Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Daily Bread
As expected, the devotional is about being thankful. Yeah, yeah, we hear that everywhere this time of year! hehehe Just kidding. I want to share two things with you about this devotional.

First, I had forgotten about the Proverbs passage associated with the devotional. These verses, though out of order, really spoke to me. I am a smart guy that likes to figure things out. As a 51 year old man, I am also at the age that finding meaning in life can be a challenge at times. I don't struggle with that much because I always try to fill my life with meaningful activities. ;-) Here are the verses from Proverbs 3:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

2 If you do this, you will live many years,
and your life will be satisfying.

The end of verse 2 is amazing. Your life WILL BE satisfying. Is that a great promise or what?

I also want to share with you the lyrics to a song by John Bucchino called Grateful. My prayer is that we can all be grateful today and every day, if we have all of these things or not.

I've got a roof over my head
I've got a warm place to sleep
Some nights I lie awake counting gifts
Instead of counting sheep

I've got a heart that can hold love
I've got a mind that can think
There may be times when I lose the light
And let my spirits sink
But I can't stay depressed
When I remeber how I'm blessed

Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful

In a city of strangers
I've got a family of friends
No matter what rocks and brambles fill the way
I know that they will stay in the end

I feel a hand holding my hand
It's not a hand you can see
But on the road to the promised land
This hand will shepherd me
Through delight and despair
Holding tight and always there

Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful

It's not that I don't want a lot
Or hope for more, or dream of more
But giving thanks for what I've got
Makes me so much happier than keeping score

In a world that can bring pain
I will still take each chance
For I believe that whatever the terrain
Our feet can learn to dance
Whatever stone life may sling
We can moan or we can sing

Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful

Technology (and Thanksgiving) Thursday
I made the buy recommendation to my aunt for her camcorder. I selected the Sony DCR-SX63 Flash memory Handycam Camcorder. Here is the link to it on Amazon.com.

Let's review the questions I posed a few weeks ago to see how I came to this decision.

What kind of picture quality do I want (regular or HD): This camcorder does a great job of regular picture quality. My aunt doesn't have an HD TV so the HD mode would be overkill.

How long do I want to shoot video (battery life and memory considerations): This camcorder can shoot from 4 hours to 11 hours of video to the builtin 16 gig of memory. The model also has slots for SD or Memory Stick cards. The coolest part is that you can offload the internal memory to the memory cards, then keep shooting, OR you can shoot directly to the memory cards.

The battery life is not quite as good as what I would like with the included battery. Other available batteries can be purchased with a much longer shooting time than an hour.

Where do I want to play the video (DVD on my TV, Youtube, etc.)
This model comes with computer software and a USB cable that enable you to transfer the files and burn them to DVD so you can plan them on a regular DVD player. You can also hook up the camcorder directly to your TV with another included cord.

Do I want to hold the camera or mount it on a tripod? (size and steadiness requirements)
I chose this camera because it has advanced image stabilization for the times when you don't have a tripod. I think that is necessary!

Do I need zoom? If so, how much?
I selected this model because it has 60x zoom. That is incredible. Everyone needs zoom. ;-)

How much do I want to pay?
My aunt wanted to pay less than $300. I started my search on Amazon.com using the search option to filter by price ($0 - $300). Very cool. You can select other filters as you review the options. I selected the optical zoom as well.

How much do I want to pay for recording media?
DVDs are very cheap now for burning the videos to disk. The extra memory cards are also relatively inexpensive compared to what they used to be. I think the most expensive accessory is an extra battery (the more powerful version).

Ease of use (Do I have to be a rocket scientist to use this thing?)
This model was rated by many buyers as easy to use. The controls are clearly marked and they make sense. Very cool.

So that is my story and I am sticking to it! ;-) I hope this example of how to pick a camcorder will help you find a great bargain on Black Friday!

Other Stuff
I got off work later than I wanted. Most folks left early due to the holiday weekend. I worked overtime! Oh well. My only concern was getting to the Honey Baked Ham store before they closed (and everyone else at Polaris converged on the store!). I picked up my ham and my Thanksgiving meal at Mimi's Cafe. Very cool. It will only take me a few hours to warm stuff this afternoon.

I also managed to get some laundry done, look at a friend's laptop that is having issues, and do the camcorder research for Technology Thursday.

As usual, I am doing fun stuff with friends and family to relax and enjoy my "no ordinary life". I am having dinner with my mother and sister today. I plan to go Black Friday shopping with a buddy tomorrow. Walmart and Waffle House! Woohoooo! I hope to get my Christmas decorations up this weekend and see a movie or two.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, my friends! I will be upbeat and steady and thankful. That is what I do...

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