Digital or Film? I've been considering digital cameras for quite some time, but couldn't justify the initial cost. After some number crunching, though, I've figured out the answer:
The calculations are as follows: 1 roll of 36-exposure color print film is estimated at $5.50. Processing that roll of film, getting 4x6 prints in one hour, is estimated at $7.00. Total cost for 36 exposures is then $12.50. Unfortunately, not all of those 36 exposures are usable (I've shot three rolls of film and had five usable photos between them, but that's an extreme example). For the purposes of these calculations, I estimate that 50% to 66% of the photos I take are usable. If 66% of the frames are usable, that means I've spent $12.50 for 24 photos -- or $0.519 per print. If 50% are usable, each usable print now costs $0.696.
Since there is no up-front cost for digital pictures (no rolls of film to buy), the only cost left is for prints. Prints (4x6) made from digital photos cost $0.49 each. Assuming two-thirds of the pictures I take are usable, that's 2.9 cents cheaper than print film per frame. So if I shoot 36 frames digitally, and make prints of 24 of those, I've saved 69.6 cents. 15,516 frames later (10,240 of which I get printed), I've made up the cost of the camera.
Now, if I assume only half of the pictures I take (18 of 36) are usable, which is closer to reality, digital is 20.2 cents cheaper per frame. If I shoot 36 frames, and order 18 prints, I've saved $3.636 per "roll." At that rate, the $300 camera has paid for itself after a mere 2,970 frames (1,485 of which get printed).
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Everyone's your friend in New York City, and everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty. I'm headed to New York next month for a week. I'm looking forward to it, but I don't know if one week will be long enough. I'll be attending the College Media Advisors Student Media Convention, and also meeting with people from Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and perhaps the New York Times. I also plan to stand in Times Square so I can be on TRL.
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On a roll. Played an amazing game of broomball last night. We tied 0-0, but it was among the top five funnest games I've played, here are some others, in no particular order:
Us vs. The Red Army: We lost this game, but we played for over 45 minutes. We had 20 mintues of regulation, 5 minutes of overtime, then we went to a shootout. Each person on the other team took a shot, with nothing getting by me. Then three shooters into their bench, I got deked and the ball went into the net. It was extremely exciting. Stevens vs. Stevens: Last year, our team got so big that we had to split up. It wasn't easy, but conflicts between players were developing rapidly. Anyway, our first game as competitors was definitely one of the most fun. Both teams played hard without playing dirty, and we ended up one goal ahead. Us. vs. Broomball for Beginners: This was fun. We showed up at the game only knowing the name of the opposing team, so we thought it would be cake to win. Well, it turned out it was, but not for us. The score was 7-0 when the final whistle blew. We got thoroughly worked over, but it was fun nonetheless, because everyone was a good sport. Our team learned a lot about playing the game.
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All In. We've moved all our stuff, now its time to unpack. Most of our stuff is already out of the boxes, but the kitchen has a ways to go until its useful.
Swiss Cheese. Lost 5-1 last night. Officially it was 6-1 but their last goal was batted in with a hand, so it shouldn't count. Not only was our defense (me included) like swiss cheese, one of our team was hit in the head and bleeding quite a bit. He was taken off the ice and given medical attention. I haven't heard how he's doing yet.
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Ice. No, not that kind of ice, this is the real deal. It was a pretty warm day, and then it started raining. We were planning on moving and we got a couple loads, but after seeing several cars along the side of the road, we decided to keep off the streets. Hopefully it will be decent tomorrow so we can finish moving.
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The Wall. 0-0 tie last night. There weren't as many shots that made it to the goal, though. Our defense is stepping up, but our offense still needs to improve production. We only had a few shots on goal, a couple of those were really close, though.
I played soccer for the first time in years yesterday. It's a lot tougher than it looks. I took a ball to the face, which didn't feel good. Our team lost 6-3, but it was pretty hectic. Enough people showed up to form three or four teams, so there was some confusion about substitution order (it's not like "real" soccer, we could sub out as much as we wanted).
Picked up keys to the new apartment yesterday (sheesh, I was busy yesterday). I'm going to start moving after work. Both of us are really looking forward to getting moved in. The trailer is really cramping our style.
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Starting slow. First broomball game didn't go well. 3-1 loss for the home team. We scored within the first minute, but couldn't control the ball for the rest of the game. It's only the first game of the season, though, and we should be able to improve before too long.
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Moving. Again. My roommate and I got approved for an apartment today. We'll be moving this weekend. I think this might be a new record for the shortest amount of time between moves for me: six weeks. However, getting into the apartment will be much better than life in a trailer. Especially a trailer that doesn't provide consistent heat and water, is at least 15 miles away from everywhere I need to go (I don't have my own motor vehicle, so that's a bigger issue than it would be otherwise), and has a landlord who is borderline crazy (he once bragged that he could make a garrote in under a minute). I'm looking forward to apartment life.
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Dinner. I was the Chancellor's house for dinner last night. It was very interesting. The student government was invited and I, being the head of an organization funded the student government, got to go as well. It was somewhat bizarre, because discussion focused mainly on work-related issues. Not much socialization took place at all, but I guess when the chancellor and his wife have almost 40 people in their home for meal, it's not easy to socialize with all of them. After eating the meal, the chancellor talked to the entire group about things that are happening around campus, and also listened to the students' comments and questions. Good stuff.
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