This has been a wonderful and merry Christmas so far. purpleglitter got me wonderful gifts, including a new birding camera — the same model as the broken one, so that it will work with my telephoto lens.

My parents gave me a brass clock once owned by my great-grandfather. It's an old electric clock and wasn't made with the ability to start up on its own. A knob in the back must be spun just right so that it "catches", then the electric power will take over. The neat thing about the clock is that it will run backwards if the knob is spun backwards. I used to always set it running backward when I was a kid, and it is running backwards in my livingroom now.

My birding camera is still giving me a lot of grief. I'll get it working only to lose power again in less than a minute. I'm more and more convinced the problem is internal, and the prospects of getting it fixed anytime soon are dim. Even so, I was able to get a few shots with it at the Arlington Reservoir today.


( +3 )

I went down to New England Photo this afternoon and learned that zarthon's assessment of how much my camera will cost to repair was much more accurate than mine, and unfortunately the cost of getting my camera fixed is well over what I can afford to spend. On faith that it will be fixed, I bought the new lens cap I've been needing.

I'm going to see if I can repair the problem myself without taking the camera apart. There is at least a chance that I might be able to get it working and the risk of breaking the camera further is relatively low as long as I don't actually pry it open. Christian suggested swabbing the prongs in the battery case with alcohol. If that doesn't work, I'm going to attempt ti gently but firmly reposition the prongs. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve, but if none of that works I'll have to reassess my options.

Haven't given much of an update lately on what I've been up to.

The weekend before last my sister, Madeline, and Christian came up to visit. I met them downtown on Saturday and my sister took me to get my first ever professional manicure. I had a lot of fun and Maddie is a joy. She is so huge, though! I'd swear she was 10 or 11 if I didn't know she was 7.

Last weekend, invalid_userid came down for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release. purpleglitter, invalid_userid waited in the long line in Harvard Square. Usually waiting in lines is boring, but with the crowd I had a great time. There were a couple profiteers who got in the front of the line and walked down it trying to sell their books for $50. I didn't see anyone buying, but I'm sure they found someone when they got near the end (which rumor had it was somewhere in Watertown). I was very excited to get merryperseis's register when I finally got my books, I had thought the odds of that rather slim.

zarthon took purpleglitter, invalid_userid and me out to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the next day. Inevitably a lot of the book was left out, but I think enough critical stuff was missing that someone who hadn't read the books probably wouldn't be able to make much sense of it.

Sunday, we all went to the Museum of Science. The exhibits there have enough range to appeal to any level of scientific knowledge. We saw a demonstration of the still very functional original Van de Graaff generator built by Robert J. Van de Graaff in 1933, but my favorite part of the Museum of Science visit was the butterfly exhibit, where a large owl butterfly landed on my shoulder and sat there for a very long time just looking at me and occasionally stretching its wings. Looking into the butterfly's eyes made me regret all the nasty rhetoric I've spouted about exotherms.

Next weekend, our new landlord is coming to visit from California. She has not seen the building in over a year. I'm excited to meet her, she sounds awesome over the phone. She's trying to rent the unit next door, so if anyone is interested in a two-bedroom in Arlington, let me know.

At the end of next month, I will be heading down to see my sister in the Washington, D.C. area. My mom will be visiting there at the same time, so it should be a great trip.

For each of the following, indicate which one you option you like more (or dislike less) by selecting a number on that side of the scale. The closer to -5 or 5 indicates the degree to which you prefer that option.

Poll #854560
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

butterflies (-5) vs. dragonflies (5)

China (-5) vs. Russia (5)

Christianity (-5) vs. Islam (5)

Doctor Who (-5) vs. Star Trek (5)

fossil fuel burning power plants (-5) vs. nuclear power plants (5)

fruit (-5) vs. vegetables (5)

Hugo Chávez (-5) vs. George W. Bush (5)

Iraq under Saddam (-5) vs. Post-Saddam Iraq (5)

madness (-5) vs. sanity (5)

Mars (-5) vs. Venus (5)

meat (-5) vs. tofu (5)

New York City (-5) vs. Los Angeles (5)