January 2008 Archives

When one becomes a "photographer," either amateur or pro, the tendency is to want to go crazy and buy up the latest, greatest, coolest and neatest gadgets. Picture-taking has by no means cornered the market on this (see also GOLF, FISHING, SKIING, COMPUTERS, CARS and myriad more). With technology in particular, though, it's easy to make that jump from "I love my camera" to "I must have NewAwesomeCamera."

Those of us on a budget, though, can more easily put that attitude to rest. A photographer takes the pictures, not the camera. Yes, equipment can matter in some situations. Expertise is a leveler, though. I do want nicer lenses, a better flash, a nicer tripod. But the stuff I have now? Lets me take great pictures! I can be patient! Yes! I can!

For those of you who are interested in digital photography, maybe a new digital SLR? I'd recommend either the Canon Rebel XTi (aka 400D), or its recently announced replacement, the Rebel XSi (aka 450D), available sometime this spring. I won't be buying the new camera (when I upgrade I'm going to go much much crazier than that).

What interest or hobby makes you want to spend the big bucks?

So the Petite Filet's birthday is today (Happy Bday, honey!) and me, the bad husband who has felt like crawling under a rock to recover from my flu-infused and allergy-induced funk, didn't buy her a present (yet). Oops.

Well, she took some wind out of my sails, because I was going to get her a cool shockproof case for her Crackberry (which I purchased for her as a Christmas gift). But she bought something else. And then I was going to buy her some matching earrings for the pendant I got her for Christmas (see a theme here?), but that seemed derivative and lame. So did getting her car's windows tinted.

It's got to be better than the year I bought her steak knives. If we could survive that, I'm sure we can survive me getting her something a few days late. In the meantime, some of her favorite flowers and a card might be in order.

Her mom is coming to visit today for a few days, too. Something I just remembered.

So, I'm loving this New Years resolution to eat more chocolate. I just ate an entire box* of Girl Scout cookies** and feel like I could jump off the roof and fly***.

*Not really an entire box, more like a rather large handful.
••Samoas! Does anyone like those but me? Man, they sure do seem smaller than I remember, and there are fewer in the box.
***Don't try this at home, no matter how many cookies you eat.

We thought the boys looked pretty cute after church, so we took 'em into the back yard to, uh, "shoot" them.

There are a few things I would have done differently, such as maybe moving the Cutlet a little more behind the tree to avoid the top of his head getting too much sunlight. Plus, maybe clean some of the natural trash off the ground for a cleaner shot. All in all, for a quickie 5-minute session, not too bad.

The only thing worse than a cheese-sandwich post (ya know, one that is so boring and menial that you wonder why it exists) is a mucus-sandwich post ... one that says, "I don't feel good, World, waaaaaaah!" Yeah, what is up with that? Fortunately, the handful of readers who pop by here were spared because the flu bug that attacked me uphillbothwaysinthesnow wouldn't let me drag my sick butt out of bed to the computer for anything coherent beyond a little nappy-poo on the mousepad.

We are on the other side of that mess, dear hearts, and I see the uncongested airways at the end of the tunnel.

I'll leave you for the weekend with one thought: If a toilet flushed in the forest, would anybody hear it? And would the seat be left up or down? And what is that toilet doing in the forest?

I have a lot that I hope to write about soon, but for now I'm going to offer up some photos of the Cutlet's first bike ride last weekend at a park close to our house. When you've got nothing good to say, say it with pictures!

I was going to retool my normal resolution about "Being More Healthy in (insert year here)," but then I ate about 12 miniature York Peppermint Patties and got the kind of sugar rush that makes you think you can leap tall buildings and swim across the English Channel. So now, instead of repeating my 100-mile bike ride this year in a more respectable time, I'm just going to sit around and eat as much chocolate as I can.

Who's with me?