Camera Days are here again...

Woo hoo! The UPS guy, taking his sweet ol' time, finally came to the office at about 4 pm. Contrary to popular expectation, I did not play with my new toy ALL evening. After eating dinner (tacos, see below) Aileen and Brian and I watched an English series called "Monarch of the Glen", then I hopped on my black charger, galloping across the Internet to bring you these very important photos.
Question now is, should I post the pic of the day in the blog itself (like the pictures below) or as a separate page?

Tacos!

My lovely sister, getting dinner. 

Ok...now?...how 'bout now?...now?

I'm sitting here waiting for my new digital (Canon Powershot A75) camera to arrive via UPS. I ordered it on Amazon (they were having a special, where you get a gift certificate towards future purchases) and took the Free Shipping option. That's always a gamble, since you might get it soon, or in two weeks. I was lucky, they shipped it pronto, and (according to the UPS tracking feature -- what did we do before its invention) the package arrived in Denver yesterday. So, it's on some UPS truck, making its meandering and agonizingly slow way to my office.
I have to resist getting up and looking down the street to see if I can see the truck.
I hate waiting...

Stress

Stress: when your family moves in with you and you haven't had a roommate in five years.
I love my siblings very very much and Friday they moved in. Actually, Max will be living with his best friend, Gabe, in Fort Collins, and Aileen and her husband, Brian, will be staying with me. We all kind of need our own space, and yesterday those spaces hadn't really been established. Today they have been and everything is much much better.
Sure, I hadn't anticipated the stress, but that's mainly because I'm not really interested in dwelling on what can go wrong. The important thing is we decided beforehand to communicate with as much honesty as humanly possible. So, if there's stress, at least it's not based on imagined worries. :)

Pic-of-the-Day is suffering a bit, not from lack of picture taking opportunities (the cats were sleeping together on the bed -- so cute!!), but because the camerasaur is not processing the pictures more and more frequently.
I'm going to order the camera online (better prices, I think) but I'm sorely tempted to just walk into a store for $25 more and get it now!
I'll alert you to more photos when that's up and running again.
Oh, and I'm trying to set up the Blogger picture posting feature, I just haven't gotten it to work yet.
(And Aileen thinks the camerasaur is 7 years old, not 10...)

Camera decision!

Okeydokey! I was in OfficeMax today and took an opportunity to look at the digital cameras first hand. The difference in size between the two cameras I've been considering isn't as much as I thought it would be. The A75 is really quite small, and the Elph is almost too small. Well. Decision made then. I'll take an A75 please.
The really nice thing? I just got paid for some extra work I did (thanks M&D!) and while most of it will go towards my credit card debt, I think I can skim off a bit for a new camera. Then I'll stop complaining. [cheers from the audience] Hey, quit that -- the camerasaur, while free, really is ancient (10 yrs old!).
You know I'll let y'all know when I get the new camera.

Itchy Political Philosophy

- I just finished a good book called "The Philosophical Strangler" by Eric Flint. It's a comedy fantasy novel that reminds me a bit of Monty Python or the Princess Bride. Very funny and a fast read.

- Last Saturday I cut my finger while cutting vinyl tile for the basement. It was a bit traumatic, but I'm fine now [sigh of relief from the audience] and have one of those high tech bandaids on that stay on for a few days and keep out water. Anyway, now it's starting to itch and that's great news (it's starting to heal!).

- I got sent the following link by a friend of mine -- This Land. Absolutely hilarious! A political cartoon that ladles out the humor evenly to both sides, and does it stylishly and well. I highly recommend it to Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike as a reminder to keep thier senses of humor in these tough political times.

Snapshots

- On Monday I saw two Buddist monks in my grocery store.  I wished I had an itty-bitty camera on me to whip out and snap a photo of them.  They were dressed in burnt orange robes, sandals, and had buzzed haircuts.  And they were smiling.  I think every Buddist monk I've ever seen was smiling.  They were so cute!

- Yesterday I managed to get some good photos of the cats investigating the printer. 

- My soccer team had a good game on Sunday, but lost again.  I think it was one of my best games ever -- I blocked, I collected and stole balls, I even made good passes, and I took hits.  In the last minute of the game, I blocked a powerful shot from a distance of about 6 feet.  So now I have a giant (about the size of a bread plate) spectacular buise that is blending beautifully from deep purple to chartruese.  Here's the Sunday evening bruise.  Today's Pic-of-the-Day features Tuesday and Wednesday's versions of the bruise.

- Blogger has a new photo blogging feature that I might have to try out.

- I'm trying to decide between two digital cameras to buy (or beg for)...
Canon PowerShot A75: 3.2 mp, very good performance, kinda bulky, $250.
or
Canon PowerShot SD100 (aka Elph): 3.2 mp, good performace, very slim, $250?
Right now I'm leaning towards the Elph, since it is easier to carry around and get spontaneous photos, sacrificing the better performance for portability and an increased likelihood I will actually use it.  If I find there are times I would prefer better performance, then down the line maybe I'll buy the other.

