31 posts tagged “nablopomo 2008”
Well, it seems 30 days of consecutive blogging is enough to kill my sense of creativity (or maybe it was the excessive food and drink of my post-thanksgiving dinner). Either way, at the time that I'm writing this, I have neither the inclination nor the energy to put together a coherent blog post for my last day of NaBloPoMo. And since I'll be in the car for over 8 hours on Sunday driving home from my parents' house, I don't want to leave it to chance that I'll feel up to posting something when I do get home. So here you go - I made it 30 days, technically, but may be shy a few of the quality posts I had hoped to get out during the month of November. I still have plans to write some of them in December, though, so I don't feel like I failed in what I was trying to do this month.
To celebrate, here's a couple of tunes - no special theme or reason behind my choosing these, except that I like them and they're hitting the spot right now.
Welcome one and all to this very special answers-edition of my blog, where I try to answer all the questions posed to me during Ask Me Anything Sunday (and Monday). Read on for the questions and answers, below:
If the Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything is 42, then the Answer to Life is 42/3 = 14 (assuming Everything, The Universe, and Life are all equally weighted).What is the answer to life? from Budd
How about 10 million dollars? That'd last me a while! :-) I'd also be happy with an official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.If Santa could bring you any present you wanted but it would only happen once in your lifetime, what would it be? from Sean & Stefan
Excellent question, and one that requires a lot of thought on my part to answer. I very rarely get angry, and it's once in a blue moon that I get really really angry. It's NEVER directed at my kids, and even if I am angry or fed up with them, I make it clear that I'm not angry at them specifically, but at their actions at the moment. The few times in my life that I've been really REALLY angry are usually directed at people who have tried to harm to me or my family. The few times I've felt that kind of white-hot heat I've been too angry to lash out in anger (either physically or verbally), so luckily I've never had any major issues with anger. I know SOMEWHERE in my head that things will be better if I wait until I can think clearly, and somehow restrain myself until I can act after thinking. The times I'm actually more dangerous are when I'm only slightly angry - my voice gets a little louder and there's a chance I'll say something that, in cooler times, I would phrase more tactfully. I've been working hardest on these times, lately, to make sure that anything I say to others (either on the phone, in emails, or in person) is something I'd want someone to say to me in the same tone of voice and phrasing - if it isn't, I try to bite it back, as much as it might gall me to do so.Do you ever get really really angry? If so, how do you deal with it? from Little Odd Me
I'm not a big gift person, either giving or receiving. Although I can think back to various gifts I've received, I'm not sure any stand out as a clear favorite as "best" present I've ever received. However, any present where the giver has spent time, energy, or thought on me immediately makes me feel good. The cost of the gift is not important, nor its usefulness. My wife has bought me some wonderful gifts over the years, including some really cool coffee mugs, a Garmin Forerunner (GPS running watch), and a very special framed photo of my kids. All of these are special to me in their own ways, and I treasure them all.What is the best present you've ever received? (and why) from LeendaDLL
Since I'm Jewish and don't really celebrate Christmas or any of the things it stands for, I don't really have anything to say here about what I wish we could "take back" specifically about Christmas-time celebrations. However, I'm of the opinion that trying to fight against how people celebrate a holiday is about as worthwhile as trying to keep water from flowing downhill. The important thing is to personally celebrate holidays with the traditions and values that you hold dear to you personally, and let all else do what they wish. Get people that feel the same way you do to celebrate with you, and just leave the folks that don't out of it. Less stress for everyone, and more happiness - which is all this worldIf you could take back something about what we do at christmas time what would it be? from Faye
needs.
It's very hard to call out any one memory as standing a head above the rest. There are certain memories from my wedding that seem to fit the bill (like the special dance we performed that we had choreographed with an instructor after taking ballroom dancing lessons), and then there are times the experiences I'm growing through with my daughters that seem to take precedence (reading books with my daughters sitting on my lap, watching them learn and grow into little people of their own, etc). I remember my childhood and many times I spent with my family very fondly (such as our cross-country road trips and family get-togethers). I try to reminisce on the best of these here on this blog occasionally. I hate to say "I love them all", but it's true, so I will.What is your favorite memory? from LeendaDLL
As per the last question, there's not one that is most prominent. However, I'll list a couple that definitely stand out over those years:What is the one childhood memory (ages 1 - 14) that is the most prominent in your mind? from Sean & Stefan
- Age 14 - Being a freshman in high school and yet being best friends with some Seniors because I lettered on the Varsity teams for Cross Country, Indoor Track, and Outdoor Track.
