Monday Meanderings - 5.29.2017

I'm a couple of weeks into my no sweetener in my coffee regimen. It's best summed up by "drinking slightly less coffee while enjoying it a whole lot less." We'll see.

 

 A significant aspect of producing audio books at Learning Ally is the checking of the audio files against the written word. It's a tedious, important part of the process, demanding your total attention while you listen and compare. It's easy to get caught up in the story, or to read ahead a bit, or just lose your focus. One of our best checkers is a retired judge who comes to the studio daily, dressed in coat and tie, and checks for hours at a stretch, relentlessly picking up on each and every error.

I've mentioned before that all of us readers make mistakes, such as transpose words, or substitute 'a' for 'the' or just flat misread the material. And sometimes, it doesn't have anything to do with how you read. The other day I got a folder from an earlier project that had a couple of errors to be corrected. When I opened the files and brought up the error listings, they said "Background noise."

This puzzled me, because we record in sound-proof, heavily padded isolation booths. How could there be background noise in that environment? But when I listened, I clearly heard... my stomach growling!

The Next Door neighbor bulletin board recently had a listing of a $500 reward for the return of a grey lost cat. That got me thinking about the strays that come around our house and a spray can of grey paint. Nah. Probably couldn't pull that off.

My driver's license is up for renewal and this time it was necessary to show up at the DMV. The entire DMV experience has become synonymous with bureaucracy, poor customer service and long lines, so I set out early on a day with no other commitments to get this task completed.

The letter advising me of the need for renewal was full of requirements of documentary evidence; passports, IDs, SSN card, proof of residency, filled-in-forms and, of course, payment. I gathered all the documents, checked the website for the form to complete, and saw a note about "Get in Line Online." There is a big office relatively near our home and they allow you to log in with your mobile phone number and get a place in the line. A text appeared that said my turn would come up in about 40 minutes. Subsequent messages kept me updated with my status, along with options to request "more time" or "step out of the line."

I got to the facility with about 10 minutes to wait; they called my phone number in about 9, I only needed my old driver's license for ID, smiled at the camera, read line 4 on the chart, paid my money  and I was done in another 10 minutes! The clerk did mention that I was smart to come in before school was out!

 

There was a fender bender accident out at ABIA the other day, involving 2 passenger planes. Okay, it was more of a wing-tip bender when the 2 jets got a little too close while they were positioning at the gates. Some one texted, "Did the pilots get out and exchange insurance information?'