Earl, Jamie and I took (or had) a day off from work today. Our friend Scott joined us for a day at Southwick Beach State Park. It was a very good day.
Popularity.
Ha! Take a look at this website to see if the CPR Class ad features anyone that might look familiar.
Quandry Technologically.
I may have mentioned a couple of thousand times on here that I am a geek through and through. I have been using computers since 1983, where I was introduced to the Apple ][+ in high school (interestingly, for French class) and promptly convinced my mother that I needed a VIC-20 for the next gift giving holiday. I have been online with an active e-mail address since 1985. I used Windows even before I was using Windows-Windows-Windows/386 (props to the person that gets that obscure Windows marketing reference).
I am a lucky man in that I have a few computers in the house. Okay, we have eleven, including the two servers and the media controllers. We are mostly a Mac shop, but I also have my two Lenovo computers, a desktop and a laptop. Both have served me well and I feel I made the right decision in buying these, however, I have alternated between running Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux on these computers because I haven’t really found the combination for the perfect fit. The geek in me says that I should be running Ubuntu Linux because real geeks run Linux and I will lose major points if I don’t follow that trend. Admittedly, my livelihood is doing the Linux (and Solaris) thing for the phone company but I still use Windows XP on my desk at work to get to the Linux servers. Though remarkable progress has been made in a very short time, I have to say that Ubuntu Linux is just not ready for the desktop for the average user. Case in point: Ubuntu Linux’s version of iTunes is called “Ubuntu One”, which debuted earlier this year. I believe they tie in with Digital 7 in the UK. The program of choice to do all this is called Rhythmbox. This combination downloads your purchases into the “cloud” so that you can access them from several computers instead of just one. Cool enough. However, because of the territorial squabbling that is going on, you can’t really sync your iPod to Rhythmbox, you definitely can’t sync a Zune to Rhythmbox and with a little bit of coaxing you might be able to sync your Droid with Rhythmbox. It should be plug and play with the most popular devices. I don’t want to go to Staples, get led into a dark room to buy the Wombat Audio Terminator Three with six LEDs and flashing earbuds in order to sync with Rhythmbox.
Another thing that drove me crazy about the Ubuntu One store is that it took three days to download one album. Three days. I could have driven to Kylie herself and had her sing into the webcam or something faster than that.
So now I’m putting Windows back on the Lenovos in an attempt to maintain a relaxed sanity when it comes to using computers outside of work hours. For the curious, I’m always relaxed at work because that’s what I do.
Now, it’s time to click NEXT.
DJ SuperCub.
I knew the chair (see previous entry) inspired me to be creative again. Last night I mixed up my first DJ SuperCub mix since the beginning of the year. I need to add a few touches to the mix and then it’ll be ready for public consumption.
In the meantime, here’s one of the songs in the mix. It’s from 2008. This is Kendi with “Connected”.
The Chair.
Earl and I are just back from a nice dinner out and a stop at Staples. My work schedule just kicked into overdrive with the onset of tonight; as the big project I was mentioning before has relegated me to the midnight shift for the rest of the week. To get my head into the right place, I have tomorrow during the day off from work, aside from a mandatory conference call.
I have mentioned before that I have a recording/creative studio in my office here at the house. This is where I make my DJ SuperCub mixes, record a commercial or two here and there and work on various other projects. One of the issues that I have had with the studio over the years is the fact that I have a stool that is too tall for the counter instead of an adjustable chair designed for the type of setup I actually have.
Tonight we bought the chair I need to bring all of it together.
I have already made a video using the studio computer whilst sitting in the chair and I can already tell you that this has opened up a world of possibilities in my creativity. Sitting in a chair that is the proper height without the fear of spinning off the thing and spilling over onto the counter has helped me find my creative mojo again. The iMac is a dream to use when you’re not hunched over like you’re just back from Notre Dame. People, I feel the ergonomics!
Now, let’s see what I do with my free time tomorrow!
Lenovo.
Okay. I officially welcomed my new laptop into the family today by posing for a new gay geek picture with it.
After a month of tweaking the computer and figuring out how I wanted to use it, I believe I have everything working the way I want it to and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to do so. The only thing that’s not quite where I want it to be yet is recording video using my webcam, but that’s why I have the small selection of mini video cameras laying around the house.
And yes, I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate. The latest incarnation of Ubuntu Linux is wonderful, but it’s not quite where it needs to be to be a mainstream desktop environment. As I was telling my friend Matt on the phone earlier today, I work on computers all day long for a living and I love every moment of it. However, when I come home I want to enjoy my computer, not struggle with getting it work and I want it to be a rather affordable experience. I believe the my new Lenovo laptop, which has top of the line specs, was the most sensible way of achieving that goal.
And for the curious, I still love my iMac that runs my recording studio.
Pie.
I have mentioned before that one of my preferred ways home from work takes me through Amish country. The drive brings me through several Amish communities, each marked by their own little one room school house and cooperative work on a barn or something similar. One of these communities sells cedar chests, another sells quilts. Today I noticed that one of the houses had opened their normally vacant baked goods stand so I decided to stop.
I picked up a blueberry pie as a treat for tonight.
If memory serves correctly, Grandma Country baked pies on Friday back when I was a kid so for some reason I always think of Friday night as pie night. I have never had an Amish made pie before, but it was quite impressive looking and I imagined it would be just as delicious. The young girl working the stand wasn’t particularly chatty; she handed me my change in a shy way that seemed slightly peculiar as she tried to avoid touching me. She seemed startled when I wished her a good day but I smiled anyways. She didn’t smile back.
And I was right, the pie was delicious. I’m looking forward to another piece tomorrow night. I think I’ll stop by that stand again the next time it’s open as there was a considerable number of goodies to choose from.
WFNY
Shortly after starting my new job here in the Jtown I brought a radio to work so I could softly listen to some tunes in my cubicle. Even though I have a prime location in the cube farm next to the windows, there isn’t much in the way of radio reception in my little world of technology. Aside from a smattering of religious-oriented stations that sounded like a lot of people yelling in a peculiar cadence, the only other scan stop on the dial was 94.1. On my first stop on the station they were playing “The Main Event” by Barbra Streisand. This was followed by the theme from “Hart to Hart” and then one of the Supremes’ early hits.
Groovy.
I had never listened to 94.1 in this area before and it turns out that the station is fairly new as it’s a simulcast of the much older 1440 AM. WFNY is a locally owned station and touts it’s “Variety Format”. It’s slogan is the Glove Cities Favorite.
I’m listening in the car as I type this entry. They are currently playing “Everything Is Beautiful”, which was preceded by Sheila E.’s “The Glamorous Life”. Now this is variety. I love it.
Since the specialty of my radio days was the imaging of the station (I picked the jingles and the “Mr. Voice” as well as a bunch of other things), I always pay very close attention to how a station sounds between the songs. It sounds like WFNY has chosen a local singer to sing their jingles, which are a cross between 40s jazz, a bit of a skee-bop thing and melodies that remind one of the introduction to “The Jetsons”. I. LOVE. IT.
In these bland, generic times where every Main Street is faltering, only to be replaced by a Wal*Mart, Lowe’s and nation wide Burger Bomb joint and augmented by corporate owned radio where the tracks are picked by a computer and the air “personality” is on five stations in five states simultaneously, it is a refreshing change of pace to listen to “the little guy” do the local radio thing and just play what the hell he wants. It’s a reminder of what once was.
And it makes me smile.
Here’s one of the jingles I just captured in the car. You can’t hear me say “That’s awesome”. Sorry the video is out of sync. I need to figure that out.
http://www.jpnearl.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/wfny.wmv
