Newegg.com sells hard drive enclosures that allow you use your hard drive as an external drive. They come with a power adapter and you connect it to your computer just like you would connect an external drive. You install your drive in the enclosure and your are ready to go. I have a couple of them that I have used to upgrade the hard drives on my PC. Once I complete the upgrade, I install the old drive in the enclosure and use it as a backup drive.

The fact that the old drive has an different OS version is not a concern since you are just accessing the data on the old drive and are not trying to boot your computer from it. I usually wait a few week after the upgrade and then I reformat the old drive so I can use it for backup storage.

Here is a link to an enclosure that looks like the ones that I have:

https://www.newegg.com/vantec-nst-366s3-bk-office-products/p/N82E16817392075

Sirui makes a series of monopods that comes with a base that has 3 roughly 9" legs. You can detach the base and use it as a pure monopod. Using the base, you still need to hold the camera/tripod because the combination is top heavy. I like the Sirui monopod because it provides much greater stability than a regular monopod. I use it in situations where there there are a lot of people around or when I don't have much time to set up a tripod for the picture. I frequently rock the monopod on two of the feet to help frame the picture when I don't have much time to take the shot, so I can set up a shot a lot quicker than I can with a tripod.

Most Sirui monopods are carbon fiber but I did see one that is aluminum. They have both twist lock and flip lock models. I can't say that it is right for you. but it is something you might consider. My Gitzo tripod is my main tripod but I use the Sirui monopod and a Sirui tripod when I need to travel light. The downside is that that I really like the stability of a tripod.

You are a real magician! You made all the cars and the bicyclist disappear. That greatly improves the photo. But I would suggest toning down the golden hour effect a bit. Otherwise I like it.

Love your photo, but it is giving me a terminal case of cabin fever. I would love to travel to Southport to see it myself but the corona virus is limiting my travel to trips to the grocery store once every few weeks. Bummer!

The plasma from recovered corona virus patients contains corona virus antibodies that, when given to corona virus patients, help their immune system fight the virus. At least that is the theory.

Great heartwarming video. My Thai born wife tells me that the little hand written sign in front of the girl says 'For Education'. For me, that little piece of information added to the emotional impact of the video. The money was not spent on food as I first thought - but on the little girl's education and clarifies things when she shows up in a school uniform at the end.

I love the 'mood' of the picture. Shooting the train station at night perfectly captures the history of the station. I started shivering from the cold just looking at it!

I love this picture of the Devil's Tower. Being shot in early morning light really brings out the detail and subtle color of the rock. You found a really good vantage point to take the picture since most photographs of the Devil's Tower seem to be shot closer to the Tower and at a lower elevation with the camera pointed up towards the Tower. After seeing your photograph, I'm gonna have to dig out my DVD of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' - one of my all time favorite movies.

I'm glad you finally got your SD card formatted.

I hope the closing of the Samy's store in Santa Barbara is not the result of any financial problems. Samy's has several stores in Southern California and they are among the best camera stores in the region. Their store on Fairfax caters to the professionals but these days I go to their Pasadena store because it is closer to me and I don't have to contend with parking issues at the Fairfax store.

Our family went to Europe in 2013 and we visited the Vatican. We showed up expecting to get in line with the thousands of other tourists to get in. Multiple touts approached us with offers for a tour similar to what you described. I don't remember the price, but it was somewhere around $50/person, not $500. Looking at the hours wait in the regular line we opted to take the tour. We were quickly lead through the museums. Photography was allowed except for the Sistine Chapel. It was possible to take photographs when they stopped to tell the group about the artwork. Otherwise you had to keep moving with your group, but I did get some descent grab shots. We went through the Sistine Chapel as a group but the Chapel was packed with people. It was my understanding the photography was strictly forbidden there; they had Vatican police to make sure no one took pictures. The tour ended at St Peters Cathedral and at that point you were on your own. I spent about 2 hours taking pictures in St Peters and got some very good pictures. The crowds sometime limit your photo opportunities if you don't want people in your pictures. Other than possibly being able to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel (I would verify that you could before forking out $500), we got the same tour as you described. I am not Catholic, but I enjoyed touring the Vatican. I would highly recommend the tour, but I think you can get the same tour for a lot less.

While the students go to school only four days a week, the school day was lengthened so the student get the same amount of instruction. I am not certain that lengthening the school day is conducive to learning. I think my concentration would be greatly diminished towards the end of the longer day. I was a B+ student when I attended high school some 50 years ago. In college, I was a nearly straight A student majoring in physics. I am convinced that I learned much better by spending roughly 15 hours a week attending classes and spending the rest of my time studying and doing homework.

I believe our schools spend too much time spoon feeding students and not enough time challenging them to develop their own learning skills. Physics certainly honed my problem solving skills; something that has served me well in the world of IT. My daughter graduated from Berkeley as a business major and I have seen that she (and her college friends) also have developed outstanding analytical skills. One of the four basic principles at the Berkeley Haas business school is 'challenge the status quo'. Unfortunately too much of our public school education concentrates on maintaining the status quo.

I am less concerned about the amount of time spent in the classroom and believe that, because technology is advancing at warp speed, we need to re-evaluate our educational system to meet the challenges of today's world.

Looking at the photographs I can almost smell the aviation fuel. Thanks for sharing

I have a Sirui EP-224S carbon monopod. It has 3 short (~10") feet at the base that you can fold down to turn it into a mini tripod. Camera stabilization with the Sirui is superior to what you can get with a regular monopod. I use it where I can't use a tripod. I frequently hold the monopod so that only 2 feet are touching the ground and let the camera's VR take care of the up & down motion. You can detach the feet portion to turn it into a regular monopod. Using this monopod I have been able to take very sharp pictures with a 200mm telephoto in very dim light at 1/30 sec under very dim light.

I've had at least 10 of the brews on your list. Last night I drank a bottle of Hair of the Dog Adam and last week I drank a bottle of Horny Devil. I can't remember the last time I drank a bottle of what Stone Brewery calls 'fizzy yellow stuff'. If I can't get a good beer with my meal I usually order a root beer instead.

But coming up with unusual naming for the beers is nothing new. Many (over 20) years ago I worked with an Indian who grew up in the UK and he gave me a bottle of a British beer called Head Banger and the naming was quite appropriate. It was like getting hit in the head by a 2x4. Cheers!

Looking at your photograph and I hear the Waylon Jennings' song about the town playing in my head. Your photograph is a perfect match to his song. Thanks.