See, I always thought that gray bundle was going to be "the" SKU to get, so I had my hopes up a little too high about it. I'd already been waiting for MGS4 to finally buy my PS3, so buying the bundle seemed like the best thing to do. It's only in the last few days that I've started to realize what a terrible deal it is.

Meanwhile, Wal Mart is selling the 80GB bundle with a 100 dollar gift card starting Thursday, so that's the one I'm shooting for. I've already checked with Best Buy and they will price match it, so if I can find a local Wal Mart that has it in stock....that's another back up plan.  I'm thinking of grabbing it tomorrow night at a midnight launch somewhere, and spending that extra 100 bucks on the other games I want (Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank and possibly Warhawk).

Sony Style requires a credit card application....but if I strike out across the board at Wal Mart and Best Buy, that'd be my next best shot.   I called Target, Fred Meyer and several Gamestops, and everyone is getting bundles Thursday, so I figure in any event, I should have my PS3 by the weekend (I just want to make sure I get it in the bundle and with the 100 dollars off).

My brother in law bought one of those new Sony Handycam HDR series camcorders to bring on vacation this spring.  I played with it quite a bit and found it really easy to use (importing videos without their proprietary software was the only hard part).

The down side is the cheapest one I can find is right at the edge of your price range.

I saw that thread. I felt like JoshEEE made an ass of himself more than those two other guys though.

Yeah, leave it to me to piss people off.  It sucks that Ian got suspended over the whole thing, but he got angry and really wanted to express that (filters be damned).

Personally....I didn't expect the wrestling fans to be so protective of that guy after they found out he was a murderer, but after talking with a couple of them privately, I decided there wasn't really anything else for a "non-fan" to say and let it go.

I think the whole thing should have had it's own topic (so wrestling fans and non-fans alike could discuss it) but that was unfortunately not meant to be.

That's the first time I've ever seen a Wookiee focus. Very cool.

Here's one I think you need to try and get a hold of. 

I've got a mini-DV, which I picked up when it was the top of the line about 5 years ago.  It transfers easily to the PC via firewire and the tapes are about 5 bucks apiece when bought in bulk.

The tapeless solutions are really cool, with a couple of exceptions.  Unlike the DV versions, when those things run out of storage (on a long vacation or something), you can't just swap out the tape. Some offer memory card onboard storage, but those things cost more than tapes.

I think the real question, is are you going to spend the extra 500 bucks and get a HD camcorder, so you can film the new baby in high definition widescreen. 

Two of the sponsors are Seattle collectors, so I got to see these last month at our monthly meeting. These are very hefty medallions, especially compared to the TAC plastic ones.

I want to hit as many of these panels as possible, but I think everyone else there does as well.  These things will probably be pretty packed. 

Bill was suggesting a meetup today.  Although I still am not a fan of that restaurant, I'm always up for meeting with the JD crowd.

So howsabout it?

I booked this when I thought it was a smaller event (maybe like the fan club breakfasts) but later found out how huge it is.

I'll be there, but don't think I'll be easy to find in a crowd of 2 thousand.