THE website/hosting issue is really starting to piss me off. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to have interferred with a bunch of orders come through from folks in my Facebook Wildcats’ group ordering some of the ‘new old solid out stock’ I brought back from NYC and added to the web shop yesterday. I haven’t spread the word beyond the group yet.
Once orders are all packed up and ready to go I get back onto the website stuff and one by one, go through each site deleting any unused plugins and scripts in case they’re adding to the resource usage on the server. It seems to lighten the load a little, but things still aren’t right. I’m out of time for today tho’ and need to move on to other priority stuff…I’ll revisit (again) tomorrow!
Next job is edit promo video for upcoming shows in Yorkshire, Aldershot and Brighton as well as the fundraiser on 28 February for our local village hall. I need widescreen, square and vertical videos for each.
The videos take a while then I write up a news release for the Sheffield and Huddersfield shows coming up in a fortnight.
Betty’s daughter Kirsty and granddaughter Laurie are visiting from the USA and we’ve got to know them well having spent time with them both here and there…so we’ve invited them, along with Betty’s other daughter Shona, for dinner and have a grand night of laughs, food and drink
BACK to my usual Monday morning routine of getting the oven on early for the sourdough – then coffee and emails etc in bed as it bakes closed and open. Then out to cool for an hour.
After a mid morning online guitar session I spend a good few hours trying to work out what is causing the huge slowdown of all the websites. The hosting company says something is causing overload faults but I;m not so sure…this only started happening after a forced upgrade to PHP 8.4.
I strike a couple of possible causes off the list then resolve to check out potential memory issues – but that’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow as my late afternoon guitar student is due any minute.
After the lesson I hit the studio and edit some video to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook…then set about other prep….
AFTER breakfast I cut a mount to frame up something for Betty then take it along to her…along the way I bump into Michelle McManus and her family and have a quick chat. Haven’t seen her in ages.
Back home I prep the smoker and a huge slab of pork belly, get it all going then inflate the paddle board.
Once the temperature in the pit has stabilized I get the pork in and go for a wee paddle on the loch.
I work on a one-off bi of merch in the office then have a nap while the pork finishes off in the smoker. It takes a while so we have a late dinner – the pork turns out amusing and we enjoy it with rice, beans and a homemade Japanese BBQ sauce…
AFTER breakfast and chat at Billy and Dorothy’s we hook up with Mikey and go to his flat in Dundee where I install and set up a security camera for him.
Next stop, KFC then we drop into Perthshire Caravans to check out the camper vans and stuff but there’s nothing inspiring to see.
Onward to Doune where we stop off to see Catriona and the kids and drop off a birthday present for WIl’s big day tomorrow.
WE HAVE a bit of a late rise after a late night (erm..early morning!) then I go to the studio and pack a guitar for this evening.
Early afternoon we head to Bill and Dorothy’s ‘holiday home’ at Invergowrie just outside Dundee. We’re going to a special show Bill’s organised tonight – he’s invited me to play a few songs – and staying over.
We have an early dinner then make our way into the town and the Clep Bar where everything’s already set up for Bill and a splendid roster of musical pals are playing a kinda memorial show for some of the resident musicians who’ve passed on over the last few years. Quite humbled to have been invited to play too.
We have a grand night full of fun and colorful characters then have a nightcap before bed…another 3am job….
I manage to get the generator back up and running at the hydro scheme
FIRST job of the day is designing and ordering a new backdrop – a necessity now that I’ve updated my logo.
I go to the same supplier we used last time and go for a slightly wider format. A bit more expensive, but worth it.
An email comes back saying the order is processing and the backdrop has gone into production so I hit the studio to run through some songs – we’re off to Bill’s gig in Dundee tomorrow (Friday) and he’s asked me to plays a few songs.
There’s some other work to do too then an email comes in from the backdrop folks asking for an extra £30-odd for ‘Highlands and Islands’ delivery. Erm…we’re only 20 miles outside Glasgow and definitely not in ‘the Highlands’!
I call the company and explain and they respond by saying it’s down to their courier. I explain that we’ve never been classed as Highlands and Islands…and the last backdrop I ordered from them didn’t attract this ridiculous surcharge. I tell them to put the order on hold and I’ll send them some other potential delivery addresses to see of they fall within the courier’s ‘normal’ delivery area.
