my new camera

Whilst in Italy recently we visited Pisa, 

to see the famed Leaning Tower of course.    

So silly, but when we rounded the corner and caught our first glimpse of it we turned and looked at each other, and we each had this huge goofy grin!

I mean, this is an iconic structure, you hear about it your whole life, and most of us think we'll never see it outside of print.  But there we were, in the presence of this awesome site.

 from this angle the lean is to the left,  which is the most pronounced,

 but from one side it actually looks in vertical alignment

As you can imagine we walked with eyes lifted to the soaring 55.86 meter (183.27 feet) height of this incredible structure.   Prior to the restoration work which was performed between 1990 and 2001, the towers lean was at an angle of 5.5 degrees.  The tower now leans at about 4 degrees. Which means that the top of the tower has a horizontal displacement of 3.9 meters (12 ft 10 in) from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.  Incredible, eh?

We started taking pictures, each of us taking probably the same shot with each of our cameras. We walked without care, without regard, and with complete and utter conviction.   

That is until we turned towards each other without bothering to look.  We collided, hard.  

No damage, unless you take into account the complete destruction to my camera, because it went flying. The lens is stuck part way out, the latch on the battery door snapped off and the door no longer aligns with the opening, and there are several rather large dents and scratches.

This camera I purchased about 3 years ago, hard for me to believe I've had it that long.  I think I paid about 120USD, so to try to repair it just isn't economically logical, especially after I was already jones'ing over a camera that does Panorama Shots!

So here you see my old camera!

Et voilà, my new camera arrived last night via my friends.  

Pretty!

Just in time too, because tonight is the Paseo de las Animas here in my neighborhood so I'll give this baby a test drive!

isn't it funny that colors are cheaper than silver or black?  

Not that I mind!

Well, I did it!

I ordered a new digital camera today. I decided on the Panasonic Lumix DMC FS5, with 30mm wide angle lens, 10.1 megapixel, 4x optical zoom, and 4x digital zoom.

OOOHHHHH AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

IF, and it's always a big IF, everything goes as planned it will be here on the 19th of December.



It took me so long to finally make a decision that, even though it is a free shipping item, I had to pay extra for expedited shipping to get it to my friends before they start their route to Merida. They are slated to leave their home early on Monday, the 15th. So, of course AFTER having completed the entire process and getting my email verification all the caveats to their shipping policy come out.



I got my order in before 1PM est, which should ensure my order is shipped tomorrow, and with the Blue-Star 2-day UPS it should reach my friend by Friday. WELL, the caveat after the fact notice states it may take them 48 hours to verify all my info. WHAT!!!!! I called immediately upon reading this but even though it is a computerized system, my order won't show in the system for several hours so I have to wait and call in.

It's Ok, I'm Cool, No Stress, *%#@)>