New Camera!! 01-11-10

I made a decision! I had no choice, even though my brain is still a little soggy I need a camera for the Surfside Quilters Guild tomorrow... err 12:41am, I guess that is today! My lovely Nikon has traveled with me everywhere for about five years, but the flash will not work and the fellow at the camera shop convinced me it is not worth the money to have it repaired. They just don't make things with the idea of having them repaired - in this disposable society when something breaks you just throw it away. How did we get this way?

With my new camera still in the box I stopped at Starbucks to familiarize myself with the Canon SD960IS Elph. First I plugged the battery recharger into a Starbucks socket, then I ordered a latte (I figured that was my 'payment' for using their electricity and their 'facilities'), and then I started reading. It was not as difficult as I feared, certainly not as confusing as my first digital camera (the Nikon) was. I can't help but smile at the tale I heard then of a lady who called the store to ask if she had to change the memory card in the dark so the pictures wouldn't be exposed. It had crossed my mind also. Recently I asked someone if the memory cards ever wore out, seems a logical question, and the answer was not that that person had ever heard of. When I had enough charge in the battery I took a few pictures to be sure I knew what all the buttons did - scared these two ladies who smiled when they turned and saw me with the box, camera, book, etc.

All the electronic stuff is so foreign to me and, I imagine, to lots of 'old ladies' who are trying to keep up with the modern world. I was delighted when a young woman clerk (although I suppose they are not called clerks these days) came up to me at Best Buy this evening and asked if she could help. I don't remember saying a word about quilting and I was not wearing any quilting "gang signs", but before long she asked if I was a quilter! Maybe I act or look like her mother, who is a quilter and teaches at 'city college', though I didn't ask which city. How did she know? Pheromones? Are there quilting pheromones? I know this is going to bother me until I seek out the same clerk and ask her how she knew. Maybe she could help me with a DVD player - the only one I have is in the Lexus and that isn't really where I want to sit and watch DVDs of quilting teachers. I suppose if I have a DVD player I will then have to get Netflix and then will acquire some DVDs of my own, which will need a shelf or something for storage. Then a new technology will come along and I'll put the DVDs in the garage in the same boxes as all the video tapes I don't know what to do with. And the color slides and the 8mm films and..... well, you get the idea!

After taking the two shots above I tried the telephoto (X16) with this result. I was sitting in exactly the same spot, so I could see the results of the enlargement - really amazing. And the image is quite clear, I think, for the distance. By this time Starbucks was ready to close and I came home to complete the battery charging and install the software in my computer. I managed it all without a hitch. Maybe I am not so dumb after all.