Coming home tomorrow!

I have had a simply wonderful time here in Austria. I hung out with friends, took lots of pictures with my new camera, and went shopping, ate good food, lazed about in the backyard.... essentially everything that I have to work to make time for at home.

Here are my favorite pictures from my trip: Schloss Belvedere, Ruine Aggstein, Stift Melk, St. Stephen's Cathedral interior, and part of the fountain at the Parlament.

New camera in use!

This Christmas, I bought my brother a starter camera kit, a Canon EOS 30D, with a good flash and lens (of his choosing). Here's one of the first pictures he took with it that he decided to share (he's the one on the left). Pretty fun stuff!

Purchasing

I have always thought purchasing was so much more of a prepossessing word than buying. Buying has a certain crass connotation to it; whereas purchasing sounds very professional and high in the in-step. This, of course, gives it a certain comic quality as well.

Tomorrow is payday, and it's my payday after working a 52.5hour week and a 54 hour week, so I am looking forward to it. I have already spent every bit of it, though, which is unfortunate, but it's exciting to consider my purchases.

The first is this camera, a Canon EOS 30D for my brother. He is an aspiring photographer, and he currently only has a powershot. Powershot does NOT equal aspiring photographer. So, he's getting a new camera.

The second is for me, I'm getting a bamboo silverware tray and a brushed stainless steel spice carousel. I have been living in my new apartment for going on three months, and haven't yet purchased a silverware tray. Since I hate plastic with a passion, I ended up choosing bamboo and steel, which are, after all, much more attractive anyway. Probably more durable too, since it seems anything made of plastic has shoddy construction.

And thus ends the purchases, because I have to pay rent and pay my mom back for being so generous when my pay didn't quite stretch. But it's certainly been fun shopping!

Costco processing

I have a Costco card for one reason and one reason only - I have a film camera, and I LOVE their processing (I also like getting Odwalla Superfood at $3 cheaper per jug). The Costco in Silverdale now does everything in house, so things are even better than they use to be now. It's also the cheapest place around to get some pretty decent prints of photos. Since I have elected to remain with my film camera, low costs for development are absolutely essential. It does make me feel somewhat better to know that the cost of prints for digital photos is the same as for film (I just have to pay extra for the processing). I have also begun to get the CD of my photos, which is vastly preferable to scanning if one has the money, and the quality is so much better than I expected! I'm very pleased with the investment I made. I have probably, since I take so many photos, balanced out the price difference between the film and digital versions of my camera at this point. But it's still fun to hear the film advancing and the shutter opening and closing and all that. Here's my favorite picture I've ever taken: