Wow.   What beautiful snow we have.   It’s one of those where every tree branch carried a thick, white frosting, makes the entire neighborhood look absolutely beautiful.   Of course now I have to go out, fix the snow blower and clear it all off of the driveway and sidewalks!

That’s OK.   Sunday afternoon when we land in San Juan it will all be forgotten.   🙂

We had a drywall guy come by about a week or so ago and do some patching and cosmetic work.   We had a couple spots of old water damage, some corners needed attention, the new skylight needed finishing off and the patch job I did when we remodeled the downstairs bathroom was less than perfect.   I managed to get most of the spots painted OK, though I don’t think there was a spot other than my office where I picked the right paint color on the first try.   The damn bathroom, though, has been a real pain in the ass.   For whatever reason we don’t have any left over paint, and so far I think we’ve tried four different shades of tan/khaki.   All of them are close, but none are right on the money.   I’m hoping the latest is good to go, but quite frankly I’m not expecting it to be.   I won’t be the least bit surprised if I end up re-painting the entire room by the time I’m finished.

We’ve got a drywall guy here doing some repair work on a few spots that need it.   One of them was a patch I did, and it was pretty obvious where it was.   This guy’s been doing drywall for 27 years, he says…   and it shows.   He’s done a better job in a few hours than I am able to do in a few days.

I don’t mind, though.   There’s stuff I have been doing for 27 years that would mystify the average drywall guy, too.   It all evens out.   I’m just glad we found a place that could send out a guy to do good quality work at a rate we can afford.

Well, it was a busy weekend and week here, and it’s not done yet.   We’ve now got a spare fridge in the kitchen that needs to be moved this weekend, and the new TV is in the family room.   I still need to re-connect all the stereo gear downstairs, not to mention finishing the cleanup there.   It’s a lot better looking than it has been in the past, but I’m hoping to give Lisa back her sewing area by the beginning of next week.

Somewhere in there I need to do a little Christmas shopping, too…

Just in case anyone needs to know…. here’s my Christmas wish list. The Harley is about as blinged-out as I think we’re likely to get it, but of course H-D has all kinds of stuff that would be nice as well. A lot of it’s shamefully overpriced, though. I suppose the fairing mount mirrors (91945-98B) would still be good to have.

• Book Proposals That Sell: 21 SECRETS TO SPEED YOUR SUCCESS (W. Terry Whalin )
• Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010
• Air brush — single action, bottom feed.   (like a Badger 250 or Paasche H series)
• Vespa cover – ScootRS.com, SKU 100188
• Headset with microphone for use with Skype… wireless or Bluetooth wouldn’t be bad.
• Hornady 22 Cal .224 55gr SP or SP SX bullets (SKU 2260, 2265 or 2266). These are just the bullets, not loaded ammunition. They are available in boxes of 100 or 250.
• As always… flight time with instructor or a gift certificate from Hangar One would be nice.
• Pair of black leather XXL gloves, Thinsulate and/or fur lined would be nice. Or, Cabela’s has some nice non-leather ones, the Whitetail Extreme look OK.
• Long johns. My 1970s vintage Army issue woolies are getting a little stretched out. Under Armour or some similar synthetic, light weight but warm ones.
• King or Sporty’s Recreation or Private pilot course – DVD would be best
• Range time at the Bullet Hole won’t go to waste…

If anyone happens to hit the lottery, a JVC Everio GZ-MG670 camcorder or a Barnes & Noble Nook would be great. 🙂

I’ve been looking at camcorders. We haven’t used one in years, not since the days of the VHS-C vs. 8mm tape battle. With the coming grandbaby, the occasional step-granddaughter and/or grand-niece running around, it might come in handy for that. We’re planning trips for the coming year, probably including one or two on the motorcycle. After seeing some of the video Kim & Stu shot on their trip, I’d like to be able to do the same.

Of more immediate concern, though, is getting some videos of my kits and the new keyer shot, edited and up on the HamGadgets web site, Youtube or both (or more). So, I’ve been looking at a lot of different camcorders to see which one will be the best for our needs. What a tar baby. Of course the job is made tougher by the fact that, even if you do find a particular model at a local store, or several different models you want to compare, you have no way to view the actual video shot with each on a TV or computer. All you can do is to compare specs, reviews and how the LCD screens look.

Right now the front runner is a Canon, but I’ve decided to do a lot more reading of reviews on line. The lower end JVC Everios are not getting very good reviews, but the somewhat-nicer GZ-MG670 is supposed to be better than the Canon I’ve been looking at.

So far the only ones to really impress me are the $800 and up HD camcorders. Of course. But I’m not spending that much on technology that’s getting significant bumps every year or so.