This Year Was Great and It Continues Part 1 Goal

I set a goal and I reached it.  I threw a bunch of videos up at my YouTube channel and experimented with them to see what would happen.  Yes, that's the shotgun approach, but I stuck with it and something did happen, so it wasn't totally wrong, maybe it could've been better, but it got me results.

10,000 lifetime YouTube channel views
This goal took me 10 months.  It wasn't 1,000 per month, it was a couple of thousand initially and then a long, slow dip before only about 3 of 50 videos far outperformed the average.

Below is the current chart of views over lifetime of my YouTube channel, which is one year old this month.  The spike is a little over 100 on that day, this is a daily chart so it has approximately 360 data points, one a day for a year.  The dip has days that go as low as 5 views on that day.

I was lucky and I totally knew it when I started with a holiday video that did well.  It was my first video, unedited, and has about 2,000 views mostly on the initial spike there.  Then nothing, after that, but I was totally prepared for the nothing response to my additional videos.  I did some research before I started this project so that helped me mentally prepare for the nothing response and I knew I was lucky with the initial Santa holiday fire department parade video that I published during the holidays, 2016.  But a little luck was encouraging.

10,000 lifetime channel views became an important statistic for YouTube after I started.  They implemented that after I started the channel.  Things changing that much at YT were a concern I had since I had very low expectations of the entire enterprise to begin with, so these big changes in their management of the program didn't help. 

This is Part 1 of my year end blog post series.  Next, I'll talk about having to edit initial Santa video because of copyrights, and what videos gained views and which did not, and why I had to pause for a while.

Thanks for reading, stop in at the channel some time, follow, subscribe, etc., if interested in updates. - J

Featured Post - My Nocats.net YouTube Channel - Click on this title for blog post with channel link, THANKS!

link:  nocats.net on YouTube

@ Hi, I'm blogging about vlogging and YouTube video publishing.  Some of the time my videos will be a vlog, but so far, most are not.  I'm not following the rule of specializing and having a narrow focus.  I have a lot of varied interests, so since it's called, YOUtube, I'll try doing it my way, at least for the initial testing and startup.  So far, I don't have a nice name on the URL, for that they require a specific subscriber level, but I'm half way there.

Thanks for stopping in and thanks more for clicking on my channel link, and thanks even more for watching a video, and big big thanks for anything else, like a like, or huuuuge thanks for a sub. : - )   -jay / nocats.net

My YouTube Statistics in a Single Image Mini-Blog

My Mini-Blog Posted to Twitter and here on my blog.

The trend is nice, this is a chart of watch time from my YouTube channel's statistics from the Analytics link.

I guess I'm doing something right even though the numbers are still low, the chart looks nice.

What Happened to July 2017, no posts?

July 2017 was crazy.  Here's some of it in a little list that I could make a vlog that could easily fill a few minutes with clips.

Got a bunch of books on software, haven't had time to look at them yet.
Got a couple of letters with tickets falsely accusing me of traffic violations.
Had to investigate why my father was getting a bunch of bills he never saw before, had to sort a decade of paper to find clues.
Was not going to let my newly uptrending chart of YouTube views and watch time slip so I published a bunch of videos.
Spent a day testing gear to get a better voice over audio sound and got it.
Yard work; place is way over grown; cutting stuff down in the heat is exhausting;
regular yard work, lawn, etc.
appointments for dentist
shopping, dining out, helping dad
Constantly rearranging stuff and organizing stuff and searching for misplaced stuff in extremely limited space.
fixing stuff, cleaning
Sat at DMV to return plates, took old car off the road to maybe fix someday.
Sat at Toyota for a couple of recalls.

Replaced my front brakes but had trouble and it took a few half days
need a wheel, but trying to not go to Toyota for it, takes more time, though
needs tires, waiting for wheel....
Needs fender skin and why is the A/C draining into the car!?
It sucks that it's summer and so far, no beach, no boating, no swimming, no gardening, and no blog entry for July.  It's now August 4, 2017, this is crazy.
Ok, 2 concerts at Jones Beach, missed half of one of them though while working on brakes.

