Minor Annoyances
Oct. 4th, 2025 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperHuh. I wonder what I did wrong.
It looks like the track names for the new CD didn't get written onto the CDs. They did when I burned it from WaveLab, so I am confused. But I will figure this out.
In the meantime, I have ripped the CDs locally and submitted the track names to Gracenote, so that should improve the situation for people who buy the CD and rip it themselves.
Life is one long learning experience...
It looks like the track names for the new CD didn't get written onto the CDs. They did when I burned it from WaveLab, so I am confused. But I will figure this out.
In the meantime, I have ripped the CDs locally and submitted the track names to Gracenote, so that should improve the situation for people who buy the CD and rip it themselves.
Life is one long learning experience...
Pre-release Sale
Oct. 3rd, 2025 09:55 pmbillroperIt's still Bandcamp Friday (for a little while, at least) and I figured out how to post the Amy & Me album for digital presale. This means you can buy it now, get three tracks now, and the rest will be available on the release date when we get to OVFF.
Learning experiences! They're fun.
Bandcamp link
Learning experiences! They're fun.
Bandcamp link
Cubs Win!
Oct. 2nd, 2025 09:14 pmbillroperAnd the Cubs beat the Padres in the Wild Card Series, two games to one, and move on to face the Brewers in a best-of-five in the NLDS. I had tickets to all three games and sold all of them, because getting to the games from Des Plaines when the remote parking lot is unavailable was being untenable.
I have, however, managed to recover my Ventra card and load it into my Google Wallet which means that getting to NLDS games next week should be much more likely, although still non-trivial. At least it will be once I know when the Cubs are playing...
I have, however, managed to recover my Ventra card and load it into my Google Wallet which means that getting to NLDS games next week should be much more likely, although still non-trivial. At least it will be once I know when the Cubs are playing...
Two! Two new stories! Mint Twist, Highlander/MCU
Oct. 2nd, 2025 05:13 pmrhiMint Twist (1584 words) by Gryphonrhi
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Highlander: The Series, Captain America (Chris Evans Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Darius (Highlander), Jim Morita
Additional Tags: Inkvent, Prompt Fic, Crossover
Summary:
Another Invent fic; enjoy! Now to go fight through more of them before December....
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Highlander: The Series, Captain America (Chris Evans Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Darius (Highlander), Jim Morita
Additional Tags: Inkvent, Prompt Fic, Crossover
Summary:
Planting peace is hard work that takes patience, many hands, and a willingness to weed.
Another Invent fic; enjoy! Now to go fight through more of them before December....
New Inkvent fic, Mojitos and Gold Rushes
Oct. 2nd, 2025 03:55 pmrhiIt's not December yet. I may actually make it through these prompts! Until then, however, have some more ink-inspired craziness:
Mojitos and Gold Rushes (1221 words) by Gryphonrhi
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Burn Notice (TV 2007), The Losers (2010)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam Axe & Fiona Glenanne
Characters: Sam Axe, Fiona Glenanne, Franklin Clay
Additional Tags: Crossover, Inkvent, Prompt Fic
Summary:
Sam Axe trying to get some intel before the Losers do. Mind, Sam has no idea someone else is after it....
Mojitos and Gold Rushes (1221 words) by Gryphonrhi
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Burn Notice (TV 2007), The Losers (2010)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam Axe & Fiona Glenanne
Characters: Sam Axe, Fiona Glenanne, Franklin Clay
Additional Tags: Crossover, Inkvent, Prompt Fic
Summary:
Gathering intel is a skill; keeping it is a separate skill.
Categories
Oct. 1st, 2025 10:18 pmbillroperI am starting to add more and more categories to my Square inventory. The advantage of this is two fold:
First, if anyone asks what CDs I have by a particular person, I can pull up their category.
Second, when I am trying to place reorders, if I have put them in a category by the person that I get them from, then I can get a quick list of everything that I might need from them.
I have a *whole* lot more categorization to do, but I am making progress.
Slowly.
First, if anyone asks what CDs I have by a particular person, I can pull up their category.
Second, when I am trying to place reorders, if I have put them in a category by the person that I get them from, then I can get a quick list of everything that I might need from them.
I have a *whole* lot more categorization to do, but I am making progress.
