The Cailin Collection Journal

Testing an iPhone App

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:11:54 GMT

Is It Spring Yet?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:52:38 GMT

I don't know about you but this time change is really annoying me. Sure we get more evening daylight but I don't mind early nights, now instead I wake up in the morning to pitch blackness where before I got to wake up to a pleasant sunrise. I haven't been able to get out of bed very well for the past three days because of it so I'm going to have to work extra hard to not hit the snooze button eleventy-four times before getting up.

In other news, Butters has been going to doggie classes and has learned some good things, although I was somewhat disappointed with the amount of things he already knew how to do. However, the teacher at the Marin Humane Society did give a lot of good extra tips and information beyond just how to get a dog to "sit", "stay" or "lay down". Made them a bit more practical. She keeps saying Butters should definitely take her trick class next time but aside from the obvious cost prohibitions I sometimes wonder how much of her is actually impressed and how much is simply gunning for customers.

Here is Butters learning "Bow"

From Puppy

He's a sweet puppy but we still need to work hard on dealing with his alert barking and desire to check out every dog he sees. It's a long process because that tendency is strongly bred into Aussies, so at best we'll learn to control it someday.

Also what do you do with your old calendars? I have this beautiful Japanese wood block print calendar that I've been making into envelopes! It works pretty well, I think.

From Crafts

If anyone wants the template for how to make these, let me know!

Ciao!

Cailin

Evening Report

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:28:51 GMT

So, what's been going on in my life. Thanks to the internet not much remains unknown about my usual going's on (especially to those of you on the Facebook), so I sometimes find myself at a loss as to what to write on my Livejournal that you haven't already read. First, have some random internet pictures! First, a word cloud of the most common words in my Livejournal:

Second, a hilarious historical reference using aquatic mammals.

And last, a tattoo I would totally get just for the fun of it.

Oh internet, you make me laugh so.

-Cailin

Woot!

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:32:24 GMT

Now get to work buster!

Holiday "Get Things Done" Check List

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:08:24 GMT

Not everything needs to get done today, but I'm shooting for 50% or more. :)

~~1. Get Greg's car smog checked~~ and registered
~~2. Deposit checks~~
~~3. Do lots of laundry~~
~~4. Buy 6-volt batteries for smoke detectors, cat litter, cat food~~, thank you note cards
~~5. Vacuum house~~
6. Design Podfitness Workout
7. Go to JCC Gym, check out membership costs (bring 50% off paper)
8. Get Butters vaccinated for Rabies
9. Send in application for dog license
~~10. Start work on lace shawl again (row 11)~~
~~11. Make significant progress on knit-along scarf~~
12. Write thank you notes for gifts.
~~13. Fiddle with sewing machine, figure out how the bobbin works.~~
~~14. Take out trash, clean trash can~~

Gastrotastic!

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:56:01 GMT

Hey guys I just made up a great new dessert! It's a Sweet and Spicy Mango Sorbet with Lime

Put some Mango sorbet in a bowl (home made or store bought)
Drizzle some honey on top
Add a splash of lime juice
Sprinkle some ground cayenne pepper on top

CONSUME!

It's not too spicy because the sorbet, lime and honey balance the spice very well, it's just a pleasant "heat" at the end, no stinging or crying!

If you try it tell me how you like it! For a healthier alternative, try this same thing on fresh cut mango slices!

-Cailin

PETA renames Fish as "Sea Kittens"

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:55:23 GMT

How to Be Taken Seriously as an Organization

Step 1. Try to get fish renamed as "sea kittens" to improve their image

Step 2. Make cartoony fluffy website about it to appeal to children and the simple

Step 3. Follow up by suggesting that school officials change Spearfish High School to "Sea Kitten High School"

Way to go PETA!

Now excuse me all this talk of Sea Kittens has made me hungry... for SEA KITTENS!

-Cailin

Am I the only one who didn't know this?

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:36:08 GMT

My mother sent me a forward the other day that totally changed my life!

