Dashboard Mary

I've had a tape for almost 20 years that the Hula Rat put together for me, back when she was oh-so-keen on Wall of Voodoo & Stan Ridgway. It's called 'The Dashboard Mary Collection' from an independent literary magazine she tried to run for awhile. Ah, the days of our youth - Dashboard Mary, freeway shootings, TCBY's frozen yogurt, the Glendora Library. Yup, we were living dangerously, I tell ya. So anyway, since I bought this computer I've been trying to figure out how to tape music from my stereo onto my computer so I could burn a CD from it, specifically for that tape. I nagged & nagged Ann soooo bad for a copy after listening to hers every time we went out together. I think it was 'Leroy' by the Fibonaccis that did it for me. I know eventually it's going to break or something, and I will be devastated, especially since I can't seem to rip like, 5 or 6 songs online from any source, and getting the actual CD's are nigh impossible anymore. Especially trying to find 'Paintwork' by The Fall. I had to leave it off for now because it's pretty much non-existant & I taped over that part of the tape because 20 years ago, the song really annoyed me. Anyway, now I can play the CD's over & over again & not worry about a frail piece of plastic that will get eaten by a ravenous tape deck somewhere along the line.

After arguing w/Rob for a good 2 hrs. I finally obtained the correct splitter to hook the stereo to the 'Line-In' hole in the computer, downloaded a program called Music Match, and voila - a whole new world of possibilities. I can finally get rid of all these recorded-from-radio tapes I've been hauling around for years & years. Supposedly, MusicMatch will recognize the track-breaks on a commercial music tape & will split the tracks on the computer, but I had to manually sit there w/Dashboard Mary, just like trying to record tape-to-tape w/out including all the pauses. The music is relatively clear for a 20-year old tape.

And now that I've figured out how to hook a stereo to my computer & actually get it to play music through my computer, a VCR shouldn't be so scary. As long as Rob unhooks the VCR for me, because we've got this house wired up like NASA w/the TV, VCR, DVD player, my computer, all the surround-sound speakers, etc. It's kind of intimidating.

In other news, Miranda popped a boy out tonight. She sounded pretty lively when I talked to her on the phone - I don't think the drugs have worn off yet.

tribe.net

I quit tribe.net not too long ago. Just let myself drop off the boards... but I'm coming to realize just how much time I actually spent on tribe. Which is why I quit in the first place. Too much time spent online, arguing w/people & getting defensive and thoroughly attached to the outcome of arguments & flame wars. It's obscenely addictive.

I have almost absolutely nothing to do online. I check the bank accounts, check my half.com sales... and that's about it. Which is why I'm filling my lj w/quizzes, which are almost, but not quite, as addictive as tribe.

Found the first dead scorpion of the season on the porch this morning. At least it was dead. It was a fat one, too. The Ex is littered w/dead dung beetles. Well, I don't know if they're really dung beetles, but they sure look like dung beetles. Big, black, shiny beetles that wouldn't look out of place in an African desert rolling elephant dung into balls. Had to go to the castle today to pick up my vacation check & Rob watched one trundling back & forth across the rotunda lobby. He said it was like one of those wind-up cars that changes directions whenever it hits a wall. It would trundle up to someone's foot & change direction... hit the wall, change direction... hit someone's luggage, change direction. It entertained Rob for about a half hour while I was tcb.

It's Kelly's first solo run as relief auditor. My phone is gonna be ringing off the hook tonight.