Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Unemployment: The Budget

Yesterday I figured that even someone who's unemployed needs to do her part for the economy, so I went to a mall. [On my way out of the mall I stopped at Orange Julius and had an old-school Strawberry Julius, which I vaguely regretted when I saw that it contains powdered sugar and dairy creamer (Wikipedia).] As I mentioned earlier, I was in the market for a purse, and had some crazy idea in my head that I'd buy a handbag, even though I somehow made it to age 33 without owning much more than a backpack and a tote bag. I went into Roots and wandered over to the bag section, not even sure where to start. One of the salesgirls came over to ask if she could help, and I confessed that I've never owned a purse. She looked me over and said, "Where do you put your stuff?" I pointed to my coat, out of which my wallet and cell phone were practically hanging with a giant arrow covered in sparkly dollar signs and "ROB ME" Bedazzled across the pocket. She suggested that if I wasn't used to carrying a purse (check!) that I might leave a handbag somewhere, and handed me one of the Roots flat bags. I LOVE IT! My wallet fits perfectly in that zipper pocket on the right, and my cell phone and camera in the pocket on the left.

Speaking of cameras, I'm in the market for a DSLR. Thanks to excellent recommendations from Amy and Elizabeth, I've narrowed it down to three choices:

Nikon D40
Canon Digital Rebel XTi
Olympus Evolt E510

The Nikon is highly recommended by everyone I know who has one, and was initially my first choice. However, the price of the Canon has dropped fairly significantly since I first started looking about a year ago, and I do love my current Canon point-and-shoot. The Olympus package is a bit more expensive, but it comes with 2 lenses and was recently rated Wired magazine's top choice for DSLR. Help! I'm pretty sure the next step is to go to a store and try out all three, but that process interferes with my general impatience now that I've decided to spend the money.

Unemployment: Day 3 continues with the happy surprise that Sirrah!'s first appointment of the day was canceled and she's back home, which means we will probably continue our Beverly Hills, 90210 marathon (we've watched about half a dozen episodes since I got here) with more of Kelly's eating disorder from Season 3. Good times, people. Good times.

7 comments:

Chad R West said...

I tend to carry my Cannon SD800is everywhere since it's lightweight and doesn't make me look like a tourist. Well at least I like to think so...

When it comes to serious photos then my D70 paired with the 18-200mm VR lens rocks.

So of course you'd probably can guess I'd suggest the D40. :)

Check out Ken Rockwell's site, there's a ton of great info here:

Recommended Cameras

Candace said...

My mom got me my first purse before a high school trip to Mexico and she made me carry it around empty for a week before the trip so I wouldn't lose it. That one looks very nice!

I haven't done current research into cameras, but I thought the camera FAQ and post by dooce and her husband were interesting since they've got both Nikon and Canon cameras. Also, I'm guessing you've been over to dpreview?

montague said...

I am so proud of your patriotism - still committed to the economy, despite unemployment. Wait, does it count if you spend it in Canada??? And on a Canadian company??? mmmmh. Maybe our patriotic allegiances differ! Anyhow - very excited about the camera options... keep us posted!

ps: I will let you know about our next craft night!

gillicious said...

I used to drink strawberry juliuses too! Crazy!

I've got a Nikon D70S but I'm thinking of packing it up and switching to Canon. So I might argue against Nikon. Dad's had some issues with their repair department, too, though maybe the one in your area wouldn't be so bad.

Elizabeth said...

It is such a pain to wait around and prudently weigh options when there is money to be spent on an exciting purchase. Hmmm, you could just forget the comparisons and go with the fabulous Nikon? :)

Our Heads Are Helmets said...

Niko's got the Digital Rebel and loves it.

amy said...

Just wanted to chime in for the Cannon Rebel SLR. It's awesome.