I am usually the first to admit that I am virtually useless without Google. A few of my Apple obsessed friends love to give me a hard time for that. I literally cannot function without Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendars, and Google Chat. When I first heard that the search engine giant would be unveiling a brand new social network I was super skeptical. Google experimented with Wave and Buzz which are both now considered dead and nobody really figured out what the purpose of either of those services were. Immediately once Google released Google+ to the public Twitter instantly lit up with tweets from eager people sharing invites and asking for invites. I am also a huge fan of Twitter. Interacting instantly with other users around the world is the purpose of a social network and there is no network out there that allows such an instant and personal line of communication as you find with Twitter. After a few tweets back and forth with a couple of Google geeks I received my invite and finally had set up my own Google+ account http://gplus.to/davidskelton. Read more…
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Thailand 2011
On June 10th I will be embarking on the trip of a lifetime. I will be making the trip to Thailand alongside a group of 16 volunteers. Our mission will be to provide a fresh water system to a small village in the mountainous region of north Thailand. We will be in Thailand for 14 days staying with a tribe of poor Thai people who are counting on us to provide a filtration system for their people.
This isn’t our first attempt at a trip to Thailand. Last summer our trip had been postponed last minute due to a sudden and violent political uprising in Bangkok. While the unexpected cancellation of our trip last year felt like a shock and was very disappointing at the time, it was also a great time of reflection for us all. Now that we are about two months from heading to Thailand the excitement is beginning to build again with great momentum.
While in Thailand I will be documenting our travels with a digital camera and camcorder. I was lucky enough to gain brief experience capturing video while on a trip to Trinidad a few years back but I have never been to such a moist climate as Thailand will be in June. The biggest challenge will be keeping the gear dry and also working around the lack of electricity for most of the trip. I have found a few dry bags and extra batteries to bring as well as some silica packs to keep moisture out of the cameras and hopefully there will be a few opportunities to charge. This will be the opportunity of a lifetime to grab some amazing footage to share back home.
I look forward to sharing our adventures with you as we return.
A little experiment as I complete my research on whether or not to go with Canon 60D to replace our primary video camera. Results were quite impressive. DLSR video looks like it is quickly gaining ground in the indie scene as well. I was certainly impressed by the quality. Pardon the shaky hands on this, it was all shot handheld!