As I looked at the dollar bill in my hand, waiting, the eye in the pyramid on the back triggered a flashback.

I was holding a crayon in my first-grade religion class, drawing a triangle with an eye at the top corner.

“He’s always watching,” Sister Regina Maria was saying.

“Did you have gas?” the convenience store teller asked, interrupting the memory.

That’s when I saw the partially hidden camera pointed at me behind the teller. Somebody else was watching.

Not Big Brother. Probably just a videotape in the back room that nobody would look at unless I walked off before paying for the candy.

After giving up the dollar, I wondered how many other cameras were trained on me as I just went about my daily life.

Not James Bond

I mentioned it to the guy at the electronics store. He pointed at a small device hanging at the end of the aisle.

“We just got it in,” he told me.

It was a hidden camera detector that could sniff out hidden wireless cameras.

“Maybe next time,” I said, leaving with some batteries.

But when I got home, I decided to see if I could find something similar online. For $29.95 at TechnoScout.com, you can get a privacy protector that you can carry in your pocket.

Take it out and you can discreetly sweep a room to see if there are any wireless camera frequencies. The device can sense frequencies ranging from 50 megahertz to 3 gigahertz. If the camera detector finds such a frequency, an LED light turns out and an alarm sounds.

“Perfect to use when moving into a new apartment or going into changing room areas,” the information on the Web site said.

That reminded me of a couple of news stories from the last few weeks about cameras being found positioned above and just outside of a changing area in a clothing store.

I found the same device on another Web site, which called it the P3 Camera Detector.

“No, we’re not talkin’ James Bond stuff here,” the sales pitch went. “But it gives an added level of safety, especially for women traveling alone. … It’s the possibility of ‘freaks’ behind the cameras that worries most of us …”

The camera detector can be triggered by 900 megahertz cordless phones, so it’s not that hard to test. It has a detection range of about 10 feet.

Eyes in disguise

I also checked out AbsoluteSpy.com to learn more about hidden wireless cameras. They had several for about $500 each that were built into everyday objects.

One was hidden inside a nonfunctioning smoke alarm. Another was inside a fully functional clock radio and had a 120-degree viewing angle. Still another was built into a wireless wall clock. And several were built into desk lamps and table lamps.

They also had them in flower arrangements, boom boxes and computer speakers. You could get a tie, a baseball cap, a jacket and a pen with hidden wireless cameras.

Then I saw what might be the ultimate in deception — the teddy bear.

“It can be carried anywhere without drawing attention. A high quality pinhole camera, transmitter and battery pack are hidden inside the stuffed bear. The camera is almost completely undetectable,” the product information said.

AbsoluteSpy.com also sold a kit for $199.95 that would make wired cameras into wireless.

Suddenly, the camera detector seemed like it might be a good investment.

Just say ‘Cheese’

“This facility is monitored by Closed Circuit Television Monitors.”

I’d never really noticed that sign before on the entrance to Allen Fieldhouse, the basketball arena for Kansas University.

It meant somewhere, somebody could be watching as I did my early-morning workout in the building. I walked inside and looked around, wondering where the cameras were. Maybe security folks — or coaches — monitored the cameras.

Not seeing any cameras, I did my workout, trying to look somewhat athletic, just in case the big guy at the top of the Big 12 coaching pyramid himself might be watching.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll carry a sign — “Good luck, Roy!”