And I still have a lot on list before I can try to enjoy Summer, hopefully soon.

Next time, a real blog entry. - J.

Quick Video on a Tool, Black and Decker Alligator Electric Lopper Chain Reset

I had to do this anyway, so why not record it and show how I do it since I do it a lot and I'm fast at it now.

It sure makes a much faster video subject and someone might wonder about it and I make videos, so it's fun practice.  First time adding electric guitar soundtrack also.  So far most of these videos are tests of various techniques that I am trying out for experience.  What was it?

I was doing yardwork; I have a very useful tool; it needs some simple adjustments and fixes, it has low maintenance but it should be done - adding oil; it is a fast activity; it is done in good weather, great light with the sun that day; easy subject; I've already done it before; I can use my camera very quickly for this type of near field video shot; so I did it.

It is the all electric small chainsaw, the Black and Decker Alligator Lopper.  The chain can come off the track when the chamber that ejects the cuttings, the sawdust, etc., gets a little too full.  Then I just open it up, clear it out, reattach the chain, add oil, reassemble, get back to work.

It's lasted years and there are a lot of videos on YouTube on it, so it must be very popular.  I just added mine, let's see how it ranks on search, just for fun.  These  aren't getting millions, just barely thousands of views so it's obviously only a test.  Here's the link.

Black and Decker Electric Lopper Chainsaw link below:

Working on Video of Older MacBook Upgrade

It seems like there is always something in the way of my getting a video project completed. I ordered some RAM memory expansion for the inherited old MacBook I have. It failed to be recognized by the machine. I swapped it with the old chips 3 times and the old worked, the new did not. Emails back and forth with the supplier and I'm waiting again for a replacement.

The MacBook is from early 2009 and was upgraded once already but it was very slow and the startup time was too much for the user.  It also had MS Word failing to work and hanging the machine and I un-installed it and re-installed
etc., with no improvement.

Even with out the new RAM, I figured I would try it with just the SSD upgrade.  That's not such a bad idea since it will let me know which upgraded component made a difference.

Link to blog post with all the additional details.

I need to figure out what is a vlog video, and if I should have non-vlog videos that are only single subjects since people who search on them find them and only want that subject, rather than my vlog.  Maybe I should just mention in the vlog that I have that other video since anyone only interested in the vlog, would likely not be interested in that single subject video.

Casey Neistat, however, combines everything into the vlog, which I imagine is really not interesting to so many who are not there for that.  Which is also the reason why I have this blog which is really related to my vlogging and a different blog, which is only for tech.

Doing a Video About How To Tweet a Clickable Image Link Vlog_0002

Friday, June 2, 2017 ...can't remember what time I started, but it's been hours.

If you are already doing this, (tweeting a clickable image with a link) you can skip this edition of my Blog and also the related Vlog post which is Vlog #0002.  This is a purely technical blog and vlog post.  Others are less tech and more of a mix of what I'm up to.

The reason I'm blogging and vlogging so much tech currently is because I am still in this learning curve and it is what I'm up to much of the time since I'm still new to it.  The more interesting stuff that's not as techy is also happening and I'd really rather be blog/vlogging that but I have to work thru this stuff first so why not address it while it's here.

I'll be blogging and tweeting this first since it is the subject of my second vlog post and it will only be completed after this is done as well since I'm actually recording the process.

From here on in this blog post, it becomes a bit like a journal and I may even publish it, then add to it and update it through the process if I need to.

3:00pm ET
At this point in the process, I am recording me doing the thumbnail that I'll be using for both this blog post, and then I think I'll be using the same image in this blog post that will then link to the completed video, my YouTube Vlog#0002.

This is the image I'll be tweeting for this blog post. (I wonder if I should use two images, one that points to this blog post and another one here that points to the vlog post?)