- Age 13 - Living in California, running Cross Country and Track in an organized sport format for the first time ever
- Age 12 - Breaking my leg while playing baseball, having to play the violin in the orchestra from the 2nd story balcony while I had my leg in a cast up to my hip
- Age 11 - Getting in trouble at middle school for playing poker at lunchtime
- Age 9 - The girl who beat me by a shoe
- Age 7 - My neighbor made me cry when she found out my 2nd grade teacher was going to be Mrs. Fowler - she told me that she was a mean old lady and punished kids who gave the wrong answers in class. Turns out she was wrong on all counts.
- Age 6 - Playing "doctor" with a girl at her house in her bedroom - nearly getting caught by her mother when she came to check on us, but managed to finish getting dressed in her closet before her mother noticed.
- Age 5 - Playing the "Donkey Kong" video game in the lobby of my kindergarten building FOR FREE. I could make it all the way through the first level and usually through the second, but always had trouble after that.
Of course, there are many many many other memories that stand out, this is just a small selection of the ones that came to mind when typing this answer.
And now for some questions from my Vox neighbors who wished to remain anonymous in their question-asking:
How about option C? Boxer-briefs, anyone?Boxers or briefs?
My most favorite is probably my insatiable curiosity and drive to learn. It definitely keeps my life interesting and always gives me something new to look forward to. As for least favorite trait - I think sometimes I can be a little too cold and rational, and not empathetic enough for the people I'm trying to relate to. I'm working on this, but it's hard to find a good balance - I like my rationality and impartiality in many cases, but I have to work on determining WHEN to have it and when not to have it to better manage how I deal with others.What is your favorite trait about yourself? Your least favorite?
If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, now, would it? Nice try, though.What's the biggest secret you've ever had?
Favorite to participate in - either running or soccer. Favorite spectator sport? People watching, soccer, or baseball. Runners-up: Gymnastics, diving, and martial-arts.What is your favorite sport?
The world may never know. Alternate answer: 3.How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?
Ok, smartass - now I know why you wanted this question to be anonymous! Assuming you are actually putting the two trains on the same track on a head-on collision, and the fly makes an instantaneous U-turn when it bounces between the two trains, it'll fly for 4 hours * 25 miles per hour = 100 miles. Ask me something more personal, next time, will you? I promise we'll both enjoy the answer more!There are two train stations: A and B, 240 miles apart. First train leaves A and travels towards B at 50 miles per hour. At the same instant, second train leaves B and travels towards A at 10 miles per hour. There is a fly sitting on the train 1. The moment the train leaves, the fly takes off and flies towards train 2 at 25 miles per hour. As soon as the fly reaches train 2, it makes a U-turn and flies back towards train 1. It reaches train 1, makes a U-turn, and flies towards train 2, etc. etc., until the trains collide and the fly gets squashed. What's the total distance the fly has traveled?
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #28/30]
First, Happy Thanksgiving to all those folks out there that are celebrating today! May you have a great day, filled with wonderful traditions, delicious food, and fun.
This week, I'm up in Pennsylvania with my grandparents/parents, who are enjoying seeing and playing with their great-/grandchildren (and giving Dee and I a much needed reprieve!) In the course of playing with everyone, Violet has come up with quite a few funny little statements and phrases that are worth sharing:
We were discussing traffic lights and what the different colors meant.
Me: Okay, it's a Red Light, what does a red light mean?
Violet: Red light means STOP!
Me: Good! Now what does a Green Light mean?
Violet: GO!
Me: And what does a YELLOW light mean?
Violet: Yellow means GO FAST!
