Tony’s Guatemala

Alright, so I own a Sony video camera that records on Micro-MV tapes, which is cool. the only problem is that the Micro-MV format isn’t mac compatible, since it records in mpeg2 format. What I’ve had to do was load the video onto a PC using Sony’s proprietary software, and convert it to DV format so I could edit it in final cut pro, or even iMovie. big hassle!

I asked around, and since the Micro-MV format was dropped by Sony even, there wasn’t really any support for the camera.

I figured I’d have to sell the camera, and buy one in Mini-DV instead, it was either that or drag an extra computer with me down to Guate’ just to convert my video to a format I could use.

I spent some time talking to people who had similar problems, and finally was able to figure out a few lines of code that would allow me to import the video via firewire.

About 30 seconds after I finished that, I found another way, this one provided by apple, to do the same thing, so I’ll talk about that one here, as it’s easier for other people to emulate:

Go to the apple website, join their developer network, download the most updated SDK version, mount the image and install, then open the applications and find DVHSCap. plug in your camera, and viola, it recognizes it and allows you to capture the video.

After you’ve captured the video, you can use a software program to convert it to whatever format you need. I convert it to DV so I can edit in Final Cut Pro. the conversion takes a while, and that sucks, but I don’t have to buy a new camera, or carry an extra computer with me, so I’d say it’s worth it!

Well, I have a limited budget, but there are a few things that I need to get before I go down to Guate.

One of the things that I’ve really needed to get for a while, is a new camera bag. The bag I’ve been using holds one camera body, the charger and maybe 2 lenses, but nothing else, it also isn’t padded, and it doesn’t have any dividers, so it works okay as far as just carrying a camera around in my car, but the idea of traveling down bumpy roads in Central America, it just wont cut it.

I Decided that if I’m gonna get a new camera bag, I want it to meet a few requirements, so I won’t feel the need to upgrade again shortly.

I want a camera bag that will:
Not Scream “I’M A CAMERA, STEAL ME!”
Hold at least 2 bodies and a plethora of lenses, including my 70-210mm F2.8
Be padded and have dividers
Carry a laptop with accessories
Probably be a backpack

I looked around at the camera shops here, and found a few bags that fit the bill, that was when I realized I needed to add another qualifier to me list: It needs to be under $100

Well, that last bit pretty much tossed anything available locally out of the contest.

I looked online and found a lot of great bags, but most of them were out of my price range as well.

I looked on Ebay and found that there’s a lot of decent bags that are pretty close to the price range that I wanted, and some of them look like they’re the same bags with different tags on ‘em. The one I opted for is one of the larger ones in the range, and I picked it up for about $60 shipped. It should be getting here next week, and I’ll write again and tell you what I think about the bag. From the pictures I have high hopes that it’ll be big enough to hold everything. It has the Laptop pocket, and should hold 2 bodies and 7-8 lenses, a flash or two, and the rest of my accessories.

Here are a few photos of it:

Well, About a month ago Lloyd Monroe asked me if I might be able to locate a small integrated circuit board for an amplifier that they use in the ministry down In Pana, and in spite of the fact that several companies that I’ve dealt with before have websites that say they have them in stock, no-one has gotten back to me with a price.

I really need to send something off this week to be evaluated so I might be able to sell it, but I can’t afford the evaluation!

Little things that are right there but still inaccessible, I feel there might be a life lesson somewhere in this, maybe it’ll be more clear after the little things are taken care of…

Well, I got a new pre-paid phone, I went with cingular pre-paid, and I’m using my Dad’s old Motorola Razr.

I should be able to get the phone unlocked, and use it in Guatemala as well.

Cingular has a decent pre-paid plan, and I got minutes at about $0.10 a minute, and nights and weekends for $20 a month, along with $10 a month for 1000 text messages.

Well today has been kind of interesting, I’ve had another possibility as far as my phones go, since I found my Dad’s phone.

My Dad had a Motorola Razr v3 phone, which conveniently is pretty useable for pre-paid services, I’ve still got to research what carriers it’ll work with, but it gives me another option.

I pulled all the photos off of my Dad’s phone and loaded them onto my Mac powerbook via bluetooth. There where a lot of photos of the family vacation he and my mom went on with my sister last summer, and the first picture he took was of my mom.

The last pictures my Dad took on his phone where actually of me while I was doing a photo shoot for their church.

Well, This week is a busy one, or should be anyways.

I’ve been dealing with the lingering flu symptoms I came down with last week, but hopefully I’ll be a little more productive this week than I was last.

I’ve got to do a lot of work in the shop, as well as getting everything done that’s specifically related to the trip. All in all that means it’s like working 2 jobs!

Things to figure out this week:

Cell Phone, I still haven’t decided, and now I’m without service, which is bad!

Pass-port, Mine expired recently, and I need a new one quickly!

Getting started raising support.

