That dangerous place

Since it's past midnight, so technically I am not considered posting *twice* in a single day right?

eBay - that dangerous place
I was reading Siow Chin's blog and her Feb 19 entry is definitely arresting. She's just gotten her first taste of eBay and in her words, "realized it's a dangerous place to go."

Ah uh. I've been on ebay since that fateful day in July 1999, even waaaay before eBay Singapore's set up. [I know, I attended their 1st year party just Dec last year.] If you have been an avid fan of mine (not that I am expecting too much...I just don't have a stats ticker on this blog so wave your hand regularly or sign my guestbook)^**1, then I would expect that you noticed the link to my hubby's timepiece hobby.

It's like going to paradise or dungeon, whichever you prefer. Like 2 kids in a candy store, hubby's eagerly persuing all the various timepieces -- Omega's his fave brand; while I looked and drooled at all the yarns, needles and notions.

While he relentlessly went on buying sprees on that e-place to feed his addiction, we've both developed a common hobby: stashing.

But that's where the similarity ends.

For one, I am cautious about purchasing yarn online because I am worried about the smoke, the moth infest & the huge delivery fees.^**2 But I did buy 2 vintage Boye Needlemaster Sets since I heard so much of them. Used them on my fairisle project. It's nice; but I still heart my Clover circulars. I've got a set of them 3 mths after I began knitting 9 years ago.

As much as it's paradise, it's dungeon as hubby's slowly letting go some of his collection. A man's got to feed & cloth his family right? Actually, it's a decision we made in view of the imminent renovation & furnishing bills. So if anyone's looking for any Omega or vintage military pieces, please let me know yeah? [Shameless plug, but it's my blog! I'm sure you all understand; we're women.]


On my digital camera
Lest I get distracted....lemme tell you about the digital camera I have. I promised; see my previous entry.

Since I obviously only have one camera (no, I still don't own a camera phone!), I can't take a photo of its own sexy body unless I put it in front of a mirror. And mirrors by default, are rare in this house. I have plans for a full length to be installed just outside the master bathroom in our new apartment...forward planning for those days when I need to do self portrait shots to show off my FOs!

Back to the camera, it's a Sony Cyershot DSC-F55E. It's coming to 5 years of age. Here's a review all about it.

You see, here are some problems:
1. It's 2.1 megapixel. Most cameras now average 5 mg pixels or so.
2. It comes with a 4 mb memory stick that allows no more than 10 JPEG images at the camera's highest resolution (1600 x 1200 pixels at 24 bit) [Yeah, you read it right!]
2. The battery is almost on deathbed. Each time I charge, it allows me no more than 4 shots before it goes bleep, bleep and shuts down.
3. As with its age, it's driver does not allow you for any direct explorer style download. Essentially, I still need to its proprietary software to browse & download the photos from the camera.
4. The replacement battery costs US$75!
5. For hubby's hobby, we'll need more closeup zoom features.
6. I would like to have a new toy.

Despite all these, I love it for its easy navigation. I borrowed my pal's Canon A95 and was in for a shock! There are so many functions and features packed in that it left me jaw dropping. At the same time, I realized that the feature I loved most about that baby of mine is that its anti-shake mechanism. With the new cameras, my wobbly hands are no good. Just even a tiny shake and the photos are completely blurry...is it just me?

What should I do: buy a new camera or another Sony camera, or just plain ol' battery & memory stick?

Decisions, decisions....^**3


PS. To Mona & anyone interested, Ms Saffron's from Rowan's Issue #25.



**1. Thanks to all you ladies out there who's taken the effort:

• signed my guestbook
• linked to my blog
• posted comments
• or even bothered to get this far!

If I didn't write or reply, I am not ignoring you. It's probably because blogger's anonymous feature isn't much help and I have trouble trying to install the Haloscan which allows you to leave your details that allows me to reply to you easily.

**2. Just to give you an idea, most eBayers charge a US$10 - 20 flat rate for a 200g item to anywhere in the world, via registered airmail. So a bag of yarn would probably be like US$30 or so?!

**3. I think I've too much on my mind...the word "blog" in my fashion should be "yak" and "blogging" be "yakking".