It would seem that as the snow melts my heart lightens but the weight is still on my shoulders and there is only one thing thing that change this…hiking. I thought I would just stay in and read hiking articles and blogs as well as catch up on new gear developments…this was a bad idea. This is my second year of doing this and I can’t do it next year. After roaming free through the forests of Western Pennsylvania you cannot just stay inside throughout the winter. It gets worse with every year and I liken it to being a caged animal…it doesn’t feel good.

The one thing that improved my sanity, well, kept me from going over the edge besides reading about hiking and camping was my granddaughter (born Jan 2nd, 2010) and my younger nieces and nephews. I got to see my niece Sarah play indoor soccer for the first time and she was beyond amazing. She has game!! But then I am a little biased. Her coaches, and even the referees’ opinions are the same and they matter. She has a gifted mind and talent in whatever sport she chooses and it is always a pleasure to watch her. The other 4 nieces (Allie, Lizzie, Zoe, and Quin, same family) all display an athletic gift and mental prowess and I have enjoyed every possible minute that I have had the chance to watch them grow up.

My nephew Tyler is turning out to be a “rough and tough” little man. The boy is hardcore and he never fails to inform me of this every time I see him. I see him a little more than the girls and watching him grow up has been interesting to say the least. At 3 years old, almost 4, he is quite the physical young man. He likes boxing, fighting, racing and has an appreciation of anything that has a motor in it…a genetic transfer from his father.

The other “distraction” came at the beginning of this year, my granddaughter Payton. She is one of many reasons that I bought a new camera and camcorder this year and even at 2 months old I can see her own distinct personality already. She has a tendency to be vocal as well as spirited. I don’t think I have ever seen a tear roll down her cheek and even though some, or many, would say she was crying, I honestly believe she is trying to voice her displeasure with whatever she is displeased about. I don’t know which way she will go as she grows up but I can guarantee I will be there, cameras in hand, to grab every moment of her growing up.

In another week, or a little longer I will be getting things ready as well as hopefully getting some day hikes in. I am itching for the spring and cannot wait to hit the trail.

I’ve spent the past few days “testing” out the Nikon D5000 and the Sony Handicam SR68 and I have finally decided on whether to keep or dump the gear…well, not so much the D5000, but the Handicam was in question.

Actually I have to “up my game” on the D5000 because it has more than enough features for my needs. I was a little disappointed with the 55-200 telephoto (VR), well, to be more accurate, I was expecting more from it than what I got. But this was because I’m not used to the lenses and how they function. So, to say the lens sucked would be wrong, it did what it was supposed to do. I may need to get another, more powerful, lens next year but I have this year to do more learning about it’s limitations. All in all the D5000 surpassed my expectations on ease of use, picture quality, and how fun it is to use.

The Handicam started out to be questionable, that is, until I read the manual and found out the features that it has. The night I picked it up I charged the battery for about an hour and a half to two hours and then started shooting my dimly lit bedroom. This was before I looked at the manual in more detail. I wasn’t happy with the way the video turned out. The more I shot with it, the deeper the disappointment. So, I started thinking about taking it back.

My niece’s indoor soccer game was coming up, and I hadn’t shot any daylight/bright light videos up to this point so I decided to hold off and wait to see how it would go. I had someone take the videos while I shot stills of my niece on the field. When I got home I hit the hay, I had to work that night, and when I got home the next day I shot more daylight footage with the handicam. Between the soccer video and the daylight shooting I truly have to say the videos were great!! The clarity was excellent, the motion in the video wasn’t sloppy and overall, I was excited about using the camera this season.

I sat down and thought about how the Handicam would be used…on the trail and 99% of the time in daylight conditions. I should’ve thought about this first before I went on my “downward spiral of negativity”. It truly wasn’t all that bad when it came to low light conditions with the features it has plus the scene selections. It has a still photo feature but I didn’t try that out. I bought the Nikon for the stills and the Handicam for the video, I don’t need my stills camera to do video and vice versa for the video camera.