I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself. Whoever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then, you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday, I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason, I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And, written on the end, it said, Press here to lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one, too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this.

O_O I checked and it's TRUE! All these years I've been struggling with the tube coming out of the holder and now I am free!

-Cailin

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:21:21 GMT

I was just reading my oldest posts from when I was a freshman in college, and it made me really miss going to school. I love learning, and I really enjoyed most of college for that reason. I got to specialize in specific subjects I enjoyed (two dinosaur classes woo hoo!) and got to learn a whole lot of interesting things. I miss the college learning environment some, for sure. Maybe someday I'll take some more classes at the JCC. I'd love to do some more science and art, specifically anything photography related because it is my very favorite art activity.

It's sometimes hard for me to grasp just how much I've changed in the last 5 years, but when I read my old journal entries the change becomes quite pronounced indeed! Aside from subject matter, I've shifted a great deal in my writing style and voice, though you could still easily tell when I'm writing this or that. I feel more boring now, though I'm sure that's just me. ;)

On an unrelated note, Butters has taken to hanging out on the big blue chair with Tashi the cat. It's rather cute, how she tolerates him. It only really works out when Butters is tired enough to relax and stop harassing poor Tashi who just sits there whilst Butters chews on her ears and face. I don't know if I could be quite that tolerant of him so I give her credit for that.

That's all for now I think, take care LJ.

-Cailin

Meeeeme

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:55:31 GMT

I will sketch for the first five(any) people who comment with their request. Simple sketches only. The catch is that you must put this up in your journal as well. If you absolutely do not draw, go for drabbles(?), etc.

Example!

Word.

-Cailin

fogwood214 - Chicken Fight

lunaru - Cartoon Sadie

Two-Thousand and Nine

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:36:06 GMT

How is your new year going so far? I'm happily knitting away with this gorgeous 100% silk yarn, making my very first Estonian lace shawl. It's lovely. Actually it's my first shawl of any kind so it's an adventure in patience. If you have a Ravelry account you can see what I have so far, and if not I'll be posting pictures of it later when it gets a little bigger.

School starts today, and I find myself with mixed feelings. I'm happy to have something to do outside of the house, but I'm also very fond of my vacation time and it's a bit sad to see that go. Ah, well.

I'd like to be able to visit my parents soon, but that might have to wait until the Spring or even the Summer when I have enough time off to make the trip. It's an 11 hour drive one-way, so we have to plan that kind of thing pretty carefully. I still remember our insane last-minute trip to Las Vegas, so I'm not that eager to go for a day-long car ride very soon. But, I miss my folks so that's really the only option considering how expensive air-travel is now. *le sigh* Why did they have to move so far away?

Well that's enough procrastinating I think, time to do laundry.

-Cailin

Complaining Sequence Initialized

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:44:51 GMT

I cannot believe it is merely Wednesday. At least tomorrow is Thursday (also known as Friday Eve, my personal weekly holiday) and also the awesome Christmas party! I am ever so excited, especially since pinning down a day on which most people could attend was a bit difficult! My birthday is on Sunday SUNDAY sunday, and at the moment I have no plans. I'm hoping to at least be over most of the cold. I am so very tired of waking up in the middle of the night and then again at 5-6am unable to breathe. Congestion sucks. Anyway, time for Chinese food. :D

-Cailin

Sharing

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:12:56 GMT

Now I'm beginning to think this is just a really bad cold instead of the flu. They are so similar sometimes it's hard to tell but oh well we'll see how I feel tomorrow. Today is more of a stuffed-up sore throat kind of day, and I'm hoping that my sinuses will feel better soon. Should I call my boss today if I'm not sure if I'm coming in tomorrow so she can find a sub for that day? Probably, right?

Anyway... I thought it might be nice to open the comments box a bit and see what if anything you guys have to say about anything! Anonymous posting is on so I'd like you to be as honest as you can be about whatever you want to say. Is there anything you want to say to me, about the journal or about your own life that you've been holding back? Consider this your personal invitation to share.

