Nextel Phone

My job provides me with a Nextel phone that we use to keep in touch with excavators and contractors and for whatever else. It has unlimited "Direct Connect", but it won't dial regular phone numbers. For a long time I've wanted to get Sara a Nextel phone so that we could stay in touch. Well, we finally "took the plunge" this past week and got one.

We got a plan that gives us unlimited direct connect, 400 minutes of regular calls a month, and free nights and weekends. The direct connect is a lot of fun and we've been using it liberally. We even use it around it the house. It sure beats yelling at the top of your lungs to try to communicate from the house to the yard, or garden, or the woods, or wherever. It's one of those things that after you have it for a few days you wonder how you ever lived without it! Free nights and weekends means more possibilities to keep in touch with family too.

Speaking of which, I noticed when going through our phone directory yesterday that we don't have a number for Jacob or Justin. Also, the number I have down for Paula didn't seem to work. Maybe someone could email those to us (don't post them on the blog unless you want a bunch of prank calls!).

I'm also getting serious about a new digital camera, so hopefully I can do more picture blogging this summer. I bid on one this morning on ebay, but I got outbid and lost it by $1.00 :( I'm only looking at used cameras because they seem to be a real value. I'm mostly interested in two models - The Minolta Dimage and the Canon Pro series. These are cameras that when new cost over a thousand dollars, but now can easily be had for less than a hundred. The canon pro that I bid on this morning retailed for $1200 in 1998, but sold on ebay this morning for $51.00. I'm looking at cameras mostly in the 2 to 4 megapixel range, because they are considered obsolete enough to be affordable. From what I've read, a 1 megapixel camera will produce photo quality 4X6 prints, and more pixels are only needed if you want 5X8's or larger. So a 2 megapixel or so should be great for blogging. What I like about the Minolta and the Canon Pro is that they have large optical lenses are more sturdily constructed than the plastic "matchbox" type cameras that you see at walmart. These actually look like real cameras and were built to last. I've spent a lot of time reading reviews of cameras, and have just scratched the surface, so if anyone has a brand or series to recommend I would appreciate it.

Lastly, I changed the look of the blog again. Thought we needed something a little more cheerful for springtime. It's not easy to figure out how to change the colors and stuff. Anyway, it takes me a long time. I think I'm satisfied with the way it looks, but I may tweak it a bit more.

Hope everyone has a great week!