Pictures worth 400 words

As is so often the case when that first week of real work in the new year rolls around, I find myself swamped worse than Luke Skywalker looking for a 900 year-old Jedi Master. How bad could it really be, you ask?  Well:

• My task list at the office stretches from here to Narnia, and pretty much everything on it needs to be accomplished immediately if not sooner.
• I’m only half way through revising Project Macaroni to the point where I’d be happy sending it to someone either A) not married/related to me, or B) not employed by my agency.
• My children continue to demand I show them attention and feed them on a regular basis.
• The Puddinette likes to be reminded more than once a month that she has a husband capable of thinking of her.
• I got a smattering of new video games for Christmas that simply aren’t going to play themselves (not that I’ll be playing them either for a week or so, I’d imagine).

With all of that swirling around me, I believe it’s safe to say I won’t have the time I’d like for posts, bloggery, online shenanigans, and assorted whatnot for a few weeks, at least. Sometimes, that’s just how life goes.

However, I’m loath to disappoint you, dearest puddintopians. You deserve something for pointing your web browsers at me on a regular basis.

Luckily, something I’ve been literally waiting months for finally happened yesterday. Something that can totally help us.

I got a new phone.   What kind, you ask? This kind:

Normally, of course, this would be the sort of event I’d go on and on about in enough detail that you’d be counting the taste buds on your tongue out of boredom before I finished my sermon. But you’re lucky—for now—because see above.

That said, the iPhone 5s has, without question, the finest equipment I’ve ever owned for capturing photographic images. My very first camera was a cheap carnival prize I won at the county fair in the sixth grade.  Through no fault of my own Due to extensive operator error, though, it never produced so much as a single development-worthy image. Fearing that I’d similarly ruin any nicer—that is, more expensive—photography equipment I might be foolish enough to procure as an adult, I’ve long been reluctant to spend more than a fast food worker’s hourly wage on one.

Of course, as the Puddinette enjoys having photo documentation of our children’s growth, she complains frequently about the picture-taking speed of our current camera. She has point; the proverbial tortoise could win his race against the hare (at least) twice in the amount of time it takes for the thing to snap a shot and be ready to take another one. The process is something like this:

1. Press the shutter button
2. Count to 10
3. Wait for the camera to respond
4. Count to 20
5. Do your taxes
6. Smile as the picture is finally taken
7. Weep when you realize the kids all bolted from the camera’s field of view half way through step 2
8. Count to 765
9. Plant and grow a tomato garden
10. Make a pizza, including homemade dough and pizza sauce using tomatoes from your new garden
11. Gather the kids to retake the picture, noting them all grown 4-8 since step 1.
12. Repeat

I’m pretty sure Jimmy Olson had a better camera the first time he appeared in a Superman comic in 1941. Little does my wife know, though, that she’s lucky we have anything faster than those old-timey jobs with the radioactive plates and capes the photographer had to duck behind.

The good news, then, is that I now possess a camera way better than anything I ever expected to own.  And yes, it’s better than the camera on my previous phone as well.  What’s that, you say? You demand proof? So be it!

Here’s a shot taken with the old phone earlier this week:

And a similar one taken just a few moments ago with my new-fangled iPhone:

Kind of hard to hard to argue with that, especially if you click those shots and embiggen them in new windows to their default sizes .

Which brings me to the point of all this nonsense. With my fancy new phone and camera, I’m going to endeavor to take a few fancy pictures this month and see what I can come up with that doesn’t look like my dog stepped on the button.  And if I can’t squeeze out a few minutes to cobble together a few hundred words of rambling on any given day, I’ll at least post of a picture of whatever’s caught my eye at the moment.

In the interest of whetting your appetite (hehe, appetite, get it?), here’s picture of the bread I made tonight. Yes, with my own hands and oven. But that’s a whole different post.

With luck, whatever else I come up in the next month with will be at least marginally entertaining.

And, hey, I might even take requests.

Pud’n