COMPUNUTS

Wow, it's been a while since I have blogged. Must remember. Part of the problem is this slow old computer doesn't want to work all the time on Explorer, and I only use Firefox when Explorer doesn't work, or I just say "the hell with it" and walk away.

I am becoming spoiled by the computers I use at work, too. They aren't what I'd term speed demons by any measure but are notably quicker than this one.

Yesterday I moved attitudinally from "Soon we have to think about which computer..." to "Must replace this slow beast with a new one. This sucks."

I want an i7 with 1Tb hard drive, 8GB memory.

The real issue isn't the box, it's the software we'll have to rebuy in 64 bit versions if available. Heck, some of our stuff might work, but the software (Word is version from 2003) is ancient.

Terri's company issued laptop is also showing some false teeth, so that one might be replaced first, and they aren't giving them out any longer.

Of course we just had the house repainted, so to be fiscally appropriate we might wait until Christmas or even after-Christmas sales. But heck - if the box costs even $1000 I will be surprised if the software isn't that and more.

The process of deciding which programs are worth keeping, then tracking down which software we might re-license or give up - that's mighty time consuming!

It's all about the need for speed, isn't it?

Plus, we'll have to learn Win7. Plus I will have to install my pro-soundcard.

I wonder if I might install my existing hard drive as an extra in the new machine, change it's drive number and still have the programs on it intact and workable? That'd make things much easier. Or would it?

I BELIEVE.

READ THIS!

Although the world wide web has been around for just 20 years, it is hard to imagine life without it. It has given us instant access to vast amounts of information, and we’re able to stay in touch with friends and colleagues more or less continuously.

But our dependence on the internet has a dark side. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.

PICNIC

Yesterday was Terri's company picnic, at the home of one of the owners/founders. It was a well attended summer 'do.' At one point I counted about 24 people and 2 dogs in the pool of jumping in or out. (And the pool isn't huge!) But it was 102 degrees.

The host had suspended from saw horses what appeared to be a 24 foot strip of half pvc pipe, ready for a 24 foot ice cream sundae. Sure enough, at the appointed time (when he perceived a lull,) the host appeared with gallons of ice cream and loaded the trough. Helpers then spread chocolate sauce, caramel, crumbled Oreos, sprinkles, M&Ms, peanut butter cups, whipped cream, and more.

The kids were assembled behind a line. Spoons were distributed. The ice cream was melting. Adult ice cream-o-philes like me were impatient. The kids were given the "go!" and they did, scooping up spoonfuls. One dog was licking the end of the trough. He was also getting all sorts of sticky all over him. After a few minutes adults moved in for a few scoops.

Then the host yelled "food fight!" and remaining goo was suddenly scooped and hurled by many of the kids. I retreated. One young girl smeared chocolate sauce and whipped cream and whatever all over herself.

I imagine that today ants from several counties are headed to the Woodstock of Sticky Sweet.

THE SHORT LEASH

At work I face twin computer screens (from twin computers). My younger associate has FOUR screens, one of which is tuned to CNN. Of course I go everywhere with my Blackberry. Yesterday I went outside to the pool and partly due to the heat, left the Blackberry inside the house. As I approached the door, I felt 'wrong' somehow, and realized it was due to the loss of connectivity.

To what? I guess to the swirl of social and infomedia which have become omnipresent and important. That sense of connectedness, no matter how illusory, has become an important part of life today. Are we really 'connected' to the 'friends' on Facebook? Maybe some. Maybe not.

Our radio cluster's sales manager of internet is 26. The associate mentioned above is, I think, 28. THEY GREW UP ON COMPUTERS. They can type without looking at the keyboard.

I remember being a small kid when one Christmas Santa brought me a "typewriter" in which there was a wheel you had to turn to each letter. Almost a manual Selectric, except it was a wheel, not a ball, and you had to do everything physically. I didn't like it. Imagine how far we've come from that perspective! What would an 8 year old of today do with that toy? His or her world is keyboards and mice.

STUFF HAPPENS

I couldn't get into Blogger on Internet Explorer. Still can't, even after trying all the fixes they suggest. This is through Firefox. I believe I took all the corrective steps back in Explorer, but noooooooooooo.

I've been work during the day then I seem to run out of time and so haven't been feeding the blog. If anyone is left, thank you for visiting!

I write for the exercise and to stay sane. Semi-sane.

There IS a thread here - stuff happens - when home from work yesterday I saw one of our landscaping zones gushing water. It wasn't on and wasn't scheduled to be on, but there it was. Since I couldn't shut it down, and never knew where the landscape kill valve lived, I had to shut off water to the house after beating on the controller.

Our email pleas were answered and Jim The Man came over and cannibalized one of our dead zones and rebuilt the solenoid actuated valve. I now know how to turn off the landscaping water supply. Also we found the cause - our grasscutter people ran over the controller with the big rider mower and killed it, releasing the water.

