Spitball Army

Oh, no she di’int!

(BlackBerry photo: spitballarmy.com)

• On NPR’s Morning Edition, U.S. Attorney General nominee Eric Holder taking issue with the line of questioning from Senator Arlen Specter during his confirmation hearing as “crossing the line into questioning my integrity” [paraphrase]…
• …then the thought that this type of questioning is necessary to avoid a series of “rubber stamp” appointments, which woke me up just a little more;
• The low frequency hum of the BlackBerry vibrating on the nightstand;
• The thud of the BlackBerry hitting the floor immediately after vibrating off the nightstand;
• The clickety-clack of the rear claws of one of my cats running down the hallway into the bedroom to find the source of the thud;
• The unpalatable guttural sound of a cat (probably Barbara) vomiting in the hallway;
• My thought, thanking providence that I never carpeted the hallway, running through my head;
• The whrrrr of the heating system starting up…
• …and the whoosh of the warm air coming out of the floor vent in the bedroom;
• The local announcer on public radio WBHM stating the following: “Today will be clear and sunny, and the high temperature might reach freezing;”
• The rustle of the bed sheets as I pulled them back over my head.

[audio:George_W_Bush_Singers___Deep_Thoughts_(Part_1).mp3]
“Deep Thoughts (Part 1)” by The George W. Bush Singers

“There ought to be limits to freedom.”
“It’ll take time to restore chaos.”
“Poor people aren’t necessarily killers.”
“If one worker can do more work, you gotta create the need for more work.”
“How come every internet address begin with W?”

Face it.  You’re going to miss him just a little.

I hesitated barely a millisecond before touting my yard sale coup after scoring a $3 Polaroid camera some while back.  I still consider the camera a bargain, especially since, after finding some fresh film, I discovered that it works almost perfectly.

Here, in fact, is the first picture I took with it: hairballs Barbara

(Polaroid photo: spitballarmy.com)

Ziggy is getting all the love these days, here and as my avatar on Facebook. Someone brought this favoritism to my attention recently. My reply? “Well, Barbara gets entire blog posts written about her, so it probably all evens out.” And so, now, I’ve just spent several sentences writing about my cats as if they are human (or, as my mother calls them, “my furry grandchildren”).  Do I need an intervention?

Back to the Polaroid camera situation.  I was able to find a pack of ten pictures (what we’d call “frames” if it were a traditional roll of film) for about 20 dollars online.  This was the cheapest film that I was able to find at the time.  Since then, I’ve found some available for less: three 10-packs for about 50 dollars.  That comes to about $1.67 for each Polaroid picture, whether it’s a mistake or a photographic masterpiece.  My original 10-pack put the cost of that picture of Ziggy and the next nine shots with the camera at $2.00 each.  Thankfully, the math is simple.  Thus, the economic segment of my mind has no difficulty in assessing this as an expensive ongoing proposition.

Especially when I consider that I can take my handy digital camera with me anywhere and shoot more pictures than I can count out loud using one big breath.   Many, many more.  And I can take all of the mistakes I want at no extra cost.  I’ve already purchased all of the camera equipment, which was infinitely more expensive than that three dollars.  But I only have to spend money on photo paper (much cheaper than Polaroid, incidentally) for pictures that turn out well.  The quick decision is that the Polaroid camera, of which I am quite proud, will never replace my digital camera, or my there-at-the-spur-of-the-moment BlackBerry camera.

I’ve decided to use the Polaroid camera as an “event” camera.  For instance, tonight (13 January) I am going to take it with me to our weekly Music Trivia geek fest.  There, I will allow myself only one shot with the Polaroid and, in what will hopefully be a magical union of photography, alcohol and feverish competition, will produce the essence of the evening in a small square of paper.

Can this be done?  You can judge for yourself…have blog, will post.  Later.