This weekend we had a planned 80 minute run for Team N Training. We met at Golden Gardens (in North Seattle) at 8am. On the way up the temperature dropped from 40 degrees to 36 degrees and it started snowing. Fortunately, the snow stopped for the duration of the run. I ended up running for 90 minutes which was probably about 30 minutes too long since I was just getting over a nasty chest cold.
As for the snow, it snowed some on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday…just a little each day – enough to cover everything with a thin layer. Tonight the temps are supposed to drop down to the mid 20s (already 32 outside) so things should be nice and frozen in the morning.
I also picked up a new camera bag. I had the following requirements:
* good balance between weight and size
* carry a laptop
* carry my camera body with a 70-200 f/4 lens, 17-55 f/2.8, 50mm f/1.8, flash unit, accessories, ipod, and plenty of other little storage.
* meet carry-on requirements
* provide a tripod holder as an option
I first picked up the Tenba Shootout small backpack. What a little beast. This thing had some girth. It was pretty thick, heavy, and not very comfortable for me. On top of that, my Dell D410 (small) laptop did not fit into the laptop opening. So I returned that bag.
It was now between a Kata R103 and a Crumpler (either the Sinking Barge, Customary Barge, or Whicky and Cox). Glazer’s Camera had the R103 and the Sinking Barge. Both were very comfortable. The R103 met all of my requirements whereas the Sinking Barge lacked enough camera space. So I went with the Kata R103.
I’m very happy with the bag. The camera gear I listed above easily fits in the bag – I could even add my 12-24mm f/4 if needed or I could swap out the 70-200mm for my 300mm f/4. Laptop and power brick easily slip into the laptop holder. It has plenty of accessory pouches (FYI, one is hidden inside large lid) for stuff like charger, cables, ipod, headphones, etc. I still have room remaining for other small items and I could even fit a paperback book in there.
As for the rest of the weekend…it was pretty quiet. Since the temp never went above 40, we stayed indoors for the most part. Nate went to the camera store twice with me, whereas Zach was happiest at home with mommy.