Early Christmas has been kind to me once again. This year sees another installment in the winter village series. It seems Lego has caught on that people want to make villages for the holidays out of their bricks, and have started producing a series of sets with town buildings caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

This year’s Winter Village Post Office is a nice addition to the collection. True to form, it comes with a semi-detailed interior which you can light up with the included light brick. The roof comes decorated with snow and you get two postal workers. I get a kick out of the option of turning the woman’s head between a smiling face and a scowling one. I chose the scowl, since this reminds me most of the Durham post office. (Even though it’s not my hometown, it’s the one I’m likely to use if I need to mail something at lunch.)

Of all the elements of the set, I’m drawn most to the mail truck that the two workers can use to deliver packages to the towns folk. It reminds me a lot of the mail truck found in Santa Claus is Coming to Town, though it lacks the tracks and skids. Just the same it’s a neat little jalopy that carries a few packages, and some snow shoes in the event the truck gets stuck in the snow. Although, these days, I’d expect if the postal service got stuck in the snow, they’d just head home.

The set also features a gazebo with two musicians playing a tune for all to hear. One carries a banjo and the other, a brick built brass instrument I believe is a saxophone. I found this to be the most challenging piece to build as the ’round’ construction and 4 posts made it interesting to line up where the roof would connect. I’m still not entirely sure I built it correctly, but it hasn’t fallen apart yet.

The set also comes with a few trees and and a bench for folks to sit down on and take in the activities of the town. Lego included plenty of little white 1×1 round tiles to use in an epic snowball fight. Really the set has plenty of playability and makes a fine addition to the Bakery and Toy Shop released in years past. The set comes in with 7 minifigures and a dog. The new dog at that, with the painted and sculpted face. Only one head comes with two expressions. The female postal worker, which I recognize the face from last year’s Kingdom’s Advent calendar queen. Two torsos come with painting on the back and some don’t have any at all, which I found a bit interesting.

Overall it’s a pretty good set. I’m guessing that if I had not had the ‘help’ of our 17 month old toddler, who insisted that things like the railing from her Duplo Zoo must absolutely fit on the post office mid build, the set would take an hour or two at most to build.

The set is definitely targeting a bit of an older audience as it returns to basics with 8 unnumbered bags. Some of which, contained smaller bags of bricks in them. That being said though, a sure sign of a quicker build was the single manual, thankfully packed with cardboard to protect it. Thank you again Lego. This is the one instance I’m all for a little more packaging, as manuals were shipping mangled or destroyed all together as box sizes got smaller. At an MSRP of $69.99(us) the price seems a little high, but after building the set it seems reasonable. I just hope in the future, Lego keeps the price point around $50-60 or this serialized village may come to an end of collecting for me.

Buying the set from Amazon will help me keep these reviews coming or pay for hosting. Thanks for your support!

Already having a quick release system, this was the cheapest way to make the transition, there are also some kits that come with a quick release system for not much more.

Back in my article Manfrotto 055XPROB & Giottos MH 7001-621: A dynamic duo for sure, I discussed how happy I was with the Giottos MH-7001. Before I go any further, I’m still very happy with the MH-7001. I found however, when I tried to mount our spotting scope on it, it was not able to hold the weight. There was also the inability to pan independently from loosening the ball, making panoramic photos all but impossible. Enter the Giottos MH-1000.

The Gittos MH-1000 supports 22lbs as apposed to the 7001 which supports 13lbs. The MH-1000 also offers independent panning release from the release of the ball joint. Giottos realizing that panos might be something people want to do with this head, have kindly marked the circumference of the head at 5 degree intervals. In addition, there’s a third knob, which allows tension to be set. Which means when you loosen the ball knob, your camera won’t go flopping down if you accidentally loosen it too much.

I was also able to easily transition to this ball head by taking the 621 Quick release assembly off the 7001 and moving it to the MH-1000. A nice feature with these heads is that they are fairly customizable with almost any quick release system you my want to put on it.

Overall I’m already happy with the head, despite having just received it and have been pretty busy so I haven’t made it out in the field. I have however been digging through settings on my new d200 (that’s another article) and playing with the ball head too. Once I get out in the field (tomorrow) I’ll hopefully have retrained myself from the d40 and older ball head.

Set 7634 recently caught my eye when I was in Toys’r'Us this last weekend. It’s a simple set, but a neat one. What originally caught my eye with the set was the windscreen pieces that make up the cab. I don’t know if they’ve been in other sets before, peeron has no inventory yet, but it’s the first time I had seen them. They slope in from bottom to top, and have a chamfered edges. I could see the use of these in different builds, from more farm, to space, etc. I also noted the back wheels on the set, again not knowing if they were in any other sets, it was still the first time I had seen them.

