Curious Happenings and Probably Some Rambling

Friends only. :)

Jeff's mom asked for a photograph of Lyle as a Christmas gift. So we chose five of our favorites from the past few months and framed them in simple, matching dark wood frames with white mats. They looked fantastic.

Then I took them to FedEx to ship, where they informed me that because of liability issues, they are not allowed to package picture frames with glass; I have to bring it in already packaged. Instead, I just said, "OK, tell me how you would package this if you could, and I'm just going to buy the stuff I need and do it right here right now." The woman who helped me was SO nice--she not only told me the best way to package it, but she let me use all their supplies FOR FREE.

I spent one hour--no kidding--wrapping these things. I put 3 inches of bubble wrap around each frame (which ranged in size from 16x20 to 8x10), which took nearly a whole roll of bubble wrap. Then I packed them tightly in a huge box (the only one that a 16x20 would fit in) with about half a box of packing paper. And then I just crossed my fingers (and swore that I'm never again giving framed prints to anyone who does not live in driving distance from me). They slapped FRAGILE stickers all over the box, and lo and behold, the package arrived this week at Jeff's mom's entirely intact with no broken glass. I consider this a small miracle even considering all the packing material I used.

Good Christmas trip so far. When I was a kid, we opened our presents under the tree on Xmas Eve and then got our presents from Santa on Xmas morning. In our adult years, we've kept up the tradition of opening gifts on Xmas Eve, leaving only the stockings for Xmas morning. This year, however, because my brother didn't get in town until the night of the 24th, we just pushed all the gift stuff to Christmas morning. For adults, it's fine, but for an 18-month-old, it was too much. We need some kind of break in the middle of gifts. Lyle was kinda overwhelmed.

But Lyle did fairly well--he got some gifts that he really loves (like a train set!) but the number of gifts wasn't totally out of control. Jeff got TWO Apple iTouches, one of which he's exchanging for a Garmin GPS, which my brother got and we've had a chance to play with this week. I have to admit, I did not think the iTouch sounded all that exciting until I saw Jeff's. It's pretty cool...it has wifi and the screen is pretty good. (Flash doesn't work on it, though...one more mark against all-flash websites!)

I got a Scott Kelby book about Lightroom, which is awesome. I need to learn this program. I also got another lens--a 28-75mm f/2.8. (Tamron, because the Nikon version is about $1500.) This lens has a reputation for being really good. However, I'm feeling like it might not be enough different (or any better) than my 24-85mm f/2.8-4 Nikon lens. I'll have to compare them closely once I'm home. If I exchange it, I'm not sure what I'll get instead. Maybe the 17-55mm f/2.8? (Tamron again, because, again, the Nikon version is something in the four digits.) Another prime? I'm not sure.

We've seen a few friends, and gone out once so far sans kid. Tomorrow night we'll go out again without him, for fondue with three of my girlfriends from high school. I'm doing one photo shoot while I'm out here--Monday afternoon, a 4-month-old. I've been torn between wanting to take advantage of having more kids to photograph (and thus asking to do shoots with friends' kids) and not wanting to be tied to a schedule while we're here. So I left it open--I figured anyone who asked, I'd do it, but I wouldn't approach anyone about it. My friends have some really cute kids, though, so I'm kinda regretting missing out on a chance to photograph some of them. Maybe I'll make another trip out here before next Christmas.

Ok, Lyle is ready for me to put him to bed, so I must sign off now.

We flew to Dallas yesterday, and now it feels like Christmas. My mom has a tree up, there are lots of gorgeous gifts underneath, and lots of holiday snacks as well. We took Lyle to visit a mall santa today, which did not go well at all...I figured he'd cry but I thought we'd at least be able to get him IN Santa's lap, but he had other ideas. Crying, screaming, running away...no pictures.