Peace.

-Cailin

Flu!

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:59:55 GMT

Mmm won ton soup. Man this day has been pretty crappy. I have what I think is a strain of the flu, complete with chills and fever. Fever broke in the afternoon, but I'm still very achy, lethargic and congested. Blah. How long does the flu last? I'm doing everything I can to control the symptoms, but this is what I get for not getting a flu shot when I work in a school am I right? Oh well...

I finished some knitting today, a little blue cell phone cozy. It's silly but fun to make. My cell phone doesn't need to be cozy but it was a neat little project to learn a couple new things like special bind offs, sewing pieces together and button holes. Need t buy a button to finish it but obviously I'm not quite up to it right now. Maybe I can ask Marie to bring poor sick me a button from her store. :P

I'm not the only sick puppy here today... Butters is having a hard time recovering from his neutering at the same time, vomiting and having diarrhea for the last two days (Oops too much information perhaps), but now we have him on medications to help him out and he's feeling better, though he's never lost his joyful happy energy, which makes me feel better about the whole situation.

Since both Butters and I are sick (and Butters needs regular meds and little bits of food) I decided to stay home instead of going to the Laabs family Christmas party this year, which I'm a bit sad about. I hope they're having a good time with the festivities and pirate gift exchange... but it's good that I didn't go because I know no one would like to be around a sick person like me right now.

Well, time to rest up and get well as fast as possible.

Ciao
Cailin

Immature: The Reckoning

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:20:23 GMT

Tolerance in different forms can be both a virtue and a hindrance. Tolerating the slow conversation with a stutterer for example is a kindness, where as tolerating a rabid badger on your arm is, to put it nicely, quite foolish. So I find myself wondering when it comes to the irritating behavior of others, is tolerance a virtue? I was raised to believe that tolerance was for people who couldn't help themselves or didn't know any better (like children) but that most people DID know better and did not deserve to have their rude or otherwise poor behavior accepted or tolerated. Even in the case of sheer ignorance and stupidity there was the sheen of disdain for such people who had the opportunity to move beyond ignorance and value knowledge and chose instead to remain dim. A bit harsh, perhaps, but this was the way the world was explained and demonstrated to me.

Now, how much of this is well grounded reasoning versus libertarian rhetoric? (not to imply to two cannot at time be the same thing, mind you). I have cases in my life where I can observe people acting in a way which I feel is immature and quite frankly a bit ridiculous. The immaturity is probably what bothers me most because there are certain societal standards by which we adults are expected to align ourselves (most of the time) particularly in our dealings with others. We are expected not to throw tantrums, to express our feelings with words, to share, to be polite, and these qualities are in large part considered to be that of a "good person". Sadly, we all have examples in our lives where we've observed people acting in the completely opposite way. Adults behaving badly are much worse than children because they ought to know better. I get angry when I see this happening, especially when the behavior hurts people I care about. (My adopted sister for example is an excellent case study of such things).

I wish I could tell people bluntly to stop acting as children do when they don't like a situation. Adults don't run from their problems or divert the responsibility to others. They do what is necessary to make things right even if that means being uncomfortable by facing fears or accepting responsibility. It's what maturity means to me, at least. And I cannot respect a person who consistently fails to show a basic grasp of this concept. Am I being unfair? I don't think so but then again I'm very much for owning your situation, and believing that most people are in control of their behavior enough to behave civilly to one another and that for these people there is no excuse for selfish childlike behavior.

/rant

-Cailin

Rule #3: Do Not Drop or Hit Machine

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:10:30 GMT

Holy Computerized Sewing Machine Batman! Early birthday present ahoy!

Wow this thing looks pretty awesome, I'm going to have to really get all up in the manual for a while before I even attempt to put the thing together. So far I've only sewn one thing with the help of my mother, but it wasn't horribly difficult and I have sewing friends and family who can tutor me when the need arises. Who would have thunk I'd get so excited at getting a sewing machine for my birthday? Go figure.