The build was simple. I was able to lazily assemble the set during an episode of This Old House, with a few distractions. This set to me was more about the parts, so I don’t mind the short build time. I also think the set, given other farm stuff available, could be fun to play with as an assembled toy. Overall a fun quick set. Worth picking up to add to your parts, or as a toy.

My wife and I just welcomed a new puppy into our home around Christmas. Shes a tad allergic to dogs, but the allergist stated that as long as the dog was never allowed in the bedroom we should be safe. We’re both allergic to dust, dust mites, and mold. Something that our current residence struggles with. Given all of this, I finally decided to ‘man up’ if you will and try getting a hepa filter to ease some of our problems.

What we found was amazing. The Honeywell 18155 SilentComfort Permanent, True HEPA Air Purifier is amazing. It’s quiet at High, and almost silent at medium and low. It’s filtration capacity is 210sq feet. It’s not big enough for the whole house, but it does wonders for our bedroom. It cleans enough air that we can leave the bedroom door open at night so we don’t freeze from a lack of a heat source in the bedroom.

I have no scientific data, air quality tests, etc to prove it works. What I do have, is the clear fact that every morning since we’ve had the Honeywell 18155 SilentComfort Permanent, True HEPA Air Purifier, I have woken up less stuffed up (if at all) then I ever have in my life. We’ve had it for about 2 weeks now, and I’m already considering buying the bigger brother model that we have at work to help clean the air in the rest of the house.

The purifier comes with a small strap-like charcoal prefilter that wraps around the intake on the bottom. The air is then pushed out the HEPA filter at the top, which only needs vacuuming twice a year. Afraid you’ll forget to clean it? Don’t worry, the purifier comes with little indicator lights when it’s time for maintenance. Making the Honeywell 18155 SilentComfort Permanent, True HEPA Air Purifier easy to set, and um, forget. ;-)

I was pretty picky in what I wanted, ranked in priority: SirfstarIII chipset, text-to-speech and/or large screen, and SD card expansion were top of the list. With that info in hand Amanda spent a lot of time trying to find something that fit the budget. One morning at home she discovered the Nuvi 650 had recently been discontinued. This meant that a perfectly good GPS was getting retired just because people will always want the latest and greatest. This also meant a price cut of 50%, score! In addition, if you get it now, and register, you are eligible for a free upgrade to the 2009 Garmin maps for free!

The GPS is great. It met and exceeded my requirements in a GPS. Along with a SirfStarIII chipset, AND 4.3″ screen, the SD card is actually an SDHC slot, which means I already have a 16GB Patriot SDHC Memory Card (w/ lifetime warranty) loaded with mp3s and Points of Interest. You’ll also note from the photo that the antenna folds out, which means while your working with it, you can conserve battery power by folding it down, not engaging the GPS. It also has the ability to add an external antenna, but I’m not sure why you would. It picks up satelites sitting in the living room of a single story house with plenty of RF noise.

You’ll also note that the unit comes with a headphone jack which means you can use something like the iriver AFT 100 Mobile FM Transmitter to transmit messages, and other audio output over any customizable radio station. That’s right, unlike most FM transmitters, the iRiver can be set to any station, as well as it’s 3 quick presets.

When you play mp3s or audio books with the Nuvi you won’t miss your turn. It conveniently pauses what ever audio is being played, announces your next directions, and then continues to play what ever you were listening to. This thing was just built around convenience. In addition to thinking through audio, when you place the Nuvi 650 into the powered cradle, it automatically turns on. When you remove it, it prompts you with what you want it to do.

When you do reach your destination, like any device with an LCD screen, you don’t ant to risk damage from extreme temperatures. I’d suggest some sort of case to protect it’s screen when you throw it in a laptop bag. I found the Body Glove GPS case for 4.3″ GPSs to be a good fit. It has a reasonably hard exterior, and fuzzy interior that shouldn’t scratch the screen.

This GPS has so many features I can’t even begin to cover them in one post. It has hundreds of points of interest, and you can add more from sites like POI Factory for free. You can also add FM traffic receivers, customizable car marker, and a slew of other stuff.

