The good news is Wallace gained 8 pounds. The bad news is, so did I. We each have 20 to go, in opposite directions. For a treat I bought a box of vanilla ice cream and we went to work on that. Ice cream floats, that was the idea. A good call, too, because we are having the after-storm doldrums, where it is not only too hot, the breeze off the Atlantic stays too muggy to cool anything down.Arnel Dayrit called up and we have some collaboration happening on the music files. He can find any song I’ve got on my list in a few moments. The idea is to use Sonar or CoolEdit software to remove the bass lines from the originals. This is as simple as a mouse click with MIDI files. If you have been following along, you’ll know the difficulty I’ve had finding anyone to just show me how the MIDI operations work. This vital information is not, for some reason, included in the MIDI manuals that do go on about how it works instead of how to work it.
Alas, these audio editing programs he needs are not that common. Nor do I know many people who have invested in the really professional stuff, or I should say prosumer grade. In the $700 range. Arnel Dayrit says he did not originally sing. The trick is to find six or so tunes and do the best job you can with the vocals. If that’s what he’s doing, it certainly works fine. The plan is to meet up at Boston’s tomorrow and see what software we have between us.
Still no change machine, I’ve now spent close to four hours searching for anything that works. In the process, I found a perfectly good $99 cash register, but that is not what I want. Cash registers have cash drawers and people that handle that cash. That is a dumb and outdated concept in my books if (and the operative word is “if”) a cash register can be avoided. Today, less than ten bucks came in, and both customers paid with a twenty. That’s a lot of change to keep on hand in our small shop. Most people can be trusted to pay up next time, but I’ve already lost on that deal when they never come back.
The emachine restoral system is nice although not technician-friendly. I have no idea why the optical disk reader stopped, or why it started working again by itself. This is the computer I worked on y’day. The CD would not read anything and there was no floppy. True, floppies are outdated, but they work like a hot damn when your computer needs to be worked on.
Everybody, including Millie-Belle wisely stayed out of the sun all day. Nothing on TV, I know, because there has to be something before I’ll watch it. Nothing includes the idiotic “Ice Road Truckers” and the equally no-mind “Sandhogs” or that series about loggers in Oregon. Hard to believe people must actually watch such things.
