As a Gainfully Unemployed feelancer, each week brings a variety of projects. Which means I need to complete a variety of tasks on my computer and/or laptop–from recording, editing and uploading voice files to scanning and sending documents, printing in black/white or color, using FTP, the Internet for research or ordering supplies, social media like Facebook (anyone know how to get texts when an organization, such as a casting agency, not an individual friend, updates its status? I somehow set a few up to do that, but now can’t find the way), email, Word, Excel and/or PowerPoint, business card programs, etc.
Challenges can arise when I need to do something not in my computer skills repertoire, especially if it requires software I don’t already own. I’m not great with trial and error, and the plethora of options and online tutorials can be confusing or not have the answer to my question. When it comes to new technology, I don’t have a long fuse, and can become frustrated if it takes a long time to get the software to do what I want it to do.
Today I need to rip a clip from a (not copyright protected) DVD of a cable TV show I hosted to add to my on-camera reel. Ripping DVDs can’t be that hard, right?
I thought I already had a program, which I found and opened. So far, so good. I figured out how to copy my DVD onto another DVD, but despite visiting the cryptic help center, going online and trying several things, couldn’t figure out how to copy it to my computer or extract the clip I wanted. I looked for videos, but the ones I found were about copying files from your hard drive to a DVD. A couple of articles had too many steps I wasn’t sure how to follow.
Too much time later, I still had nothing. Which, I confess, made me feel a little less smart. But I knew how to feel smarter: ask a skilled friend for help. And offer to do a favor in return.
Moral of the story: Sometimes it’s better to ask someone to do a task for you or show you how than spend your valuable time and brain power trying to be independent.
