Backups (I love it when a plan comes together)

Did backups this morning using the new SATA backup drive and new scripts. Fast as a bat: 10 minutes for 273GB of data.

I still haven't done the rest of the associated reorganization; I just wanted to get a snapshot of the current state.

( geeky details: the next steps )

A long-delayed check-in

(x-posted to healthy_fen)

Back from today's walk -- about 3.5 miles along Los Gatos Creek. I'd rather have done 4, but my left ankle is still dicey (more than a year since I twisted it) and I didn't want to push my luck. I've been pretty good about walking the last two weeks or so; don't think I've missed more than two or three days in that time. The weeks before and after Baycon (Memorial Day weekend) were pretty much of a write-off, and I put on a couple of pounds which I have only now gotten rid of. Grump.

I see that my last post here mentions my newly-resoled Mephisto shoes. I don't know whether my feet have grown, or they've changed the shape of the soles subtly since I bought them, but they're nowhere near as comfortable as they once were. Since a new pair of Keens costs about the same as a resole job from Mephisto, I know what I'm doing from now on. Especially since REI had some nice black Keen loafers on sale for $60 -- 40% off. And my usual Thorlo crew socks, 10% off if you get three pair. Chortle!

I still wore the boots today, because of the ankle. And I'm still looking for short-sleeved black woven shirts -- didn't have them at Target or Mervyns this week. (I did find expandable-waistband pants at Mervyns; 40" fit me this time, so I'm down from the previous pair, which were 42" and loose enough to fall off if I wear them without a belt.) Shopping hint: when a store prints a full-page newspaper ad announcing a massive 1-day sale, go the day before. Big selection, short lines. I fskcing hate clothes-shopping.

Tracks: the lisping Vampire

Only worked on one track this evening, but it was a fun one: "Vampire Megabyte". You see, it has this line: "...and the modem beeped and twittered as the mainframe lost its mind..." -- and it really wanted a suitable sound effect.

Turns out Audacity plugins are written in this Lisp-based language called Nyquist. "Aha!", says I to myself, says I. "I can play that game..."

It's been a while since I wrote any serious Lisp beyond the occasional Emacs tweak. But it all comes back.

( Here's where we get into the serious hacking. )

In other album-related news, I spent some time consolidating my customer data someplace where it can be backed up safely, in an encrypted form, offsite. I hope to finally get around to sending emails sometime early this week. (\me grovels contritely) I am now very close to having something I can send to Oasis, though it's probably going to be the week after Westercon at the rate I'm going.