Me: Ahh...and who's been teaching you that?? I bet it's Mommy!
Violet: Yeah!
Violet asked to sing some songs. When I prompted her on what song she wanted to sing, she said she wanted to sing, "Mary had a little MAN". Puts a whole different spin on the lyrics if you sing it that way....
One night, as she was getting ready for bed, she said, "Daddy, I'm big and strong! (Poses with her arms showing muscles). I replied, "Yes, honey, you ARE big and strong." Then she followed it up with, "I have a strong SMILE!" and posed again, this time matching it with a blinding visage of cuteness. Once again, I had to agree with her.
Last night, on our drive back from my grandparents' house, Violet, who's been on a Dora the Explorer kick, asked about what some words were in Spanish.
Violet: What's the word for hello in Spanish?
Me: You know that...it's...
Violet: Hola!
Me: Right! And what's goodbye in Spanish?
Violet: Adios!
Me: Good Violet!
Violet: What's the word for car in Spanish?
Me: Um, I think it's coche.
Violet: And what's the word for driving in Spanish?
Me: Mmm...I'm not sure. We'll look it up when we get home, okay?
Violet: I know it! It's Hota Taco!
(I didn't know how to follow that up, so I didn't even try....)
Violet and Rosalie were playing by some toys, and Violet accidentally pushed Rosalie a bit, which made her fall down. I asked Violet to apologize:
Me: Violet, I know you didn't mean to push Rosie, but she fell over because you pushed her. Can you tell Rosie you're sorry?
Violet: (In the most pitiful voice ever) Rosie, you're sorry.
Happy Thanksgiving!
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #27/30]
In lieu of your regularly scheduled day-before-Thanksgiving post, I bring you the following guest-entry from my wonderful wife, who will be regaling you with the tale of her torturous trip home from Las Vegas to Harrisburg. It was too entertaining NOT to share.
The following is the body of an email Dee sent today to her friends that were on the trip with her:
Hey!
Let's have a contest to see who had the worst experience on their trip home.
Let's see, after taking off on the Delta flight from Vegas, we circled for about a half hour. The pilot then came on and said that the reason why we were circling was that they noticed after taking off that some of the wing flaps used to slow the plane on landing were not working and we were going to have to make an emergency landing. We circled for about 30 more minutes to burn off fuel so we wouldn't go up in a fiery ball on impact. Meanwhile people were getting hysterical. (Except for the drunk English guys who were laughing and singing). I ain't gonna lie, I was a little teary.
The pilot then came on to say that he was going to attempt a landing at a higher than usual speed and to not be alarmed by the fire trucks and ambulances we would see racing toward the airplane while we were landing. After scaring the everloving shit out of all of us, the landing was fine, just a lot faster and bumpier than we were used to. We sat on the tarmac for another 30 minutes or so while the brakes cooled. They were worried the brakes might catch on fire, apparently they didn't give a shit about the passengers that might go up in the inferno.
We were on one of those huge planes (9 seats on each row), so ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE had to deal with some VERY bitchy gate agents to try to get the hell out of Vegas. (Except for the English guys, they didn't care, they just kept drinking). Needless to say I missed my connection and had to stay in Atlanta last night. Sooo, I just got back to Harrisburg at around noon today, instead of at 10 PM last night like planned.
Sooo, unless anyone still hasn't made it home, I WIN!
(And I'm not even bringing up the creepy guy who hit on me on the hotel shuttle in Atlanta.)
In the words of the drunk English guys on my doomed flight:
Cheers!
Dee
I'll
be sure to share with Dee any comments you have commiserating her
oh-so-fun flight home. We would LOVE to hear any other airline horror
stories you might have, too!
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #26/30]
In my family and with other folks I know, I am notorious for my poor sense of direction. If it wasn't so horrendously bad, I might have driven myself nuts over it a long time ago; as it is, however, the fact that my navigation skills are so poor just seems incredibly funny to me1. I tend to quip "My sense of direction is so bad, I get lost in a walk-in closet." But in truth, it's not all that much better, as you'll see by some of the most memorable incidents in my past below:
1Ironically, I was in charge of the navigation control segment of a fairly recent Navy ship's design at my old job.
