Today was a wasted day for me. Sure, I balanced my checkbook and finally got around to maxing out my IRA contributions for the year. I suppose it was nice to finally wash the dishes and have a proper meal at home. But I didn't get laundry done, and I didn't get to do nearly any of the fun city type stuff I was looking to do. And now I have to go to bed early so that I can get up extra early to do laundry and the errands in town before the birthday party. It's just two things I have to do: scout around for my chasing photobloggers project (for now I've settled on _Ingrid_, although I just got a great idea for Thom which should be really easy to do), and check out cameras at B&H photo. I had pretty much settled on the D70, as the Rebel 300D wasn't really doing it for me. I'm too impatient to wait for the Rebel XT 350D to come out (at which point I'm sure Nikon will slash prices on the D70 again). But I've been reading up on the Pentax *ist DS (That's right, it's called the *ist DS. Nobody know what that means or how to pronounce it. Apparently, that's typical Pentax for you), which is getting very little press but has a fanatic following. It's slightly cheaper then the D70, is backwards compatible with old Pentax lenses including the screw mount lenses (we're talking 1960's lenses here, and this is a good thing because Dad owns an old Pentax), and it's small. It's also out of stock, which is why I'm going to go with the D70, but I'd like to actually feel it in my hands and see if it's not too heavy or awkward for me to handle before I plunk down a used car for it. Actually, I might be able to test out the *ist at Adarama Camera, if I have time. I think I'm going crazy with all of this, all three camera take great pictures. But, to me at least, $1100 is still a lot of money to invest, which is why I'm going crazy with this decision. In the meantime today I used what little time I didn't waste on sleeping in late to shop for a baby present. In Korea big celebrations like this are, apparently, opportunities for people to show off how generous they are. So guests don't bring gifts, the host provides food and drink etc. Same for weddings (to the point where some Korean weddings in the US now explicitly say on the invitation not to bring gifts). But I'm an american, despite my breeding, so I feel the need to get a gift. I shopped around at the Sanrio store. The Japanese gift store in Korea Town was OK. And I checked out the Barnes and Noble on Union Square. The service was great at all three, as was the selection of potential gifts. But B&N was outstanding for the fact that on Saterday night, their store is staffed with hot babes (well, maybe not hot babes, it's been awhile since I've been with a woman). They're all bored drones while restocking, but ask them a question and they really light up like a lamp. I've got to figure out a way to get invited to more baby parties so I can swing by the B&N child department and ask for some more help.