4:00pm ET
Of course, being a perfectionist, I decided to use two different images, one for the tweet of the image link to this blog post, and another one for both the tweet linking to the vlog and to place here that also leads to the vlog#0002.  I just hope that when I tweet, the correct image will show up.  I think what I'll do to make sure of that, is to place the blog image here right now, and tweet it now, and then add the second one later.

4:30pm ET
I recorded entering the elements required to tweet the above image as a clickable link.  Then, I entered the URL of this blog post into the Twitter Card Validator and it passed.  It worked.  I have to do some edits on the recorded video, however, since some of the typing I was doing was a just under the lower edge of my screen capture, so this is taking even longer to complete.  But at least I did get this far.  I will now tweet this blog with the clickable image link.

5:20pm ET
Had a cookie (or 3) and spaced out. The tweet was a success. There is an error on Twiter.com's chart of requirements for this, it has a, "no," in the column on the chart for requiring the link of the image, which I thought was incorrect and it was.  When I omitted it, it failed to verify on the Twitter Card Validator and worked when I included it.  I just checked the html code now as I am typing this and all those lines are gone! 

So I just refreshed my twitter page on another machine here and the image was still there, still clickable, and still sent me to this blog post.  So this is interesting, it seems that these codes are only required while actually tweeting and if they disappear or are removed afterwards, it all still works.  This is funny stuff.

5:50pm ET I just clicked on the Twitter Card Validator thinking that since the html I entered here on blogger was gone, that it wouldn't work, but it still did. Maybe I should look again to see if maybe I just couldn't find that code.

I don't see it.
I wanted to check the Twitter Card Validator on another machine, but it requires login to Twitter.  I'll try that later.

7:30 pm ET
Darn, I lost track of time, spoke with someone here, had to help him out, sort things out, look at the beautiful weather, I've had plenty of fun times in beautiful weather, so it's ok to miss some now.  It is Friday, I've been planning and shooting video and auditioning Apple loops all week, I'm not quitting until a Vlog video is posted and it's happening today no matter what.  So now I'm editing.  I hope I have a music clip sitting on the hdd somewhere I can pop in, hope I can use my audio without having to voice over it, etc.  I'm hoping on one more hour but that can easily turn into 3.  Yikes.

11:00pm ET
It took a long time to render that video, I may have had one too many applications running and taking up usable ram.  I actually ended an hour ago, the waiting around was not good.  Another Friday of over 12 hours on a video, I can't keep repeating.

Here it is: Click Here to Go To The Video

Of course, this image should also be a clickable link.  I think I can.

Completing a Project Without Giving Up No Matter How Long It Takes With Link To Vlog_0001

It took 12 hours and then some more time uploading and tagging, but I refused to end the day and week without having this video up on my channel.

I was doing some things that I never did before, so it was really because of the learning curve, that I'm not yet finished with.  I had so much I wanted to do and it's taking a lot of learning to accomplish it.  There are many more ideas I want to implement and I don't know how to do those either so I'm still in the middle of that curve.

I was rather upset that it took so long on Friday to get that video done, but on Saturday, I was actually happy that I completed it and that I did what I decided a while ago, was the thing I should be doing with my life for now, and definitely what I should be doing with all my skill, talent, experience.  That took many years for me to understand and it could surely fill a book.  Maybe someday it can at least be a couple of chapters somewhere, or a series of vlogs and blogs.

Noon to midnight, on a Friday, so I didn't get to happy hour of course.  I did take short breaks like any human, but I was very determined.  I shot new footage, composed the soundtrack, used an old MacBook with GarageBand, edited video like mad, increased playback speed on a clip by converting frame rate, took some notes but not nearly enough, found new settings for new features included in my video for the first time, and more.  That's just from my memory, there is probably a lot more.

