Christmas is almost here

Christmas Tree from Home Depot or Garden World?
We still haven't gotten our tree yet. I guess it will be a Fraser fir, Home Depot has some for around $40, Garden World around $45.

Nikon lenses
My camera and lens lust continues unabated. My current obsession is the Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 the relatively older model with no vibration reduction. I rented the model once from Adorama and I was pleased with the result.

Game Boy Advanced
As to Christmas shopping, I haven't done any actual shopping, except for the Game Boy Advanced I got from Target on Black Friday.

Nikon
I took some pictures a couple days ago using NEF, the results aren't that great, nothing to do with NEF though. I am trying to see if post processing can help. I am all into sharp pictures but seems like I am not getting lots of them. Also I really messed up, I left the ISO at 1600 and the white balance at bulb to take some outdoor daytime snow scenes with Alex and Harry. So a big chunk of them are messed up technically, I found out the wrong setting later in the shoot.

Levi's, Ted Baker, Burberry...
Monday I took a day off so Jin can take care of some business. I took a train to the city, just to spend some time on my own. I wandered to the downtown area. I checked out the Levi's store, which I always like to go. I have a weakness for Levi's. Then I checked out Bloomingdale's, not really what they are selling, but just to use their men's room in the lower level. Pretty nice. The merchanize there are just a bit too high-end for my budget. Some $600-700 for a Ted Baker corduroy coat or a $700 Burberry tweed jacket. I don't belong there.

Broadway Pandhandler, wok, Global knife, Wusthof knife
I wandered down to Broome Street to actually shop at Broadway Panhandler. I always like this place. I ended up buying a few items, an oven thermometer, a meat thermometer, some measuring cups and spoons, and a zest peeler. On today's Times there is actually an article by Mark Bittman about cast iron cookware, which I happen to agree totally. I would emphasize that all non-stick utensils can't compare to a well seasoned cast iron skillet. And how long can the non-stick coating last, not long enough. The cast iron just keeps going and going and actually performs better as time passes, the opposite is true with any other fancy utensils. I would like to get a traditional Cantonese wok from Broadway Panhandler, the price is good too, but I think I just don't have enough space in the kitchen for a 14 inch wok for the time being. I guess wok cooking is very similar to cast iron skillet cooking. I also checked out the Global knife 3-piece set which is selling for around $150. I asked to hold them, they were much lighter than I thought plus according to the lady who showed me the knives, the knife, despite looking like made from one single piece of steel, it's actually not, the handle is filled with sand and welded to the blade. My Wusthof knife set feels more substantial.

LL Bean
New York is getting cold, good that I got my down jacket from LL Bean a couple years ago. The version I have doesn't have a detachable vest. The only complaint I have with my Maine Warden Parka is the hood is not BIG enough. I have a large and I think the hood is really small compared to the rest of the parka and the chin closure just not generous enough to allow easy closure. So it's kind of awkward. I tried the Northface and the hood is generous. Please Mr. Bean, get your hood right. Other than the hood, almost everything about the transaction or other shopping experience have been good. I exchanged my Maine Warden parka twice, large to medium and back to large...after a year and it was fine with them. I called them and they picked up the phone pretty much right away. Bean got my business.