As you can see, my Scan Paper Memorabilia Project is well underway!

I'm into Week 5 of my Memorabilia Project and although I feel like this photo, things are going very well. I've scanned 2 of 6 boxes and although it is a huge amount of work, I'm feeling satisfaction and inspiration to accomplish even more. It is like losing excess weight, but it is my apartment that is trimming down. Nevertheless, it makes ME feel better.

Now that I've seen the possibilities and how easy it is to organize and then use the resulting PDF computer files, I'm daydreaming about what could be achieved if I expand the project further. What if I did a Household Papers Project to convert papers in my filing cabinets and binders to PDF? What would that be like?

Recipies, insurance papers, financial statements, product info, etc. Why not have these things 'at hand' on my computer too? My mind boggles a bit because suddenly I have a new vision about how things could be. Yes, it's just changes to my living space, but it could revolutionize how I live in that space.

Once I go 'paperless' (at least to a large degree) I can easily maintain this by scanning in new papers and memorabilia. I foresee that by de-cluttering and ridding myself of the mountains of paper, I can achieve other goals for my space. I can see how I can go from de-cluttering paper to other organization and utilization projects around the apartment. I even picture getting new furnishings.

Therefore, I am being inspired by this project despite it's tediousness. I have a vision that I want to see come into being. I want to experience the lifestyle change and for its accomplishment to unlock further creative ideas.

Improvements in the Project Technique

Part of my enthusiasm has been caused by a sudden idea as to how to save time doing the work involved. When I started this scan to PDF project it gave me ideas how I could use this on my work files. That in turn generated this recent idea which will help my project too. Creative juices are flowing!

I've been doing my scanning on my home scanner, page by page ... lift the glass, put down the page, close the glass, press the Scan button. wait for the scan, lift the glass, take off the paper, ........etc. This is very tedious and time consuming.

Then yesterday the lightbulb in my brain clicked ON! Our office copier has a Scan To E-mail function. Put a batch of papers in the document feeder, enter my e-mail address, press Start, open the e-mail, save the file to my computer, do a little file manipulation and rename it. Done! Hours saved!

I'll still need to do certain types of scanning at home the slow way, but I can also be bringing in a batch of paper each day for a few quick scan-to-email time-saving jobs.

I'm amazed. This is the kind of time-saving I-could-have-done-it-this-way idea I get right at the end of my projects!

I've recently put my little dumpling's web cam (link in the sidebar) back online and today I tuned in from work for this little sequence:

"What's that?!"

"THUNDER!!"

*crickets*

To Honey's credit, she tried to ride out the thunder right in her bed. She's slowly getting a little better about thunder, but has a long way to go. She is probably under my bed or in another dark, secluded place among some boxes of books. Poor girl!

(The photos are dark and grainy because the room lighting is very low due to overcast skies. I still had to share this!)

I'm just punching my timesheet so people can tell I'm still on the planet.

My Momento Scan Project is in full swing and that keeps me from almost everything else. It's very boring and slow work. I began with 6 boxes of papers and have now finished two of them in about a month of very dedicated work. This pace is bound to slow down because, did I mention, it's so frickin' boring?

Yet, I'm glad I'm doing this. It's a walk down memory lane, it frees up apartment space, and it organizes my so-called life.

Because I like to put photos in my blog posts, I'll share this one from my recent archives:

It's hard to see in the photo, but this gun is three dimensional, created with paper, crayons, tissues and staples. My sister has/had a companion pistol. We used them on our dear parents back in the 80s to force them on the spur of the moment to go with us to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. They loved the movie and it built up some movie cred for us, which we immediately lost when we took them to see the gawd-awful Neighbors. The guns spent the next 2 decades on display in my parent's momento cabinet.

This is what momentos brings back; some of the thoughts and memories are really good and some, initially good or bad, are re-evaluated based on a life of experience.

This holiday weekend I scanned my brains out and used the lack of TV shows to delve into my DVD collection; scanning and movies are compatible:

Donnie Darko - after a 2nd viewing of both the movie and director's commentary I finally get this interesting movie.

Diva - one of my very favorites. It is also from the 80s so it fit right in with the 80s scans. It is a French movie which I prefer to watch in French with English subtitles. Somehow it adds to the movie. It is a murder, cop, and romance drama with very interesting characters. I highly recommend it for everyone.

Poquanisaki - spelled wrong....I'll correct it later. Visually stunning, the movie is an image and music exploration of work and society in third world cultures vs modern cultures. Although the message is rather socialistic and flawed, the imagery is well worth viewing.

Vanya on 42nd Street - Chekov's Uncle Vanya performed in a modern context which points out how timeless and 'modern' are it's themes. The acting is first rate and the ending always makes me cry.

This is why I have a blog.

I am rejecting the attempt by an overpaid commission to downgrade the PLANET Pluto to some other vague celestial body. I know in my very bones that this is just some pathetic cry for attention by night owls stuck in observatories and in forgotten and under-funded university schools. What, is there no "threatening meteor" about to "almost miss" the Earth by a few million miles to get some press? In any case, NO, you are not foisting this decision on us, or at least not on me. Until the day I die, Pluto will always be a planet. The last planet, the period at the end of the our solar system.

See, the issue is not scientific. It is CULTURAL. Take out Uranus (hee, befitting you asshats), if you must, but not Pluto. It made the Solar System fun, with a name like that, and it's place in our culture has been widespread and delicious:

Pluto, the PLANET

Pluto, the Dog

Finally, our Dark Queen, Zayra, from the Planet Pluto:

Zayra, as she communicates with Earthlings on RockStar: Supernova (CBS).