The Garmin Nuvi 650 gets 4.5 stars on Amazon from 296 reviews. I think this is a fair statement of this little do it all. If your like me, I like to read the manual if I can find t before buying anything, this GPS won’t let you down. Lets take a final look at the features:

• # Model Number: Nuvi 650
• # Receiver: High-sensitivity SiRFstarIII, WAAS-enabled
• # Display size: 3.81 x 2.25 inches / 9.7 x 5.7 centimeters (W x H)
• # Display: 4.3-inch WQVGA color TFT with white backlight
• # Display resolution: 480 x 272 pixels
• # Power supply: Rechargeable lithium-ion battery, vehicle power adapter (included), AC power adapter (not included)
• # Battery life: Up to 7 hours
• # PC interface: USB (mini-USB)
• # Audio interface: 3.5-millimeter headphone jack
• # Data storage: Internal memory, SD card slot
• # Map coverage: U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Europe (preloaded)
• # Acquisition time: Warm: less than 1 second; cold: less than 38 seconds; factory reset: less than 45 seconds
• # Update rate: 1 per second, continuous
• # GPS accuracy (position): Less than 10 meters, typical
• # GPS accuracy (velocity): 0.05 meters per second RMS
• # WAAS accuracy (position): Less than 5 meters, typical
• # WAAS accuracy (velocity): 0.05 meters per second RMS
• # Dimensions: 4.9 x 2.9 x 0.9 inches / 12.4 x 7.4 x 2.3 centimeters (W x H x D)
• # Weight: 6.2 ounces / 190 grams
• # Warranty: 1-year limited warranty

Even after several months, this movie doesn’t sit right with me…

When I got the set home, I couldn’t help but build it before integrating the pieces into my greater collection. This is something I rarely do, as at this point, I buy lego for the parts or minifigs usually. It has to be a pretty interesting set for me to sit down and build it. I found the build pretty fun. The masts of the ship sit on clicking turn tables, so you adjust them during game play. When your done, the ship also has one of Lego’s newer style flick canons. It uses the springy piece that you put little Lego soccer players on to be able to kick the ball. I do wonder about the over use of this flick canon though. Back when the pirate sets were around, I acrued a rather good amount of canons, that looked like canons. Now I know, you historians will say that knights didn’t have canons until near the very end. Well, the jury is out still about them riding armored dragons too… But what I’m getting at though, is that the ship could have had a more realistic balista or something. Maybe this is what they were going for, and too many years of writing code has destroyed my imagination? Anyway, I still had a lot of fun building it, and it went together quickly.

If your looking for a long build, this might upset you. But where I was looking at the set as a quick pick up for all my armies and an extra ship, I was ok with it. Of course, I also had a little help building, so that might have had something to do with it…

(more after the photos)

As I’ve mentioned, it was a quick build. Almost anyone used to putt ing together sets would find it an easy build… I did however, notice that the colors were off in the manual from the colors of the bricks. Normally not a big deal, but at times they were way off. This is one of the reasons I dislike mega blocks. If your buying it for the set, the colors have been so off it’s hard to tell which one you are supposed to use, especially if your building something predominantly black and grays. The only other draw back, which is much of one, is that the ship hull is a new brown. Not the same as the Viking ship hull, which was not the same as the old Pirate ship hulls. So mixing and matching may look a little weird. Where I plan to make a much larger version of a trol l warrior transport, it may work. Since we wouldn’t expect the trolls to have shiny fancy looking ships. In fact, I would have expected this ship to look a little more hodge podge, a little like, Reavers maybe?

None of this though would deter me from buying this set. Its a great addition to the collection. Its a quick pick up in so many ways of army building you can’t skip it. The play looks like it would be great as well. With firing missiles, spinning  masts, so many minifigs, and details to the ship, its a well rounded set.

A few grips came out early on, most with built in battery, but no shutter release. Following these first entries were a few that utilized IR, much like the remote. Which meant that while you could technically use the vertical shutter release, you had to have the camera in IR mode. A few tests with the IR remote however, show me that if I depress the shutter release, I don’t get half press focus, full press fire. The other thing that lacks is any control over aperture and focus and exposure lock.

I’ve been watching this market since I got the D40, since I knew eventually it was an upgrade ‘d be interested in. When I spotted a grip from Targus, I got excited for two reasons… First it was at least a company making the grip I had heard of before. The second was the fact that the photo (on walmart.com above) clearly showed the grip had controls, and control pins that would act to directly control the camera!

WRONG!

I excitedly ordered the grip from Adorama, who had the same photo as above on their site. As I anxiously awaited it’s arrival I also found it on Walmart.com (as shown above). When it arrived however, it was clearly a different product then pictured.

This is what arrived. I quickly took a photo and put it on flickr in order to show the folks at Adorama they had sent me the wrong thing. I then ordered it from Walmart.com while planning to return the one from Adorama.

The next morning, I awoke to find a note from a person calling themselves an Adorama Customer Support Ambassador had contacted me through flickr. With some back and forth, she put me in direct contact with a sales person at Adorama who tried to help me out the best they could.

Admittedly, with a little more back-and-forth then should have been necessary, I received a return label to send the grip back. Today, I received my order from Walmart… SAME DARN THING! Now from what the Ambasedor told me, it seems Targus is issuing the wrong photo for online retailers!

