It was about half way through last years 365 project that I (eagerly) bit the bullet and upgraded my little point-&-Shoot for a DSLR. I was still very much a newbie* and, looking back now I can see that l allowed myself to be swayed by the preferences of the salesman and by the kinder price tag.

I came home last year with an Olympus E 450 (fondly nicknamed "Athena") and I loved her so. I loved the degree of control I had. I loved the feel of her. The weight of her (yet the lightness compared to other cameras). I loved the choice presented to me by her lenses and functions. And I loved - LOVED - the looks people would give me when I wielded her instead of my little Olympus (yes I'm that shallow, I enjoyed the 'oooo photographer’ vibe).

Athena saw out my 365 project and took some of my favourite photos. She went with me to Melbourne and Brisbane. She photographed birthdays, weddings and formals. She griped with me when we got roped into photo gigs. And she was carried with me practically everywhere.

But slowly little irritations started to creep in. Like the auto-focus issue that resulted in a two week stay at the head office. Like her epilepsy-inducing flash. Her complete refusal to cooperate under less than ideal light conditions, the general slowness. And then, the final clincher, her stage fright around Lisa and her camera which made con-photography a complete write-off. It didn't matter how many little chats we had, Athena continued with her little eccentricities.

So I got to thinking (always dangerous) and realised several things in quick succession.

1. I did not want to deal with these problems while backpacking.
   
2. If I didn't make the change of camera (and likely change of brands) now while I was relatively accessory-free I never would; and
   
3. There was no way that the money Grinch that will be 2012-Me will allow me to buy a camera.

I started my research that night.

Better armed with what I wanted I started looking, and asked Lisa for her recommendation. She suggested the Canon EOS 60D (the equivalency of her 50D which I've used & love) or the next model up, the 7D.

These two fit my needs and were my leading choices but I also wanted to check out some of the mid-range Sonys (Alex has a Sony which, again, I love and find so easy to use). After a bit of price scouting and camera-handling l headed to Harvey Norman (hoping for a Christmas sale - not so lucky)

After just a little more camera-fawning (what? the guy kept handing them to me!) I had it narrowed down to two choices: the Canon 60D and the Sony Alpha 65.

Both does exactly what I want but there was, for me, one glaring difference - the weight. The Canons are just so damn heavy (especially the 60P with the alloy frame**). Even with the heavier Tamron lense I'd decided on the Sony was noticeably lighter.

I'd told myself that if it was under a certain price I'd buy it on the day. The Tamron lense (eliminating the need to carry two lenses while traveling) did push it over the top a bit but I did manage to talk him down a bit and got my UV filters, screen protectors and extended warranty for zilch so I walked away pretty happy.

So now there's just the little matter of a name...

* wow, doesn't that sound like l now know what I'm doing? Not so much, but now I know what my camera needs are and know that my Olympus wasn't meeting them.

** and I’ll admit, despite knowing it would probably never be an issue, having to hold on tight to something made of alloy (to which I am allergic) makes me nervous.

Okay, first of all, let’s get this said and out of the way right off the bat. I’m crazy, OCD to the point of insanity, have project-itus to an unmanageable degree. This is all true. I hear you. I agree.

But hear me out, okay?

A couple of things have converged this week that has caused this latest niggling idea I’ve been having to jump right to the forefront of my mind.

1. Brett asked me when it was we went to see Midsummer Night’s Dream last year and it took me a little bit (not ages, but a bit) to track down the info in my journal. (It was November 20, by the way)

2. I lost a journal. Yes. That’s right, I… *sob* I lost a journal! I have ransacked my room trying to find it to no avail. I’m hoping beyond hope that (for some strange reason) I have left it on my desk at work, because otherwise it is in Melbourne and if that’s the case it’s gone.

3. I learned today that LiveScribe pens have an accompanying piece of software that translates the handwriting into text - which is the only (and I do truly mean ONLY) thing which has stopped me from actually buying one every single time I walk past them (and pick them up, and study them, and sigh forlornly that it doesn’t do quite what I want). Anyways, I have now purchased one and it’s on it’s way.

4. While exploring the pen options (I decided on a 4GB Echo, in case you’re interested) and accessories, I found these…

…Livescribe compatible journals. *swoon* Can you blame the OCD archive-inclined part of my brain for being very excited about this? Confess, you want one too know. I know you do.

ANYWAY! With all these things coming together at the same time I decided to stop thinking about indexing my journals and actually do something about it.

But then I thought, wouldn’t it be great if I could index and search my blog at the same time?

Oooh what about the lists and logs I keep - like books read through the year and so on (shush, we already covered the nerdery), that would be good to include also.

Oh! And photos! AND TUMBLR! OMG! YES! BEST IDEA EVER!

By now I was in full on organising mode. How great would it be to simply search a particular person and have any and all blog posts, journal entries, photos, appointments and so on all collate and be at my finger tips? That would be amazing. Surely someone has considered this wonderful idea and created a program for this. Everyone would want to use it, after all…

Yeah I came up with nothing. There was a brief crazed moment where I considered creating it myself, and selling to geeks and librarians everywhere (with a syncable ipad app, naturally) before I realised that I have zero programming knowledge at all. I was very sad.

So basically it’s just me and my scanner, but I would greatly appreciate some input. I’m thinking PDFs are the best format - with longevity and searchability in mind. Individual files for days could be made, being merged together into one master file at the end of the year.

I scrapped together a (very) rough mock up of what I was considering so I had somewhere to start from and this is what I came up with:

(all comments about my not completing my to-do list, will not be well received. I’m looking at you, Courtney)

But then I thought… this doesn’t really fix the problem, as images aren’t searchable. Okay, mock up #2.

