Picture Perfect
 
I reached the 6 mos mark at my “new” job and I have to say, I am so, so fortunate to have this great job!  Company is awesome, leadership leads, the people are smart, dynamic and funny and it’s a medical device compay for aesthetic skin care, how great is that?  We launched two new products last month and to celebrate we had the entire sales force in town for the launch of our custom illumiNATION Airstream that’s about to hit the US and Europe announcing our new products.  But the most exciting part…. My team won the competition!  And our prize was twofold, a chance to dunk the CEO in the dunk tank AND a really nice, brand new Fujifilm S3Pro digital camera.  Whoa.  The CEO was dunked repeatedly.  The camera: awesome but quite honestly…. Way beyond my ADD capacity to learn how to use everything on it.  We have professional photographers on staff to take before/after pics and they are really good and quite sophisticated in their knowledge of cameras.  Me?  I take pictures of clouds, my food and the occasional cute dog that stays at my house.  After careful consideration I decided to post the camera on craigslist so that I could then buy an easier digital camera that is a step above what I currently have.  I love craigslist, I sold my car on it, we sold our old Viking stove on it and there was a major bidding war.  What’s not to like?  Um, the creepy/icky people who contact you, that is the only con about craigslist.  But seriously, it’s all over email, you just hit delete and they are gone from your life.  So after deleting the creepoid who asked for my banking acct information by offering an additional $200, like that was an incentive for me so he could steal my identity/bank account, I responded to a few people who appeared interested.   And then I heard from Heather Duthie.  Heather wrote a really sweet email about how she is a graduate student at UC Berkeley, majoring in Journalism.  She only had $500-$600 to offer but promised it would be super appreciated if I could consider selling it to her.  She had just enrolled in a photography class and really wanted to take better pictures for the stories that she covers on Mission Link.  The camera retails for $1995.  But honestly, I didn’t pay for this camera, I’m not a greedy person, but this was definitely a “low” offer on a brand new camera with a Nikon lens.  I thought about it for about 1.5 seconds and emailed her back that I would sell it to her for $500.    Heather came to my house that night with her friend, Sarah.  Two of the cutest 20-somethings you could imagine.  Bright, articulate, fashionable, and determined young women who were just too adorable.  They came in, made themselves at home.   Heather ooo’d and ahh’d about the camera and Sarah became infatuated with the rocking chair Soren just built.  We chatted for quite awhile, Soren came home and met them and was instantly infatuated.  He had thought it was too low of a price, but after meeting the glowing, exuberant Heather, he looked at me and you could see he was happy she was getting the camera.  Heather promised to keep in touch and send me links to her articles.  She also promised to continue her dream to be a journalist, with integrity.  I have a feeling we’ll be hearing more about Heather Duthie.  She’s got a bright future ahead of her.  Me, I’m heading to Crate and Barrel for a new set of everyday dinnerware.  My current camera is picture perfect.    www.illuminationtour.com www.missionlink.org http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=14174&f=8116 Oh and a Happy Birthday Shout Out to Miss Kiley Jean Lonsdale, who is all of 19 years of age... sigh......  http://www.illumination.com/http://www.missionlink.org/http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=14174&f=8116shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2
Saturday, October 17, 2009