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“Danger Will Robinson!”

Do yall remember that line from the TV series and movie “Lost in Space?”

Well that’s what my computer was telling me the other day.¬† I was downloading an update for my IDE controller and having problems the whole time doing it.¬† After 2 days I finally got the update.¬† What happened afterwards is a total PITA though.

After installing I kept getting an error message when trying to load most of the programs I use.  I was essentially locked out of my own PC!  I tried all the tricks in the book to fix this problem with no avail.  So I had to wipe my hard drive and start fresh. Urgh!

I used to do it all of the time, but I had broadband internet access, which makes a big difference.¬† I have spent the past 2 days downloading updates.¬† I haven’t started on the programs that I can only get by downloading them.¬† Acrobat is 20 megs, QuickTime is roughly the same or larger, with my POS modem that will take a day just for those.

What a Week!?!

I’ve been so busy, tired and just plain confused to even think about writing for a while.¬† I have “some” free time, so I thought I would vent.

I had a chance at really making my mom & pop operation a real business!¬† Indiana University requested I give them a bid for a HUGE DVD transfer job.¬† It was going to be 250 or 500 DVD’s.¬† Luckily I had some inside information because my wife works there.¬† I tried to undercut everyone, which I think I did.¬† But in the end, the company who produced the video to be transferred received the job.¬† Better luck next time I suppose.¬† It’s nice to be considered though.¬† If I could only get my foot in the door.

Business has taken another one of it’s on again cycles.¬† My first customer had me transfer 19 VHS tapes, another co-worker wanted a tape transferred onto 2 DVDs, one in NTSC (American TV standard) and the other in PAL (a different TV standard).¬† It was a very interesting job.¬† Now the person who sits directly across from me wants me to transfer 12 VHS-C tapes into 3 DVD’s.¬† Something is better than nothing, I just hate this feast or famine stuff.

Then I had a slight computer melting problem.¬† For some unknown reason, a power connector to my video card sparked, and melted the connector.¬† Luckily a local computer shop gave me a pigtail to replace the connector and I’m back in black.¬† With as much DVD transfer and ROX work I’ve been doing, I’m seriously pondering replacing my case and upgrading to a dual-core processor.¬† From what I’ve read and researched, it would be a seamless upgrade.¬† The benefits would highly outweigh the costs.¬† For example right now it takes 2+ hours to render a ROX episode.¬† I could cut that time down to a little bit more than an hour with a dual-core processor.¬† So we’ll see I guess.

I got some interesting news today.¬† “ROXFAN” sent me an email saying he had copies of episodes 8&9 of ROX.¬† He said they are in decent shape.¬† Hopefully I will be getting a copy soon.¬† Maybe season one will get done before Christmas?

Mish Mosh

I’ve been having some connectivity problems lately with my PC.¬† It was built for speed and doesn’t like this “win” modem that I installed merely as a backup to broadband.¬† So I am not online like I used to be.

I have been doing a lot of work on our house lately.¬† Today my father, wife and I trimmed trees and moved them into a pile.¬† This took a lot of time.¬† The former homeowner did not maintain things as he should of.¬† The feng shui of my yard is starting to really flow.¬† I am starting to feel a positive vibe about it.¬† The only major¬†”to-do’s”¬†left with the yard are the remains of the pool and the trench in our yard from connecting to the sewer system.¬† They should be corrected by next year.

I am working on a 8mm to DVD job as well and found a nice feature of the software I use.¬† I can actually flip, rotate and reverse video!¬† It seems like something so small, but it’s huge.¬† I had a reel of film that was upside down and backwards, so it made it easy to fix.

I have changed e-mail addresses as well, all of you who know me got the email.¬† I am tired of juno, they seem to of sold out to “United Online.”¬† What happened to the good old dayz?

I will get to meet all of my neighbors in Sunrise Estates tomorrow for a neighborhood meeting.  A trailer park next to us wants to expand, and we are all meeting to discuss and try to supress this from happening.  I think it would be okay if this were a decent trailer park, but these trailers are not kept up, and are quite old.  Neither is the area the trailers are in.  There is no order to how they are placed.  One here, one there sort of thing.  Hopefully we can argue a happy medium. 

Until next time…..

The Joys & Struggles of Home Ownership

In almost a month of being a homeowner, my wife and I have done the following.

Replaced:  Refridgerator, Range Hood, Garbage Disposal, 3 Light Fixtures and 3 Sink Traps.

I have had to repair many other things.  And while I actually enjoy doing these sorts of things, it has really cut into time allowed for my business, and my freedom it seems.

The sad part is that we haven’t even started on the things we really wanted to change yet.¬† Don’t get me wrong, the house is very livable.¬† It just doesn’t have the “look” we want yet.

For instance, this weekend, I wanted to demo our garage and put up new coverings for the ceiling and 1 wall.¬† Well I can’t because the utility room is a disaster area.¬† I spent all night last night repairing the toilet flange.¬† Now the valve running to the toilet is leaking.¬† So when I leave work guess what I’ll be doing?

I guess it’s a good thing that I have a background in home repair, right?¬† We could be blowing thousands of dollars by calling contractors out to do a lot of this stuff.