I decided to call this my VLOG #0001 since part of me is in it and it is covering more than just one subject.  It took 6 months and a lot of experimenting and learning to get to where I now think I can do a decent job on my vlog so it is time.
Link: VLOG #0001 With Mic Tests

Thanks for watching, please subscribe, not sure when I upload next one, definitely weekly a least, not sure what day tho. - J

Learning To Be Flexible With a Project and Two Videos Published

I had to publish a video before I was done with the one I was currently working on.  I never did that before, but sometimes, you have to just give one project a rest while knowing that you can complete another one during that rest time.  That's what I did, is it a concept?  Maybe a small one?  I guess that's a question that answers a question, that's OK, right?

I've been working on a video that was supposed to be very simple, basic, quick to produce, but it wasn't.  All I was planning to do was to buy a cheap headset and test the mic and demonstrate the new mic sound.  Hopefully it would be an improvement.  I couldn't get the mic to work, I didn't have a way to connect it to my audio gear that I was using with my current mic.

I went back to the store where I got it to get an adaptor for it.  That also didn't work with it either.  So I was in it for 2 full days with no video, and no simple voice recording improvement, or even a test.  So I did research on this and found something I was beginning to suspect.

I found that microphones that are made for connecting to a computer are made to require a bias voltage to work.  This is also called, plug-in power.

It is about 5 volts.  This is new to me, I do know about phantom power, but that is 48 volts!  Luckily, I didn't send the phantom power to the mic or I would have fried it.

This means that the video started to become all about how I discovered bias voltage rather than just a quick, simple mic test.  That means the entire project is changed, so it required a lot of editing and it requires a lot of flexibility and open minded thinking.  Changing a project midway, can mess with the mind since the flow is interrupted and feels like something totally different.

I got the fast video out, it was just a quick look at the Samsung Galaxy S8 I saw on display.  Getting video out in 2 days or one half day in editing with the shooting the night before is a good feeling.  I think I kind of needed that feeling since I immediately got a clear head and completed the first video and decided to make it a part 1 of 2, maybe 3.

So this post was all about learning to be flexible with a project and including new considerations within project work flow.  It takes a lot to describe it but also helps to put in words the little adjustments I went through recently.

I did a post on my tech blog on it: techlinkcorner blog s8 link


And the bias voltage video:  Bias Voltage found during mic test link

Busy With Other Stuff But Still Posting Video, Just Fewer Blogs

Omitting the details for now, but lots of driving and appointments can take a lot of time and energy away.  I was not giving in tho, and continued to post video, I'm not yet calling them vlogs, however.  The blog update did get missed, but I'm not letting that happen any more either.

It's actually helpful to sort out thoughts with blogging and I'll bring whatever I need to bring to write wherever it is that I am since as I'm writing this, it definitely feels good to explain what is going on with me and the blog and vlog project and my related life.

Then after composing, all I would need to do is type it up, and that's the easiest part of anything I have to do.  At least something is easy....

Latest video post: How to change out battery on SE-50 Boss effects unit
Blog with details: My Tech Blog on Linux and more


The bad news is that after the Wall Street Journal attacked the number one blogger on YouTube, Felix, PewDiePie, Kellenjberg, they didn't stop there.  They went on to attack all of YouTube and organzied an advertiser boycott which essentially shut down the payment for YouTubers.  WITH NO RESPONSE FROM YOUTUBE OR GOOGLE.

This is a concerted effort for the final effect of ending the freedom of expression on that platform that was enjoyed by many for a long time.  But that's what happens when independent media is consolidated and becomes dependent on the new boss.  It is to be expected.  It is the natural order in the world.  It hasn't even become a major media news story and it never will.  It's over, done, time to move on.  The platform still stands, however and it still works, and I will still continue to move forward with my skills I am building in making multimedia video.  I will still post there because it is a very well working distribution system for world wide video serving.  I just won't be expecting to ever get paid for it unless things change again, but I doubt it will ever revert.

A Little Nature, Right On Time

Three or 4 days before Easter holiday I noticed something moving out the window.  I looked and saw cute ears moving along under the window, it was hard to see but definitely it was a bunny.


