How Do You Feel About Spying on Your Teenagers?

First let me say that I didn't really spy on my kids.  Too much.  It wasn't really that I thought it was wrong or an invasion of privacy - though Beth would have definitely complained about that if she had thought I was spying on her.  It's more that I didn't think about it until later.

Beth used to hang out with her friends in the basement, and there were times when it would have been really nice to have some kind of hidden camera down there so we could keep an eye on them.  As it is, we just randomly went down and checked on them once in a while, but with a camera, it wouldn't have been so random.  I wonder how long it would have taken Beth to figure out how we knew what was going on down there?  Or maybe she just would have figured that parents know everything, and she couldn't get away with anything.

After she'd been driving a while, I started thinking we should have installed a vehicle tracking device on the car, so we could have checked up on her and made sure she was where she said she was when she said she was.  There were some times I'm pretty sure she was lying, but there was no real way to prove it.   That tracking device would have answered all the questions.

So the question is - should you spy on your teenagers?  How do you feel about it?  Is it something you would consider?  I'm thinking that I would have done it, if only I'd thought of it in the beginning, but instead of hiding the camera, I'd put it right out in the open, and I'd tell her her car was being tracked.  That way she'd know we were keeping an eye on her - maybe not all the time, but she'd never know when.  Just a little incentive to make sure she was behaving herself.  And, of course, we'd have to keep an eye on Cory, too, or we'd hear about how unfair it was - though he never quite needed watching the same way she did.

Looking at the Sky on Friday - 45

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

I finally broke down and bought a new camera.  I’ve been looking for one that is small enough to fit in my purse that also has a decent optical zoom.  I bought this Olympus Stylus-9000 – it was on sale with a coupon code and bing cashback, so I got it for around $158.  That $150 price range seems to be our norm when it comes to buying digital cameras, and the cameras have improved every time.

Anyway, I haven’t completely figured this new camera out, but I did take a couple pictures of the sky this week, trying it out.

Sunrise Wednesday morning:

Before sunrise Thursday morning:

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

A Question of Terms

Speaking of graduation (see last post), we all took our cameras to try and get some good pictures of the momentous occasion. My dad took his new little camcorder to get video of the whole thing. I was telling someone today that he video taped it, but that can't be right anymore - there's no tape! These new digital camcorders record right onto a memory card.

So, the question is - what's the correct term for it nowadays if video taping isn't right?

Camera Software - Who Knew?

When I got my camera a couple years ago, I never bothered to install the software that came with it. The camera uses SD cards, so I just popped them into the card reader and copied the pictures to my computer that way - the way I'd always done it. But, since I had to reinstall Windows and then my card reader wouldn't read the SD cards properly, I thought I'd give the camera software a try. And also because, since I'm starting with 0 photos on my computer, this is a good time to start over with something new.

This stuff is pretty neat. I hook the camera to the computer with the cable and can download all the pics on the card. The software even puts them into folders by date. Then, I can use that same software to add keywords, change file names, etc. It even reads all the camera information like shooting mode, shutter speed, and other camera stuff that I don't actually understand that well. This is important because I took an online class about all those camera settings, and I tried shooting with different settings, but later I couldn't remember which setting was what - so this should really help. I am going to have to go back over all that class info though, because now I don't remember much of it.

Anyway, I'm just now going through and organizing photos that were on one of my cards - thankfully still because I would have lost them otherwise - finding pictures I forgot about, and seeing what I can do with this software. So far I'm liking it, not enough to create promotional bags to let everyone know about it, but enough to mention it.

How about you - do you use the software that came with your camera? Have you found any good ways to keep your photos organized?

Oops

Image via WikipediaFor the last performance of the musical on Sunday, Cory wanted me to try and get it all on video. I had been taking pictures (you've seen them, right?) and got his song on video, but that was it. So, Cory emptied his 4GB SD card and gave that to me so I could get video.

I started with his card and my camera set on the highest quality video, and quickly saw I was going to run out of room. I adjusted the quality to get a little more time on the card, but still ended up filling Cory's card, a 2GB microSD card, and part of the 1GB card I had used Saturday night. I gave all the cards to Cory Sunday night when we got home so he could download all the videos to his computer.

Meanwhile, yesterday I was trying to get Jeffrey a copy of the video at work, so he could show some of the people he works with. It's as bad as being in high school where he works, because they have so many websites blocked. He can't get to YouTube or Vimeo, or any file storage/sharing site, so he couldn't get to the video there. I couldn't email the original file because it was too big for email. I did find that I could save a version for PDA, which was much smaller, from my video editing software. Except I had edited the video from my 1GB SD card without first copying to my computer - so I needed the card to save the video again.

I went into Cory's room and got it. I saved Jeffrey the PDA version of the video, emailed it to him, and forgot about it. Until last night, when Cory brought me the other two cards. Then I said, Oh, I took the 1GB card. Do you need it back? And that's when I found out that Cory had been looking everywhere for that card, because he thought he lost it. He thought it might have fallen off his desk into the trash, and the trash went out Tuesday night and got picked up yesterday. He was thinking he was going to have to come out and tell me he lost my card.

Oops!

Juggling

Image by bcmom via FlickrWe stopped at a Kmart on the way home last night, because Cory wanted to check the book price there and just look around. We don't get Kmart ads in our Sunday paper any more, so we rarely go there. I figure, if they don't want to tell me what their specials are, then they really don't want me to shop in their store very badly, do they?

The book price wasn't any better there, but while we were there, we happened to see a digital camera on clearance for $50, so had to check it out. Reading the specs, it looked like it would work for what Cory wants - a smaller camera he can carry around with him for shooting his videos. Since he's a 'rising YouTube star' we've got to make sure he has the proper tools, right? Then, since Beth had mentioned she would like a little camera, too, we decided to get her one. Being that she's the one who just had a birthday, we figured we'd hear it if we got Cory a camera and didn't get her one.

So, we grabbed two, and then they rang up at $25, instead of $50 - so we decided to grab another one. Then, when we got home, Cory tested it out, and the video is good, but the audio was not good at all. We never really thought about the audio, just checked to be sure it would shoot good video. So, Cory decided that camera wouldn't work for him, since he mainly wanted it for videos. For what Beth wants, though, it will be OK. It's this camera, here. Not the best camera in the world, but for $25 pretty great.

Cory and Jeffrey went to Walmart today - after Cory had called and asked them if they had Brisingr, and they told him NO, in no uncertain terms. It was in the Target ad for $15-something, so he took the ad, just in case. They did have the book, and they matched to Target price, so the Kmart book will be going back - actually the unread Walmart book with the Kmart dust jacket will be going back. They also came home with a new camera for Cory - not quite as cheap as the other one, but this one should work, at least judging by the tests that he did.

So Jeffrey will be going back to Kmart to return a camera, actually 2 cameras because he decided he didn't really need one, and a book this week.

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• Cory, the Video Master
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Cory, the Video Master

Cory has been really active on YouTube recently. He's made some silly videos, and he's made lots of new friends. What we do is blogging. On YouTube, they call it vlogging, and Cory says he likes that better because he doesn't have to type. Also, he has a lot of fun with the video editing - so if I ever need video editing help, I know where to go!

Cory and 6 of his YouTube friends, who also happen to be girls, (all of them) started a channel on YouTube called 7awesomebookworms. Each of them is assigned a day of the week on which he or she makes a video. Cory's day is Tuesday, so if you want to see his videos, check on Tuesday nights or Wednesdays for the latest one. They're a lot of fun, at least I think so.

Since he's been shooting videos on a regular basis, he's been wanting a smaller camera that he can carry around with him. Right now he uses the Canon camera (S2 IS) and it is a little bulky to carry around everywhere. However, since we have both that camera and my S3, we really don't want to spend a lot of money on another camera. Any ideas on a good, not too expensive, small digital video camera that records good quality video?

So Many Pictures

Ever since I got a digital camera several years ago, I have been taking pictures, pictures, and more pictures. I have pictures on my computer. I use pictures for my screensaver, and I upload pictures to the Internet, to sites like Flickr and Tabblo, to share them. What I don't seem to do is print them. Before my digital camera, I used to take quite a few pictures, and those pictures had to be printed. Then I organized them and put them into photo albums, and we can sit down and go through those photo albums any time we want. It really is fun to see how much my kids have grown and changed. They were so cute.

Here's a scanned photo from my pre-digital days:

Because I don't usually print my pictures, a digital picture frame might be nice. All I'd have to do is load the camera's memory card into the frame, and we could all enjoy a slideshow of recent pictures. Some of these frames can even connect to our wireless network, so I could send pictures from my laptop to the frame without having to connect any cables or mess with the memory card.

If I order by December 10 and pay with PayPal, I can even get 20% cash back.

Always Take the Camera

I have so many pictures to get downloaded from my camera. I was talking to my brother, the photographer, the other day, and he said he doesn't understand how I can go so long without downloading the pictures. It's just that I got behind when I was busy doing other things, and now I feel like I have to go back to the date I left off and download them all in order - because that's just the way I do things. I did go ahead and grab some pictures of our kitten off the camera card the other day so I could upload them to Flickr. If I don't, she'll be all grown up before anyone gets to see the pictures!

While talking to this same brother, he asked me if I was ready to buy the new Canon S5 IS since the price has gone down $100 recently. I said, no, I am very happy with the camera I have, thank you! He's the one who recommended it to me, and I'm really glad I listened to him. I was looking at getting a new camera last fall, because I wanted more zoom. He said to buy either the Canon S2 or the Canon S3, and I ended up finding a really good deal on the S3, so that's what I got. So far I am really happy with it. It can take some pictures that I would never dream of with my old camera, both because of the increased zoom (12x optical) and the image stabilization. I love image stabilization!

The only complaint I really have is that the camera is too big to fit into my purse, so I don't take it everywhere with me the way I did the old one. I still carry the old one in my purse, and the other day Jeffrey and I saw a bunch of hot air balloons off in the distance. I had him stop so I could take a picture, but I really missed my zoom - the old camera only has 3x optical. I felt like I couldn't see those balloons at all, and I wished I had known they were going to be there so I could have had my 'real' camera!