Shortly after I got my drivers' license many years ago, my family was visiting my grandparents' house in Harrisburg, PA. I volunteered to borrow my grandparents' car to return some soon-to-be-overdue movies to the video store, which was only a few miles (and about three traffic lights) away from their house. I made it to the store just fine, but on the way back, I turned left one light too early.
Not only did I not realize my mistake right away, I made matters worse by trying to figure out, on the fly, how to cut through some neighborhoods to get into my grandparents' neighborhood from the back way. My first mistake? Not knowing that my grandparents' neighborhood didn't HAVE a back way. Second, and probably most fatal to my cause - not deciding to backtrack until after I had gotten myself completely lost and had racked up close to an hour driving "just a few miles there and back to the video store". My family STILL won't let me live that one down.
As you might recall, I ran Cross Country back in high school. One of our regular 5k races took place in a park in (I believe) Port Angeles, Washington. I was the fastest runner on my team, and quite possibly the fastest at the entire race. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to find out if that was the case.
At the gun, I took off and had a fantastic lead going into the second mile. It was at this point that I realized that the well-marked trail I had assumed we were going to run on was not quite so well-marked. There were people on the sides of the trail clapping and cheering as I ran by, and looking ahead, I saw that the path forked, but couldn't see any markings or indication of which way to go. I shouted out at some of the people "Which way do I go?" but the few that responded didn't know. I took the trail to the left, which was about twice the width as the one to the right, and seemed the more likely route.
It still seemed the most likely route as I ran along the slightly sloping downhill trail...all the way to a dead-end lookout point overlooking the beach that was about 150 feet below me, down the steep cliffside. I turned around and slogged my way back up the hill and off on the other fork of the trail. The other racers and the cheering crowds had all passed by already, of course. I ended up catching up to a few of the laggards near the end of the race, but my team that year joked that I was the only racer they ever knew who chose to run 4.5 miles in a 3.1 mile race.
My wife and I were put up by my company in temporary housing for a month when we first moved down to Baltimore. We were already staying at a furnished apartment north of the city when the place in the Inner Harbor that we wanted to stay at opened up, so we packed our two cars and drove down into the city to the apartment high-rise...or at least, that's what we attempted to do.
I hadn't had a printer or internet accessible at the time to print out MapQuest directions, but the address of the place was on a prominent street, and I knew there were parking garages in the area. I pulled out my trusty PAPER map and tracked the roads we needed to take to get there on it, and off we went - Dee in her Mitsubishi Montero Sport and me in my Honda CRV - each of us loaded to the gills with everything we needed and/or couldn't have the movers transport for us. We had a pair of walkie-talkies to communicate with along the way. Dee followed me, as I had the map and the address (you think she would have learned about my sense of direction by then, but I can't blame her for the horrific time yet to come).
Everything was going swimmingly until Dee realized that we had gone a couple miles through downtown beyond what we should have been - it turns out the street I was looking out for to turn onto didn't actually intersect with the road we were on - instead it went under our road via an underpass, and there wasn't even an indication that we had passed it by. Whoops! We were almost through the center of the city and out the other side when Dee called me on the radio and we pulled over at a gas station to look at the map. We couldn't figure out what had gone wrong at the time, but realized that all we really had to do to get back on track was make a U-turn, then turn right a few miles back in order to get down to the Inner Harbor area, and then we could hit the street where our apartment building was located on the way back towards where we had come from.
We got back in the cars and back on the road. All the intersections had "No U-Turn" signs, so I finally got tired and decided to turn left into one of the neighborhoods - I figured we'd turn around in a driveway or something, get back on the road going the other way, and be good to go. Except the neighborhood I turned us into (my wife following along behind me) was a ghetto. No, I take that back, not a ghetto. If the neighborhood had had a sign out front, it would have said "THE GHETTO OF BALTIMORE". As in, the last place my wife and I should have been driving slowly through, trying to figure out where/how to turn around and get the hell out of there.