I figured that was it, I would never see that again, but a few minutes later he was visible in the yard and I had a clear window view.  I ran and got the camera and was lucky to have some time recording still and video.

It's been over 10 years since I saw a live rabbit in the yard and it was nice that this time, I have a decent camera to capture the rare event.

So then I had a little work to do:

edited out the talking
cut missed images, cut out of focus time and the extreme shakes
added a Bunny Theme sound track
kept it to minimal narration
got a couple of minutes of clips that were good enough
popped the new bumper on the ends
edited a frame and captured final steps editing the thumbnail
typed up the transcript file for the closed captioning in English
uploaded the video, the thumbnail, and the transcript file

Published it to YouTube channel.

Bunny Hopping in Yard

What I didn't have the time to do, however, was set up a tripod.  If I did that, I definitely would have missed out on all that I did capture, but it is a little bit shaky since I had to use the maximum zoom.  It's great to have zoom though, there wouldn't be much there without it.  I was at the maximum zoom of 200mm on this video.

Camera used is the Nikon D3300 with the kit lens auto focus and I set it on full auto since I was pressed for time.

Upgraded My Skills a Bit With Text Animation Also Uploaded to YouTube

I have to be flexible with my blog posting and post even if I'm not continuing a subject and starting a new one.  I'd like to keep my posts in order and complete a subject that has more than one entry, but what happens from that perfectionism is worse.  It leads to not posting a new entry for too long.  That's where I've been.

It isn't always possible to complete a part 2 in time and being really busy during the learning curve for blogging and vlogging means that I can't get to that part of my list where it says, "complete part 2."

I've been building my Linux work station up with audio software, hardware interfaces, other audio gear and learning how to get it all going.  I also try to vlog about it for YouTube and blog about it for my Tech blog.  I can't even try to explain how complicated it is and how much has to be learned and configured and stuff.  It would be a very long and probably boring blog entry and might sound like I'm complaining.  I'll save those details, if I ever get around to blogging about them, for the tech blog.

So here it is, about 3 months in to my new media enterprise of blogging and vlogging.  It is just as much work as anything else that's new but also an actual thing that can be considered to be a... I'm hesitating on the word here, so here are some options I'm thinking of: job, career, occupation, (more than just an activity) I'll have to sleep on this....

Ok so here it is, about 3 months in, and I don't really mind how much work it is, or how much I am learning, or how deep it can go, or how slow it can actually be to see any advancement.  That's because I feels a lot like I'm doing what I think fits me the best.  There is so much life stuff that I've had to also do during this time and that takes huge amounts of time away from it and that's annoying, but otoh, this has it's own slow growth schedule anyway. 

I did find a way to animate text without using the proprietary, costly software available.  I vlogged that also.  My text animation method 

And I used that technique on my latest upload to YouTube for beginner's on what I think is a little tip on getting subscribers when you have none.

 Beginner's tip for subscribers on YouTube

Finally one day I'm getting to bed before 3am, GN!



-Jay

Hey Where's That Vid? And a New Little Info Vid

It's so cliche, but I had technical difficulties.  Yes, I probably could have re-routed all my cables for the machines and the hubs (switches) and the monitors etc to plain old power strips, but I did have the new UPS batteries, so....

Why not just replace them since it should go so quickly.  But I also had to record it because I was planning on doing that anyway.  So then it became a project and I had to edit it and I'm laughing as I type this because it seems so absurd.  Like is this what my life is coming to?  I need to create content from everything?

Yes, that is exactly what my life is coming to.  Everything within reason is going to become content.  At least for a while anyway, like a few years.

So now I can get going on that video I mentioned because I have a working UPS powering everything in the office.  It's actually not that crazy since the power does blink a few times around here and that's enough to destroy a lot of work and recording voice-over, audio recording, editing audio and video, etc.  So I really couldn't go without.

