See? Geeks ARE Good for Something!

I'm a sad mama. My Canon 50D is sick.

I can't take pictures of my Little Sugarpants.

It all started last week when I was having trouble getting the memory card to fit into the multi-card reader that connects to my computer. The picture of my Christmas cake (my entry for the AAFES Holiday Baking Contest) was on it, and I needed to upload it to submit my picture and recipe for consideration.*

It wouldn't fit. I wiggled it, jiggled it, inspected it, and finally cursed at it but it wouldn't work. I thought it was the card, so I bought a new card. When the new card wouldn't even go into the camera itself, I felt the hair on my neck stand up and got out the flashlight.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to let out a string of colorful expletives at the top of my lungs (I didn't, though - Jericho was asleep). I wanted to throw something.

Looking inside the memory card slot, I could see that a few of the metal tines that plug into the holes on the memory card were bent. "Ok, not a huge deal," I thought, and took a deep breath. "It can be fixed." So I decided to call Best Buy and see what could be done. When I bought the camera only 6 months ago while home on leave, I also purchased their Geek Squad Black Tie Protection damage insurance, and BOY AM I GLAD I DID. I talked to a Best Buy Geek Squad rep, and he said repair would take an estimated 2 weeks. Since I'd really like to be able to use my camera every second that I'm home next month, my dear sweet favorite mother in the world is going to let me ship the camera to her, and she has so kindly, generously offered to escort my arm-and-leg purchase to the store early.

Hopefully it will be ready for pickup by the time I get there. I've got The Most Awesome Birthday Party Ever to shoot!

*in case you got scared and thought my photo entry was forever stuck on a memory card, fear not. I found it copied on my computer. And cross your fingers!