Archive for December 15th, 2009

Today’s Business: 2009-12-15

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Today’s Chores

  • Cat duty
  • Dispensing Mom’s meds
  • Shower
  • Update debit card information with music provider 

07:50 AM: I’m up.  

08:15 AM: Worked the  TTNorm Early Abort Bug   issue.  I think I have a work-around.  I’ll test it several times this morning to be sure.

08:20 AM: Working the   DJ Gig: 2009-12-31   effort.

09:50 AM: Working the   TTNorm Early Abort Bug   issue.  See today’s comments on that,   here   for further details. 

04:30 PM: Sent a check to my financial advisor, that constitutes a transfer of some of my funds to a new investment account, per his recommendation.

04:55 PM: Posted the   Winamp Skips EA-DFF Files   piece in this, the   Tom’s Diary   blog. 

10:00 PM: [Emmy] and I listened to the Penguins play the Flyers on the Internet radio, and the Pens won.

11:25 PM: Posted the list of documents revised today here,  in the   Tom’s Diary   blog.

11:30 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless on the DVR. 

12:20 AM: Watched the 2009-12-11 episode of Dr. Phil, called  Adoption Dilemmas,  on the DVR.

12:35 AM: Another busy day, winding down.  Catch you all tomorrow.  I’m off to bed now.  Later.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

Posted in DVR, Emmy, Housekeeping, Internet Radio, Journal, People, Pets, Radio, Television, Today's Business | No Comments »

Diary Revisions: 2009-12-15

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Today, I either added or modified the following posts in  the   Tom’s Diary    blog for improved brevity, clarity, categorization, appearance,  and search-ability:

  • Winamp Skips EA-DFF Files
  • Mom’s Status: 2009-12-15
  • Today’s Business: 2009-12-15
  • TTNorm Early Abort Bug
  • Today’s Business: 2009-12-14
  • Diary Revisions: 2009-12-14
  • Mom’s Status: 2009-12-14
  • Today’s Business: 2009-12-13
  • Significant Dates
  • DJ Gig: 2009-12-31
  • Today’s Business: 2009-11-09
  • Promo Only Music Subscriptions
  • Eager for Christmas Break
  • Update: 2000-12-15
  • Christmas Vacation Shortened
  • More on Computer Monitors
  • About Computer Monitors
  • Printing a PostScript File
  • Thanksgiving Wrap-Up
  • Good Morning, Jojo
  • I’m In Philly Once More!
  • Moved To Red Lion Road
  • Arranging a Haircut
  • JenGee Is Definitely Coming
  • JenGee Coming to Winter Retreat
  • I Pay My Way
  • Mom’s Not Moving
  • Preparing for the Move
  • Update: 2000-11-06
  • Happy Birthday Twin Sisters
  • Mom Wants to Move
  • Weather Report: 2000-11-03
  • Office 2000 Upgrade
  • Another Philly Trip
  • I Got A Raise
  • Dear Tad: 2000-10-23
  • Dear Breeze
  • Dear Tad
  • Lunch Today with AM and Lor
  • Dear CVL
  • Renewing Another Old Friendship
  • The Weather
  • Extending my Dayton Visit
  • Dear Lynn: 2000-10-12
  • In Dayton Now
  • Tid Bits: 2000-10-11
  • Lunch with AM
  • Lunch with Jann and Kel
  • Setting Up Lunch with Lor
  • Indian Lunch with Jann and Kel
  • Lunch with Kel
  • Lunch with Lor
  • Philly Trip Went Well
  • Change, the Only Constant
  • What I’m Up To
  • Cubby Killed
  • Next Vacation Schedule
  • Cubby’s Kittens
  • Alumni Stuff
  • A Humid Evening

    •  

    Tom Hesley

    Posted in Lynn, People, Revisions, Tad | No Comments »

    Winamp Skips EA-DFF Files

    Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

    The M4A audio files currently appearing on Promo Only’s   Express Audio Digital File Format   (EA-DFF) discs,  do not play in Winamp 5.56.  This is inconvenient, as I prefer Winamp when DJing over the numerous other players out there. 

