Oct 15 2004
New camera is here! (Well, mostly.)
Well, I bought myself a Nikon D70 today. It took a bit of doing. For one thing, apparently my credit card company won’t authorize a single purchase over $1000. It’s never come up before, so I simply wasn’t aware. That meant I had to buy the camera locally and pay with cash. I paid $60 in sales tax rather than $25 for shipping, but I don’t mind the extra expense because this way it’s in my hands right away. Sure I’d rather save money, but there’s something to be said for instant gratification.
I’ve got the camera, and the battery just finished charging. Alas, I can’t shoot yet because I’m still waiting for UPS to deliver the equipment I ordered from B&H a few days ago. The camera won’t do me any good until the lens and the memory card arrive. They’re due today, though, and the tracking info says they’re on a truck for delivery. I just expected them earlier. Normally when you pay for 2nd Day Air, it’s delivered in the morning.
So… Steve at Wolf Camera in Winter Park is my new friend because he nabbed the last D70 and held onto it for me. The Ritz shop in Sanford only had the $1300 kit with the 18-70mm lens, but I wasn’t made aware of that distinction until I slogged through the rain to get there. I wasn’t very happy when the cashier started to ring me up and I noticed “with lens” on the box. I called Wolf on my cell phone as I walked back through the mall, and Steve (truly a god among cashiers) told me they had one D70 body left.
Before I left the mall I walked a lady to her car. (It was raining very heavily, and I had an umbrella. She had a cheap raincoat and too many packages to carry. Enough said.) She told me that her name was Kay. I told her my name, and she made the obligatory Texas Ranger reference. I’m used to that, no big deal. What gets me is this: When we got to her car, she handed me a Latter Day Saints pamphlet. I didn’t bother telling her that I’m rather happily non-Christian. I politely said “No, thank you. I don’t need that.” Maybe I’m just cranky today because traffic was nasty and that freakin’ UPS guy still isn’t here, but I was thoroughly offended.
When people I help say “God bless you” by way of thanks, I appreciate the sentiment if not the words themselves. I know what it means to them, and that’s what counts. This lady, however, had just finished saying what a nice person I was to help her, so what prompted her to offer me unsolicited spiritual guidance? I’m sure she would have been offended if I had handed her a copy of “Drawing Down the Moon” or “The Tao of Pooh.”