For Christmas, I bought myself the Nikon D80 (with some surprising help from my parents who I think felt bad about my laptop situation). I have been shooting ALOT, more then I have in the last two years (which is really nice). So far, I like it. Its VERY lightweight, which after shooting with a Mamiya 645 for the last few years is a welcome change. The flash is a bit harsh but thats to be expected and its no worse then any other on camera flash I've used. I haven't explored all of the features yet so I will have to write a more thorough review at a later time, but I can say that it is very different then shooting with film. I think the largest change is I have had to stop myself from thinking about the film itself when shooting (i.e. ASA, pushing, pulling, etc.), its a little weird.

I haven't had a chance to upload all the pictures I have taken because I actually just received my new laptop in the mail, payed for mostly by my insurance company. I decided to purchase the Inspiron E1505, the new version of my old laptop. The screen is slightly larger and its slightly faster with a better video card, which apparently also makes it Vista compatible. The last two days have been a marathon of installing programs and configuring the new baby. Now I just have to update my iTunes with all of the music that I lost. Hopefully, some friendly peeps will donate some music to my cause.