((This post is for the archive, originally published Dec 2022))
It's been a wild month for everyone judging by the news lately, this blog included.
To start, my second brand new desktop computer shut down and didn't start again. I'm currently writing this on a very old and underpowered laptop. I took the computer, which luckily was still under warranty, to a local repair shop to check it out and backup my data – to which they backed up some of the files and subsequently deleted everything else, costing me a minimum of 100+ hours of production, research, and writing I was working on for this blog and attached podcast.
I've been scrambling for almost two weeks to deal with this loss and recover/rebuild what I could when I could, but that's life, as they say. Move forward or live in the past.
I have managed to secure one paid contributor so far. She's currently working on two articles, one of which might be a rebuttal to a previous article I wrote – which should be interesting. With the holiday season upon us, it's difficult to project when her work will be published, but I will certainly get that content to you as soon as it's available.
Moving forward, I have my 3rd brand new desktop in almost exactly three months (3rd time the charm?) shipping to me now, but this time instead of being a pre-built, I'll assemble it myself. This setup is also more powerful than the last two, so hopefully, it's better capable of handling my growing needs.
I also ordered a Shure Mv7 podcast microphone and accessories so I can do my own voice-overs. I've been playing with paid AI voice services for a while now, and unfortunately, the technology just isn't there yet without a significant investment of time in tweaking words and formatting to get the right pronunciations. Any of you who have listened to the voice-over knows what I'm referring to. It was an interesting service to play with, but I think it's time to upgrade and give this blog a little more of a personal touch.
Given the ridiculous amount of time and effort spent dealing with customer service, computer hardware compatibility checkers, component research, and various attempts to rebuild/recover what was lost – the article this week is simply not ready for publishing. This is my first missed deadline on this blog, and it's quite disappointing, but considering the circumstances not entirely unexpected.
The estimated timetable for shipping, assembly, and getting everything back on schedule is just after Christmas. My original plan was to reassess direction and strategy on January 1st for this blog and plan out the next year, but given how everything has turned out and with Christmas literally around the corner, it seems now might be the best time.
Therefore, I would like to extend the best and warmest (especially to those of you in the north) holiday wishes to you all. I'm going to take the next two weeks to plan, build, and prepare for the new year.
In case I don't see you – Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and as always...
Thanks for reading.
-DP
In case you are curious:
https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/microphones/mv7?variant=MV7-K