Surprisingly, I was able
to get up early enough to arrive at work by 6:45. Even more surprisingly,
I was the only one there. (Ward said he had been there and left, and his
laptop was there and booted, so I believed him.)
Cut out almost on time, car and everything having been packed the night
before, and by driving straight through was able to hit Orlando just ahead
of the rush-hour traffic. Stayed at the Best Western by the Florida Mall
for-- are you ready for this?-- $22.50 a night. Isn't the Internet great?
Very nice room, too, all the amenities. And location? Walking distance
to the mall, across the street from TropiGrill. I wished I had come down
the night before.
After checking in, the walk across to TropiGrill was draining. Hey,
I'm a Gainesville boy, I've handled most of what Florida has to throw at
me. This day, though, I was actively seeking shade wherever I could find
it: behind traffic poles, next to shrubs, anything. It was miserable. But
the food was good.
I went back to the room, rested a bit by channel-flipping, then drove
over to CompUSA to take a shot at sweet-talking them into giving me a
loaner camera. Wouldn't have done any good-- apparently they sold me a
clearance model at full price two months ago, even though I had specifically
asked them whether the camera was going to be around for a while (in case
just this sort of thing occurred.)
(Quick aside for those that
joined late: my camera recently failed the bounce test. It's intact
and functional, but the battery cover has snapped off, and it can't be easily rigged.)
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I asked them what they *could* do to help me get the camera running,
and the answer was, essentially, zilch. They're a retailer, not a dealer,
yadda yadda yadda, they don't sell this accessory, they don't stock that
part, bla bla bla.
Moral: buy from a reputable dealer, preferably a camera shop.
Back to the story. While I was inside grappling with the sales droids,
the mother of all thunderstorms erupted, generated by the intense heat
and humidity of the afternoon. This thing was low and three-dimensional
and freakin' *close*-- and I was very literally in the middle of it; bolts
were dropping on all sides. Though it gushed down very briefly, by the
time I had concluded my pointless efforts and left, it was only sprinkling,
so I ran to the car, went over to Radio Shack and purchased the parts I
needed to rig a battery pack.
Back at the hotel, I went to work, stripping wire, crimping connections,
and at the end I had put together a pretty solid job, complete with coiled
cord, quick-disconnects and belt pack. I added the batteries, plugged
it into the external power slot and.... nothing. I quickly removed it,
swapped the polarity, plugged it in and.... nothing. The connection was
live; I tasted the familiar acid sting; so I don't know why that hasn't worked
and the manual doesn't have the specs. *sigh*
To heck with it, I thought. I shaved and went to bed.
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