I've been MIA (Missing in Action) for the most part this week. The kids have been sick with this awful sore throat/lung congestion/stomach bug thing, and I think I am getting it now, too. I've been reading about bloggers all the way across the world complaining of this same thing. HOW on EARTH does something like this sweep across the countries so quickly?! I wish people would stay away from public places when they get sick. I hate getting sick. :-p

So I haven't been blogging much... I've also been spending some time looking at camcorders. Because I am going to use them for work and for my travel articles, I can write off the expense on my taxes. I got a deal on a Samsung flash drive memory camera. I'm still debating whether I'm going to keep it. I got it half-off, though. 

I bought it at Circuit City, where they have all the cameras on large display shelves. I purchased the display camera, so the customer representative had to disconnect the camera from the mangled mass of wires and junction box that it was connected to, on the shelf. Oops, he found out the key he was using to unlock the cables wasn't the right key! The alarm system starts beeping (not very loud, but loud enough to draw a small crowd) and the poor guy is frantically fiddling with his key set (which, by the way, held about two dozen keys). The shelf nearly dropped on his arm, so I aided him by holding up the shelf so he could flip through all those keys. Five minutes later, he still couldn't dismantle the alarm. FINALLY the manager came over and ripped the alarm box out of the shelf. They covered the speaker with duct tape and threw it in a back room. 

At the checkout, I coiuld still hear the faint beeps of the alarm. I think they'd lost the key. Some of the cashiers kept eyeing me suspiciously, as if perhaps I was a crook, trying to steal some cameras. The customer rep who helped me kept apologizing-- the poor guy- even though it wasn't his fault. I can't help but wonder of that durn alarm is still beeping in the back room today...