What should I sew first? I need some beginner projects to hone my sewing skillz.

Ciao
Cailin

Cranberry Sauce Holiday

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:32:59 GMT

Generalized update:

Greg and I spent Thanksgiving with the Laabs side of the family, about 2 hours south of home. I made my first ever cranberry sauce and I think it went over really well, which made me very happy to hear. Even some of the folks who didn't usually like cranberry sauce enjoyed it which I think is quite an accomplishment.

1 pound (4 cups) fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 whole orange, unpeeled, seeds removed, and chopped fine (I put it in the food processor and turned it to mush which worked well. It's important to get the orange peel to get chopped up fine or else it will be too bitter!)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Sprinkle ground cinnamon
Wash cranberries and set aside.
Bring sugar and water to a boil. (I used a small sauce pan for this and then transferred it to a large deep skillet after it boiled) Add cranberries, oranges, and cloves. Simmer over a high flame, stirring frequently, until berries pop open. Add crushed pineapple, walnuts, and cinnamon, and blend. Cool and serve. :D

This makes enough to serve 10 people comfortably.

Maybe next year I'll get to do the mashed potatoes? I hear adding just a touch of walnut oil makes them really quite special. We shall have to experiment!

Thanksgiving itself was nice, though I got a bit nauseous on the ride back (windy road, you see). It's nice to get together to eat for the holidays, though I see most of them so often it's not quite the same as when I get together with my own family which only really sees each-other on special occasions. Will write more later.

-Cailin

Crafty! - Bubble Envelopes

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:08:27 GMT

Just finished playing around a little with a new craft idea for decorating boring white envelopes.

From Crafts

Shown in order of creation. The light one was too light, the dark one was too dark and the last one was juuuust right. Will experiment more.

These envelopes are made by basically mixing some soap, sugar, water and food coloring together then blowing bubbles in a cup. When the bubbles rise above the brim you just tap the envelope lightly on them and voila! Bubble texture! I only had one color so I was somewhat limited so I hope to try it out with other colors sometime too. Here's the official recipe:

1 tsp dish soap
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
About 10 drops of food coloring

mix together till sugar is dissolved, stick straw in cup and blow! Once the envelope is dry you can do other colors too. This also works for making bubble stationary as well.

Yay crafts!

-Cailin

Pet Update: Butters and Friends

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:10:47 GMT

Washed the two cats the other day after giving them a very serious brush down. They are very soft and fluffy now and have almost no hair coming off them (because I took it all haha!). I used the puppy shampoo for a change, and now they smell faintly of flowers. Or strong potpourri. They were not happy cats that day.

Butters has yet to have/need a bath, but I look forward to an interesting experience sometime in the near future. For now I've been focusing on obedience, behavioral and some agility training with him, very basic things like jumping over hurdles, going through tunnels, and the usual sit/stay stuff. Stay is the hardest one so far, I think it's a two person job so I have to remember to snag Greg or someone else sometime to help me out.

Greg, Butters and I walked to the store yesterday, and the pet shop people were very sweet to Butters who is usually pretty nervous there. One of the cashiers even bought him a present (a veggie chewing bone that he has already eaten half of) and a customer bought him a small package of liver treats. Why don't I get random gifts when I'm in the store? It's not fair. :) Anyway Butters seemed to have a good time and is getting progressively more confident with each outing. Socialization is hard work! This breed is naturally cautious too so we have that to overcome as well but Butters is very friendly in his home environment once he settles down.

He's lost quite a few teeth this week, and I'm sure he's in the process of losing more. Still, even though I know it's happening it's distressing to see blood all over his toys when he first loses a tooth. Gross! I give Butters ice cubes and he enjoys licking them and pushing them around on the carpet because they slide quite easily. It's pretty cute. He's still got a bit of growing to do, probably peaking at around 10 months he'll be his final size and weight. Right now he's still small, and weighs about 10.5 lbs. Amazing! His brother is turning out to be full sized though and weighs a hefty 21 lbs. He's the big brother, I guess. :)

Ciao

From Puppy

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:53:34 GMT

I'd like to share something special with you. It's one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost:

"Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour,
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing gold can stay."

