Update:
Crohn’s Disease vs. Gastric Tuberculosis
Zombie Authors Threaten Fiction Ebook Market, from the Grave!
Idealist.org: Know the rules: Nonprofits in an election year

The upside? Never-before-seen pictures!

(This is the first picture Jason ever saw of me – before he met me even. He thought my hair was red.)

Jason and I are going through our box labeled “To Ebay”, and I came across my old, new camera. After toting a 1970′s Minolta (weighing in at 7 lbs) for a few years, I upgraded to a shiny auto-zoom, adjust-the-eyepiece-to-your-prescription, autofocuses-when-you-lift-it-to-your-eye, 28-200 lens camerabot.

That was in 2002. I learned that I was a photography Luddite, and reverted to my old Minolta. This camera is fancypants, and gives a wide range of focal lengths all in one lens. (It also is a huge lens.)

Anyway, it’s not worth *that* much on Ebay, so I thought I’d see if there was anyone in my personal blogosphere who would be interested in it. I’d much rather it go to a good home.

If anyone is looking at it and seeing potential, let me know, and we can barter. I’m willing to give it up for brownies, yarn, a good back massage, or just about anything else.

Click on the photo to go to Flickr and see my notes on the kit.

* Stella’s birthday party, with booze and cupcakes, then trespassing on an abandoned dock in Eastie for a view of the skyline
* A surprise vacation for Jason to Ann Arbor to see some of his favorite people
* Gratuitous cat photos
* Chillaxing with Steph and Ollie, including an amazing fritatta and a bonus trip to the dog beach
* Watching the DNC speeches with the friends with whom I watched the ’04 debates
* Driving from Chicago directly into a plate full of steak and corn, fresh off the grill
* Going to my 11-year high school reunion, which had a 30% attendance rate
* Bonding with long-lost high school friends over the Twilight trilogy
* Learning about this fun game that includes $10 worth of equipment from Lowes and some frisbees. I rank it higher than corn hole.

This is during the song “Carwash”, and I’m about to spray the crowd with those squirtbottles.

Then, this week I bought a new camera. After much discussion and research, I bought a Nikon D40. What’s the first thing you take a picture of when you get a new camera?

She was a sport about the whole thing.

So was he.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been Foetoegirl (my other, other alter ego), and I’m excited at the prospect of this newfangled digital camera technology. I realized as I was shooting today that not only can I go ahead and think in color (I shot mostly black and white before), but I can SEE the picture after I take it, and if it’s not exactly what I wanted to capture, I can still go in and make changes to it using Photoshop. It’s a whole new world compared to my Minolta SRT 201. I pulled out my camera bag, and it’s dusty. I think Foetoegirl was in hiding.

My secret goal here is to get my photographer eye back, and start dabbling in pro stuff again. After a long conversation with Jason about what my photo professor in college thought I could do, I decided that a goal for the next few years is to work up to shooting some weddings. No, no – not being a wedding photographer like the boring photography stuff. I mean more like a documentary style. Hip stuff. I did it for Stephanie M’s wedding, and it was really satisfying. Dr. Kim is getting married soon, and I made her let me do the same for her. Mwah ha ha.

My goal is to be a hottt librarian every day of 2007.

I’ve been braced for the news that the family dog was dead since I went off to college in 1997. Some time after these pictures were taken, she lost sight in one eye, and a single tumor on one leg turned into lumps all over. I figured she wouldn’t last the next winter.

On July 4, 2004, my family became the incidental owners of a beagle (who we named John Edwards – we were feeling optimistic) and Abbie’s quality of life increased dramatically. Until then, she had the humans and the cats to amuse her. Now she had a friend of the same species.

Abbie lived WAY longer than any of us thought, and I think it was because John Edwards was around to keep her company. Finally, though, it became apparent that although she was a wonder dog, she wouldn’t live forever.

When I talked to my mom on the phone, she told me that Abbie had been put down because she had stopped eating and was walking sideways. I think we were all relieved that she was done being an old dog. I’m glad she was put down, rather than accidentally hit by Mom in her car, or Dad in a tractor.

“I think she lived so long because of John Edwards. She was too old to be much fun, but at least there was another butt to sniff,” said my mom, in a most empathetic tone.

In her youth, Abbie had a tendency to bring us “presents”. I’m sure a lot of pets do this, but when you live on a farm near the timber, you end up with really big, smelly presents on your lawn. I can’t tell you how many times I had to remove a cow placenta or deer bone from the front lawn so I could mow.

Abbie’s trademark was barking at vehicles that drove up the lane. It was like a farm-wide doorbell. We knew when someone was driving up, which is really nice when you live on a farm and aren’t used to a lot of random visitors. Plus, she was always friendly to whomever drove up. It was like, “Hey! Someone’s here! I’ll go smell them for you!”

I also remember a period of time when she was younger when she would carry kittens around in her mouth. I think this was a mothering instinct, but that’s not what you think of when you see a cat in a dog’s mouth.

Basically, she was the best farm dog a family could want (outside of actually being able to herd) and as you can tell by my sentimental words, she will be missed.