I got up and I knew right away that the first thing was a film walk with the new camera.

I caffeinated and pushed ahead with that.

My field test went great but the video was a wreck, partly due to my noobness and partly due to unsatisfying equipment–just the tripod, not the camera.

Toward the end of the walk I told the camera something about needing to get my truck back, to get to the printer’s, to properly apply for the next job … and no sooner had I turned the Panasonic off than they called from the dealer–it’s ready.

So I went back home and cut the haphazard video together haphazardly, got it uploaded, figured out how to get myself an Amazon affiliate link to post with it, and set out again for a walk to the dealer.

By the way: the fancy new camera doesn’t make small rough files like the GoPro does. It’s monster .mp4 only. So it takes a while to edit and upload–the seventeen minutes video was a gig and a half in five clips. The good news is that the Starlink is up to the job. I’m putting my kit together right, and now I just need to grow more talented at using it. Bear with me. I’ll get there. I’m promising that to myself as much as you.

I wore too much shirt and not enough hat to make the long hike to the dealer on a sunny seventy-degree day. But even though I sweated, it was a good sweat, and a good strain.

They charged me $666, rounding up, for spark plugs and coil packs and an oil change and an inspection. The inspection was half-ass, so I drove my temporarily healthy baby up the hill a little farther to check out the highly-rated independent mechanic called Todd. I’m looking forward to having him do the real inspection, finally, on my beast. Also, he’s advertising ‘expert Subaru service’, so that might come in handy someday (I have one of those back across the stateline too).

Some iced coffee and now I’m back at the ranch.

This evening is going to be all about re-organizing myself in both cyberspace and meatspace, with the intention of completing my third job app entirely by tomorrow. I’ll tell you a bit about it maybe when that’s done.

Here on the print side, I have my ten thousand hours. But as a maker of videos, it’s more like a hundred. I don’t feel ept.

But I don’t feel ashamed either. I’m red-cheeked but I am committed to it and to getting better. And I will.