The way things have been going, it was starting to feel like this darn highlights reel might Never get finished. The job of conforming a high-quality version to the workprint isn't exactly a fun job but, in this case, it was a high-stakes melodrama and not in a good way.

My old imac, the computer on which I cut Seasons 1 and 2, is on its last legs. The last few times I used it, the beach ball of death was my constant companion for even the most simple routine jobs like opening Text Edit, or clicking on Finder. Every little thing took twenty-five minutes. And so my dear old friend had been retired to its box for the past year. I've been dreading that I might not be able to get my hands on any high quality tape at all from Seasons 1 and 2 without forking out a thousand dollars for another version of Final Cut 7 and then going through the arduous job of installing it, all for one day's work.

But the sun was shining on my little studio today. My old computer was as snappy and fast as the day I bought it. (Maybe it was the car ride up from the city? To my horror, Mr. Green had packed it into the car lying on its side...) I think the hard part of the job is over.