2012 in Review (132/365)

2012 has definitely been one heck of a year.  

I made some new acquaintances at Uni and I found out who my true friends were.

  

The Joes have had a great year in terms of fulfilling our mission of helping all those that we can.

Hurricane Sandy hit and I witnessed the coming together of friends, family, and strangers to make things right again.

My decision to join EDCF on January 23, 2012 brought me much more than lifelong hints/tips, but also  new found friendships and a second family to come to whenever I need a shoulder to lean on.

I was able to become even closer to the members of ABCCDDD.

Transferring to Uni was a huge accomplishment for me.

The generosity that the members of EDCF showed me will never be forgotten.

I'm finally feeling as though I'm truly learning about who I am.

Being conscious of the RAOKs that happen each day gives me hope for the world we live in and excitement for what's to come.

There are many more great memories that 2012 has created for me, but these are the most striking of all.

Bic Cristal 1.6mm Review

So I've never been one for ballpoints unless I was using either a Zebra 301 or Pentel R.S.V.P...  I'd always found ballpoints to be too ... "skittish."  They skip, their ink runs dry for no apparent reason, it involves too much pressure, there aren't too many ink color choices, my hand cramps too easily... all of these factors have lead me to use primarily fountain pens and occasionally rollerballs and gels.

However, after one of the members from FPN posted a thread in praises of a $0.10 ballpoint, I was intrigued.  The pen is the Bic Cristal in the 1.6mm thickness.

While at my local Wally World, I happened upon this pack of 10, featuring 8 assorted colors.  Curiously, I decided to pick up a pack considering the price stands at $0.97 per pack of 10, and with all of the colors, I figured somebody I knew would have fun with the assortment if I didn't want them.

When I got home, I immediately opened up the package and drew squiggles.

I.  AM.  AMAZED.

The lines are consistent and quite possibly the smoothest ballpoint I've used to date.  This actually knocks the R.S.V.P. out of the park!  It rivals the smoothness of gels, even.  And of course, the assortment of colors is fun to have on hand and I'm sure to be of great use during the semester.  I'm glad that the fellow FPN member drew my curiosity enough to pull away from my comfort zone and purchase a pack of ballpoints.  Bic company, I now have more respect for your pens.

UPDATE (20 February 2012):
A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday paper had $1.00/1 coupons for any one Bic stationery items.  I stocked up on these and some Wite Out since they're $0.97 and $1.00 each, respectively, making them free after coupon.  :)  I'm quite happy with them.

Like I had mentioned before, I got these pens at my local Wal-Mart.  But they go VERY quickly.  If you want these pens, you really have to keep your eye out on their website and check every few days for their stock status.  I had gotten 20 of these aforementioned coupons, but the first time I went to my store, they only had 10 packages of these pens.  Not wanting to clear the shelves, I took half and left the other half for other customers.  When I got home and checked online, they were out of stock.  15 more coupons to use.

The next day, it was still out of stock.  I got a little "worried" because I didn't want these coupons to go to waste since they were expiring the following week.  The day after, I checked again and they were back in stock.  I grabbed what they had (another 10) and continued to keep my eye out for stock at all of the local Wal-Marts.  These fly really fast.  So if you haven't had luck getting these pens, check the Wal-Mart.com stock thing and head out to grab them as soon as you can.

Kodak Playsport (Zx5) Review

Like I've said in my preview post, this little bugger can do it all.  I took it on my most recent mission with the G.I. Joe Search and Rescue team and it did fantastic work.  It went through mud, rain, got hit by rocks and trees, came down the side of a mountainside, and it's still working just as great as the day I'd gotten it.

There are some pros and cons, I guess.  But it does exactly what I want it to.  I'm not expecting professional grade photos from this device; that's what my DSLR is for.  Before purchasing, I knew full well that it had would have some setbacks (no flash and such).

Pros:  (starred [**] items were my main focus for purchase)

• **shockproof
• **waterproof (up to 3 meters)
• dust proof
• takes SD cards
• has a tripod mount
• ** turns on and is ready to shoot within a second
• ** extremely long battery life
• On a full charge, the battery lasted me throughout a 3-day camping trip and then some.  I took plenty of photos and videos, using up my entire 4GB SD card.  The battery lasted more than the card!
• This time around, the last I'd charged my camera was a month ago, the first week of October.  Here it is now, a month later, and without charging it prior to the mission and using it throughout the weekend, still has like a 90% charge on it.
• With these specs and such a long battery life, I'd recommend it as an emergency car camera.  You never know what can happen on the road so it's best to keep a quality camera nearby that won't die on you.  Just make sure to charge it every couple of months.  Film cameras work just as well in that situation, but the film can go bad.
• ** uses an almost "universal" charging tip; same one used for my phone, NDSL, etc.  So I don't need to carry around different chargers unless I want to charge all of my devices at once.
• ** price!  ($130.00 shipped a couple of months back)
• Now you can easily find it for about $80.00 shipped or less if you can hold out for a deal to come up.  I've seen it plenty of times at 1SaleADay.
• ** compact
• menu is easy to navigate w/ minimal buttons

Cons:  (Mostly things I knew fully before purchasing but can cope with)

• no flash
• pictures can come out a little grainy depending on the lighting (but at 5MP, they're still good for 4x6" prints)
• I wish the macro setting was quicker to navigate to.  I've been leaving it on auto focus, but when I want that macro setting, it just takes too long to get to so I don't use it at all.

It's got a couple of other options that I don't bother using.  The video setting is great, though I don't use it too often.  I know it's "meant" to be used as an outdoor camcorder or the like, but eh.  My other option at the time was the Fuji XPS since it's also waterproof and shockproof (and comes with flash!) but I wasn't in the market for something with so many options.  I just wanted something almost like a toy camera (point and shoot but turns on and off in a second), but with a name that backs it up and for it to function in the environment I need it to.

All in all, I definitely think it's worth it for the price.  If you're in the market for something similar but do not need the durability of the PlaySport, the Zx8 I believe, has the same exact specifications.