DH got a decent annual raise and a pretty generous bonus today. It feels weird because other industries and companies are reeling and not giving them out. So many people have been fucked over and are hurting financially. We have a bit of survivor's guilt.

Don't feel weird. If he deserves it, good for him. Part of the problem is everyone thinking that everything is going downhill and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Wow, we just had a (shortlived) power outage here. I think lightning hit pretty close by, since immediately after the lights went out, a big clap of thunder struck. We were only dark for a few minutes, but I really cannot recall another instance of power being out more than a few seconds in the 17 years I've been here!

I konw I tell this story every time we do this, but can't resist. I hacked my Vic20 modem to work with my C64. There wasn't much out there at the time, mostly telnet stuff, so I didn't bother for long.

And yeah, when I got back on it was Compuserve. I miss Compuserve. I just found some old song lyrics I'd written about the wonders of online communities. Hee. Anyway, I had a little notebook where I kept track of log time so I could balance out my multiple accounts to get the most time for my money.

Mostly chat and gaming in those days. I followed my game to AOL and finally to the web. Which indirectly led me here because they interviewed me about it for Salon and I got a job with the gaming company and spent my spare time hanging out at TT.

I remember seeing modems back when I had my C64, but I had no interest in one.

Hmmm.... I didn't really get the urge to go online until I read this article in some mag (PC Computing?) about The Well (back in '90 or '91), and a guy who was a big part of that community until they got mad at him for all his unpaid bills, so he went and deleted every single one of his posts, then killed himself.

What, me morbid?

Oh, yeah, and my screen name over there was fatou dust, same as my lj now, because I thought everyone on the internet were going to be geeks and would know what my math name was. But not so much. Disappointing.

I can totally hear the teenager sound, but I have always had extra range in that part of my hearing. The SO tested me with pure tones generated by his recording deck, and my hearing was way higher than the normal range. Can't remember the number, but I hear things like the remote control and CRTs and stuff.

I've always had a hard time hearing conversation if there's a lot of background noise. In grade school they tested our hearing - they told me I was more sensitive to high and low pitched sounds than most people.

Hmmm - I'll have to try that teenager sound again. I wonder if years of concerts, walkmen, iPods, etc. have damaged my hearing. Or maybe I should phrase that, "How much has my hearing been damaged?"

When I went to my doctor's a few weeks back for my checkup, I mentioned that I've been thinking about getting my hearing checked. I've noticed lately that I tend to talk a bit louder than I used to--I think that might be due to not hearing as well, maybe? When I go in tomorrow for the blood draw and skin-tag removal, I'll mention it to her again.

I have no problem hearing the teenager sound as well, and yeah, that would get annoying really fast.

I have a horrible time hearing conversation over background noise. If I get into a place with lots of people and bad acoustics I feel almost deaf with regards to understanding conversation.

I remember a moment in middle school music class where, after some singing, the music teacher took me aside and played a couple of notes on the piano. She asked me to tell her which note was a higher pitch and I told her that they were exactly the same. It marked the end of my musical aspirations which was okay since I didn't have any.

I couldn't hear the teenager sound. I am very not surprised. (too many rock shows, too few uses of earplugs)

I have a question and a belated thanks:

There's a video that I'd like to save onto my hard drive: [link]

Is there a way to do that? I understand that they probably don't want you to, and that there might be copyright issues, but I think my class falls under fair use guidelines -- mostly I just want to know if it's technically possible.

And I'm just reminded that the last time I asked almost this exact same question, someone sent me the file I asked about, and I never thanked them. Thank you, kind Buffista!