Pictures and Stuff

I uploaded some pictures today on Flickr, and I’m starting to update my photoblog more again.

Also, I ordered a new lens the other night! A Canon 50mm f1.8. It’s supposed to be here Wednesday, and I’m really looking forward to playing around with it and learning to use it.

In other news, I’ve been doing some work at my dad’s office whenever they need help with the computers. I got all the internet and networking issues smoothed out a while back, and fixed some issues so they could access their office computer remotely. But they just bought a new building and moved over to the new place, and got a different internet service and new equipment. Which meant I was back at the beginning and got to set it all up again. It was touch and go for a while there, but it’s all working now. It can get frustrating at times, when I don’t know what’s wrong and can’t find a logical explanation, and I still have a lot to learn. But I do enjoy it.

Not much else to report right now, really. I’ve been sick a lot lately with sinus and cold type stuff, but I think I’m over most of it now. Still pretty tired, and still fighting weed pollen allergies. I’m praying for a good hard freeze early this year, to kill all the ragweed. I always feel so much better when it dies off.

Blog stuff

I really do plan on using this thing more. I’ve been putting it off until I redesign the site, make my own layout and such, and, well, I just haven’t gotten to that yet. I should go ahead and start using it again anyway. Maybe I’ll post a longer update later.

Meanwhile…I’ve started a photoblog.I think that’s a good way to share pictures with people who want to see them, and to encourage me to work at it more. It will also be neat to look back over later, after I’ve been doing this for a while, and hopefully see how I’ve improved over time. I have so much to learn, but I’m enjoying it!

I’m also working on learning more web design. I’m currently working on a blog for Caroline, learning to make my own Wordpress templates. I need to learn more PHP so I can code more stuff myself, but this is a good way to get started. I’m really enjoying it, and would love to do more with it.

Of shoes and hair…

It’s really quite insulting to be walking through the mall and have someone offer to straighten your hair. There’s a kiosk at our mall that sells hair straighteners, and there’s always someone standing there offering to straighten people’s hair. Said person always asks me. I like my hair the way it is, thank you very much! I’m going to tell her that someday. Instead, I usually get perturbed, say “No thank you,” and keep walking. But someday…

Also, I finally found shoes! Two pair, at that! I like them. I’ve been having the hardest time finding something besides Riley shoes or running shoes. Slipons seem to be the fashion, and they’re really cute, but I need a strap to hold them on my feet. I have high arches, narrow heels, and problems with the tendons in my right foot. All that makes it very hard to find shoes. But I got smart tonight and checked the girls’ sizes at Payless. I wear women’s 7 to 7.5, and I found a girls’ 4.5 is about that size too, and fits perfectly. Most of the girls’ shoes have straps. So I found shoes. It’s such a relief to have that over with.

Seriously, anyone who enjoys shoe shopping must have perfect feet that can wear anything.

Why I can’t keep a houseplant alive…

You know it’s humid when…

…you can’t take photos outside because your lens keeps fogging up.

I was getting rather worried about my camera, because I couldn’t get it to focus, and everything was so dark, despite the bright sun and the settings I was using. Then I checked the lens and realized the problem. After that, I kept a microfiber cloth out there with me to clean the lens periodically, and that worked much better.

Before
After

Uh, yeah…

My cat locked me out of the house today. I went to get the mail, came back, walked up the front steps, and grabbed the handle of the screen door. The door wouldn’t open. I knocked on the door and waited while one of my sisters came to open the door. When I stepped inside, there sat the cat, blinking at me. She had actually flipped the switch to lock the door. She was sitting on the table beside the door wearing an expression too deep and catlike for me to grasp. But I know she was laughing at me. I think it was payback for the pictures of her bath.

Bath Day for Kitty

Most definitely not a happy cat. She’s pretty good about it though, and will stand there and let my sister clean her up without much fight. She just gives out an “I will kill you look” while doing so.

One more picture. I dare you.

A little less angry after the bath, but still not happy.

Another Picture

By this point, I hoped to have taken a lot more pictures, posted a bunch here, and kept up with my blog a bit more regularly. But I got that virus the day I got my camera, and caught the flu the day I got over the virus, so I haven’t exactly felt up to all that. However, I think I’m finally getting over all that stuff, so hopefully I’ll have a lot more pictures to share in the coming days, and will have more to write about here, something besides being sick.

I do have one picture I want to share of our cat, Belle. She’s such a cute thing, which makes her a likely candidate for a photo subject.

Valentine’s Day Pains

From the brilliant Daniel Gardner:

New camera!

I haven’t been posting nearly enough lately. I hope to start posting more though, between pictures and craft projects. Which brings me to…my new camera! I got it for my birthday, and love it. It’s a Canon PowerShot A570. I’ve been playing around with it a lot, trying to figure out the settings. I’m getting over a virus I caught the day I got the camera, so with that, I haven’t been up to taking as many pictures as I hoped to have by now. I have gotten some, however, and I’m having fun figuring things out. I really want to learn more about photography, and this has a lot of manual settings, so it’s good to learn with.

This is my favorite so far:

Also, I made my mom an apron for her birthday, and took pictures as I went along. I plan on posting those soon, with general directions for how I made the apron.