Yesterday, I began labelling and boxing the DVD collection for transit to the co-op. I’ve considered making digital copies of the good ones, which also determines whether they can be played back without hearing it from an irate buyer.

You should think likewise.  Nobody should abide by jealous centralized streaming services that make us perpetually rent everything we pay for. So long as you do not show or sell their contents, or distribute them via BitTorrents, ripping DVDs is deemed fair use just as much as if you ripped a CD.

There are also many VHS tapes. They sell for far less since it’s hard for people to locate and exploit a VCR. I no longer have one of my own and will part ways with whatever I can find.  A VHS tape is fascinating as its contents often differ with advanced media formats.  I understand that Disney’s Aladdin, one of the greatest cartoons from the nineties (including its animated series and spin-off movies, which spur the stereotypical mediocrity endemic of animated classics’ sequels), has a very different introductory theme song compared to later versions.

VHS is just as susceptible to damage as a DVD, but weathers it far better as a scratched DVD stutters and breaks down on a whim, whereas a VHS can still continue to run despite a few jarring moments where it speeds up while tracking the picture quality.

I also have plenty of board games to process–spare pieces for one of them has arrived.  That will entail a steeper price tag than normal, but the extra pieces that came for the ride will be much appreciated.  Board games are much cooler than contemporary video games once you have someone to play with.  Nothing quite like it–not even that Tabletop Simulator that Vinny showed off the other day competes with in-person friends.  Remember that.

I had errands this morning, not the least of which includes letting my father tinker with my car for a way to solve a “Check Engine” light. He thinks he purchased the right part, but cannot install it without removing tubes or finagling the engine. He is content to let the mechanics check it.  He asked me to drop the machine off at his house tomorrow evening. This grinds against my desired plans for Thursday, but I had blown off plenty of other Thursdays so far for it to count.

Dissatisfied with my setup, I spent this afternoon rearranging and repositioning the many containers full of musty books that are receiving a “fumigation treatment”. I placed them in a smaller container and laced the remainder with activated charcoal, baking soda, and shredded and crumpled newsprint. This will take another month’s time, whereupon I’ll check the results and ready the cured candidates for transport.

I have seven containers full of books. I even have a few stray containers on the side. I could not get to the crates I use to transport wares, so I shuffled their positions. I do not need to inspect the fumigators daily, but I do need the crates and also to process some of their contents. Life has been far kinder after this swap.

For a while, I have been using a spare laptop to edit my booths’ inventory. However, this requires access to an website and, for whatever reason, the wi-fi for the laptop ends up cut off. I can’t keep unplugging and re-plugging the router every five minutes. Feeling the wi-fi is unreliable (I hear all kinds of security issues, too), I have purchased three ethernet cables. These will connect to the laptops from the router. I had to reposition my laptop to the center of the room.

One of the most grueling issues is knowing which way to insert label paper into the printer so it aligns properly. It can align, but how I did it slips from my memory so fast that I cannot replicate it. Feels like amateur hour every time I try. I do use laser printers since I don’t print every day, like what must happen when you use an ink-jet printer and don’t want ink cartridges to dry up.

Until I know my vehicle’s schedule is free, I can only sort through and prepare the crates, but cannot transport them. I can look online to see if there are jewel cases for stray discs, plus magazine and comic book jackets. There are other things to do, not the least of which includes adjusting my window so the air conditioner I purchased can fit right (as well as where to recycle the old one whose fan gave out recently).

Shout-Out to Vinny of Vinesauce for delicious background noise while shuffling containers around. Vinny runs a streaming show where contributors provide him with “Code Corruptions”, which he then presents in his “Corruption Stockpile”.  They alter video game programming to generate experimental audio and visual effects (warning: do not watch if you’re epileptic or photosensitive!) with a touch of parodic dissonance.

Vinny himself is a New Yorker who heads a rock band and complains about taxes.  Like most rock singers, he does mean Kermit the Frog and Mario impersonations.

Check out https://www.youtube.com/@vinesaucefullsauce for more!