Random Rants

I've been too busy having a life (I know, get out of here!) this weekend to blog. Saturday was a whirlwind of activity and Sunday was pretty choppy - plans got made, plans got changed and canceled, stupid traffic snarl-ups sucked-up time, that kind of thing.

Here are some random ranties. Just stuff that is on my mind right now...

1. CHOICES

OR

Do I buy a new DSLR or a new laptop?

My personal laptop is about to hit its 6th birthday and, since every human year is like 10 for a computer (my own, personal formula), that makes it just about ready to retire. At the very least, it's slowing down and no longer equipped to run the forty-thousand windows that I have open at one time, without grinding to a Ctrl-Alt-Del halt.

The laptop I really want is a fancy MacBook which would be perfect for my picture editing. I love Macs and had one all the way through college but have been using PCs for several years now mostly because of work and price. Now I'm thinking about taking photography more seriously, I think it's time to return. But the price! Oh the price! Maybe I should get a PC instead, until I actually start generating some income from the photo thing? Or is that a waste and I should go the whole enchilada now? I don't know. Having trouble deciding.

And then there's my camera - the old Canon Digital Rebel XTi. It's been serving me pretty well these past few years but I'm beginning to feel it's limitations. Canon just released the new 60D, which is very swank but, honestly, I'm not sure I need a rotating screen - just one more thing for Daisy to twist and break off when I'm in the bathroom peeing. However, the 60D release has meant that the 50D (the camera I was originally thinking of upgrading to) has taken a nose-dive in price - from $1,099 to $675 in some places online. That's quite a discount and hard to resist.

Except, of course, I need a $1,500 laptop.

Decisions, decisions...

2. PhotoVision 2010

I recently subscribed to a DVD education series for photographers. 6 DVDs a year, with 8 hours of content, mailed to your home every two months, for just $39. Even better, Beth Jansen, the photographer I was raving about in my previous post, has a spot in one of them. I watched it on Friday night (woot, crazy fun in the Ranty Pants household!) and got more than my 39 bucks worth in the first 20 minutes.

Don't you just love it when you get something for a great price and then it exceeds your expectations?

3. BIZZY

My next couple of months are shaping up to be CRAZY busy and I'm having a hard time even scheduling things like lunch, dinner, or cocktails with friends - all things I HAVE TO fit into my schedule in order to maintain my sanity as a work-from-home mummy.

• This weekend is our big neighborhood garage sale. It's been going on for 25 years or so, I think, and 30+ homes in the subdivision usually participate. This year we have A TON of crap to get rid of - mostly Daisy's old toys and clothes but also some bachelorette furniture that I've finally recycled out. At the end of it we may be missing a dining table and sideboard (until I can afford to buy new ones that I like). However, I am looking forward to having some empty space in my living room. I'd like to paint but who has time?
• My Dad is currently in England for a trip to see his keyboard cronies and he'll be bringing back his sister and brother, my uncle and aunt, next week, for a two week trip. We'll be doing the whole tourist thing of course, after work for me, and on the weekends. I'll be in San Francisco in a couple of weeks, to play tour-guide because, you know, one can't rely on "the parents". LOL.
• At the end of those shenanigans, I'm off to Chicago for 4 days, for a work conference. Groan. Although - happy - one of my good friends who also works in the same industry, will be going. This means cocktails and late nights and LOTS of talking. I will be exhausted at the end of it.
• Once back from Chicago, our next weekend is blocked-out with back-to-back birthday parties for my niece and a friend's little girl.
• The following weekend we're in the bay area for a photo shoot with my favorite local photographer, Penny Silvia. We'll be getting our Christmas Card shots on the beach this year.
• Weekend after that, my cousin's daughter, Billi, who I was the first to hold after she was born but is now a smoking-hot teenager, is descending upon us, with her Grandmother (my mother's sister-in-law.) She'll be with us for 8 days and I anticipate a lot of shopping - HELLO! Teenager + girl + in my family!!! It's also my Mum's birthday that weekend. Thinking we'll do the annual Apple Hill trip that weekend because, well, when else WILL WE?
• Last weekend in October now and it's Halloween. Daisy will be a ladybug (bought her costume this weekend) and I'm confident that the weekend will be chock-a-block with seasonal activities.
• Blissfully, we then have one weekend off (yep, book me now!) before it's Hubby and my 4th anniversary. So we head to Cache Creek Casino for an En Vogue concert and an adult night away.
• One more weekend off (mark your calendars, folks) and then it's Thanksgiving, which also coincides with my husband's birthday as well as my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's birthdays.

Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I'm doing some freebie photo-sessions for friends and family, to help me practice and build my portfolio.

YIKES! I'm exhausted just reading the list.