It seems so weird, but I almost feel as if I’m living ROX 91 & 92.¬† If I only used my camcorders to actually tape stuff.

I’ve made my spheil, so until next time.

Pool No More


Deck with Pool

Originally uploaded by LML Video Services.

After a lot of thought, we have decided to get rid of the pool, as you can see part of in this picture. We have so much to do in the house that we don’t want to worry about taking care of it as well. I placed an “absolutely free” ad in the HT yesterday, by 4pm we had at least 40 calls.

As I write this a nice family from a few miles away are removing the deck and will then remove the pool.

Big Business, For Me Anyway

I have let a few things pile up due to the move.¬† I have an order to convert 8mm and Super8 films to DVD (about 15 reels in all).¬† Plus as soon as I came into work this morning my “first” customer handed me a box full of tapes he wants converted (19 to be exact).¬† I think once this simmers down, I’ll have some free time for ROX.

I hope to start working on them tonight.

The house has given me much more space than I thought of, and hopefully I can start multitasking at some of these things to be more productive.

Until next time,  be good (eg) like me!

The Move is Complete, The Work Begins…

We have successfully moved into our first home!  We only had one fatality of the move, one of our dinette set chairs fell off of my truck and broke the seat top.  That is one of my many projects around the house. 

Moving was miserable!¬† It was a scorcher over the weekend, and the A/C in the house wasn’t working properly.¬† We have done what we could thus far.¬† TEVAC came by today and did some work on our systems, and it appears to be working properly now.¬† Hopefully that means we can get to business soon.¬† Cable is coming today, as well as the roofer, a guy recommended by family.

Going back to dial-up is okay for the moment, seeing how I have so much to do, but I can’t wait to hook up that DSL.

We are very close to the airport now, so close that the planes come over our house on their landing path.  I think that will soon become a hobby, photographing different airplanes.

Until next time, have fun everyone!

Packaging Tape

Packaging tape, packaging tape, I love packaging tape (a little tribute for those who know where that comes from).

Packing is almost complete, and we close on our first house tomorrow at 4pm.  How exciting!

We had our final walkthrough tonight and met the soon to be former owner, he seems like a nice guy.  They had almost everything out of the house, and man it really seems large now!

We will be moving all day Saturday, with the help of some friends and family.

A few things have really complicated this move though.  We are moving only 5 miles away and have to switch power, phone and ISP companies.  Therefore I will be offline so to speak for probably around a month or so.

I have much to do in our new house.  We have to remove wallpaper, paint, and do a few simple repairs.  The big one is the roof, it needs replaced, which is in the works.

Once I get some of this crazyness complete, I will be back at it, preserving this little experiment called ROX.¬† I will still check this blog while at work, but I won’t have time to post (probably).

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

In the meantime, I’ll be Hangin’ With Saget.

A Place to Spend Eternity

 


My Place in HellOriginally uploaded by LML Video Services.

Here you go, proof that I am a landowner in HELL!  Michigan that is.

I bought this on 6/6/06 for $6.66

It is one square inch of property, located at:¬† Section 32 Midtown Hell North of Patterson Lake Road, Running Northwest of Hell Creek and continuing 95.43 feet, on Southwest side of Hell Creek Lake commonly known as Hell’s Outlet (Where all Hell Breaks Loose) continuing 262.34 feet into Hell Creek Lake (Real Lakefront Property from Hell) – Stated on the deed

Have fun everyone!

I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas Anymore

   


6th & WashingtonOriginally uploaded by LML Video Services.

According to todays Herald-Times, downtown Bloomington is about to lose some of it’s small town charm.¬† The interesting part is a former mayor, John Fernandez is playing a key role.

The properties pictured, and another which is at a location directly south of this picture have been sold to Walnut Street Development.¬† John Fernandez is written as stating that, “ideas being discussed include using the site for a new office building for Finelight Strategic Marketing Communications.”

It is fine for a business to expand their current facilities, but is destroying a Bloomington landmark really worth it?  The landmark in question is Ladymans Cafe.

Ladymans has been operating in the same location since 1957, almost 50 years.  A big celebration was in the works.  Sadly the owner of Ladymans cannot afford to change locations.

As a teenager I frequented Ladymans often, especially for breakfast.¬† Ladymans is a dying breed in the restarant biz, the family run diner.¬† These diners take you away from the hustle and bustle of life, and make you feel welcome.¬† Something you don’t get from McDonalds, Wendys, you name it.

I will be sad to see it go.  I will try to stop in some more.

This town doesn’t feel anywhere near the same as it did even a decade ago.¬† It’s starting to make me wonder about how long other landmark parts of the city have.¬† There are currently¬†2 roundabouts in the city, with 1 more in the works.

It seems more like the UK than the good old US of A anymore.

UPDATE:¬† In the 6/23/06 HT it has been written that Ladymans may be able to stay!¬† The new owners plan to remodel the building, after that is complete they want¬†Ladymans to come back!¬†Plus the city is willing to help this Bloomington tradition stay alive.¬† I didn’t want to see this one go.¬† It¬†still could, but there still¬†is a chance it will stay.¬†