I recommend anything in the canon powershot family. They are very easy to operate and give high quality results.

Oh, thank you. That is definitely what I need. Easy is good when it comes to taking photos.

post out-of country-robbery

Hmmm. Travel out of the country appears to be very hard on cameras. Most of the people I know who have replaced theirs recently did so after a vacation. One person dropped her camera into a gorge.

new with image stablizing amazing tech - I got great video shots of a live soccer match

Image stabilizing tech. This is definitely something I want. *makes notes*

Let us know what you end up with and what you think about it.

I will! Perhaps I'll even post photos.

...Yeah, okay. Maybe I'm not ready to go that far.