Birds don't sing because they have an answer, they sing because they have a song.
So I have spent the last...okay, we'll be generous and say two hours trying to get the music and files off my iPod onto our new iTunes. Some of you may remember that our communal computer got a virus a few weeks ago. Well, who knew (certainly not me) that you cannot transfer music onto a new iTunes program.
Okay, well that's not entirely true. You can transfer purchased music. Yeah. The rest of everything else gets wiped clean. I was in such a foul mess two hours ago -- I have installed, downloaded, uninstalled, reinstalled and deleted iTunes at least 6 times tonight. I also had to restart the computer and reset my iPod the same number of times. So frustrating after a long day...Luckily some techie was smart enough to figure a way around this and I am here to say (hesitantly, as it is still transferring files) that this works! Lost a few songs in the shuffle (interestingly enough, an episode of The Office I actually bought of iTunes didn't make it through -- they said it wasn't authorized for play on this computer. Bastards.). It also didn't maintain my playlists and some of the song names are weird code like "FHPW" and "MVKR." At least I know what I can do with my upcoming 365 days of free time. I'll totally button down my iTunes. However, I'm not going to complain because approximately two hours ago I was in a certain state of despair and disbelief that I was going to have to start my iPod music collection all over again.
My caveat to anyone who might actually utilize the link above and attempt this: the small asides that Kendrick makes regarding folder views, etc. are key. Read the whole thing through once before you start and also the first few comments, as Kendrick offers advice to the first few people who had trouble. That way you'll be prepared for glitches and it will save you some time.
We (I) are (am) so damn dependent on our technology, aren't we? But seriously -- I have had iPod withdrawal over the last few weeks between our computer being sick and my car being injured and in the body shop.
The impetus for tonight's iTunes reinstallation was because I went and got my car back today. This was no easy task in and of itself. I left work about 35 minutes early at around 4:55 PM and battled Mopac traffic up north out to the Progessive Service Center, in my smelly "non-smoking" Corolla. It was awful -- traffic was a mess. I got there exactly 2 minutes before they closed -- 5:58 PM -- and retrieved my little white car. I am glad to have her back. The Corolla absolutely sucked. I don't recommend that car to anyone who might be considering buying one. It was a 2006, about 10k in miles, and lolled along at stoplights and struggled to go 60 mph. Not exactly a fun driving machine. The check engine light sputtered on this morning and stayd on the rest of the day -- their problem now.
I had a really rough day today, rough in the sense that between going to get my car and having a lot of stuff come down at around two PM, I got really stressed out. That is to say, I tipped off the scale of stress that I typically hover on today. My Russians moving to Moscow with their 2 Golden Retrievers left out of JFK today so I was worried about that. It's in God's hands now, as they are somewhere in the air right now. However, I feel very confident that all of the paperwork is in good order and they'll be fine. They promised to send me a picture of their Retrievers in Red Square -- I'll definitely post it if they follow through.
I also am currently working on getting two parakeets to Geneva, Switzerland. What a trick. I am going to share a tip with everyone here right now. Actually, no, I'll share two:
1. Don't ever buy a dog/cat/anything that carries rabies and expect to get to the UK/Hawaii/Australia/New Zealand/Singapore/any rabies-free island for cheap or any time soon. Expect 120 day quarantine on both ends of your trip.
2. Don't ever buy a bird and expect to move anywhere out of the US. Just don't do it.
The first tip is pretty self-explanatory but many people don't understand the very stringent requirements that these rabies-free countries/states have imposed. This creates a very costly, time-consuming move for everyone involved (including your potential pet relo company).
The second tip is rather obscure as most people don't really think much about birds. Either you're a bird person or you're not. But this is just a little warning. Birds are regulated by what is known as CITES. In a nutshell this means that almost 99% of birds will need a CITES Appendix II permit to travel internationally. This would not be such a big deal if it were not for the commercial import/export going on of birds. The amount of birds travelling internationally is causing a huge backlog on the Fish & Wildlife Services because every bird that is sent as manifest cargo needs to be checked out by a FWS Vet. EVERY BIRD. This means lots of people in line ahead of you which also means you won't get a permit for at least 6 months. Now, the other tricky thing is that about 20% of those birds are CITES Appendix I, which basically means your bird ain't goin' nowhere. So your odds aren't really great...unless...
You have a non-CITES bird. Non-CITES birds are so prosperous and unendangered that they are not regulated by CITES and don't need any kind of permit except for whatever import permits are required by the country you are sending them to. I would like everyone to now summon in their mind a good guess of how many birds, out of all the breeds of birds there are, are non-CITES.
Get a good guess. A good one.
Three (3)
How did you do?
Non-CITES birds are: Parakeets (YES!), budgerigars and peachfaced lovebirds.
Awesome. Let's just all say a little silent prayer that I am working with two parakeets.
Still -- it doesn't make anyone any less suspicious or make my life any more easier, it just means that we don't have to wait for 6 months.
They'll get there, no doubt. I'm just going to have a lot of fun getting them there.
It downright feels like last fall, I gotta say. I feel like it's time to bust out a Nanowrimo again. I've got my iTunes running again, I'm on the edge of breaking down and listening to Dashboard Confessional and The Killers songs over and over again, and the air has cooled down and I've got the windows open.
If I wrote 50,000 words every month for 12 months straight, where would that leave me? How many word counts? How many songs would I download during that time? What would change between word 1 and word 600,000?
