September 2014

Mix It Up.

I’m at work in the middle of the week for the first time in many, many months. I usually make the trek on a Monday, every couple of weeks or whenever the mood strikes me. I know that I’m a lucky man in that I have this sort of flexibility in my employment opportunity. I’m not complaining in any way.

A co-worker remarked that he was surprised to see me at work and I told him that the only reason I came to work today was because I was a little behind on the office lottery pool payments. He giggled at my joke. I guess the joke is in actuality I came to work only because I’m behind on the office lottery pool payments. I tend to work harder and longer from home than I do at the office. All that being said, the commute was enjoyable this morning as I was able to wave at some Amish men for the first time in a long while. One of them even waved back.

The seagulls have vacated my favorite parking area, probably due to the construction going on. Progress is marching along on the new Taco Bell they’re building where the old Burger King used to stand. The workers on the structure are all gathered underneath the shade tree that I usually park near. I’m not bitter about this as there is a nice late-summer breeze blowing through the Jeep at the moment and this is helping my mood stay sunny.

I was awoken this morning in the middle of a very sexy dream. Perhaps this is why my mood is sunny. I wasn’t hot nor bothered when I woke up, but I know that I woke up with a smile and because I have a knack for this sort of thing, I am able to recall the details of the dream in a most vivid manner. This increases the intensity of the smile on my face.

I have decided that I need to start carrying my real DSLR camera around with me again. The camera on my iPhone 5 is adequate, but there’s still something great about pointing a camera at something, doing some photography magic with dials and lenses and such and snapping a photo. A commentator online recently remarked that when he’s at Fenway Park, he notices that most of the fans are taking selfies instead of photos of the ball game, the park or any of their surroundings. Quite frankly, I don’t think the world needs that many duck lipped photos. I have never made duck lips in a photo and I don’t intend on continuing to do so. Instead, I shall just mock those that choose to make the ridiculous face.

Perhaps I’ll take a photo of them with my DSLR.

iGeek 6

So today was Apple’s big announcement of the year. Today the tech company introduced us to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, ApplePay and the WATCH (or AppleWATCH). While I’m excited to see the bigger iPhones and I really like the idea of ApplePay, I’m still questioning how useful WATCH would be for me. I’d probably like it more than I realize, just as I initially felt about the iPad when that came out a few years ago.

The live video coverage of the event was horrendous, to say the least. The stream kept dropping and repeating and at least half of the event had an Asian translation playing over it. I’m wondering if this is impeding my excitement about the announcement. I didn’t hear or see a lot of the announcement because of the video glitches.

The one thing that I’m not really happy about is that Siri’s evolution has been incremental at best. Google has superior functionality, hands down in my opinion. I like the predictive nature of Google Now; Siri still feels more gimmicky than Google Now.

I’m due for a new phone and most likely my next phone will be an iPhone 6. I’m not 100% sold, but I’m close. All in all, it was a good day in Apple land.

Autumn.

It’s only the 8th of September but Autumn knows when it needs to be in these parts and Mother Nature is starting to show her colors. The greens of the fields are starting to be replaced golds and purples. The air is starting to get a little crisper and the nights have more of a chill.

This is my favorite time of the year and I’m doing my best to enjoy every moment of it.

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Still Awesome.

I never finished that degree in Music Education. I am no longer the Program Director of a radio station. Both of those things came to a close many, many years ago. But I still know a really good song when I hear it. The goosebumps never lie.

And this track still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

Here’s Gary Barlow and Agentha Fältskog with “I Should Have Followed You Home”. Released in Europe last year, I don’t know that this track ever made it to the States in any meaningful way, but it’s still a very, very well done song.

Beard.

It’s been over two years since I last sported a full beard. Today I have been contemplating starting a beard again. Just to mix it up a bit.

Please don’t like it when I let it get all wild looking, though. Hmmm. I might have to take a walk on the wild side again and not give a hoot about what people think.

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Morning Ramp Up.

Many people start their workday with copious amounts of coffee or other caffeinated beverages. Others go through a regimented routine involving gyms, sweat and bouts with traffic snarl ups. Some are bleary-eyed, unable to put together cohesive sentence for the first 60 or so minutes of the day. And then there’s us that need a gentle yet distinct schedule to get ourselves together for the day.

I fall into that latter category.

When I get situated at my desk for the day, with a big glass of water in one hand and my iPhone in the other, the first thing I do is put on my headphones and listen to a specific music playlist. The contents of the playlist change once in a great while, but I never shuffle the songs or listen to them out of order in anyway once I have decided on the flow of this important playlist.

Right now, my morning playlist consists of the following tracks:

“I’ll Be Around”, The Spinners
“Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”, The Spinners
“Heartbreaker”, Dionne Warwick
“Lotta Love”, Nicolette Larson
“(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher”, Rita Coolidge
“Shout To The Top”, The Style Council
“Breakout”, Swing Out Sister
“It’s A Miracle”, Barry Manilow
“It’s My Life”, Talk Talk
“Time (Clock of the Heart)”, Culture Club
“New Day For You”, Basia
“Crystal Blue Persuasion”, Tommy James and the Shondells
“Yes”, Merry Clayton
“Romantic”, Karyn White
“Save Me”, Lisa Fischer
“I Want You”, Shana

I have to admit that typing that list out just now made me realize that I have really eclectic tastes when it comes to the selection of these tracks. The inclusion of a song on this list is usually because of the musicality of the song. For example, I’m not particularly a fan of Dionne Warick’s but I do love the production that Barry Gibb used on “Heartbreaker”. Many of these tracks take my head to a specific happy place that helps motivate me for the day.

Sometimes it takes just a little thing like this to make the day exceed its potential.

Beta.

So I updated my MacBook Pro to the latest beta version of OS X Yosemite. If you like numbers, please note that this is OS X version 10.10, which has some people in a hissy fit because they say you can’t go from 10.9 to 10.10, you have to go to 11.0. I don’t know why people think that because I just updated my application at work to version 4.5.8.5. I like to be contrary.

Apple has announced that they’re having a big event a week from today and I wish I could say that I’m excited about it. They’re being extra secretive this time around and haven’t passed the latest beta version of iOS 8 onto the developers. I really hope the last version of iOS 8 given to developers is the real version because I find it underwhelming and buggy.

Both the new versions of OS X and iOS 8 feel underwhelming to me. I’m not suppose to talk about the contents of the software because of Non Disclosure Agreements and all that, so I won’t go into any details but I can say that it feels like Apple is making changes for aesthetic reasons instead of functional reasons. There’s a strong focus on “pretty” and I use that term loosely. I’m not a fan of some of the color choices and the transparent elements in the interface hearken back to the days of Microsoft Windows Vista, and even computer novices know how well Vista was received.

I will be curious to see what Apple announced on Tuesday the 9th and since I’m due for a new smartphone, their announcements will heavily impact any technology decisions I make this autumn.

I’m really hoping that they wow and dazzle me, but I don’t know if they can meet my expectations.