Cool camera we just received...

For those of you who know me, you know that my wife and I have run into somewhat hard time because of a badly timed medical bill that hit us less a week before our own insurance was about to be active. Yay, we love the American medical system. (NOT)

Anyway, my wife and I have been using the same 1.0 Megapixel digital camera that I bought when they first came out. It's on its last leg and shuts off in the middle of writing more than half of the pictures I take with it. It's got a lot of use and frankly, ain't cutting it anymore. We have been saving up extra money and adding what little I make in Second Life to a fund to finally get a newer digital camera. Not a top of the line $1200 one, but one around $300-400.

We had about half of that saved up and then my wife ended up in the hospital, like I said, just a few days before our insurance was going to go active. So we got stuck with that bill. A very, very LARGE bill. And it keeps growing because every Dr. that had their hand in her treatment that day is billing us separately, as are the blood labs, ER room, etc etc... Let's just say the total has come to around $3,000.

A friend of ours heard what was going and came to me and said, "You know, I don't have a lot of cash, but last Christmas my mom gave me this gift certificate from the Home Shopping Network. You can have it, because I don't think they have anything I want."

Well I didn't think they would either.

Until I found this.

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=9/19/32/2237&pq-locale=en_US

So though my friend couldn't help us out with our bills (he has his share of them too), I was able to purchase full and clear a brand new 5.0 Megapixel Kodak camera with the optional charging and transfer dock, and it even had free shipping. There's 25 cents left on the gift certificate!

Why am I posting this here? Because it makes me feel good and I have a lot of friends and acquaintenances here. There are great people in the world and a lot of them are around me.

Thats real nice of your friend Aaron I hope your wife gets well soon!

Cool camera. Sorry about your financial problems.

You ought to have good results with that camera, 5.0 megapixel is great. I always wanted a digital camera and a couple of years ago I spent about $400 on a 2.5 megapixel Canon. It does a good job, but I dont think you can even get that low megapixel standard now, they seem to start at around 3.0 now. Have fun!

Aaron - First and foremost, I sincerely hope your wife is OK and that she is recovering nicely! I've been in those shoes more than once, and know how frustrating it can be. In one case, about ten years ago, I had just accepted a new position. Of all things, this company was an HMO and it had a 90-day waiting period before new-hire health insurance took effect. Approx. 2 1/2 months into my tenure with this firm, I was sent on a business trip to one of the company's satellite offices in Seattle. While there, I contracted a pretty severe case of food poisoning. I was hospitalized for a day, and the aggregate bills were around $2000.

Fortunately, at that time I lived in Colorado, and was able to apply for a state grant for medical hardship. It took some time and effort (as you might expect with this type of bureaucratic program), but eventually, the state grant paid 90% of my bill.

All that to say -- you may want to check with the hospital administration to find out if a similar program is available in your state. With all of the recent budget cutting measures, programs like this may be less common, but it's still worth a shot.

Best wishes to you and your family! And enjoy the new camera.

--Paolo