Snippets and fragments...
Sep. 10th, 2007 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpTotal Recorder apparently has the capability of accelerating the conversion of audio being output from a player. When I tried this with AudibleManager, the acceleration factor actually reached a value of 8 (i.e., it would take 1 realtime hour to convert 8 playback hours), but it also caused the player to crash. Limiting the acceleration to 4 seems to be working okay.
I had always known there was a strong Italian flavor to this part of Long Island, but never really thought about it past acknowledging the fact. There's an unassuming storefront in Glen Cove, for example, for the "Napoli Soccer Club," and a number of other establishments proclaiming either Italian products, cuisine, or surnames associated with businesses. However, it was only today that I noticed that there is apparently an Italian consular office in town as well, and it was the first time that I saw an Italian flag flying on a pole outside a residence (positioned, in proper flag-etiquette manner, next to and below a United States flag).
Speaking of Italy, I never suspected that my mom apparently studied Italian and Latin, in addition to the French, Spanish, and Russian with which she helped her family earn its daily bread. I mean, I knew she had enough Italian to utter a short sentence or two here and there, or to recall a line from an Italian opera, but it turns out she studied the language seriously, if the copious notes and mimeographed verb and vocabulary lists that I've run across - yellowed with age - are any indication.
My mom took a lot of notes, no matter what she was studying, but I suspect those notes were more an aid to memorization than intended as a representation of knowledge. I tend to be that way, too: if I want to remember something, it helps me greatly to write it down, as the effort required to create the letters with a writing implement - or a keyboard - while looking at them helps reinforce recall.
In one other strange respect, my mom is very much like my grandmother. I've been going through the medicine cabinet and the kitchen drawers and throwing out outdated prescriptions and vitamins. The oldest prescription was from 1997. A few of the vitamin bottles had never even been opened, but I figure an expiration date of 2002 prevails in such cases. Such a waste!
The bad news for the day is that I was offered a 30,000 word job for next Wednesday, which represents a nice chunk of change. Considering I'll be on the road for two days this week, though, that means I would've had only today, tomorrow, and Friday in which to work before the interpretation gig starts on Saturday, which is certainly not enough time to translate such a volume of work. The good news is that the same client had another document, of about 5500 words, due in the same time interval.
Half a loaf, as they say, is better than none. I am grateful.
Shiloh continues to alternate at driving me up the wall and saving my sanity. While I do sequester her in her crate at the house during the time I visit my dad and run errands, I won't do that in order to go to the beach by myself or engage in any similar recreation. Today, in fact, it rained for the first time since my arrival (which probably means another outbreak of mushrooms as I leave, but I digress...), which cooled things off enough to allow me to take Shiloh with me to run some of those errands, and leave her in the car from as required.
We visited the pet store I stopped at the other day, and interestingly enough, when Shiloh and Zoё (the house dog) sniffed each other, Zoё took an immediate dislike to Shiloh and growled, but Shiloh did not back down. I find this very unusual, as you'll recall that Shiloh has been known to cringe in fear in the presence of clueless pink chihuahuas one-third her size (Zoё outweighs Shiloh about three, maybe four-to-one). Go figure.
It is past time to go start dinner, and then maybe try to find something watchable on the tube. For the past few nights, it seems Three Kings, Die Hard With A Vengeance, and The Dirty Dozen has been playing each night. I generally end up watching one of my dad's tapes, and even then, not to the end.
Cheers...
I had always known there was a strong Italian flavor to this part of Long Island, but never really thought about it past acknowledging the fact. There's an unassuming storefront in Glen Cove, for example, for the "Napoli Soccer Club," and a number of other establishments proclaiming either Italian products, cuisine, or surnames associated with businesses. However, it was only today that I noticed that there is apparently an Italian consular office in town as well, and it was the first time that I saw an Italian flag flying on a pole outside a residence (positioned, in proper flag-etiquette manner, next to and below a United States flag).
Speaking of Italy, I never suspected that my mom apparently studied Italian and Latin, in addition to the French, Spanish, and Russian with which she helped her family earn its daily bread. I mean, I knew she had enough Italian to utter a short sentence or two here and there, or to recall a line from an Italian opera, but it turns out she studied the language seriously, if the copious notes and mimeographed verb and vocabulary lists that I've run across - yellowed with age - are any indication.
My mom took a lot of notes, no matter what she was studying, but I suspect those notes were more an aid to memorization than intended as a representation of knowledge. I tend to be that way, too: if I want to remember something, it helps me greatly to write it down, as the effort required to create the letters with a writing implement - or a keyboard - while looking at them helps reinforce recall.
In one other strange respect, my mom is very much like my grandmother. I've been going through the medicine cabinet and the kitchen drawers and throwing out outdated prescriptions and vitamins. The oldest prescription was from 1997. A few of the vitamin bottles had never even been opened, but I figure an expiration date of 2002 prevails in such cases. Such a waste!
The bad news for the day is that I was offered a 30,000 word job for next Wednesday, which represents a nice chunk of change. Considering I'll be on the road for two days this week, though, that means I would've had only today, tomorrow, and Friday in which to work before the interpretation gig starts on Saturday, which is certainly not enough time to translate such a volume of work. The good news is that the same client had another document, of about 5500 words, due in the same time interval.
Half a loaf, as they say, is better than none. I am grateful.
Shiloh continues to alternate at driving me up the wall and saving my sanity. While I do sequester her in her crate at the house during the time I visit my dad and run errands, I won't do that in order to go to the beach by myself or engage in any similar recreation. Today, in fact, it rained for the first time since my arrival (which probably means another outbreak of mushrooms as I leave, but I digress...), which cooled things off enough to allow me to take Shiloh with me to run some of those errands, and leave her in the car from as required.
We visited the pet store I stopped at the other day, and interestingly enough, when Shiloh and Zoё (the house dog) sniffed each other, Zoё took an immediate dislike to Shiloh and growled, but Shiloh did not back down. I find this very unusual, as you'll recall that Shiloh has been known to cringe in fear in the presence of clueless pink chihuahuas one-third her size (Zoё outweighs Shiloh about three, maybe four-to-one). Go figure.
It is past time to go start dinner, and then maybe try to find something watchable on the tube. For the past few nights, it seems Three Kings, Die Hard With A Vengeance, and The Dirty Dozen has been playing each night. I generally end up watching one of my dad's tapes, and even then, not to the end.
Cheers...
