Rest In Peace, Dear Digital Camera

My camera is dead and I'm plumb sick about it.

I don't think I've mentioned it here on the blog, but back in April I was fortunate enough to find a good deal on a new digital camera at Wal*mart. I'd received a small installment payment on my back pay from my disability and just happened to have the money to buy the camera, which is a rare thing for me. Usually if I luck up on a good deal I don't have any money, and the reverse is usually also true.

Anyway, my last camera was given to me by my brother in law Johnny and my sister DONNA. It was a Ko*dak Easy*share and it made really good pictures. I'm not the best photographer in the world by any stretch of the imagination, but even I managed to take some pretty good shots with it and I was more than satisfied with it.

But that first camera was several years old and was beginning to have some issues, not the least of which was that the shutter over the lens would stick half-closed and I wouldn't notice it until I'd already taken several pictures. Bummer. So I was in the market for a new camera although I didn't think I'd find one I could afford any time soon.

But as I said, back in April I got a good deal on a new Ko*dak Easy*share and I bought one just like the one in the picture above. I knew I liked the old camera and the new one was a step up in quality. The new one had 12 megapixels compared to the old one's 5 megapixels, and the new one had a 5x zoom lens compared to the old one's 2x zoom.

The buttons and menu operated pretty much the same as the old camera's although it did have a few new bells and whistles that the old one didn't feature. It took a little bit of adjusting before the new camera and I could dance well together, but once we did, boy, did we tango!

I'm sure nobody ever noticed the difference between pics from my old camera and when I started using pics from my new camera, but I did. It was also a little smaller and lighter and didn't take up as much space in my purse which is an added bonus.

And so. Now we arrive at the "rest in peace" portion of this post.

This past Tuesday JESSICA, Emmy, Sue and CECIL were here for the afternoon. Cecil bought Emmy a little wading pool to play in and Jessica filled it up with water so Emmy could splash around and cool off, it being approximately 110º or thereabouts that afternoon.

I decided I'd make Emmy some homemade bubbles to play with since she was outside getting wet anyway. I mixed up some dishwashing liquid and water, which didn't blow bubbles too well, so I added some shampoo and some liquid hand soap to the mix, which still ended up being pretty much a dud.

I took my camera outside with me to capture some pictures and video of the fun and actually got some pretty good pictures, some of which I fully intended to post here on the blog.

As we were coming back inside, I had the cup full of failed bubble liquid in my right hand: the same hand by which my camera was hanging by the strap on my right wrist. I decided (why, oh WHY did I decide to DO that???) to just dash the liquid out on the ground as I was coming inside. Just as I tossed the liquid out of the cup, a gust of wind caught the liquid and dashed it over my hand, wrist and camera.

I had that awful sickening feeling you have when you know you've just done something that's going to result in tragic consequences, but it's too late to reverse the action.

I'm not kidding one bit, I immediately got sick to my stomach. I KNEW that my camera was ruined. I took it inside and dried it off the best I could, even taking out the batteries and opening the USB compartment to let it dry out, but I just knew it was RURNT. There just ain't no other word for it. I knew if it had been plain ol' water it might have had a fighting chance after it dried out, but with the soap I had a feeling it would never completely dry out. There are times I really hate it when I'm right.

After several hours I put the batteries back in and turned the camera on. It did come on, but I could tell that the LCD display was messed up. It looked like there was water (naturally!) over the screen, and was darker in blotches across the screen, but it did start downloading the pictures, so I thought it might be okay after it dried out a little more.

But alas, it wasn't to be. It made it about halfway through downloading the pictures and stopped. It threw up a window saying my camera had malfunctioned and needed to be disconnected and serviced.

That was Tuesday. It's now early Friday and my camera still won't download the rest of the pictures, and my computer still won't recognize the camera when I plug it in to download the pics. On one positive note, the camera still seems to take pictures and stores them on the camera, but I have no idea if the pictures are actually any good because I can't download them to see! How's that for a catch 22? And what use is the camera if I can never download the pictures?

I removed the camera program and reinstalled it on the off chance that the camera might resume working after I reloaded the program. Nope. Nada. Zilch. Zip. I'm just up a creek without a camera, and I'm telling you, I feel incomplete without a working camera.

I take so many pictures of Emmy and things for the blog that I'm already having withdrawals just knowing that I can't take pictures and post them if I should take a notion.

The camera is still under the manufacturer's warranty, but last time I checked, pouring dish soap in your camera qualifies as owner induced damage, which strictly nullifies the warranty. I could probably mail it to Ko*dak to repair it, but by the time I pay shipping and repair costs I'd probably be better off buying a new camera, and anyway it would never be the same after being water damaged I'm sure.

And in case you're wondering, "So what happened to the other camera, the one you got from your BIL and Donna?"

When I got my new camera I gave the old one to my sister Ducky. She didn't have a camera at all so I gifted her with my old one. We like to pay it forward in my family and if there's any use left at all in anything we pass it on either to family, friends or anyone who can get some use from it.

I'm scheduled to get another small installment on my disability back pay in October so I suppose I'll get another decent camera then. In the meantime I'll be on the lookout for a cheap digital camera to use until then.Other than feeling sick about my ruined camera, I'm feeling better regarding my health. I'm still feeling kind of listless and wrung out, but that could be because it's a good excuse not to get motivated about some things I need to be doing around the house. Just keepin' it real here. Sooner or later I'll just set my chin and do it, but right now I just don't feel like it.

Thanks to everyone who's been concerned about me and praying for me. I do appreciate it and I'm so blessed to have friends who care.Lord willing, I'll be back either tonight or on my Sunday Dinner post. I have some of those pictures from Tuesday that I managed to download before my camera died that I want to share and maybe a few more from another day.

And who knows what else I may find to write about? I'll try to bring you more of the same exciting drivel you've come to expect here at Diane's Place. I aim to ramble and keep it random, never fear.Y'all have a great Friday, and Happy Weekend!