New Toy

I bought my wife a new bauble for her finger the other day. A jewelry chain is closing its local store and has their stock 55%-75% off. We went in and she found an emerald and diamond ring at an excellent price. I told her she could buy it and said it could be an early anniversary gift (our 15th anniversary will be May 12).

As we were leaving the store, she told me she already had my birthday/anniversary gift (my birthday is on the 4th) and asked if I wanted it early since I had given her an early present. I said I wasn't sure but I'd think about it.

When we got home from work, we spent about four hours moving furniture in from the garage. We moved in the dresser (that was a pain!), attached the mirror, and set up the bed. As we were having dinner at ~10pm, she told me she had spoken to her mother and her mother had suggested that she give me my present early. She again asked me if I wanted my gift early. I agreed.

She presented me with a band new Nikon D70 digital camera. While the D70 is not considered a professional level digital camera, it's far from a point-and-shoot. We're talking 6.1 megapixels of SLR camera with interchangeable lenses. That's right, this thing is basically a film camera with an imaging chip and I've been drooling over owning one since I first read a review comparing the D70 to the Canon EOS 300D. About a month ago, I decided to go all out and start saving my money... I even said I was going to sell my Sony Mavica.

Now, I have a D70 in my hot little hands, thanks to my wife and mother-in-law. The camera has been presented to me as a combination birthday, anniversary, and possibly Christmas gift from them... and I still have to contribute some of the payments... but I don't mind one bit. The only distressing thing about it is I haven't had an opportunity to take it out for a real test drive.

Of course, I felt guilty enough that she had spent so much for my gift that I bought her another ring from the jewelry store this afternoon (she already has that one, too).