Of course, my edit system went down ON the day I started to cut a project that has a deadline. I'm sick of being an I.T. guy just so I can do a little editing.

My assistant, Richard was chugging along digitizing footage. After about three hours of footage (out of 40) the system starts acting all ass-like. Refusing to pass audio along to my speakers, freezing, footage is getting corrupted.... Restart, restart, restart, restart.... Then nothing. Start and crash.

My system is a few years old. Its AppleCare agreement has expired. I can't afford the $6500 to buy a sexy new Intel Xeon 8-core Mac Pro tower. I spent all day Saturday trying to find a field tech that was available on short notice. They get abut $85/hr and this was going to be a long process. By the time all was said and done I'd probably be in for a grand.

Of course no one was going to be available until Tuesday. I decided to take the issue into my own hands. I spent the entire weekend backing up and wiping my system drive, installing fresh versions of the operating system and working software (installing final cut is akin to installing World of Warcraft.... Don't ask me how I know that...

So anyhow... as of last night, I was back in business. Saved myself at least a grand. Did it with a bare minimum of drama.

I'm digitizing as we speak. Started from scratch to minimize the possibilities of corrupted footage so I have a few days of work just to get the bulk of the master footage in and sent off to the client in DVD form.

Did I say I was happy as hell to be working?