Operation: Frankencamera

One of my goals for 2011 was to complete Project 52.  Thursday being the 6th of the month, I had roughly 24 hours remaining to snap a pic for week 1.  Awesome start Jerbear.  Upon driving home, I see the most gorgeous sunset, so I hustle home (obeying all speed limits and traffic signs, natch) to capture it.  I park in my parking lot and flip on my camera to see a weird white and black image.  "That's strange," I think to myself.  "what the heck did I take a picture of?"  It was when I hit the camera button I realized that my bruised hip/thigh/super deep muscle arm pain wasn't the only casualty of Sunday night's fall:  RIP camera.

I must admit, I tend to be a little "hard" on cameras.  I got my first digital camera before going to Florida for spring break my freshman year of college.  That camera lasted a solid 2 1/2 years before it just couldn't handle anymore oj + pineapple rum filled nalgene bottles comingling with it haphazardessly within my purse, and would no longer work.  Correction:  it would work... sometimes.  Occasionally the picture would come out pink.  Other times the screen would be blurry until it was given a friendly little slam "pat."  Once this super scientific trouble shooting no longer did the trick, I was at a loss.

Luckily I was dating a guy who had a digital camera who never used it, but looooooooooved having photos of himself (I would call him narcissistic here, but I'm equally as obsessed with photos of me, so whatevs...probably why it didn't work out.... yeah... that's it :p) so he "lended" it to me.  Now I say lended loosely, because somehow once we broke up, I was still in possession of the camera.  You break my heart... I take your camera.  Seems like a fair trade to me, no?  ;)

The day before my old roomie's wedding, the camera finally went to the great big camera heaven in the sky (aka my junk drawer).  I couldn't possibly not document the day's events, so I woke up at the bum crack of the morning to get a new camera before getting my hair and make up did.  Success!  No more than 3 hours in to the wedding and I had lost my camera (not only am I hard on cameras, but I also tend to lose them....oops!  The odds of me losing cameras increases exponentially with the increase of booze consumption and elimination of meat from my diet.  I was a veghead during this time and I think there was a bagel and a carrot the whole day I could eat..... #vegheadfail).  Anyway, said camera was recovered, only to be destroyed by dropping on the floor of a bar (yes, I'm seeing a trend here, eff off) with the lens extended, three short months later.

At least this time around, I had the good sense to be the exact same camera.  Plus! It was on sale!  Win WIN win!  I figured I would at least have a back up battery, battery charger, and USB cord.  Man, I'm a genius.  This camera is the current camera, and it has been in my life for the last twelve (12!) months.  Until Thursday.  Sniffles.

I called KK and begged him to find me a teeny tiny screwdriver set, and then resigned to scouring the web for Nikon coolpix 3.0.  And found it!  In red!  For $30 less than I had paid the first time, and $20 less than the second!  And then I found my NC2.0 on my kitchen table (which tells you the last time it was cleaned).  Once KK arrived it was time for Operation:  Frankencamera.

To my surprise (and disappointment) I was only allowed to take on the assistant role.  Sadly, camera deconstruction and possible resurrection does not fall on the "list of things boys are for" (via Susan//Nurse on the Run) and I actually wanted to see if I could fix the thing myself, not hold the small jam jar holding lose screws.  *sigh* 

Don't worry, I'm wearing this shirt today to compensate for it.....

Somewhere along the way I got distracted, no worries, it was because of FOOD and I was HUNGRY. 

Based on the feedback I was getting from the Mad Scientist the outlook was bleak. 

Until the great moment.........

It's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

The words, "you're my hero" may have been uttered, but I will neither confirm nor deny that fact.  Again, see the sweet feminist shirt above.....

And with that, I was thrilled to have saved 80 bones and it was time to watch the Jersey Shore premier.  (Hey, come on, we watched Jeopardy during Operation: Frankencamera.... I'm sure it balances itself out....)

**Check out Denise's ALO clothing giveaway!**