What if one of the causes of getting a song stuck in your head was
your brain picking up on radio waves traveling through the air? I'm
fairly certain radio waves don't work like that but who really knows?
Much like TV, it's at least 90% magical.
There was more testing this morning but only one test because the
middle school choir came for a performance first thing this morning.
One test is nice. Several of the kids didn't finish and a lot of
that was again due to spending an inordinate amount of time taking
notes. It doesn't matter how explicitly I tell them that they do not
and should not spend an hour reading and taking notes, a handful
continue to do just that. It is hard to watch but to each their own.
There isn't a time limit on the test so there is no sense of urgency
or actual need to go fast. It is just my lose of sanity from
watching them at stake.
When testing was over I put together a proof of concept for the end
of the year slideshow. I brought my laptop and dropped the video of
rain on a window into my video editor. Then I made a slide of
pictures with a transparent background and dropped it in. Thankfully
it worked like I thought and it looked like the pictures were on the
window. The tricky part I discovered was when I tried to pan across
the pictures. It panned across the pictures but the rain video
stayed stationary so it ruined the effect of the pictures being on
the window. The way around this was to put the same panning effects
in the exact same spots on the video, so even though the are still
independent layers they move together. I am hoping there is a way to
merge the layers or somehow lock them together so I don't have to
recreate everything I do on the pictures on the video as well. But
we'll see. Today was just about putting it together and seeing if it
worked.
My free time in the afternoon between classes in the lab was spent
editing pictures. I only finished three pictures but two of them
required quite a bit of work and I was pretty happy with the outcome,
not that anyone will actually know.
Near the end of the day I went up to look at a projector on the third
floor that has apparently been acting up. Apparently it would only
stay on for short periods of time before shutting off, usually in the
middle of a lesson. I was up there yesterday returning a laptop that
had an issue and the teacher mentioned the projector. She said they
had just replaced the bulb last year and they are supposed to last
for quite awhile. My first thought was that maybe the filter was
clogged and it was powering off because it was getting too hot. I
think this thought came from my computer turning off when I didn't
plug in the liquid cooling right for my CPU and it was overheating
and shutting down. It was just a thought but I figured it would be
an easy check that might prevent an expensive bulb and a long wait
for IT to show up.
So I went up today with a can of air and a hope that there was
something sturdy to stand on. I had a very nice, solid chair, which
was way better than the small stool I stood on last year when I was
looking at a projector in one of the third grade rooms. When I
opened the door for the filter it was immediately apparent that it
was packed with dust. I think it would give a projector installed in
a hay barn or a flour mill a run for its money. I doubt it has ever
been cleaned out. I blew air into it, shook it out, and dug around a
little bit until I couldn't get anything else out. I also blew out
the compartment it was in and the other vent openings which had built
up traces of dust. Lastly, I pulled out the bulb to look at it just
to make sure it wasn't a lemon. It appeared to be fine, it didn't
look burnt and the filaments looked fine, so I'm hoping it was just
the clogged filter not letting air get to the bulb.
After work I stop by the urologist office to pay my “overdue”
copay. When I left my appointment last month I asked about paying
and the lady said I was good. That didn't make a lot of sense and it
turns out the reason for that feeling is that I was not good. Due to
my long wait getting an x-ray it was after their usual closing time
and the receptionist I saw when I came in had already left. I think
there was just miscommunication between her and the lady who I saw
when I left. And that led to me getting a note saying I needed to
pay my copay, with a bright sticker reminding me I would be charged a
fee next time and blah blah blah. I realize it is a canned letter
but seeing as it was their fault, not mine, I was a little annoyed.
But, it was a mistake and not something to get worked up over. So I
stopped by and paid it so I could save on the stamp.
For school tonight I read an article and listened to a webinar on the
licensing of electronic resources. As all webinars seem to be, the
sound quality was awful and it frequently cut out. In their defense
it was recorded five years ago, but ones recorded a month ago are
also awful, so nothing has changed. The teacher actually made it
optional because the quality was so poor. But I wasn't in the mood
for reviewing the licensing websites, so I went with the webinar. I
started by playing it through my speakers and that made me want to
rip my ears off. By switching to headphones it sounded more like a
phone call with someone on the other side of the world. Not great
but bearable. A lot of it was a rehash of what I read yesterday and
today but there was still some interesting information. I kind of
like the tediousness of licensing and copyright but I don't think I
would want that as a job. I still think I want to be on the public
side, not technical.
While I listened to the webinar I played Crashlands. It's a
game that doesn't require a lot of thought, which is nice, and I was
able to kind of zone out and make progress in that while learning
about licensing. It was a win-win. Earlier in the night I
downloaded Crashlands on my old Nexus 7. The last time I used
it was to briefly play Fallout Shelter when it came out for
Android. I think I played it twice in the week between semesters and
then I went back to textbooks. And before Fallout Shelter, I
have no idea how long it had been since I had used it. A really long
time. I actually had to update the tablet twice before I could even
download Crashlands and I was worried at first that it
wouldn't work at all. Turns out it runs better on the tablet than it
does on my phone. I ran around for a little bit just to try it out,
and I liked it, but having to tab in the direction you want to go
means your hand is always in the way, which isn't good when you're
trying to avoid bad guys. I also prefer the fighting mechanics with
a mouse. But it is still really cool being able to sync a save from
my computer to a mobile device and pick up right where I left off. I
know there are games out there that have a mobile component but
they're basically just mini-games. And there are a lot of games now
that start on mobile and then end up on PC and cost a lot more even
though it is the same game. Crashlands feels different, even
if it isn't to those who are more experienced with cross-platform
games. It feels like a fully-fledged PC game that just happens to
also work on mobile.
Anyway. It's nearly midnight, so my poor sleep streak this week
continues. Hooray. I'm going to go to bed now.
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