A New Toy

My new toy arrived today. A few thoughts from friends and family on this:

Max: Of course you buy new stuff when you’re unemployed. That’s what you do when you’ve got no money coming in…
[when I bought my first cellphone in 2001, right after EmployeeService went belly-up]

Brian: Which do you need more, rationalizations, or sex? Answer: Have you ever gone more than a week without a rationalization?
[when I pointed out that I’d just have to buy more film before my trip next week to Guatemala, and then I wouldn’t be able to scan it until the movers dropped off all my stuff in early September, so I might as well buy a $3,500 digital camera body instead]

Heather: I think we’ve hit the truth that women spend more frequently but in small amounts; while men spend infrequently but in huge amounts.
[From a conversation that requires pages of back-story]

Mom: Oh, don’t ask me. Just buy it.
[From a woman who is still recovering from the financial roller-coaster of losing a spouse, and has joyously embraced a tiny dash of fiscal irresponsibility for the first time in a decade]

My new Canon 1d Mark II N arrived today. It’s insanely large. It weighs five pounds with one of my new lenses on it. It’s supposedly weatherproof, which should prove useful in Seattle. It’s more camera than I need, and even though I’ve been saving for six months, I still won’t have the money to pay for it completely for another month or so.

But it’s glorious. Tomorrow, I think I’ll go to the zoo, take it through its paces.