Supertrain

This has been a bit of a crazy day. Up @ 3:45am, asleep, up, attempt to sleep, work, up again - within 24 hours.

We went to Supertrain (model train show) today. It’s an annual tradition now for us (3 years running). Bring a donation for the food bank, discuss about how silly it is that we have pay separately in order to each get $1 off our admission because they money-takers can’t figure out that 2 donations = $2 off 2 tickets, feel dumb that we’re cheap enough to do that for a whole $1, proceed to coat check with shiny new $1, look at the layouts, eat some mini donuts, briefly look at the selling booths… ahhh…

All in all a nice relaxation. Your only job for the 2-2 1/2 hours you’re there is to look at things people have spent an immense amount of time working on and admire. Well, I guess you have the job to submit a ballot of your favourite. Still, it’s a nice change of pace.

This year’s pictures are truncated as we went with a new (read: untested) memory card in our digital camera. Though the card supposedly holds 350+ images, after getting 15 pictures and 2 short movies (sorry, no easy way to get the movies onto this blog) we perpetually got a read error. So we diligently re-formatted the card on the spot and re-shot a few of the pictures only to have the same problem.

I honestly don’t remember which display these pictures are from. I think 3 - 5 are from the layout we both voted as the best and the others are from our 2nd favourite. After the card was misbehaving I put it away and tried to enjoy my day despite it (and the thought of having to contact someone via eBay to return/exchange it). Electronics are just not our friends these days (my PocketPC needs work, I have been slowly wrestling with our second computer for the last 5 weeks to get it up to 100%, and now this).

Maryruth and I both enjoy models so this is an enjoyable excursion. The amazing details can stop us for hours—in the movies you get to see brake lights go on as a car “stops” to wait for the barricade to come down as the train passes.