At this point tomorrow

I'll be the proud owner and user of a Digital Rebel XTi. I've let myself convince the budget in my brain that I can afford this, and I'm excited (for once) by the possibility of taking photos of my work to liven up my website. It's a business expense, this camera, don'tcha know?

I called Central Camera (downtown on Wabash) and spoke to a wonderful gentleman who I talked with a few weeks ago. I told him what I wanted, he asked where I wanted it shipped and I said "Well, I'm hoping to take it on a trip next week. Do you think it will be in by then?" I could hear him smile (I remember the days of working retail knowing I could make a customer happy) as he told me, "I could ship it out this afternoon." Glee leapt into my voice as my squeaked, "Really? That fast?"

So tomorrow afternoon, I'll be heading downtown to pick up my new camera and my 50 mm lens and my 2gig card and my camera strap and lens cleaning kit and UV filter. He even said, "Play around with the camera for a few weeks to learn its strengths and quirks so you can come in and try out some other lenses. That way you'll know what you like and what you don't like about the lens."

And at this point next week, I'll be taking pictures with my new camera in New Orleans. I'm excited about this. Much more excited than I thought I would be. "This is a tool, not a toy," I keep saying to myself. But I'm looking forward to playing with this new tool.