A pound of flesh

So, not much news on the home front. On Tuesday, I biked the Bird to Gird trail, which as you may recall, was one of my goals this summer. In the past, I've been a little intimidated by it because 1) it's 13 miles one way and 2) there is always one bitch of a wind blowing down the Turnagain Arm. I picked Tuesday to ride because it was a gorgeous day, I had plenty of time, and I didn't think the wind would be that bad. Well, the wind definitely could have been worse, but it wasn't exactly calm. My ride down was about 1 hr, and the ride back was 1 hr 15 minutes due to the headwind. But did I mention it was gorgeous? Holy cow, the scenery was great! And 25 miles was not too difficult at all, although I was slightly sore afterward and decided not to ride my bike in to work yesterday. So I really enjoyed it -- enough that I want to do it again and am considering dragging Ethan out there while he's home.

I did take some pictures, but I don't have them available, because I have to develop the film. Which brings me to the second thing I've wanted to write about: I am considering getting a digital camera. But I have been major issues with this possible purchase. I really want to get a nice, entry-level SLR, with interchangeble lenses; basically to replace my film camera. Unfortunately, that's going to run me about $400 or higher. So I think I'm going to have to go for the kind where you can't change the lenses, which will probably run me about $250. I'll go to Costco one of these days and check out the prices. Hopefully I can get a camera that will allow me some manual control but doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Part of the thing is, we have some friends who are always buying shit. And not just stuff (although they certainly do that; I went over to their house after Christmas and the wife had a 5 foot tall stack of Christmas stuff she had gotten on sale. Who needs that much Christmas stuff? It's not like they didn't already have too many decorations.) but expensive, top-of-the-line stuff that they don't need or use. For instance, she has a mountain bike that was like $1000 or some crap and she never rides it! I mean seriously, that bike has like 10 miles on it. I know $1000 isn't top of the line for a bike, but for a bike you never use, that's a little much. I felt guilty when I spent $250 on my bike 4 years ago, and I've probably put 200 miles on it this season alone! Back to the camera thing -- anyway, they have a Canon Rebel XT, which is super nice, but her husband didn't even know what an aperture was when he bought it! And you know what they take pictures of? Their dogs. The jeep. Argh! So if I spend a bunch of money, I kind of feel like maybe they (and our consumerist society) are convincing me to do something I shouldn't. It's like I'm being drawn to the dark side. I don't really need a $600 camera, after all.

But I sure do want one.