Australia Day Snow Storm in NYC

Last Wednesday was Australia Day and a night of patriotic celebrations at the Sunburnt Cow and other bars across New York City. This also meant that there were some very concentrated groups of people in the city who were actually loving the fact that we were seeing yet another massive snow storm. Most of us haven't lived here long enough to get annoyed at whatever inconveniences 15 inches of snow may bring... instead we cherished it and many of us spent a large part of the night either throwing it at each other or rolling around in it.

How to retrieve your car from a pile of snow...

Thrifty Car Rental, Las Vegas - FAIL!!!

We rented a car for 3 days in Vegas a few weeks ago and I left a $500 camera lens in the center console. As soon as our flight took off for JFK I realized that it was missing. As soon as we landed I called up Thrifty and selected the menu option for lost & found... It just rang out. I then called back and selected the option to speak to a manager... it said 'Your call cannot be connected at this time'.

So, over the course of the next 5 days i kept trying to call and get through to someone. I left several messages with the lost and found at Thrifty Las Vegas after being transferred by customer service. I also had customer service email the Las Vegas outlet a couple of times. By the time I actually got on the phone to a real person at the location and they were able to search the car the lens was no longer there... well of course it wasnt!!!!!

Their response was that because I had chosen not to purchase the extra insurance there was nothing they could do. So basically... unless you pay extra, their employees can keep anything they find in your rental car. GREAT!!!

Review via Yelp.com

Bizarre WiFi Network Names

Since my (Canadian, jail-broken, unlocked) iPhone cannot access AT&T data here in the US I have been becoming an expert in stealing WiFi around New York. Along the way I have been taking a few screen shots of some of the more creative network names... here are a few of them.

Poof

Bitch, I'm Broke

FBI Surveillance Van

Free Gay Porn

rapid-rape

you are chillaxed

darth&luke

Mo Money Mo Problems

Steal this wifi

US Top Gear Promo - Ride in a Supercar Taxi

I happened to stumble upon this promo running in Midtown for the new US version of Top Gear which starts next week. They had 6 different supercars done up like cabs taking people for short rides around a few city blocks. I waited about 15 minutes for my turn in my dream car... the Mercedes SLR McLaren. 0-60 in just 3.2 seconds, the fastest out of all 6 cars on offer... however, even though this was a Top Gear promo, we didn't get out of first gear!

D.I.Y. Compact Dolly for DSLR

A couple of the guys I'm working with helped me build a simple and very inexpensive portable, compact dolly. Most of the materials were scrap and the only thing we forked out any cash for were the skateboard bearings at $12 from Amazon. I already had a spare tripod head. When I can afford it I'll probably but a video head to make it a little easier to operate.

It took a total of about 1.5 hours to make and I must say it works pretty well. The only other thing I want to add is a base-plate to allow it to be attached to a tripod to make it a little more versatile.

I have used the Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly before which is great but when you compare $12 to $500+ I know where my budget fits right now.

Canon 550D (T2i) & Sigma 30mm 1.4 Test

I just purchased the Sigma 30mm 1.4 prime lens for my Canon 550D (T2i) and below are some example from my first 24 hours trialing the lens shooting stills and video. I think the lens is amazing so far. The only negatives are that the focus ring is not very smooth and its very noisy when you adjust the aperture.

None of these examples have been adjusted in post.

Canon 550D (T2i) & Sigma 30mm 1.4 Test from Jeremy Aiken on Vimeo.