Yesterday I got a bit more ready for MFF. I have directions to the hotel, coins for the wretched tolls Illinois inflicts on traffic, and a few other things gathered together and ready to be packed up tonight. One item that is almost finished is a tape for jugularjaguar which might be put to... interesting... use eventually. I need to do just a bit more with it before it's finished. I should also duplicate a couple tapes for myself for use in the car.

Speaking of tape, I tried to use the single-tape deck in the office for something but when I tried to play it the audio had a nasty clicking on. The clicking was very regular rather than random. I figured the change in position might have been a problem and turned off the photo negative scanner. It didn't help. I picked up the KVM switch. Nothing. Pulled a couple cables in turn. Didn't isolate it properly but it seemed like one channel was out. As I was more concerned with building a tape from other tapes, I went and used a different machine with dual deck. The single deck could wait, but I wasn't happy about it.

I left the single deck on, figuring that it had been off for a fairly long time. Maybe it was something as simple as an electrolytic capacitor needing exercising. While that was sitting, I took care of the tape for jugularjaguar after realizing that the Aiwa doesn't do copying in an intuitive way. The Aiwa way works, it's just not the way I think of first.

A couple hours later I was done, or nearly so, and went back to the office and tried the deck there again. It played without any popping or clicking. Trying Audacity I found I needed to adjust levels on the computer again (I was sure I set those right before - did it not save settings when I shut it down for the furniture changes?). One channel has a DC offset that shouldn't be there, and I'm not sure how or if I can correct that with Audacity. I should try it another computer and isolate the problem: Is it the tape deck or a flaky sound card? I suspect the tape deck, and a leaky capacitor that will take some effort to identify. I'm leaving the deck powered up to see if that helps any. It's the easiest fix, if it will be a fix.

I'm hoping to get a few things started tonight and getting them done early. Then I can get to sleep early, start out early, and arrive before the anything-but-rush hour traffic.

altivo: What you forgot...
You appeared to be missing your hind limbs when I saw you. I suppose driving is more convenient without them, but it must also be rather disorienting.

Yes, the IL tollway system is a corrupt money grab. The money it takes in is used entirely to support the bureaucracy that collects the money. It is legally constituted in such a way that it is almost impossible to dismantle, and subject to virtually no financial audit or responsibility. This unfortunate disaster is only one of many such flaws in the state's political structure.

The introduction of I-Pass has not produced any improvements. Now that impatient drives can go through the toll booths without stopping, they don't even slow down (despite signs instructing them to do so) and the overall average speed, particularly on I-90, has increased. It was averaging as much as 10 mph over the speed limit before, now it appears to be 15-20 over for much of the time. The roads are not engineered for 80-90 mph driving and are very unsafe for everyone as a result, especially in the foggy, wet conditions we are seeing this weekend. Enforcement? Bah, there is none.

vakkotaur:
babsbunny also was asking my apparent lack of legs and such. The driving answer evidently wasn't a sufficient explanation so I eventually gave the answer, "I've lost weight." which is at least partly right. Not as much as it ought to be, alas.

Current Mood: eager