I couldn't sleep. I guess not surprising when I'm downing caffeine at midnight.
I gathered up all the 8mm tapes into the train case and they just fit. Whew! I sorted the VHS tapes and saw that three were missing. This wouldn't be a problem except that I remembered that Ken's first video camera recorded directly to VHS so I have to go through some of the videos after all.
Meanwhile I got bitten by no less than three fleas while perusing the video shelves. Ugh.
I got online and ordered a new copy of Adobe Premiere 2.0 to transfer video to DVD but I think I still need some sort of attachment.
I was going to put the videos on Pennysaver to save trouble but it won't work as I can't list all the titles, put up more than one free ad at a time and I can't reference a list on a website either. Ugh. So I looked again at ebay and that really looks like my best option. I really hate to give away potentially 160 dollars. That can pay for quite a few videos.
I have decided to just toss all the videos that held old movies. I figure that Ken would not have recorded home movies over old movie videos, he would have used a new one, so that means I don't have to check them all. Anything he recorded from TV on them is unimportant. Only home videos are critical right now.
So next up, get the software, show Kenny how to use it and get him started. Then look through the remaining unlabeled tapes and toss any movie tapes today. Finally, list the videos for sale on ebay and let her rip and see what sells. Next weekend I'll be busy packing them up.
Next up: comic books.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Another day spent hacking away at the mess
I will publish photos as soon as I can. I have had moderate success with the DVD shelves but I can't let everything take this long.
I spent untold hours today looking up DVD's online and organizing our Amazon wishlists. This was really a complete waste and could have waited until later since I have company arriving who will probably inhabit my basement within 2 weeks of today.
I also began viewing a pile of about 25 videos that don't have anything important on them "just to be on the safe side" since I have chosen to ignore their labels and make sure that what is on them is really there. My husband is notorious for not updating labels on things so I suspect that this is where my suspicion came from.
I also have a pile of about 40 more DVD's neatly labeled with movie titles that I have already looked up to replace that I have to check for unlabeled movies. Who cares? I have lived without these "things" for years, bereft of the pleasure of viewing them and at the last minute before they hit the trash can I need the comfort of knowing exactly what I am throwing away. Part of it is the fear of throwing away a home movie or something important like that. Sigh.
I have a shelf full of videos that need to be transferred to DVD. I gave Kenny this job although he told me that he does not agree with it. We'll see if it ever gets done. I will push him on it this week.
Do I have the courage to just dump this whole lot of videotapes without viewing them? Is it courage or cowardice that knows how boring the whole process will be and that I can't just get it done quickly. I am not good at "sticktoitiveness" I'm afraid.
Ah, yes, and I also began boxing up and sorting for sale about 160 videos for ebay in groups. I have high hopes of making $160 for the purchase of further DVD's to replace some of those that are going away.
So I still have quite a bit to do:
1. Go through old videos and toss. (20-30 hours)
2. Sort DVD lists on Amazon. (5 hours)
3. List all videos for sale on Ebay. (8 hours)
4. tranfer videos to DVD. (20-30 hours)
I also have to find all the tiny movie tapes, 8mm and mini-DV? and prep them also for transfer which I might have done professionally, including our wedding video. So maybe the videos will be completed by the end of the week with any luck. Sigh. I could probably safely toss the tapes, sort lists later, transfer videos later and just get all the stuff onto ebay where I can be earning a little pin money. I think I'll focus my energies on ebay first and then move on with this project.
All this from one shelf of videos and DVD's. I don't look forward to the CD, audiotape, LP sorting that is inevitable as that will take MUCH longer as it is so much bigger a mess.
But the shelves are looking much, much better. It is really amazing. I brought down the basket of DVD's for schoolwork and placed them on the shelf. And I took an old train case that I had given the girls for Barbies and they were now using for kitchen play pots and put it up top to hold the home movie mini tapes until they are transferred.
But on second thought I like the fact that I am trying to finish a project to the nth degree before moving on quickly. I don't care to have scads of to do lists in my wake. I want to do it, finish up and move on. Is that criminal?
I spent untold hours today looking up DVD's online and organizing our Amazon wishlists. This was really a complete waste and could have waited until later since I have company arriving who will probably inhabit my basement within 2 weeks of today.
I also began viewing a pile of about 25 videos that don't have anything important on them "just to be on the safe side" since I have chosen to ignore their labels and make sure that what is on them is really there. My husband is notorious for not updating labels on things so I suspect that this is where my suspicion came from.
I also have a pile of about 40 more DVD's neatly labeled with movie titles that I have already looked up to replace that I have to check for unlabeled movies. Who cares? I have lived without these "things" for years, bereft of the pleasure of viewing them and at the last minute before they hit the trash can I need the comfort of knowing exactly what I am throwing away. Part of it is the fear of throwing away a home movie or something important like that. Sigh.
I have a shelf full of videos that need to be transferred to DVD. I gave Kenny this job although he told me that he does not agree with it. We'll see if it ever gets done. I will push him on it this week.
Do I have the courage to just dump this whole lot of videotapes without viewing them? Is it courage or cowardice that knows how boring the whole process will be and that I can't just get it done quickly. I am not good at "sticktoitiveness" I'm afraid.
Ah, yes, and I also began boxing up and sorting for sale about 160 videos for ebay in groups. I have high hopes of making $160 for the purchase of further DVD's to replace some of those that are going away.
