How To Pester The Cat

We're not doing LOLcats tonight, folks. This bad boy be my cat. Uhhh, I mean this is Ralph, His Royal Fluffiness, for whom I serve as minion. Or something.

And you know that means the camera arrived today and I was able to catch the FedEx fella before he drove away without leaving my prize, oh yeah, verily I saith unto you. I managed to bake a loaf of bread and roast some coffee while I was waiting but I had the cafe curtains flipped up over the rod so I could keep at least one eye on the parking lot no matter what I was doing.

Good thing, too. The very nice delivery man explained to me that my note wouldn't have worked (you were right, Becky) because he had to do the signature thing face-to-face. He also explained why I couldn't find their phone number. He said they really don't cater to individuals, preferring to have a business customer base. But if you need to call them, the phone number is 1-800-GOFEDEX.

The whole FedEx experience today seemed like some kind of trickle-down effect, going from large to small. At 11:05 am (I kept a notepad by my coffee mug) I spotted the big FedEx truck when it pulled up in front of B & B Farm Supply, on the corner of the next block north. Couldn't stand the suspense so I called B & B and asked if the driver was looking for me. Cindy giggled and said, "No, Dee. This is the big truck. You want the little truck."

Right. I knew that.

At 12:45, a medium-sized FedEx truck went past, headed north. "That's not the little one," I reassured myself. "Really. That's bigger than little."

Then, at 1:10 pm -- historic moment -- the FedEx small truck/van/whatever pulled up across the street and the man got out and began obviously peering at building numbers. "Oh, Ralph," I yelled, "that one is ours!" and I tore downstairs. By the time I got to the car port, my delivery man had turned around and pulled in on my side of the street -- but he parked in front of the building. He still hadn't figured out my address was at the back. No problem. I met him out front. And signed his little electronic thingie, restrained myself from kissing him, clutched the box and skittered back across the parking lot and up the stairs.

I didn't think I could get any more excited. I was wrong. When I opened the box, there was a zero-balance invoice tucked in between another box and a lot of ghost poop. I scanned it quickly and then did a double-take. It said: "We have examined the product according to your request and determined that there was a failure. Unfortunately, the parts needed to repair the unit are not available so, in order to minimize your inconvenience, we are replacing the whole unit." [emphasis mine]

"Well, isn't that nice of them," I said, and opened up the inner box. My eyes got big. Instead of the perfectly respectable silver finish that was on Lazarus, this new little guy was a sleek sexy black which, incidentally, I really prefer. My grin got bigger.

Then my eyes got bigger again and I did another double-take. Folks, Canon didn't just replace the other camera, they upgraded it with the latest model in the Power Shot S-line. Instead of an S-1, I was looking at the 2007 S-5! If you want to check it out, here is the review at Steve's Digicams.

Now, I have to assure you that the Canon folk have not lost their collective minds. The replacement camera is refurbished and "provided ... as a courtesy only," therefore there is no repair warranty on it. Listen, that's perfectly okay. My first digicam was a refurbished Kodak and I loved it. What I'll do is call Canon up and, after groveling at their feet with excess gratitude, I'll see if they'll let me buy some repair insurance.

I have spent the rest of the day, needless to say, immersed in the owner's manual and playing. Ralph has been extremely patient with me, especially when you consider that I spoiled his nap with all those flash pictures. I wish you could see the above photo in its original form but I skinnied it considerably to upload here. The camera came set at the Fine resolution and I haven't figured out enough yet to test out the other resolutions. So I took the picture with the camera in Portrait mode, just to see how it worked. Didn't do anything with the photo except crop and put it on a diet.

I'm lovin' this. Oh yeah. I'm also quite overwhelmed. This camera does so much! That is NOT a complaint. It'll be fun figuring everything out. Well, probably not everything. But lots. Yes.

Oh. If my favorite Old Grey Poet happens to be hanging around, please note the request below that I'm passing on from Ralph. Thanks, love.