I will have video on the main site, and maybe this one, in the future, but for now I gotta get the plans finished out and the reservations made and soon.

I wanted to “up the ante” this year with a new “media outfit”, which means new still digital camera and new digital video camera. I’ve been exploring Nikon D-SLR’s, after talking to a few friends about what to get. The consensus was the Nikon D60 and the D90 as the “next level” above point and shoot cameras. When I went into the Ritz Camera store the woman behind the counter said that the D3000 was replacing the D60 and the D5000 was replacing the D90. After doing some research I found that the D5000 has the same features, and a few more things, as the D90. Hmm, well I had originally decided on the D3000, mostly for price reasons, but as I thought about it I decided to spend a few more dollars for the D5000.

Another reason for a D-SLR was that I wanted to shoot in the RAW file format. It’s pricey when it comes to memory but the pictures are incredible. I also looked at the versatility of adding lenses, whether they’re for increased range or effects. My Sony H7, point and shoot, is about the closest thing I’ve used to a D-SLR but it only has a few lenses available and those don’t include increased range. My Olympus 6000 Stylus is a great “all weather” camera but it too has it’s limitations.

I’ve also been looking at a new digital video camera. This has proven to be a task and a half. There are so many types of these things that it’s been very hard to decide on which one I want. The Sony Handicam (DCR-SR68/L) has an 80Gig Hard Drive (HDD), a great zoom (60x optical/2000x digital), face recognition, image stabilization…you know…everything. It’s fairly new and I can’t find any reviews for it, even on the Sony site. Another thing that concerns me is that there is no High Def mode. I can probably do without it, but it would be nice to have. The Hard Drive is nice so I don’t have to carry memory cards around, which this Handicam has the ability to use, so…I’m just going to keep looking about until I can sort all of this out. Maybe I’ll go to Ritz again and talk to one of their people. It worked before.

This past weekend brought about two feet of snow, major amounts of shoveling, sore muscles and hazardous road conditions. I was decided to stay inside due to Pennsylvania declaring a state of emergency and people being asked to stay off of the roads. So, I worked on the site, as well as other projects, trying to work out the tabling/ordering of the recreation links…sounds like all boring stuff. It is, even if you do this for a living…I don’t. It can be part of the job I do every day but it’s a once in a while thing.

As well as the site work I’ve been checking out state park camping schedules. The campgrounds in PA. state parks open around the second half of May. So, that means I can do a lot of day hikes until then or grab a private campground site and go from there. It’s still up in the air.

I have my vacation set for the last week of April, early May. I’ll be going to Trail of Tears State Park in South Eastern Missouri. I checked it out last year with my friends from the area and I’m just waiting to book my camp site reservations. I can only book a maximum of two months in advance. I’m also looking at places in Virginia, Maryland, Michigan and West Virginia, but most of my trips will be in PA., hopefully I’ll get the chance to check out a few places in the northeastern corner of the state as well as the PA. Grand Canyon.

Well, I’ve done enough gabbing for now I had better get back to work…I hear there could be more snow coming.

The site upgrade is coming along. The new logo took some time to work out but I’m happy with it so far. I’ve got the new site design working in the development area and debugging it as I go along. I’ve got some plans on cleaning up the link listings, which I’m working on right now, and so far they seem to be working out well. The over all clean up is looking way better than I had planned.

The one thing that concerns me is how to use the “parent pages” with the sub pages. Still working on how I want that to work that out. The new “personal” blog will give me a chance to put forth my opinions, rants and “moments” in my life rather than on the main site.

I will, of course, expound on my trips, of which there will be many as well as give my views on the gear that I’ve been using as well as the new gear that I pick up. It looks to be a busy year this year with the trips that I have planned as well as the friends I plan on seeing. I’m also considering doing some winter hikes this year instead of sitting around trying to catch up on my reading, or the things that I’ve put off until “after the season”.

I guess that’s all for now…