Wednesday 23 May 2012

No pictures, just words

My camera isn't right.  I took two pictures of my breakfast this morning - there was a reason, honestly - and neither of them made it into my camera's memory.  It's annoying, because I struggle with technology at the best of times, and this camera used to do all that I required of it.  But recently it's started on some sort of go-slow protest.  Unless the batteries are completely charged it won't work.

Like a good little greenie, I have a plethora of rechargeable batteries.  Well strictly speaking  I have a wooden box of rechargeable batteries, and under normal circumstances I would have inserted here a picture of the box, which my mother gave me as a tree present at Christmas.  But as soon as you store a charged battery, said charge starts to slowly leak away.  So I have been using non-rechargeables, much as it goes against the grain, because as mentioned, my camera will have no truck with anything less than perfection.

So my breakfast goes unrecorded, and those who don't like blog posts that aren't liberally illustrated will simply have to go elsewhere for the time being.

On other topics, I have at last tendered my written resignation to my boss, who still maintains that if we can just peel away the layers of my job that have grown over the years and stifled me, I may yet decide that my future lies with them.  Annoyingly, today has been the best day I have had, work-wise, for years. I feel empowered, invigorated, interested, invested, and all sorts of other positive words ending in "ed".  And just when I had decided that I was completely never going to want to do this job ever again and everything, ok?  Along with my camera, it is annoying. I am reminded of just how rewarding my job can be, but usually is so not.  My notice is three months long.  So much can change in that sort of time span.  I was determined.  Now I am dithering.  I will keep you posted.

Another subject - due to the amazing weather we've had the last couple of days, I have dug out the cropped jeans I lived in last year until incipient chilblains forced me into full-length denim.  I am chuffed to bits to report that I fit into them every bit as well as I did last year.  If I were to look at this from the glass-half-empty angle, I would be forced to confess that this means that I am no slimmer now than I was then, and considering that "obese" would be a step in the right direction, that is maybe not so great.  But I refuse to look at it that way.  Maintaining one's weight is, IMHO, more important than losing,  given that yo-yo-ing is more detrimental to one's health than overweight.  I would still like to be thinner though.

Another topic altogether - I have booked a table at a local table-top sale at the beginning of June.  I've not done one of those for years, so it will be interesting and I'll no doubt be reminded of how no-one is ever prepared to pay more than 50p for anything.  But I am looking forward to it, ever though my mother won't do it with me, being "overwhelmed with work".  At 84.  Good for her.  Perhaps I should apply to her for a job.

Maybe not.

2 comments:

  1. Hmmmm... CatMan and I just had a long discussion about rechargeable batteries. I fear it got a bit technical for me (he's and electronics engineer) but my kindergarten level understanding of it all was that the rechargeable ones don't have the same "uumph" as the regular batteries do - even when they're fully charged, so they just don't work well for certain types of devices (there was much more to it than that, but alas, my eyes tend to gloss over when he starts prattling on about amps and volts and current.)

    Anyhow, I have a radio that won't work at all with rechargeable batteries, but works great with the regular kind, go figure!

    I totally understand the work ambivalence thing too... just the other day there were a few big articles in the paper about the music organization where I used to work, and I certainly felt a pang that I was no longer a part of it.

    But then last night I was decluttering, and I came across a spool of CDs - backup files from my time there - and suddenly the reality of it all came back to me: the late nights, the stress, the deadlines... and the pang of regret evaporated pretty darned quickly!

    I'm certainly not saying I think you shouldn't quit your job if you decide that staying is what you really want, I just know that for me, in the long run it's the day to day realities that matter more than the occasional lift I got from my job.

    Anyhow, congrats on the jeans and good luck with your table-top sale!
    Hugs,
    Cat

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  2. Hi Cat
    Thank you for your wisdom. I agree. I am currently pang-less and think that with a few possible wobbles I am likely to stay firm in my resolve.
    As for the batteries - well, 'tis not they that are the problem. apparently it's the camera's firmware. It has a way of calculating how much charge it needs to have in order to stay switched on, and due to a programming fault it gets this progressively more wrong. Consequently it eventually starts turning itself off when the batteries are still well-charged, and there is evidently nothing I can do about this. I am not happy.
    The nice chap on the user forum who explained this is of the opinion that Sony would charge me more that the camera's worth to "repair" it, and there is no firmware download. Apparently many cameras of this model have been discarded due to this very fault. Scandalous. It's not even the money, it's the sheer waste and arrogance of the company that gets up my nose. I will never again buy Sony.
    Having said all of which, CatMan's knowledge is very interesting and may well prove useful in the future, so please thank him on my behalf.
    All the best from a very soggy south coast (although not as soggy as it was a week ago!).
    Cathy

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