June 2023

Omm.

Many years ago I had an iPad app called “Ommwriter”. It was nifty. The software provided a calming background, with fonts encouraging focus. The really cool thing I enjoyed about the software was that you could listen to music that encouraged focus. The music was punctuated by sound effects alluding to the keystrokes on an old IBM Selectric typewriter. It gave the whole experience a hipster twist without hauling a typewriter to Starbucks.

I liked it.

Ommwriter went by the way of the dodo back in the days of iOS 11 and the application is no longer around on the App Store. I checked to see if there’s a Mac version, and there is, but the website makes it seem like it hasn’t been updated in a long while, so I decided to figure out my own thing instead.

For years I’ve been using an app called “Pzizz”. While I don’t listen to the app every night before sleep, I do use it from time to time when I’m having a hard time sleeping. The application also has a “nap” function that I used to use when I’d sleep in the Jeep during my lunch hour in the shopping center parking lot when we lived in Upstate New York. [[]]

So I’ve cobbled together a workflow that resembles my Ommwriter experience, especially when I’m using my iPad Pro to write blog entries. I’m a plain text kind of guy, so I’m using an application called “iA Writer” to capture my text and using the “focus” mode session on Pzizz to generate music that encourages, well, focus in a way much like Ommwriter did back in the day.

I’m writing this blog entry in my office waiting for a software update activity to start at work. The music is calming, the words are flowing fairly well. I’m feeling that “in the zone” feeling that I don’t find enough these days in our frenetic world. I think I may have found what I need to bring some calm to the chaos I’ve been experiencing lately.

As I get older I find my ability to focus waning just a little bit. I blame this on age but I also attribute this to the changing world around us; everything demands our attention all the time. Social media, collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, a never ending litany of Zoom-like calls, news alerts, flashes of lightning, and the constant barrage of email all demand our attention. Being able to a few moments and look at an application that does one thing while listening to calming music is a godsend.

Sometimes we need to carve out a few moments in our own little paradise.

20 June 2023 by Geek Ponderings and Musings Quirky. 0

Discovision.

Back in my music school days we had one recording studio. There was a smattering of synthesizers and one computer in the old orchestral practice hall. The room was often in disarray. I recorded back up vocals for a fellow student in that room and it was a fun experience. I never got to play around with the synths or the computer. A few years later, when invited by a CompuServe friend to tour his studio outside of Cleveland (and record a couple more backing vocals for a track), there was more technology and it was awesome, but I never got to play around with the synths or the computer.

A few years ago I discovered the music of Anders Enger Jensen, a Norwegian producer who uses (now) retro synths and computers to create some brilliant electronic music with an 80s vibe. In this video, he takes the video “user’s manual” of the MCA Discovision system and turns it into a brilliant music track.

I much prefer this over anything coming out of commercial studios these days. This is the type of music artistry I’ve come to admire over the years. I’d probably be doing something similar (though not nearly as well) if I had stuck to my music studies back in the mid ’80s.

20 June 2023 by DJ 0

Unfulfilled.

It’s been a month since my 2023 storm chasing trip on the Great Plains. I’ve been thinking about this trip since returning home nearly a month ago. I don’t like to use the word “disappointed” because I believe there’s always something we can find to avert the feeling of “disappointment”, but overall I was hoping to see more in the way of storms this year.

Lightning strike near Gruver, Texas.

Spending a week on the Great Plains, where I know absolutely no one, is something I enjoy. I really like being anonymous and watching people, especially from a far. Grandpa City was known to enjoy people watching as well, and he could sit on a bench and watch the world go by and be quite content. This type of activityI gives me much time to think and to clear my head and to get the world around me back into perspective. As I drove a couple of thousand miles around the (mostly) flat terrain, I realized that I’m having a little bit of a mid-life crisis (again?). I keep asking myself, “Is this it?”. Maybe I’m looking for magic. Maybe I hyped up the trip a little bit too much in my head as I was making plans and watching weather patterns, and thinking of small towns being quaint.

I feel like I may have done a little too much driving on this trip, and that was mainly because the weather was a mess. The high pressure ridge that moved in right before I left pushed any chance of storms (which were nominal at best) to parts scattered all over the region. One day I’m in Northeast Texas, the next day I need to hustle to Northeast Oklahoma, and then the next day I had to get myself to Southwest Kansas.

I’ll be approaching the next trip a bit differently: I’m going to narrow the confines of my “chase area” a little bit and maybe enjoy the downtime a bit more. I think I’m also going to ask my husband to meet me, maybe for the ride home or something.