Don't MESS with Pluto.

• Ken Olsen, President, Digital Equipment, 1977

The time has come in the grand scheme of my Digitize Everything Project to take on the most dificult task, that of archiving my decades of Memorabila.

The procedure up until now has been the one used down through the ages. Put it all in boxes or scrapbooks and then store it all in the basement until the next move. When the Conestoga Wagon heads over the mountain pass in the midst of another move, drop a few boxes. Otherwise, hang onto the stuff.

Now, with  today's computers, digital cameras, scanners, and all kinds of software, the new procedure is to store the stuff digitally.

This past week I geared up for the project:

Besides the cool outfit, (and the slide rule!), I needed to spec out just how to best store documents. I decided on Adobe Reader for viewing (a free program) because several pages can be scanned into one document. Next I had to find a way to scan my stuff into .PDF files.

I found an EXCELLENT software program called SCAN2PDF. I highly recommend this if you don't have other means of creating .PDF files. The interface is extremely easy to use:

I also searched out a free File Renamer called Oscar's File Renamer. This is very useful when scanning large batches of photos into .JPG [or similar]; I just use the default naming ... File001....File002..., etc. and then use the renamer to replace the prefix with a name that relates to the photo series. I sure wish I'd discovered this years ago when I did the majority of my photo scanning. It will still be useful, though.

So, with the geek gear all together, Friday night I dug out most of my boxes of stuff - eight!, plus more in the basement, I'm sure - and did a preliminary sorting of the packets by decade. I also threw out about a box of stuff out of hand.

Saturday, 8/12 I began the actual scanning. After about 12 hours I'm about 1/4th of the way through box #1. At this rate, my project will take about 400 hours to complete.

After day #1 on the project my chest was hurting from the mold and other allergens from the papers. It's the newspapers that are the main culprits. I'll be dumping most of them for this reason and wearing a mask while working on the ones I plan to scan. This has worked ok today, but I must be careful. I also need to get my HEPA filter in working order to clear the air.

I'm very impressed with the capabilities of the software to do this project and I'm measuring my success by the bundles of scanned paperwork I get to toss from Conestoga Wagon 2006.

The heat finally broke after a week of this (and heat index in the 100s):

SO... where was I ....

Company Health: Friday I voiced my work concerns about the company's finances to my manger who then went to the President, who then came to me. The Pres was all 'fatherly' saying he's always taken the steps necessary to keep the business in business (so don't you worry your little 'ole girly mind about the company). He made vague comments about hoping the company can have better bonuses at the end of the year, and then start giving increases. It's a wistful refrain I've heard before many times. [My math was bad in my earlier post; it hasn't been over 5 years since my last increase...it's been over 6, which is pretty apalling.] Anyway, to avoid having a stress stroke, I made myself calm down about it over the weekend.

Shop Admin: One of the part-time admin has been tagged to do the shop paperwork 'on an interim basis'. Hopefully that doesn't translate 'until lifey settles down and we give it to her.'  I did provide some ideas on streamlining the system which became the direction management finally took, so hopefully it won't be such a tedious task for whoever ends up doing it.

Apartment: No news is good news on the sale of the building.

Projects: The only project this past week was attempting to avoid generating additional body heat. At home, both Honey and I spent as much time naked, lying on our backs all spread out. I did close the blinds because I'm a good neighbor. At work I wore my shortest skirts, which happened to be skirts from my interview suits. They fit.

Weight: The skirts fit because I lost 4.4 pounds this week! That's 4 weeks of weight loss in a row for a total of 8.4 poounds of weight loss for July. I'm at a 8-year low (by a few pounds). Guess stress and heat waves are good for something. I felt very good for maintaining my lunchtime trips to Ballys for 20 minutes on weights and also not for gobbling up comfort food to deal with the work stresses.

Well, I hope you are also getting cool out there. Nite.

There are a whole lot of shoes poised to drop all through my life and it's making me a bit on the anxious, hostile and burnt out side lately.

A fellow who did most of the admin in our shop just gave his notice and I think the Powers That Be are thinking that my plate is the one to load up despite the fact that I am already maxed out. Heaven forbid that they make any of the 3 part-time admin take on some extra tasks. I am hostile in advance over this for a variety of reasons.

All month the Receivables have not been coming in. My vendors are beginning to scream, to no avail. After that comes the clamp-downs. Credit holds. I predict that the Payables engine is about to sieze up big time.

My landlord just brought through another inspector, which means he might have a buyer for the building. A new buyer is likely to mean another significant rent increase to follow up the large increase in April.

I (nor others at the place I work) have had a pay increase in over 5 years. I'm tired of being the dedicated one they pile up with work while ignoring the slackers who can't manage to put in a full work week. Even if I am not the beneficiary of the shop guy's admin workload, I'm really tired of this.

On the bright side, I'm 2.2 pounds closer to fitting into my interviewing clothes. This is three weeks of weight loss in a row, and you can believe I've re-doubled my efforts.

This is just a quick test of changes I made to the CCS code to get my entries back to black. I've been having to manually edit each post, which is a pain.

If this doesn't work, there will be screaming.

ETA:  AAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!

Happy Birthday, bOOfy!

Have many more wild and wacky years with us.

You're one of a kind (in a good way ... really!)

--- lifey