Monday, February 16, 2009

KiTtY's VIRtUaLLy ReAl COmPUtEr EsCAPadEs

Hello once again friends, family and followers.

Another weekend has virtually flown by! I often find myself in a relective state of mind on Mondays and today is no exception. My oldest child, Lauren, went off to college this year - have I already mentioned that a million times? This alone has been fodder for hours of reflection. Remember whens and I wonder whats...Ah well, there is no better cure for reflection than some reality, right? Scotty, beam me up.

In my present world I have a large class assignment that, true to computer world form, isn't going smoothly. As a result of my vast experience with computers, peripherals, software, etc. I always steel myself when beginning a project and expect that there will be a malfunction(s) - real, virtual or HUMAN!

For my eme5208I assignment I chose the Digital Video and Audio modules of Journey #1. Now; time to organize the "Required Materials for this Module". I got out the (circa 2000-how did it get so) old video camera and charged the battery. Charged the battery. Charged it some more. True to form, no charge!? @*$&%^!

After the battery had a one night sleepover at the Interstate Battery store, I learned that it will no longer hold a charge (i.e. it's D E A D). The helpful clerk, Mark, was able to find a relacement battery in stock (yay!) that did not fit into my camera (darn!). Mark was nice enough to write down the #s of two other batteries (not in stock) that his nice computer informed him would also fit my camera. $40-50. Sheesh. He suggested I look on Amazon or eBay. Geez, by the time (if I can find it at all) I get this battery it'll be Xmas! And I don't see the module posted yet, so I don't know what else I'll need.

So, shift gears. I do a few jumping jacks. Some push-ups, jumps, jog in place. Shake it out. Calm - feel the peace, let it in....ok. Now.

Let's see what the "Required Materials for this Module" are for the Audio portion of the assignment;
#1. Computer with sound card. Check! Whew..got past #1 no prob.
#2 Microphone. Right! I have a microphone we got with our very
first computer. In 1997. 11 years ago.

Don't panic: remember - you used it at school (with Audacity as a mater of fact) on a new Dell and it worked fine. A microphone is a micrphone right? Right!

I untangle it's cord from the mess of wires I discovered, but never wanted to look at, protruding like spaghetti from the back of my son's PC. After I recover from breathing in a large dust-bunny (good thing nobody can see back there...) I give the microphone a quick once-over. All the parts and pieces are here-good.

Drum roll. . . . . . Oh good, there is a little hole in the front of my laptop with a tiny drawing of a microphone! That must be where I should plug it in, D'OH....

Tune in for my next bLoG installment. Find out:




**Does Kittygator's microphone REALLY work? **



>>Is it broken, and just APPEARS to be ok?<<



@@Does it have a voice warp feature so I can sound like an alien-wait, never mind that.@@



~~What is #3?~~

Come back soon to find out what the next real, virtual or human malfunction will be in-
KiTtY's VIRtUaLLy ReAl COmPUtEr EsCAPadEs






Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Digital Imaging and Digital Audio

Whether it's camping, traveling, vacationing, or just relaxing with family, yours truly frequently harrasses everyone around me.
Why? Because I LOVE to take pictures! I'm the one who orders everyone to pose for pictures that document these memorable times of our lives. Some pictures are intimate & emotional, others fun & light-hearted, and I get them ALL on pixel!
I'm looking forward to these modules because I'll learn to use several tools, software and program 'tricks'. Then perhaps I can actually DO something special with the 7,000+ photos I have (stored online)!
Wouldn't you know though, this week when I got my Canon digital camera out, it wouldn't turn on. Assuming the batteries were dead, I changed them. Nothing.
Remembering a recent "Car Talk" radio show where the best advice they could give was to give the car door a good whack, I gave the camera a decent whack. Surprisingly, the camera began to work!
I took a few shots, but when I put the memory card in the printer, there were NO pictures! Another technologically driven frustration without a solution (yet!) Thankfully, I have a small Olympus and an OLD HP digital camera to use as stand-ins.
So the first adventure begins in Digital Imaging and Audio :-) I'm sure this is just the first of many. Next entry I will include details of the activity(ies) as I work through the assignments.