From the easy grind to the boring.

So today is my last day with the Guest Data Security team at Target. I joined them on a temporary assignment back in March of 2009. It was hush hush type of work. But I can tell you I was working to keep you, the Target consumer and your data with us safe from the bad guys. It was a nice change of pace for me and the four other co-workers who joined me. We all came from Guest Relations and were used to a very strict schedule. All breaks are decided for you, you have to get your vacation time approved at least a week in advance and you’re tied to your desk when not on breaks because your job is to answer phone calls. With Guest Data Security it’s a very relaxed environment. Come and go as you please, break whenever. Need some vacation time? Just tell your boss and it’s done. Get the work done, and you’re free to be you. I’m happy that my first day back in Guest Relations will be next Monday. Meaning I miss out on working Black Friday, my first in six years.

While I was with the GDS team, my desk has been move in GR. I’m not happy about this. The people I’ll be sitting next to are nice, but they all feel that I care about their problems and that I’m their free tech support. I don’t mind helping, but it’s the same problem over and over again. And since I’m about 50 years ahead of them when it comes to using all the available benefits of a computer, they’ll be looking over my shoulder asking about the various tools I have and wanting me to explain how they work. I’ll have to keep my Twitter app secret because that’s not a conversation I want to get into. These are the type of people that buy a computer so they can forward email and play Solitaire. Sorry, didn’t mean to get on a rant about that, but it’s coming, I know it.

The work I do in GR isn’t hard, just boring. I’ve been at it for just over six years now so I’ve pretty much mastered all the skills I need to work the job in my sleep. Answer the phone, resolve the issue. Not hard stuff. Once and a while you get what I call “The Principles.” These are the people who will argue over $.50 (that really happened too). It’s not about the money, it’s the principle. Ugh, shoot me now.

I hear there’s a small, small change that I might be able to go back to GDS and finish up the work I was doing. I’m not going back to GR because I was done, but because it’s the holidays and GR needs everybody than can get to work. This will be an untrue statement, much like it has been in other years. When I first started this time of years was b-u-s-y and it was really fun. But as the department grew in size, and shoppers started spending less, the holiday season and just been a bore. They will be sending people home early and calls volume will be low.

 

On a nothing related note, I’m going with my brother to a big DJ bash tonight. 20 performers on three stages. Going to see my friend DJ Blaze One rock some dub step. I hope it’s dub step, a new genre that I’ve only heard about until recently when I saw him spin a few weeks back. Hot shit I tell ya.

 

Well, it’s near 8:00a and I guess I should get to it.

 

And crap crap blogger.com is acting a fool with craptastic IE6. I’m just going to email this post in a not give a damn about the formatting.

 

I recorded records.

Wow, it's been a while since I thought I had something to say. And it will be much longer too because I never have much to say about anything. I finished up my record recording project. I took about 50 of my best trance, acid trace, house, drum-n-bass, dance and hardcore records and transferred them to my computer. The Process: 1. Played the record and used the simple sound recorder app on my Linux machine. 2. As that was recording, I was taking photos of each side of the record so I could pair them up later to the finished .mp3. I never used my cell phone camera so much. 3. Also, while the record was recording I was transferring the raw audio from the Linux machine to my Windows laptop. Once it was transferred I loaded it up in my audio editor to remove the level check and the little clicks where I was dropping the needle. I had to do the Linux to Windows transfer because my laptop does not have the correct sound card for quality recording. 4. Once I had all the photos cropped, and the audio trimmed I loaded the .mp3's into my tag editor. From there I could get all the ID3's created and attach the photos to each song. 5. When all the tags were correct, I uniformly renamed all the files to match the record as best possible. Artist - Side. As in Busta Rhymes - A. I don't care about the name of the song, just what side of the record I was listening to. I did this so I could listen to my records on my iPod. I want to know these records like I know most songs on my computer. I've been trying to play DJ for years but was always getting frustrated because I could never get the mix right. Mainly because I didn't know the song well enough. And if all things work in my favor, I won't need the records anymore. I'm looking into buying hardware that will allow me to control my .mp3's using my turntables. (Let it be known I still hate the WYSIWYG editor for blogger)