I send off some alternative addresses and awaiting a reply…when it comes in the company has decided that they don’t need me to pay extra and the order proceeds.
Duncan and Irene are coming for dinner later – the starter is Vietnamese summer rolls which are a bit of a faff so I get onto it early. The rolls made, I move onto the dipping sauce then spot an email from one of my fellow directors of the local hydro scheme…last night’s power cut has taken down the computer and it looks like the generator’s stopped.
No one else has replied so I volunteer to drive to the village, hike across the fields and see if I can get things back up and running. Mission accomplished 🙂
The unexpected task has eaten a up any spare time so I’ve only just finished the prep for our main course when Duncan and Irene rock up.
Amazingly the 3D printer picked up where it left off after a two hour power cut
WEDNESDAY. That means three back to back guitar sessions – one in-person sandwiched between two online lessons.
During the third one I get a message from the school saying they don’t need me today. I coulda done with the dish but there’s a lot needing done so it’s not the end of the world.
Margaret needs an iPad stand and orders one online – I revise I could maybe 3D printer one to use until it arrives. I find one on Bambu Makerworld and set it to print. Might take a while. U there’s no huge hurry.
So instead of school, I hit Glasgow for a load of shopping which gives us a bit of breathing space tomorrow by freeing us up on another busy day.
Margaret’s off to a community trust meeting when I get back and she’s only away ten minutes when the power goes off. No big deal, I ’spose – then I remember the 3D printer in the office which has (had!) almost finished the iPad stand. I power it off in case there’s a surge when the electricity comes back on.
I’m amazed when the power is restored and I switch the 3D printer back on it gives me the option to continue. It does!
Meantime, Margaret’s back and I make some pasta dough and smoke a salmon fillet for dinner…
I do some test filming for narrative for a new ‘intro’ video…
I’VE ARRANGED a 10am photoshoot outside the village hall with community hydro scheme grant awardees.
I’m frustrated that there’s three no-shows and call-offs but we get some good shots of the group of folks who have bothered to show up. Blotted copy books and so on 😉
Back home I pick a couple of shots, tidy them up and put them aside for when I have to time write up a news release.
There’s a new video ad to be made for the upcoming Met Theatre show in Bury. Once that’s done and scheduled for publication I get some more stuff done for Black Bull Gartmore’s wire music season.
The ‘intro to Dave Arcari’ video could do with an update and refresh so when I go a walk up the lochside I take the wee DJI Neo drone and film a little bit of ‘walking and talking’ to see how it could look. If it has promise we’ll try similar with a proper camera and gimbal.
I’m home in time to take a trip to the dump in Balfron. Out bins are all full since I cleared out the office a couple weeks ago.
Smash burgers for dinner – there’s some extra patties defrosted so I invite Betty along to join us…
MY WEEKLY sourdough routine seems to make Mondays come round awful quick!
Once the routine stuff is out the way I head to the studio for a session with one of my online guitar students.
Next job is promo stuff and ticketing for the Black Bull Gartmore’s winter music season. Once I have artwork finished and all the assets ready I send them off and start setting up the ticketing.
After lunch I nip out for a walk while the going’s good and get back just in time for my afternoon guitar student arriving.
I need to make a new set of videos for social media ads for the upcoming show at The Met in Bury(27 September)…then prep for my Wildcats livestream on Facebook.
QUITE a lot on today’s to-do list. After breakfast I pack up some merch orders that were waiting for the embroidered beanies, print postage and book a collection.
It boils ma piss that the post office close all the local post offices (nearest to us is now 12 miles away – a 24-mile round trip!) – and then have the audacity to charge for the postie to collect when they’re at the door anyway. Moreover we have to work out the postage ourselves and print the labels etc and pay for the privilege. Anyway…
There’s ameeting with a local group hoping to buy the recently closed church from Church of Scotland so we head along to get an update on the project. I’d planned to walk there and back but it’s pissing rain…and I don’t really have the time.
When we get back I spend some time on artwork and promo stuff for the Black Bull in Gartmore’s upcoming winter music season.