Site Addition

The day has arrived!  Woohoo!
What am I so excited about?  I figured out how to post pictures to this blog!  (See the right hand side bar from now on.)
Well, I kind of figured out how to jury-rig it for now.  As you know, I plan to redevelp the site, and that includes setting up an integrated personal site that includes blog, pictures, commenting, etc.  This is how we're going to work it for now.
I'm so excited about it, I'm thinking about doing a "Pic of the Day" feature.  It might turn into Pic of the Week, but we'll see.
Anyway, hope the three of you enjoy it!  ;)

Difference of Opinion

Yesterday, I wanted to let the cats into the backyard, so I got out thier belled collars, so they would at least be identifiable.  Matti let his be put on with a minimum of fuss, but Martin squirmed and pushed and would not allow me to put on his collar.  I held him tightly for a while, talking to him and hoping he would calm down.  He did not.  Finally, I let him go, but he had given me a couple of deep gouges in the inside of my elbows from his back claws.  I took Matti outside, hoping it would count as a reward.  Martin dodged around for about an hour and a half (while I ignored him completely) and then he decided he forgave me.
Next time, I'll have a big towel handy to mummify him.  They *have* to get used to the collar being taken on and off.

Tomato Fun

I am always on the lookout for funny and insightful writers on the Internet. Believe me, they are few and far between. Of the millions of blogs, about 95% of them are dross. I've just found one that I think I'll be visiting regularly and is of that 5% non-dross category.
The entry in which her cats are revealed as middle-aged psychologists transplanted into feline bodies in order to perform stress tests on thier subject (owner) is hilarious.
The site is Tomato Nation and is produced by Sarah D. Bunting. From now on, you will find it in my list of links. Enjoy!

Dilemma

Someone mentioned that they have lime smoothies at Jamba Juice and that sounds perfect for a hot day like today.
BUT
The Jamba Juice is (counts on fingers)... over six blocks away. That's over half a mile -- way too far to walk on a hot day like today.
Drive, you say? Ah, but Jamba Juice is situated next to The Death Lot. Which is so badly designed and so over crowded at lunch time, you are taking your life into your hands to drive there.

What to do? What to do?

The Good and the Bad

Sometimes I get really depressed about how ugly people can be. Yesterday, while I was walking back to work after lunch, I saw a mean guy in a car yell at and give The Finger to a bicyclist. The bicyclist was merely crossing at an intersection (two way stop sign) and the motorist had to *slow down to the speed limit* in order to let him cross. I mean, come on! It wasn't like he had to jam on his brakes; he had plenty of time to see the bicyclist start across. How much time did it add to his travel to slow down a little? And how likely is it that he would have to stop at light a couple blocks further anyway? I sympathize with the cyclist because as a pedestrian I've had to practically run across that difficult intersection many a time.
Inconsiderate drivers are bad enough without the added ugliness of uncalled-for profanity.

On the flip side:
I guess the overtime wasn't so bad after all. :) Not only did the presentation go very well and the client was impressed, but the boss took the entire office out for lunch at a local pub for burgers and margaritas (or enchiladas and beer, or what have you...). I like being appreciated!

Pagentry of Life

Here's the funny link of the day:

An article by a brave woman (writing for Slate Magazine) who tries out things people have wondered about but never had the guts to try. This time, she entered a beauty pageant...

Part I: Entering and Preparations
Part II: The Pagent

Devaluing my work?

This week I have been working overtime at my job. This is unpaid overtime, with no compensation other than warm fuzzies and the thanks of my bosses. My officemate contends that we get paid for every hour we work, the (monetary) value of the the others just goes down to compensate. $40/day at 8 hours = $5/hour, but if you work 10 hours, you're only paid $4/hour. Either way, I don't like working overtime. Compensation just prevents me from feeling taken advantage of, but even then I'd prefer to have the time than have the money.
I miss my cats. I miss being able to relax in the evenings. I miss working on my little projects around the house.
I don't like the rat race. I think it's a self-perpetuating and self-imposed myth. I renounce thee capitalistic culture! (Right after I buy a digital camera and a PDA ;)

Floor o' Glory

If the walls look awful, at least the floor looks Awesome!!
Thanks to Paden for helping me out (scraping floor, vacuuming, washing floor, putting down whole tiles and making paper patterns for the tiles going around door jambs).
When I get done the cut tiles around the edge, I'll think about a new color for the walls.

In other news, The Weed Forest behind my house has been razed. When Paden saw it, she said "Those are the tallest weeds I've ever seen!" I realized they were just starting to be taller than the 6' wood fence and the neighbors would start to be able to see it. It was then I knew -- The Weed Forest must go.

Painting Flop

I finished painting the basement yesterday, but despite all my artistic "talent", it doesn't look good.
Oh well. I've got to keep on schedule, and next is the vinyl floor tile.
When Aileen and Brian get here, if they totally hate the walls, we can repaint.

I guess this is one time I'm glad my blog doesn't support pictures yet.