Category Archives: retail therapy

temptation . . .

28 Wednesday Nov 2007

Posted by in christmas, nablopomo, photos, retail therapy, trips

≈ 5 Comments

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Gorgeous, innit?

And here are the specs.

I have to admit that a couple of the features (face detection, smile shutter) seem both silly and insulting, but the thing I love best about this baby is the 3″ viewing screen. And another big difference is that the one I have now has a lens that goes in and out, which I’ve been having trouble with for the past year or so. Unless the batteries are almost fully charged the camera keeps shutting itself off when I try to take a photo, though I can still view the pics on the memory card. So I thought having a camera with fewer moving parts might be a good idea. But mostly I’d like a bigger viewing screen as the one I have now is only a measly 1.5″ (about 4 months after Nog & I bought it the new models came out, all with standard 2 or 2.5″ screens. Grrr… )

I mentioned over here that I was hoping Santa would bring me a new digital camera with a 3″ screen, but after checking out prices Nog & I decided that it’s too expensive for a Christmas pressy, so we’re going to go halfers on it and maybe also give each other a weekend in Granada over the holidays (we’d be getting a ride there & back so we would only have to pay for the hotel and meals).

Last time we went to Granada I was still using my crappy old snapshot camera, so the photos should be much better next time. 🙂

hate mondays?

26 Monday Nov 2007

Posted by in food & drink, friends, health & happiness, home, life stuff, nablopomo, retail therapy, sevilla

≈ 9 Comments

ihatemundayz.jpg

Actually, I don’t hate Mondays at all. In fact, I have quite a nice Monday schedule these days, starting with an 8.30 yoga class, followed by a bit of food shopping and then home to do the marathon cooking thing for the week that I first talked about here (still doing it – it works great!). I don’t have any English classes on Monday morning, which makes it possible. Then after I’ve done cooking and Nog has finished his morning classes, we might go out for a pre-lunch beer or vino. After lunch Nog goes off to his afternoon classes and I have an hour or so to obsess on the internet take care of a few things before my first class of the afternoon. On Mondays I usually work from 4.45 – 9-15 pm.

Anyhow, today it turned out that two of my afternoon classes had to reschedule so I was free from 6pm, and so after obessing on the internet doing a few chores I sent a text message to Nog asking if he wanted to meet me at the half-way point between his classes and home, as I had a couple of things I felt a sudden need for (comfy slippers and a new sweater). So I hopped on a rental bike and was at the mid-way point shopping centre in about 15 minutes. Found both comfy slippers and a gorgeous Liz Claiborne 100% cotton sweater (that I couldn’t afford, but I also almost never find 100% cotton sweaters here so I decided – ah, fuck it), and then met up with Nog to do a little pre-Christmas digital camera reconnoitering.

The plan after we finished was that we’d take rental bikes back to Catalina for a glass of wine before going home for dinner, but for some reason Nog’s card wouldn’t work, so we decided to have a race (me on the bike, him taking the bus) to see who’d get there first. Nog was there about two minutes before me because a bus came straight away and I had to stop for a red light. I’m totally loving this rental bike thang, especially as the first half hour is free.

Anyhow, got back home and I went – eek! I haven’t posted anything today! And so, here I am.  🙂 Just heating up some stew I made this morning (which was inspired by this one we had at La Estrella the other day) and then we’ll curl up on the sofa with hot stew, fresh country bread and a couple of cats to watch an episode of The West Wing. Then it’ll be a nice hot shower before getting into fresh sun-dried sheets (Monday is also ‘clean sheets day’ at casa az) . . .

How was your Monday?

new duvet!

06 Tuesday Nov 2007

Posted by in home, life stuff, miscellany, nablopomo, retail therapy

≈ 8 Comments

duvet.jpg

Mmmm . . . there’s nuthin like a plump new duvet.

Almost turns needing to use one into a desirable situation. I usually experience duvet denial this time of year, forgetting to take the thing to the cleaners in time and ending up suffering through a few chilly nights before I get it back. But the other day when Nog & I were out shopping we stopped in at Corte Inglés to see if there were any good deals on duvets (ours was looking decidedly unplump). And as luck would have it there was a fab 25% off special offer happening, so we made our purchase and just two days later (last night) needed to use it.

And it’s great because it’s still not really cold and, for example, I can sit here typing this in bed with a hot mug of coffee on the night table and feel quite cosy and warm, covered in cats (they love it too) and mounds of lightweight pillowy softness. But next month needing the duvet will become a less pleasant, more needy, experience.

But why think about that now? Indeed, ‘carping the diem’ is becoming more and more frequent here at casa az.

Oh, and I had f_coffee.gif and digestive biscuits for breakfast. 😉

so fickle . . .

29 Saturday Sep 2007

Posted by in computers, home, retail therapy, work

≈ 5 Comments

notebook-front1.jpgnotebook-back1.jpg

Remember when I was so obsessed about wanting this HP tablet? Well, I’ve changed my mind. During a trip to Fnac to visit my erstwhile heart’s desire this evening I ended up having another look at the same size Toshiba notebook and deciding that it was a better deal for the same price. It doesn’t have the cool swivel touchpad screen that’s on the HP model, but it has the same clear anti-glare screen as SB and much more. . .

  • Ultra-portable 2-kilo notebook PC with 13.3-inch TruBrite widescreen
  • 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 processor
  • 200 GB hard drive, 2 GB installed RAM (4 GB max)
  • multi-format/dual-layer DVD drive
  • Quad-band Wi-Fi LAN (802.11a/b/g/n), 10/100 Ethernet
  • Intel GMA 950 video card with up to 256 MB of shared memory
  • Connectivity: 3 USB, 1 FireWire, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, 1 ExpressCard 34/54. 5-in-1 memory card reader
  • Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium (with Media Center capabilities)

Meanwhile the same two problems exist . . . that I don’t have 1200€ and I don’t have any real need for an ultra-portable groovy cool notebook. 😕