big whoop.

It’s still September 11th. So I’m doing my best to be happy as possible. But I STILL can’t avoid watching all the 9/11 coverage and crying.

So here I am happy and patriotic. Self portrait after today’s photoshoot.

And by the way, how can I possibly be 39? Craziness.

I’m planning on celebrating tommorrow (friday) instead. Going to see Brian & Pat play at JPauls tommorrow evening. Come on down and say hi if you are around!

Pretty, huh? I love September sunsets at the beach.

Timmy started school Monday. And thankfully, he loves it just as much as he did last year. There was some issue over the summer when we discussed that he would be having NEW teachers and a NEW classroom with NEW kids (you know the motto in this house. "Change is bad. We fear change.") but he did change his mind sometime before school started that it would be okay to have NEW things at school (thank god).

He was a little nervous the first day, but not terribly. Once he found the camera in the classroom, he was all happy. That and the police helmet and he was good to go. There are only two other boys in his class so I’m not so thrilled with that, but what are you going to do? His teachers seem great and sweet (and I’ve heard nothing but great things about them both).

Just look at that big, independent, grown up boy! And yes, I got a little teary on the ride home from dropping him off.

John and I headed into Manhattan yesterday to meet with his back surgeon to discuss his surgery in October. It went well, but the surgery is a lot more complicated than we both originally thought. Basically, they are going in thru his side, removing the disc at L4/L5, putting in a metal cage where the disc was with some of his bone, some cadaver bone (ewwwww) and maybe some demineralized bone, and hope it fuses. Then theres the 5 day hospital stay at The Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan, 4 weeks (omg) recovery at home, and the full recovery which is from 6 months to one year post surgery. He also said that while the level of pain will decrease, he can’t say how much. And that you won’t know the full level of success of the surgery until that 6mo-1yr mark. All the doctors John has seen are all in agreement that he must get the surgery, so I guess this is as good as it’s going to get. This doctor is world-renouned and does far more complicated surgeries than this, so we feel comfortable with him and his prognosis. So not really bad news, just not really good news either. I am hoping that the doctor is overstating things so that patients will be pleasantly surprised by how good they feel. Doubt it, but hoping anyway.

While we were at the dr’s office, he had John head over to the radiologists just to get an updated set of films before the surgery. Do you know who I saw in there? Dr. Abby Lockheart (aka Maura Tierney) from ER! No, not as a doctor, as a patient. She didn’t make any eyecontact but it was so totally her- I even heard her speak to a receptionist and it was the same voice from TV. So there’s my celebrity NYC sighting for the day.

Lastly, something for sale. We went up to B&H photo after the doctors appointment (but before going all the way down to Chinatown to pick up some deliciousness from The Peking Duck House to take home) where I bought a brand new Canon 24-70mm 2.8/f L lens. I had purchased this lens once before but ended up returning it and getting the 24L fixed instead. It is a VERY heavy, large lens and I just wasn’t loving it. But since that time I have found so many occassions that I need a zoom lens (since all of my lenses are fixed 24L, 50mm, and 85mm) and constantly switching out lenses in the middle of a shoot is often problematic. So now that I have two 5D’s, I figure I can have the 24-70 on one, and my favorite, favorite 50mm on the other (or the close second favorite 85mm on the other). I tried out some telephoto zoom lenses while there as well, but I don’t really need those at this time. Eventually, but not now. Now that I have the 24-70L, the 24mm L fixed kinda becomes repetative. 

So…now that you know the lens history, I am offering my Canon 24mm 1.4/f L lens for sale. It is in pristine condition, in the original box, with all of it’s accessories (lens cap, lens hood, lens end cap, padded bag) and it even has the original warranty card in there too. I am offering it for $875.00 including insured shipping  (it currently sells for $1170.00 plus tax). If you are interested or know anyone who is, please send me an email at bbeyrer1@optonline.net. Thanks!

Here is a link to the description at B & H and here is a picture: