I fixed my camera

Let me preface this entry with this statement: I am an idiot.

My mom gave me a digital camera a few years ago for xmas. The first time I used it was the following July when Eric and Mesan were visiting me in my former Virginia home. I took 3 pictures before the camera died. I was annoyed, but I remembered reading something in the manual about charging, and I figured it was one of those deals where you have to charge it for a few hours before the first use. I put the camera back in its original packaging, with an intent to do the thing right next time.
Years pass. I am not much of a picture taker. Now it's June '08. I've decided to take 4 1/2 months off, so I've tied up loose ends at work, and I'm moving out of my apartment. In an effort to simplify the process, I have decided to give away or trash everything I possibly can. So, the camera packaging and manual go into the trash, and the camera and any cords and accessories go into my laptop bag. I finish moving, and begin bumming around at Zach's and Mom's and James's. A month or so passes, and I want to take a picture. I open the laptop bag, but I can't find the charger! I must have thrown it out with the packaging! Crap. I'll deal with this later.

Now, it's later. I search again in vain for the charger, and resign myself to buying a new one. Sony's website is totally worthless - they don't seem to make this camera anymore, and I can't find any info about chargers for similar cameras or anything. So I call up the local radio shack and ask them if they have a charger that will work for my camera. They say no. But while describing the camera to them, I notice that there doesn't seem to be any place on it to plug in a charger. But whats this arrow on it? I push, and clunk clunk, some batteries fall out. Aha! I have to charge the batteries, not the camera. So what kind of batteries are these? Sony brand AA/LR6/AM3, and they also have a lot of Japanese writing on them.
I do some research, and the internet yields surprisingly little information about them. Again I call radio shack, and this time they assure me they will have a charger for whatever kind of battery I throw at them. I put the batteries in my pocket and jump on my bike.

45 minutes of biking pass, and I can't find the god damn radio shack. I even ask people on the street, and their directions are worthless. Eventually I stumble into a best buy, haggard and sweaty, and present the batteries to the door greeter. "Where do I go to charge these?" I am directed to a fat man in the electronics section who inspects the batteries, half smiles, and says, "these are just regular AA batteries. You can't charge these." See? I am an idiot.
So I drove across the country, through incredible natural beauty (and was in other photo-worthy situations), and didn't take any pictures because Sony sold my mom some dead batteries, and I didn't try putting in some new ones (I even had extras in my car!).

Anyway, I fixed my camera today, and I took this picture of my invasion of Brock's living room:

It's actually not too bad now -- I organized it yesterday.

Also, I actually did manage to take some pictures along the way, 27 to be exact, with a disposable camera I bought in Medora, ND. Hopefully I will be able to digitize those photos and post them here later.


Okay, I hope you're reading this sentence because that means that my blog isn't horribly boring. Leave me comments, questions, and insults please!