new camera

Well I got my new camera today.  It was both exciting and disappointing.  The excitement of getting a new tool to create visuals brightened my day.  Opening the delivered box full of Styrofoam peanuts pulling out all the new items was like watching my kids open their presents at Christmas.  

Me: Ewww what's that for?  O cool that is the tri-pod!
  
I was stoked.  Squirt was totally impressed with the peanuts as she grabbed two hand fulls while I uncovered the order sheet.  Before preceding to far along as to make sure all my items had been delivered, I started reviewing the order sheet.  The list of items seemed to be about right (10-15 items).  Then I noticed three of the items were circled.  Two of them were lens cloth's - no big deal - I have things that will clean a lens.  The last circled item I saw was when the disappointment set in.   

One of the main reasons I had called the nameless, they deserve absolutely no recognition, none, zero, camera company instead of ordering directly from their website, or any other for that matter, was to verify they had the main items of the camera package I wanted to order in stock.  Namely the main three components: the camera, the standard lens, and finally and most importantly the zoom lens.  The big boy, the big ticket item, the beast.  

I called and talked to a customer service representative, a real person.  I asked them to put me on hold while he checked and verified he had the items in the package.  I wanted confirmation of the items, before I placed the order or I would have purchased elsewhere.  

Me:  Are you sure you have the lens ready to ship? The regular lens and the zoom lens?  Both lens?
Rep: Yes sir, I just verified, they are in stock and I can ship them with your order.  

He lied.  How can I be so sure?  How can I call him a liar?  A few things.  First - No zoom lens in the box.  Second - The order sheet was stamped with a message:

"The circled items on your list are on backorder 

and will be shipped at a later date."

That's right - they had an ink stamp for this.  Hmmm if they have a stamp, maybe they have had this issue before.  But I am just guessing really.  No not really.  I was pretty ticked off.  And I was also ticked off because the customer service phone support is not open on Saturday or Sunday.  Therefore I cannot call while I am still angry disappointed.  By the time Monday rolls around I will be over it, maybe.  I plan on reading this again Monday seeing if it lights my fire again.  :)




OK so with all that out...here is one the first pictures I took with the new camera:

You can click on the image to see a larger version.

The camera takes pretty good pics.  It is very easy to use.  It was fun to use.  It has some cool features and gadgets.  I am no expert.  I do have a lot to learn about photography still for sure.  But I have decided to send the camera back.  Yes I am going to have to send it back...I did not even think they made black and white camera's anymore. 



;)

Razr

Donna left a comment on Down by the River that made me laugh.  She suggested using the camera on my cellphone to take some photos.  If you know me you already know the joke.  If you don't, I have a Motorolla Razor from about 6 years ago. 

How it has stood the test of time and survived...?  Tough to answer that question other than to say - I take care of my things.  Even still my wife, aka Wonder Woman, has recently asked me to upgrade.  Back in the day the Razor was all the rave.  It could take pictures, record video, play songs, send text messages, o man I almost forgot the bluetooth feature...when used it can transfer any of the aforementioned items from one phone to another.  The Razor was the "it" thing.  I think I paid $199.99 for it.

How it has survived this long I do not really know, but here is the thing about fashion.  If you hang on to something long enough... 

Shortly after asking me to get rid of it my wife and I watched the Lincoln Lawyer.  (If you have not seen this movie it is pretty good.  I would give it a B+)  Well not to far into the movie I gave Wonder Woman a little nudge and said, "Notice what kind of phone Matthew McConaughey is using in this movie?"  

She spotted Mike Haller flipping open his razor.  "You and McConaughey have the same phone, that is pretty cool."


Suddenly me and my phone are cool again.

Down by the river

I have not ever been much of a photographer, but after a weekend outside Atlanta with family...  

My brother in law let me test his super cool fancy camera around a local river.  Here are some of the shots:

The reflection in this next one caught my eye.

This one is not quite in focus - user error - but it is still one of my favorite.  This tree stump has been through some rough times.

This is back at brother in laws house as the sun is about to set.  One of the sun rays still made its way to this limb.

This is Tony.  Tony does NOT like his picture taken.  I had just missed him showing me his teeth. 

This is Tony looking over his kingdom from the balcony.

Anyhoo...thinking about getting a camera now. 

Punkd - the original episode

This might just be the funniest cartoon of the year.

If I am reading the fine print at the bottom correctly, the creator of the cartoon is bizarrocomic.blogspot.com.