Okay, well that's not entirely true. You can transfer purchased music. Yeah. The rest of everything else gets wiped clean. I was in such a foul mess two hours ago -- I have installed, downloaded, uninstalled, reinstalled and deleted iTunes at least 6 times tonight. I also had to restart the computer and reset my iPod the same number of times. So frustrating after a long day...Luckily some techie was smart enough to figure a way around this and I am here to say (hesitantly, as it is still transferring files) that this works! Lost a few songs in the shuffle (interestingly enough, an episode of The Office I actually bought of iTunes didn't make it through -- they said it wasn't authorized for play on this computer. Bastards.). It also didn't maintain my playlists and some of the song names are weird code like "FHPW" and "MVKR." At least I know what I can do with my upcoming 365 days of free time. I'll totally button down my iTunes. However, I'm not going to complain because approximately two hours ago I was in a certain state of despair and disbelief that I was going to have to start my iPod music collection all over again.
My caveat to anyone who might actually utilize the link above and attempt this: the small asides that Kendrick makes regarding folder views, etc. are key. Read the whole thing through once before you start and also the first few comments, as Kendrick offers advice to the first few people who had trouble. That way you'll be prepared for glitches and it will save you some time.
We (I) are (am) so damn dependent on our technology, aren't we? But seriously -- I have had iPod withdrawal over the last few weeks between our computer being sick and my car being injured and in the body shop.
The impetus for tonight's iTunes reinstallation was because I went and got my car back today. This was no easy task in and of itself. I left work about 35 minutes early at around 4:55 PM and battled Mopac traffic up north out to the Progessive Service Center, in my smelly "non-smoking" Corolla. It was awful -- traffic was a mess. I got there exactly 2 minutes before they closed -- 5:58 PM -- and retrieved my little white car. I am glad to have her back. The Corolla absolutely sucked. I don't recommend that car to anyone who might be considering buying one. It was a 2006, about 10k in miles, and lolled along at stoplights and struggled to go 60 mph. Not exactly a fun driving machine. The check engine light sputtered on this morning and stayd on the rest of the day -- their problem now.
I had a really rough day today, rough in the sense that between going to get my car and having a lot of stuff come down at around two PM, I got really stressed out. That is to say, I tipped off the scale of stress that I typically hover on today. My Russians moving to Moscow with their 2 Golden Retrievers left out of JFK today so I was worried about that. It's in God's hands now, as they are somewhere in the air right now. However, I feel very confident that all of the paperwork is in good order and they'll be fine. They promised to send me a picture of their Retrievers in Red Square -- I'll definitely post it if they follow through.
I also am currently working on getting two parakeets to Geneva, Switzerland. What a trick. I am going to share a tip with everyone here right now. Actually, no, I'll share two:
1. Don't ever buy a dog/cat/anything that carries rabies and expect to get to the UK/Hawaii/Australia/New Zealand/Singapore/any rabies-free island for cheap or any time soon. Expect 120 day quarantine on both ends of your trip.
2. Don't ever buy a bird and expect to move anywhere out of the US. Just don't do it.
The first tip is pretty self-explanatory but many people don't understand the very stringent requirements that these rabies-free countries/states have imposed. This creates a very costly, time-consuming move for everyone involved (including your potential pet relo company).
The second tip is rather obscure as most people don't really think much about birds. Either you're a bird person or you're not. But this is just a little warning. Birds are regulated by what is known as CITES. In a nutshell this means that almost 99% of birds will need a CITES Appendix II permit to travel internationally. This would not be such a big deal if it were not for the commercial import/export going on of birds. The amount of birds travelling internationally is causing a huge backlog on the Fish & Wildlife Services because every bird that is sent as manifest cargo needs to be checked out by a FWS Vet. EVERY BIRD. This means lots of people in line ahead of you which also means you won't get a permit for at least 6 months. Now, the other tricky thing is that about 20% of those birds are CITES Appendix I, which basically means your bird ain't goin' nowhere. So your odds aren't really great...unless...
You have a non-CITES bird. Non-CITES birds are so prosperous and unendangered that they are not regulated by CITES and don't need any kind of permit except for whatever import permits are required by the country you are sending them to. I would like everyone to now summon in their mind a good guess of how many birds, out of all the breeds of birds there are, are non-CITES.
Get a good guess. A good one.
Three (3)
How did you do?
Non-CITES birds are: Parakeets (YES!), budgerigars and peachfaced lovebirds.
Awesome. Let's just all say a little silent prayer that I am working with two parakeets.
Still -- it doesn't make anyone any less suspicious or make my life any more easier, it just means that we don't have to wait for 6 months.
They'll get there, no doubt. I'm just going to have a lot of fun getting them there.
It downright feels like last fall, I gotta say. I feel like it's time to bust out a Nanowrimo again. I've got my iTunes running again, I'm on the edge of breaking down and listening to Dashboard Confessional and The Killers songs over and over again, and the air has cooled down and I've got the windows open.
If I wrote 50,000 words every month for 12 months straight, where would that leave me? How many word counts? How many songs would I download during that time? What would change between word 1 and word 600,000?
|
Ah, yes, NaNoWriMo. Interesting theory...
-1/2
You need to use the iTunes update ID3 tag under a right click menu. I had a similar problem and messing with this (ID3 tags) fixed the majority of my KAJS, ASDJ, OUND, ASDF, and QUCT songs. Lemme know if it works out.
Hopefully its not to late.