Hey Steve,

You got some real nice pics there and a lot of fire! Must be the new 40d!!!! How about posting some of your bird pics!!! I bet if you throw some up then Ken will and maybe even Mark. Oh wait I heard a nasty rumor that Mark is getting rid of all of his telephotos and getting some large aperature low light glass for some portrait stuff. Something about he is getting tired of all of the post race activities. Go figure! I bet he would give you a good deal on the 600!! See you at San Diego?

Tom

Tom and Mark:

You know I've missed that witty banter and I figure I'm in for a lot more since I'll be carrying around a lot more equipment. The 500 is not too bad to carry around, you both would have laughed if you saw me on top of a houseboat with the monopod trying not to fall off. I did buy a gimbel set up too and a monstrous tripod too so now I can hang with Mark even though I'm 100 mm short. (story of my life!) That 40d is fine, I've been putting the 500 on that for solo passes and running the trusty 100 to 400 for everything else on my 1Dn. 

I figure I deserve San Diego but somehow work keeps getting in the way. One race at a time. I haven't even had a whole lot of time for bird shots or much of anything else but things should lighten up a bit in the next couple of weeks.