I grew up idolizing my grandfather. He was creative, he made movies, had his own darkroom in the basement, built model airplanes and flew them, was building a real airplane when he passed away and loved to draw pictures. I looked up to the guy always. One thing he always had with him was a camera. He never stopped taking pictures.

My dad has also always had a camera. Nothing fancy, an 35mm SLR, but it was always around. I always loved the few times I got to use it. Between these two guys it’s why I love taking photos so much.

So, as long as I can remember I’ve wanted an SLR camera and today I ordered one.

It’s a Canon Digital Rebel XTi hot off the assembly line and she’s a beauty! (and huge thanks to Ed Hidden for helping me choose everything and for the guidence)

I was planning on getting one of the 30D’s for the longest times, but then I realized that I truly did not need that much power for what I was going to do. It didn’t hurt that I read about the new XTi’s coming out and realized that it would do the trick fine for me and I could buy better lenses with the money I would save.

I told myself (and Laura) that when I got my first paycheck from the new job I was going to get this. I held off because they were not out yet, but I ended up using money from something else for this anyways which makes me even more happy about doing it. It’s almost as if it’s an award for some accomplishments and a job well dont. That’s what I told myself to allow me to buy it. I had my cart full for hours before I actually filled out the payment information.

I’m assuming it’ll arrive when I’m at the expo next week just to piss me off. Hopefully it’ll come before so I can at least try it out. I won’t be bringing it with me. An event like that with long hours by the pool and bar is much more suited for a pocket size digital.

I feel good. Grampa would love this stuff. He’s on my mind also because he came up over lunch yesterday when I was talking about how badly I wish I had gotten to show him my movies or for him to hear my podcasts. He would have LOVED the concept of new media!