What a Life!

My family keeps bugging me for a list of ideas of what to get us for Christmas. [Yes, I know, it’s that time of year.]

Lots of people on the internet are doing gift posts, but usually their posts are lists of favorite things, not what they want for Christmas. At least that is my impression.

But today I am going to break whatever rules of blogging etiquette might be out there and post my own wish list. After all, I must confess I would find it supremely interesting to see what others in blogland have written on their Christmas wish lists.

So, with no further ado, here is my list. {Lists for Steve and the boys are to come – that would be why this is “Part I”}

Tana’s Christmas Wish List

I want a MacBook.

Yes, I know, I would have to get used to a different platform. I’m someone who knows Windows keyboard-shortcuts like the back of my hand. I would have to learn a whole different type of “intuitive.” We would still need a computer that was PC-based because I wouldn’t want to buy a new version of Quicken. I also wouldn’t have Photoshop on my computer unless I paid top-dollar for it (the version I have now is a couple versions prior to the current one on the market so I got a nice deal on it).

But still…

Our current computer (a Dell Inspiron B130) has a battery that lasts about 45 minutes. We keep our computer on top of the piano because we can plug it in there and little hands cannot reach the computer or the cord. You don’t know how many backaches I get standing at the piano looking at something on the computer. It’s just a bit too far away for my reach and I have to lock my knees to not fall over. Ugh! I hear Macs come with an 8 hour battery. As in, you don’t have to pay extra for it and worry about polluting the environment by throwing your old one away (even if you recycle it there is still the energy used to do the recycling so even recycling isn’t completely guilt-free). They also don’t get hot on your lap so you aren’t actually wanting to get away from them after an hour or so.

Macs also come with a built in camera, which would be nice for talking with my family online. No separate piece of equipment to hook up and keep track of.

They come with more memory on their hard drives than our current computer has [a mere 40GB].

And Vista. I have yet to hear one good thing about Vista. Of all times when a switch to a different operating system might be worth the trouble it might take to get used to, this just might be it.

Any new computer is going to require some getting used to. When I upgraded my camera from a Canon S3 IS to a Rebel XTi, it was the same camera and similar software, but it still drove me crazy for a while. Change is change. The question isn’t whether it will be painful – the question is whether it will be worth it.

I always wanted to learn how to drive a car with a manual transmission. So I got my Saturn way back in 1998. I loved it, even though it wasn’t as “easy” to drive as a car with an automatic transmission and everyone swore I’d regret my decision. I loved that car until the day it got totaled earlier this year. I think getting used to a Mac would be the same kind of painful – not fun by any means but totally worth it in the end.

I at least deserve a chance to see if I’m wrong.

Moving on…

I want a Canon 35/2 lens for my camera.

My husband was horrified when I told him this was on my wish list (he had asked me what was on it so I was just telling him – that was all). He didn’t understand why I needed to upgrade from the S3 IS to the Rebel XTi earlier this year. I financed that deal by selling my old camera and a few other things, but alas! I no longer have anything of value that I can sell on ebay to gather the funds I would need to buy this lens. And this would be a purchase I would not make without the approval of my husband. So it would need to be a Christmas gift (since Christmas comes before my birthday, of course).

Why do I need this lens?

Well, when I had the S3 IS I figured out what style of photography I do most, and upgrading to the Rebel XTi was so that my equipment would better serve my purposes. Most of the pictures I take are inside, and with the S3 IS, I always had to use the flash which made my photos one-dimensional. The Rebel XTi had a larger sensor and I could get lenses that were specific to my style of photography – namely, lenses with a large f-stop.

When I purchased my camera, instead of getting the kit lens, I substituted the 50/1.8 lens for about the same price. I wanted the 35/2 at that time, but it cost a bit more, and I was already pushing my luck just getting the nicer camera. With digital cameras, unless you get the very top-of-the-line (read: expensive) cameras, they have a 1.6 conversion ratio. That means that a 50 mm lens is the equivalent of an 85 mm lens on a film camera. And a 35 mm lens is the equivalent of a 50 mm lens. A 50 mm lens gives you the same perspective you have when not looking through a camera (neither telephoto or wide angle).

Zoom lenses are very popular these days, but in order to get one with the wide-open f-stop that I needed for my purposes, I would have to pay big dollars (like, over $1000) and quality would suffer. Since I take most of my pictures indoors, zooming isn’t a big deal to me – there simply isn’t room for it. But being able to use a large f-stop is critical.

My 50/1.8 prime lens has worked great for me, and I’m able to zoom with my feet when necessary. But with the 50/1.8, I am not always able to back up enough to capture the whole scene. I can get great shots of my kids faces, but many times I miss out on the context portion of the picture – the part of the picture that tells you why they are laughing or making that silly face.

When you consider all the wide-angle lenses out there, this lens is reasonably priced and has excellent reviews. It would be the main lens I would keep on my camera, switching to the 50/1.8 only when necessary. It would most certainly be used and loved, and I would have even better pictures to share with family (and others).

So while the MacBook is officially the top item on my wish list, this camera lens would be the top item on the list of things I think I might actually get and really wish someone else would buy for me so I wouldn’t have to try and convince my husband it would be okay for me to have it even if the funds had been saved. I bought both my S3 IS and my Rebel XTi from Adorama – they have great prices and great service. And I would love to have that lens in time to take pictures with it of Christmas Day and opening presents and everything.

Again, moving on…

I would like a good food processor for my kitchen. This one would be nice. The one I have now is the $30 version of another brand from Walmart. I used it to grate cheese once, and the whole apparatus for slicing or grating broke. My favorite cookbook for making bread (sure wish I had the most recent edition which was the only one I could find to link to over at amazon) talks about using a food processor to knead the dough – you only have to do it for one minute. I have a Bosch, but it makes new screeching noises every time I use it and I’m afraid it’s on its last leg. My Bosch also has to knead the bread for the same amount of time you would need to knead it by hand. With little boys who seem to need their mommy whenever I try to do something worthwhile, not having to wait so long for the dough to be ready would make breadmaking oh so much easier. I’m sure I would enjoy other aspects of such a nice food processor as well.

Speaking of cooking and Bernard Clayton, this cookbook would be nice too.

On the knitting front…a Rowan membership would be to die for. I actually have very few knitting books and only subscribe to two magazines, though I am sure there are many others out that that I would enjoy having or getting. A Rowan membership is pricey, but I love their patterns and I can never bring myself to splurge on even just one copy of their magazine. Getting this as a gift would be splendid treat.

Then there are other things, like a lamp for my piano so I can play after dark (our living room has terrible lighting). And a bench cover so that the seat would be softer to sit on (though the color would be an issue on this so I might need to pick it out myself). A copy of the SDA hymnal – the one with spiral rings so it stays open when you play from it – would be a so nice to have. A blue one, I think. {Bear with me – my family knows what I’m talking about here.}

That’s all for now. The battery has run out on this computer and I’m not in the mood to stand at the piano and type.

The end.