So how did your searching go? Did you find the one for $610 from the questionably reputable dealer? I had narrowed it down to two possible places, one being $140 more than the other. I was actually leaning toward the latter due to the fact that their website looked more "professional." Some sage advice given me by my friend `switchbladeserenade, always do a search for the dealer before buying anything on-line. I have since realized that even sleazy people can hire web designers.

Well, after scanning through dozens of negative reviews for the site I was already pretty sure I wasn't going to buy from, I felt fairly justified in my prejudice; "Poor web design" = "SCAM". I then searched up on the obviously-more-reputable-site-due-to-the-amount-of-money-they-paid-some-web-guy, and proceeded to scan through dozens more negative reviews. (Lesson #32b: Web Presences Can Be Deceiving)

Now I'm right back where I was, right? Not exactly. Have you ever heard of a web-site called Amazon.com? Yeah, me neither. They're this little outfit that sells some stuff on-line and I decided to give them a try. Truthfully, I'd been there before, and they at one time actually had one. . . new. . . in the box. But I didn't get it then when they had it. Why? Because I didn't need it at the time. Hey, don't argue with my logic here. It's quite rude. Now they only had it from 3rd party dealers. And you can trust these dealers because they are recommended by the Almighty Amazon, right? Yeah, i did a search for these jokers too. Imagine my relief when i started scanning through 5x as many reviews, and all overwhelmingly positive. On the right track now.

So what now? That's a no-brainer; I ordered it. And I paid extra for the expedited shipping so that I would get it before my shoot this weekend. I love it when a plan comes together. $835 well spent in my book. The one that Amazon was selling 6 months ago was over $900. I saved money because I didn't rush out and get it the moment I saw it (Lesson #4 Patience Grasshopper).

So that's it. The lens should be arriving any day now. . . Wait.

What's this e-mail?

It's from Amazon.

It's about my order.

Oh, there just sending one of those confirmation e-mails to let you know everything is ok. . .

like a cabdriver with a telegram.

"We're writing to let you know that we are having difficulty processing
Mastercard. . ."

Crap!

:to be continued: