My obsession. . .

I started reading about this camera months ago. It started slow. Reading a review now and then. At that point I read about similar cameras in class. Once I narrowed it down to this one, I was hooked. Reading every bit that I could find about it. Talked about obsessively with Cari. I even read the owners manual on the Nikon website. I read the forums related to the camera model on no less than three websites.

At this point I still had never held the camera, so true obsession had not really kicked in. Cari was tired of hearing about the camera. I could tell from the groans she would make when I would start, "Oh, also this new camera would have. . ." Then I would fill her in on another feature that our current camera does not have.

My next step was to sell this camera to Cari. Not an easy task. The first thing is to address the complaints that she had with our current camera. That was easy, but she still wasn't impressed.

About a week ago, we were in Staples. Because of my absolute obsession with this camera, I knew that the model was stocked in most Staples locations. Cari and I wandered over and I picked it up and snapped a few pictures. Then I handed it to her and let her try it.
"Ok, let's get one.", she said.
I didn't buy one there because I knew it would be much cheaper online. As we drove home I asked, "Did you say to buy one just to shut me up?"
"Partly.", she responded.

I ordered my camera online. If it seemed I had read every scrap of information on the camera before, I surprised myself by finding more to read.
The true obsessive behavior started the day my camera shipped. I was off from work that day. The UPS website received no fewer than three thousand hits from my computer that day. I had it shipped ground. That day, it seemed that they may have strapped my box to the back of a Honda. A Honda with three wheels.

It left New York city and stopped in Baltimore. It didn't seem to stay there long before heading to Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm pretty sure the driver took a nap there. He may have gone out drinking, because my package stayed there for what seemed like an eternity. In real time, that would be about eight hours. I continued to refresh my tracking status. I sent UPS a feedback e-mail suggesting that I should be able to see GPS tracking of my box in the truck. Maybe even a webcam of the driver. I want to know what that guy had for lunch. Did he take a long enough break? I don't want him to crash with MY package.

I was working the day the box came. Cari received several calls from me with the following message, "You didn't leave the house did you?"
"I have your box", was the text message I got from Cari later that day.

I went crazy that night. It was freezing and dark out by the time I had the battery charged up for it. I was shooting pictures of Cari washing dishes, and even some of the dishes. If she thought I was horrible talking about the camera, she was in for a surprise.

I took pictures of the new camera with the old camera before I put the old camera "away".





Then, after the old camera had served its purpose, I took its picture with the NEW camera. . .

R.I.P.