I Received My New Camera

The Queen bought me a Canon 7D for our ten-year anniversary. (She is great!) I finally received it Tuesday night. I could not wait to try it out, so I just stared at the battery as it charged. It was finally ready at about nine o'clock so I popped it in and started shooting.

It was dark, which was a perfect test for the high ISO settings. I started shooting and messing around with different ISO settings and shutter speeds. All of my shots were taken in the house and some of them turned out pretty great after running them through Noiseware. The only downfall is that I only have the community edition so it does not save the images full size.

I will continue trying this great camera out until my trip to Chicago on October 30. I will really test it's low light capabilities on that trip. I will retake some photos around the Chicago River that I originally took in 2006. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

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A Lot of Information

My meetings here in Rosemont have been very good. I am learning a lot that I can take back to my company. I have met a few customers that are great contacts to get us in the door of a few target companies. It has been a very productive trip.

This year the meeting have focused a lot of time on marketing, in particular internet marketing and social media. I know there is a lot more that I can do in both of these areas, it is just hard to carve out the time and to justify it. I have learned some things this week that should help me with both of these.

Last week I had a conversation with my advertising agency and was about to throw in the towel with regards to social media. I had a bad attitude about it and I think my account manager felt that and just went along with it. Our meeting turned into a trash talking session about what social media cannot do for my company. I admit that I was not seeing any potential. I came to my meeting this week all ready to dismiss social media as a waste of time.

Two sessions really changed my mind. One session was led by a marketing person from a company in my industry. He focused more on web site analytics, but he started to change my perspective. The second session was led by a consultant who works with companies to establish their social media presence. I think that he convinced me that I am not wasting my time and need to actually spend some more time on social media. I really need to get other people in the company involved with blogging, Facebook and Twitter. He told us that we cannot do it alone. It needs to be a company focus. I agree.

I am planning to get started with the implementation of a social media strategy when I get back into the office. I am already thinking about who in the company will buy into the strategy and really work to make it successful. At this point I only have about two people who I have identified.

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I Love Chicago!

I really do love to visit Chicago. It is one of the cleanest big cities you will find. My only problem is that on this trip to Chicago, I am not really in Chicago. I am stuck in Rosemont, IL which is at the airport.

I am in town for some meetings. The trade association my company belongs to has two days of meetings every year and it seems like it is in Rosemont about every other year. I had to attend because I am a member of a committe that is also having a meeting in the same location. So I get three days of meeting in Rosemont.

The weather yesterday was great. The only problem was that I was stuck inside for most of the day. I did get out of the hotel in the morning and took a taxi ride to Target to get some supplies. I also got out of the hotel yesterday evening and took a 3.3 mile run around the neighborhood. This area looks like the typical Midwest from TV and the movies. The houses are all brick with some rock work and most of the yards have some nice raised planters. All of the grass is green and the flowers are in bloom.

Today the weather is not very good. It has been raining all day. I really wanted to take another run today, but I guess I will have to settle for the treadmill in the fitness center. I am really trying to get back into my fitness program on this trip so I can continue it when I get back home.

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