Camera For Sale

I hate selling cameras.  I grow attached to them too easily and even after I've upgraded to something better, I still somehow justify keeping the older one "as a backup" or because it has ONE thing that it does better than the newer one.

In reality,  I think I'm just a camera hoarder.  After I bought my Canon EOS 5D Mk II, the EOS 40D sat unused for over a year before I felt bad and sold it to someone that was just getting into the field.  Same for the EOS 30D after I had first bought that EOS 40D. But eventually I have to realize that my camera would be happier (note the anthropomorphism, no doubt a part of the reason I have trouble letting go) if it was actually being used.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

Our honeymoon trip to Hawaii is coming up in just a few weeks, and my waterproof housing for the 5D Mark II has proven to be... well, a bit difficult to handle.  Also scary.  So I want to buy a waterproof housing for my Canon G12.  Since things cost money and I probably don't need all of these point & shoot cameras laying around, I've decided to sell my Canon Powershot SD780 IS along with its associated stuff.

So here's what I'm selling:

• Canon Powershot SD780 IS camera (specifications from Canon)
• Included Canon NB-4L Lithium Ion battery
• Extra Canon NB-4L battery, unused and still in package.
• Canon CB-2LV Battery Charger 
• Canon leather hard case with magnetic clasp
• Canon WP-DC31 waterproof housing with removable flash diffuser
• 8 GB memory card, on this camera that's about 2500 photos.

The main benefits to using a case like the WP-DC31 instead of just buying a waterproof camera?  First of all, waterproof cameras aren't known for their image quality -- too many compromises need to be made to make it waterproof.  Second, waterproof cameras are limited to about a 10-foot depth, depending on the model.  The case is rated to 130 feet.

I'd like to get $200 for everything since that's what the waterproof case costs. :-)  

Example photo from the camera (click for full size)

Example photo from the camera inside
the waterproof housing (click for full size)

Here are some photos of everything that's included:

Canon SD780 IS camera

WP-DC31 Waterproof Case

Camera inside case

Extra battery

Leather case

Rear View of Camera

Everything

This Is How Big of a Nerd I Am

I saw a t-shirt today, and I immediately had to have it.  I felt that it accurately represented my appreciation for sandwiches, my lack of any understanding of "style", and as an added bonus it seemed to imply an appropriate amount of street cred for a software engineer that wears shirts that express an appreciation for sandwiches.

Six or seven hours later I'm thinking about my shirt and how I'm going to excitedly show it to my wife when she gets home and she's going to give me that eye roll and sigh that, if I'm reading it correctly, means "I'm trying to play it cool but secretly I think you are Superman", when all of a sudden I realize that maybe it really has nothing to do with sandwiches.

i.e., "knuckle sandwich".

Dammit.

I don't care, I'm going to wear it anyway. And if someone mentions it, I'm going to tell them that it's all about my love for sandwiches.

Do You Have A Dollar?

Everyone "knows someone" that offered to give a homeless person food in lieu of money and got turned down because they wanted the money instead.  It's such a ubiquitous anecdote that part of me always wondered whether it was one of those urban legend "I knew a guy" tales designed to make people feel better about not giving money to the homeless.

After all, it's not hard to see how something like that can spread -- Carla "knew a guy" that related this story to her, and while talking to Jason, in the interest of getting to the point without too much explanation, she says that she "knew a guy" that did this.  Jason does the same, and so the story spreads without ever being more than one degree of separation from its supposed origin.

So I pull up in front of the Caribbean restaurant I decided to visit for lunch, and as soon as I got out of the Jeep a small, unkempt middle-aged woman carrying a couple of plastic shopping bags comes up to me and asks me for a dollar.  Knowing I didn't have any cash on me (I was paying with a card), I told her I didn't have anything and turned to walk away. But I was feeling generous.  The restaurant I was going to sold full meals including salad, rice and beans, a protein of choice, and plantains for under $8. Easily over 2 pounds of great food.

I turned back to the woman and told her, "Look, why don't you pick a meal off the menu and I'll get it for you."

Her response came after a brief moment of pause, obviously she hadn't expected the offer. Then she said that what she really wanted was some yellow rice and fried something-or-other, items that they didn't have at the Caribbean restaurant but that she could get elsewhere if only she had the money.

Disappointed (both in the offer's refusal and in the stereotype having been proven correct), I smiled at her and shrugged before walking into the restaurant, my good deed for the day remaining unrealized.

Of course, I know this was just one example and that not everyone would be so quick to dismiss a free meal.  Still, it made me uncomfortable, this little homeless woman trying to take advantage of the giving nature of people.
 And I don't like the fact that I'll probably think twice next time, before offering help again.

I liked it better when I could think it was just a folk tale.