I got a Canon Digital Rebel XT camera for my birthday from Gordon and I've been playing with it for the last few days.

Wednesday I walked up to the Post Office and also wanted to go to the new aquarium store that just opened. We went to a wedding a couple of weeks ago and came home with a beta fish we've named Max. (Get it? Beta? Max? Betamax? Oh, nebbermind.) He's a beauty, and I haven't had a fish in over 20 years and I don't think Gordon has ever had one, so the onus is on me to take care of him (no big surprise). So I stopped in the aquarium shop to ask about taking care of a beta beyond keeping him in fresh water and feeding him regularly.

Turns out they are only a salt water fish aquarium shop, which is fine, but one of the gentleman in there gave me lots of information about how to care for Max. Very cool. Meanwhile, I'm wandering around looking at these gorgeous aquariums and fish and eels and crabs and sharks and stuff. Then I remembered that I had my new camera with me, so I asked if they minded if I took some photos. Not at all, go right ahead! I even offered to email them the photos if they wanted, but they didn't care, so I started snapping away.

About 10 minutes later, this other guy comes out and starts telling me that the images from the cameras in the store are relayed to the offices of the big bosses from the head office, and that they'd seen me taking pictures. He then proceeds to tell me that according to the videos, I've already taken over 25 photos, and that the bosses say that I can either continue to take photos and pay then $100 per photo, or I can give them my film and leave.

I remained calm. In fact, I was slightly amused by this since I had asked for and received permission. Said that it isn't possible to give them my film since it is a digital camera, and also said that I would be more than happy to delete every photo I'd taken and simply leave the store, but that I would not be paying $100 to take a photo. The man said that deleting them wouldn't be enough - they are still in the memory! I said that may be so, but I am not good enough with my camera yet or with computers to know how to find the files once I've deleted them, so once I delete them, they are gone or might as well be.

He's also standing just a shade closer to me than I prefer strangers to stand. So when I said that I would be more than happy to leave the store, the guy said he was just pulling my leg, and to feel free to continue to take as many pictures as I wanted. Not funny.

I did take a few more shots, but by then my adrenaline was pumping enough that I had some pretty severe camera shake, and every shot was blurry. So I left.

I got home and told Gordon about this, and he thought it was a hilarious trick to pull on someone. That may be so, but I didn't think it was too funny at the time!