Then they split.

I am amazed how either things have changed or I was lucky for so many years of peaceful home ownership elsewhere. In the 5 1/2 years we've lived here, we've had pool pumps die, gush, or leak, irrigation issues, and even saw a light bulb fire up (literally) when activated by a timer. That almost took the lampshade out and that would maybe have burned the house down! We've had in-wall plumbing leaks, in-floor leaks twice on the same toilet. Floors replaced, walls replaced.

I don't think our builder was negligent, either.

Neighbors one house away were hit by lightning. Neighbors whose house is maybe a mile or more away (and we can see from here) have been hit by lightning TWICE.

And the computer... goes semi-sluggishly along. I am reading the ads with great interest.

KEYBOARD MEMORY

At work I have twin computer keyboards as they access twin computers. As a necessity, each is off center compared with this one. I find my muscle memory of where keys are is growing worse as each offset affects my typing (is it even called typing?) I also seem to have become slower here on this centered keyboard.

WILLIE'S 4th of July Picnic

It was up the street a few miles this year. We had free tickets. We spent 3 (of 12+) hours, finally found a seat on the grass (a 7500+ person sellout) and enjoyed the music and warm breezes, The crowd is a mixture of cowboys, hippies, yuppies... they sold a TON of merch - my favorite was the Willie Nelson First Aid shirt with a large leaf of pot on it. But I bought a cap at a way overpriced $30, instead. I wear caps at work due to the track lighting which would shine into my eyes if I didn't. Plus, there can't be too many like this show.

Later we came home and watched 9 more fireworks displays in the near and far distances! A warm breeze made it perfect.

FIREWORKS!

I was such a fireworks kid! I LOVED them. I bought them illicitly whenever I could (illegal in my home state - Pennsylvania). I made my own. Oh for fireworks. And the chemicals we bought back then would surely trip a terrorist list investigation today! Some of the stuff was highly dangerous! All of it could burn things (like fields (check), fingers (check)) or blow up big time. Probably the largest explosion was in a three foot rocket (aluminum tube) which, when it blew up, echoed around the hills for some time. It was the loudest explosion I had ever stood close to - I was about 16 at the time. The kid who lit the fuse and ran was passed by shrapnel from the explosion.

The must be angels.

What I cannot understand is that as I aged I lost my enthusiasm, and I cannot figure out why. Last night we had a great place (private home) to watch a great display but I was feeling lousy and didn't go. Out our TV room window we could see several displays in the distance and other than a few more creative rockets, it was ho-hum.

Maybe the years of 'syncing" radio music to fireworks displays drained me (they cannot sync well and very few people ever bring radios.) In Minneapolis (actually St. Paul) we were supposedly involved with the largest fireworks display 'this side of the Mississippi.' That would be hyperbole. But it was a huge display.

As a young kid, I remember sitting in an alley by the beach in Ocean City NJ where some grownups (no doubt hammered) had several shopping bags of fireworks and set them off right THERE, right in front of the assembled kids. That was SO cool.

One fourth of July my dad and uncle (hammered) went down to the beach and shot 45s at the moon over the water (loud.)

One fourth of July a bunch of us went late to a display and somehow ended up closer to the zone than the crowd, and stood right under where the shells were exploding. I remember 'coming to' on my knees. I felt hammered into the earth by the explosions.

I still love the smell of gunpowder - the sulfuric smoke. But in our 5 1/2 years here have avoided buying ANY fireworks at the many stands open in the next counties for 10 days twice each year. And I don't know why.

Maybe if they sold Cherry Bombs?

HPs NASTY SCHEME

Our $270 all-in-one printer/fax/copier just cratered. Here's the scam: it holds four sources of ink - three colors and black. When any of them (in this case, yellow) runs dry, the printer will not allow printing 'to preserve the health of the printer' even if the black ink is full and the item to print is black!

However, after an online search, I found ten pages of disgruntled HP owners writing about how replacing that yellow ink DOESN'T GET RECOGNIZED, and there's no work-around.

My dilemma - do I go buy yellow and try? Risk another $22 to feel like a fool? Or save whatever the cost of a new printer? (I will try the yellow.)

Apparently if you call HP they will try to sell you another printer. IF you can understand the foreign tongue on the associate you get in India or wherever.

Yes, I have loaded the latest drivers, rebooted, restored, etc. BTW: their instructions SUCK.

One guy took an axe to his HP before going out to buy a Cannon.

Man I just hate it when machines or devices make decisions for you - presets forcing A or B when you want "A and a half." We have lost so much control in our busy lives to industry, or government - it's a shame.

The last thing I want in this world, right above blood blister, is another printer.

