Criminal behavior

I ordered a new camera today.

I had been wanting one for awhile, but there were so many other things that I wanted more, and I really didn't feel like I could justify it. I had the new camera phone, which satisfied my urge to have a tiny camera to carry around, although the pictures aren't that great. But I'm all about immediate gratification, and I'll settle for a little less quality.

I took a few photos at Misty's wedding, but I wasn't really happy with them--they were dark and kind of blurry, and although Misty pointed out that it was dark, I was still disappointed.

And I'd stopped, pretty much, carrying my digital camera even on vacation, because it's so big and heavy . . . so Bob and I talked about it, and we did some research (which basically consisted of asking our friends which model they had), and decided to get the Canon Powershot SD200. That's the one that Barb has, and John has one, and several other people I know have the same brand, although I'm not sure of the exact model. But this one was affordable, $189 at Amazon. I also got 512 MB of Flash memory for it, since everyone we asked about them said to be sure to get more memory, since the memory card that comes with it holds about ten pictures.

I ordered it today, and decided to opt for the free shipping, since I absolutely HATE to pay for shipping. It will probably be here in about a week, I imagine. So I'll have it for vacation (Disney World the first week of December), and Christmas, and Mexico in February. Bob says it will be our Christmas gift to each other.

[I just checked the link to the camera page, and I see that they've reduced the price another ten bucks since I bought it earlier today! And they've got my order locked ("Shipping Soon"), so I can't delete it and reorder it at the lower price. Now I'm really glad I didn't pay for shipping!]

After I ordered the iBook from Amazon a week or so ago, when I got home Bob said that there was a message on the answering machine from Discover--I'd used my Discover card to pay for the online purchase. The message sounded very ominous. It said, "This is a message about your Discover Card account. If you do not return this call, you may not be able to make future purchases on your Discover Card."

So I called, of course, not having any idea what that was all about, except that I was pretty certain that there wasn't any problem with the card, that it had plenty of credit on it, and the order had gone through fine.

Someone answered, and I gave them my number, and they started asking me all kinds of questions, like what was Bob's Social Security number, and where had he been living when he got the Social Security number, and what was his mother's maiden name, and how old was he, etc., etc. I said, "I did just make a large purchase with the card, if that's what this is all about," and she made me confirm the amount, and she read off the last couple of things I'd bought with it before that.

I guess it was a security thing. After I got off the phone, Bob asked me how much the computer had cost, and I said it was just over $1,000. He said something like, "That's nothing!" and I said, well, yeah, it's not nothing, but it's not like I'd charged a $20,000 car on it or something.

Security is good, obviously, and I guess I'm grateful that someone is keeping an eye on things, but it's annoying to be treated like a criminal when you buy something.

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