Tag: ROX

Cutting Costs

This market has been bad on my personal and professional life.  My business has run out of money and I am being forced to cut all costs where possible.

I have been on the fence about this, but I think I am going to end hosting my website online.  At $60 a year, it isn’t that bad really for what I get.  I would rather pay for it out of my own personal money to keep it going, but I need to really start separating my business and personal expenses.

I have only really found 1 client due to my website.  While that client was a large one, with almost 50 transfers, but it hasn’t really been a big income maker in the long run.

Since I am going back to school and trying to focus on other projects more, I don’t think it’s completely necessary to have a website.  Most of my clients are referred by word of mouth.  It will just feel weird to not have a @lmlvideoservices.com email address anymore.  I try to be as “official” as possible, and I think that in itself gives me a touch of professionalism.

I think once I have a better website designed, and enough money in the bank I will re-start lmlvideoservices.com.  It just doesn’t seem feasible at this moment to keep it.

I want to make it clear that I am not “giving up,” I am just closing my website.  I will still be working on ROX, and transferring all kinds of media to current (and future) formats.  I will probably list updates on this blog from now on.

In an odd note, I got a job copying DVDs for a faculty member here at the Kelley School of Business.  He came to the TS department to have DVDs copied, but he needed more than our policy allows.  With permission from my boss, I was able to offer my services – as long as I offered an alternative, such as another department within IU.

He accepted my offer, and I should be finished tomorrow.

Good Drinkx, Good Conversation

After 3 years of e-mailing, sending packages and working on what has become a major project in my life, Editor B and I finally met.

He and his family evacuated from hurricane Gustav.  When their respective schools decided to close until Monday, they decided to head back to Btown.

He sent a twitter update inviting all to Upland at 8pm, also sending me an email asking I attend.  I had a busy day, but I wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world.  I didn’t want to miss this chance.  The last time we tried to meet, tornado warnings and a worried wife kept us from meeting.  B was heading back to New Orleans the next morning, on the long road home to rebuild their home and New Orleans after Katrina.

When I first arrived on the scene, I was almost too afraid to enter.  Upland was severely crowded, something I had never seen before.  People were parking up and down the entire block.  I was lucky and got a parking spot right next to the door.

After waiting a while in the standing room only crowd, I introduced myself.  H-T columnist Mike Leonard and his wife were there as well, then the interesting Paul Smedberg arrived.  We finally got a table a few minutes later.  Paul reminds me of a comic, but I can’t remember his name at the moment.

It was nice to meet Mike, as I’ve emailed him a few times and I’m sure he thought I was some local crazy of some sort.

I was amazed at the subjects of conversation, ranging from books to the lack of economic prosperity in this town.  We went on to talk about how children change your life (not in a bad way B), to the founding ideas of the Green party (which I didn’t really understand until last night).

Back to the subject at hand, It was a pleasure to finally meet you B.  You’re everything and more that I had expected you to be.  Most conversations I have are intellectually lacking, last night was a much needed shot to the brain.

Hopefully I can make the trip down to New Orleans sometime soon. 

Final Diagnosis

While diagnosing my computer last night, the real problem revealed itself.  My motherboard is cracked, or broken in some way.

I was testing my 4 RAM chips individually, to ensure my RAM was the problem when something happened.  The computer just quit.  It wouldn’t turn on, nothing.

Since I’ve had many power supply failures, I thought it was worth a shot to test it.  I found a thread on how to test a power supply by running a jumper between the green and a black wire on a power supply.  If it is good, the power supply will turn on, if it is bad, it won’t.  My power supply came on.

Since I know my processor is good, and I have tested most of my RAM, it’s just a matter of deduction from there.

Finding parts for a computer built 3 years ago is surprisingly hard.  Newegg only has 2 motherboards available, but both seem very cheap.  Looking around the internet, I found many suppliers but most of them were out of stock.  So I went to the “last resort,” eBay.

We found a OEM model that includes 8x AGP.  The auction ended in 10 hours, but I decided to “buy it now.”  Hopefully this thing will be as good as the reviews I’ve seen for it.

I also purchased a new IEEE 1394/Firewire card and 3 new 80mm cooling fans.

Now it’s just a matter of delivery and assembly.  I wanted to dis-assemble everything to prepare, but Rachel wants me to relax tonight as we have a early start tomorrow.

We are now discussing purchasing, dare I say it, a Dell for our normal “personal” computer.  This way we can separate everything physically.  I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but finances have dictated otherwise.

This wouldn’t be possible without the help of Editor B.  I want you to know that I will always feel in your debt for the things you have done for me.

I hope to keep on track for Holiday season availability for ROX season one.

Harvest for All

Over the weekend my in-laws came up for a get together to celebrate my daughters’ upcoming 9th birthday.  They also had fun picking apples from our apple tree.

