You've asked about my camera...

so i thought i'd just post.
i have a great little point and shoot camera; a canon PowerShot A95. It is great for self-portraits, with its little swing around LCD. it has a pretty good zoom and takes great quality photos. mine is a 5.0 mega pixel and runs about $350.00, but you can now get a 7.1 mega pixel (the A620) for about the same price. i'm not certain they are available in many stores...online is your best bet.
the main reason we bought this one is because it uses the same memory media as my other camera; the Canon EOS Digital Rebel SLR. this is a serious camera.
i've had mine for about 5 years now, and when i bought it there wasn't a digital out there that was better...6.3 mega pixels, lenses that interchanged with my non-digi Rebel. now you can get 10 mega pixel!!! awesome! and the price has remained the same even though the technology has improved. They run about $899.00, a little over a grand after tax and all. yeah, they don't come cheap. then you have to buy memory, storage, additional lenses/filters...it can get very expensive, very quickly.
if you're going to buy a camera like this, i suggest a class in photography, just to become more familiar with it and to understand what it is capable of.