Done Since 2022-10-16

[mdlbear]

It wasn't a bad week, modulo the air quality. There were a couple of days when Seattle was the worst in the country. But not as bad as the Spokane Worldcon, and there was no shortage of N95 masks to take the edge off.

It was a fairly busy week, including rehearsing for our concert at Or-E-con 2 two weeks from today, and lots of research and experimentation trying to get all the pieces of tech working. That includes the Allen & Heath ZEDi-10FX mixer/USB interface that arrived last Saturday. It's still not clear whether it will work as well as I envisioned it -- I may end up returning it and trying something else -- but it will certainly work well enough for the concert. I got that working Thursday. Details sometime later this week.

The week also included a dentist visit, replacing (another) crown and two fillings. I have long since blown past what my dental insurance will cover in any one year. Fortunately my credit limit got raised a couple of weeks ago. Between dentist bills and vet bills (the cats need to have their teeth cleaned -- all five of them) it's shaping up to be an expensive few months.

While I was up on Whidbey this weekend I packed most of my collection of adapters and accessories, and cleared the boxes off a set of wire shelves so that I could take it down to Seattle. Hopefully it will help with the pile of clutter behind my desk chair. At least briefly.

Notes & links:
1016Su
  & Awake 3:30ish; S=4.7; pain: R hip, twinges -> heat
  : noticable amount of smoke; Seattle air quality is "unhealthy" -- wear mask
  % dream:  going to Paris by plane, with two people who seemed to be my parents. Before
    that I went grocery shopping with a woman I was living with (not Colleen); she was
    going to drive us to the airport.  And a lot before then that I mostly don't remember.
  * up 6:45; W=198.8, S=6:29; tea instead of coffee;
    % hip pain, both sides -> heat; skip exercises
  @ The modern CLI stack. Sharing my findings about the… | by Daniel Gafni | Sep, 2022
    Your favourite Rust CLI utilities this year? : rust 
  x take garbage up to street before leaving for RS -> next week
  : Well, foo!  Looks like the ZEDi only works completely with Windows, and maybe somewhat
    with Mac; Linux sees it as a quadrophonic device and of course there's no way to get
    the mix output on the front where it would be usable -- the front channels 1 and 2 are
    always M1 and M2.  _Why_ the fsck?  -> Fortunately it _does_ work as a mixer into the
    Edirol interface.  I can probably make it work with ALSA fanciness or Jack.   Maybe.
    -> the Rode NT1 works.  Rather low output, so wants to be close to the singer.
  : seriously contemplating sending the mixer back and getting something simpler.
  % melocicam with PM drugs
  : Panther seems to be having problems.  Finally booted with an old kernel -- something
    seems to have gotten corrupted.  Windows worked.  

1017Mo
  & awake 1:30ish after falling asleep sitting up.  Again.
  * up 6:35; S=4:25; exercises; heat
  * reinstalling the kernel fixed the corrupted boot info on Panther.
    (neither updating nor reinstalling grub worked.)
  : Received a "We have hacked your website..." email via the GS contact form.  Known
    phishing scam; safely ignorable.  Which is exactly what it looks like.  ddg search
    found several malware removal sites, none of which said anything about PHP on Linux
  : Jack finds all four inputs and outputs; you have to start it before it will see them.
  * leave ~11:20 for noon dentist appt
  * noon dentist (crown, 2 fillings; 2:00)
  @ CCRMA JACK good doc.
  * 15min: two loads of dishes.  Sink is still not empty.
  % meloxicam with pm drugs; heat

1018Tu
  * up 5:20ish; S=6:20; exercises
  * singing: Riverheart
  * walk: end of block  % a little hip pain but mostly muscle fatigue
  & 6:30 went back to studio because looked like k was still asleep
  @ Robot Artist Ai-Da Just Addressed U.K. Parliament About the Future of A.I. and
    ‘Terrified' the House of Lords | Artnet News
    'I'd Like You All to Meet My Aerobe Friend': Watch Artist Anicka Yi Give Her First
    TED Talk—Alongside a Giant Robotic Organism | Artnet News
  * noonish: leave to collect j 12:30 at Congregation Beth Shalom
  @ Seattle | Grateful Bread Bakery & Cafe
  @ Splitting front and rear outputs .asoundrc maybe not
  : Looks like the mixer may be providing 24-bit sound, which would be good.  Then the way
    to use it is to record the four mics as separate tracks and feed the mix into the UA25
    for Zoom/streaming/etc.
  @ Dark feelings will haunt us until they are expressed in words | Psyche Ideas
    " psychologists have defined emotion as the neurophysiological and motor-expressive
      component of affect (ie, what happens in the body) and feelings as the subjective,
      cognitive-experiential component (ie, ‘what it feels like to have that emotion’).
      Meanwhile, the term affect has come to encompass both [ ... ] components. "
  * singing: Riverheart -- in studio; 2 reps -- still having problems with start.
    Also problems with tuning, especially the low E.  Something similar at RE.  WTF?
  % meloxicam with pm drugs

