Hey all!

It's been quite a while since the last time I was really on here pretty steadily. I've tried to resurrect myself on here a few times, but it never really seemed to take. I've been working full time since June, so my availability has been pretty severely limited. I'm still around, but usually very briefly and infrequently. Therefore, I don't necessarily expect my posts these days to do very well, as it's pretty well known that the more stagnant you are here, the less likely the community will care enough to reward you. That's fine. That's not really my concern anyway. I'm just here to talk about what I've been up to.

So what have I been up to aside from just working?

I've actually started a new side-business for myself recently, and for as simple a thing as it is, I'm finding more and more people who need help with digitizing old videos, either A) because they don't understand how to do it themselves, or B) because even though the understand they lack the equipment.

After both of my parents passed away, I spent several months afterward scanning old photos and digitizing old video tapes in an effort to preserve as many of our moments as possible. Once I was finished, I found myself in possession of several pieces of equipment which I no longer had a use for. I could either sell it, or I could start offer my services to the public. So, I recently began a new service to the general public in my area for digitizing old video footage from their home collections. I've been expanding my efforts a bit to include transfer options for not only VHS tapes, but also VHS-C, SVHS, 8mm, Hi8, Digital8, and MiniDV, and then offer delivery options ranging from DVD, Blu-Ray, or MP4 files on disc or flash drive.

Aside from the technical stuff, what I'm doing is allowing people to re-experience something that perhaps they haven't in up to 2 or 3 decades. I'm giving them back moments on tape which they've held onto all this time, but likely without a way to view them. Especially if we're talking about any variation of the 8mm format. The units needed to play those tapes back are becoming harder and harder to find. It's only a matter of time before all we're left with is a large collection of deteriorating tapes, but no way to view them.

I've had customers tell me that the footage I've converted for them ended up containing forgotten moments of loved ones, giving them the opportunity to see their smiling faces again and to once again hear their voice.

So it's also inspired me to also offer digitization services for audio cassettes and mini cassettes like the ones in answering machines from the 80's & 90's. And for the same kinds reasons - some of those tapes contain the only known recordings of some people who are no longer with us. One of my favorites is a cassette my grandfather recorded of himself talking about his experience in World War II. I even have a few of those mini cassettes. One in particular contains a conversation between me and several friends as we discussed the plot of a movie we wanted to write and film. Those moments may exist in no other way, and they deserve to be rescued.

Birthdays, vacations, graduations, holidays, weddings, baby's first steps & words, ball games, random Tuesdays and Saturdays, that time a bird got in the house, kids plays, the day the dog discovered his reflection in the mirror, family reunions, that one road trip to the mountains, grandma & grandpa's garden, your first car, the "Great Snowball Fight of '93", New Year's Eve parties, that time you tried to ride a skateboard, getting stitches in your chin after trying to ride a skateboard, Halloween costumes, the school's talent show from 1996, church group activities, going to the beach or swimming in the pool, going to see monster trucks or car races, that one school project you had to make a video for, that time your little brother tied a knot in your hair, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, The Fremont Street Experience in Vegas, that one trip to Japan... ... ... ...

None of these moments or ones like them deserve to die along with the deteriorating medium onto which they were originally recorded. They were filmed so they could be remembered. But without proper archival methods, they will eventually dissolve into nothing and be forgotten.