Costco, Cameras and Travel!
Oh my. What have i done since last Wednesday's update? Hmmmm...
I had Friday off, making it a four day weekend since Monday was labour day and i did very little labour as it happens.
Mom and I went to Costco on Saturday as i just wanted to pick up a few things and check for the corrie calendar. They didn't have that in but i got things for the freezer and more laundry detergent. The last bucket of it lasted me from February until now when i've poured the last of it into the smaller bottle. The problem with Costco when you're only buying for one person is that you can't really buy a small size of things. Even a bag of 6 bagels or a frozen to-bake pizza has to be bought in double. They do a very nice chicken salad but it's four large scoops. Mom and i go split on that and it still means i'm eating it non stop for 3 or 4 days. No longer, though, because of the mayonnaise.
But they do have nice fresh meat and veg and fruit even if you have to buy in quantity. Meat is no problem, i can freeze it in pieces. Fruit is a bit, i did buy a "basket" of plums but will have to eat two a day to get through it all before it goes off. But i do love plums! Pity they didn't have plumcots. That's a cross between a plum and apricot and they're really very tasty. I've also developed a taste for mangoes but didn't buy them at Costco since I really don't think i'd get through a bag of a dozen of them. good price on it, however. I also bought a pre-cooked chicken. It was cheaper than the ones we usually get at the grocery store by 50 cents and it looked bigger. But since i also have two scoops of chicken salad, i've had to strip most of the chicken off and freeze that, too, after having a bit of it warm.
I've actually got quite a full freezer and fridge at the moment as a result.
Friday, i had an early doctor's appointment. That's just a routine visit to renew a few meds. I booked the first appointment of the day thinking i wouldn't have to wait and i *still* had to wait nearly 15 minutes. She waltzed in just at 9 so i guess it took her that long to get herself sorted, computer on, etc. That reminds me... take in prescription to be filled. *makes note*
I went to the mall later in the afternoon for a look around and i wanted to go to the travel agents. I had a flight quote printed from expedia and i know millions of people book with them all the time but since i was changing airlines, not just sticking with Air Canada/Star Alliance, i prefer to deal with a real person. The first agent i went to couldn't find the same price and it would have cost about 150 more. I went to Flight Centre who say they'll match any quote and beat it by a dollar. (except what they have to do is issue you a cheque for the dollar! I didn't bother and i bet a lot of people don't). They found the same flights but between the day before when i printed it and when they did it (also on expedia) it went up slightly. That's fine. They still match whatever the price is on the day. I'm cool with that. It didn't cost me the extra 150 after all. So my flight to the UK is booked, Air Canada switching to British Airways to Manchester from Heathrow.
Which is another pain in the butt. Apparently British Midland isn't doing that leg anymore though they've not gone out of business. British Airways is. I think BA owns bmi anyway or if they didn't, they do now. But Bmi was Star Alliance and BA is not. I'm not sure if i'll be able to check my bags right through or if i'll have to pick them up and go through customs before changing terminals or if i can change terminals, go through customs and passport in the other terminal and not worry about the bags. That saves some time because customs and passport in Terminal 3 (T3) is horrible in the morning usually. When i'd transfer to T1 and go through it all there, it was never that bad. T3 is where all the international overnight flights all land, usually within the same couple of hours so it can get pretty backed up in passport control. Plus then there's the agony of having to actually take the train to T5 this time so there's walking all over hell and back to get to it because it's actually under T2. If they check the bags through, i can catch a shuttle bus from T3 to T5 without the long passport lines in T3. Needless to say, I've made sure i have 3 hours between connections to make sure, just in case i have to get the bags, get to T5 and re-check them.
Are you still with me? It's ok if you've wandered off to make a cup of tea. I would too.
