I just bought a... (non clothing item)

[Alter]

Originally Posted by gdl203

That's correct. First-time home owners

Congratulations!

 

[briancl]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Debit: a home
Credit: a whole lot of cash and a big mortgage

Likewise. Closed yesterday.

 

[Alter]

Originally Posted by briancl

Likewise. Closed yesterday.

Congratulations to you too!

 

[rdawson808]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Looks like you have a talent for accounting

That's correct. First-time home owners

Congrats. I hope that in some way the lousy housing market helped you out. Though you're in NYC so probably not. Anyway, best of luck with any renovations, your soon-to-happen addiction to HGTV, and the stress caused by every little weird noise.

b

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

Congrats. I hope that in some way the lousy housing market helped you out. Though you're in NYC so probably not.
Thanks r and Alter - the market didn't help much. This is NYC and in a rather expensive neighborhood so we massively "overpaid" by any other city's standards. The market here is not soft at all in the most sought after neighborhoods but has slowed down a bit in some other ones. I'd like to think that we did not overpay as much now as we would have in a better market, but it's all relative. We like the apartment, and that was the hardest thing to find in our price range, so here we are...

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Debit: a home
Credit: a whole lot of cash and a big mortgage

Congrats Greg!

Which neighborhood? Condo? Brownstone?

Do tell.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Congrats Greg!

Which neighborhood? Condo? Brownstone?

Do tell.

Thanks - it's a pre-war coop apartment in East Soho/Nolita

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Thanks - it's a pre-war coop apartment in East Soho/Nolita

Yikes, that does sound like an expensive area. I was just talking to a guy in Soho and he was saying how the market is still strong. Nice area of the city though.

 

[JammieDodger]

I just "bought" this (free on contract).

The LG K750 Secret.

And it is... ******* ****. Seriously, what monkeys designed this thing? It looks fairly nice and fits in my pocket without ruining the silhouette. But what is the ******* point of those ******* "touch screen" buttons?!? Right, here is why it works on the iPhone: you see something, you touch it - in one click you are where you want to be. Here is why LG are complete ******* idiots, they've used a touchscreen interface for the directional keys. This completely defeats the point of a touchscreen (context-sensitive controls) and adds many problems.

Firstly, the select button is very small in the middle of the touch buttons. So often when I try and select something I change the choice I'm trying to make by mistake at the same time. When I first powered the phone on it prompted me to select the language, I was going to select English but as I went to make my selection I accidently selected Italian.

Secondly, I bought this because of the 5MP camera. I know MPs mean squat, but I assumed it would be half decent for an expensive phone when bought unlocked. How still do I need to hold this thing to stop the image blurring? Made all the more difficult with the **** shutter button. And changing the camera options is hardly easy with those gash touch buttons.

It is a slider phone, the sliding action is nice when you slide it out. But there is nothing to grip with to slide it back one handed. Where you'd expect to grip there is a touch button, I've already been over that.

Changing to vibrate only is far more complex than just using the volume controls.

There is so much more that is wrong with this I don't know where to end. Even texting is hard. I like to use punctuation but unlike my ancient Razr v3i it doesn't predict it.

And lastly, the service provider is Orange. "I'd like to port my pay as you go number to my contract phone", "not possible sir, you have to give us the PAC when you buy the phone". There was NO option to do this, EVERY other carrier allows people to transfer the number AFTER the purchase has been made. And what's worse is that the pay as you go sim was Orange too. And lastly, they've given me this "free" video conferencing bundle for a month that then charges me afterwards if I don't cancel. I didn't even choose this, my phone can't even video conference. I just get the feeling it'll be harder than it should be to cancel it. I might not bother and put up with being charged extortionately. Like if you subscribe to a Appreciation site that doesn't stop charging you and you're too embarassed to phone up the bank. Kinda.

End of rant.

 

[Joffrey]

Well it was free wasn't it? Plus doing some background work on what you're going to be tied to for the next several months or year (or whenver you're up for an upgrade) may be a good idea.

If you're lucky the sales rep at the store will let you exchange it for something else.

 

[JammieDodger]

Originally Posted by Jodum5

Well it was free wasn't it? Plus doing some background work on what you're going to be tied to for the next several months or year (or whenver you're up for an upgrade) may be a good idea.

If you're lucky the sales rep at the store will let you exchange it for something else.

Bought it online. Doesn't matter in any case, I quite like it now...

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by whacked

^ I looked into a bunch of models including the D60. The way I see it, the E410 is the most compact (I'll be doing tons of on-the-road photography in the next few months), has the best kit lens in its class, and gives pictures as good as any, especially with the Noise Filter off. Plus, I do product photography on a daily basis, and the LiveView function, as much as it might turn off enthusiasts, makes life a whole lot easier.

Getting a killer price on it doesn't hurt either.

Gotta love the NikNon users' openmindedness, or lackthereof.

Seriously. That particular comment is particularly dumb because even the most diehard canikon users will admit that Zuiko lenses are awesome. The lenses are what made me go with olympus. I especially like that they are all very well sealed in the pro and top pro range. Most of the ~1k lenses in canikon are not sealed, and if they are, not to the extent of the olympus glass. People used to rinse their e-1 in the sink. I've seen videos of people pouring bottles of water on the e-3while shooting, and also in massive downpours. You have to go to canikons pro grade for consistency in that area, and that puts you in megabuck territory. I have an e-330 but I'm getting an e-3 in a few months. When I chose olympus i did so from a completely unbiased point of view, as i hadn't owned a camera before. I'll never understand people that get so wrapped up in their gear that they can't see the pros and cons of one system vs. another.

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

I'll never understand people that get so wrapped up in their gear that they can't see the pros and cons of one system vs. another.

I'll never get why people get so wrapped up in their gear, period. 95% of the time, it's the photographer that makes the difference. Most of the entry to mid level gear are well capable of producing very good pictures. Ken Rockwell's photos with the Canon D40 are a perfect example of this. Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony, etc. are all capable of producing excellent images. No one brand has a monopoly on good pictures.

Why I picked my Nikon? Simple--it just felt right to me. I held each of the other major contenders, and none of them felt as good in my hands as the Nikon did. If I don't enjoy holding my camera and shoot with it, I'm simply not going to take pictures; and plenty of money would've been wasted.

At the end of the day, it's a hobby. None of us is going to make a living doing this. Do you really need a $2000 camera and $1000 worth of lenses to take good pictures? Probably not. If you do, then it's not really the camera that's the problem.

 

[Lucky Strike]

Art deco chrome and mahogany electric chandelier (well, almost bought, I need to show it to my girlfriend.):

Awful phone pic, sorry.

 

[breakfasteatre]

ps3, 299, at blockbuster, pricing error it seems