(Tuesday 11th September 2012 Signed on 19:04)
Now that was a productive day! Let’s enumerate and tabulate
what I’ve done:
First of all, I’ve done a whole load of chores. I’m please
to say that I didn’t let them get in the way of the project work, but I managed
to get a load of little things done. Funny thing was: yesterday wasn’t such a
good day, but started well; today was a good day, but started badly. Anyway,
I’ve done the shopping, changed the bedclothes, done the laundry, cooked the
evening meal.
I’ve sent two personal eMails. I’ve sent an eMail to do with
a course and I’ve sent an eMail which is an enquiry. I may have done more. I
don’t keep a tally of every eMail I send. I know the computer does, but I can’t
be bothered to look.
I’ve done the preparation I need to do for the start of the
course tomorrow. That involved assembling some bits of background work into a document
and filling in a form. So far so good.
I’ve started a tape transcription project. Someone gave me
some old audio tapes and I’m reading off the old contents and saving it as
digital files (initially as .wav) if anyone cares. I know the original
recordings may be a bit suspect. Once I have the material in digital form I
will process the sound files to remove any particularly bad imperfections.
After that I will resave them in whatever form the customer wants them. The
longest part of the job is “digitising” the original tracks, because with the
equipment I have, I have to do it real-time. That means that 1 hour’s recording
takes 1 hour to do. I don’t have to sit with it the whole time, but I do have
to be around, to set the initial recording levels and to load and turn the tape
when required. The whole project is going to take a little while. I have 18
tapes with both sides recorded on each tape. That has the potential to be 27
hours of recording, and that’s before I do the technical bits. I know it is not
going to be quite that long, because the first 4 tapes are on C90s (45 minutes
per side), but only 35 minutes per side has been recorded. It isn’t
sensible to check all the others,
because mounting and checking them will just add to the work-load. Better to
estimate high and then adjust the estimate downwards as I become aware of the
characteristics of each batch (There are batches within the project).
Five minutes to go before the next tape change. I have an alarm set but I’m aware of the time.
That’s strange. Because I’ve set the alarm, I’m not concerned that I will
forget and I can concentrate on what I am writing. But I am also aware of the
time and that I am going to break off in a moment to go and change the tape. It’s
like my subconscious has spun off a little something which is doing the
monitoring, but I’m not worried about it. And now I’m watching the watcher! And
now I’m waiting for the alarm and watching the watcher. I really have distracted
myself now. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting alarm!
(breaking off 19:30 resumed 19:35)
New tape loaded and started. I will turn this one and then
stop for the evening. I prefer not to leave the machines running overnight. If
they were doing something useful it would be a good thing to do, but the
maximum amount of “work” I can get is one side or 30 to 45 minutes. For that I
have to leave the computer running overnight. And if the autostop doesn’t work
on the tape deck then there is the possibility of stretching the tape. No, I’m
going to finish now. Load this onto the blog and then go downstairs and read.
(Signed off 19:39 671 Words, barely over 1 page)
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