Well, we made it to Las Vegas. Unfortunately I am typing this on my Sidekick, because I forgot the Ethernet port on my computer is fussy. If I have a chance and/or can figure out where to go, I will buy an ethernet PC/MCIA card to make up for it. Fortunately the 25-ft Ethernet cable I bought was a good buy, it reaches much futher than the one they provided.

The flight was fine, except for the guy sitting behind us who reeked of weed. Then we found out he was going to the Venetian, too, and he ended up on the same shuttle bus. He turned out to be really annoying and very high, so I took his picture and put my camera back in my bag…I thought.

We were tired and not feeling well so we checked in, ate at Noodle Asia, which had pretty poor service (not enough staff), and went back to the room for a nap. Then we wanted to find some soda to keep in the room, because the tap water in the bathroom was terrible. So we got ready to go to the Fashion Show Mall, and that’s when I discovered my camera was missing. I called the agency and told them what to look for, and they said they’d call back if they found it.

I picked up an iPod sync cable at the mall, but the cheapest digital camera was $150 plus you had to buy a memory card. We ended up at a mini-mart to buy sodas (and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, which I am having now - cheaper than a drink at a bar) and got a couple of disposable cameras with flash. Then we came back to the hotel, and I bought a $50 “keychain” camera at Brookstone. I took it back to the room and discovered that its maximum resolution was 640×480, it didn’t have a rear display or flash, it only had 16MB internal memory…not good enough.

So I returned that and got my $50 back. And then I went to a shop called Photo Magic and bought a Kodak C533 and a 256MB memory card for $172. It’s a real camera…real expensive, but so much better. If my old camera is lost, then this is a good replacement. Aside from a couple of pictures at Dulles and the pothead jerk on the shuttle, I think all I lost were cat pictures - including one of Truffle with a tampon in his mouth. I’m trying to remember that at least I still have my wallet, my Sidekick, and my laptop. But I lost the camera, the cable, the memory card and spare memory card I had, and the Belkin iPod sync device that would have allowed me to store photos on my 80gb iPod.

Tomorrow we are going to the Grand Canyon, so I had to get a good camera. But I still can’t believe the old one is really lost and gone. I am hoping it will turn up when we leave at least. I can’t believe somebody might have taken it. I’m sad about it, like you wouldn’t believe. And of course I blame myself…the last I saw it was on the shuttle, so obviously I left it there. Sigh.