    However, it’s still possible to use Winamp with these files.  To do that, you must first convert them (using QuickTime et al), to a format that Winamp understands (mp4, wav, Etc.).    In fact, I was able to convert an original m4a file to mp4 or wav, and both of these played in Winamp without problems. 

    But, getting the music data converted is not the only hurdle to cross.  In fact, the original files have tags that contain the album name, year, beats per minute, artist, and song title.  But unfortunately, these data are lost during conversion. 

    This isn’t a terribly big deal because I’ve written some PERL scripts that put some of the data into the tags, including the BPM field if desired.  However, beats-per-minute fis not displayed on the card inserts that come with these CD ROMs, though it does appear in the original file tags.  This means that you must look at the original tags in some sort of editor to get it, or go to Promo Only’s web site.  Doable, for sure, but this is a pain. 

    Yet, however you getthe data in the first place, whatever information you wish carry forward from the originalM4A tags to the output of the conversion, must be applied to the converted files manually.  Or, software must be written to do this.  I’ll go with the manual route for now, though I may write programs at some point if I grow tired of hand-copying the data.  Shouldn’t be too hard to write, as the M4A files provided in the EA-DFF subscription, appear to have tag (box) structures similar to the mp4 files I already have in my library. Since I already have a library of PERL functions to handle these files, adaption to Promo Only’s M4A file should be pretty easy.  Famous last words, ‘eh?   :-)

    I mentioned this to the   Promo Only   staff this afternoon.  They were not aware of it, and weren’t sure what they could do to fix it.  But maybe they’ll be motivated to look into it, as many DJs rely on Winamp to play their music in the field.  At least now, they know about this issue.

    Tom Hesley 

    Related Posts

    Posted in DJ Business, PERL, Software, Winamp | No Comments »

    Mom’s Status: 2009-12-15

    Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

    Pending Appointments And Issues

    • Sometime this month (December), we must take Mom’s 2008 property tax paperwork to a lawyer in Tipton for examination.  She may be eligible for a significant tax rebate.
    • Order another batch of Accu-Chek Aviva test strips.
    • Order more Humulin insulin.
    • Thursday, 2010-02-04 @ 11:30 AM: Appointment with orthopedist for a quarterly checkup on the progress of healing of her charcot foot.

    Log 

    09:50 AM: Blood sugar: 217.  Covered this and her breakfast with 20 units of log insulin.

    09:55 AM: Dispensed Mom’s morning meds.

    01:30 PM: Dispensed Mom’s after-lunch meds.

    01:33 PM: Blood sugar: 131.

    05:00 PM: Dispensed her evening meds.  She was heading for a Christmas party and didn’t feel that she had time to read her blood sugar.  However, I managed to convince her to take her insulin with her and dose according to how much she eats. 

    08:15 PM: Mom covered her meal with 20 units of log insulin.

    08:40 PM: She just got back home.  Had a great time.  In fact, they would have stayed later.  But the restaurant was closing.  So they had to leave before they really wanted to.  Sounded like all guests had a healthy helping of the Christmas spirit. 

    10:30 PM: Blood sugar: 277.  Covered with 22 units of log insulin.  Also, I dispensed Mom’s night-time meds.

    Tom Hesley 

    Related Posts

    Posted in Mom, Mom's Diabetes | 2 Comments »

    TTNorm Early Abort Bug

    Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

    While adding music to the Tommy’s Tunes library earlier, the TTNorm program terminated unexpectedly after I’d used it successfully to normalize the volume levels on five CDs worth of WAV files.  At least this time, it exited gracefully; unlike a few weeks ago, when it crashed.  It doesn’t do it on all WAV files.  Only some. 

    I’ve rebooted the host computer.  No luck.  The problem persists.  So, it’s time to dig into it with the debugger and see what’s going on.  I’ll document my progress in the comments below.  Work on the   DJ Gig: 2009-12-31   effort must stop until this problem is resolved. 

    Tom Hesley

    Related Posts

    Posted in DJ Business, DJ Software Status, Journal, Software, Status | 2 Comments »