I found myself thinking about this poem today, with Fall curling the leaves and whisking them away, the days growing dark and Spring so far away... Frankly it made me feel rather melancholy. It made me think about the cycle of life, specifically about the last part: death and dying. I don't see many people talk about this inevitable part of life very much, especially if they aren't personally faced with the possibility. Why is it we so often wait till the end to address this elephant in the room. We are all going to die someday.

When it comes to comfort, the afterlife beats the void every day of the week. It's the sort of thing you can say that makes the pain of grief and suffering ease, and perhaps if it were my own loved ones asking me if there was a heaven, I'd be tempted to whisper "yes." It would be a lie, of course for me to say I believed in such things. But... if someone is on their death bed and that's what they want to hear... fuck it. I'll tell them almost anything if I thought it would ease their suffering and make them happy. We can't all be 100% honest all the time. The world would fall apart amirite?

But what about one's own mortality? It's something young, healthy people rarely consider (or at least they don't discuss it openly). It's easy, I think, to pass judgment on others when you believe you're doing things "right" like not smoking or doing drugs or drinking etc etc... but devastating illness can strike anyone at any time, healthy lifestyle or not. It takes less than you think. Truly understanding pain, suffering, and worry are difficult when you haven't experienced them so potently as someone who is dying has. So take special care to consider that next time you're faced with a situation in which you are the lucky one, and your friend is not.

I've learned a lot from studying the topic of dying, and as a consequence I have thought deeply on the lessons that those not facing death in the present may take from those who have had to learn them through experience. If you want to share any feel free to do so.

Nothing becomes more of a skill to the dying than learning to be "in the moment", to experience life as fully and presently as is possible. To squeeze every last drop of living out of every single day. To me, part of this requires easing off on both the gas pedal and the cruise control. Too often in life I think we switch a lever and put ourselves on automatic pilot (and we all know how that ended in Airplane). While it may help us make it to the end of the day, the light at the end of the tunnel also has the ability to blind us to the experience of life, even the seemingly boring moments have virtue to be found. Most folks don't have the luxury of taking holidays, working less hours, or taking sick days to Carpe Diem. That doesn't mean that the experience of life must be limited to the few precious moments away from the grind-stone. It means you have to take as much as you can from those moments, and truly grasps their preciousness. Spend them with fulfilling experiences, places, and people. Listen more than you talk. You learn more that way and you connect with people better. It has taken me a long time to learn this and even longer to put it into practice, but it's true. Most of the time I don't know what I'm talking about anyway. That's the biggest lesson I can think of at the moment. If I think of more maybe I'll post an encore.

For now, I'm going to log off, write in my journal, drink some tea, and spend some time with good friends and enjoy life.

-Cailin

At Least It's Not Winter

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:08:31 GMT

Who else is getting sick or is currently sick here people. Seriously. This is ridiculous. At the suggestion of my pal Marlec (Marie/Alec) I'm trying something new this time, Mucinex! I took a 1200 mg pill (it's slow release over 12 hours) and the damn thing had HEFT in my palm. It was the size of a freaking quarter. Now, I'm thinking that means that it must work. Right?

Now if being sick weren't enough to sour my mood today, I have to go to work early. And hike. Outdoors. With children.

Maybe I should have taken a cyanide pill instead.

-Cailin

Hurm.

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:45:20 GMT

Anyone here read the Watchmen? I read it a while back when I heard about the movie coming out, now I'm on my second go at it. There's a lot of material to take in. Greg and I are also going to watch the animated feature, which is basically what you get when you animate the comic itself with minimal frames, kind of like a flash movie. The text is still on screen but also all read by a single voice actor, so in that way it's more like a visual/audio book than a cartoon or animated film. Watched the first few minutes just to see how it works, and I really liked it.

