Here was my criterion for selecting a camera: I wanted the cheapest one they had.
Normally this is not my approach to electronics purchases. I never get the high-end product, but I do want to make sure I'm not getting a piece of crap. However, we are going through cameras at the rate of about one every 18 months, so I needed to get a camera on the cheap. (As anybody who has ever co-owned a piece of electronic equipment with me -- namely my parents and my husband -- will tell you, I am not gentle with electronics. Add in a small destructive child, and every camera we have is more-or-less disposable.)
Also my experience with Costco has been that they don't carry anything totally crappy, so I knew their lowest-end product still wouldn't let me down.
So, I was excited to take a few test shots with the new camera. And so far I really like it. It's nice and compact, and it came with a free case and USB cable. (It doesn't take much to please me, apparently.)
Then I went to transfer the photos onto my computer, and I got this message:
Catastrophic failure. And I thought I lacked perspective.
Anyway, the source of this alleged "catastrophic failure" was that the camera was not turned on. So I turned it on and the problem was solved. Not so catastrophic after all.
And so here are the photos!
This is a bouquet of flowers I got at Costco along with the camera. I love Costco flowers for their quality and value, but most of the time the bouquets are a little more generic. You know, like red roses with green leaves and baby's breath. This purple bouquet seemed a little more unique. I saw it and I had one of those moments where I got all gushy and happy inside, so I had to buy it. I think it has a slight Victorian look to it. Unfortunately, like the Victorians, these flowers are dead now.
And let me use the topic of Victorians as a slightly awkward segue to talk about a book I've been wanting to tell you about. So, I probably mentioned last week that I was reading this book called Alice I Have Been. It's a fictionalized account of the girl who was the real-life inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. (You know, like one of those stories that's based on real events, but the author has to fill in the gaps with some fictional details?) So, this little girl Alice and Mr. Dodgson (which was Lewis Carroll's real name) have the creepiest relationship. Like, he is legitimately a pedophile. So now it turns out that one of the world's most beloved stories is based on what was essentially an 1850's version of Dateline: To Catch a Predator? In a note at the end, the author tells us that we shouldn't be quick to label Dodgson/Carroll as a pedophile, because we're looking at it with our modern-day sensibilities, and in the Victorian era people may not have thought twice about the idea of a little girl hanging out alone with a grown man. Umm, no. I do recognize that we're all a little bit paranoid about pedophiles today (to the point that I don't want to stay in a park or mall playground if I see a man that I can't immediately attach to a child playing there), but I find it hard to believe that it was ever socially acceptable for a grown man to tell a child to strip down naked and wrap herself in a sheet while he looks leeringly at her and tells her has dreams about her.
Anyway I didn't finish the book, and so I couldn't write up this review in my Goodreads, but I felt this need to do the world a public service and say that I do not recommend it. In addition to the creepiness of it, the author's writing style was very dry and dull.
But I think I was in the middle of showing pictures, so ...
I also really like how this new camera takes the pictures a lot faster than my old camera. I'm sure there's a technical name for this. Shutter speed? Anyway, I spend a lot less time saying, "Hold still! I haven't taken the picture yet! Oh come on you dumbass camera! No wait, don't say 'dumbass'! Mommy said a bad word!"
The speed of photo-taking is very useful when photographing animals:
Also there were approximately 25 photos on the camera that Nathan took. In typical four-year-old photographer fashion, all these photos were random and crummy. This is the only one I kept:
That would be my waist/hip region. Now, I have no idea why my pants are wet, except that I do walk around half the day with my clothes wet from some general dish-washing, cleaning, or post-butt-wiping hand wash. But I really just posted this picture because I think my love handle/muffin top region looks just a teeny-tiny bit smaller, and that gives me a segue into my weekly Weight Watchers update (posted more to keep me accountable than to imply that everybody cares). So, I went yesterday and had lost 2.2 pounds! This brings my total up to 11 pounds. My goal is to get to 15 by the next time I see my trainer, which is next Friday (a week from today). It's kind of an overly-lofty goal, but also I have discovered that if I exercise a lot, I no longer want to eat. Like, I always feel pretty disciplined immediately following a workout, but I'm usually not smart enough to remember this discipline several hours later. So, since I usually work out in the morning hours, I can usually eat a sensible lunch, but by dinner and post-dinner I'm shoving any available item into my mouth. But this past week I've been working out in the evenings more, so maybe that will help me eat a sensible dinner ... ? I don't know. I really think my only hope for a total conquering of my compulsive eating issues is for all food to be eliminated from the planet, and for the world to consume food in pill form like we've been promised in futuristic sci-fi movies. And that won't do much for the Food Network. Who wants to watch the Neelys sit around and swallow pills?