It's nice being here. My brother's plane is landing in about 10 minutes so he'll be here soon. It's fun to see family and to watch how much fun Lyle has with everyone. And it's nice to do something different than our daily routine at home.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

FedEx delivered my package today after all. (But not until I'd trekked down to their facility in random-land and had them tell me they didn't have it there after all and that they were making Saturday deliveries of things not delivered yesterday...)

85mm f/1.8 lens. NEW LENS. I am PSYCHED about this lens. I can't believe Jeff's mom got this for me. I've been using my 50mm f/1.8 a ton lately and wishing for something a little longer. I've got a couple zoom lenses, but I never feel like the image quality is quite as good from them. So, the 85mm was top on my wishlist. I'm psyched. It came after the sun had already set, so I didn't really play with it much today (plus, still busy trying to finish up my manuscript, which I did finally), but I think it's a certainty that tomorrow's CuriousLyle will be shot with this new lens. Yippee! Love new toys!

I'm running around doing a dozen last-minute errands before we leave for a week in Dallas. We fly out tomorrow, and I've got a couple gifts still to buy (!), several things to mail (clearly not going to make it by xmas, but oh well), cat food to buy, and a couple other random things to do.

And then this morning when Jeff and Lyle came back from their weekly walk to the bagel shop, Jeff came in and said, "Remember how you were saying your Saturday was going to be slow and boring and you wished you had a few more things to do? I've got another one for you." Turns out FedEx came yesterday but DIDN'T bring the package up to my door, instead just left a doortag at the front of the building. WHY? What the hell? I was home at the time they tried to deliver it (according to the tracking info). The weirdest part is FedEx delivered another package yesterday evening, and that one didn't even have our apartment number on it. The delivery guy called our phone number to ask which apartment we're in, and then brought the package to our door (as usual). But of course, that delivery was just a package of red editing pencils, which, while necessary for my job, is not particularly exciting. Especially when I knew I had a Christmas gift on its way that I was waiting eagerly for. So, this morning I'm headed way over to some random location to pick up my package, which I am pretty sure is my Christmas gift from Jeff's mom.

Also, speaking of red pencils, I do still have a manuscript I have to finish up this weekend. And did I mention the last-minute shopping?? Ack.

I had some miles expiring on an airline I hardly ever fly...nowhere near enough for any free trips or upgrades, so I just signed up for a ridiculous number of magazine subscriptions. (To add to my already ridiculous numbers of other magazine subscriptions.) Because the selections with these magazines-for-miles cards are limited, I ended up choosing some things that are different than what I normally read. My newest magazines:

American Photo
Dwell
Fast Company
Money
Atlantic Monthly
Wine Spectator
Metropolitan Home
Inc.
Martha Stewart Living
SmartMoney
CondeNast Portfolio

Some of these I've never even seen before. Like, Money, SmartMoney, Inc., and CondeNast Portfolio are not magazines I've ever read a single issue of. I used to subscribe to Atlantic Monthly years ago, but then they got a new editor who I didn't like nearly as much, and I let my subscription run out. Then he got killed in Iraq back in 2003 or so, which is awful, but I never did pick it back up to see if I liked whoever replaced him any better.

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Ok, I am possibly the last person on the planet not to have/use Paypal, but I need to now. I've got an account set up. Is that all I have to do to have people pay me? Just tell them to Paypal money to my email address? And that's enough information for them to be able to send me money?

I see that once there's money in the account, I can withdraw it by transferring it into my bank account (or by having them send a check, or maybe other options, too). That part I get (I think). Just confused on how people actually put money in there. Thanks!!

I hate, loathe, and detest when music starts playing on a website that I open. I don't care how much I like the song that starts playing...having music forced upon me by a website is really annoying. I find this all over the place, though, and can't figure out why on earth so many people do it. I figure most people must not hate it as much as I do. (Seriously, if I come to a page that plays music, I look for a way to turn it off immediately, and if I can't find it within about 10 seconds, I just close the page.) Am I alone in this? Tell me what you think!