Rhonda Bracey: At Random

After the “memory card error” on my Canon IXUS 400 yesterday, I decided enough was enough! I’ve had this error on and off for ages now, and it usually goes away by itself. But today I did something about it.

I searched the internet and found a whole slew of disgruntled Canon IXUS 400 owners out there who get the same error message, and who, after trying many various things, put it down to an error in the camera, not the memory card or the removable battery. One solution that seemed to work for many of them was to take apart the camera case and remove the internal lithium battery, then reinsert it. All those who did this advised to make a note of the screw location as these screws are tiny, and some are longer than others. But no site I found had a simple diagram of where these screws are located (one screw is hidden!), and no-one said how many there are (11), so I’ve added a simple diagram at the end of this post for anyone else who wants to try this solution (which, BTW, didn’t work for me… so the camera is off to Sydney for ‘repair’).

Here are some of the forums and websites where the problem is discussed (and whined about!), and where various solutions are offered (NOTE: I’ve used TinyURL to shorten the very long web addresses):

• http://tinyurl.com/2wjta5 (Steve’s DigiCam Forums)
• http://tinyurl.com/2sd9kp (more from Steve’s DigiCam Forums)
• http://tinyurl.com/2jx9y2 (Wikipedia article on this camera, with this documented as a ‘known issue’)
• http://tinyurl.com/32c2a4 (Canon Australia’s Customer Support ‘Hot Topic’)
• http://tinyurl.com/3doxqx (Will’s Web Miscellany blog where you’ll get details – including photos – on removing the case and flipping the internal battery)
• http://home19.inet.tele.dk/ne/manualer.htm (Parts catalog and exploded technical diagrams of many cameras, including my Canon IXUS 400)

Diagram of the location of the 11 screws that hold the casing together

NOTE: On the left side, one screw is hidden behind the rubber flap.

Update 4 November: After almost a month away with the technicians in Sydney (why so long??), I got my camera back late last month. Supposedly it was fixed. There was no charge as it was a ‘known error’. I popped in my 256MB CF card in anticipation—and got “Memory Card Error” straight away. My words are NOT fit for printing here. I popped in the 32MB CF card—no error message. Over the past few days, I’ve tried the 256MB card several times, each time with the same error message. I called Canon in Sydney—they said to try a new CF card. Yeah right—like they’re going to pay for it, not! I’m a 90 min drive from where I can buy one, so I’ll have to wait until Friday to test out another one. I’ll take my old card with me too, as I really don’t think it’s the card. This 256MB card has worked well for a few years—the “Memory Card Error” has always been intermittent and doesn’t seem to be associated with just the one card. I’ll get my CF card tested in the camera shop, and will try out one of theirs that I hope they have available for testing. To be honest, I might even consider getting a new digital camera. The prices are MUCH cheaper now and this one is 4+ years old. I hate throwing away stuff though—especially stuff that I paid hundreds of dollars for and works perfectly well except for this intermittent issue. Mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble…

Update 9 November 2007: I took the camera and CF card in to the camera shop (Camera House, Bunbury, Western Australia). The nice guy behind the counter asked if I’d reformatted the card since the fix. I hadn’t. Didn’t know I should. I definitely hadn’t reformatted the 32MB card, and it worked fine first up. He reformatted the 256MB card and it worked fine! We tested it a few times with no error. He recommended that I reformat after I download photos instead of deleting them off the card. There was no charge for this service or advice, but I purchased a couple of spare cards anyway—his advice and ‘fix’ was a lot cheaper than getting a new camera!

It was *such* a nice day today – really spring-like. The air was warm, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers are starting to bloom. So when I popped in to town to get the mail, pick up the milk etc., I left the car in the car park and walked from the Post Office to the other stores.

On the way, I went past the chiropractors’. My lower back has really been hurting the past couple of weeks, especially when I’ve been pulling weeds. Of course, carrying too much weight doesn’t help, nor does working on the computer all day. With the long drive to Perth tomorrow then the even longer flight to Brisbane, then repeating that coming back on Thursday, I figured I should treat my back to some realignment.

It’s many years since I heard the crunches, clicks, pops, and snaps of a chiropractor. And despite all the noises and some painful moments, I felt terrific afterwards. I felt like I was standing taller and walking straighter – almost like floating! Of course, I could be in agony tomorrow, but I hope that everything’s back in place and happy now. At least for a while.

Thanks Abbie!

We took the opportunity of my day off to go to Bunbury yesterday to catch a couple of movies.

I saw “No reservations” which I quite enjoyed. Typical chick flick, but more of a 30s-something chick flick than a teenage angst movie. Catherine Zeta-Jones was good in the lead role. Not too taxing on the brain – a piece of light entertainment to take you out of your normal routine for an hour or so.

