27.9.09

Upgrading and Camera

Getting your cellphone contract upgraded/renewed normally takes about half an hour, right? Not yesterday. Here comes a "complaints" blog, I can hear you thinking. Well not altogether, only the first paragraph or so. We arrived in Polokwane quite early, thank goodness, as Joe and I got completely lost after we dropped of Hubby at his convention. Eventually, after travelling to Zimbabwe and back (okay, we didn't, but it felt like that) we arrived at the Game Store at about 09h00, ready to quickly do the upgrade admin and then spending the rest of the day spending our upgrade vouchers.

Hendrick, the first man to assist us, turned his back on us in literary mid-sentence and started chatting to someone else who was obviously a friend. When we realised that he was determined to ignore us and concentrate on catching up on old times, we went to the next assistant. (Living in modern day SA you learn to accept the African way of doing things and service delivery, in any form, just is not high on the list of priorities). He was very friendly but could not answer any queries about the different cellphone models. He also informed us that the Vodacom system was off-line and that the model Joe wanted was out of stock. So apart from waiting for the Vodacom system to come back on line, Joe also had to decide on a new model and the less said about that the better... I love my daughter, I love my daughter, I love my daughter...

Okay, lets cut this short and just say that at 14h00, 5 hours later, we at last had our upgrades done and Joe had her new cellphone (the one she decided that she wanted months ago when it was first advertised on television!).
I only use my cellphone for making calls and the occasional text message, so I selected a basic, straightforward model. Great was my surprise (shock?) to find out that it also has a very good camera, can browse the internet and can even send and recieve e-mails - now I have to figure all these things out (sigh). I bought a Samsung ES10 digital camera, also thinking that it is a basic aim and shoot thing, and it is, but it comes with a 95 page instruction manual, so it is not so basic, now is it. You see, I am a very basic, simple person, and I am happiest with basic, simple things surrounding me. If I wanted a complex camera I would have been a photographer and if I wanted a complex, hi-tech cellphone, I would have been a teenager.

In any case, I am very happy with both my new "toys" and here are a couple of photos to prove that this old lady did actualy overcome her fear of technology and used her new camera.
Driving back from Polokwane, I wanted to take a picture of the clouds over the mountains and when I "pressed the button" this tree got in the way, but I rather like the photo, the blurring and all.

This is Sunday morning on my stoep. I am safely and comfortably back home and all is peaceful... even Massey and JD agrees... waiting patiently for their breakfast!

5 comments:

A human kind of human said...

Hi Carl, so exciting to see a new name on my blog. Thanks for the "Good pics"(LOL). I am no photographer but hope to get better with my new camera.

Viewtiful_Justin said...

My phone does all sorts of fancy things, but I only use it for phone calls and text messages.

Leilani Tresise said...

5 hours!? OMG LOL i thought hawaiian time was insane! Glad you have the camera! kittys are getting big! Africa! beautiful i dont care how blurry it is!

Unknown said...

I have a question about the Samsung ES10 digital camera, and I hope you can help. I have gotten the message 'file error' a few times when taking pix, and then the pix don't actually get taken. Has this happened to you? Do you know what causes it and how to fix it?

Many thanks

Anita

A human kind of human said...

Hi Anita, This has happened to me also and I am not sure what it is either. However, I have found on a couple of occasions, that I switch to the viewing screen to quickly after taking the actual photo. So check if that is what happens in your case and let me know if it is.

It is always interesting to see a new name on my blog. Please let me know more about you and where you are from... and thanks for visiting. (I know I can check your profile, and probably will, but it is nicer to hear it out of the mouth of the horse - lol)