It's been for ever since I have been able to use my investment in photography gear over the years. I resisted switching to digital from film for quite some time, but then about 5 years ago when we had our first kid, that was it. I wasn't in the position to go all-out on a new digital body so I had opted for a Canon Powershot Pro 1 which did a great job for many years. But all that expensive gear and those big lenses (and wide ones) were just sitting there going to waste...what a shame.

Well, about a month ago I finally broke down and got a Canon 50D (literally 2 weeks before the 7D came out)...<sigh>. Either way, I don't regret the purchase. I got a great deal and a free multi-function printer which I desperately needed so I could scan those old slides.   

I've had some time to get familiar with the camera and have been getting some fantastic shots lately. This weekend was the Vintage Aircraft Weekend at the Boeing Future of Flight Museum at Paine Field (KPAE) in Everett, WA. I have to say that living in the Pacific NW is absolutely AMAZING. I would have never thought that there was such an aviation rich culture and significant GA presence given the weather and terrain. Boy was I wrong. There are some spectacular aircraft and flight museums throughout the entire Pacific NW. Here's a couple of shots from this weekend. The top 100 (shot over 1100+ pics) and other sets can be found on my Flickr site.

I went ahead and left a review on the B&H site (still hasn't been posted for some reason) and I also dropped B&H a line via their customer service link on the website. I normally would have just written it off but I was so peeved at how this thing broke so easily that I wanted to let B&H know about it and hopefully prevent someone else from going through this. Well, to my surprise, not only did B&H respond within 8 hours, they (unprompted might I add) went ahead and refunded the price of the item immediately. When the heck has that ever happened? Not anytime I can recall in recent memory.

Although the item wasn't a huge dollar amount, it showed me that B&H does care about their customers and they will go the extra mile for them. I was already a loyal customer (I have yet to find as good a price from a reputable distributor that doesn't play the grey market warranty game) but now they have me for life. I know if I buy something at B&H, they are going to stand behind it and that's a company I can really get behind and be loyal to. THANK YOU B&H, glad to see that some companies still value customer service!