I hope everyone is weathering their staycations well – those of you who can or can afford to do so that is.
The beauty about working for myself at home is if I fire myself I can rehire myself 2 minutes later. The downside is I don’t have an excuse to take a staycation, not that I could afford it. Ha ha.
We might get a little back from the yearly income tax. I do mean little, but I’m hoping it’s enough to restore one of the many lost equipments that keeps this comic and other things running. My list is growing, alas, but I’m not complaining because this latest set of equipment lasted far longer than usual.
The list for those that like to hear about computers is:
- New video card for Charlie, that Frankenstein bastion that has been mentioned for years and will be mentioned again. The old card died a couple of weeks ago. I’m not looking for a high end one as the second computer, Angel, handles the heavy stuff. Charlie does 2D stuff and will be repurposed to an audiobook narrating machine. So I need him as quiet as possible. Suggestions welcome. I’m eyeballing this one or… this one. My preferred brand is GeForce because of their track record with how they’ve treated me in the past.
- A copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. (EDIT: goal achieved!) This may not sound like an important thing, but I’ve been experimenting and the narration method has proven to be most effective. I told a complete short story the other day to myself in 48 minutes flat. I haven’t been able to complete a story in years, so this wins. I’m aiming for an old copy of 13 Premium, as that will still do the job but is only about $70.
- When I am finished polishing up the story, I shall put it in the Hammerspace and the Coffee Shop (should I rename that the ice cream shop?) for supporters to read. I may also read it aloud.
- Please let me know if you’d like me to upload any of the other things I’ve written and actually have complete for members only. I used to do this for Patreon, but I’m slowly getting mired down by too many things to maintain.
- A new graphics tablet with screen. This is expensive. (sighs) But the other tablet I had died a few months ago. It was going out for a long while already but it hung in there, loyal little thing that it was. And guess what! Parts of Akashik are still drawn by hand. I’ve been using the mouse in the past few days and my already damaged hand aches… so goal it is. I’m eyeballing this one.
- At least two new external 2 or 3 terrabyte hard drives. These things are what has kept Akashik from disappearing over the years. The most shining example of how they saved things was when a former roommate maliciously deleted the entire 3D library. Good thing I had 2 backups, which are now going corrupt and dying.
- A new case for Charlie. His old one has been partially dead for a couple of years now, and I need the ports. Not to mention I suspect the old case is an electrical problem.
- Sound card for Charlie, possibly an external one as my microphone has an analog interface. This is of course so I can better work and pay my billz.
- A new video card for Angel. This is last on the list because Angel is in better repair. Ultimately I’d like to get a faster CPU for angel, as that’s what the render engine I use to make the cartoons uses so the faster the better. But one thing at a time.
- ! important! New hard drive for Charlie’s OS. We think. He keeps putting out a blue screen but we don’t know why yet. We thought it was his video card but it’s dead now and we’re not so sure. I may instead have to get a new CPU and motherboard. This part is so expensive, though, I’ll be putting it off as long as possible.
- Two uninterruptable power supplies to keep the computers from dying quickly. They really do the trick.
- A shock absorbing PC case stand for Charlie. He vibrates, as all PCs do on some level. This interferes with sound quality.
- I’m sure there will be more, so let’s hope I make more money to cover it. I’m open to weird and crazy suggestions! But know I can’t necessarily get them. LOL.