The runaround

Ok, I admit to it... I fell for a cheap sales tactic.

Tip for travelers: When a camera salesman tells you he can get in a certain camera if you come back in so and so, don't bother coming back. They won't have the camera you're looking for, and they'll just try to rip you off some other way.

My guess is that they won't bother going below certain prices for the camera I want because it's in such high demand. Needless to say, I'm still without camera at the moment. I've found a retail chain that is selling it for $300, and I'm on the verge of just buying that for the sole reason that retail chains are more respectable than these rogue traders.

In any case, that's not the only thing that's been happening lately.

Midnight in Chelsea

...and Liza'a shuttle bus hadn't arrived to pick her up to go to the airport yet. She had booked it on Wednesday afternoon as the hostel said to book it at least 24 hours in advance. It was meant to arrive between 11 and 11:15 at night, but we waited until midnight (since her flight wasn't until 7 anyway) before calling up the service. Apparently they canceled her pick up without notifying her, which was rather inconvenient. Lucky she decided to get there really early.

We ended up having to catch the subway to the AirTrain connection for JFK International. I escorted her as far as the connection, since I had a 7-day unlimited ride pass, and she needed help carrying her bags around. Otherwise, it was actually quite safe to travel alone in the subway late at night. There's always other people doing the same thing (especially to the airport), so there's really nothing to worry about.

The train took about a two and a half hour round trip, meaning I got back home at around 2:30 in the morning. I crashed in my bed as soon as I got home.

At the drive-in

Apart from being annoyed by camera salesmen, I also partook in viewing a film at an outdoor film festival, the Tribeca Film Festival Drive-In series. It wasn't actually a drive in, because that would just be silly in the middle of Manhattan, but there were Dodge cars lined up in the middle of the aisles for VIP guests (Dodge being one of the sponsors). It was a nice outdoor set-up right in front of the Rockefeller Center, and the sound was very clear. Unfortunately, the brightness was a bit low on the projection, but I guess the city lights didn't really help.

The movie itself, Netherbeast Incorporated, was mildly enjoyable. The idea behind the story was clever, but the movie itself wasn't very well executed. It probably could have done with about 30 minutes to an hour more to set up the premise a little better. Still, it was a good experience overall, and I didn't feel ripped off because it was completely free.

Back on course

After a (really long) detour into the United States, I'm finally ready to head back into Canada tomorrow morning. My train for Montréal leaves early, so the rest of today will most likely consist of packing and resting, with the option of camera buying.

As for photos, you can imagine there's not a lot of new ones. I haven't uploaded any yet, but I did PhotoShop a mock postcard of Grant Park in Chicago. It's nothing special, I just wanted to try out a new style. It can be found here. I used two photos of the same thing from slightly different angles, and used one of the photos for each box (not necessarily alternating). I saw the style used in a photography exhibit inside the New York Public Library, and just had to copy it.