There were about 5 or 6 guys swaggering down the middle of the street in the same direction we were going, not paying any attention that we were on the road behind them. My wife came over the radio, "WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT HONK AT THEM!" I radioed back, "Yeah, I wasn't planning on it. I'm going to turn right at this street up here, it looks like I can make a right, then another right and we'll be back on the road." I turned right. And found myself at a dead-end about a quarter-mile up the road. I quickly got on the radio and told my wife not to come that way, as we'd only both be forced to turn around. She was freaking out about driving through the neighborhood at this point (essentially by herself, as I was still backing and filling on a 47-point-turn), and I could hear the panic in her voice.
She told me she was taking the next left-turn and trying to double-back around. As I sped down the road to catch up to her, I heard her say over the radio, "Ohmigod Ross, the road splits ahead, I don't know which way to go which way should I go I'm going to freak out here WHY THE HELL DID YOU TAKE US BACK HERE AHHHHHHHH!" (Ok, maybe I'm embellishing a little, but you get the point.) I caught up to her, told her to pull over and I passed her, took the left-split after I made sure this time that it actually DID lead back to the main road, and we got out of there under the dirty looks of some of the same guys that had been in our "welcoming party" to the neighborhood.
Of course, by the time we got into the Inner Harbor, the Orioles game traffic had started to pile up, and the traffic cops were in effect everywhere (yes, yes, my bad idea to move the day of an O's game, I know, I know). We crawled through traffic until I saw the street we needed to turn onto to get to the apartment building. We turned and made our way slowly up the street, trying to find the building. And we went well past the address before we both acknowledged that there was absolutely NO WAY we had seen the building's name or address on the street.
At this point, nerves shot and tempers flaring, I made the decision that we'd go around the Inner Harbor loop again, and this time enter and park in the parking garage that was right near the turn onto the street the building was supposed to be located on. I figured we would have better luck walking than trying to navigate the traffic, so 15 mind-numbing minutes later, we made our way around the block and into the garage. We took a deep breath and strolled up the street to where the building should be...and found it. Or rather, we found the SIDE of the building - the entrance (with the name, address, door, etc) was on the cross-street, and there would have been absolutely no way in hell we would have found it while in the car. We went in, got the keys to the apartment, and I left Dee there to relax while I went and moved our cars into the building's parking garage, which ALSO was on the cross-street. That evening we went out to eat, vented at the world, and had a pleasant meal with liberal applications of booze. All in all, not a bad end to an otherwise horrific day.
For those of you screaming "GOD! Get a GPS unit already!" - Well, I now have one (thanks Mom and Dad!) but it hasn't entirely solved the problem. It seems my navigational difficulties transcend even the aid of technology in some cases. Like the time my wife and I went out to eat in Hershey, PA, at the Hershey Grill.
We looked up the address of the restaurant online, and I entered the name (and checked the address) into my GPS, got the directions, and looked good to go. In the mindset of "better safe than sorry" I had also copied down the phone number to the restaurant and brought that with me, just in case. Off we went, proceeding cautiously due to the rainy weather and the increased traffic from the Dave Matthews concert that was playing at the Hershey stadium that evening. I followed the directions into Hershey proper, and we were coming up on the final turn when Dee, who had been to the Hershey Grill once before said, "This doesn't really look familiar. Where is the restaurant again?"
I said that the website gave the address shown on the GPS, and said it was on the corner of X and Y streets. At which point she sighed and said that we had passed Y street about 4 miles back. Although I had a sinking feeling in my chest, we were only a half-mile away from the GPS endpoint, so I decided to persevere. I turned left at the prompted traffic light...and ended up in a large parking lot that looked like it pulled double duty for a train station and some of the corporate buildings that surrounded it. Pretty sure at this point that my directional curse had rubbed off on the GPS, I parked the car, called the restaurant, and got explicit directions from the woman who answered the phone. Sure enough, 4 miles back the way we had come, we turned onto Y street, and pulled into the restaurant parking lot soon thereafter.
