Warning: this post might be boring. It will not be snarky. It will not be quippy. It will probably be long. It focuses on a single topic interesting to a minority of humans. Flee, if you wish.

My camera broke some time ago. By “some time ago”, I actually mean something like a year ago. This was a real bummer, because I enjoy taking pictures. A lot. I’m not a professional photographer, and never will be, but photography makes me happy for reasons I’m not fully able to understand. The evidence is here.

When my camera broke, I was on the cusp of gainful employment, and in no position to buy a replacement. However, I’ve been carefully considering the idea for some time, and am finally checking out my options.

Considerations:

1. Point and shoot vs. DSLR. My previous model was a point and shoot. It served me very well, and I had no complaints save for one really, really annoying one: shutter speed. It sucks to be taking a photo of something happening temporarily and thinking “take the picture! take the picture! take it nownownownow!!!!!” A DSLR wouldn’t have this problem, and would also have more versatility and the capacity to take higher quality photos. Verdict: I’m going for the upgrade. DSLR it is.
2. Brand. Nikon? Canon? Do any other reputable DSLR brands exist? If so, no one I know owns one. I’m pretty comfortable shooting on a Nikon, so I’m leaning in that direction. In fact, my friend Brooke of the Lovely Photos was kind enough to take me on a test run with her Nikon D40 the other day. I was very happy with its performance, as well as the results. For an example, see above.
3. Gear. Lenses, lenses, lenses. This is largely where you get the versatility. However, look at this. It’s a pretty picture, but ack! What to buy? What to buy? Also, I think I could offer to trade my firstborn child for some of these lenses, and they’d still want a genetic screening to see if the trade was worthwhile.
4. Strategy. Brooke sagely advised me to consider just buying the camera body along with the lens of my choice, unless I’m sure I’d be happy with the basic one that usually comes with it. Yes, this is smart, but it adds another layer of confusion. Would I be happy with the standard lens? If so, that would be fortuitously cheaper. If I evaluate the question and honestly decide “no”, then which of that mountain of options do I want?

As you can see, I have an exciting purchase to make. However, I’m also vastly confused. I’m usually an impulse buyer. When shopping, I enter a store, scan the entire place in 5-10 minutes, and know whether I want anything. Having to consider a bunch of important factors is making me edgy. Someone tell me what to do. Exactly what to do. Please?

I know I am a total geek cliché for thinking this is awesome, but it just is. Click on the photo for a slightly bigger version.

Via demotivate.info.

To follow up on my Orangina!! post, I thought I’d share an interesting counterpoint in terms of personal taste. By counterpoint, I mean “something that is weird to everyone else on earth”.

Presenting: ramen!

Photo by heyjoewhereyougoinwiththatguninyourhand

Like many poverty-stricken college students, I ate a bunch of this back in the day. However, I developed a taste for it that has transcended the trauma of reliving cash flow problems. Even more weirdly, I don’t even eat it soup-style. For me, it’s just the noodly goodness without seasoning.

Therefore, here are my options for dinner:

1. Cook something
2. Get takeout from the reallyreally good Thai place around the corner (open till 3 AM!)
3. Get takeout from one of the 10 gazillion Indian places within a block of my place (1 of which is open 24 hours!)
4. Get takeout from one of the 47 thousand gazillion other restaurants within walking distance of my place
5. Eat ramen noodles with no seasoning

Guess what’s winning out lately? Mmm, Orangina and ramen. A winning combination.

Orangina!

Photo by hexodus

It’s way classier than Diet Coke.

Our sister city across the bay has recently seen a crazy number of restaurant robberies. The sequence of events goes something like this: several masked individuals enter the place, pull out guns, and engage in some variation of stealing customers’ wallets, stealing employees’ wallets, and emptying the register. It’s scary as hell, and, much as I love Oakland, has me a teeny bit anxious about the idea of dining there.

What precipitated this phenomenon? My first reaction was to recall the “Pumpkin and Honeybunny” scene from Pulp Fiction. Does it suddenly have some sort of retro appeal? If so, please kill me now because nothing that came out when I was in high school should be considered “retro”.

That observation aside, what else could have caused this? Is it related to the fact that the FBI has moved in to investigate the shady dealings of one of the city’s top executives? Could it be that the economy is teetering on the brink of the r-word? Or I guess it could just be that a crew of loser punks decided that taking money at gunpoint from terrified diners and restaurant staff would be a killer (that’s not a pun, because thankfully no one has died) way to earn a living.

Regardless, these guys are losers. Losers, losers, losers. That’s what we do when we have nothing else to say and life feels scary: we call people names. Names that are childish, but nonetheless fitting. I mean, how mature is it to use violence to solve problems? Not very. Grow up, kiddos. The rest of us are just trying to have a civilized meal.

From the SFGate:

Apparently not much:

Sequence of events:

1. Driver locates prime parking spot, which is metered and therefore approximately 80% larger than his vehicle
2. Driver approaches the spot at a stunningly bad angle, but manages to pull in thanks to the insanely large nature of the space
3. Driver attempts to straighten out by pulling forward
4. Driver completes straightening out maneuver by backing up at a bizarrely high speed
5. Driver slams into the car behind him with a crash audible from at least a block away
6. Driver inexplicably moves forward until he is within one inch of the car in front, and well outside the bounds of his enormous parking space
7. Driver makes a weak karmic gesture by inspecting the bumper of the car behind him. He does not leave a note.