I usually try to get my taxes done well before the deadline. For some reason that didn’t happen this year! I finally got everything together and worked up the tax return on the evening of the 14th. I use software from H&R Block to do my taxes which includes free electronic filing for the federal tax return, but doesn’t include free electronic filing for state tax returns. Since I was getting a refund from the feds and owed the State of Idaho money, I elected to electronically file federal taxes and to mail in my state return along with my check and thus hang onto the money for a bit longer.
So, on my way down to Salt Lake City I dropped the state tax envelope off at the post office. I have a nice 70-300mm lens for my digital SLR Sony camera. I originally bought the lens in Japan for my Minolta film SLR back in 1997. That lens plus a couple of others was the reason I bought the Minolta DSLR camera. I really liked that camera a lot. Then, the Minolta camera was stolen out of my luggage on a trip to the Philippines. Because I had the lenses, I bought a Sony A100 digital camera to replace it. A few months ago my favorite 70-300 lens began having a problem. The zoom mechanism would bind, probably meaning a little gear in the lens somewhere was worn out. Eventually the mechanism stopped working completely. I could still use the lens, but had to pull the barrel out or  push it back in to set the zoom that I wanted. One side effect was that the zoom information was no longer being stored in the data information about the picture.
A few weeks ago when we were in Salt Lake, I took the lens over to Inkley’s to see about getting the lens fixed. They took my deposit and sent it off to the repair shop. Unfortunately, parts “were no longer available” and the lens couldn’t be repaired. It was back at the store in Salt Lake, so I made a quick trip down and back to retrieve the lens.
The Portneuf Valley ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) will be providing some communications assistance to the Pocatello50 Super Marathon being held on May 29th. The day ended with a meeting of the group to continue with the planning for the communications we’ll be providing. This will be a lot of fun.
TTFN!