New toy... for Daddy...

Bought a Casio Exilim S600 compact camera (or as Casio calls it, a card camera). I've always been strongly against compact digicams, mainly because the sensors are tiny (compared to an APS sized sensor in most SLRs), and hence leads to noise, small dynamic range, and increased possibility of reduced sharpness.

However, this time I capitulated as I needed video, and specifically looked for cameras that can shoot VGA video (640x480) at 30fps. Other requirements include being able to take decent still pics (so a dedicated videocam was out...), being small enough to pocket, takes SD cards (so Fujis, Olympuses, Sonys were out). Final candidates were the Canon Powershots (too big), Ixuses (too pricey), Nikon Coolpixes (hopeless) and Casio Exilims.

I currently own a Canon A80, which was fantastic as far as compacts go, and offerred lots of manual controls too, but ultimately let down by its inability to shoot decent video, its large size, and tiny screen.

Saw a used Exilim S600 on sale, did a lot of reading up on the net, and so far the reviews I've read has mostly been favourable. Good video, good stills, takes SD, great battery life (though proprietary battery) and fantastic built quality! And for the price I bought it, it was beyond reproach. Picked it up Saturday after I dropped off wifey and babies at 1U. Had to go to Taman Sri Sentosa to pick it up, and in the process getting lost couple of times...

The condition was excellent with only a few small wear marks on corners. First impressions were very good, very very solid (it's made of stainless steel after all...), large bright screen, and it looks really good. Here's a pic I took off Steve's Digicams site, where I read one of the reviews. Yes, mine's the same color too.

Casio Exilim S600 Blue...

Started shooting as soon as I got home, and pictures appeared nice and vibrant, though I haven't gotten around to really looking at them yet. Videos were good, with decent exposure and very smooth due to the 30fps.

***Update 1: I subsequently sold this off for about the same price I bought it, but threw in a charger I bought off Ebay for RM5. Got another S600 on Ebay for the same price I sold this at, plus shipping from the USA! It included the whole package, box, cradle and everything. Only difference was this one is plain stainless steel, no paint on it, which I prefer.

Replaced with this...

So far it's seen quite a lot of use, and usual compact pitfalls aside, have performed admirably. Parents took it on holiday with them and were absolutely delighted with it.

***Update 2: Sadly, this was lost on a trip to Eastern Europe by my parents in October 2008. The camera aside, it was worse as it contained all of their holiday photos, and they only lost it in Dubai on transit for a flight home. Suspect it was a pickpocket...

Shaving Babies...

It's a holiday today! Yay...!!! (Prophet Muhammad's Birthday)
Babies slept with us yesterday night, and this morning both woke up around 0730, started sucking their thumbs (and fingers...) and making a variety of noises. So before they break out into full blown crying, we fed them and tucked them both back into bed.

Woke up again around 0900 and carried them downstairs to be bathed and dressed while wifey and I went out for dimsum brekkie at Hong Kee. Not too bad, and for some reason they had a 30% discount (which I did not question...) Was on the verge of boycotting them after the last experience of heavy-handed dimsum skin and cold fillings. Oh, also ran into 2 old friends... was actually walking over to say hi to the one i saw, and enroute ran into another.

Sis-in-law dropped by with nephew in tow and the lot of us brought babies out to the nearby barber to be shaved. Cost 20bucks for both!

Eh, what's that buzzing...

Aiyo, my head looks like an egg!

Reason we had them shaved was because their hair was growing rather haphazardly, and we already meant to do this earlier but kept putting it off. Finally got it done today! Babies were held by Mommy while being shaved. Good thing they were more curious than anything else. I was afraid they'd fidget a lot, or cry or something.

After that I dropped wifey and babies off at 1U around 1230 while I ran some errands. Picked them up at 0230. Babies had behaved very well. Goodie! Wifey bought two milk powder dispensers and a baby brush for their hair. (for when it grows back...)

Double flips...

Jun Yen has now also learnt to do the flip! Like Jun Lee, the hardest part is actually getting out their arm from under their body after flipping onto their bellies. Jun Yen tends to get particularly grumpy and cries when this happens.

Holding Onto Milk...

Jun Lee has began to hold her own bottle! Of course, she doesn't do it well yet, tends to drop it after a while, and not always obliging. But still its a start.

Papa, hold for me lah...

Jun Yen has so far steadfastly refused to hold her own bottle, which my mom claims is just like me... Dunno true or not...

The Flip...

Jun Lee has now learnt to turn on her side, flip herself onto her belly and raise her head to look up to get a better look... hehe...

And in the process causing us a bit of worry as we're sometimes afraid she'd suffocate herself with her face to the mattress. Of course most of the time she holds her head up, but when she gets tired she'd lay hear head down and sleep belly down. She has yet to learn to flip herself back onto her back yet though.

Updated Le Francais review...

Totally forgot about this post which I made last year, and left it hanging at the bread basket description. You must have thought I had nothing but bread rolls there...

Finally completed it, and except for the exact prices which I forgot over time, the rest of the review is largely intact. Go here http://ricscirocco.blogspot.com/2008/01/le-francais-one-bangsar.html

4 months and 2 weeks...

Here we are at 4 months old, heading towards 5 months!

This picture taken after lunch today.

Yet another jab...

Yup, yesterday Mom and Dad took the babies to the clinic for their Triple Antigen shots again. I was tied up in the office, and wife was ill earlier in the day, but by evening had recovered sufficiently to go along.
I was told no drama at all, with Jun Lee not crying at all, and Jun Yen merely whimpering. Wifey asked the doctor about the lump in the side of Jun Lee's neck (which I felt a week back when I was feeding her) and was told its normal, (don't ask me for specifics, I wasn't there...) and apparently Jun Yen has it too, just not as obvious.

However this timesubsequent to the injections they ran a bit of a temparature, and wasn't until today evening that they were completely okay. Fed them 2 doses of the paracetamol since yesterday.