Slowly.
(no subject)
Oct. 1st, 2025 07:07 pmravenI've told this story to so many people but I just. I cannot. I. Well. The new job is going pretty well, I'm really getting into it, I have a crush on my boss and I like everyone I've met so far.
Yesterday one of my new colleagues came into the office a little down-hearted after being out for a meeting. The meeting hadn't gone well, she explained. "I forgot to invite anyone."
Yesterday one of my new colleagues came into the office a little down-hearted after being out for a meeting. The meeting hadn't gone well, she explained. "I forgot to invite anyone."
Minor Accomplishments
Sep. 30th, 2025 10:16 pmbillroperI *think* I have sorted out what I need to order for OVFF. I still need to send out all of the emails, but having the list is the first step.
The whole process is particularly annoying because I haven't had a convention to sell at since GAFilk. My memory is pretty good, but I found myself staring at various titles and going "What the heck CD is *that*?"
Google search could occasionally refresh my memory. :)
Tomorrow, I'll start working on getting what I can in house for the con.
The whole process is particularly annoying because I haven't had a convention to sell at since GAFilk. My memory is pretty good, but I found myself staring at various titles and going "What the heck CD is *that*?"
Google search could occasionally refresh my memory. :)
Tomorrow, I'll start working on getting what I can in house for the con.
Fin de Season
Sep. 28th, 2025 09:09 pmbillroperThe regular baseball season is over and the playoffs are beginning. And for the first time in a while, the Cubs are in the playoffs, having gotten into the Wild Card round.
Where they have been gifted with 2:08 PM start times on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I am not sure that there is any reasonable way that I can get there, but I'm going to think about this a bit more...
Where they have been gifted with 2:08 PM start times on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I am not sure that there is any reasonable way that I can get there, but I'm going to think about this a bit more...
Let's Move On to Tomorrow
Sep. 27th, 2025 09:25 pmbillroperToday was a long and frustrating day, although we did make some progress on cleaning off the kitchen table, which had become a great disaster area. It still is not clean, but it is *nearly* clean and that is going to have to do under the circumstances. I also managed to get four loads of laundry done and run over to Sam's Club to pick up important supplies (like dog food). And I managed to replace the battery in the external garage door opener so that it works again.
Calvin was not at his best-behaved today. This makes me sad, because I really like the puppy, but there are a number of lessons that he needs to learn that are coming slowly.
But tomorrow will be better!
And tomorrow, I am going down to Closing Day at Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play the Cardinals in a game that is now completely meaningless to both clubs. Well, I guess it will determine whether the Cardinals will have a better, worse, or identical record to the Miami Marlins. *Barely* meaningful, I suppose...
The Cubs, of course, will be playing next week at home in the Wild Card series. Times still to be determined. I would like them to be determined soon.
And that will be tomorrow.
Calvin was not at his best-behaved today. This makes me sad, because I really like the puppy, but there are a number of lessons that he needs to learn that are coming slowly.
But tomorrow will be better!
And tomorrow, I am going down to Closing Day at Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play the Cardinals in a game that is now completely meaningless to both clubs. Well, I guess it will determine whether the Cardinals will have a better, worse, or identical record to the Miami Marlins. *Barely* meaningful, I suppose...
The Cubs, of course, will be playing next week at home in the Wild Card series. Times still to be determined. I would like them to be determined soon.
And that will be tomorrow.
Upgrade Fever
Sep. 26th, 2025 09:59 pmbillroperI'm now in the process of trying to upgrade my old office desktop computer to Windows 11. This is slightly dicey, because -- although I installed the correct TPM module -- the CPU is one generation too old to be on Microsoft's "approved" list. It does, however, have all of the currently required instruction set. And since there's no way to upgrade the CPU without upgrading the motherboard, this is where the system is pretty much stuck.
So we'll see how it goes. Making this more fun is that I'm connecting to the old machine via Remote Desktop from the new machine. We'll see what happens when the reboots start...
So we'll see how it goes. Making this more fun is that I'm connecting to the old machine via Remote Desktop from the new machine. We'll see what happens when the reboots start...
Woof!
Sep. 25th, 2025 09:38 pmbillroperTonight was dog training class, resuming after a one-week break for instructor illness. Calvin acquitted himself pretty well, all things considered. He is a bright dog and extremely food motivated.
