Well, when it rains it pours. First my handlebarcam finally goes kaput Wednesday. Frankly it’s something of a wonder that the Canon SD1000 lasted this long since it first started exhibiting troubles last December after four or five months of dealing with the hostile and unstable environment of being mounted to my bike — which is why I went and bought a replacement SD1100 and after the 1000 magically resurrected itself had the luxury of making my little timelapse vids and having a still cam at the ready.

It was camtastic.

But apparently the 1100 isn’t made of the strong stuff the 1000 was, because no sooner did I timelapse yesterday morning’s commute to work with it, when it malf’ed. Any attempt to power it up and the lens extends just a smidge before it powers down.

So I was cam-less for last night’s ride home, and anyone who reads me knows I hate rolling nekkid like that. Well, I did have my iPhone but anyone with one of those devices knows its cam is just laughably craptacular.

To add insult to injury, for the first time since 2003 I broke a spoke last night.  Right in front of the Culver City Cop Shop on Duquesne. Removing it I then disabled the front brake so the now out-of-true rim wouldn’t rub against the shoes and commenced rolling s-l-o-w-l-y to Orange 20 Bikes to procure a replacement (plus a couple spares, which I installed after I got home. I even managed to re-true the rim enough to be proud of myself.

This morning — which just so happens to be the 45th anniversary of my coming into the world — I’m searching for the the cam’s receipt so I can submit it for service under the warranty still covering it, but of course I can’t find that crucial bit of documentation, so it looks like I’ll be dropping the SD1100 off at Samy’s for repairs. In the timelapse-less interim I’ll be forced to use either of two back-up digicams: an old Olympus which is balky and predisposed to shooting everything in macro mode, and an older Polaroid that’s just a couple steps up from my iPhone cam.

Better than nothing.

UPDATED (6:43): Found the receipt! Happy Birthday to me!