But time is a'wasting as this time the pressure is on, since one of the discount coupons is only good for today, July 12th.  And the time for me is 11:30pm CST.  Almost frantic, I start opening pages upon pages of various reviews for the A40, hoping to beat the deadline.  Of course I don't know if the coupon expires at midnight EST, or midnight Pacific time, or midnight somewhere-in-the-middle-of-the-Pacific-Ocean time.  Ahh, the dilemma faced by an experienced Hot Deals Shopper.  It's been quite a while since I've been put under so much pressure to secure a hot deal.

Thoughts start piling up in my brain as they trainwreck into the ones in front of them.

"Do I keep the tried & true (and USED) digital camera I got for a great price, or do I invest spend a little bit more money for a decent (but not burning hot) deal for what seems like a much better camera?"

"And if I do decide to go with the A40, is it possible to sell my now USED Kodak camera for what I paid or even make a profit?" 

I start the checkout process at dell.com.

I quickly open a page to Ebay and start scanning through the completed Kodak cameras.  Damn.  Seems like all of them are brand-new and barely more than what I would want for it. 

"So am I willing to take a loss to get a better camera?"

Another 40 reviews later, I switch back to the dell.com page which tempts me to click the complete checkout button.  Do I or don't I?  I reach for the mouse and position the cursor to...

...close the window completely and forget about the whole thing. 

A small part of me dies, but the practical, thrifty side of me applauds my willpower.  To rationlize to myself that I did "the right thing," I tell myself that there will be plenty of opportunities for more hot deals to come along.

(Author's note:  It turns out the coupon had expired anyway, and no one got in on this deal.  Funny, but knowing that makes me feel a whole lot better.)

Somehow, this seems to be a climactic way to end this week.  A week filled with strange dreams, missed opportunities, catching up on much-needed sleep, and good 'ol male bonding.

On Sunday night, my sleep was troubled with dreams of me being involved in some fight-to-the-death contest.  (Mental note:  I really must stop watching those gripping action flicks late at night while filling my body with caffeine and thinking about reality TV shows.)  In the first round, armed with only a small handgun, I was pitted in a melee against other huge brawny guys with big guns.  Somehow I escaped unscathed along with several other opponents.  Unfortunately, Big Tough Guy With the Machine Gun wasn't so lucky.  In round two, I found myself in a one-on-one matchup against a mandolin player.  Yes, you read that right, a mandolin player.  We were supposed to be playing a mandolin duet and judged on how well we played, how well we complemented the other player, etc.  (If any of you are familiar with Piers Anthony's Apprentice-Adept series, you'll recognize this as part of The Game, which is exactly how it felt to me.)  The only thing is, the mandolin I was playing was the size of my palm, and I was holding it up to my chin like a violin and plucking the strings.  It was very strange to say the least.  And the worst part of the matter is, I never found out who won.  I do remember thinking that if I did somehow win the whole contest, I had to be careful as sore losers would most likely try to take my monetary winnings over my dead body.  Literally.

Tuesday night and Wednesday night found me asleep much earlier than my usual bedtime.  I guess I was much more tired than I thought.  Or someone drugged me.  I tend to believe in the latter. 

The "missed opportunity" was my chance to get an Olympus D-40 digital camera (normally $500+) from my Amazon Gold Box for $250.  Only that when I finally got it in my Gold Box, it was sold out.  I had even placed an order with Jen's amazon account (as you needed to have bought a single item for your Gold Box to be activated) just so I could have another chance at getting the digital camera.  When I found out they were sold out, I actually went back and cancelled the order I placed with Jen's account.  Severe disappointment was an understatement to how I felt.  I cannot even begin to describe the thrill of the hunt, and how desperately I wanted that particular digital camera.  This put me in a mopey mood for the rest of the week.

And how could we not forget male-bonding?  Of course this time it was done at Wild River Country in the Tadpole Play Area with my son.  It was worth it though.  The look of joy and happiness just reminded me how innocent kids are and how little it takes for him to be so happy.  The typical no-girls-allowed, beer kegging, meat-grilling, primal animalistic male bonding ritual would have to be reserved for another lifetime.