So this, not to be mistaken for complaining, though I am aggravated, but rather a plea to Nikon to buck up and give us a grip. There are contacts clearly available in the battery compartment, and the battery cover easily comes off. So what’s up Nikon?!

Of course its also is a bit of a WTH? at Targus. If your selling something for visually oriented people, I’d suggest getting the photo right.

I’m pretty darn excited. I just got my first pro style tripod and head the other day. It will end up being used for both photography work and to support a birthday present for Amanda. For a while now I’ve wanted a tripod that would be tall enough that I could be standing up hill from it and still be able to keep the center column down. (Photo at left) I’ve also wanted a tripod that would allow me to get very close to the ground, to compose some perspective shots. Finally, when I’ve been out doing macro work, I’ve often wanted to be able to look straight down on a subject, but until now, have been unable to do so. That’s where the Manfroto 055XPROB tripod comes in.

The 055xXPROB is capable of meeting all of these needs. In fact, after I purchased the tripod, I found on Manfrotto’s site that “The Manfrotto 055XPROB has been awarded a 2008 Hot One Award by the Professional Photographer magazine.” I was visiting Manfrotto’s site in order to register the tripod. It comes with a 2yr warranty, but if you register the product you receive an additional 3yrs. One would think that if you live in a state with implied warranty laws you would not need to register the product, but I did just to be safe.

This tripod carries some good specs, which is what drew me to the tripod sight unseen. I know Manfrotto equipment to be good from samples I’ve seen in stores, and the monopod I already own. When the tripod arrived, I was not disappointed, and immediately found it easy to work with and extremely sturdy. For your reference, I’ve included the specs below.

Like any set of legs in this class, it also requires some sort of head. The head I chose, the Giottos MH 7001-621, met my requirements by being easy to use, and including some very useful features. The Giottos MH 7001-621 is an assembled MH 7001 pro ball head, and MH 621 quick release plate assembly. First off was the inclusion of two bubble levels set 90 degrees from each other. Now I’m not one to believe hat every photo should be framed perfectly horizontal or vertical, when it does however, these will come in very handy. The second necessity was a quick release plate, and availability of additional plates at a low cost. Not only can you get an additional plate, but you can also get a longer version. This is because the plate can be loosened and slid to help compose shots and focus when doing macro work. The inclusion of a red safety button keeps the plate in the head when loosened, preventing your camera from dropping on the ground. These plates are roughly $14 and $17 for short and long versions. Additionally you can pick up a Giottos M621 Quick Release Assembly (B and H Photo) which is the quick release receiver and plate for roughly $28. In my case this will be the perfect addition to my monopod making it easy to swap between tripod and monopod without detaching the quick release plate from my camera body.

The most important part of this head is the one-touch ball-head control. It makes aiming the camera a breeze. Simply hold the camera in one hand, and release and tighten the tensioner with the other. It is possible to rotate and pan this head through an almost 360 degree sphere, but in order to do so you may need to pan the base a bit to line up he two slots down the side. It takes a few seconds to get used to, but very quickly you’ll be able to find any angle you need. The ability to get any angle, along with the tripod’s amazing minimum height, means that an infinite amount of perspectives should be capable. Something that I find very exciting.

Despite all of it’s benefits, however, there is one small drawback to the quick release design. The latch that swings up to tighten the plate, offers little to no clearance with my camera. It’s not a big enough deal that I’ll send it back, but it may cause problems across individual setups.

Finally, the head includes both 3/8″ and 1/4″ screws for mounting camera equipment. Whichever screw is not needed can be easily removed and screwed into the side of the head for storage. You’ll find that the H 7001-621 boasts some pretty good specs itself.

Overall, this dynamic duo of camera support looks to be just what I need to gain the proper support and angle for just about any shot. Now if the weather would cooperate, I could get outside and shoot.

EDIT

Here are some pics that should help for comment by Paul

Clicking on the images will take you to flickr.

So lets think back to what brought this blog to life. . .

Oh thats right, those damn raccoons. They’re still around, in fact I had great fun, ehr, I mean I was left no other option, then to shoot one a couple weeks ago with my paintball gun while I had the electric fence repurposed on the garden for the summer.

But of course, I wouldn’t be here with such an audience if it wasn’t for my peeps. Those folks that both read my insane ramblings, and those that link to my blog. So since I can’t thank every single one of you by name, I’ll be certain to report out what WordPress tells me are the good folks linking to my site.

Thanks!

• Notes to Marquis
• Wii Sixty: File under – Suck it Sony
• Strong Kids, Safe Kids
• Moldy Snack
• mandymag.com
• Users Suck!
• spiralbound.net