Introducing an Old Friend and a New Toy

This Weekend I'm joined by my old friend Calvin, who despite his age still enjoys a game of fetch up and down our hallway. He doesn't run much anymore, although with a chill in the air this morning he looked as spritely as ever. He's holding on to his new friend Bird Brain, a toy we picked up at Ikea for $2! The picture itself is taken with my new Kodak z612 camera. I fell in love with it online a few months ago, and finally talked W. Into buying it for my Birthday/Anniversary/Christmas gift. I haven't given up on my trusty Kodak CX7430, It has taken some great pictures for me, but its performance in low light, and only 3X zoom were starting to limit what I wanted to do creatively. I'm still ticked off about how bad some of my pictures from inside the Sydney Opera House were. My new camera has a 12X optical zoom and image stabilization, so I don't have to be frustrated by how far away I am from things like I was on my trip to the San Diego Zoo. I was being patient and waiting until the camera went on sale, but suddenly deciding to run off to Bangkok next week meant I had to rush my purchase a little. My Thai Lessons are going well, I've learned some key words and picked up a little phrase book so that I can navigate and try not to stick out like a super tourist. Although my bad American accent and over sized new camera are going to be difficult to hide. I'll at least skip the Bermuda shorts and black socks. I got awesome career news this week. I had fallen into the trap of the forced rating system at work, which was supposed to delay my first promotion until September, but the career management committee met this week and determined that in the case of people who received a low rating in during their first year, their mid year rating would be used to determine if they were eligible for promotion. That means some time next month when my mid year rating is done, I'll be ready to move!