cetan's weblog a man, no plan, a blog, golbanalponnama.

Let’s talk about Monday…

So, let's sum up what happened yesterday:

1) I forgot my key-card at home. Not a big deal but annoying to get around the office until I could get a temporary.

2) For the first time ever I forgot my tie at home. Very embarrassing. I was able to borrow one that came down to the middle of my crotch, but at least I wasn't sent home to get a tie (which would have been a 4-hour round-trip ordeal).

3) The three Hi-8 video tapes I need to have converted to digital files (for a particularly high-profile training DVD I am creating) appear to have failed completely. Attempts to get them to play on the equipment at the video conversion vendor have resulted in lots of visual static and no sound. These tapes are less than 7 years old. The company has at least 100 such tapes in storage and I fear we will lose a lot of them.

4) A 21 oz bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper (2/3 of which had already been consumed) proceeded to burst forth and spray my shirt, pants, and the steering wheel and dash of my car when I attempted to open it.

5) Our venerable Canon A80 has had power problems since returning from having the CCD repaired/replaced. The problems were intermittent and I thought perhaps they were related to bad batteries. Yesterday I discovered that the rocker/selection button on the back is stuck down on the right-side. This is a curious problem as it would suggest the camera has been damaged in some way. However, the far more problematic discovery yesterday was that the camera won't turn on unless you first open and close the battery door. This needs to be done each and every time you wish to use the camera. The A80 was working fine on Friday and never left the camera bag all weekend.

This is most distressing because helloheather and I certainly were not planning on spending any money on camera equipment any time soon. In addition, having just been repaired, the camera was (despite the intermittent power issues) performing wonderfully. Canon not only fixed the CCD but replaced the lens assembly giving the camera a whole new lease on life. The zoom was smooth and quieter than before the repair and I was marching my way towards 40,000 total exposures. Clearly we have had our moneys worth with this camera, I just wish we could have squeezed out a little bit more.

Clearly yesterdays problems, even cumulatively, were minor annoyances at best. There are far worse things that were happening to other people and there almost always are. I kept this in mind as I arrived home a few minutes early and was able to spend the last bit of rapidly fading light outside with Nate crunching fallen leaves and investigating all the yard had to offer. We came inside with cool cheeks and empty stomaches and were warmed and fed. A lot of people did not have those luxuries last night and so I remain thankful for mine.