So I still have quite a bit to do:
1. Go through old videos and toss. (20-30 hours)
2. Sort DVD lists on Amazon. (5 hours)
3. List all videos for sale on Ebay. (8 hours)
4. tranfer videos to DVD. (20-30 hours)
I also have to find all the tiny movie tapes, 8mm and mini-DV? and prep them also for transfer which I might have done professionally, including our wedding video. So maybe the videos will be completed by the end of the week with any luck. Sigh. I could probably safely toss the tapes, sort lists later, transfer videos later and just get all the stuff onto ebay where I can be earning a little pin money. I think I'll focus my energies on ebay first and then move on with this project.
All this from one shelf of videos and DVD's. I don't look forward to the CD, audiotape, LP sorting that is inevitable as that will take MUCH longer as it is so much bigger a mess.
But the shelves are looking much, much better. It is really amazing. I brought down the basket of DVD's for schoolwork and placed them on the shelf. And I took an old train case that I had given the girls for Barbies and they were now using for kitchen play pots and put it up top to hold the home movie mini tapes until they are transferred.
But on second thought I like the fact that I am trying to finish a project to the nth degree before moving on quickly. I don't care to have scads of to do lists in my wake. I want to do it, finish up and move on. Is that criminal?
Friday, January 5, 2007
Another late start
A late start to the day today but a couple of us are sick and I don't want anyone to come down with anything so I am letting all sleep in.
I did more thinking about the videos last night. I really need to get out of this "collector" mentality and stop letting myself get so sidetracked. My new motto is, "That was then, this is now." The children enjoyed the movies when they were little. Now we have moved on. If any of us gets a "hankering" to watch a disney DVD, we can probably rent them from the library or we could join netflix. I also really need to empty out some of the DVD's we have that we will never watch again.
I checked ebay and they seem to sell disney videotapes well in lots so that is how I will go. I will also sell the rest. First I'll ask the children if they have a problem with me selling them off but I can't see that they will have strong objections, especially when I point out that it has been years since they've watched them.
Most importantly, I need to keep my focus where it belongs. I'm beginning to get excited about seeing money build up in our paypal account.
I did more thinking about the videos last night. I really need to get out of this "collector" mentality and stop letting myself get so sidetracked. My new motto is, "That was then, this is now." The children enjoyed the movies when they were little. Now we have moved on. If any of us gets a "hankering" to watch a disney DVD, we can probably rent them from the library or we could join netflix. I also really need to empty out some of the DVD's we have that we will never watch again.
I checked ebay and they seem to sell disney videotapes well in lots so that is how I will go. I will also sell the rest. First I'll ask the children if they have a problem with me selling them off but I can't see that they will have strong objections, especially when I point out that it has been years since they've watched them.
Most importantly, I need to keep my focus where it belongs. I'm beginning to get excited about seeing money build up in our paypal account.
First Attempts
OK, I have done LOTS of meditating and musing on how our house got this way, etc. And today I finally took some action.
I started in the downstairs kitchen area, thinking it would be tough but rewarding and figuring at least the first part would be easy. What was I thinking? I started with DVD's and videos but I'm really struggling with this one.
I want to get rid of all the videotapes. They are bulky, not as sleek or high quality as the DVD's and we have not watched 99.9 percent of them in the last few years probably for these reasons. Not because there aren't any good movies among them.
The other problem is that they are mostly children's films and with our youngest now at 13, I'm not sure why I would replace all the Disney, Veggietales, etc. except for the very rare and occasional visitor.
I am compelled to keep them for our grandchildren but that won't be for years, for our youngest to watch because she didn't get much exposure to children's films growing up, and because some of them you just cannot acquire on DVD at all.
I went on Amazon to do some research and set up a DVD wish list that I could work from and got sidetracked and started adding mountains of Criterion Collection foreign films, particularly Japanese ones, to the wish list. I didn't know what any of them were about but I'm sure they are high quality as they are pricey, they are Criterion and they won film festival awards.
WHAT WAS I THINKING? Now I've wasted more precious time and didn't complete my task of last evening.
Ah, well. I'm seriously considering just making a wish list of videos I wish to replace and them just tossing them. They fetch very little online anyway but maybe I should offer them at any rate.
I need to think about this whole decision some more...
I started in the downstairs kitchen area, thinking it would be tough but rewarding and figuring at least the first part would be easy. What was I thinking? I started with DVD's and videos but I'm really struggling with this one.
I want to get rid of all the videotapes. They are bulky, not as sleek or high quality as the DVD's and we have not watched 99.9 percent of them in the last few years probably for these reasons. Not because there aren't any good movies among them.
The other problem is that they are mostly children's films and with our youngest now at 13, I'm not sure why I would replace all the Disney, Veggietales, etc. except for the very rare and occasional visitor.
I am compelled to keep them for our grandchildren but that won't be for years, for our youngest to watch because she didn't get much exposure to children's films growing up, and because some of them you just cannot acquire on DVD at all.
I went on Amazon to do some research and set up a DVD wish list that I could work from and got sidetracked and started adding mountains of Criterion Collection foreign films, particularly Japanese ones, to the wish list. I didn't know what any of them were about but I'm sure they are high quality as they are pricey, they are Criterion and they won film festival awards.
WHAT WAS I THINKING? Now I've wasted more precious time and didn't complete my task of last evening.
Ah, well. I'm seriously considering just making a wish list of videos I wish to replace and them just tossing them. They fetch very little online anyway but maybe I should offer them at any rate.
I need to think about this whole decision some more...
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