The Flight Center agent was supposed to email me the confirmation though i do have paper copies. I better call him today because i don't think he did. Then i need to book the flights to Rome and then a hotel. I've got a short list. There's one that's a bit of a splurge but it's right on the piazze where the Pantheon is. If it's still available, I might go for that. If not, i've got a few more on deck. The only must-have requirement is free Wi-Fi! :)
The other thing i did on Friday at the mall was "accidentally" buy a new camera. *sigh* yes i know. I didn't *need* one. But you know. Some people buy shoes. I buy cameras. This one is another Canon, the SX240. It's smaller than my Canon 130IS but not tiny and it's got a 20x zoom!! Whoah! It has the creative features i liked from my other Canon and does HD video in several sizes or a regular video 640x480 which is good for YouTube. It also does the kind of video you can watch on Apple devices.You can do neat things like register people's faces so it recognizes when someone, like your husband, child or friend is in the photo and it "tags" them or focuses on them in particular. It also can take a couple of seconds video before every photo you take to record a "digest" of all the photos you took in up to a day (or up to a particular size video) to make a video slideshow clip. That's kind of cool for travel. I can see turning that on for, say, the Colosseum visit, then turning it off again for general street shots, then on again for the Roman Forum. That kind of thing.
I have always been partial to Canon cameras, both SLRs and automatic. I did love my SLR but i just find it's too bulky to carry around while traveling these days and i don't think i could justify having one for non-travel use as well as having another camera for travel. I don't think it would get the use. I've got a friend who has a lovely digital SLR but bought this one as a backup and loves it and used it pretty much all the time on her recent trip, a fact i didn't know until after i'd bought mine. I did do a compare with a similar Nikon and Panasonic but i still liked the results from the Canon best and the features that it had that i knew i would use and like already. I got a package for an extra year warranty, an 8 gig high speed card, a case and a voucher for 100 prints but the case is only *just* big enough and if i get a spare battery it won't fit in there along with the camera. also, the strap isn't long enough so i guess i will just use my old case. Maybe my nephew can use the case which has a belt loop. He's always losing his camera and phone! It might even fit both of them as he's got a small camera and a smart phone. Anyway someone will be able to use it. It's not big enough to fit my old Canon which i will probably be giving to Mom as her camera is broken.
Now i need to go out and give the new camera a spin! Which i should have done on the weekend but didn't move my lazy butt out of the apartment to do it.
Didn't do much the rest of the weekend other than put all the Doctor Who onto dvd disks for Graham, watch the wonderful Pirates: A Band of Misfits, catch up on webby stuff.
I had Friday off, making it a four day weekend since Monday was labour day and i did very little labour as it happens.
Mom and I went to Costco on Saturday as i just wanted to pick up a few things and check for the corrie calendar. They didn't have that in but i got things for the freezer and more laundry detergent. The last bucket of it lasted me from February until now when i've poured the last of it into the smaller bottle. The problem with Costco when you're only buying for one person is that you can't really buy a small size of things. Even a bag of 6 bagels or a frozen to-bake pizza has to be bought in double. They do a very nice chicken salad but it's four large scoops. Mom and i go split on that and it still means i'm eating it non stop for 3 or 4 days. No longer, though, because of the mayonnaise.
But they do have nice fresh meat and veg and fruit even if you have to buy in quantity. Meat is no problem, i can freeze it in pieces. Fruit is a bit, i did buy a "basket" of plums but will have to eat two a day to get through it all before it goes off. But i do love plums! Pity they didn't have plumcots. That's a cross between a plum and apricot and they're really very tasty. I've also developed a taste for mangoes but didn't buy them at Costco since I really don't think i'd get through a bag of a dozen of them. good price on it, however. I also bought a pre-cooked chicken. It was cheaper than the ones we usually get at the grocery store by 50 cents and it looked bigger. But since i also have two scoops of chicken salad, i've had to strip most of the chicken off and freeze that, too, after having a bit of it warm.
I've actually got quite a full freezer and fridge at the moment as a result.
Friday, i had an early doctor's appointment. That's just a routine visit to renew a few meds. I booked the first appointment of the day thinking i wouldn't have to wait and i *still* had to wait nearly 15 minutes. She waltzed in just at 9 so i guess it took her that long to get herself sorted, computer on, etc. That reminds me... take in prescription to be filled. *makes note*
I went to the mall later in the afternoon for a look around and i wanted to go to the travel agents. I had a flight quote printed from expedia and i know millions of people book with them all the time but since i was changing airlines, not just sticking with Air Canada/Star Alliance, i prefer to deal with a real person. The first agent i went to couldn't find the same price and it would have cost about 150 more. I went to Flight Centre who say they'll match any quote and beat it by a dollar. (except what they have to do is issue you a cheque for the dollar! I didn't bother and i bet a lot of people don't). They found the same flights but between the day before when i printed it and when they did it (also on expedia) it went up slightly. That's fine. They still match whatever the price is on the day. I'm cool with that. It didn't cost me the extra 150 after all. So my flight to the UK is booked, Air Canada switching to British Airways to Manchester from Heathrow.