My mother-in-law took 2 five gallon buckets that were almost halfway full.  My niece Sabrina got a nice amount in a box.  After the festivities were over I wanted to go pick some, not for me but for my ROX family.

This is what I could reach.  It may not look like much, but believe me it’s a grab.  I do not fertilize or spray my tree, so these are completely natural treats the entire family can love.  There is still this many or more near the top of the tree, but they are not ready for harvest yet.  When they are I will be ready.

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what I was going to do, so I posted about this earlier.  The only problem is that the apples weren’t ready yet.  They are now.

This is what you will be receiving in the mail (in 2-4 days).  A sheet with greetings and instructions on what we think would be a good use of the apples, a mason jar containing apple crisp mix, nutmeg and apples,  there is also extra apples in each box.

We divided the apples in the big box pictured above into 4 equal parts.

B:  If you want to find out what variety of apple these are, please do!  I’d like to know for myself.

I don’t feel it’s appropriate to let this great natural resource of mine go to waste.  You have all been like a family to me in one way or another.  This is just one of many ways for me to say thanks.

P.S. MF and Kelly:  You’ll be receiving another “surprise” gift once I get a shipment in the mail.

Makin’ ROX Look Better

I’ve restarted this adventure I started over 3 years ago, by working full force on season 1 of ROX again.  I was working on 2 seasons and I believe I got way over my head.  There were just too many problems to handle at once.

I started over the weekend by transferring what I only had on VHS onto my computer.  I then worked several hours on the first episode of season 1, Special Mish-Mosh Episode.

One of the reasons I had abruptly quit working on the series was the amount of heat damage (i believe) associated with many of the episodes.  I tried to correct this issue using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Sony Vegas, but only came  up with juvenile results.  I started posting questions and viewing others’ questions on a forum that specializes in just these sorts of things, videohelp.com.  It has helped tremendously.

I have uploaded 1 minute segments of episode 8, so you can see the differences made.  This episode had a vast array of problems, from over saturation, to needing color correction in the worst of ways and needing some sharpening.  All of these fixes added together make for a “better end product” I believe.  I still have some work to do on the audio, as I want to normalize the volume and filter it to remove tape hiss, etc.

I’ll leave that up to you though, please let me know what you think.

Before:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lml_dvd/2755801226/in/photostream/

After:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lml_dvd/2754979589/in/photostream

If anyone has any recommendations, please make them in the comments section, as I would love to hear them!
 

The Cat is Out

Last week I sent an email to the entire ROX blogging crew, asking if they liked apples.

I was very surprised as to the response I got.

B is very curious about what my plans are, and even told me about a particular type of apple he enjoys.

MF told me that she isn’t particularly an apple person, but I have another idea which she might enjoy just as much.

J and Kelly both told me that they love apples and can’t wait to see what they shall receive.

I can’t hold this little secret any longer, so the cat is out of the bag folks’.

This is my apple tree.  When we first moved into our home, it looked like an overgrown bush.  With much trimming, I’ve turned it into a “happy tree” as I like to call it.  We’ve only had one harvest due to an ice storm last February.  My mother-in-law came and took all of those apples, which I didn’t mind.

We’ve been checking the apples every week to see if they are ripe.  They aren’t yet, but once they are your packages will be in the mail.

This year is a different story, as I want my ROX family to enjoy the fruits of my trees’ labor as well.  All of you have been like a family to me, in one way or another.  This is the least I can do to thank yall.

I don’t know the type of apple that grows from this particular apple tree.  They are green, medium to small sized, and quite tart.  They are best used for baking purposes.  My thought, send everyone a “apple crisp in a box kit!”

I also plan on sending Kelly and MF ROX Season Zero sets as well.

It bothers me that my search for help with this heat damage problem has led me nowhere.  Sometimes you have to find your own solution to problems, which is what I’m working on.  With the help of Photoshop for Video, I have learned a few things.  I hope to soon have the skills to correct this damage, and continue on my way of saving this beloved show for generations to come.

This show enlightened me in those key teen years.  It wasn’t about the drinkx, or the drugz, it was about keeping your mind open to new and unusual things.  Something that is still lacking in society today.  If I hadn’t stumbled upon J&B on the ROX playing on BCAT oh so many years ago, I very well could be in prison or dead by now.  Many who know me well, know that my life has been nothing but a story of hardship and overcoming seemingly impossible hurdles.  It will all be in my book.

I know I’m repeating myself, but this is the least I can do to thank everyone who participated in the show, whether as an active participant, or as a passive person who was just there when the camera was rolling.

I came into this as merely a fan, but I’m treated as if I’m a family member.  Words cannot describe how amazing that feels.