diff --git a/00_build_db.bash b/00_build_db.bash
index 71460706..4da14dcf 100755
--- a/00_build_db.bash
+++ b/00_build_db.bash
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ build_dcm_db(){
   mkdir -p db/
 
   for project in "$@"; do
+     # convenient way to specify a project without having the full path
+     [[ ! -d "$project" && ! "$project" =~ / && -d "/disk/mace2/scan_data/$project" ]] &&
+        project=/disk/mace2/scan_data/$project
+
      [ ! -d $project ] && echo "ERROR: failed to find project directory '$project'" >&2 && continue
      pname=$(basename $project)
      outtxt=db/$pname.txt
diff --git a/mrrc.bash b/mrrc.bash
index 7b1a4396..b6f19846 100755
--- a/mrrc.bash
+++ b/mrrc.bash
@@ -3,14 +3,14 @@
 # 20241026 -init
 
 # paper over centOS7+guix config issues
-export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt LC_ALL=C
+export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt LC_ALL=C LOGLEVEL=WARN
 make .venv
 . .venv/bin/activate
 
 log(){ echo "$(date +"[%s] %F %T"):: $*" | tee -a build.log; }
 
 log parse dicoms start
-./00_build_db.bash /disk/mace2/scan_data/*
+./00_build_db.bash /disk/mace2/scan_data/WPC-*
 
 log starting sqlite db
 cat db/*.txt | ./acq2sqlite.py