My New Camera

Let me start out by saying that my afternoon yesterday wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Danielle was not happy about losing her cell phone, but she didn't react as badly as I assumed she would. We all went shopping, we found shoes to go with the homecoming dress (on clearance for $10, booyah!), got oil and various filters and spark plugs so Steve can tune up the van before we drive to San Diego, and picked up some other things we needed as well. We went to four different stores, and Kylie surprised me by actually being pretty good! Later on, some friends of ours called and invited us over to watch the Dbacks game, luring me with promises of margaritas. We went, it was fun, Dbacks won (!), and the day ended much better than it started.

So, on to my new camera. First let me explain that Steve's job is in sales for Computer Company. I complain about his job at times, because he works partially on commission, which does not mesh well with my anal-retentive need to know exactly how much money is coming in, exactly how much we're going to have, what bills I need to pay, how much we can save (if any), etc. Sometimes it's a good month, sometimes it's a not-so-good month, and this plays havoc with my nerves.

That being said, there are some nice perks to the job. There is a bowl game that his company sponsors, which we get free tickets to every year, along with the employee tailgate party beforehand, which is always fun. (Note to self: Take a warm jacket this year. I nearly froze my butt off last year! In Arizona!) They also have a company picnic thing at a big waterpark here every summer, where everything is free to us, which is also fun. But, the nicest thing is that when you do sales, (at least at Computer Company), you can win stuff. They have all these different vendors (like IBM, AMD, Fuji, etc.), and these companies will hold contests for the sales people, like if you sell so many of our company's widgets this month, we'll put you in a drawing for Really Nice Prize. Steve has been with Computer Company almost 4 years now, and he's won some nice stuff over that time. We've gotten, among other things, a 32" flat screen TV, a 21" monitor for the computer, a laptop, gift cards to restaurants, Visa gift cards, Target gift cards, and even cash.

On Friday he came home with something really cool that he won, which is a Sony Cybershot 8.1 MP digital camera. I'm just excited that we got this right before we're going on vacation, and if I get some good pictures, I might...just might...try making a scrapbook. You see, all the good moms have their picture organized into beautiful, journaled, themed scrapbooks. My pictures all are thrown in a box, or still in digital form on Shutterfly. I think I tried to make a scrapbook once of the first year of Danielle's life, but back then we just called them photo albums. I did actually write some stuff in there though, which was sort of like journaling, but I'm not sure journaling was a word back then. However, those pictures are in one of those photo albums with the sticky pages, which I've now heard are very, very bad for your pictures. You now have to have your pictures in the really expensive Creative Memories albums, with some sort of paper in them that is good for your pictures and won't make them fall apart and end civilization as we know it. Because apparently the pictures I have in the album with the sticky pages will, at some point, self-destruct. I'm not sure why, but they will. Just ask a Creative Memories consultant, they'll tell you.

Anyway, sometime this week I have to actually read the instruction manual that came with my our camera so I can learn how to use it. (Notice how even though Steve won the camera, I keep refering to it as mine? I just realized that.) There are tons of different settings and features and bells and whistles on it. I'm sure it can do some really cool things, it would probably be good if I we knew about them.

Quick sports update:

• High school team wins this week, 42-21, boosting their record to 3-1.
• ASU beats Oregon State last night, coming from behind to win 44-32. They're now 4-0!
• The Dbacks are poised to win the NL West, beating the Dodgers 6-2 last night. 6 more games to go, and we're leading by 2.5 games. Yeah!
• The Cardinals play the Ravens today. I will think positive thoughts, which may or may not help. Um...go Cardinals!