I mentioned the doctor prescribed something called Flonase that I now recall he prescribed a few years ago for a condition similar to what I've got now. At least I think is was similar, the coughing and such. Didn't do much good as I recall, but I'll pick it up this morning at the local pharmacy and give it a try. Odd that I'd only vaguely remember an earlier episode if that episode is similar to this one now. Maybe that's normal, blocking out periods we'd like to forget, but it wasn't all that terrible. Was it? But then what do I know? Little, from what I'm seeing. And reading.

The Nikon web site says my repaired D2Xs has been shipped and will be delivered today. Which is good. It hasn't been all that expensive to keep them in shape over the years, although I suspect the digital models are not unlike computers and require more maintenance than film cameras did. They're more like a production line, a series of digital machines and software that need ongoing maintenance.

You need to upgrade PhotoShop when an upgrade is released, you need to pay the insurance people the price of a decent camera when it comes due (this month), you need to flick off the dust and the dirt and the rain, keep their batteries in shape (Do you know how many aspects there are to charging and conditioning batteries for cameras? I'm learning.) and fix them when you drop them on a train. Good thing I'm retired and have the time. Too bad I'm retired and don't have the income I once enjoyed. OK. Just mentioning it. Now was it the D2H that failed or the lens yesterday? Such excitement in the middle of a week.

I take it we have bills due?

Oh, the camera insurance, the car insurance, the Nikon repair bills, the computer upgrade bills, the monthly credit card bill, the photo printer paper bill(s) and the rent. None of which are a surprise, none of which (really) should cause any complaint. But I do. A bit. Here, anyway. Probably not the best place to bring them up. This early in the morning. On a Wednesday.

And so you're going to do what?

Pay 'em and look forward to those Pocket Wizard gimcracks when they're released for the Nikon speed lights. What else? This is California, the land where one can live in fantasy and survive, the end of the rainbow, a place of over ten percent unemployment with a government that doesn't work.

Welcome to the club.

Later. The camera arrived from Nikon with a note saying they'd tried the auto focus with four different Nikon lenses and it had worked fine. Well, I'd tried it with three Nikon lenses and it hadn't, but sure enough, once I'd snapped it all together it focused without a hitch. So what do I know? The D2H seems to be working now, but I'll run it through some more of its paces. The common element in this seems to be me, but I have been doing this now for some number of years without a problem so, well, maybe the goddesses are grumbling in their heavens and broken auto focus is part of the fall out. Or something like that.

A quick trip down and back for the Flonase, a squirt in each nostril (to be repeated daily). Be nice if something comes out of it (other than the spray), but maybe I'm being too negative. The sun is shining, the air is breathable and I'm still around to take part. That's pretty good given some of the alternatives. Maybe a nice lunch later, kick back, celebrate.