Some things to think about: - There really are no cr@ppy DSLRs being sold anymore. Even the new low-end cameras offer the latest in image-processing software and lens technologies. - Even the low-end cameras also offer more than enough resolution (megapixels) for anything short of poster-sized prints. Don't get caught up in the megapixel race. It's like deciding between a car with 300 hp and one with 400 hp. Either will get the job done; your camera choice should be based on more than just raw power. - You really should handle the camera you plan to buy. Some people find some cameras too large to handle comfortably. - The camera you buy should allow you to output pictures in RAW format. This format contains more picture information so you can manipulate it digitally later without losing picture quality. - It's a fact that most people buying SLRs these days never use more than the lenses that come in the box with the camera. Unfortunately, these "kit lenses" typically are not the best the camera manufacturer offers. Check out what other lenses the manufacturer offers and consider lenses sold by third-party manufacturers as well. You may find your pictures are noticeably better with a lens other than a kit lens -- especially one designed for the kinds of images you want to take (macro, telephoto, etc.) - Some manufacturers offer image stabilization. This can be useful in getting pictures in low-light or fast-moving situations. The two types of IS are in-lens and in-camera. In-lens is better, but it means you're paying for IS with every lens you buy. Hard to say if one choice is better than the other. :-P - Keep in mind that DSLR technology is still evolving some. Back when film SLRs were popular, it made sense to spend a good chunk of money on a camera you'd be growing into for 10-15 years. Given how quickly improvements still are being made, it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend well into four figures for a DSLR while you learn to take better pictures. Most DSLRs just aren't going to have that long a practical life. Good luck!

I was puzzled as well when I opened the bill and will be investigating what's going on... I think it's the heat pump. Question is do I monitor it for next month. Alina, my home isn't much bigger than yours. Yes the heat pump is not matched, but it's "worked well" over the summer and has maintained temperature in the winter as well. On the VisionPRO, I see no aux heat usage, other than defrost. The kW usage was almost 5000 for this past month. Something's wrong without a doubt, but my neighbors' bills are also very high. With the Payne's HSPF nominally of 6.8 or so, I can only begin to wonder how low it is with a mismatch... I'm certainly going to be paying more attention to the system's behavior. Does it run a lot, yes...

Busy day - Macbook has been crashing, got that post out in between crashes. Worked with Apple Care on the phone, think they fixed it. So yes, IR Scan during blower door test. I'm sure I will get all the details, but he said it's not uncommon, but because of the drafty house, he could not get the fan up to a certain level. Forget what that number was or the value of that number. So the house did not get that cold either. The blower was running for a long time, and the house cooled down from 70 to about 63. I expected much worse after you guys wrote about it in here. I think I expected the inside to feel like outside. Anyway, he pointed out the edges of all walls, at the corners and top rails where you can see there is no insulation. I think you can clearly see that the walls are insulated ok. Attic access panels are killers. We dont even try to fake it here, just a thin wood or sheetrock panel, we have 3 access points. He suggested buying a can of Mastic, spread it on the back and press on insulation, it would help. He suggested sealing any recessed lights, and using the spray fluffy insulation in attics. For one of the attics that has an air handler, he suggests creating a conditioned attic space by insulating the walls, but I dont think I agree with that. For the Crawl, he first suggests I stop any water entry, yes there is right now, might be hard to fix. I have two Sumps down there, but somehow water gets in, and just hangs out on the floor, never more than 1/16 inch deep, but spreads out. Then he says insulating the walls of the crawl to make it air tight, no venting. Or the other approach is to insulate the ceiling or main floor - floor. It's insulated now, but he says it's not doing anything, Its installed backwards, and only a few inches thick . He said I could go with a spray foam, a little pricey, or a real thick high R value insulation. I will share the report when it comes. Was nice having the house warm over the last 24 hours, but I used well over 300 KV in that time.

I would not throw away the slides! Those are the originals that can never be duplicated if something happens to your everyday copies. Expect the everyday copies to experience wear, tear, and finger prints. The media you may use to store the digitzed images is not all that permanent. Hard drives fail; Thumb USB drives may eventually give up the ghost. Research the storage life of a USB drive before depending on it for long term storage. My informtion is old, harking back to the early development days of those drives. Back then, the storage life was rated at 10 years. Those thumb drives have improved greatly since then, but the underlying technology is still the same. The memory in a USB drive requires a "keep alive" battery. typically, this battery is a small lithium cell that can keep the memory fresh for about 10 yrs and then it is done. Each junction in a solid state storage device is good for about 10,000 re-writes before failure. Clever tricks are employed to extend the life of these devices. An internal controller writes the data in a way to use all of the memory. It does not keep rewriting over the same locations, but moves the start partition when possible after an early file is deleted. It cycles the data over the entire media. In this way, all junctions get about the same usage rather than rewriting the begining parts over and over again. This statragy increases the life of the device. When a thumb drive is used for long term stoage of photo images, individaul junctions are not rewritten very often so this would not be a concern. However, the internal battery life is a concern. Burning the data to a CD is a good move, again only if the very best is used, and if there is a planned program of re-copying every 4 to 5 years. You'll have to research to find which media is best at long term storage: CD_R, CDRW , or DVD. It is sensible to make digital files so that you can reprint images as desired and pass along copies. But, it does not make semse to destroy the original images. My advice: 1. Cull the slides and save only the "keepers". 2. Digitize the keepers and toss the junk. 3. Pack the keepers in good boxes and store in a cool, dry location. 4. While you are culling, make a record/index of the slides with titles and dates. Print a copy and put with the slides. This will be very handy if, in the future, you wish to find a paricular slide. Put a digital copy of this index on each storage device.