My biggest problems, as you can probably see from the above, are usually not from trying to get from point A to point B, but rather when I try to forge my own path from somewhere along the way (call it point C). When I do this, I usually end up at point Z, named as such because it's about as far away as you can possibly get and still remain in the same zipcode as points A and B. Unfortunately, there's no effective way to get past this short of driving the route to familiarize myself with it, having a map (and GPS) with me, and taking the time to backtrack if need be. Unless, of course, I can convince someone else to drive. Anyone else. Anyone at all. After all, I can't be worse off with them than I would be on my own, right?
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #25/30]
Note: This is the second post of a two-part series. Part one explained the benefits of changing the tempo of your spoken-word audio (audiobooks and podcasts) to listen to more content in less time. This post will explain how to use Audacity to change the tempo of your audio files.
Audacity is a free, open-source audio file editor, and yet is one of the most powerful tools out there for recording and editing audio. The software itself has too many features and options for me to really go into in detail in a single post, so I'll focus only on one specific feature that relates to this series of posts - the "Change Tempo" feature.
All of the below assume you've already downloaded and installed Audacity. Although there is a way to change the tempo of a single file in the version 1.2.6, this is unwieldy and requires a lot of user interaction. For the method I describe below, you MUST have the latest Beta version (currently 1.3.6 as of this post).
Install LAME (if necessary)
Although
you may have installed Audacity, you may not have installed the LAME
codec, which comes separately from Audacity (due to licensing
restrictions). Audacity has instructions on how to install this codec here
- once you've got this installed, you'll be able to export audio files
to new .mp3 files. Optionally, you may choose to set up your file
characteristics for the .mp3 exports (see next section).
Set Up MP3 Export Options (optional)
Export
options can only be configured when you are exporting a file. Once you
set them up, that configuration will remain until you change it, so it
is worth setting up your export options the first time, and then you
can leave them as-is from then on.
1) To be able to export a file, you first have to have a file loaded. You can open a file from somewhere on your computer using the File->Open option, or just drag and drop to the window. Choose a short file (less than 5 minutes) for your first configuration to save time.
2) Once the file is open, use the File->Export menu option to bring up the export dialog. From the "Save As" drop-down menu, choose "MP3 Files" option. Then click the "Options" button to get the configuration dialog. This will let you choose details like bit-rate, stereo/mono, etc for your audio files. Most spoken word audio does fine at 64 kbps, but you can bump that up to 128 kbps if you prefer. Remember, the higher the bit-rate, the larger the resulting files will be.
3) Click OK, and export
the file to a temporary location (like your desktop). Once you've done
this, the settings you've chosen will be used for all mp3 exports from
then on, unless you go back and change it again. You can now delete
the file you exported to your desktop.
Set up Chains
Batching processing in Audacity is done by "Applying a chain". A chain is simply a set of instructions (much like an Audacity-specific script) that you want Audacity to perform on the files you select. In this case, the chain consists of the following actions:
1) Import a file into Audacity
2) Change the tempo by X%
3) Export to a new .mp3 file
When applying a chain in Audacity, importing the file is done by default. The rest, however, need to be set up in a chain. A chain only needs to be created once, and then can be used any number of times.
You can manually set up chains via the "Edit Chains" menu option under the File menu, or you can simply copy pre-written files into the Audacity data folder and the software will make them available for use automatically. I've pre-created 10 tempo-change chain scripts for you and located them in this .zip file here. Just download to your computer and extract to the Audacity data folder to make them available to use. The folder, on Windows, is usually located at:
C:\Documents and Settings\[your windows profile name here]\Application Data\Audacity\Chains
These files
are called "SpeedUp_10_Percent" through "SpeedUp_100_Percent" - each
changes the tempo by a corresponding percentage. To get an idea of
scale:
10% increase means you listen in 91% of the time
40% increase means you listen in 70% of the time
50% increase means you listen in 66% (2/3) of the time
100% increase means you listen in 50% of the time
I
personally like the 40% tempo increase - it makes it quick enough that
I save time (about 1 hour for every 4 of original audio), but still
slow enough that I can catch everything that is said. However, your
mileage will vary, and you'll want to experiment with different rates
for different podcasts until you find the speeds you like. Now that
you have the chains available, you just need to apply a specific chain
to some files in order to get your sped-up audio ready to listen to!
