Death of a Camera

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know the story of my last camera. How I sent it to Fuji for repair and how they tried to say that I had damaged it and the warranty didn't apply. And how we finally came upon a mutually agreeable solution and I had a camera back into my posession to use taking pictures for my blog. But that all changed at the end of last week.

I take my camera pretty-much everywhere I go, always on the look-out for a photo opportunity to blog about. And so I wore my Sears man-pants, the cargo pants with all the deep pockets that I bought from Sears on a shopping trip with Elena a year ago, to Lake Balboa for a walk. Put the camera into one of the pockets. And had a Crohns Disease accident there (again) and came right home to clean up and do laundry.

The thing is, I was a little discomboobulated by the situation this time; the lake had been abnormally populated by people who saw me in all of my misglory, and in my upset, wasn't thinking things out when I put my pants into the washing machine.

Yup. You got it. I sent the camera through the wash cycle.

Now you have to understand, washing small electronics is not an abnormal event for me. Eric, out of love, wanted to buy me a very expensive watch a year ago. I implored him not to do it, knowing that I would destroy it post haste. "I don't deserve such expensive things such as that!" I told him, and I meant it. He did eventually buy me a beautiful watch anyway, and so far it has not been washed, but it's currently misplaced and I may even spend a part of this afternoon looking for it.

Watches actually do quite well in the washer, though. Once you discover them, whether immediately after the wash cycle, or even when they go through the dryer, they keep on working. The crystal fogs up for a few days, but there is never doubt that they will survive the experience.

Cell phones are a little more sensitive. Yes, I've washed my cell phone more than once too. They generally don't work after being washed and or and not dried. But experience after doing this to several phones taught me that you can take the battery out, let the whole thing dry for a few days, then re-insert the battery and charge it up. It will generally work again once the moisture is gone.

But the camera is a different matter. It is not meant to be handled roughly at all, and I think that it must have been the spin cycle that did it in, or maybe it was just being aggitated. It is out of alignment and I have a hard time even opening and closing the compartment that contains the battery and the chip. I've dried it for a week, inserted the removable components, and tried to charge it up. It didn't even register that it was plugged in.

And so I suppose that this blog will go either pictureless for a while, or I will be relying on old photos and stuff that I steal from the internet. Next week after I get my monthly check, I will pay my bills and see how much camera I can afford with what is left over. And then check out Overstock.com and Costco and see what they have that will work. Something simple, and more important, something durable.

Because I am decidedly hard on things that I own.