Julie was there this week and was able to handle most of the training exercises, which is good, because we need to get the puppy to respect her. Progress is being made.
Julie was there this week and was able to handle most of the training exercises, which is good, because we need to get the puppy to respect her. Progress is being made.
What a Revolting Development
Sep. 23rd, 2025 11:46 pmbillroperThe Cubs got out to an early 6-1 lead over the Mets tonight, but giving up five unearned runs to the Mets took care of that problem. The Mets eventually won by the score of 9-7, which was good for the Mets, but not very good for the Cubs, because the Padres beat the Brewers tonight, moving them within a game and a half of the top NL wild card spot, currently occupied by the Cubs. This is important, because only the top wild card team actually gets to play home games in the first round.
Overall, this is not a good time to lose five games in a row. It is better than losing five games in a row in the playoff rounds, but since that's impossible, well...
Overall, this is not a good time to lose five games in a row. It is better than losing five games in a row in the playoff rounds, but since that's impossible, well...
Fin
Sep. 22nd, 2025 10:48 ambillroperThe album is off to the duplicator.
This morning was absolute chaos. I wanted to do one last track check and did so. Anything that I might try to fix in that track is that way in the original recording, so that is the way that it will stay.
I got a note from the sales rep that I needed to have everything in by 11 AM to hit the production cycle. Piece of cake, right?
Well, except that my original quote turned out to be for 300 CD-Rs. Ack! It turns out that pressed (replicated CDs) are still available in quantity 300. They are just a bit more expensive. And worth it, in my opinion. So my rep updated the quote.
The automated system had jammed up when trying to upload the PDF artwork over the weekend. They have apparently fixed that problem. And it was at that moment that I was reviewing the quote and realized that my printing was laid out in a template that was not the template specified in the quote.
No, no, no, no, no.
I had gone to the template page and had taken the only available template that could possibly hold a two-CD set. It was just not the right one, because it won't actually hold 2 CDs, pocket or no.
My sales rep told me where to find the right template and promised to tell the website folks that it would be good to put the right template on the big page with all of the Digipak templates so that this never happens to someone again.
That just meant that I had to rebuild the entire insert in a new template. Before 11 AM. Starting at 10 AM.
Did I mention that I have been doing desktop publishing since the days of Ventura Publisher? I am not an expert at this, but I'm pretty good. :)
A whole lot of cut, paste, and finagling later, the new insert was built and uploaded.
And the project is paid for and at the duplicator.
This was followed by an email with my CD printing images failing prepress because they are in grayscale. This is true, but they print fine -- or, at least, they have done so for the last three projects. :)
I had a brain once...
This morning was absolute chaos. I wanted to do one last track check and did so. Anything that I might try to fix in that track is that way in the original recording, so that is the way that it will stay.
I got a note from the sales rep that I needed to have everything in by 11 AM to hit the production cycle. Piece of cake, right?
Well, except that my original quote turned out to be for 300 CD-Rs. Ack! It turns out that pressed (replicated CDs) are still available in quantity 300. They are just a bit more expensive. And worth it, in my opinion. So my rep updated the quote.
The automated system had jammed up when trying to upload the PDF artwork over the weekend. They have apparently fixed that problem. And it was at that moment that I was reviewing the quote and realized that my printing was laid out in a template that was not the template specified in the quote.
No, no, no, no, no.
I had gone to the template page and had taken the only available template that could possibly hold a two-CD set. It was just not the right one, because it won't actually hold 2 CDs, pocket or no.
My sales rep told me where to find the right template and promised to tell the website folks that it would be good to put the right template on the big page with all of the Digipak templates so that this never happens to someone again.
That just meant that I had to rebuild the entire insert in a new template. Before 11 AM. Starting at 10 AM.
Did I mention that I have been doing desktop publishing since the days of Ventura Publisher? I am not an expert at this, but I'm pretty good. :)
A whole lot of cut, paste, and finagling later, the new insert was built and uploaded.
And the project is paid for and at the duplicator.
This was followed by an email with my CD printing images failing prepress because they are in grayscale. This is true, but they print fine -- or, at least, they have done so for the last three projects. :)
I had a brain once...