@#$% dropsies, part II: son of dropsies

oh yeah, i forgot something else i dropped. on my way back home my last R&R, i had a layover in paris and bought a nikon coolpix S2 (had to one up emma who has an S1). i like my canon powershot S1 IS, but 1) it doesn't have a macro feature, and 2) it is a bit bulky. the nikon coolpix S2 is tiny (pocket sized),takes pretty good pictures (5Mpixels), and has some cool pre-set photo setups for neat pictures, but it doesn't have to 10x OPTICAL zoom of my canon. anyways, this leads to me about 3 months ago, i took it out to the field to take a picture of a bearing or something. now i'm very careful with my expensive toys, well maybe not from previous posts, but i try to be. by that i mean, if it has a wrist band or neckstrap i use it to keep from dropping it, but this time it was my downfall. i was in the load compartment, i took out this nice, 2-3 week old camera that conveniently fit in my pocket, went to slip the wristband on, and my finger caught on the wrist band and it tumbled maybe 5 feet through some pipes to it's crippled fate. now, it turns on, the screen shows the pic information, the menu and everything, just no picture. i think i must've jarred or broke the CCD inside. that sucks. oh yeah, i paid 400 euros for it ($~470). i'm not throwing it away though. too much money and MOST of it works. all the software and processors seem to work, just no image. i'll get it fixed in the states. and then maybe ebay it (i'll say it's repaired, i'm not a dick) to pay for the little toy i just found, the nikon coolpix s4 (all the joys of the S2 with 10x optical, YES!!) so it beats my canon, but canon has the S2 IS now. damn decisions.

in other news, emma is going to delhi tomorrow. her visa expires around 19 december, i believe, and she is imperative to startup. usually if something goes wrong during start-up, you look at the controls TA, because her stuff tells us what is wrong and often times HOW wrong. we were having a hard time with the customer... they did not want her going this week because their IMPOSSIBLE schedule told them we were going to firs fire yesterday. so i explained to them, if she goes now and we come ready to first fire while she's gone, 1)we are delaying the job, you have someone to blame and 2) we have another controls TA onsite who can cover it until she gets back. on the other hand, if you hold her here and we come ready to fire around 15 december, she legally HAS to leave to get her visa and YOU screwed the job. it seems they've seen that light and (in the back of their heads ONLY) are understanding we are not going to fire yesterday, today, tomorrow, etc. so she is going to delhi to the ministry of home affairs to beg to get hers renews in-country which isn't standard practice. typically you have to leave the country to renew. she is having to jump through MAJOR paper hoops to get this done, and for that she gets repaid with a new visa, 3 days away from site, 2 nights in a nice hotel, and the availability of the accoutrements of a (pesudo)civilized big city. mine is expiring in late january, but i think we will be done enough by then that i won't need to renew, might be able to get the hell outta here, maybe a holiday in the UK somewhere (bars open 24 hours now!!!), north of spain, australia, germany... maybe somewhere with some snow. where should i go?