Constructive Panic

I'm well within panic range. Only four weeks before we leave on our trip. Flattery may get you everywhere, but panic gets you nowhere, quickly. Dan Zadra has a great quote: "Worry is a misuse of the imagination." How true that is.

Speaking of flattery, the order for my Sherpani Iris backpack, not mentioned by name in the last post, was cancelled by the purse web site - they didn't have the Pebble color I ordered. Bummer! At least they gave me $10 off my next order. I decided I'd look around in real-life a little more before placing an order for a different color. For $55.00, the cuteness can wait. Besides, in the meantime I had ordered a new camera backpack...not quite the Caddillac of camera backpacks, but close...the Lowepro Fastpak 250!

Why is it so great? Well first and foremost, you can carry it like a backpack, but sling it off one shoulder and hold the pack sideways to open the camera compartment in a jiffy. My current backpack is really too small to hold my Cannon while it's wearing the wide-angle pants, and I have to take the pack off all the way in order to get the camera out, or to change the lens - a royal pain in the toucas. As a result, most of the time I end up having 4+ lb. camera tugging around my neck even when not in picture mode, just to have it at the ready. (That, and it looks goofy! Bermuda shorts and visor, anyone?!)

The other most important feature for me is that it holds a laptop, which I will need to process my pictures while on the road, and of course, to blog! The Fastpak is the only camera backpack that I could find that had both of these important features. I was sure I made the right choice by choosing the "smaller" of the Fastpack models.

So excitedly I waited for my new camera backpack to arrive, and the one thing I knew for sure as soon as I saw it - Mike is going to be carrying this baby because...it...is...HUGE! Jeepers, it's a good thing I ordered the smaller one! I was sure I had made the right choice after reading all the reviews, and even watching a video on YouTube (ok, so it was in a foreign language!!). Emma asks me the obvious; didn't I look at the measurements? Well, yeah, but it didn't seem like it would be that much bigger than the one I already have.

Now I'm second guessing my choice, since even though the laptop compartment fits a widescreen laptop, we're only bringing a mini notebook. That's alright though, cuz we'll need room for the lappy power pak, along with all of the other gear for the Cannon - extra batteries and charger, card reader, filters and lenses, the video camera and cords, phone, ipod, kitchen sink...even though we won't want to carry all that stuff around all the time, it all still needs to get there in the first place.

I tell myself it'll be fine. Mike will carry the backpack. I most likely will still have the camera tugging at my neck, but at least the new pack will hold all of that other junk, so that we can lose it all at once.

As I've so aptly illustrated, second guessing creates panic. Panic is worry on steroids, and "Worry is a misuse of the imagination." No sense in worrying about it. You can do your best, but you can't plan for absolutely every situation, such is Life. Carpe Diem anyway.

Perhaps the Sherpani in the Canyon color...

The Final Countdown

It's the Final Countdown - it's just over 6 weeks (already!) that we leave on our trip and my anxiety dreams have already started. Probably because there is still so much to plan, book, confirm, purchase, reserve, print, rent, figure out, research.... agh! Funny how months turn into weeks...excitement to alarm!

Have you ever noticed how six weeks seems to be the standard amount of time polite people and businesses use with which to calculate how far in the future something is to take place? Why is that the magic number?

For instance, Emily Post suggests that you send out your wedding invitations 6-8 weeks in advance. Very polite - it gives people a chance to plan; then they wait until the last minute to RSVP and buy your present anyway. Shower invitations are usually sent 4-6 weeks in advance. Super plan-y (organized) people like to receive an invite 6 weeks in advance - however, most people send them by 4 weeks. Seems like it depends if it's a wedding shower or baby shower.

Then there's when you order that awesome $2.59 toy after saving 535 Mallow Cup coupons, and the order form tells you it will be '6-8 weeks for shipping and handling'. All that anticipation and waiting before you're disappointed by it. Maybe it's faster if you're expecting something in the regular mail. Our Ceremony of Keys tickets were supposed to take '6-8 weeks for processing' - surprise! They came in half the time. (Those Brits, so very polite!)

So with two weeks of things to do before I really panic (4 weeks ! Panic Time!), I'd better get down to it. If I get enough done in that amount of time, maybe I can sleep at night. At least I have a fashionable backpack on the way - and I don't have to wait 6 weeks for it!