After much research, I now know much more than I ever thought I would about espresso machines. I think I’ve found one that looks pretty good too! It’s got great customer reviews from Amazon UK. It’s not entirely identical though. The Canadian version has a lever for pressure control, and a temperature gauge. The British version has a dial for pressure control, and no temperature gauge. I wonder if the insides are different too? The price is not bad, but it’s on the threshhold of “Should I just buy an espresso when I want one?” I’ll have to think about it.

I got my roommate back yesterday, after lending her to Finland for a couple of years. On the way home from the airport, we were talking about the fact that we are not afraid to die. Neither one of us wants to die, but if we do, it won’t be with any regrets, since we have chosen to experience the opportunities that have come our way. We haven’t missed out on anything so far. Knowing that any day is a good day to die is kind of a comforting thought if something fatal comes along, as inevitably it will. Being conscious of this fact also makes it feel more important to keep living every day like it’s your last, and to always say “yes” to those things that you want to experience.

Today was a good day. I did a whole day’s worth of work, and then Jen woke up, so we went for a walk to Tim Hortons so I could get used to drinking coffee and other bad habits that she brought with her from Finland. It’s funny because she doesn’t drink coffee at home either. It seems like coffee is more of a social thing, which makes sense. Other people smoke for the same reason. Oh well. If all goes to hell, at least I have good company

Drinking the watery Tim Hortons coffee made me realize how much I appreciated the beautiful espresso I was drinking in France. I started investigating espresso machines, which shows you how far I’ve fallen from not drinking coffee at all. Not surprisingly, it turns out that not all espresso machines are created equal. I can get an el-cheapo espresso machine for about $50, but I don’t trust it. Decent “super automatic” espresso machines start around $1500 and can go up to $10,000 for a machine that makes two cups at once. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that kind of commitment yet…

This dude built a car that gets 105 miles per gallon. He spent a year working on it as a hobby, and it cost him a total of $2500. Isn’t it amazing that big car companies can’t seem to do it? Anyway, I checked out his website, and he seems very cool. He’s giving away the instructions for building it, non-patented, because he wants to share the information with the world. Some of the interesting ideas from his website include the fact that we need to be a bit more humble to let ourselves be transported around in something this geeky, and that we need to shift away from the idea that one car should be able to fulfill all our needs.

The weekend has been great so far. I did a headshot shoot on Friday that was fun and easy. I also did some crazy photos with Deb yesterday morning to promote her comedy stuff. We didn’t do a lot of planning. Improvising came in handy.

Big in Japan rehearsal was not bad. We only had four people show up, so it was a decent workout. We worked on scenework, which we haven’t done in a while. We’d been concentrating a lot on openings lately, and I think that paid off in last week’s show. I’m glad to see a return to some emphasis on scenes because that’s the meat of the show. After improv rehearsal, I ended up at an unexpected dinner, and then an unexpected party. Unexpected fun is the best kind.

I watched Captain Corelli’s Mandolin last night. What a mess of a movie. Considering Nicolas Cage is Italian, he does a piss-poor job of portraying one. His delivery of dialogue was stunted and clumsy, and he had zero charisma. I didn’t believe it for even one second.

This picture depicts poor Penelope Cruz, caught in the wooden clutches of Nicolas Cage.

The cinematography was beautiful, but nothing could rescue this movie from poor writing, confused casting (Penelope Cruz as an Albanian? Huh?), and awkard acting. The only good thing I got from this movie was this line: “Love is what’s left over after being in love wears off.”

I must go now. Birds are dying.

I’ve finally found a printing service that fits me. It’s been a long search, and a frustrating one, but Canada Camera Pro Lab seems perfect for me. First of all, the numbers and the features add up just right. It’s a professional lab, so they offer prints on Kodak Endura Pro paper, which is nice and thick and has a beautiful pearl finish. All prints have a personalized copyright notice stamped on the back to discourage unauthorized copying. They also have metallic prints at reasonable prices (more about that later). Speaking of prices, it’s very reasonable. In fact, it’s cheaper than Future Photo, which I didn’t think was possible. A standard 8×12 print costs $2.41. A metallic print is $3.59. They also have an option to print proof sheets that are watermarked and labeled with your contact information. You can see the full price list here.

Their policies are interesting. They will do color correction on the photos unless you specify that you don’t want them to. In my experience, it’s normal for a place to say this, but they don’t always follow through with it. Future Photo could not keep its grubby hands off of the color settings no matter how emphatically I requested color correction. The color and contrast was often totally ruined. Often I’d have to order reprints, explaining that they had ignored my request for no corrections, and they’d come back corrected too. Canada Camera Pro Lab does not do reprints. I think the attitude is that if there’s a problem with the photos, it’s your fault. They could be right.

Canada Camera Pro Lab uses the Kodak ProShots Basic software. Installing it is easy. You just go to the Canada Camera Pro Lab website and click a button. The installation is automatic. You need to fill in a form and get an account from Canada Camera, which takes a day or two. After that, the Kodak software downloads the catalogue from Canada Camera and you can start uploading files for printing. The process is very easy. You can do all the standard things like cropping and rotating images within the Kodak software. You add notes for the lab, and then send the order. The software packages all the photos into a ZIP file and uploads them. You can track the order status from within the software.

The thing I’m most excited about is that I can create galleries for my customers. They can order their prints directly from a password-protected website at prices I specify. Kodak and Canada Camera Pro Lab will take a cut of the profits (about 12% I think). That’s pretty fair. That will let me get prints directly to customers much faster than I can now, with only one shipping charge instead of two. I had been hoping dA Prints would implement something like this for photos that are not uploaded as deviations, but so far no such luck. It is an invaluable feature, and I can’t wait to try it.

The minimum print order is $25. Shipping is $15, which I find a bit steep, so it’s in your best interest to make big orders to keep that per-print shipping cost down. If you make an order over $100, you get free shipping. So basically, if you find your order reaches $85, you might as well throw some other stuff in there to bump it up to $100 so you’re getting prints for your money instead of shipping.

Print orders take about three days to process, and then the lab calls to get your credit card number. I would prefer to be able to give my credit card number at the time of ordering, but this feels quite personal. I don’t have a problem with it. The only problem is if you’re not there to receive the phone call, they won’t ship the order until they get your card number. This might be ok with me though, since it will ensure I know when the prints are going to arrive, and I can arrange to be there. The other option is to give them your credit card info to keep in their safe, so they can use it when they need it. It seems so old fashioned. I picture the old bank in Deadwood, with a dusty cowboy guarding the door with a six-shooter. If someone steals my credit card number, we’ll round up a posse and scour the hills for the scoundrel!

My first order arrived yesterday and I was very impressed. I had ordered 10 prints, and they came packaged in a cardboard box, not an envelope. The prints were sandwiched between sheets of cardboard inside the box, and shrink wrapped. This prevented almost any possibility of damage to the prints. The quality of the prints is astounding. All of the prints look just like they do on my screen, or better. The contrast levels are perfect, and the colors are exactly what I expected. Labs often have trouble with my photos because so much detail is in the shadow areas, but these came out fine. The metallic prints are my favorites. The paper is so thick and shiny. I’m not usually a huge fan of glossy prints, but these are gloss to the extreme. The Eiffel Tower looks like it’s made of actual copper, and every detail is razor sharp. Colors just jump off the page. I’m so happy with these prints. They’re definitely the best I’ve ever seen of my work. Now I’m itching to have an exhibition!

Anyway, I’m glad that my print service search is finally over. Now I’ll just need a loan to finance all the prints I’m going to order…