NAQ (Never Asked Questions)
Q: How do I participate in this crazy thing?
A: Let me know you want in by emailing me or leaving a comment at the appropriate Alkaline Earth discussion. If you don't see yourself on that page, you're not on the list yet.
Q: I've never burned a CD before!
A: Really? I mean, uh, no that's totally cool. First, you need to get your tracks from the CD's to the hard drive (this means you will need 700MB free on the drive). There are lots of choices but I prefer audiograbber. Just tell it what your drive letter is, hit Freedb to download track names, let it know you want a WAV file, and tell it where to save. Then, you need a program to burn the new CD. Every program ever made accepts WAV files as an input and they're usually self-explanatory unless you're using Linux. In that case, you will need to rely on your extreme obstinacy reserves to forge through.
Q: How many damn CD's am I going to have to copy? I don't want to pay twenty bucks to distribute all this stuff!
A: Depends on how many people sign up. Here's how I'm looking at it: if you buy a big spindle of CD's they usually come out to about 10 cents or less a piece (or skim from the workplace. Not that I'd ever encourage that). Add some of those paper sleeves or print out and fold your own origami CD "case". (I'll probably buy a bulk supply of the paper sleeves at Fry's if anyone wants to go in with me). So, hopefully, it won't come out to be much more money than that time I talked you out of eating the lunch you brought and made you go to Texa-hell-fer-ya or Kismet instead.
Q: When are we trading these crazy things?
A: I suggested about a month would be plenty of time. That gives others a final chance to sign up and makes sure it doesn't pressure anyone into not studying or something terrible like that. And it gives Ziggy, who is already done, ample time to create a wonderful piece of art to illustrate the cover. If no one objects, I say that the Austinites trade on Monday October 25. Then I can make up care packages for...
Q: I don't live in Austin!
A: Calm down! You will have to ship 'em then. Don't worry, you'll be getting a box back. Maybe I'll throw some laffy taffies in there too. Then it will be like when I got boxes from my parents in college. (Just kidding! The boxes from my parents had sausage in them because candy is too heart healthy!)
Q: So, when should I get those CDs to
Austin if I don't live there?
A: If you can ship them so that they are
in my possession on October 25, that would be awesome. Then I can build
outgoing boxes for everyone at once because I'll have all the incoming
CDs. Make sense? Anyway, I can't send the boxes out until I get all the
boxes coming in (so I can make a full set), so the sooner the better.
Just send them to me at the department address:
Q: Anything else? A: I guess not. Be sure to put your name or
some crap on the CDs before you hand them out. There would be nothing
wackier than getting a crapload of "Office Depot" brand blank-looking
discs. Also, track listings are nice but I won't say they're necessary in
case someone is feeling mysterious.
1 University Station C1600
Austin, TX 78712