When speakers fall silent

I noticed today that some of my music listening didn't sound quite right, and when I went to my speaker application to test the speakers, I noticed that only my front right speaker was playing sound. I checked the connections, checked the balance control on my computer, and finally got down underneath my desk to take a look. I messed around with swapping the cable plugs to see if the problem was in my speaker, then unplugged the extension cables and plugged a speaker in directly to see if it still worked, and so on.

Then I finally turned to look more closely at the extension cables, where they plugged into the subwoofer. I knew that my cats had liked to sit on top of the subwoofer, and sometimes they had batted at the cables. (I've had a dishwasher detergent bottle full of water handy that I can spray at them when they do that, but had gotten lax about it since they invariably jumped off of the speaker when they heard me grab it.) Now I followed the cables out of the subwoofer and checked for signs of damage.

I found signs of damage. To wit, the cables had been chewed on and bitten through, in several places. The cables had been way longer than I needed, so I had left the excess length bundled up and tied with twist-ties. They had been dangling down at just the right height to make attractive kitty toys, I guess.

I love my cats. I really do. I'm just trying to remember that fact right now, so I don't shortly end up with new pairs of orange and seal point tabby earmuffs.

When speakers fall silent

I noticed today that some of my music listening didn't sound quite right, and when I went to my speaker application to test the speakers, I noticed that only my front right speaker was playing sound. I checked the connections, checked the balance control on my computer, and finally got down underneath my desk to take a look. I messed around with swapping the cable plugs to see if the problem was in my speaker, then unplugged the extension cables and plugged a speaker in directly to see if it still worked, and so on.

Then I finally turned to look more closely at the extension cables, where they plugged into the subwoofer. I knew that my cats had liked to sit on top of the subwoofer, and sometimes they had batted at the cables. (I've had a dishwasher detergent bottle full of water handy that I can spray at them when they do that, but had gotten lax about it since they invariably jumped off of the speaker when they heard me grab it.) Now I followed the cables out of the subwoofer and checked for signs of damage.

I found signs of damage. To wit, the cables had been chewed on and bitten through, in several places. The cables had been way longer than I needed, so I had left the excess length bundled up and tied with twist-ties. They had been dangling down at just the right height to make attractive kitty toys, I guess.

I love my cats. I really do. I'm just trying to remember that fact right now, so I don't shortly end up with new pairs of orange and seal point tabby earmuffs.

When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads…

So it's been raining out most of the day. The song I thought about as I sat down to log in at the library computer was the Beatles' (though I like the Big Smith cover better) "When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads…" Well, the first song Pandora.com played for me today was a different song by the Beatles, but the second song was John Denver singing "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy…" And then the third song was Jonathan Edwards, "Sunshine go away today, I don't feel much like dancing…"

That kind of sums up how my life's been going lately. A number of weird little reversals like that. Like how it was the first rainy day in days or weeks that is also my first real job interview in over a month.

And boy what a rainy day. I waited and watched the weather radar, hoping for a sign that the rain would move on and I could catch the bus…but it never did—so an hour before the scheduled interview, I went ahead and took a cab to the News-Leader building. Ten bucks it cost me, but I hope it was money well spent.

I interviewed with a man named Mark Farnsworth for a sales support position. Not doing the actual sales job, but implementing the campaigns the sales people come up with. Working on ads and the like. It seems like it might just be right up my alley.

I'm not sure, but I think I might have made it to round two. My fingers are crossed. I imagine that the attention I've been paying to the newspaper industry's travails with paid content for TeleRead.org stood me in good stead—I hope he was pleasantly surprised when I showed I'd been following it and was able to discuss it with him. It would be a great place to work for a blogger and journalist-wanna-be, that's for sure; if I do a good job, I might be able to transfer to a more writing-related department.

After the interview, I stood around a bit and waited for the bus…then I figured, if I was going to get rained on anyway, I might as well just walk the distance down to the square and save myself a buck ten. So I walked south on Benton, stopping at a sports-cards shop to plug SpringfieldGAME, then ended up at the library on the square. I was going to eat lunch at the Rickshaw, but my taxi ride left me short on cash and they don't take credit cards. Maybe I'll walk on down to Merle's and take advantage of his recession special.

I think for the rest of the afternoon after that I'm going to go see G.I. Joe at the Hollywood at 4:15 and then walk down to 1984 for the 7:00 weekly meeting. I should have just enough time to get it done. I think my speaker wire replacement will have to wait for tomorrow.

The sad thing is, if I knew how to splice wire and had the right tools, I could probably just splice those speaker wires back together and save some money. But I don't, so I can't.

Well, off to go get something to eat and see a movie.

Raaaaain, I don't mind…

When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads…

So it's been raining out most of the day. The song I thought about as I sat down to log in at the library computer was the Beatles' (though I like the Big Smith cover better) "When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads…" Well, the first song Pandora.com played for me today was a different song by the Beatles, but the second song was John Denver singing "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy…" And then the third song was Jonathan Edwards, "Sunshine go away today, I don't feel much like dancing…"

That kind of sums up how my life's been going lately. A number of weird little reversals like that. Like how it was the first rainy day in days or weeks that is also my first real job interview in over a month.

And boy what a rainy day. I waited and watched the weather radar, hoping for a sign that the rain would move on and I could catch the bus…but it never did—so an hour before the scheduled interview, I went ahead and took a cab to the News-Leader building. Ten bucks it cost me, but I hope it was money well spent.

I interviewed with a man named Mark Farnsworth for a sales support position. Not doing the actual sales job, but implementing the campaigns the sales people come up with. Working on ads and the like. It seems like it might just be right up my alley.

I'm not sure, but I think I might have made it to round two. My fingers are crossed. I imagine that the attention I've been paying to the newspaper industry's travails with paid content for TeleRead.org stood me in good stead—I hope he was pleasantly surprised when I showed I'd been following it and was able to discuss it with him. It would be a great place to work for a blogger and journalist-wanna-be, that's for sure; if I do a good job, I might be able to transfer to a more writing-related department.

After the interview, I stood around a bit and waited for the bus…then I figured, if I was going to get rained on anyway, I might as well just walk the distance down to the square and save myself a buck ten. So I walked south on Benton, stopping at a sports-cards shop to plug SpringfieldGAME, then ended up at the library on the square. I was going to eat lunch at the Rickshaw, but my taxi ride left me short on cash and they don't take credit cards. Maybe I'll walk on down to Merle's and take advantage of his recession special.

I think for the rest of the afternoon after that I'm going to go see G.I. Joe at the Hollywood at 4:15 and then walk down to 1984 for the 7:00 weekly meeting. I should have just enough time to get it done. I think my speaker wire replacement will have to wait for tomorrow.

The sad thing is, if I knew how to splice wire and had the right tools, I could probably just splice those speaker wires back together and save some money. But I don't, so I can't.

Well, off to go get something to eat and see a movie.

Raaaaain, I don't mind…