I did find this video I took in the middle of the night, when the storms finally arrived, way behind forecast, in Liberal, Kansas.

The bonks of the ice balls didn’t hurt the rental car at all. I found this storm enjoyable.

19 June 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

These Two.

These two are always attentive or at least nearby when a meal is being consumed. Today they kicked adorable levels up a notch.

18 June 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi.

Ordering things online is convenient. While I tend to look away from Amazon for my purchases, in the interest of supporting smaller companies and entrepreneurial folks looking to make their place in the world, there are times when I find this practice irksome: when folks send two, three, four or more emails a day after my purchase has been signed, sealed, delivered.

I recently bought an item from a small company here in the southwest. I’m quite pleased with the product but when I look at it now all I can think of is the constant barrage of email from this company, trying to convince me to buy something, anything, something, anything again right now.

Of course, in an interest of escaping the mountain of email from this vendor I go to Facebook or something (I know, I shouldn’t do that) where I’m assaulted with ads for the product I just bought, from the company I just signed, sealed, and delivered my transaction with.

I’m trying to cuss less so I won’t type the words that are on my mind around the subject.

I do know I won’t buy from this small company again and I’ll just pay a few pennies less and go the Amazon approach. ‘Tis quite sad, really, but when I’m irked, I’m irked.

17 June 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Me Day.

I told my husband I was going out for a bit. “Please wash the car if you have the chance.”

It’s the first thing I did. Yay for Mister Car Wash and our subscription! Just drive through the Members Only lane, follow the instructions of the nice attendant and viola, clean car.

I decided to go to the local mall. Park Place is in pretty good shape, despite Macy’s leaving during the pandemic. I enjoy the Nordstroms, the mall is well populated, and the air conditioning works brilliantly. Air conditioning is important when it’s 100F outside.

I found myself in the mood for Chinese food, so I stopped by for a fairly healthy selection from the Panda Express in the food court. Afterwards I did some laps around the mall to get some steps in and then I went to one of those mall massage places. Since there’s big windows looking in I don’t have to worry about something weird going on, so I opted for a 45 minute rubdown.

I was thrown around, prodded, plodded, punched, kneaded, and elbowed the entire time. See? Nothing weird going on and I feel wonderful.

I then opted to do a bunch of laps around the mall again before heading out and parking at our favorite Starbucks. I brought my older laptop along because it hadn’t had exercise in a while and I’m feeling extra geeky today. Someone just said, “YES” to me when they spotted my “Janeway For President” sticker.

I’ve been assigned the task of picking up coat hangers on the way home. I’m not gay enough to know whether I’m suppose to get metal, wood, or plastic coat hangers so I’ll just pick up ones that look like a good deal and call it a day.

Wish me luck.

17 June 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Caturday.

Truman likes to keep it casual when I’m working in my office. He’s been rotating his relaxation locations for the past several weeks. Apparently the middle of the back stairwell now provides a good feline vantage point.

17 June 2023 by He's A Feline. 0

Astronomy.

My husband and I celebrated my Christmas present. I had a gift certificate to visit the SkyCenter atop Mount Lemmon. One of the larger telescope installations in the U.S., we joined 26 other folks in using the largest telescope available to the public. Our guides showed us many nifty things, we talked stars and suns over a box dinner, and we saw a stunning sunset.

It was absolutely wonderful. We had a such a good time!

No photos from after dark! We didn’t want to ruin our night vision.

16 June 2023 by Geek 0

Promotion.

I don’t usually talk about my job here on the blog these days. I’ve been at the same company for eight years, as of this month, and things are going well. I lead a team of application developers scattered all over the country. As a people leader I am generally well liked by folks up and down the org chart and I feel that I’m a success in what I do. It’s funny, because when I shifted from radio to technology at the turn of the century, I thought I would just write code and do geek things. Now I lead a team of 22 people that do the tech things, though I still do a bit of code writing on a daily basis. I like my job.

Earlier this month I was informed that I had been promoted to a director level position and that the promotion was “very well deserved”. A director level position in a company this size (I work at one of the major telecoms in the U.S.) and once all the databases and other applications at the company adjusted themselves to my new title, I still look at the title “Associate Director” next to my grinning face and I can’t believe I have a director level position.

I’m in a great place in my career. The team is a really great group of people and the folks above me in the org chart are a great group of people as well. I am very fortunate, and I’ve gotten to this place with a lot of knowledge, determination, intuition, and a healthy dose of good fortune.

Being recognized for my achievements as a leader and this advancement has given me a much needed confidence boost. My plan is to continue onward and upward.

15 June 2023 by Geek 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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