Cameras

So, if all goes well on the ticket buying front I'll be off to Japan in September for two weeks. Since I'm going to be beyond my means anyway, it seems like a good time to FINALLY buy a digital camera. Something with some zoompf* that's relatively small for travel-ease.

I had it narrowed down to the Canon Powershot A710 IS and the Pannasonic Lumix LMC-TZ3. The pannasonic is a newer camera with 10x optical zoom compared to the Canon's 6x. It doesn't offer quite as manny light settings (you can set your own white point, but for point-n-shit** photos you don't want to be messing with that, and I have a feeling that the canon's flourescent adjustment would come in useful frequently. I went to circuit city last night (home of the most bombastically BULLSHITTING sales rep EVAR) just to get a feel for both. The TZ3 is small enough that I'm not quite comfortable holding it - the A710 definitely feels better in my hand.

But damn, the TZ3 is sexy. It makes the A710 look like your mom.




*Zoom-oompf. Of my own coinage.

**This was Dad's preferred nomenclature.

Reasons Not to Have a Car numbers 48 and 157

I just got my bike back from the shop yesterday, and on the way home from work I did the stupid-diagonal-gear thing (paying attention to traffic, not shifting) and my chain locked up tight. It was the most-stuck chain I have ever encountered. I walked to a nearby parking lot, got my fingers a bit greasy, and was back on the road within ten minutes.

I am not a good bike mechanic. I'm not even a mediocre, almost-competent bike mechanic, but bikes are simple enough that I can look at the problem and figure out, if not how to FIX it, then what to do to get me home on it. And if I screw something up, it won't explode.

I wouldn't know where to start tinkering with a combustion engine, and it's highly unlikely I'll ever be able to solve an auto problem by popping a quick-release lever on the back tires. I have a healthy respect for things that are potentially explosive.

I'm fundamentally uncomfortable with owning anything I don't feel comfy tinkering with.

***This thought-train has reached it's scheduled terminus. Please de-train and board your connecting thought-train on platform 2***

The Obesity Epidemic is front page news again because of a study claiming to link weight-gain to social connections - you gain weight because your friends do, crudely put. This is sparking discussions about societal stigma and whether fat-acceptance, love-your-body people are creating an environment where there's no penalty for being fat and therefore worsening the health of all of the country.

I don't think any amount of love-your-body acceptance pep talk is going to make anyone up and decide to be obese. I don't think stigmatizing anyone does any good, either. I am concerned about friends and relatives who are overweight.

I know that someone is bound to read this and launch into "you don't know how it feels...". Lets get clear, here - I'm pretty skinny. As an adolescent I lost weight due to physical stress (surgery) rather than gained it. But also due to surgeries, I have a really damn good idea of what it's like to loathe, fear, and detest the idea of going to a gym. Y'know, a gym, where people who are obsessed with fitness go to more perfectly tone their gorgeous bodies? Where people might see you and laugh 'cause here you are like you'll be able to improve and you just can't freaking do this stuff, pack it in before you embarrass the rest of us?

Some of this is normal human egocentrism - the fact is, "they" are not spending all their time staring at you.
But knowing that doesn't help. I don't think it can be physically healthy to force yourself into a situation where you feel that bad. New and uncomfortable situations make you grow, but that's uncomfortable, not agonizing.

This is another reason why I bike to work.

It's not a pretentious work-out. It's a commute. The only people looking at me are the assholes honking at the slow biker (I prefer to pretend that they are honking in appreciation of my luscious ass). It is somehow a much "safer"* way to get some of the same activity. I took a spin cycle class once - I was absolutely miserable. I've never been inclined to join any group rides, even though I enjoy recreational riding on occasion. Safe to say, it's not just the movement, it's the situation. Walking can be the same way - exercise without feeling like somehow you're a fitness-poseur.

Y'know something about biking (or walking) to work? It's a whole lot easier to make yourself do it when you don't own a car.

By this point, I think I will reach the place where I can make myself bike even if I own a car, because I've come to appreciate it as part of my daily routine. I feel healthier, I have more energy, and I enjoy seeing my town from the bike. There have been days when I had my folks' car and I took the bike instead. But I seriously don't think I could have gotten to this point if a car had been available all the time. I never would have gotten comfortable enough with the idea of a commute ride if I had another option (I didn't have a license 'till I was 19, in case you're wondering). Yeah, I'm lazy. Most of are. It's evolution - of COURSE we want to do it the easy way! If we're more efficient mammoth hunters then we preserve more calories and can spend more energy making little mammoth hunters. As many, many people before me have pointed out, this set of evolutionary adaptations is NOT helpful to today's desk jockey.

Commuting has the other clear benefit of being something you were going to do anyway, instead of yet another thing on your long to-do list.

So there you go. Another reason not to own a car.



*My risk of gruesome mangled death are higher than at the gym, but my brain is happy.