Apply Chains to Speed Up Audio
Now that you've got the chains all set up, you can do the processing on the audio files:
1) From the File menu, choose "Apply Chain" and select one of the "SpeedUp_X_Percent" chains. Click the "Apply to files" button. This will bring up a dialog box asking which files you want to speed up.
2) Navigate to where your files are stored. Select the files you want to speed up. You can select more than one file to speed up in one batch in the same way you select multiple files through your operating system (e.g. hold down the control key for Windows, Command key for the Mac, etc). The chain will be applied to each file in turn, so you'll end up with all the files sped up by the same amount when you're done.
3) When you click the "Open" button on the dialog, Audacity will begin processing the files, one at a time. If you watch the progress bars, you will see Audacity import a file, speed it up, and then export the file, then repeat the process with the next file. Each file that is exported is saved in a folder called "Cleaned" that is located in the same directory as the original file location. It will have the same name and ID3 tag information as the original file.
NOTE: Audacity creates some very large temporary files while processing. These files only get deleted after you close the program down. This means you COULD run out of disk space if you try to apply a chain to too many files at once - I recommend applying the chain to about 2-3 hours worth of audio at a time (the number of files will vary depending on their length). After that, close Audacity (say "no" to saving the temporary or project files when prompted) and re-open and repeat the Apply Chain process with a new batch of files.
That's pretty much all there is to it. At this point, if you know the
file is in good shape, you can delete the originals and load the new
files into your audio player or library. If you want to reprocess the
file at another speed, be aware that Audacity will overwrite the file
in the "cleaned" directory if you apply a chain to a file with the same
name. To avoid this problem, either rename the original file prior to
reprocessing, or rename (or move) the file in the "cleaned" directory.
I usually set up files to process in the background while I'm doing other things. For me, this is definitely a worthwhile effort. I invest about 20 minutes time in the file manipulation over the course of an afternoon of Audacity processing, thereby saving about 6 hours worth of listening time for every 24 hours of podcasts and audiobooks I listen to. If you can stomach speeding up the audio even more, you can get even bigger time savings. Pretty soon you won't ever want to listen to spoken word audio at the normal rate, ever again!
Just a reminder - yesterday I posted "Ask Me Anything Sunday" and am extending the time period to post questions until midnight tonight. Feel free to jump over there and post a question for me in the comments - I guarantee I'll answer all questions in a post later this week...
And for the people awaiting the followup to last week's post about speeding up audio files - it's coming, I promise. Just taking a little longer to put together than I expected, but I still anticipate on getting it out today!
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #24.1/30]
Well, I don't know about you, but my Saturday ended in a bone-tired flop onto my bed (see this post for the reason why). I sat down to write a post for today and realized that all of the ideas I've got planned to flush out the rest of the month of NaBloPoMo entries are a bit longer than I want to undertake for my Sunday post. Furthermore, the number of people that are actually hanging out on Vox on Sundays is so small that I didn't want to "waste" an interesting post by putting it up on a day people might not even see it - not that I have any delusions of grandeur about my other posts, but I can pretty much tell when a post will or will not be read, and Sundays definitely fall into the latter category, regardless of subject matter.
So here's the deal: Today (Sunday) is "Ask Me Anything Sunday". If you leave a question for me in the comments, I guarantee I'll answer it. I'll bundle all the questions and answers together into a single post and put it up later this week.
And, since I just said that I don't expect a lot of people to read this post on Sunday, I'll extend the deadline to submit questions until midnight Monday night (Tuesday morning) and I'll remind people about it on Monday. So get those questions posted in the comments, people! (please!)
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #23/30]
Hi folks - unfortunately, today's post is short and sweet. I had to get up at 4:00 AM to get my wife off on her flight to Las Vegas for her girls' weekend out, and now I'm watching the two little lights-of-my-life, luckily with the generous help of my mom. It's just going to be a long day and I can't wait to go to bed tonight. So today's regularly scheduled post is replaced by the latest email forward to hit my inbox - but one the wordsmiths out there may enjoy:
Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
The winners are:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
(This one got extra credit.)