On that note ... have a good weekend, everyone!
And so here are the photos!
This is a bouquet of flowers I got at Costco along with the camera. I love Costco flowers for their quality and value, but most of the time the bouquets are a little more generic. You know, like red roses with green leaves and baby's breath. This purple bouquet seemed a little more unique. I saw it and I had one of those moments where I got all gushy and happy inside, so I had to buy it. I think it has a slight Victorian look to it. Unfortunately, like the Victorians, these flowers are dead now.
And let me use the topic of Victorians as a slightly awkward segue to talk about a book I've been wanting to tell you about. So, I probably mentioned last week that I was reading this book called Alice I Have Been. It's a fictionalized account of the girl who was the real-life inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. (You know, like one of those stories that's based on real events, but the author has to fill in the gaps with some fictional details?) So, this little girl Alice and Mr. Dodgson (which was Lewis Carroll's real name) have the creepiest relationship. Like, he is legitimately a pedophile. So now it turns out that one of the world's most beloved stories is based on what was essentially an 1850's version of Dateline: To Catch a Predator? In a note at the end, the author tells us that we shouldn't be quick to label Dodgson/Carroll as a pedophile, because we're looking at it with our modern-day sensibilities, and in the Victorian era people may not have thought twice about the idea of a little girl hanging out alone with a grown man. Umm, no. I do recognize that we're all a little bit paranoid about pedophiles today (to the point that I don't want to stay in a park or mall playground if I see a man that I can't immediately attach to a child playing there), but I find it hard to believe that it was ever socially acceptable for a grown man to tell a child to strip down naked and wrap herself in a sheet while he looks leeringly at her and tells her has dreams about her.
Anyway I didn't finish the book, and so I couldn't write up this review in my Goodreads, but I felt this need to do the world a public service and say that I do not recommend it. In addition to the creepiness of it, the author's writing style was very dry and dull.
But I think I was in the middle of showing pictures, so ...
Bill eating some fruit snacks I also got at Costco
I also really like how this new camera takes the pictures a lot faster than my old camera. I'm sure there's a technical name for this. Shutter speed? Anyway, I spend a lot less time saying, "Hold still! I haven't taken the picture yet! Oh come on you dumbass camera! No wait, don't say 'dumbass'! Mommy said a bad word!"
The speed of photo-taking is very useful when photographing animals:
I have no idea what that crap on the carpet is
Also there were approximately 25 photos on the camera that Nathan took. In typical four-year-old photographer fashion, all these photos were random and crummy. This is the only one I kept:
That would be my waist/hip region. Now, I have no idea why my pants are wet, except that I do walk around half the day with my clothes wet from some general dish-washing, cleaning, or post-butt-wiping hand wash. But I really just posted this picture because I think my love handle/muffin top region looks just a teeny-tiny bit smaller, and that gives me a segue into my weekly Weight Watchers update (posted more to keep me accountable than to imply that everybody cares). So, I went yesterday and had lost 2.2 pounds! This brings my total up to 11 pounds. My goal is to get to 15 by the next time I see my trainer, which is next Friday (a week from today). It's kind of an overly-lofty goal, but also I have discovered that if I exercise a lot, I no longer want to eat. Like, I always feel pretty disciplined immediately following a workout, but I'm usually not smart enough to remember this discipline several hours later. So, since I usually work out in the morning hours, I can usually eat a sensible lunch, but by dinner and post-dinner I'm shoving any available item into my mouth. But this past week I've been working out in the evenings more, so maybe that will help me eat a sensible dinner ... ? I don't know. I really think my only hope for a total conquering of my compulsive eating issues is for all food to be eliminated from the planet, and for the world to consume food in pill form like we've been promised in futuristic sci-fi movies. And that won't do much for the Food Network. Who wants to watch the Neelys sit around and swallow pills?
On that note ... have a good weekend, everyone!
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