Week of 1st June, 2015

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Monday, 25th May

Spring Bank Holiday

And, as such, a public holiday. For most people, including bank workers (hence the name) Shop workers and people who work in broadcasting, not so much.

Be that as it may, a new fortnight starts today - a 12 shift, or midday to midnight.

And since it's a holiday, there's no short-form work, because there are no office staff to approve such. Which means programme packaging is the order-of-the-day, for which we now use Adobe Premiere. 3 programmes left for me to do - 2 movies, and an American reality series episode. Movies are easy, just top-and-tail, add a clock, and sort the audio levels. American series, especially reality ones, often need subtitle removal, which was the case here.

But, since I'm not really au courant with the differences between Final Cut and Premiere, not to mention the new Media Management system, I had to do the entire 41 minute programme several times. And at that, I didn't get it done. Tomorrow.

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Tuesday, 26th May

So the main job today was fixing up that American reality series episode. At least I knew what needed to be done, and (eventually) did it. Other than that, it was a relatively quiet day - not much short-form material, and that arrived late, due to an upstream problem, which is a little too site-specific for me to elucidate here.

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Wednesday, 27th May

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Thursday, 28th May

Stuff has been arriving for the carputer upgrade, notably a bunch of Anderson PowerPole connectors, the PP30 size, rated at 30 amps, and a purchase of wiring bits from Halfords. I may mock them, but their stock levels and quality are good. So now I can sit down and fabricate a bunch of cables - to which end, I've also ordered more 4 pole Neutrik XLR-style cable connectors. I'm intending to continue using these for lower current applications - the 4 pole is rated at 10 amps per contact, but suitable wire doesn't fit the solder cups very well, so I'm restricting them to 5 amps or less. That's where the PowerPoles come in - the contacts there are rated at 45 amps for the smallest size (the PP15/30/45) the only difference is in the wire termination. They're officially supposed to be crimped, but the pukka crimp tool runs to many $hekel$, which is too much for me - I'll solder them.

There'll be a bunch of adaptor cables - PP to something-or-other, and a major cable run from Ulysses' battery into the boot, where the auxiliary battery will be. I've already got the voltage-sensitive relay that will disconnect this circuit when the engine isn't running, so all that's necessary is to box that, with PowerPoles so that I can disconnect it if required. I need more chassis mount clamping plates. And a 19 or 20mm Q-Max chassis cutter to make a suitable hole - should be rectangular, but those are uncommon, and hence expensive. Circular will work - to eBay!

Meanwhile, Jane and Jenny have excursed to the Midlands - Nottingham to be precise -for more preserved steam railway rides. At least, that's why Jenny is going - Jane follows along to get away from childminding during the half-term holiday. They'll be back Sunday evening.

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Friday, 29th May

Katy has left for Frankfurt, to visit a former teaching colleague from her Egyptian days. BA flight from London Heathrow, if you please. She'll be back Sunday evening, as well.

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Saturday, 30th May

All the works I've described over the last few days are in accordance with my new policy, instituted ahead of the easily-foreseeable time when I will no longer run my own vehicle. Any non-public-transport excursions will then require use of (probably) Jane's car, so if I want radios (which I will) I'll need to make them non-permanent installations, since Jane will not allow me to drill holes. All the kit will thus need to be in suitable boxes that I can move from car to car, and I'll use mag-mount aerials. I have plans for all this, and am collecting the necessary parts. Slowly.

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Sunday, 31st May

That's the weekend over. Quite quiet - not much programme packaging to do, and of what there was, I had to reject 3 programmes for problems with textless backgrounds for subtitle replacements. Otherwise, just 3 programmes completed by me, and the shelves are empty. So that's a result. Missing lists were not sent, which I take as a sign that there's nothing missing. Another result.

Jane and Jenny are back from Nottingham, but Katy is still in Frankfurt, after flight problems. Exact details are unknown to me, but she's now booked on a flight into Heathrow tomorrow morning, rather than London City this evening. What effect this will have on her work is also unknown to me, since the half-term week was last week, and all the schools re-open tomorrow morning.

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