I know the flim won't be able to touch the depth of Alan Moore's work, but I'm hoping that it won't be... oh how do I put it... like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. :(

Here's hoping!

-Cailin

Perspective

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:39:12 GMT

There are reasons that the Supreme Court of California has the right to overturn popular votes, namely to strike down unjust laws. Now, I know some people are freaked out by the idea (honestly it's not something that should happen regularly) but this power has been used in the past to strike down other laws that were voted for by the majority of the state such as banning white/non-white marriages (struck down by the courts when no proof could be provided which showed any harm to society) as well as a ban on letting women work as bartenders (also struck down for similar reasons). The fact is, though people may stomp and scream about "activist judges" what really is going on is that people who are well versed in California law and the constitution of our state, people who understand the ramifications and results of such laws SHOULD have the final say when it comes to disputes over laws. That's what there for. Not everyone shares that opinion, I get it, but I think it has proven itself as a useful system in the past to protect other minority groups.

Proposition 8 is about stopping two adults who want to get married from getting married. Pure and simple. The law says nothing about protecting religious speech, children's education or any sort of "traditional" preservation. It is discrimination for the purpose of promoting one religious belief over anyone else's. Period. One reason this subject grates on me so is not just the fact that I have many gay friends and family or that I have always been taught that equality is the ultimate realization of compassion and love, but specifically being an atheist gives me an interesting perspective on marriage and it's "traditionallness".

Above all else, proponents of Prop 8's ban on gay marriage claim that they want to "preserve" or protect what they call the "traditional" marriage. They don't realize that the traditional marriage (read: Marriage as described in the Bible) is about more than what gender the two people are. In the past they had to be the same race, and they also had to be Christian for it to be a "real marriage". Now, thinking of this as a non-religious person, could they not argue that I shouldn't get to say I'm "married" or refer to myself as my husband's wife because neither of us are relgious or married by a religious official? What's the difference? Surely secular marriage defies the "traditions" of religious marriage, so what would stop them from saying the secular marriages should be called Domestic Partnerships?

Maybe heterosexual secular people don't creep religious folks out as much as seeing two gay men holding hands or kissing seems to. Maybe it's a pure case of the creeps, where because they are so uncomfortable with the sexuality of others that they endeavor to never have it near any part of them or their lives, including being forced to accept them as married people. With the term domestic partnership liberal Christians endeavor to have it both ways, where they don't have to accept gay marriages, but can consider themselves still tolerant because they have similar (not the same) rights and a nice, sanitized word like "partnership", a legal contract and nothing more.

In a way this 'Separate but Equal' policy disgusts me more than the people who just flat out say gay people "choose" to be gay and shouldn't be given any rights acknowledging them at all. At least with a fundamentalist, they are owning their bigotry and being honest about it. Liberal Christians on the other hand simper and dance around trying to balance their uncomfortable feelings about gays and their understanding that discrimination is wrong and try somehow to make themselves feel better about taking away rights from others because they don't follow their religious beliefs. That's what all this Prop 8. nonsense is about, making people who feel uncomfortable about homosexuality able to ban it without openly admitting what it is they are doing, claiming all sorts of weak and flimsy reasons that don't stand up to scrutiny.

For perspective here is one of the many Pro-8 Ads:

and here it is altered to give an idea of what is being said with a different concept.

Does this one make you feel any different feelings when the homosexual terminology is removed? Is banning homosexual marriage an expression of religious freedom, an act of intolerance, or something else? How do you feel about the idea that Liberal Christians are in any way "worse" than their fundamentalist counter-parts?

In the end I don't expect to change anyone's mind about an emotional subject like this where religion is involved, but I hope to provide some sort of new perspective on what it really means to take away someone's rights because of fear or discomfort.

-Vote on November 4th, whatever your positions may be.

-Cailin

Thanks to Hemant at Friendly Atheist.com for pointing out these vids.

