From America's Corn Belt

[TimeshareVon]

Hi There! I'm Yvonne aka TimeshareVon. Currently I'm living in Iowa, but am expecting to find a new job and leave this area before the end of summer. I'm originally from Virginia and have also lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While I love the Midwest values and pace of life, it is time to find a warmer climate to live!!

I enjoy travel and often use our timeshares to vacation. We own four weeks so we get around quite a bit with them. I see we have a lot of recent members from the UK. We just did two weeks there, one in Scotland (Aberfeldy) and one in England (Thirsk). We had a fabulous time.

Spring of 2006 I upgrade my photography equipment dumping my old Canon T50 stuff for the Olympus Evolt 500 system. It's been a nice point and shoot camera and has served us well in Alaska, Hawaii and the UK. I'm getting ready for a winter trip to Alaska to take in the aurora borealis, ice sculptures and sled dog racing and feel I need to know A LOT more about the functionality of my equipment, especially to do the night photography of the aurora.

I am also a rather accomplished stereo-3D photographer, having taken that up as a hobby about 8 years ago. The past couple of years, I find myself not doing as much with the Realist as I used to, but maybe I will again soon.

I look forward to learning more about my Olympus equipment from you here.

Best wishes,
Yvonne

[4/3_Pickles]

Welcome. Our company just got a new customer in Iowa. Nobody wanted to do the implementation, so they drew straws.

They don't mind going to New Jersey, but don't want to go to Iowa? I thought it was funny.

[NrthrnHrse]

Welcome Yvonne, glad to see you made it here. I hoep we can get together when you arrive. BTW, I forgot in my private email to you to mention that the lens that I lust for at the moment is the 35-100 Zuiko. It has a hefty price tag ($2K) but I think it would be so worth it because of the low light possibilities and great shots of the ice sculptures and aurora.

[roger h]

Hi Yvonne! Welcome from another Iowan! We're down here about 30 miles NE of Iowa City.

Leaving Iowa? I did that once. Did pretty well. Stayed gone 25 years... but there's something about God's country that always calls you back after you've seen the sights of the world.

If there's anything I can help with, send me PM and I'll get you my number...

Roger

[TimeshareVon]

Hi Yvonne! Welcome from another Iowan! We're down here about 30 miles NE of Iowa City.

Leaving Iowa? I did that once. Did pretty well. Stayed gone 25 years... but there's something about God's country that always calls you back after you've seen the sights of the world.

If there's anything I can help with, send me PM and I'll get you my number...

Roger

Hi Roger.

Yes, my work is done in Iowa and I'm starting a job search that will hopefully get us somewhere a bit warmer. Since we moved to Iowa for my last company, there is really nothing here to keep us here. I'm actually in Florida as I type, for a job interview and some other business.

Have you ever heard of a nasty fungus called histoplasmosis? I stayed long enough to pick up a rather bad case of it. Was sick for about a month. Found out I have a golf ball sized mass in my right lung. Good news was that it isn't malignant. I go back to the doc in about 2 wks to have another CAT scan to see if it's shrinking. If not, I will either have six months of antibiotics ahead or surgery to remove it. ARGH!

Do you ever get the opportunity to shoot the aurora over by you? I didn't really know you could sometimes see it as far south as us.

Yvonne

[Pontiac005]

Welcome to the forum. I am glad your health is not compromised. Although I have always lived in California, I do like to travel as well. I usually go to Michigan once a year with my wife to visit relatives and hve passed through the midwest quite a bit. I hope you enjoy your stay on 4/3rds and hope you find a place to live and enjoy. I have the E-500 as well and have enjoyed using it.

Marcus

[roger h]

Hi Roger.

Have you ever heard of a nasty fungus called histoplasmosis? I stayed long enough to pick up a rather bad case of it. Was sick for about a month. Found out I have a golf ball sized mass in my right lung. Good news was that it isn't malignant. I go back to the doc in about 2 wks to have another CAT scan to see if it's shrinking. If not, I will either have six months of antibiotics ahead or surgery to remove it. ARGH!

Do you ever get the opportunity to shoot the aurora over by you? I didn't really know you could sometimes see it as far south as us.

Yvonne

I've heard that Florida is really cold right now... what... 70s? Take consolation in that it's going to struggle to get to +5*F as a high for the weekend here!

Histoplasmosis? I'd never heard of it! I had to look it up. I vaguely recall something about poultry workers having a higher potential for something, and that folks who clean bat guana wear masks, and I know that mouse-infested areas carry hantavirus, but histoplasmosis is one I'd not encountered. I'd expect that a six-month round of anti-fungals won't be an exciting prospect. I hope it clears up on its own for you! I've had a collapsed lung and major surgery years ago. I can empathize, believe me!

We're just far enough south that it's very rare to see the Aurora, although I did get to see it once this winter, and didn't believe I was seeing it! It was only the next day when I read it in the Cedar Rapids Gazette that I recognized it as Aurora. I remember seeing the Aurora pretty regularly as a kid in NW Iowa where I was raised, though. It's hard to believe how much climactic difference there is in a hundred miles north-to-south in Iowa. Our winters over here are much more mild than just a hundred miles north.

Enjoy your stay in Florida, and may the employment gods smile on you!

Roger

[TimeshareVon]

Welcome Yvonne, glad to see you made it here. I hoep we can get together when you arrive. BTW, I forgot in my private email to you to mention that the lens that I lust for at the moment is the 35-100 Zuiko. It has a hefty price tag ($2K) but I think it would be so worth it because of the low light possibilities and great shots of the ice sculptures and aurora.

Thanks Lara! I did go ahead and splurge on that Zuiko 14-54, f2.8-3.5 lens via Amazon.com. It had been at $407 with free shipping from Amazon but when I got in last night, it jumped to over $450 from Amazon. They did, however, have a vendor through Amazon who dropped their price to $399.99, plus $6.35 for s/h so I went ahead and ordered it so that it will be there for me to start working with it at home next week

I appreciate your suggestion and advice, especially with your personal experience with the 14-45, f3.5-5.6 standard issue. I don't want to get up to Fairbanks and be blessed with a decent aurora only to have a crummy lens that can't focus properly or challenges me unnecessarily.

Yvonne

[3dpan]

Hello Yvonne,

Welcome to the group.
You may find this photo of interest, taken with my E-500 and 35mm ZD macro lens.

Cheers,
Alec

Attachment 3823

[TimeshareVon]

Hello Yvonne,

Welcome to the group.
You may find this photo of interest, taken with my E-500 and 35mm ZD macro lens.

Cheers,
Alec

Attachment 3823

Thanks Alec. Very interesting mushrooms . . . I assume that is what they are Nice close-up detail.

Yvonne

[TimeshareVon]

Well thought I'd do a reintroduction post since I've been absent from here for over a year.

I have moved from Iowa, back to Milwaukee. I've been back here for nearly a year now. I continue to enjoy travel and have been to Fairbanks twice (March 07 AND 08), and was fortunate to get several nice photos of the northern lights.

Right now I'm on a mission to upgrade my lens capabilities as I plan for an upcoming trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada for the polar bear viewing adventures out in the tundra buggies. I'd like to improve upon my stock kit lens that came with my Evolt 500, but don't really know if it's necessary. I am thinking I'll probably bite the bullet and get the 70-300 f/4.0-5.6.