Totally-Useless.com

The Christmas celebrations are going to be sooner that we think as time seems to pass quicker, especially for children awaiting their school holidays, and the presents they’ve been dreaming for But, it is not only children that are getting their presents, and mine arrived today Yes my friends, today I did receive the Canon EOS 40D SLR camera, and am so glad to have finally this camera

A friend of mine, Dan, also called bebalance on Flickr.com is one of the best rock and stones balancing artists that I have ever seen. The shots he presents daily on Flickr are mostly set on videos too, and these could be watched at youtube.com.

Especially for Christmas Dan has balanced Santa on top of his latest work of ZEN art, and here you can see it for yourself.

Wishing you a great week ahead my friends and a safe and Merry Christmas with your family and dear once. I’ll take sometime off in order to learn how to make the best possible shots with my new camera, and will post just before Christmas again. Talk to you soon

Just had to let you see this awesome shot taken by a Flickr friend with the nick Luky.Luke

And I have a little story to tell you about what happened to me yesterday, and why I feel almost like the booth on the photo must be feeling…
As you know I was scammed with the purchase of the Nikon D80 last month, and my mood took a dive – just like my trust in the human goodness dropped by many degrees. To make the story short, I was happy enough to receive the needed cash as a present from my dad. As you can imagine I didn’t wait but went straight to eBay and purchased a new camera, and this time not a Nikon D80 but a Canon EOS 40D with 3 lenses and other add on’s.

What I did not know beforehand however was the very hard up-sell I will be getting on the check out from this company. Very clever move of theirs indeed was the stunning price and all add on’s just to get people crazy enough to buy from them. What should have made me suspicious (but it didn’t – unfortunately) was the fact that one cannot pay directly after he pushes the BuyItNow button. No, you, me, whomever, that purchase whatever from this seller has to call for a verification – no other way available. As I said, I did not know what will happen once I got through, which on it’s own was practically impossible. Or the number was always “busy”, or the line was dying on me, or I kept dialing and dialing, and dialing for hours and still had no connection to any one from their sales department. Finally, after hours of trying to call I got through, and the hard up-sell started. To make the story short, they made me purchase 3 years warranty for $300, they made me pay for shipping $239, and made me upgrade the battery from 1 hour one to a 5 hour one. Total spent = $600! The guy on the phone promised to ship the camera on the same day, and told me that I will receive an email with the package number. 24 hours later I still haven’t received any email, or a package number, but yesterday I did get a phone call from my credit card’s bank verifying that I did indeed order anything online for $1900. Meaning that the sale went through, and that the company indeed billed my card.

Just before starting to write this post I sent a very upset email to the company asking why wasn’t I sent an email as promised, no any package number? And if I paid for express delivery – was the package sent indeed?
Imagine yourself on my place please, and tell me wouldn’t you feel like the shoe on the photo? Suffice to say that I do, and that I do hope to get the camera soon and in perfect order. And of course, an email from these people also.

I will let you know how this story unfolds my friends. In the mean time, please, send me your blessings and wishes to get this camera finally and have finally a happy smile on my face, and be able to make better and better photos than up till now. Talk to you soon and wishing you a splendid week ahead

Hello friends, and let me apologize for not being active on the Totally-Useless lately. Since I have been mostly useless during the past week and this could only be blamed on the health issues that I am having. Even the few lines here at the moment are too much for me really.

Santa, or Sint Klaas in Dutch is coming here (in The Netherlands) on the 5th of December each year. And there are celebrations everywhere in the country, in each city, or town, and village, and all children are waiting for him with impatience to get their presents. At school and at home.
He is coming from Spain together with the Black Piet’s. (Note, his coming here on the 5th of December each year has nothing to do with the Christmas celebration, as this “Sint Klaas coming” is especially geared towards children. Most probably the coming of Sint Klaus will become an official Dutch holiday soon.)

Santa Claus came!, originally uploaded by tatyveli.

These are by my partner taken shots – while they were waiting for Santa to come for the celebration of Sint Klaas at the school where he is working. And because I found the photos not so beautiful with the rain on the street, I reworked these and made them look like a card – painting. I hope you like them

Than I am having a bit of a problem here my friends. Peter tagged me and someone else tagged me too, in the past week, unfortunately I am unable to find my note in regards and am at a loss, and not knowing where is the memo or by whom was I tagged. Please, come forward and tell me about it, and I am so sorry for not being able to remember where I left my note about it. Feel so deeply ashamed and totally useless, you have no idea my friends.

Thank you for being patient with me and wishing you a splendid week ahead

This post was in the writing and got lost as my IE crashed suddenly. This will teach me not to write directly on the blog itself but on a notepad and saving it frequently, as I really loose my cool when all my work is gone :/ – wasted time and writing is totally useless my friends, if one knows how to prevent it especially, but still doesn’t…

Ivy bestowed upon us (the blog and me is us ) two awards that I am very appreciative about, and also honored and humbled…You see, the Beautiful Blogger and the Sexy Blogger Award is not to be taken lightly Thanks a lot dear Ivy for the nice thought and words Your blog is written with passion and I love your writing style. Check the blog out my friends, and you might get hooked and stay among her plenty of following

There are bloggers that I’d like to give these two awards to, BUT I will not as I am not sure how their wives will take it, LOL, so I made one award of one of my latest photo’s and it will be given to very highly estimated (in my eyes) bloggers And the sexy and beautiful bloggers awards will be given (safe so safe) to other highly appreciated and deserving female bloggers – problems solved

And here are the bloggers that are receiving the Beautiful Blogger and the Sexy Blogger Award:

Anna and her blog My Only Photo
You should check her blog as it is filled with splendid photographs and her writing
is something special too

Kathy Libby – KML – and her blog – Photography By KML An other amazing blog of the famous potographer Kathy Libby. Go and see her photo art my friends – you will enjoy your visit so much

Susanne van Hulst – and her blog Sue’s Daily Photography Stunning photos of the famous photographer Susanne van Hulst my friends, go and see and enjoy yourselves while there

The photo on top of the page is what I used to create with the Totally-Useful Blog Award.

The following bloggers and their blogs are the receivers of my blog’s award:

Bob and his Astronomy blog Blackholes and Astrostuff verything about stars, comets, planets, the Milky Way there for you to read and enjoy Bob is taking some splendid shots of the various planets for you and me to see with his mega telescope, and people, these are 1st Class!

Bill – Hungry_Mother and his blog Bill’s Random Thoughts. This is one of the few blogs that I check very often becaue Bill has a writing style that is Speaking to me and I very much enjoy my visits there. Check it out my friends.

Zahidyne and his blog Perils of a Reluctant Chauvinist. This blog is something to take the time to read and enjoy Definitely a Must

Once in awhile I will choose some blogs and give them the Totally Useful Blog Award. As for the receiving bloggers and their blogs – they are welcome to spread it around to 3 blogs that they enjoy reading often

Take care my friends and will try to write as often as I feel able to. My next post will be about the unexpected @#$%^& that happened to me a few days ago. Until than.