Habitualchaos

Something I forgot to mention after that post about my nephew below. Two days after that post, he went home and is doing just fine. Hes still recovering from the infection, but its not nearly as tough as it was before.

His Dad, so far, has been making a concerted effort to keep smoke away from the baby. How long it will last, I dunno... but Id like to think it will be for good.

Theres a couple people on my AIM buddy list, that I take some enjoyment out of readin' their away message. I, myself, try and switch mine up every now and then... with new phrases and such. Sometimes theres even have links to cool little sites/cartoons/etc.

Thanks to my acquaintance/friend Sotheavys away message for this one. What time is it?

Anyone who reads this site, and Im not even sure how many of you there are any more, knows that I get a lot of spam email. A lot. How much is a lot? Im glad you asked. Im always afraid of being away from my computers when I go on vacations and stuff... cause around 300 new emails a day times 7 (or more) days of a vacation comes out to a fuckload of messages.

And rarely, are even 3 of those messages (out of the 300) actual emails from people I know. Its the same with a lot of my friends too, getting fuckloads of messages... and I certainly have my days wishing I never signed up for whatever I signed up for that started this whole thing.

Ive kinda gotten used to the emails though. Theyre still annoying and frustrating and all that... but theres really nothing I can do about them, so Ive grudgingly accepted their existence in my inbox.

One thing that has hit a big nerve with me lately is spammers now leaving "comments" on some of my earlier posts... selling whatever shit they sell in their emails too. I get email notifications whenever someone leaves a comment... and recently Ive been getting emails for some spammers leaving 13 "comments" a day in my earlier posts. Youll catch them here and there, if you read my archives. Hell someone left a couple in the last two posts, below this one.

I know I can delete them... but its just irritating someone doesnt get enough from bogging down everyones inboxes and has to clutter my comments up with useless shit. Just the principle of the thing, is all. I mentioned this to my bud Dev lately... someone who recently signed up with Movable Type, like me. He remembered a function of MT that I completely forgot about... something that keeps them from being able to leave comments.

In my world of not being able to really do anything with my spam email... its been so refreshing to be able to give a metaphorical fuck you to whomever the jackass is thats got nothing better to do than sit on their ass and make a living pissing people off.

Since the weather started breaking, Ive really been looking forward to doing a little mountain biking in the woods behind my parents house. It serves two purposes really... as its something I honestly love to do, and its a good form of exercise; to get my fat ass outside really.

I even went out a little while it was still cold outside... a habit thrown upon me when my bud Miller and his Dad started taking me out with them on their usual winter rides through some local woods.

I havent been able to really go out lately though... because of them goddamn April showers. Its rained a whole fucking bunch since the weather broke, and its created a whole lot more mud than Id like to ride through. I dont mind getting dirty when I ride... as evidence of a couple pics I displayed months and months ago on some previous rides. The real problem isnt the mud, but mud puddles that are too deep to ride through... the last couple times Ive gone out recently, Ive carried my bike more than Ive rode it.

Im not against going back to the woods where my bud Miller and I went before... but the woods behind my parents place would be an excellent ride if it wasnt so fucking muddy. Such is the case today. Beautiful day out today, but circumstances didnt allow me to go for a ride today. Given that, I was planning on going out tomorrow to enjoy what was supposed to be a nice day too.

Id heard there was a slight chance of rain this weekend, but of course as is always the case... it started raining enough that whatever drying the puddles behind my parents place did, theyll be back up to "carrying my bike over them" level by tomorrow afternoon.

Fuckers.

After that post about the weather hating me, and thinking about it... I just said fuck it and went for a ride on Sunday. It was still rather muddy, but dried enough that I didnt have to carry my bike as much as I have recently.

Im still really looking forward to some more dry weather, waiting for some of the rest of the woods to dry out, so I have to carry my bike even less.

Also entertained the idea of bringing my bike with me to work, and driving out to ride through the woods I used to with my bud Miller... since I work so close to them and where I used to live. Just overall... looking forward to getting my fat ass out to do a lot more bike riding than I did last summer.

note to self: when youre riding a bike through the woods and your throat gets dry... it doesnt help an already sore throat you have from the summer cold your mom gave you.

As Im sitting here typing right now... my wonderful Nikon Coolpix 4500 is on its way, or is already in Columbus, OH to get evaluated for repair costs. Given my experience (and cost) once before with getting a nikon digital camera repaired... Im trying a Nikon authorized repair place instead of sending it straight to Nikon in New York; to hopefully get away with less cost this time.

I dont know how/why it happened. I dont remember dropping the camera... I dontM remember hitting the camera against anything... but apparently I did something. I mean, I just used the goddamn thing on Sunday to take the pic in the post below.

Tuesday night, I caught something I wanted to snap a pic of... so I got my camera and my desktop tripod, set them up, turned on the camera... and didnt hear what I supposed to. Instead of the camera starting up and setting the focus... I hear the first click on its startup, and then this (kind-of) grinding noise followed by a long beep; and then a message on the LCD screen of "system error." The first thought in my head was "no no no no no no no, not again, not again!" Well, actually the first thought in my head was "WHAT THE FUCK?" followed shortly by what I just mentioned.

Shut the camera off, trying to convince myself it was a one time thing... just a glitch or something. Turned the "on" dial on the camera... and AGAIN I got the short startup, then grinding. All in all, I started that camera up at least a dozen times that night, removed the battery 6 times thinking it might reset (or something)... just praying every time I tried, it wouldnt do it again. Everytime though... it did it. At this point I was also running through my head what the fuck I might have done... cause like I said, I dont remember doing anything to it.

There was nothing I could do at 1 in the morning... so I reluctantly went to bed. Woke up the next morning hoping the Magic Digital Camera Repair Fairy stopped by the house, and tapped my camera with her magic jewelers screwdriver. Walked over to the camera, prayed a short prayer, hit the switch... and got just what I feared, that dreaded sound again.

Knowing what to expect from sending the camera to Nikon [experience from sending my old Coolpix 950 to them, after I accidentally dropped it on the concrete floor of a bar trying to pry off the "Im old enough to drink" paper bracelet] ... I decided to try their list of authorized repair dealers, and found the place in Columbus. I called them to get somne details and explain the problem... the guy there (from my description) said it sounded like the gears of my focus were either off-track or obstructed; but theyd have to look at it to tell me exactly, and that cost.

Yesterday, I packaged her up and sent her Priority Mail to Columbus to get looked at, and hopefully get her fixed for less than $200 (what itll cost with Nikon). I cried a little as I left the Post Office... a little for missing my camera, and the rest for (apparently) being dumb enough to do something to my baby that requires her repair, just like her older sister before her.

I dont beat my cameras... really, I dont.