Although I don’t know how much of this list is optimism and how much is schadenfreude, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get.
Especially from me.
Here ya go:
1) At least I don’t live in the Western San Fernando Valley – if you think I’m whining about the heat now…
2) At least I’m not a “pro-family” US Senator with a horrible voting record on gay rights who got popped (pun intended) for hitting on a male cop in an airport restroom (insert derisive snicker). Now there’s a guy with problems.
3) The cat has only thrown up one hairball this week. This is a vast improvement over last week, when she threw up about ten thousand hairballs and kindly left most of them right where I’d step in them during night-time trips to the loo.
4) The maintenance guy has switched from Eddie Money to the Eagles. I don’t really care for the Eagles much, but it’s a change and I have to take what I can get, right?
4) I’m working Friday, but it’s on a stage that’s air-conditioned to the point of qualifying as a meat locker with a crew of folks who, if I start acting bitchy, will just throw something at me and not take it personally. Yay!
5) The MRI for the right knee came back, and besides a bit of fluid, everything is normal. No torn anything, no weird tumors.
And, just for the record, I don’t hate France – I love France. Honestly, I can take or leave Paris, but the south of France is where I really fell in love with the country and the people (who were wonderful everywhere I went, and very patient with my atrocious French), even though every time I go there I gain about three metric tons from eating all the delicious food and drinking gallons of the local vin ordinaire.
Whenever I complain about the excess pounds, whoever I’m talking to gives that dismissive hand wave that only the French can do really well and says “Oh, there is always time to diet later. Here, have another croissant”.
Why, merci. Don’t mind if I do.
Stupid France and their stupid wonderful food and stupid delicious wine and cheese (which is so totally worth eating) and nice people and beautiful light and strong coffee.
Mmmm.. France. I need to go there right now.
But I can’t go to France any time soon because today I lashed out with Mr. Debit Card and bought a Nikon D40.
I blame Nezza for this.
Originally, I had only thought of buying the D80, which is WAY outside my price range, so I’d just looked at them, sighed wistfully and hoped that the DSLR fairies would someday leave one under my pillow if I were very, very good indeed, and moved on. Then, when Nezza mentioned a D40, I looked at it and thought it wasn’t so bad, so when I went by Samy’s Camera today to buy film for my ancient SLR, I saw the sale price on the D40 and before I knew it, I was walking out the door with one.
I hope you’re happy, Nezza.
Now I have a camera but I can’t make an impulse ticket purchase to Paris, where I’d jump on the train and go somewhere with fatty food and stunning beaches and cheap wine and fabulously attractive locals whom I’d probably ignore completely due to my being too busy stuffing my face.
Who am I kidding… Once I factor in the lost work, that would cost about a bazillion times more than a camera.
Unfortunately, the camera doesn’t use normal batteries, so I couldn’t just take it out of the box and start shooting (of course, there was a really awesome couch on the way home), but once it gets charged I’m going to try it out.
And, of course, if I don’t like it I’m going to muster all of my imaginary PMS anger and return it.
Filed under: camera, couches, life in LA, Nikon, Non-Work, Off-Topic, overspending, 2007, bitchy, California, D40, DSLR, France, heat, knee, Larry Craig, list, love, MRI, music, Nikon, optimism, roasting, shopping, summer, wine
Totally Unauthorized 
I just bought a Nikon D40 a few weeks ago, small, light weight, love it! Two drawbacks, it tends to over expose so you’ll need to adjust for that depending on your location; camera is also limited to AF-S and AF-I lens if you want them to auto focus, any AF lens you’ll have to manual focus (screw that).
I have the lens that came with the camera: 18-55mm and I bought the 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR, way cool lens for $230 on Amazon.
I also found a Nikon Circular Polarizing Filter 52mm on Ebay, won it for a little over $30. I bought a Mini Nova bag so that I can carry the extra lens, but screw that, I got a Kakadu bag I’m going to convert. Also have a Tamrac toploader bag.
Share the new pics.
