The Panasonic GF1…

…. has arrived.  After a debacle at Adorama and an infinite delay from Amazon (ok, I just didn’t want to wait another month), I finally got my GF1+20/1.7 kit from Samy’s.  I had only heard about them every so often online, but never bought from them.  They are a chain out in California, so they’re very legit if anyone ever comes across them.

image courtesy of http://www.panasonic.com

To be fair though, it wasn’t Adorama’s fault.  Panasonic dropped the ball/had selective retailers.  The cynic inside me says they horded the cameras for themselves in order to widen their profit margins since the kit was so damn popular.  The other side of me says they just suck at logistics and estimating demand.  The truth is probably a little of both.

Needless to say, my first impressions are very positive.  It’s late, so shots around the house are pretty lame tests of its image quality and handling, but I can say it’s a keeper.  My formal informal impressions of the camera will soon be found on the lensist.  But boy am I excited.

shoes anyone?

I signed up to become a New Balance shoe tester back in May.  Seemed like a good way to hopefully give them feedback from the point of view of a severely flat footed individual.  And hey, I’m all for free shoes, even if for a month (ok, I’m all for free anything really).  As much as I excited to give it a shot, I doubted they’d ever select me.  Well, looks like they did.

(image courtesy of zappos)

I’m not sure what I might get out of it other than free shoe rental, but I really hope they listen to what I have to say.  It’s a pain in the arse looking for shoes.   Then again, my feet are weird and awkward and I should see a podiatrist or something.

This definitely came at the right time, it’s like New Balance knew I was going to NYC this weekend.  A perfect test to see how they hold up.  They are walking shoes after all.  Here’s to New Balance and NYC!

mmmm… caffeine

Ah  yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  I’ve been pretty busy and oddly worn-out by the time I get home.  Though, that has nothing to do with the title, more motivation and sleep.

My story today is about accidentally stumbling upon caffeine withdrawal.  This all stems from trying to be a little healthier as soda is evil =)  My daily routine is about an 8-10oz cup of coffee in the morning and anywhere from 12-20oz of soda during the day.  I actually cut back to every other day or so on the soda for a while, but slipped back into my sugary addiction (I blame Pepsi Throwback, I actually really liked that).

This was/is getting out of hand of course, and I would gladly drink honest tea all day but that is expensive.  So I embarked on a way to replicate it.  I purchased tea from mightyleaf and used this Bodum pitcher.  I added honey from beefolks.  My result was something like…

It is really good.  Well, the grapes there were for visuals, it didn’t really add anything to flavor-maybe if I peeled em.

So in my effort to be healthier, I stuck this in my Sigg bottle and basically drank 1-1.5L of iced tea a day.  Yeah, I kicked the coffee, too.  I don’t think the amount I drink is much though, but I partially wanted to experiment with how much of an effect it had on my camera holding techniques.  Yes, I know tea has a bunch of caffeine, too.  I was merely seeing if my reduction in intake was of any benefit (I have not figured this out, maybe later).

Anyway, I ran out of tea one day, and just brought water to work.  I did have a few sodas in this time period (~40oz over 2 weeks), but far less than usual.  None, in fact, when I had run out of tea.  I began to notice something though, I was getting some lingering headaches.  I finally realized I hadn’t had much caffeine in a few days, maybe some chocolate but nothing liquid sourced.  I was getting caffeine withdrawal, ha.  I think I have confirmed it as I started drinking a cup of coffee again (that and I missed the morning routine, haha) and the slight headaches have subsided.

If you’ve made it this far, maybe you’re wondering what the punchline is.  Well, other than the fact that I should not accidentally go cold turkey on caffeine, it’s that iced tea+orange+lemon+honey = win drink.  I have to make it almost nightly, but it’s good, do it.  I’m pimping mightyleaf and recommend their orchid oolong phoenix bird select oolong (I ordered the orchid to try).  I’m trying more of their other varieties now.  Beefolks rocks, too.  I’m partial to the killer bee honey in my coffee (haven’t tried in tea yet), or the southern belle.

Oh, I’ll have a 3-4 month impression of the Palm Pre up soon, I hope.

Hyundai Genesis Coupe

If you’re interested, hit up their drive event, it’s well worth it.  I showed up and it was empty relative to the Mazda event I attended a few years back.

I have to say my first impressions are very positive for the car.  Granted, the course is short, and I only got it into 2nd gear.  But given my autocross desires, it felt good.  Fairly easy to control, and plenty of power in the V6.  The turbo 4 banger was decent too, although it did feel a  hair sluggish from the weight.  In fact, you can feel the weight regardless, but this is somewhat subjective.  I tend to compare things to go karts……

The size of the car was a concern of mine, and still is.  I felt a bit dashboard overload vs my Mazda 3.  It’s a similar feeling to sitting in a tC I think, but bigger.  I will say the MX-5 is where my ideal sized fun car sits, so my viewpoints might be a bit scewed.  It could stand to lose a couple hundred pounds.  And just shrink in size, but this is targeted at America, where we seem to want bigger (I don’t, to be clear).

Handling from what I could tell felt good.  Better than my Mazda as it stands now (basically springs).  A hair squishy, but easily adjusted with some minor aftermarket stuff.

Interior felt a bit more plastic-y, but higher grade plastic-y.  Which makes the V6 pricetag difficult to swallow, unless you can undercut MSRP by a lot.  I definitely will take it over any “luxury” wood grain interior.  I despise that crap.

And both cars take regular 87 octane to boot =)  I need to go on a test drive on the highway to make a better decision, but so far, I welcome the addition to the RWD world.  We need more smaller RWD cars under 20k, we’re getting close with this.  I would not likely buy this now, mainly because I have a car already, heh.  But first year-first generation vehicles from ANYONE should probably be avoided if you can.  I would likely buy a 2nd or 3rd year one… if it weren’t for the fact I want a 2nd gen Miata =)  At this point, I would say it’s high on my everyday driver replacement (hopefully somewhere 5-7yrs down the road).

For reference, a Mazdaspeed 3 is on that list, and maybe a BMW 1 series, Mazdaspeed 6, Mazda 6, Subaru Legacy GT, Toyota/Subaru rumored RWD coupe…

The Touchstone… and Palm accessories

Let me first say the touchstone is pretty damn neat.  The gecko feet are awesome.  The backing is a great feel (think LG Lotus or enV2).  I don’t know why anyone would cover it up w/ invisible shield or the like.  However, it does get pretty warm just sitting there.

There really isn’t much anything else to say.  I want one for home and work.  I hate using the stupid USB door. Enough to seriously consider buying a second one.  But that’s just crazy talk, namely because Palm rapes you even more on accessories than I usually see.

The USB connector on the touchstone is an exact fit for the Palm’s USB cable.  You have to shave most other ones down to fit.  And apparently this doesn’t work to charge the Pre (but it’s a cheapo wall wart, can’t expect too much).  But still, if I buy a touchstone, it really should have all these things already.  Don’t make me jump through hoops dammit.

Where are the 3rd party ‘touchstones?’