So that video is techy not artsy, but here it is anyway or just wait for the one I intend to do ASAP.

Tonight's Mission is to Document the Final Night of a Great Bar

I'm heading out right now, as soon as I hit post.  Going to take a final look at a great bar that has a Beatles theme to it.

One last visit to Eleanor Rigby's.  I'll try to capture as much of the Beatles memorabilia in there as I can and I'll try to get the general vibe, but if it's crowded, that may be hard to do, I may have to rely on stills rather than panning.

Plan is leave now at 8:30 ET and return around midnight to start editing and upload before 3am.  If I have trouble, the next deadline is noon tomorrow, Thursday, if I have extreme trouble, then deadline is 4pm tomorrow.  Before 3am would be sweet tho.  CUL.

Baffled by More Views Than I Expected and Plans for Next Video

Somehow I have 820 views on my silly test video, my initial post.  I have no idea how or why that's happening, I'm not complaining, I just don't understand since I'm not promoting it.  It's just the local fire department pulling Santa on a trailer for 4 minutes.

The other weird thing is that he doesn't even show up until 3.5 minutes in, but people are only watching for an average of one minute.  So they aren't even seeing him, which is kinda the point?

Then my other 2 videos are just me looking back at old camera gear and my first digital camera that was insanely $1,000.  So that's just for camera gear heads so I get why it's not popular.

The third vid is just my Christmas tree then a wipe to me hilariously ripping open a box of chocolates and cutting them up and putting whip cream on them and eating them with a fork and knife.  Yea, simple, not so great, but only 2 mins and I have lots of fast edits and some simple piano music.  Not a lot there, I know, but I thought it was at least something, since it was edited and composed and maybe cute?  Ornaments?  Sets a mood?  Ok so that's a dud, fine.

So this got me thinking that I should just do a highlight vid of these and of course, keep it way shorter than any so far.  But at least have it move really fast so that it is over in the average one minute that my viewers are giving it.

It also might be funny to cut it up and talk fast and maybe put some fast cutting music to it also.  This still isn't my series that I want to produce, but I just have this feeling like I want to complete this first group by putting and end to it with a very short "highlight" reel that may just be the best of all of them and see if anyone likes it as much as FD Santa.

Here's my view charts on the YouTube analytics stats that is blowing my mind because I was psyched when I somehow had 20 views, then more when I had 80, then 100, then 200, then 4, 5, 6, 7, now 800+ views on that?  Weird, weird, weird, weird weird....

It's 1am ET so I can't even start this highlight reel right now, I wish I could...gn...
weird....

I'm on Twitter now also with same name, nocats.net I follow all follows.

I can't sleep, so I'm doing something different first.  I'm going to show the highlights of the videos but from my desktop just playing in VLC, narrate it, and all in under one minute.  Done, it's up.

Myspace Plays from YouTube?

So I looked up Donovan and on his twitter page, it lists myspace, which was surprising.  So then I'm playing his music thinking I'm in myspace, but then I see that it's actually playing from a little YouTube box.  I guess myspace was just a link, but....

But looking again at it, there's also a strip on the bottom that looks like a player that is in myspace.  I have to search on this and figure it out.

First New Video of Year is Final Holiday of 2016 Season

Only 24 hours after my deadline I uploaded a video.  I have to improve on what I'm doing or it isn't worth doing.  The little improvements were big complications on the tech side of course.

Edits using software, adding a music track, all slowed me down and I had to work hours that turned into days.  I really have a deadline of Thursday at 4pm.  Considering all the new parts, 24 hours isn't really so bad.  But I definitely HAD to get something up this week or I know I would feel like I'm not really doing this.

I took pages of notes and joined a forum to ask questions and even learned some python in case my editor was not going to work.  I had a backup plan of capturing video by playing the parts in VLC and capturing them with a sound track from the stereo mix.  Lucky I wasn't forced into implementing that workaround.

I'll end this here since I want to tweet before 5pm ET.

Video 3 end of holiday short