Last year this blog fell into a horrible state of disrepair. I just didn't bother updating it. At the moment, I seem to be making the time once or more a day, with the exception of weekends when I, quite reasonably, have better things to do, or at least can't be bothered to sit down and write about the fact that I have time to spend more profitably than to blog with it.
The fact that I'm now aware, through the blog log site, that people read or at least stumble upon this blog, has had an effect on my behaviour. I reason that the only way to keep people coming back is to add to the blog. This makes a lot of sense, except for those people who use RSS, who will wait until the next entry pops up on their screen.
The point is, I think, that it's good to have something that you maintain. Looking after something - cultivating and nurturing it - it's good for you. In some ways, I miss my big plant from Newcastle, which started life as a little pot plant and grew until it was, quite literally, filling the big bay window in my front room. I doubt that it will be in anything like the condition it was a year ago when I left. To be honest, I was barely looking after it properly at times, but that plant was huge. I'd repotted it a couple of times and it could drink a lot of water, and it was mine. I even gave it a name.
So, I maintain this blog as a catalogue of words. You will find many words here. I keep looking for a useful tool to tell me exactly how many, but I haven't found one. I have even considered making tools for analysing this blog and its words in order to impress myself with the sheer number of permutations I have manually generated (or expressed, depending on your point of view). If ever I retire, then my auto-blogger will help with nonsense like this:
Yes, it's nonsense... but strangely familiar nonsense - almost as though I wrote it. This was generated by a computeer program fed nothing but my blog and asked to produce what I was most statistically likely to have produced, against a random factor. It's artificial and marginally more interesting than the real thing, but it's not the real thing.
Actually doing some maintaining yourself is important, then. This argument wouldn't stand up in court, but I'm using it here.
Computer Maintenance
Last night I spent some quality time with the computer. I wanted to see if I could turn one of the BBC Radio listen-again recordings into something I could listen to in the car, away from the internet. I tried downloading a special recording bit of software, some shareware or other which listens to what your computer is playing and records it on your computer. This was ok. Then an article alerted me to the fact that I already had the software for recording live webcasts currently being played through a computer. It's a program called Audacity and it's available here. Audacity is a general purpose recording program and it's not exceedingly easy to use. However, it can record what is currently being played from anywhere in Windows (albeit, not direct Audio CD output through wires). This was just the ticket and I recorded something to listen to. Good work.
More important than the recording-off-the-radio was organising the various gig recordings I've made over the last year. I like to cut off the extraneous guff around my set and have a recording which starts with the compere calling out my name and ends with the final applause (or silence, whichever I've caused). So, while the film of Bewitched was on TV, and with headphones to avoid disturbing it, I filed and renamed various of these gig recordings, doing some topping and tailing, though not all of it. It's a lengthy process.
Later, I archived some of it to CD and made some space on my computer. I then looked into defragmenting its hard disk. This was one fragmented laptop hard disk and I hope that the various things I did to wipe space, defragment and generally put things right, will come with a performance benefit from the machine, which has been known to waste a lot of time apparently pointlessly playing with its hard drive. Had I done some of this maintenance earlier, perhaps the computer would have been less frustrating in some of its more thrashy moments.
It wasn't a scintillating evening, but it was quite calming and, after the stresses of recent weeks, this was what I needed.
Random Connections
David Bedella, of Jerry Springer The Opera, was in Batman Begins with Katie Holmes, married to Tom Cruise, who was in Mission Impossible with Rolf Saxon, who played Jerry Springer in Jerry Springer The Opera.
Martin Freeman of The Office, was in This Life, which had one Ricky Gervais as its music consultant in one episode.
The fact that I'm now aware, through the blog log site, that people read or at least stumble upon this blog, has had an effect on my behaviour. I reason that the only way to keep people coming back is to add to the blog. This makes a lot of sense, except for those people who use RSS, who will wait until the next entry pops up on their screen.
The point is, I think, that it's good to have something that you maintain. Looking after something - cultivating and nurturing it - it's good for you. In some ways, I miss my big plant from Newcastle, which started life as a little pot plant and grew until it was, quite literally, filling the big bay window in my front room. I doubt that it will be in anything like the condition it was a year ago when I left. To be honest, I was barely looking after it properly at times, but that plant was huge. I'd repotted it a couple of times and it could drink a lot of water, and it was mine. I even gave it a name.
