Well, I did stop by at Jimbo’s to check the juke box report (yes, I do a lot of research into what people are really listening to, and it is not Eric Clapton). Usually the regulars will make requests but they were not there, however there was a lady at the bar. She proceeds to tell me how she is “not sure she can go home” because she had not been there in three days. Then she did a back-pedal to explain she had been in the hospital. She continued to say she had left her old man three months ago, but immediately spoiled any chances by saying she had been living with somebody else since then. How was your Saturday afternoon?
Following that exciting episode, I stayed in and revamped much of my music backup folders, since replacing all that music and lyrics gets expensive even when restoring backups. I’ve gone beyond simple disk burns. Copy, backup copy and off-site backup-copy. Off-site means I keep a copy in my guitar case. I suppose it seems so easy to an outsider or single musician who does not have to keep organized to do a show, but I’m juggling 90 different tunes and I’ve more than once had an outdated disk. My act thrives on new material.
Even more exciting, I finally nosed into the practical parts of CD burning, and why some recorders have several options to do the same thing. For example, burning a data disk and MP3 disk appear to produce identical results. Or why Roxio requires up to an hour to format a disk to put the exact same information that NTI just starts burning. Or why a disk copy sometimes fails when a file by file copy of the same material will work. Or why some CD-RW just decide to stop working. Or why one “unreadable” file can cause a whole CD project to fail. I mean, come on Roxio, if one file is bad, well, just copy that, too. Isn’t this thrilling?
Yeah, well these things always take time and it is bozos who don’t take a rainy day to do them that get messed up down the line. Speaking of rain, I no longer consider the day-long monsoons unusual around here, rather just rare. We get ‘em and as proof I am west coast, rain does not seem to bother me as much as the locals. I always, repeat, always have something to do when it’s pouring outside. Like open the front door and let Pudding-Tat look to see and say, “Ok, you wanna be an outdoor cat, just look at that!”
It was busy, so I thought I’d dip into McDonald’s on Federal and Hallandale – what a mistake. They are going for the slow-food award. Twenty-four minutes for a cheeseburger and soda. I just had to ask and I got this nonsense story that the orders are placed as they arrive. Wrong, because I don’t pull in unless there are fewer than three cars at the drive-thru. They served eleven cars before I asked for my money back. I know the scam on that, they make you wait longer to get your money back than waiting out the order. I just did it to point out I was on to their tricks.
While standing there, I observed the working atmosphere at the place. It really sucked and I could see it was the result of the manageress and the 30-year old lady serving the cars. I’ve seen it all before. They keep getting themselves into little jams that require you to stop what you are doing to help them. They continually have to interrupt you, but only where the interruption makes you stop what you are doing. You find yourself getting in their way and not each other’s way, but only when letting them past makes you stop what you are doing. I know it seems trivial, but is my time trivial? Those losers seem to think so. The only time they are happy is when they can see you are standing there doing nothing because of them. Sounds a lot like a union job.
I’ve decided not to run over to JP’s tomorrow. He wasn’t there last time I went.
