Happy Valentine’s Day

We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, just because Michael makes sure to tell me every day that he loves me, and I do the same. It’s not a once-a-year type thing. You should celebrate your love for the people in your life every day. While some of the people I love are so very far away, they might fall by the wayside now and again, I try to let them know at other times of the year. I feel like Valentine’s is so forced – it’s something you are suppose to do. Michael made me a cute card and put it on my keyboard after I fell asleep last night. I didn’t get him a card this year. We are going out to dinner tomorrow night (and getting dressed up too!) and Eshiva picked out a cake that we’ll have tonight. [Read more...]

Mal is developing his own personality!

Meant to post this on April 7 – not sure why it got stuck in my drafts.

Michael mentioned yesterday that Malachai is finally developing a personality of his own. He brought up how it was sort of blunted before, you could interact with him, but there wasn’t anything about it that screamed, this is me, I am Malachai.

He loves Alice Cooper. He wants to dress up like him for Halloween. He loves scary movies and fast rides. I kind of attribute part of that to his sensory issues (if he needs BIG input physically it makes sense he’d love roller coasters and stuff, and if he needs it physically, why wouldn’t he need BIG input mentally too? So scary stuff = more input to his brain) but it’s giving him and Michael something way cool to bond over.

He said something yesterday and I can’t remember what it was (Michael told me I should have posted then and there lol Silly me for not doing it) but it was what brought on this conversation. He might be coming up on seven, but he is finally turning into… himself. It is giving me great joy to see it happen. Dorian had his own personality around 3 or 4, and Eshiva is loaded with personality, but Mal… he was just kind of rolling along. Now he pops up with little quips and stories and is fierce about what he likes and doesn’t like and what he does and doesn’t want to do and why (as opposed to being engrossed in one thing and woe be unto you if you tried to do something else).

It’s not all sunshine and roses, but this is just amazing to me.

Canon S3IS for sale

I want to upgrade my camera, mostly since I just bought a new P&S and having two seems silly to me now. I thought I’d use them both, but… not so much.

I looked on ebay and they are going for anything from 100$ to 240$. Amazon has it new for 320$ I am asking 200$, priority shipping included for the following:

Canon S3IS
AA-size battery (x4)
SD Memory Card SDC-16MB plus a 128 meg Lexar SD card
Lens Cap
Neck Strap NS-DC4
USB Interface Cable IFC-400PCU
Denali camera bag (currently holds my personal battery charger, plus the camera, plus the chord, plus room for extra batteries, cards, etc..
English instruction manual

I do not think I have the disk it came with, but the drivers can be downloaded from the canon site (linked below) but I’ve never needed anything that was on the included disk. If I find it, hey, added bonus :-) The camera is totally plug n play and as soon asyou plug it into your machine to transfer the images, your machines default program will open.

I love this camera. You guys have heard me tout how fabulous it is almost everytime a camera thread come sup, and frankly, I am probably going to have sellers remorse right up until I buy a brand spankin’ new DSLR. I spent about as much (new) on my new camera just last month as I did on the S3IS when I bought it, and judging by the auctions and sites I found selling the S3, 200$ is a steal. The camera is used, but has zero scratches or any other imperfections. It works beautifully, feels great in my hands and I actually was tempted to buy the S5 instead of the Panasonic I bought. Michael talked me out of it because well, I already had a Canon S-series lol

You can see the specs better laid out here: http://www.newegg.com…N82E16830120043
and here is the company page: http://www.usa.canon.com…p;modelid=13077

This camera has the following features:
#
Specifications
Type of Camera
Type of Camera
Compact digital camera with built-in flash, 12x Optical / 4x Digital / 48x Combined Zoom
Image Capture Device
Type
6.0 Megapixel, 1/2.5 inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)
Total Pixels
Approx. 6.2 Megapixels
Effective Pixels
Approx. 6.0 Megapixels
Lens
Focal Length
6.0-72.0mm f/2.7-3.5 (35mm film equivalent: 36-432mm)
Digital Zoom
4x
Focusing Range
Normal: 1.6 ft./50cm-infinity (WIDE), 3.0 ft./90cm-infinity (TELE)
Macro: 3.9 in.-1.6 ft./10-50cm (WIDE)
Super Macro: 0-3.9 in./0-10cm (WIDE)
Autofocus System
TTL Autofocus (continuous/single)
Viewfinder & Monitor
Viewfinder
Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color viewfinder
LCD Monitor
2.0 inch low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD with variable-angle function
LCD Pixels
Approx. 115,000 pixels
LCD Coverage
100%
Aperture and Shutter
Maximum Aperture
f/2.7 (W) – f/3.5 (T)
Shutter Speed
15-1/3200 sec. (settable in Tv or M)
Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity
Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800 equivalent
Light Metering Method
Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot** Metering frame is fixed to the center or linked to the AF frame
Exposure Control Method
Program AE, Shutter Speed-Priority AE, Aperture-Priority AE, Manual; AE Lock is available
Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
White Balance
White Balance Control
Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash), Custom
Flash
Built-in Flash
Auto, Auto w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Flash Off
Flash Range
Normal: 1.6-17 ft./50cm – 5.2m (W), 3.0-13 ft./90cm-4.0m (T)
Macro: 1.0-1.6 ft./30-50cm (W) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)
Recycling Time
12 sec. or less (battery voltage=6.0V)
Flash Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Shooting Specifications
Shooting Modes
Auto; Creative: P, Av, Tv, M, C; Image: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Special Scene (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Indoor, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap), My Colors, Stitch Assist, Movie
Photo Effects
Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Custom Color
Self-Timer
Activates shutter after an approx. 2-sec./10-sec. delay, Custom
Wireless Control
Not available
Continuous Shooting
High-speed: approx. 2.3 fps
Normal: approx. 1.5 fps
Image Storage
Storage Media
SD Memory Card, SDHC, MultiMediaCard
File Format
Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1
Image Compression
Still Image: Exif 2.2 (JPEG)
Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Stereo))
JPEG Compression Mode
Normal, Fine, SuperFine
Number of Recording Pixels
Still Image: 640 x 480 (Small), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 2), 2,272 x 1,704 (Medium 1), 2,816 x 2,112 (Large), 2,816 x 1,584 (Widescreen)
Movie: 640 x 480 (30 fps/15 fps) / 320 x 240 (60 fps/30 fps/15 fps) available up to 1GB or 1 hour for each file size

Allowance

I just asked Malachai if he wanted 5$ allowance. He said what for? I said for cleaning your room (and keeping it clean all week). Then he said what room? I said your room. He said um, no. Then he asked where Dorian was. I said in your room. He said is it almost clean? I lost it. Michael said, he’s so manipulative. I was still losing it. He’s so funny.

Infatuation

I have been unusually infatuated with my husband lately. I’m not complaining. It’s a wonderful thing. I smile when I see him. That small, secret smile when you know no one is looking. It’s a smile just for me.  Like I know he’s just scrumptious and I can’t wait to have it all for me.

I don’t know. I like I said, not complaining in the least. It’s lovely. I feel like it’s the first week or two, the ones right after you fall in love with someone, all over again. We’re coming up on our 8th handfasting anniversary. I only just realized that, so I’m sure it’s not related. March 21, 2000. What a long, strange eight years it has been.

Mmmmm   I want to roll around in this feeling and keep myself coated in it. It’s better than drugs.