Click

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:30:04 GMT

One of my most favorite hobbies is photography, but with the extremely outdated point-and-shoot camera I have (with a memory disk which isn't even made anymore), I feel severely limited in my capacity to create really beautiful photos. My Fuji camera has served me well with its piddly 3.5 mega pixel range and 16 MB storage capacity but I'm ready to upgrade to a digital SLR now. Please.

I've been looking into camera brands, and I find that for the price Canon seems to offer more of what I need. Chiefly, I need higher quality and more versatility in my photography. I want the camera to work more for me, to allow me more control with an easier interface. Keeping it from being too heavy would be nice too. Recently I ran across this camera, the Canon Rebel XSi (aka 450D), which is on the upper end of my imaginary future budget but with enough of the high-end features to give the learning photographer something substantial to work with.

What really impressed me about this camera was the incredible 12.2 megapixel range, which seems to be the highest you can get for less than $700, as well as a very large LCD monitor (3"!). Other features where nice but pretty much standard on most cameras I looked at, such as the self cleaning anti-dust mechanisms, live image viewing and picture style settings. What I didn't see was how well the camera dealt with white balance and how much control the photographer had in that area, which would be nice to know.

The camera comes with one lens, a 15-55mm which is a pretty good range, though I'm sad I couldn't find a Pentax for the same price and quality, I already have several lenses for a Pentax. It would have been nice not to have to re-buy lenses for the new digital SLR. Another feature that is important but can be overlooked is what kind of memory it accepts, and I was happy to see it took both regular SD and the new higher-capacity SDHC which goes well and above the 2 gig limit of the previous iteration). :D

Let the saving begin!

-Cailin

Would Your Friends Stay?

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:42:27 GMT

Hemant over at Friendly Atheist.com pointed out an interesting bit of text in Dan Barker's new book regarding how friendships can change when people change their beliefs about things. Barker specifically was talking about how when he gave up his religious beliefs he lost many friends in the process but found that the relationships that stayed true showed the difference between conditional friendship and mutual admiration.

Dan encourages all of us to consider what our friendships are built upon, saying "this is a great way to test your friendships. Imagine doing this yourself. If you are an atheist, try telling your friends that you have become a born-again preacher. If you are a lifelong Republican, announce that you have switched parties. How many of your “friends” would stay your friends?"

He goes on to say that some friendships would undoubtedly remain, even if they did not share your new convictions because the friendship was built on more than "belonging to the same club, faction, philosophy or religion" and that "as soon as that external link disappears, so does that artificial bond that brings you together." If the relationship is built on more than sameness, your friendship remains on the principles of mutual admiration of each other for who they are as people, and that respect for freedom of choice remains as the stable force which strengthens the relationship and bonds people together in friendship.

So naturally, after reading this I thought to myself, would any of my friends leave me behind if I converted to Christianity or perhaps took up the Republican cause? I thought for a long time, thinking specifically about what might change and I found that though many of my friendships would probably have to adapt and change a bit to handle the sudden shift, I could not think of one person who I felt would no longer call me a friend if such a thing were to happen. Might there be some strain on the relationship? Sure, but I could not imagine any of them being anything less than the wonderful caring friends they already are, and that's a great feeling.

As a life-long atheist I can only imagine what having "church friends" is like, though I wonder how many of these friendships exists solely on that "sameness" condition. I can't really speculate but it seems that (at least in the cases of atheists who leave churches) this sort of condition is very common and only reveals itself after it is lost. Friendships that found themselves based on just the shared religious beliefs of their church seem like a common thing to me, especially when that's the only time you see those other people. Are they real friendships? Maybe, perhaps instead of saying they aren't your real friends you'd say they're a "different kind of friend" but in the end I think a friend is someone who cares about you on a deeper level than shared beliefs, someone who will be there for you even if they disagree with something you think that may be very important to them. I have plenty of religious friends like that and I wonder how they feel about their friends who share their beliefs. Thoughts?

-Cailin