The GFF is out of town in Nebraska so I’ve spent the July 4th long weekend trying to get every imaginable errand and task completed prior to her return. Also included in there is cleaning the house, the clothes, and the dog and not necessarily in that order. Chief among my distractions has been the videotape conversion that I’ve always wanted to carry out. I currently have four 1-terabyte drives that are set up as RAID-1 (meaning they appear as 2 drives in total with the other 2 acting as automatic mirror backups). Very nice! 1-terabyte drives are now below $200 so I figure I’d like to replace all of the remaining drives with them. I know, I know. I’m a hard drive prude.

I *just* got through importing "AE9: VidCam: 93-02/27+ San Antonio Trip;" which in truth means it is VHS tape #320 out of a collection of something like 425 tapes. I’m skipping all of the duplicated movies that are on the tapes, which makes deciding what to import super simple. The rule is: if it’s not a movie or a TV show that I can buy on DVD then it’s a candidate. The San Antonio tape was filmed in 1993 and features ex-GFF Betsy and I driving to San Antonio where we commit a litany of boring offenses. The haunted house section is the most interesting piece, IMHO. I managed to shower and shave while this gem was duplicating, so I can’t really offer highlights. Oh, but wait. Yes I can. The import is done and I can view the clips. Here’s what they tell me was worth my precious time:

Saturday, February 27, 1993:

• Leaving the hotel and Betsy telling me that her grandparents can never EVER see this video. Oops.
• Betsy discovers she’s wearing brown shoes and a black belt and must return to the hotel to remediate
• Ugly ring shopping. Betsy: "Is this ring ugly?" Me: "Yes."
• Lunchbox shopping until the shopkeeper yells at me for videotaping. Betsy was just about to reveal someone’s name etched inside a lunchbox.
• Clandestinely filming in an antique store while mean shopkeeper lady is looking the other way
• Mark rips off Betsy’s hand (see this)
• Ordering grub at Wendy’s and sending back the chili. Betsy: "I can’t eat those onions."
• Buying Elvis Presley stamps at the post office
• Betsy’s first time ever through a revolving door. Wow!
• Visiting The Alamo and the Alamo store (shortened because you can’t film inside the Alamo).
• Riding a trolley with me making dumb observations.
• Mark buys a Lotto ticket (I didn’t win).
• Mark buys a piece of jalape