Hoodoo, that’s what it is. Have you ever had a cat that knows when you are reading? At first you think it is some related activity the cat is picking up on. But then you notice you can’t fool the cat by just picking up a book. I had time to examine this closely because of a bicycle-riding event the weekend last. I took a short-cut across the road north of Aventura, riding through some roadside bushes.Never gave it a thought, since I am hardly bothered even by poison ivy. I was wearing sandals and noticed my foot itched a little. I’ve discovered some plant that attacks you. A dozen welts on my right foot. So, I now have the psychic psycho cat and no option to run away. Mustn’t fall asleep…
Today I met the Lady known as Lou. She is a slim, foxy babe, making her the only one in this entire area. She has an entire array of computer equipment to rival anything I’ve got here, even if her tower is a Dell. Originally I was to teach her the computer basics but I wound up there for several hours, as we instantly hit it off personality-wise. She has glimpsed the breadth of my computer experience and wants to go there. She also wants to move to California but first, she has a business to start. It is kind of sad that she is so young and beautiful because she is exactly my type. Don’t dismay, however, because she knows that, too.
Years ago I predicted the return of the “cottage” industry, where things will be hand-made with computers. Lou has a thermal press machine that puts custom designs on t-shirts. Except at this point she does not know how to do any of that with the computer and thus I am in the picture. I kind of went beyond my responsibility by explaining a few harsh realities of the business world. It is practically impossible to run a part-time business that pays well. Yet anything, repeat anything, is better than working for someone else.
What do I see in Lou? She reminds me of myself, except she has tons of money and support, resources than I could have scarcely imagined. (It was her dad that first called on her behalf. Can you just see my parents ever doing something like that?) Lou stated that until she met me she was having second thoughts about every person she had talked to about her project. Into the conversation, that turns out she’s met the usual standing crop of so-called computer advice-givers that infest every town large enough to have a gay bulletin board. She is somewhat astounded by the way I deal with computers in non-technical terms.
Lou works long weekend shifts at a club nearby. We’re due to meet up next Tuesday afternoon. She pretty well has to learn the computer operations from the ground up but I’ve explained to her that is a blessing, for in the end there is going to be only one person she can rely on. I stressed the notion that you only go into partners with somebody else when you can’t hire anybody to do what they can. Lou has a long way to get confident and capable with her setup, but I can considerably shorten that stretch.
It was a half a crowd at the Jimbo’s gig tonight. Not that much in tips but a good response with my newer material. Even so, my opinion is that an act like mine, a single with no vocals, has to keep searching for new audiences or it will stagnate. I’ve got a boatload of such experience with the other bands I’ve played with in this town. Let’s see, yes, that is right, the other bands I’ve played in around here learned one or two new songs since 2000. On a given night, I play upwards of 60 songs now, and it is not enough.
That man that was using Dragon Naturally Speaking had an interesting idea. I didn’t think of it because I know that the product does not work all that well. This is a good example of why he thought of it and not I, you see he had not “learned” that it was not possible. Now, I’ll try it if I have time. The idea is to speak all day into a digital voice recorder, then, at day’s end, plug it into Naturally Speaking and see if it will type it out for you. Neat idea, at least for those can’t type as fast as they speak. Or in the case of Florida guitarists, can’t think as fast as they type.
Two hours today was spent strictly on making backup copies. More to the point is the time to ensure the backups are labeled and organized. I mean, if you want comedy, look how some people store their backups. If you can’t find it, why bother? Mind you, I only backup pictures, spreadsheets and word processed documents, and in my life I’ve only filled up 1-1/3 CDs. (Excluding blog jpegs, of which you only see about 1% of the total.) I use and Odd/Even system whereby one set of files has all the odd numbered days and so on. It takes twice as long but my system works.
