Day 909

I found myself getting sidetracked today. There was plenty of regular work that needed to be done, but there always seemed to be something that needed to be taken care of first. As part of my continuing efforts to declutter the office, I decided that an old portable multi-track recorder needed to go to the storage room. I used to use this machine to record our band performances, but it has gathered dust for many years. Unfortunately, I discovered today that while it was gathering dust, I had forgotten to remove the batteries. All the old batteries had leaked and made a horrible mess. I have ruined other things by forgetting to take the batteries out, but I was convinced that this recorder was salvageable. I took the recorder apart so I could remove the battery cage and clean out all the battery acid and rust and suddenly the entire morning was gone.

When I got the recorder apart, I was amazed at the huge spaghetti of wires that spilled out. Jeez, if they made my iPhone this way, the thing would be as big as a pizza box. It isn't all that surprising that there were a lot more jobs when this little recorder was made. They must have hired ten people just to solder all the connections together.

Eventually I got the little machine looking like new and put everything back together again. Then I got worried that I may have forgotten to take the batteries out of some of my old film cameras as well. As I opened each camera case, I discovered that I actually had remembered to take the batteries out of the Nikon motor drives and strobes. This wasn't entirely good news though, since I also discovered that the foam inserts in most of the cases had disintegrated and gooey old foam was sticking to the lenses and camera bodies. Again I had a big mess on my hands. I carefully cleaned each lens and then wrapped it in a paper towel before placing it back in the decaying foam insert. Protective foam inserts really don't last very long. I know I have already replaced all the foam in the Nikon case at least once before for exactly the same reason.

I'm fighting a losing battle. Everything around me is getting older, and I'm not getting any younger myself. I'm starting to get gun-shy about even turning on a piece of old equipment. There's always a good chance it will fizzle or fail to function. Even things that are never used will disintegrate eventually. Rubber belts dry and crack. Lubricants evaporate and congeal. Once you take something out of service, you will always lose the wall wart power supply that came with it too. I've got a whole box full of these old wall warts, and I have no idea what they go to.

Like many video editors, I eagerly awaited Apple's product introductions today. I was convinced that it was long past time for them to update their aging Mac Pro tower. I would definitely like a faster, more powerful tower. Once again however, Apple introduced a cool new laptop and did virtually nothing with their aging desktop. The tower is completely out of date and it doesn't appear that a replacement is on the horizon. Oh well, I'm completely out of date as well. I'm still working and so is my old tower. We'll just have to make do with what we have.

Willa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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