Back on the job

Job? We don't need no stinkin' job...

I've discovered (isn't Google wonderful) a share-ware program for cataloging CDs: collectorz.com

The program is a  (free for few features, some $ for more, more $ for still more) download, and does not live on-line like LibraryThing. I suppose since there was such a brouhaha about 'file-sharing' that is a good thing...less temptation.

I suppose I am more than half-way through, and I was lucky enough to find duplicates that Charles adopted, so the 'pure' collection is (mostly) going to be stripped of dupes.

Open the program | push the button to log disks | pop a CD in the drive | the program reads the code number off the disk and pops the CD tray out | insert another disk, etc.

When you have a good stack done...keep it down to 10 or fewer to make it easier to correct discrepancies...push the "search" button. The program goes out and retrieves title, cover art, track lists and times, etc., etc. for each CD...if it can find it. If it can't find it, you can enter it manually by editing the record after you have saved the list to your database. That's why I suggest being conservative about the number you do at once; you'll have to research which entry stands for which disk, and it's easier with a light load or a short stack.

There is a 'comments' type field into which I can enter the box number the CD is packed into, much as I did with books. Many many fit into one box, though, so it won't be quite so critical. As the list is being built, you can specify genre (making them up if you want more than they come up with), so re-shelving at the other end will also be pretty straightforward.

Goodwill Sorting

We've gone through all the linens and towels and made a couple of boxes for Goodwill. I hope they take pillows!

Next, on to catalog the things we will be giving to the church sale.

In the course of the project, we found some ratty-looking fabric pieces that turn out to be old bean sacks! They have faintly-visible printing that extols their virtues as "seamless". I guess they are a leftover from the Great Depression. I was going to cut them up as dish towels, but now I will find some better use for them.

Paint and shine

Phil has finished fixing the ceiling in the yellow bedroom. It all looks gorgeous, and we moved Grammy Grammer's sleigh bed, my childhood maple desk, and Mom's antique chest of drawers in, to furnish it. The sleigh bed had been occupying the post office, so it's nice to gain more packing space in there, too.

Phil and I also moved the tall chest with the mirror into the front bedroom (the blue room), and that room is looking more settled. As things move around, we get closer and closer to actual packing of our own stuff.

Happily, we had company Friday night: Dawn, David, and Jon came through on their way further north. So we had nicely furnished space for them to sleep in.

So we move steadily onward. (Who knew we had so many sheets?! Some MUST have been from Mom's stash.)

Done with the commercial videos

Finally, we have finished looking at the commercially-made videos and dvds. Put many in the "church sale" box; kept some.

Now we must dig into the tapes Mom made. Some will be interesting; some will not. All appear to be taped off TV, but the proto-Tivo ones can be recycled.

Update: one of the tapes (labelled "8-mm") is a VHS shot while Jack M and Mumma watched films of (among other subjects?) the boys's trip around the US in 1966. Because of the method of re-recording, there are delightful comments from both Jack and Mumma on the tape.

How nice to see that box truck backing into the d'way

Sold a load of furniture last week; enough to furnish a small apartment. I think we owe them a couple of pieces, still, but they also took all our tropical plants. As Ren says, maybe the plants would have been happier in Texas. But I wasn't interested in finding out how to pack and ship; we can grow more.

Video Glut

We've seen these movies in the last week: For the Boys, Crooklyn (first 1/2 hour), Alice, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Please Don't Eat the Daisies, An Ideal Husband, and The Indian in the Cupboard. All go into the "give away" box.

Not the first time for most of them; PDEtheD was a first.  1960 seems so long ago!

Best: Indian. All (except Crooklyn) worth watching. We felt that Crooklyn sang true, dialog-wise, but did not appear to have a plot. Which makes it difficult as escapist video.

I'm not telling how many more we had rejected out of hand, having remembered them vividly, or kept out of hand, ditto. THEN, we will be on to the home-recorded vids; probably we'll fast-forward through most of them.

Music Mashup

Started "final boxing" the Music today...sheet music in Box 1; band music (and some piano) in Box 2; Vocal sheet music in Box 3. Or something like that. Feels good to be this far, but there are still bends in the road before we see Mount Joy.