12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.
13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you
14. Glibido: All talk and no action.
15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked
to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. coffee, n. the person upon whom one coughs.
2. flabbergasted, adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. abdicate, v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. esplanade, v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. willy-nilly, adj. impotent.
6. negligent, adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. lymph, v. to walk with a lisp.
8. gargoyle, n. olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. flatulence, n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. balderdash, n. a rapidly receding hairline.
11. testicle, n. a humorous question on an exam.
12. rectitude, n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. pokemon, n. a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. oyster, n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. circumvent, n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #22/30]
My oldest daughter is now three and a half. A few months ago, she started giving us grief about going to bed and all the activities that go with it (brushing teeth, etc). We were almost pulling our hair out in frustration over the nightly conflict. The only thing that seemed to work was threatening to take away her book-reading privileges for the night - that would almost always get her moving. This caused me personal heartache, however; not only do I think reading at bedtime should be an inalienable right for all kids, but this reading session is one of the few times I get to spend each day with my daughter bonding, especially on the days I had to work late. I hate to use "no books" as a punishment because it hurts her a lot worse than "no television" or "no cookies" would.
But I digress - the issue at hand: a stubborn three year old who has to be carried into the bathroom in the evening in order to get her to acquiesce to the inevitable tooth-brushing, hand-washing, etc. The solution? Something I never in a million years would have believed would work if someone suggested it to me: The Waiting Game.
The Waiting Game is my personal nickname for it, and you'll see why in a bit. It's more aptly described as The Clock Watching Game.
Ever since Violet started learning her numbers and letters, I have made efforts to point out all the interesting places they showed up - on the bottom of the TV (we keep Closed Captioning on), on stop-signs, billboards, buildings, and of course, on any one of the multitude of digital appliances we have in our house, all complete with their own set of numbers happily illuminating the time of day in glowing yellow. By the time of our bedtime struggles, she could easily recognize the digits 0-9, and was fascinated that they were on all these different clocks!
So one evening, when the 2nd-most stubborn child in the world (or rather, the 1st, now that I am grown up) began to dig in her heels, out of desperation, I pulled her attention away from the toy she was playing with by pointing out the clock.
"Violet," I said, with feigned excitement in my voice. "Do you see the numbers on the clock? They say Seven Two Seven!"
She ran over and exclaimed with glee that the numbers DID say Seven Two Seven! I then told her to keep watching the clock, and it would change to Seven Two Eight. She pretty much jumped up and down in place with excitement when the clock inexorably flipped the last digit. Then the clouds parted and the heavenly choir rang down from above:
"Violet," I repeated. "When the clock says Seven Three Zero, we're going to go brush teeth and go read books. Got it?"
The enthusiastic response I received from this statement was a complete 180 degree turn from her previous behavior. Suddenly, the bedtime ritual had new meaning for her, and SHE could figure out when SHE needed to do things, all on her own! From that night on, we've had no problems with bedtime - all we do is give her an impending deadline to end all play activities, and as soon as the clock reaches that point, she's off like a shot to get ready for bed.
Since that day, we've used The Clock Watching Game for any number of things. Have to wait for dinner? Tell her when it will come out of the oven and she's all set. Need 15 minutes downtime? Tell her to go color with her crayons until the clock reads 3:43 and then promise to play Candyland when she's done. It works all the time, any time (in moderation, of course).
The funny thing, though, is that since then, she is fascinated with clocks. Often, when you give her an upcoming time mark, she'll stand there in front of the clock, watching it change from minute to minute. She might sing some songs, or do a little dance, but she always flits back to the clock, calling out each minute as it changes. She has more fun waiting for the clock to change than most people have watching television.
And it's a good thing, too. If this hadn't worked and the frustration had continued, I think I WOULD have resorted to tearing out my hair. And since I'm just starting to get used to all the grey hair I'm seeing in the mirror every day, it would have been a shame to have to get used to seeing a bald head instead.
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