Snowboards and Cameras

Two things of note happened this last week.

I got that DSLR I wanted, and I went snowboarding for the first time.

In the December of 2008, I recall picking up a couple of photography magazines at an airport newsstand on the way to Taiwan. Prominently featured in both magazines was the then-new Nikon D90. It was my single greatest desire to own one of these cameras for the next six months or so, until gradually it was replaced in my mind with the new Canon T1i. As I had been using a Canon point-and-shoot at the time (see post : So I went to the beach and killed my camera), I figured it would be nice to have a DSLR set up to match.

As time went on, and my camera lust stayed bottled up inside, the T2i was released, and two of my friends, SuburbanDweller(who still has my tripod) and Phamtom purchased those, I thought I might get one myself to match.

Now, several months later, I finally scrape up enough money to get a camera. I head over to Costco, and see there, on the racks, the D90. Two years after it's release, it's still competitive with the newer Canon T2i(unless you're shooting video, cause then, the T2i excels). At 1279USD, it comes with a standard 18-55 kit lens, and a 70-300 telephoto. At 1409USD out the door, and 1500USD still burning a hole in my pocket, I cast my dice and made my contribution to the improvement of the economy this year.

Snowboarding yesterday, for the first time, was remarkable. I've never been so cold, yet so warm.

I've come to several conclusions:

1: Snow is cold. Snow pants are a worthy investment.

2: Wrist sprains are bad, and wrist guards are a worthy investment. I had Dakine Nova Protector glove/guard combos. Best $50 bucks I spent for this event.

3: It is cheaper to rent a board than it is to buy one, unless you plan on going snowboarding 20+ times within the usable life of that board.

4: Many short runs are easier on the legs than a few long runs, and using your feet to move a snowboard along the line to the lift is more tiring than actually going down a run.

5: The morning after, my legs feel fine, but my arms are sore. The complete opposite of when I went to sleep last night.

That's all for now.