Les Jones

Blogging > Soon to be new and improved

I signed up for a web hosting plan tonight. That means this page will be moving from lesjones.blogspot.com to www.lesjones.com. It also means there won't be any ads at the top of the page. The site can have more features now that I can use Perl, CGI, PHP, SQL and other goodies. The new host even has Unix shell access, which is getting harder to find because of security concerns.

The site will also be getting some pictures. Blogspot's free hosting doesn't provide any space for storing pictures, which is why so many of the blogs you see are text-only. Not that there's anything wrong with that. One thing I like about the blogging movement is that it's moving the direction of web design away from empty glitz and back towards useful content.

I ordered a digital camera last weekend, so I'll be able to illustrate the site with photographs. Should be fun. I've been shopping for digital cameras for like five years. Some people actually think that I over-research major purchases. Can you believe it? But, hey, a digital camera is a lot of money to a poor person like me. Gotta be careful with cash.

The camera I picked after much agonizing was the Canon PowerShot Digital Elph S400, which was just released this month. The best piece of advice I ever got about outdoors equipment is that the handy item you take with you is more valuable than the super-duper, feature-packed gear that you leave at home because it's so heavy and bulky. The S400 weighs just 8.1 ounces with batteries, and is about the size of a wallet.

Despite its diminutive size, it has the features I was looking for: 4 megapixel resolution, 3X optical zoom, ISO levels down to 50, multiple white balance settings, CompactFlash storage, and rechargeable batteries. It costs a little more than I wanted to spend (hence the agonizing), but this review sealed the deal. The S400 is very quick to start up and to cycle between flash-assisted shots, and it has outstanding redeye reduction, which will save hours of sitting at the computer editing photos to electronically airbrush out Aunt Martha's demonic stare.

Content-wise, I'm writing a piece about daytrips around Knoxville. It's shaping up to be pretty good. Daytrips written up so far: Chattanooga, Crossville, and Jonesborough. Other possibilities: Townsend, Gatlinburg, Asheville, and Boone. I'll post the first batch this weekend and add others as they're written. We're going to Lexington in two weeks for horse races, so there may be some pictures from Keeneland.

Speaking of stuff to do in Knox Vegas, don't forget the Valleyfest Film Festival in Knoxville, April 9-13. If you've never been, I'd recommend going during the times when short films are playing so you that you get the most variety. The schedule lists playing times.

I've had a blast adding links to the site. Who knew that Brackins Bar had a web page? I also found out that Chris and Katie Granju both have web sites. Good ones, too.