20 pieces of this. I only heard about the issue after I spent ten of them. I gave some to my relatives and saved at least 3 for myself. several years ago it fetched for as high as 2,000 pesos in eBay and I am not sure if there are still some notes out there. I read that these erroneous bills are being retired as soon as it reaches the banks but they remain legal tender in the Philippines.

I might hold on to it as it's value might get higher over time .

Learning the Hard Way - SendMoreInfo a Scam...

I have been a member of sendmoreinfo.com since year 2000. It was only last year 2011 that I was able to meet the $10 minimum payout. The site is now owned or managed by Midten Media, Inc. I was hoping that I will be paid but after 2 months of waiting, I still have not received the check. The wait time is supposed to be a month only. I also could not contact them by phone. The only way is through their website. They do not respond at all. I should have not wasted my time on this. It is unfortunate that I had to learn the hard way...