Local is better, right?

I try to support local businesses as much as I can on a graduate student's stipend. However, I end up at Wal-Mart/Future Shop/Canadian Tire/etc. much more often than I'd like because of expense and convenience. (Plus, even though this is totally rationalization, Wal-Mart reminds me of the US, and I like to go there when I'm homesick.)

So, I bought a new camera today. I just bought a digital SLR last year, but I realized on my recent vacation that it's not a good only-camera for me. During my 10 days in Virginia and Maryland, I took a grand total of about 20 pictures. All of them were of the same sunrise. I was too paranoid to take my expensive camera on the boat (saltwater!) or to the beach (sand!) and too lazy to dig it out the rest of the time. I guess it doesn't really matter how nice the camera is if you don't take pictures with it. I do like the SLR, I just decided that I wanted a compact point-and-shoot for those times when the SLR isn't convenient. I was on the fence about actually buying it until E offered to share the cost and the camera.

After looking around online at what was available, I decided that a compact camera with a decent zoom was what I wanted. I found a 12 megapixel Panasonic with a 12x zoom that got good reviews across the board and was on sale at every Canadian retailer I could find. I knew that was my camera!

I headed to the local/regional camera shop to make my purchase. They don't even stock that model in the store. I was able to order one from one of their shops in Manitoba, but I have to wait 2-3 business days for it to get here. Now, even though I know they can't stock every camera and that it's best to support a local business if I can, I have to admit that I thought about going to Future Shop or Best Buy where I knew I could get my camera RIGHT NOW!

At least I get to be excited about my new camera getting here for the next couple of days.