Category: General

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General

Orlando Camera Stores

My cousin and I are both into photography. We make some photos with digital cameras, but we both seem to enjoy the analog process with film and older cameras even more.

Living on the Space Coast of Florida is great, but there aren’t any good camera stores around. The last one, Southern Photo, closed its doors for good several years ago. I have to drive over an hour to Orlando if I want to find a camera store of any kind.

So when my cousin said he was going to Orlando today to meet someone and suggested we hit up some camera stores, I was all in. Today, we hit three of them.

First stop was Colonial Photo and Hobby. This store has lots of new and used camera, lenses, film, and accessories. They also process film in-house. For folks into model-building and miniatures, the other half of the store is dedicated to hobbyists. I picked up a few rolls of film and some fresh chemistry, then we headed out to the next stop.

For our second stop, we headed to Kiwi Camera Service over on Virginia Drive. These people are awesome. Every time I walk into this place, I feel like I belong here. They are experts with everything film and digital photography. Michael, the owner, is nothing short of a “camera whisperer”. His staff is helpful and knowledgable. Their retail space is a fairly recent addition, and I highly recommend checking it out.

The final camera store for the day was Harmon Photo. This was my first time in the store, and I liked it a lot. They have film cameras, digital cameras, film, and camera accessories. They also do film processing in-house.

If you are in the Orlando area and need a camera store, all three of these places deserve a look. Check them out!

Categories
General

Hurricane Ian

As I write this, I’m sitting at my desk at home in southern Brevard County, Florida. I worked from home today (blessed to have that luxury when it is needed), and watched the rain fall most of the morning out of the front window of my home. The rain has been mostly gone all afternoon, but that will change soon.

Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers Beach late this afternoon. The video footage and photos coming out of the area paint a somber picture of the devastation. In some cases, the flooding – presumably from the storm surge and the immense rain – are as high as the 6 feet, maybe higher. Video has been posted from the second floor of some condos and townhouses showing the entire first floor under water. Others show motor vehicles completely submerged, boats floating down city streets, and even one emergency management response trailer floating in the flood waters.

This is a Monster Storm.

As the storm is now upon us, there is not much left to do but pray and wait for it to pass. The aftermath is going to be heartbreaking. My biggest hopes are these:

  1. No one dies
  2. No one is injured
  3. We all come together to help with recovery, without bias or agenda

Friends, be safe out there, and be good to each other. See you on the other side.

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General

Roller Coaster Power Slams

My cousin and I love to ride roller coasters. We are both pass-holders at some of the local theme park. Leading up to one particular trip, he mentioned we were planning to “power slam roller coasters all day long.” Such day trips have been called such thence.

My kids love rollover coasters as much as I do, and they’ve been begging me to take them on a Power Slam for months. Today, we finally made it work.

What a disaster.

As I sit here in line (yes, I’m literally sitting in the queue line) waiting for the next ride – which will be only the third of the day – I am stunned at how packed this place is. The world is still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the theme park website is very clear on the current situation and the ways they are mitigating risk.

  • Limiting park capacity
  • Requiring reservations to gain admission – yes, even for pass holders
  • Frequent cleaning and sanitization
  • Hand-sanitizer stations throughout the park
  • Requiring face coverings at all time and in all ares unless actively eating or drinking

With all of that, I feel safe. But I feel like they missed the mark for limiting park capacity. Is the guest limit any different than it was prior to the pandemic?

If we get this ride and one more, I’ll be surprised. The kids are still enjoying themselves, and the will remember the day their dad took them on a power slam. But I think we definitely need a do over. Maybe we will take a day off during the week in an attempt to avoid some of these spring crowds.

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General

Starting Fresh

Hi there. I’m David. I used to have a website (it was really just a WordPress blog). The tag line was “The most underutilized guy in aviation social media”, a notion that came from a good friend of mine.

I’m not sure if that title still applies, but I still love aviation and the social Internet. The Internet community is not going away, and if you want to connect with your audience, you belong on whatever corner of the Internet your people call home.

My current goal: write more. That starts here and how. I have no idea how long I’ll be able to keep this up, but I can now say I have one post on my site.

Let’s get after it. Thanks for reading.