Alright, so another thing I’ve been working on figuring out is all of the computer related stuff that I’ll need in Guate’ and I’ve gotta say, it’s kinda overwhelming to realize the technology available today that wasn’t even heard of when my family was going to Latin America 18-20 years ago!

I’m typing this up on one of my 4 laptops… yup, 4 of ‘em!

I’m sure that I only want to bring one or at the most two with me, but I’m hit with a few dilema’s, first off, I use multiple platforms for the work that I do, And so I NEED more than one operating system available to me, specifically, I need to be able to run windows XP and Mac OS-X.

Herin lies the problem, while I can currently run windows XP and Linux on my old IBM (Lenova?) Thinkpad, that leaves me without OS-X. I can also run OS-X and Linux on either of my Powerbooks (I’ve got the famous 12″ Al-book, and the 15″ wide-screen Al-book) But since they’re built around the power-pc processors, I can’t really run windows very well. I mean, I could buy a windows Emulator, but they’re notoriously slow running, and I’m not just checking Web-functionality, I have to run video editing and heavy graphical software through windows, or I have to get a different video Camera. Either way, it looks like I’m gonna be out a few grand to get to the point that I only need one or two computers with me instead of 3 or 4.

I’ve looked at the new Mac-Book Pro’s, and I admit, they look really nice, but since a top end model starts at north of $2,500, and that’s over the total budget, I don’t think it’ll happen. Other options include buying a new video Camera, since the one I have now is NOT compatible with Mac OS-X. How disappointing is that? My current Camera is the Sony DCR-ip-220, which is a great small camera, but since it uses the little tiny tapes called “Micro-MV” and has a whole new format, (which flopped BTW) I can’t find any software that will allow my mac’s to talk to the camera! I’ve got Final Cut Pro ver 5.0 which would be up to task for editing for a good long while for my needs, but since I can’t import the video, I use my windows software. If the format had taken off, there would be plenty of support for it, but alas, there was a reason I could afford the camera in the first place.

So far it’s not looking good for being able to pare down the computers to minimalistic numbers.

Anybody got any Idea’s? I’m certainly open to suggestion!

Alright, so I’ve been with the same carrier for like 5 years or something, and I have to admit, their service is pretty good, but my rates have gotten out of hand.

Since my contract is up this month anyways, I’m getting a new service, but since I’ll be leaving in about 2 months, I’ve really been looking at prepaid service.

What I’ve discovered:

According to a T-mobile rep on the phone, they have a “gold plan” on their prepaid service, and supposedly, after 3 months, you can use that phone anywhere in the world for the same rates as if you where in the US. I haven’t been able to find any such mention of this on their website, even though I did find their “gold plan”, and haven’t seen anything about it in their literature, so I’m not sure I buy it personally, but I might try it anyways, since that would give me a US phone number to use so people could contact me. If all else fails, it would leave me with a phone to use in the US when I’m back home, one thing that is clear about the “gold plan” is that the minutes don’t expire for a year, so that’s good at least.

Trumpet mobile, a cell phone service pushed by Radioshack, is designed to be a cheap way to call internationally, and according to the sales rep at the store, “it’s designed for international travelers, you can use it anywhere.” A quick check of their website looked pretty good, but then in the terms and conditions, “this service is ONLY available in the US” (My emphasis)

Cingular has a good cell plan for their prepaid, which is somehow still cingular, even after AT&T bought them out… weird. Their international rates in Guatemala are right at $3 a minute, um, no thanks!

And the last option, which is probably what I’ll do, I’ve got a Sony Ericsson 525i which is a quad band phone, and should work in Guatemala with a Guatemala sim-card and Guate’ prepaid phone service, which is something like US $0.15 per minute calling locally in Guate’ or calling back to the US.

I’m pretty bad about keeping a journal in real life, always have been, but since I have to go online everyday to take care of all kinds of other things, this whole “blogging” thing might work for me, we’ll see!

Well, since I’d be doing a lot of different things in Guatemala when I get there, I’ve got  lot of stuff to get ready before I can leave!

A short list:

Figure out my cell phone situation

Prepare my photo equipment

Prepare my video equipment

Computer stuff

Sell investments

Fill all my outstanding orders

Raise support

Figure out everything else I need to do…

I think I’ll start out with figuring out all my cell phone stuff.

I’ll try to keep these posts fairly short, and in edible chunks, ’cause I know how hard it is to scroll through huge posts just to find what you’re looking for.

I’ve been thinking about going to Guatemala for some time, I’d be going there as a part of the porch de salomon ministry in Panajachel Guatemala. They’ve got a cool slogan, it reads “For the lost, the least, and the last” which are exactly the types of people I want to help the most.

I started talking to Lloyd Monroe last summer, and we’ve Emailed back and forth since then a little bit, with me getting serious about heading down there as a volunteer in February.

Turns out they still need volunteers, and Everything seems to be lining up for me to head down there sometime in May, which means I’ve got about 8 weeks to get a LOT done!