Miracles and Crap

CHAPTER ONE: Glory Hallelujah!
I have actually kinda surprised myself. I finished a project in one day, and at least 50% of it seems to work correctly. Since I discovered this morning that the old computer has the wrong type of USB ports on it, the notion of running out to Best Buy and picking up an external drive went right out the window. Which, incidentally enough, may be the same place that old computer will be going in rather short order. Unable to approach the music problem in that manner, I sulked for a while. Pinklady suggested getting a laptop, but the notion of a $500 fix to something that was supposed to be a no cost project really seemed to be a bit off. That left me with the one option I was hoping to not have to revisit: pulling cables.
Mind you, it's the finished ceiling in the basement that makes this such a pain. If there was a dropped ceiling down there, I'd probably run cable just for the fun of doin it. I have almost no access to get into the ceiling as it is, as well as a huge steel I-beam that runs the length of the house, along with all the HVAC ducting as well. So after the morning's raging thunderstorm, I spent hours looking in closets and peering in really tiny access holes to try and figure out how to get 2 sets of RCA cables from the computer in the office to the stereo in the studio. What I managed to discover made me quite irritated. There seemed to be no real way to do what I wanted to do in any manner that would be anything other than ridiculously difficult.
After many hours of climbing on step stools, running up and down the stairs, drilling holes in the floor, and making several unsuccessful attempts at fishing a lead wire through the ceiling, I was actually set to try and pull the cables up to the office. The only problem being that I didn't actually have the cables yet. And, as I was on my way out the door to head for Radio Shack, the warning sirens started going off outside. Funky greenish skies and furious winds along with driving rain and near constant lightning confirmed to me that the sirens really did mean business this time. We gathered up the Herd and headed for the basement, complete with a freshly made batch of cinnamon rolls. For about half an hour the sirens wailed, the radio told us to take cover, and we huddled in the crawl space with at least one highly gaseous dog.
Once the sirens stopped and the tornado warning was lifted, I resumed my attempt to get this project done. After placing a call to make sure the store was still there, I dashed out to Radio Shack to get the stuff I needed. I could see a thin ribbon of clear skies right at the horizon off to the northwest. Over the city, the storm seem to be reluctant to move on. Lightning seemed to be everywhere, and even with all the rain that had fallen, the humidity seemed to be about the same as when the whole thing started. Seemed to be a decent amount of limbs down, and the whole atmosphere felt just unsettled enough that I was out and back home in about 20 minutes.
After sitting on my ass for a couple of hours watching TV with Pinklady, it was back to my fight with the ceiling. But for once, it seems I had actually come up with a decent plan. The pulling of the cables went fairly smoothly, and after putting furniture back and closing up holes in the ceiling, I tested the layout in 'send' mode. Damn if it didn't work. I was so freaking happy my nipples were hard. Of course, that could have been the air conditioning. I have yet to test the 'send' mode, but I would hope to have the same degree of success with it as well.
The whole thing may seem to have been a paltry accomplishment, but it made me pretty damn happy.

CHAPTER TWO: There Is No Justice
Another turd in my day was when I learned of the departure of Lady Justice from the belly of the beast known as KHS. True enough, here being there was a waste of her time, talent, and brains. My concern, of course, is my own situation when she departs. When I consider what I may be left with, it sets off a low, but intense, headache. Tonight will be my first night working with one of the new full time 2nd shift tech, and that feeling of dread is starting to rise to the surface. Now I get to couple that with losing one of the people who actually had some interesting things to say, and could hold their own in a conversation. Not happy. Not happy. Not happy.

CHAPTER THREE: The Good and The Bad
Big hugs go out to Kittyluv, who is both celebrating her anniversary, and mourning the loss of the family member responsible for inciting the anniversary.