In a Completely Irresponsible Move-

I did it. 

My poor Kodak Easyshare is 5 years old.  On the trip to Grandfather Mountain, it was having real trouble.  After a small amount of usage, the camera had to "process" for quite a while after each new shot- causing me to miss some excellent pictures of a black bear.

We went in to Best Buy a week ago to browse cameras.  Unfortunately Kodak went bankrupt and isn't making cameras anymore, so I knew I'd have to go with a different brand- not really a problem, since I have owned Nikon film cameras and Canon digital cameras in the past.

I spent an hour browsing the cameras and talking the ear off a sales associate.  I don't think he minded, I'm pretty sure I tripped him out. I have that effect on people.

Tim made me go look at the DSLR cameras.  I wasn't really planning on purchasing one because of the price difference.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that the basic DSLR wasn't much more expensive than a regular point-and-shoot.  Tim of course was standing on the sidelines cheering me on to get the DSLR.  He's so not helpful when it comes to temptation.

I left the store and spent a few days reading reviews and gathering opinions (and price comparisons) online.

We headed back to Best Buy today and I made a purchase.  I actually ended up purchasing the DSLR, a Nikon D3100 with a bonus package- an extra lens, a camera bag and a lens filter.  The "extras" ended up putting me over my planned budget by several hundred dollars.

However, I did happen to have $95 in Best Buy gift cards, which helped ease the pain a little.

So, to cut a long story a little shorter- Tim convinced me to spend several hundred dollars over my budget on an awesome camera that I am going to need a college degree to use to the best of it's ability (ok, it's not that bad, but it sure does have a lot of options).

I am, of course, wrestling with guilt over spending a hunk of money on a "pleasure" item like a camera, especially with all that is going on in the economy and with my job worries.

At least I will have it for vacation- and Tim's right about one thing, I will use this camera until it dies on me.  The Kodak will still be going to the west coast with us- that's right, it's not retired!  It still works and will be helpful in situations where I don't want to risk the DSLR.

-Kristen