1019We
  & awake 1:30ish
  * awake 3:55; S=5:16;
    % 5:20 neck hurts a little because I spent about an hour with Desti purring on my
      right arm, and Panther on the bar stool (auxiliary nightstand) next to the bed.
    -> Worth it, though.
    -> may have to give up on going back to sleep.  Try for 20m.
  * up 6ish; S=5:52; lots of cat cuddle, exercises
  @ 25 of the Best Space Opera Books of All Time | Book Riot read 3; knew about 1
    haven't heard of most of these, but I haven't been reading much lately
  : Air quality index 122 in Seattle, 136 in Freeland -- unhealthy for sensitive groups.
  * KF spending a couple of hours (way too long) sorting out cables, microphones, mic stands, etc. for
    this afternoon's rehearsal.
  : I have a gender imbalance in quick-connects. -> no, just misplaced a set
  * KF Rehearsal - full set (most songs 2-3 times).  I was the only one with a mic
  * 15min:  wire shelves in the studio
  % meloxicam with pm drugs

1020Th
  & awake 3ish
  * up 6:30ish; S=6:45; exercises
  * 15min:  a little more work on shelves
  @ The cheapest Nyckelharpa... sounds HOW ? - YouTube
    Nerdy Gurdy – instruments
  : AQI=188 -- unhealthy  -> 220 very unhealthy at 3pm
  @ How to Protect Yourself From Wildfire Smoke - MCAQMD
  : So the dual RCA plug cables were probably unnecessary.  Depends on how we route Zoom's
    audio output during the concert; most likely it will be through the phone (monitor)
    output so we can get the audience etc. on the monitor speakers.
  * 15min:  use multi-colored "velcro" cable ties to color-code mic cables. 
  @ White covid deaths increasing in U.S., surpassing death rate of Blacks - WaPo
  : Weird -- the Stagg low-profile mic stands seem to be hard to find, and most places
    have them around $75; $A has it for $48.  Should maybe grab one while I can.
  % meloxicam with pm drugs

1021Fr
  & awake 1:30ish; gave up 2:15 or so.  Try to get back to sleep ~3? -> 4am
  * up 7:30; W=198.2, S=6:15
  * load Molly before leaving
  * order: fiber cookies
  @ There’s a Long History of Snobs Loving Classical Music—and Classical Musicians
    Loathing Them ‹ Literary Hub
  @ osewalrus | Feld's Laws of Advocacy (updated)
  * verify that mixer -> UA25 -> monitor works.  So does Plink -> mixer.
  * leave 1:30ish for 2:00 checkin.  10 min. according to $G
    -> next time remember to put on a KN95 mask rather than the Synovia
  * 2pm checkin for 2:20 with Emily A Hilderman
    Emily Hilderman Primary Care at Northgate: 314 NE Thornton Place, Seattle, WA 98125
    *- the weird breathing thing -> we'll keep an eye on it
    -> referral for colonoscopy
  * SL for Whidbey:  TJ's low-acid coffee, iceberg,  x prunes, 
  * pack:  * instrument cables, * adapters, * quick connects  * Rain stick
  : rain

1022Sa
  * up 7:45; W=196.4, S=8:06; exercises, shower
  * 15min:  garage:  clear off the wire shelves facing the workbench
    -> brought up bag of misc. stuff; found jewelry, books, expired meds
  * Simon Le Gross Bisson on Twitter: "Blade Roadrunner" / Twitter thread...>
  * 15min:  second garage session:  disassemble shelves, find cinderblocks
  @ Black Death shaped evolution of immunity genes, setting course for how we respond to
    disease today – Brighter World
  : Seattle AQI 25 Good; Freeland 31
  @ Human Motion Diffusion Model
  * pack:  2 cinderblocks for porch step, wire shelf unit if I can clear one off
  * vote  -> Marianne's Politiblog
  * dinner:  roasted brussels sprouts
  @ Expat Guide on Relocating to the Netherlands
    From Burnley to The Netherlands
  * 15min: trashed email from Humble Bundle (all), Drewslist (all but most recent page)
  @ How to Sleep Comfortably on a Couch
  * Is there another low-profile Stagg mic stand?  Also, the ones with slotted round bases
    -> no low profile; one weighted base (replaced with a tripod)
  * take garbage up to street before leaving for RS
  * pack:  * headphones, cocoa, 
  * singing:  Riverheart -- extra work on the first line, Eyes Like the Morning
  * move additional items to R's box

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

I spent a portion of last week ripping a load of old cassette tapes into MP3 files using a USB-equipped tape deck and Audio Hijack on the Mac. Lots of late 80s / early 90s dance tunes from back when I was into that stuff. Some of the cassette boxes still had the original price stickers on them from Our Price Records (RIP).

I've got more things to try and sell on eBay, but some detective work will be required first to find out the model numbers for some of them. That's my focus for this coming week.

The ongoing political turmoil here in the UK is equal parts schadenfraude and facepalm, I'm praying that this is the death spiral for the Conservative Party and we'll be rid of them sooner rather than later.

I'm holding off on macOS Ventura, which is due to be released today, as there's potential for it to mess up several apps I rely on. I've yet to update my iPhone to iOS 16, as I've learnt the hard way in the past to wait for others to find all the breakages and for Apple to fix most of them.

The article on space operas reminded me how long it has been since I read any sci-fi books, going on 30+ years. I still have the Hitchhiker's Guide books here, alas the Dune books got thrown out at some point. Ironically, my dad's old Asimov books are on the bookshelves downstairs, those were my gateway drug back in my teens.

[madfilkentist]

Masks have their uses beyond the obvious ones. Yesterday I wore an N95 mask during a concert. I had slight sniffles before and after, but not during the concert.