A picture is worth a thousand words… and at least $100
Travel junkies like to tell you that you don’t need any material goods in order to travel and you shouldn’t spend any money on things before your trip. They are lying. Either that or they all already own the things that you will need and assume that the rest of us do to. Damn them!
This is all to say that today I went out and bought a digital camera. I’ll be doing a lot of traveling and when one travels things often get lost or stolen. I figured that I should buy a cheaper camera so I won’t feel as bad when, inevitably, for one reason or another, said camera is no longer in my possession. That, and I’m cheap.
So, I walked into CompUSA to find that all of their cameras were over $100. All except for one: the Vivitar Vivicam for $99. It actually seemed like a really great camera. It’s got 6 mega pixels and 3X optical zoom. Those things sound cool don’t they? The downsides were that the guy who sold it to me looked at me funny for buying such a cheapo camera and it’s only as cheap as $99 after rebates, before rebates, it’s $160.
I hate rebates. I think everybody hates them. I can’t imagine how one could not hate them. You know that they exist because the manufacturers are counting on you to flake out and not collect your money. So that makes you try doubly hard to get that rebate check to your door. But they make it so damn hard, that most of the time, you just end up scratching your head and wondering how the date to collect your rebate came and went so fast. If this ends up happening to me, I will be the sucker who bought a Vivitar camera when I could have bought a Canon.
Oh, and I also bought a $10 camera case, came home and found out that there was a case in the camera box already. And everybody here speaks English. This does not bode well.
-sarah
P.S. Since I’m new to this digital camera thing, does anyone know the best way to store photos while traveling? Can I plug my camera into any computer, or do I need to bring the CD that formats the computer to recognize the camera with me when I travel? And once I get my pictures onto a computer, then what? Are there websites that I can upload them to for free? Thanks for the help!
Tags: American Identity, camera, Central America, Photography, picture, Preparations, South America, Travel
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http://www.kodakgallery.com
best for uploading pics for free and then you san “share your album” and send the slidshow to everyone! I like it. oooh, and you can put your picture on a mug and send it to your mom for Christmas. So much love.
a good site for uploading pics is photobucket.com. i have a shitload on there and you can let others see your pics or just certain albums. hope it’s fun!! byeeeeeeeee!!!!
-J.Ro
i agree with josh on the photobucket thang. it’s easy to use and easy to post pictures with.
i too know next to nothing about digital cameras. coincidentally, i also hate rebates. if we were anywhere near each other, i’d suggest we each toast to both of those things. alas, ALACK! (as you said in your message to me the other night)
The best rebates are the $1 ones, where you spend 39 cents mailing it in and they spend 39 cents mailing it back. I, of course, scoff at such things, but Kate mails them all in, every one of them, citing that song in Mary Poppins about tuppence and savings and stuff like that. Which seems silly, but in fact it is why I live in luxury I do not deserve, as a total space cadet. Speaking of the large TV — there’s nothing better than late late late night TLC medical programming on a big ass TV screen. GROSS AND SCARY! But I digress. xoxoxo your aunt
Thank you, Christina — you are an offspring’s (or, in Sarah’s case, an off-off-spring’s) (or in Megan’s case — I’ll have to discuss the terminology with Megan) friend right after her ole grandma’s (step-grandma’s?) heart!
Love,
Bethany’s & Katie’s Mom/Mom-out-law
Sarah’s & Megan’s — doting whatever!!
Just an update for anyone interested: I have sent in my rebate claims. I am not the sucker that I feared I would be.
And thank you thank you for all your advice about photos, I now feel very informed and ready to take on the Southern Hemisphere and the southern part of the Northern Hemisphere with no fear in my heart (except when it comes to spiders — I still have fear in my heart of them).
-Sarah
I suggest that you use the camera and learn to upload the pics before you leave. Also, try several photo sites. I use Shutterfly. Walgreens (a drug store) has one and you (or your parents, friends, etc.) can order prints and pick them up at a nearby store. Worth checking into.
Ooh, Connie, I like that idea. Thanks!
-Sarah