Little tip from a D40 owner: I turned off the image review so that it doesn’t display every photo after I take it. Saves tons of battery. Just press the display button if you need to see the photo you took. See page 75 in your manual (7: Image review)
LOL – I was chuckling all the way down your post until I got to the bit where you said you bought a D40 and then I got slightly freaked out because I bought one yesterday as well. Now I’ve recovered from that I’m chuckling again.
(My own post yesterday was going to be about that until I saw the posts from the idiot troll person.)(And yes, sod off is accepted Brit ‘annoyed’ speak.)
I hope you get on with okay because I’ll feel responsible if you don’t! I ended up getting mine because we have an offer for some money back from Nikon if you bought it before 31st August – I don’t know if that offer extends to the US but thought I’d mention it in case.
I’d be interested to hear how you get on with the other lens you bought. I’d love to be able to do some serious zooming.
I was obviously chuckling too hard. I now realise it was Charli who bought the zoom lens. *slaps own forehead*
Well, I couldn’t disagree about south of France, cause I’m living near Marseille… Even if I would rather advise you to visit Bordeaux and its surroundings, a beautiful country and great wines.
Nezza – the zoom lens, inexpensive but nice, and here is the byTom review: http://www.bythom.com/DigRecs.htm
Of course, I would like to buy one of those really nice lens, but dang, they cost more than the freakin’ camera. I need a job to pay for my fun stuff.
Congratulations you have a terrific camera. I just purchased the Nikon D40X and I’m having a great time with it. I do have some suggestions if you plan to keep the camera.
1. Get a UV filter or some other clear filter right now. If your lens design is anything like the one I have (18-70mm) then the front lens is right up front. Easily damaged. Replacing a $20 filter is a lot cheaper then replacing the lens.
2. Get an air-blower (without brushes.) Don’t remove the lens unless you are in a very clean environment. Get anything on the low-pass filter can be a bitch. If you do get anything on the low-pass filter then use that little air-blower and nothing else. What’s the low-pass filter? Read the ******** manual.
3. These new cameras can get hot. Not just the lens body but the camera body as well. Just be careful. I never had this problem with my old, very old, Nikons. I think it is the plastic and not metal used in the construction of the cameras.
4. If you require protection for your camera body check out Camera Armor at http://www.cameraarmor.com. I use one myself. Besides protecting the body it has a clear plastic cover for the LCD screen.
5. Get another battery. Get it when you get the UV lens. And always let the battery completely discharge.
6. Lastly read the manual, then read it again, and again. It’s loaded with useful information. Since I spent 50 years using black & white film my knowledge of color was next to nothing. Know what color space is? Know what white balance is? How about color temperature? Get your buddies in the film departments at the studios to give you a crash course. There is always the library too.
Peggy sez: Thank you for the very handy links and useful advice! I’m probably going to get some primes, as I think the lens that came with the camera is a piece of junk. Since I’ve been shooting on a film SLR for, well, longer than I care to admit, I do have most of the photo basics down – at this point it’s just learning the camera. My UV filter from another lens (a minolta zoom) fits the Nikon lens pretty well, but I’ve no intention of keeping that lens on the camera for even one second longer than it takes me to buy a better lens off eBay.
Peggy – I know you’re blaming me for your recent camera purchase but I think I should blame you. *winks*
If I hadn’t started following your blog (which I did for a while before posting) I wouldn’t have found flickr, or become drawn into a world of fantastic photography, or developed an interest in trying to take better pictures myself, which ultimately resulted in the realisation that I really needed something a little better than a point and shoot camera which doesn’t even have a viewfinder.
So… it’s clearly all your fault really. *winks again*
Thank you Charli and John Krill – I’ve bookmarked those sites as well. Now, I really must stop the multiple comments on this particular post.
3) The cat has only thrown up one hairball this week. This is a vast improvement over last week, when she threw up about ten thousand hairballs and kindly left most of them right where I’d step in them during night-time trips to the loo.
We must have the same cat.
I’d be interested in hearing what lens(es) you decide to get for the Nikon. The kit lens is too slow for me.
Peggy sez: I just bought an old 50mm 1.4 AIS lens. It’s a manual focus, but those are great lenses and I can shoot in damn near total dark with that thing.