That does fix the problem, but I’m not entirely happy with splitting a spread in half. Suggestions to eliminate this would be appreciated. Perhaps very small text boxes down the bottom as I will be able to read off the scan itself? The same problem will occur with photos, but captioning them should do the trick.

I also threw together a blog post example (ignore the squiggles, I’ve only just realised they were there).

Anyways. That’s it. My crazy new project that I have no plans to start before Christmas but please, throw any ideas, problems, solutions my way. Thanks!

As of today there are 60 days until Christmas.

Okay, who had a little bit of a heart attack? Surely not just me?

Thankfully, my Christmas knitting list is fairly short. I don’t knit/make a lot of gifts as I don’t have a great deal of crafty friends and making for non crafties is always a bit hit-and-miss. Having said that, there are a few extra things that have snuck onto the list for 2011 and I’m going to have to knit with a superhuman speed to get it all done… and I think we’re all aware that I don’t have that degree of speed.

Let’s just call it a challenge, shall we?

Since I am therefore supposed to be knitting, I shall bid you a quick adieu and leave you with this glimpse of the wool I received in the post this morning and will be starting work with this afternoon. I would tell you what for but I know that one of the recipients is likely to see this post sooner or later and I wouldn’t want to spoil (yes Lisa, I do mean you, try to guess which colour is yours).

Wool: Madeline Tosh DK Yarn
Store: Eat. Sleep. Knit.

Colourway: Vermillion

Colourway: Magnolia Leaf

Colourway: Golden Hickory

I will confess to feeling a little impressed with myself, sitting here at an airport terminal, writing up a blog post. How fancy am I?

...please let me have my little delusion, don't ruin it.

I actually have quite a fondness for the airport (in my oh-so-vast experience /sarcasm) and do love being here. It's filled with so many types of people which, as I'm sitting here waiting for my plane, I've narrowed down to a short list.

The Businessman: Now before you yell at me, I'm sure there are plenty of businesswomen here to, but they appear to be a little better at hiding their business-person status. They're easily spotted by their suits, sleek carry-on luggage and the way they peel away from each other as they approach their gate with a smooth 'see you next week'.

The Holiday-Goer: This type of traveler comes in two varieties. The first, the outgoing, can be identified by their big grins and lots of leg shown off in denim cut-offs, just waiting for the beach. The second, the incoming, can be picked by their extra bag (or two) of luggage, usually brightly plastered with things like "Live the Life of Byron!'. The exhausted expressions help here also.

The Air-Proffessional: Pilots in their jaunty caps and flight attendants in their neat jackets and brightly colored scarfs striding down the corridors with an air of superiority and secret knowledge. Also, they cut the queues. Mean.

The Traveler: Not to be confused with The Holiday-Goer, The Traveler is a different breed entirely. This person has an air of tiredness that they've come to know and love, and they're probably more than a little grungy. Tall backpacks that have moulded to their back and beanies that cover months of airplane hair is the norm here.

The Mother: Heading in or coming out from a misbegotten family holiday or necessary trip, the mother is usually leading one or more child in varying degrees of crankiness. This type is dangerous and not to be approached unless you are kind enough to help.

The Starbuck Writer Missing Their Cafe: Think about it, you know exactly who I mean, that person sitting at a table with a cup of coffee, and a laptop or two, stopping their typing only to check their iPhone or to shoot off a tweet or something...

...or who knows, maybe they're writing a weird post about the people about them?

Over the last year or so I've found myself in situations (either by accident or design) which have found me testing my own knowledge and abilities. I have learnt that while I am remarkably unexperienced and have little inherent ability at much at all, I am fairly good at scrambling my way into a solution when situations go awry. Which, all in all, I'm rather happy about.

I say this as a prelude to this week's unfortunate realisation: I am not city savvy. Not even in the tiniest of bits. I know how to get on a train to my favourite bookstore or the library (naturally), I know how to find my way to the good gelato (Circular Quay!), and I know how to jump on a ferry to the zoo... but beyond that? Zilch.

As part of my enrolment this semester I had to attend a week-long study visit, touring several of the inner city libraries. Please note that while I said 'HAD to', I would have quite literally begged for the same opportunity. I mean really? A behind the scenes look at some of Sydney's libraries - yes please! But for me this also came with a crash course in the geography of the city and it's rail system. Armed with little more than google maps, a temperamental iPhone and a desperate amount of false confidence I was set loose. Realistically I thought my biggest challenge would be getting me to LEAVE the libraries - I didn't take into account the bigger challenge of finding them in the first place.

Fortunately for me, we students were pretty well nerded up with CSU name badges and so whenever I got too off track I simply looked for the other circling red and white name badges and we got lost together.

Despite my complete lack of knowledge of the city (did you know you had to pay to use public bathrooms?!) I managed to locate all the library locations - and on time, even! Feel free to run away now, as I am about to show the libraries I visited... mainly just for Lisa who sent me a charmingly adorable shout of "LIBRARIES!!!" when she learned where I was all week.

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Note: I didn't take my camera with me this week because I know what I'm like and didn't want to give myself another excuse to turn up late. What few photos I did take were simple iPhone shots. Photos of the libraries themselves were not taken by me and link through to their owners.

Ultimo College Library

(Couldn’t find an image of the inside of the library - not surprising considering it’s a school library. It was pretty nifty though.)

Ultimo Public Library (branch of the Sydney City Library)

Caroline Simpson Library - Historic Houses Trust

State Library of New South Wales

A Night at the Mitchell Library from State Library of New South Wales on Vimeo.

The University of Sydney Archives

University of Technology Library