The last 5 days have been filled with ups and downs and sadly I have not picked up my camera since Saturday.    This past weekend my wife and I attended the wedding of her best friend and when we got back to our in-laws we recieved the news that my father in laws mother had a stroke and sadly she passed on Monday morning.  Thursday Marcus’s 6 year old daughter had to be admitted to the hospital for a minor operation so it has been a trying week for all.  On a positive note Marcus and I both celebrated our birthdays which were in the first and second weeks of April.    I wonder if it is because we are both the same age and only a few days a part why we get along so well together.   I guess being 10 days older than him explains the reason why I am that much wiser. 

 
On a completely different note yesterday I finally broke down and decided to upgrade my T3i for the 7D .  I have been looking to upgrade my camera to the 7D or the Mark II  and I went to Canon’s website and noticed the price for a used one was literally $400 less than it costs brand new.  I called the customer service line around 8am and was trying to get some general information when they told me that since I was a loyal customer I also qualified for a 15% discount.  I could not resist the offer because I would literally be saving almost $600.  I also asked about the condition of the camera and the customer service rep claimed that most of their refurbished camera’s have less than  1000 shutter clicks.   I also only had to pay an additional $8 for them to overnight the camera so hopefully I will receive it today.  Around noon yesterday I received an email with a  coupon from Canon for 20% off of my next purchase and I made a mistake and went back to the Canon site to look at accessories for the 7D.  Well I ended up looking at external flash units and I ended up using my coupon and getting the 430exII for less than $200 and that would also be shipped over night at no cost to me.   I am calling this a Bday present to myself and I realize that I will not be able to purchase any thing else for the rest of this year and probably next year too but the prices were just too good to resist.   If anyone is interested in buying Canon equipment I highly suggest you check out their site first because not only will you probably end up getting a good deal but you are buying from the manufacturer and all of their refurbished cameras come with a 90 day warranty.  I believe the  Mark II is listed for $1729 but with the customer loyalty program I got a quote of $1419.  In my opinion that price is a steal but you almost have to check the site hourly to see if they have one in because I was advised that they sell within hours of the item being listed.

Since I have not had a chance to shoot recently I had to go back and pull out some photos that were taken of my beautiful niece over Easter weekend.  This weekend Pirates are invading Fells Point so Marcus and I are hoping to get down there for a few hours to take photos of swashbuckling pirates and hopefully we sill spot Anne Bonny and Mary Read.