My husband saw two action movies back to back: “Die hard 4” followed by “The Bourne Ultimatum”. Even though “Bourne” got 5 stars from the local reviewers, he said he enjoyed “Die Hard 4” better. I know I wouldn’t have liked EITHER of them!

While he was watching the second movie I went shopping. Nothing startling – just some sheets for the sofa bed, some printer cartridges, and a couple of other odds and sods.

We ate a late lunch at the kebab shop across the road from the cinema. The hot chilli sauce was REALLY hot (yes!), but my beef doner kebab was disappointing as they used some sort of minced meat mix for the ‘beef’ instead of the shavings of beef that I’m used to. That mince stuff tasted very ordinary, even with the great chilli sauce.

On the way down to Pemberton for lunch today a black Mercedes drove past us heading north. The number plate? “O Lord”

Made me laugh!

PS: It helps if you’re a baby boomer or you know the Janis Joplin song! Otherwise you’ll wonder why on earth I found it funny.

Have you seen those ads or heard those stories where someone puts something on the roof of their car while they are packing it, then drives off with the thing still on the roof?

Well, I saw one in real life yesterday! I was waiting to walk across the main T-junction in town when a car turned the corner. The female driver was oblivious to the steaming take-away cup of coffee she had on the roof… which naturally tipped over and off the car into the road. Funny. But messy.

I wonder when—or if—she remembered getting the coffee and not drinking it.

I forgot to give an update on the application for a gravel quarry that was to go close to where we want to build… The Shire received LOTS of objections, with only two public submissions in favour. Despite the Shire and the Environmental Protection Authority asking for clarification and more information from the proponent, none was forthcoming.

In light of all the objections, and the lack of an environmental impact statement, the Shire rejected the plan. Yay! This was about a month or so ago, so I was a bit slack in remembering to write about it…

Update: I spoke too soon! Five hours after writing this post, I got an email from one of the Shire Councillors telling us that the proponent has lodged an appeal against the Shire’s decision. It’ll be another 3-4 months before that is heard.

I’ve been banking with Westpac most of my life, and all our loans have been through Westpac. After some incidents with loan restructuring ‘stuff ups’ in the past few years (the most recent was documented here), we were seriously considering shifting all our banking business to another bank and never using Westpac again.

However, since we moved to Bridgetown in February this year, we’ve had excellent service from the team at the local Westpac branch. One of the things that has contributed to this excellent service is the personal nature of the banking experience here. We are greeted warmly – and by name – whenever we go in to the bank, and nothing is too much trouble. Queries are answered, and issues are checked out and explained.

All “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” crossed in any paperwork we’ve had done. Nothing has been omitted. And the team behind the counter has made banking a pleasure now, instead of the painful and inhuman experience we encountered in the Perth branches and with the Mortgage Processing Centre in Adelaide.

The most telling difference between our previous experiences and the experience in our small country town is that the staff at the local branch take responsibility for making sure that whatever has to be done is done – and if it’s not done, they chase it up.

Such a novel approach; such great customer service.

Wrong! Not at the local bakery it isn’t.

I popped in to pick up half an upright loaf of bread (you know—the ones the break nicely in the middle and have all that ‘pull away’ bread stuff that you used to gorge on as kids!). The full loaf was labelled as $2.70, so I expected the half (which was already split and on the rack) to be $1.35. Nope. It was $1.70!! I queried the price—twice—only to be told it was $1.70, no ifs or buts or maybes. That’s a 25% premium on the expected $1.35. For doing nothing—not even splitting the loaf as it was already split.

If I go in to a fabric store and the fabric is $10 per metre and I get half a metre, I expect to be charged $5; if I get a 10cm width, then I expect to be charged $1. And the person behind the counter has to use a lot more labour to cut the fabric—and cut it straight and accurately—than the bread shop person needs to use to split a loaf of bread in half.

As that great Aussie advertisement used to say: “Not happy, Jan!” (YouTube video of the ad that started this expression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2akt3P8ltLM)

I just went on to Google Maps and noticed a new feature – you can dig a hole through the earth to see where you come out!

Interestingly, we’d heard about a guy in town building his house in a special orientation as he believed that our town (Bridgetown, Western Australia) was directly opposite the Bermuda Triangle. So I checked – and it is. [cue Twilight Zone music now…]

I finally got around to watching “Happy Feet” tonight! (does happy dance!).

As a great fan of good animations—it must be from that time I spent working for a 2D-to-3D movie software conversion company and a group of very talented CGI special effects people—I was hoping this would be a good one.

And it was! It was great. Brilliant animation that had you wondering at times whether it was live action or just drawings (the orcas and elephant seals were particularly realistic, along with the water, the snow, and the icebergs—even the blizzard). Terrific songs all the way through, and a nice story to boot.

Even better, it was Australian made! And there was a nice tribute to Steve Irwin in the dedications at the end of the credits for the cast of thousands. He also was the voice of one of Aussie elephant seals.

If you haven’t seen it, do so.  Highly recommended.