Which is another pain in the butt. Apparently British Midland isn't doing that leg anymore though they've not gone out of business. British Airways is. I think BA owns bmi anyway or if they didn't, they do now. But Bmi was Star Alliance and BA is not. I'm not sure if i'll be able to check my bags right through or if i'll have to pick them up and go through customs before changing terminals or if i can change terminals, go through customs and passport in the other terminal and not worry about the bags. That saves some time because customs and passport in Terminal 3 (T3) is horrible in the morning usually. When i'd transfer to T1 and go through it all there, it was never that bad. T3 is where all the international overnight flights all land, usually within the same couple of hours so it can get pretty backed up in passport control. Plus then there's the agony of having to actually take the train to T5 this time so there's walking all over hell and back to get to it because it's actually under T2. If they check the bags through, i can catch a shuttle bus from T3 to T5 without the long passport lines in T3. Needless to say, I've made sure i have 3 hours between connections to make sure, just in case i have to get the bags, get to T5 and re-check them.
Are you still with me? It's ok if you've wandered off to make a cup of tea. I would too.
The Flight Center agent was supposed to email me the confirmation though i do have paper copies. I better call him today because i don't think he did. Then i need to book the flights to Rome and then a hotel. I've got a short list. There's one that's a bit of a splurge but it's right on the piazze where the Pantheon is. If it's still available, I might go for that. If not, i've got a few more on deck. The only must-have requirement is free Wi-Fi! :)
The other thing i did on Friday at the mall was "accidentally" buy a new camera. *sigh* yes i know. I didn't *need* one. But you know. Some people buy shoes. I buy cameras. This one is another Canon, the SX240. It's smaller than my Canon 130IS but not tiny and it's got a 20x zoom!! Whoah! It has the creative features i liked from my other Canon and does HD video in several sizes or a regular video 640x480 which is good for YouTube. It also does the kind of video you can watch on Apple devices.You can do neat things like register people's faces so it recognizes when someone, like your husband, child or friend is in the photo and it "tags" them or focuses on them in particular. It also can take a couple of seconds video before every photo you take to record a "digest" of all the photos you took in up to a day (or up to a particular size video) to make a video slideshow clip. That's kind of cool for travel. I can see turning that on for, say, the Colosseum visit, then turning it off again for general street shots, then on again for the Roman Forum. That kind of thing.
I have always been partial to Canon cameras, both SLRs and automatic. I did love my SLR but i just find it's too bulky to carry around while traveling these days and i don't think i could justify having one for non-travel use as well as having another camera for travel. I don't think it would get the use. I've got a friend who has a lovely digital SLR but bought this one as a backup and loves it and used it pretty much all the time on her recent trip, a fact i didn't know until after i'd bought mine. I did do a compare with a similar Nikon and Panasonic but i still liked the results from the Canon best and the features that it had that i knew i would use and like already. I got a package for an extra year warranty, an 8 gig high speed card, a case and a voucher for 100 prints but the case is only *just* big enough and if i get a spare battery it won't fit in there along with the camera. also, the strap isn't long enough so i guess i will just use my old case. Maybe my nephew can use the case which has a belt loop. He's always losing his camera and phone! It might even fit both of them as he's got a small camera and a smart phone. Anyway someone will be able to use it. It's not big enough to fit my old Canon which i will probably be giving to Mom as her camera is broken.
Now i need to go out and give the new camera a spin! Which i should have done on the weekend but didn't move my lazy butt out of the apartment to do it.
Didn't do much the rest of the weekend other than put all the Doctor Who onto dvd disks for Graham, watch the wonderful Pirates: A Band of Misfits, catch up on webby stuff.