worked on a number of projects this past week...finally finished two amps that i had started a couple years ago but just needed some loose ends tidied up.  the millet hybrid amps are pretty easy to build, relatively inexpensive, and sound terrific.  i had to get holes drilled for the case in the maxed version (the silver one above), which my friends ryan and trent helped with...a few mods here and there and i finally completed it...the minimax (black case) had some fit issues with the wiring and re-soldering kinda sucks.  but, it works, sounds great, and i'm happy with it. 

i also built a mini-mini cable using some neutrik connectors and canare star quad cable, which i have a bunch of...it's pretty.

my imac's camera hadn't been working for over a year since i last got it serviced...last time i installed a new hard drive in it i saw that some wires had detached from the camera's circuit board.  so i decided to try and fix it...and it works!  the wires are tiny and it was hard to not create bridges between the solder connections, but i guess i did a good job b/c the camera now works.  video ichat/facetime anyone?

projects also include some cooking ones...decided to make some cinnamon rolls, which turned out okay.  but i have a better sense of what to do next time.  i baked it a bit too long for one thing.  but i also need to let it rise a little longer so the dough gets more airy and chewy.  good experience...not hard at all...though it takes time b/c of all the waiting.

up ahead: re-tiling part of the shower in the master bath...installing the fireplace mantle i built...and we'll see how adventurous i am.

i sold my nikon d70, lenses, bags, etc. and picked up the panasonic gf1 micro 4/3 camera.  it comes with the uber-cool 20mm f/1.7  lens and i got a good deal on the 14-140mm f/4.0-5.8 zoom.  i took it around woods hole today to test it...it's weird having an interchangeable lens camera without a viewfinder.  there's an electronic viewfinder available, but it's expensive and the resolution isn't that great.  i'll wait for the 2.0 rev.  the 14-140 lens is heavy and it's a bit difficult to hold the camera steady with the big lens on.  but i guess that's the tradeoff for having a much smaller camera.

the lcd screen is very bright and crisp...coming from the 1.8" screen on the d70, it's a revelation.  the screen on our fuji f31fd is pretty nice, but not nearly as nice as this.  it's double the resolution of the ep1/2, though only half the resolution of some of the top dSLRs.

i haven't yet looked at all the photos on my computer...maybe this weekend.  for now, i'm loving the size, screen, and newness of it...it will keep my attention once i start loving the images.

i watched the whole keynote (which you can do from apple's website) and actually followed the keynote live yesterday via various sites that had audio feeds and in some cases, video feeds. in all that i've read and listened to thus far, there seem to be two kinds of critics - the one who analyzes the features and what it does/doesn't have or can/can't do, and the one who actually had a chance to play with it yesterday at the media event.

yes, it can't do this and doesn't have that. no video camera. no multitasking. no flash. and yet, when you read the experiences from someone who actually played with it yesterday, you get a totally different story. it's different than anything you've ever used. it's fast. it works exactly the way you think it should based on experiences with the iphone/ipod touch. it's intuitive.

i remember when the first ipod nano came out. it wasn't the aluminum ones they have now, but rather had that polycarbonate front, kinda like the older imacs had. i went to the apple store just to look at it...and after seeing it and holding it in my hand, i ended up buying one. it was that beautiful and that amazing. i couldn't have understood that based on any keynote, any picture, or anyone's word. i had to see it for myself.

that's what's going to happen with this iPad. people are going to question it, diss it, etc. but they'll play with it and hold it in their hands...and i'm guessing more than a few will end up buying it when they had no intention of doing so at the start. i imagine juri and i will get one...we travel enough that it's something we would make good use of...but who am i kidding - we'd find a reason to buy one anyway.