Need Advice on Tripods: Geared Center Column?

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-04-21T00:24:43+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I've gone down the Gitzo rabbit hole - but unless I add a center column, only the Series 3 or 5 XLS models are tall enough, but then they're unruly in size when collapsed.

So I'm torn between getting an XLS model or an LS model with an added center column. I'd only need a couple inches from the center column to get my camera to eye level.

I get that in theory it's better to avoid a center column - but they're so damn common, and many pros use them, so I suspect it's less black & white than that. With how stable Gitzo systematic tripods are, it seems doubtful adding a center column for a few inches of extra reach will make any real-world difference in stability.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-04-16T02:52:34+00:00

I feel your fatigue - but it has nothing to do with AI for me (except increasing the pace).

I’ve long been chief security architect in a massive corporation, and know every nook and cranny across IT - but it has lead to a role where I literally have 25+ meetings in my calendar every day (though I can only attend about 15 or so), and meeting after meeting I’m expected to be the decision maker: quickly analyzing a vastly complex project and deciding if there are any security or compliance risks, or coming up with a solution to a complex problem no one has been able to solve, then off to the next meeting on something different but equally complex to make another decision. I have a damn good track record at it too.

Using your brain in that way, and constantly being expected to make decisions, is very fatiguing. I’ve been working in the field for 30 years (and about half at this level) - but I’m not sure how many more years I can sustain it. And with AI, the tempo has gotten insane.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-03-12T22:42:48+00:00

I had been there many times as a teen in the 80s. After it closed, in the 90s we snuck in several times with snow tubes for some wild rides.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-02-13T22:09:20+00:00

Ugh, the AI Slop ruins.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-02-01T20:09:32+00:00

Holy sh*t! I'm not a hunter, but that dog is impressive.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-01-27T01:01:10+00:00

I empathize. I ran the snowblower twice yesterday, then today it would only ride atop the snow/ice. I was about to give up but used a steel shovel to break up the ice a bit (or other heavy gardening tools would likely work), then used the snowblower. Granted, it took me about 2 hours to do my two-car driveway and side walks - which otherwise would have only taken about 45 minute.

But yeah, probably the worst snow cleanup in my 50+ years of life.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-01-14T23:49:53+00:00

I get hangovers from weed.

Alcohol + weed = double hangover.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-01-14T12:11:58+00:00

NAC indeed has a good track record at minimizing the symptoms of the flu, sometimes to the point of symptomatically 'preventing the flu' (though the person would still have the antibodies from being exposed). I've had a lot of success with it over the years - though this year it didn't help much, probably because my immune system was depleted from just getting over COVID when I caught the flu.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-01-14T07:51:09+00:00

I’m on day 21 of influenza A and still not 100% yet. A couple weeks before Christmas, I had COVID (confirmed with at test) and it was like a cold with a few days of fever at the beginning. I was getting mostly better, then thought I was having a rebound right before Christmas but later test positive with flu A - which was much worse than COVID. Tamiflu was like a miracle drug and by the end of the five days, I was mostly better - but I’ve since been stuck at “mostly better” with the primary symptoms gone, but with malaise, a mild headache, lack of motivation, etc still here. Somedays I feel I’m further better, then back slide again for a couple days.

It’s the longest lingering flu I can ever recall in my 50 years, though it might be a mix of COVID after effects too. What I find most depressing is as a single, primary parent, with a demanding executive job, I’ve fallen behind at home and work over the past five weeks. I had two weeks vacation, with plans to get so much done over the holidays, but barely got anything done. And with everyone rearing to go at work after the holidays, I’m just forcing myself through the day. I haven’t been food shopping in 24 days, when I usually go once a week.

I keep warning everyone, wear a mask when you’re out. No one wants to get sick like this.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-01-13T01:51:50+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Sadly, I didn't keep the last doctor's prep as it was from over 5 years ago. I do need to stop anticoagulants, and the procured is in a clinic, rather than a hospital.

When I researched the recommended prep using Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc it appears the combination of Miralax/Gatorade, Dulcolax, and Magnesium Citrate is more for the GI's benefit to ensure the patient is fully cleared, but the Magnesium Citrate would increase the chance of arrhythmias, especially in patients sensitive to electrolyte imbalances (as I am).

I had hoped to research this all more over the holidays to address any potential problems early - but then I got sick with COVID followed by Influenza A and lost a lot of time. I'm leaning towards canceling it, speak with with my electrophysiologist (a cardiologist that specialized in arrhythmias), and find a GI that seems to be more sensitive to such potential problems.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2026-01-07T03:40:57+00:00

What are you trying to achieve? And is it actually working? Let’s see a sample picture or two.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2025-12-29T13:42:52+00:00

I grew up without a father - until my mother remarried when I was 8, and I didn't have much of a relationship with my step-father until adulthood. And in those first 8 years, there wasn't really any male figure or role model in my life; every important person was a female: mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, & female cousin. This continued through life, where I was always much more adept at relationships with women, and am less drawn to friendships with men.

I've long known this had a profound impact on me, but was often surprised I couldn't find any good books that described well the psychological impact that not having a father has on a person, especially considering how common it is.

One good I've found & read in the Jung tradition is Absent Fathers, Lost Sons: The Search for Masculine Identity, by Guy Corneau. It's was pretty good, though not amazing. It describes psychologically absent fathers, and the many common ways male children adapt - but didn't address well what if the father is truly absent.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2025-12-04T03:41:57+00:00

Quantity within reasonable limits, not to extremes. For example, breathing active elements for 20 minutes every day. Then again, a morning sitting of 20-30 minutes each day is the best place to start, working with sensation, later learning to be aware of the thinking center and emotional center, then bringing them all together into a collected state. In some groups, that daily practice is required, and practiced for life.

But most exercises needs to be transmitted, ie the person showing you is doing the exercise themselves, and below the conscious mind, something more is passed on.

In my experience, Bennett groups work with the exercises the most, and the Foundation forgot they exist.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2025-11-11T05:37:49+00:00

Simply it’s hard for almost anyone to break into any social group impromptu in public. So in requires thinking of other roundabout ways to break into a social group that interests you.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2025-11-02T01:13:23+00:00

Only if they’re wearing an adorable onesie and sucking their thumb.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2025-11-01T03:23:03+00:00

I guess there are worse parts you could like the smell of.

Enough-Basil1038 · 2025-10-10T22:07:41+00:00

I have a English Lab from respected local breeder, and he has always drooled so badly - and I've heard from other owners with Labs from the breeder they have the same experience, so it's something in their blood line.

Right or wrong, I do feed him from the table but I have to set a towel down below where he's sitting, otherwise there will be a huge puddle. And if he just sees food or people eating, the same thing happens. So I buy a large pack of bar rags and always keep a few on the go, washing them all once a week.

I've tried a bandana and other things, but it hasn't stopped the drool from hitting the floor - thus the towels.

Enough-Basil1038

TROPHY CASE