Was in France this summer. Pickpockets slash even front pockets if there is a wallet bulge. I kept money, passport, etc. in a neck pouch inside my shirt. If you are going to carry a wallet, wrap a wide rubber band around it. Makes it harder to remove undetected.
I used a sling-bag for camera. If you are concerned about slashing the strap. run a few strands of fishing wire through the strap and wrap around the hardware buckles. Keep it in front in crowds, not slung behind.
I had no problem, but one of our group lost his wallet the first day, and another friend lost his in the Vatican. I didn't even carry a wallet. Best advice is be aware.

Agree. I would like opinions on how fast various machines are? The Canon 8800F takes about 1 minute per slide, including changes.

Source please?

0.

The pilot of the chopper he was on said it got hit. Not by RPG but by ground fire. I am reasonably sure more than one bird gets hit each day. I would trust the pilot. They have had my life in their hands before and they stay calmer than most others on the bird.

A little too quick to judge? the helicopter pilot from that trip was on CNN this morning and said they were taking fire. Williams chopper was hit, but not downed. The RPG was aimed at the helicopter in front of them. If you are not used to combat, the "fog of war" can do strange things to memory. However, apparently, not a lie.

The longer you use a computer, the more "footprints" get left in the hard drive. Run "msconfig" by clicking on the Start button and entering msconfig in the box. Look at the programs you have in the startup files. Uncheck those you don't need, and click apply. Don't uncheck those you don't know. If you don't use a program all the time, like Scype, it doesn't need to load on startup. You can load it later if you need it. Uncheck it.
Also go to the control panel and look at the programs you have installed. Uninstall any you are sure you don't need. If you don't know what the program does, do not delete it. Some are used by other necessary programs. However, programs like "Ask" and BingBar" will install as a parasite with other install or updates. Every program that loads on startup will take additional time.
Then go to Explore and right click on C:/ drive, and select properties. Select disk cleanup. Then run defrag, and reboot.
You don't say if you have a anti-virus program running. If you have more than one, they will often conflict and slow the computer down. McAfee and Norton are known as Bloatware, because of the ad-ons that you don't want. If you use Windows 7 or earlier install Microsoft Security Essentials. Another good free program is Avast.com. They have a paid upgrade, but their free version is highly rated.
One of the basic problems with a slow computer is the extras that accumulate over time. You can buy a program that will help, but you can do it yourself without difficulty. You can also sign up for a blog by Bob Rankin (askbobrankin.com) Use the search to find articles on how to clean up your computer.
If none of this works, I just bought a new Dell 15" for about $300.

I read the Bill and some analytical articles. As a private photographer, you are not restricted in any park. If you go in with a crew and set up in such a way that would restrict access by other visitors, you need a permit. If you are doing a professional shot for a wedding, movie or magazine layout, you will need a permit. I think you would have an issue if you went to Yosemite and found that Disney was restricting your access to certain venues so they could shoot a movie.
Be careful what you ask for: you might just get it.

I got to thinking about how to determine the source of the leak. What about putting letter or number codes embedded in the photo. Using dark blue on a black background would not show, but could be changed in a digital image to show the code. In print, you would have to determine how much contrast would be needed to prove a case. Printers can embed a code to ID a specific printer. Why not create your own code based on distribution: CD= customer digital, CP=cust. print, etc.
Don't know if this would work, but it can't hurt. At least you would have a trail.

San Antonio is a great place for photos, but it is about 4 hours south of Dallas. Think NYC to Wash, DC.
The suggestions for Dallas are good ones. There is a bronze sculpture of a cattle drive at Pioneer Plaza. Also, check out the skyline at night.
Ft Worth is about 1 hr west, and the Stockyards in Old Town are also good.

Think I discovered the problem. By moving my photos to the new computer, which uses Windows 8.1 instead of Windows 7, the Path is different and the program cannot find the image file. It only seems to pick up some of the pictures when I locate the correct file, meaning I will have to hunt for 20K+ files. Instead, I am exporting the modified images,transferring the image files to the new computer, and bringing back those that I have not finished. Any other thoughts?

Did that. It says all my pictures are there, and the frames show that changes have been made (tags). But all the frames are gray. Previews are not showing. If I try to load again from the stored catalog, it says that there is nothing to import, all catalogs are current. Still can't see anything.

I bought a new computer and installed LR5. The old computer has all the catalog data saved in a backup file. How do I get it back in the new install on the new computer?

Your best shooting will be just after sundown. You want enough light in the sky so that it is not blacked out, but not enough to overwhelm the lights you want. You should get between 20-40 minuted of ideal light.
go to the search feature at the top of this page and enter "shooting Christmas lights" If you are shooting other lights, the advice will me about the same.

This is what I found, but I was hoping for another answer.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Windows 7, 64 bit w/ 8g ram.
Defrag & purge didn't make a difference.
If I am dragging and change image in develop mode, I get the speed back without doing anything else. It seems to be linked to the individual photo image. I have only seen the problem with spot removal. I sometimes use PSE 10 with no issues.
As indicated, if I export & re-import, the problems go away. It may just be that spot removal just drags down LR5. Not clear why is it not an issue when I move to the next image.