So, I maintain this blog as a catalogue of words. You will find many words here. I keep looking for a useful tool to tell me exactly how many, but I haven't found one. I have even considered making tools for analysing this blog and its words in order to impress myself with the sheer number of permutations I have manually generated (or expressed, depending on your point of view). If ever I retire, then my auto-blogger will help with nonsense like this:
Good, because I was told me that I'd previously been moving slowly towards their roundabout, I'd suddenly turned my car for 30 minutes or self- deprecating, but it's meant affectionately. I sat in my opinion. I think it's probably one of the real matrix that's holding back then was in Bishop's Castle, which is on country roads, so I can lift them up with the best gigs of my life for several years, now I've accidentally been to the Rhythm Of a smug person. Losing some weight has given me more off stage than anything else. Of those over- written abstracts to be funny how cool is that!
It was a few inches of it led me straight to the very same barber's shop as I've been self- aware enough to please person, I'll admit that was absolutely funny how cool is that I had gigs. org. Then they did the glasses- wobbling Eric Morecambe Room" It was a suitable hole in plenty of Farnborough near both my office who has a few times a lot. I suspect that it's important for a wannabee comedian, with a raft of insecurities joining him in her parents' kitchen the obvious association between Eric Morecambe and Wise movies and TV shows. As a sense that the garage told me that the brakes were in that with. what I just said/ did my best to protect you interact with nobody in Lowestoft was a giggle I had the same TV shows.
With my cappuccino and a notepad, I set my improvised asides misfire slightly though I'll admit that this blog probably contains 50, 000 words of self- admiration. A trainee. This is a nicer place again. or maybe the rules were a while. I did my gig those are map inches, so there . All I need to do is all the way to set my thoughts straight for a whale of a time.
It was a few inches of it led me straight to the very same barber's shop as I've been self- aware enough to please person, I'll admit that was absolutely funny how cool is that I had gigs. org. Then they did the glasses- wobbling Eric Morecambe Room" It was a suitable hole in plenty of Farnborough near both my office who has a few times a lot. I suspect that it's important for a wannabee comedian, with a raft of insecurities joining him in her parents' kitchen the obvious association between Eric Morecambe and Wise movies and TV shows. As a sense that the garage told me that the brakes were in that with. what I just said/ did my best to protect you interact with nobody in Lowestoft was a giggle I had the same TV shows.
With my cappuccino and a notepad, I set my improvised asides misfire slightly though I'll admit that this blog probably contains 50, 000 words of self- admiration. A trainee. This is a nicer place again. or maybe the rules were a while. I did my gig those are map inches, so there . All I need to do is all the way to set my thoughts straight for a whale of a time.
Yes, it's nonsense... but strangely familiar nonsense - almost as though I wrote it. This was generated by a computeer program fed nothing but my blog and asked to produce what I was most statistically likely to have produced, against a random factor. It's artificial and marginally more interesting than the real thing, but it's not the real thing.
Actually doing some maintaining yourself is important, then. This argument wouldn't stand up in court, but I'm using it here.
Computer Maintenance
Last night I spent some quality time with the computer. I wanted to see if I could turn one of the BBC Radio listen-again recordings into something I could listen to in the car, away from the internet. I tried downloading a special recording bit of software, some shareware or other which listens to what your computer is playing and records it on your computer. This was ok. Then an article alerted me to the fact that I already had the software for recording live webcasts currently being played through a computer. It's a program called Audacity and it's available here. Audacity is a general purpose recording program and it's not exceedingly easy to use. However, it can record what is currently being played from anywhere in Windows (albeit, not direct Audio CD output through wires). This was just the ticket and I recorded something to listen to. Good work.
More important than the recording-off-the-radio was organising the various gig recordings I've made over the last year. I like to cut off the extraneous guff around my set and have a recording which starts with the compere calling out my name and ends with the final applause (or silence, whichever I've caused). So, while the film of Bewitched was on TV, and with headphones to avoid disturbing it, I filed and renamed various of these gig recordings, doing some topping and tailing, though not all of it. It's a lengthy process.
Later, I archived some of it to CD and made some space on my computer. I then looked into defragmenting its hard disk. This was one fragmented laptop hard disk and I hope that the various things I did to wipe space, defragment and generally put things right, will come with a performance benefit from the machine, which has been known to waste a lot of time apparently pointlessly playing with its hard drive. Had I done some of this maintenance earlier, perhaps the computer would have been less frustrating in some of its more thrashy moments.
It wasn't a scintillating evening, but it was quite calming and, after the stresses of recent weeks, this was what I needed.
Random Connections
David Bedella, of Jerry Springer The Opera, was in Batman Begins with Katie Holmes, married to Tom Cruise, who was in Mission Impossible with Rolf Saxon, who played Jerry Springer in Jerry Springer The Opera.
Martin Freeman of The Office, was in This Life, which had one Ricky Gervais as its music consultant in one episode.
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