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I've been ignoring my camera somethin' awful. Bad Tug. No biscuit. I've seen a good handful of friends, some amazing new roads and fun installation work that could have used photo-documentation -- but still, no pics. It's like the part of me that normally thinks "let me go get the camera..." is off on vacation or napping. I'll work on waking it back up soon.

Funny thing... the journalling habit seems strangely linked to it, and has in similar ways remained a bit quiet.

Wrist Technology

I've come to a rather silly, and probably blatantly obvious to other people, discovery about useful gadgets vs. silly gizmos. There are many silly gizmos in the world; I own (or have built) far too many of them. What makes any one of them a useful gadget is how the device (or feature) interfaces with the user. New tech, gee-whiz abilities, or outlandish exercises in scale or power are all great and dandy, but in the end what matters is how naturally the thing works for you. Part of me hates to admit this is true, but it usually is. A simple device that does something in a very native or transparent way is much better than an amazingly endowed device that can do many things, but all of them awkwardly.

( This was demonstrated to me by the Tale of Two Watches. )

Shades

I just can't seem to come up with a good rant or story about sunglasses even though proper optics are quite important to me. Maybe it's just that I'm only @set ramble_ok?yes during the wee hours of the morning.

Leave it to say that it was Karlis, back in late high school days, that got me into Garygoyles instead of cheap-shades. Motorcycling is what's kept me wearing them. I mourn the loss of their Metalist line; the Bronze Metalists (yes, it's spelled that way) were the best shatterproof shades I've ever owned. One set damaged in use beyond repair, one set given away, one set given to a sister and then stolen. This is one of those cases where if I'd known in advance how much I'd miss them once they were gone, I would have pre-stashed a dozen pair to last a lifetime. :)

The other set dearly missed were the Nikon Copley LX's. Made out of borosilicate glass in the same factory that makes the Nikon camera lenses, these are hands-down the best optics I've ever owned. The nature of glass lenses meant they were a no-no for motorcycling, but I used them the rest of the time. They broke once thanks to being sat upon after a misplacement by a guest I was giving a ride to, and repaired for an ouchy cost. After four more years of service, they broke again, for reasons I don't even remember now. Like the Metalists, they too are no longer made. More annoyingly, after talking to a few opticians who know good glasses, it turns out those particular Nikons were indeed about The Best There Was. Even at their nasty expense, I now once again wish I'd bought multiple sets to last into the future.

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