Happy Indepedence Day. . .

. . .he said as he tied up some loose ends at work. Grr.

Last September when I moved into my new condo, I hired an excellent moving company. They were reasonably priced, showed up right on time and got the job done fast. Ok, I give some credit to myself, because I had the foresight to purchase supplies and start packing well in advance. By the time the movers arrived, everything was conveniently in box form, excepting the big-ticket items like my bed, couch, etc. I am an easy person to move, in part because I prepare and I'm not afraid to throw anything away.

However, once I had unpacked all of my stuff (and I still had plenty of "stuff"), I discovered that my digital camera was missing. Of course, I had owned it less than a year and was profoundly perturbed with its absence. I searched high and low for it in every place I could have imagined packing it--to no avail. My first fairly rational thought was that I had accidentally included it with the many things I tossed out during my purge. My second, less rational thought was that perhaps my efficient movers had purloined it. Which didn't make much sense, since the logical place I would have put it would have required them to target that very box, unseal, take the camera, then reseal the box. Given that I had close to thirty boxes this didn't seem likely and I soon felt guilty for having considered it.

In any case, I was so disturbed by losing a relatively expensive piece of equipment that I had only used a handful of times that I almost immediately purchased a new one (and upgraded, I might add). That was in mid-to-late fall. Fast forward to mid-January in the teeth of a horrible Chicago snowstorm (that is a redundancy, yes). The snow was deep enough that I called into action my HUGE snowboots. I reserve these boots for only such occasions, as they are complete overkill unless the snow is at least eight inches deep. Well, I pulled the big boys out and suddenly discovered that there was something inside one of the boots. Lo and behold, here was my digital camera, all tucked away in my giant boot for protection. Oy. A mixture of embarrassment and relief came over me.

What now, to do with two digital cameras, you may ask? And what does this have to do with Independence Day? Well, recently I discovered some organizations which allow idiots like me to donate digital cameras to servicemen in Iraq so they can send pictures home to their families. And that is exactly what I intend to do. Perhaps through my blundering I can bring a little something to folks who have a much tougher job than me, don't get a holiday off and don't bitch about having to send off a few emails.