Lisa usually doesn't give me too many ideas for what I can get her for her birthday and other gifts. Over the years, that has led to exciting gifts like gel pens and a life-size statue of my mother. (Kidding about the statue ... but not the gel pens unfortunately.)

This year, she gave me an idea. She said she'd like a digital camera ... something small and easy to use.

Now, you have to understand, I have a passion for cameras. Have had a few good ones over the years but more than anything, I like the idea of cameras ... looking for them ... studying up on them ... I never use them much though.

So, I visited www.cnet.com to check out reviews. I was looking for an ultracompact digital camera. I looked at many options but, when I would read the reviews, I would find that they all had drawbacks. Except for one ... the Olympus Stylus 780. It actually hasn't been available long enough to get a bad review I don't think. But what I could find about it was very promising. It was small, weatherproof, and had a quality lens. So, that became the bulk of Lisa's birthday gift this year.

Never mind the fact that the only Olympus I have ever owned, despite the cool name, was the one camera I have owned and didn't like -- fact is, I have fallen in love with this camera ... I want one for myself. It is very intuitive to use, very small and lightweight, and it seems to take great pictures. It goes completely against my previous theory in cameras which was that they had to be big to be any good.