- Later -

Well, after my replacing yellow ink, The HP 8500909g went through a lot of introspection and decided... I needed a 'blue'. Very warily I bought both cyan and magenta inks and loaded them in... as by sheer coincidence (cue suspicion music) I received an email that we should extend our soon-to-expire warranty on this beast (huh? --- didn't realize it was under a year old!) But after replacing the remaining two inks, the machine whirred and clicked and whirred and began to spit paper. IT WORKS!

Now I will walk away while I can.

TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPING INTO THE FUTURE

Sez the song. And true it is! This computer's days are numbered. Seems to have issues which registry cleaning, etc., along with lots of anti-virii cannot solve. Plus it's old.

If dog years are people years times 6 or 7, then a computer age must be people age x 20, don't you think? This computer, by that measure, is... 140.

It isn't the $$$ that keeps me from running right out, it's trying to get updated versions of all the programs. And deciding which we HAVE TO HAVE and which to let go forever. A computer (for me) is like a crowded closet that you don't have to look into... everything is there where you left it. Deciding what to throw out is painful, and I KNOW I'll throw away the ONE or DOZEN programs I have to have afterwards.

When it's too late.

Will an i5 do it? Will I miss XP?

Looks like at $699 you get a lot for your money.

POOL VERSUS BOAT

A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money. I say a pool is a hole OF water you pour money into. Not nearly as pricey as a boat, but the chemicals and service calls do add up, and apparently never stop.

I was just trying to figure why our salt-based chlorine generator had stopped doing its thing. Took it apart. Got it back together. Restarted. Fixed new squirt/leak where I hadn't tightened enough. Now I watch suspiciously as the salt reading seems unresonably low.

I feel an impending replacement in just down the road.

HOWEVER, as today is scheduled to hit mid-90s, this will be the first dip into the pool. Water temp is 81 - right where I like it.

SIXTEEN TONS

Tennessee Ernie Ford had a hit long ago with SIXTEEN TONS. Part of the lyric went "...another day older and deeper in debt."

I got a job job. This is different and apart from my voice work out of ye home studio. This is weekdays 8:30 to 5:30 (I wish - often the days stretch... next Friday, the entry to a long weekend AND start of a month should be an avalanche of work.) I don't mind volume, but don't thrill to it when several people are demanding attention simultaneously.

For the past 30 years I was the boss of at least my department, or more. Now, I am a worker bee. Lowly. This brings an interesting perspective. You sure aren't on the inside - don't know what's going on, just do those commercials, or load them into the big file server which runs the radio stations.

I guess you could say I am an unnecessary unexploited resource, but I knew that going in.

Most of the people are really nice and I enjoy interacting with them. Several of the talents are TRULY talented - much much better than you'd generally find in a 'market' this size (partly a testimony to the desire to be in Austin, I think!)

In just the past few weeks - I am new - I have worked with a few very interesting souls... a multi-grammy award winner, several singers, a guy who climbed mount Everest, an Indy driver, a Nascar driver. I interviewed a set of amazing kids who survived cancer or serious injuries - all resilience and courage and undamped spirit in such small packages!

ENTERING THE NOW

I'd write 'the future' but that's not really true.

I just loaded my first APP.

No, we don't have IPhones... we have Blackberries. I was satisfied with my last phone but when Terri needed a Blackberry and the deal was two for one, well, why not?

Yes, I envy the IPhone people but the Verizon deal is better when you have two phones on the same account. Better coverage too? Or is that an urban myth? Yes, some of the apps look great and I LOVE the IPhone larger screen. Maybe someday. But for today, how can you beat free?

Seems that somewhere along the line, the Blackberry people made apps more attractive, or I was lost from the start - unsure which, but I just looked through hundreds of apps which came up clear (though small on the BB screen.)

I loaded a stopwatch. It was time.

TIME-WARNER IS RUN BY THE DEVIL

TIME-WARNER has been a constant pain. If it's not Internet trouble, it's TV. I sit awaiting another tech visit as I write this. We don't get many of the HD channels for which we pay. They never got it right. Some channels work, some don't. Come back again and others will and others won't. From what I read, we are not alone at all.

We use their Cisco Tuning Adaptor into a TiVo HD3 with a multi stream cable card. After driving to their depot, getting a number, receiving the box, driving back, it didn't work. They imprisoned me in the home again - a tech finally arrived and said I needed a new tuning adaptor, and that he didn't have any. Back to the store. Back home. Replug. Still didn't work.

The latest example of their 'service' was an 8AM to 8PM home imprisonment on Tuesday, when I finally became fed up with the channels not working. The tech arrived at 8:40PM without a call. He then declared the problem was at the street, but that, as a service provider, was unauthorized to fix it. He said his supervisor would have to also check on what HE found and then start a work order. They say the work was done yesterday. Last night there was no change to the missing channels. Today I called again. Again they will send a tech and I must be home, only this time from 3 to 5PM. At least the window is smaller.

We have had numerous tech visits. At their behest I have had THREE routers. The last time they wanted me to do this again but I refused. The tech then found out it wasn't the router (was it ever?), replaced the modem they supply, ran new cable to the street, and dropped the signal level.

Reading through posts on forums we are not alone. It seems even if you get a span of time with proper service, after a month or so, something happens and you lose the stability.

When you call you get a machine. If you can get a person they speak poor English until you somehow convince them to escalate it up the chain. There are long periods after "I'll connect you," where the music on hold repeats every 45 seconds or so. Then they announce the call may be recorded for quality assurance. I'll bet MY calls are used to train people in how to handle an irate customer. Handle, yes. Help, no.

DIET! DIET! DIET!

I have never dieted. Back in the day I could almost will myself to lose a few pounds. Or maybe I convinced myself I did, when I didn't. It was a long time ago.

A few months ago I almost cut off a couple toes with the lawnmower. No, not to lose weight. But I DID lose a bunch through hospitalization and recovery. Maybe it was the pills that took away my appetite. I was on THREE gut-bomb antibiotics at one point - and they were VERY unpleasant.

Well, surprise, surprise... the weight came back.

I could still fit into my clothes, but I didn't like the way I looked. A roll of fat surrounded my waist. So I thought I'd cut out my evening sweets, do only light lunch, and be sure I walked a mile and change every day (not far, but, hey, my foot was sensitive!)

I gave it four weeks.

I refuse to step on a scale. It would demotivate me if there was only a little change. I may have given up sweets, but not impatience.

After 4 weeks, I'd take stock of what changes I noted.

Each evening I gave myself two Hershey Kisses and a couple Good and Plentys or a hard candy or two. I need the sweet, but not the pint of ice cream.

Week one was bad.

After a while I found some strength in not wanting to negate the denial I had endured to that point.

Some progress at 4 weeks. I decided to go for 4 more, which end this Sunday.

It worked. And when I resume, I plan to be much more discriminating. If it isn't GREAT, I won't eat it. Before I'd gobble.

I see and feel a difference. I will be better at choosing what I scarf. I wouldn't want to go through this again.

ANOTHER TOILET PROBLEM - FLUSH WITH CASH

This is the second time. The good news is I believe THIS TIME we have a trustworthy, skillful, knowledgeable plumber. I say THIS TIME because the man cited three reasons why we will have to replace the wooden floor in the powder room AGAIN, i.e.: it wasn't repaired correctly the first time.

I won't detail the issues since I don't know the names of the parts involved. Just know that every flush was sending a spurt of water through a hole into the floor.

If you've never seen YOUR wooden floors ripped up due to water damage, let me tell you it's quite the deal - although when done properly, there's no permanent damage - just to your wallet!

First you have the toilet removed.
Then the floor removed.
Then you be sure it's bone dry.
Then the floor guy puts in a new floor.
Then the plumber reinstalls the toilet.

UH OH! COMPUTER MAKING NEW NOISES

It sounds like a whirling, louder than ever. I think it's the fan, or worse, the hard drive. The fan has been cleaned relatively recently. The hard drive is not the original one, but a replacement somewhere along the lifeline of the box, as the original one became corrupt like a politician. At least it issued no denials.

If you are a friend and you lose track of me for a few days or weeks, the box did die and the replacement will bring with it many issues to resolve. I THINK I have saved on an outboard drive my email addresses but I can't be sure they will import into a new box when and if.

The other day my computer just shut DOWN in the middle of my typing... odd thing is that locally someone cut through a cable which took down all phone and internet for a while. And Terri's computer also died at work, another 'never before' thing.

Viruses are constantly checked on my computer... so I doubt that's an issue.

Just - stay in touch if I go away... I'll be back.

BLUE ROCK ARTIST RANCH

Great name, huh? The place is a secluded recording facility outside of Wimberly, Texas, about 35 miles down the road from our house.

As a past attendee at one of their in-house concerts, I was invited to their 4th birthday party.

The day included performances (which are also recorded and shot on HD video, with feeds around the house. Ranch. Sorry.

Ruth Moody


Natalia Zuckerman



The Legendary Rupert Neve
Virtually every artist has recorded through his equipment which is in great studios all over the world!



The piano room (setup to record ensembles and groups)



The recording part of it all.

DAVY CROCKETT

I don't remember having a coon-skin hat as a kid. But I had the 45rpm record... "Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee... Kilt him a ba'ar when he was only three..." I probably thought I was Davy once in a while, roaming the wilds of the neighborhood which weren't wild at all - you had to go into the 'woods' (no relation) to find 'wilderness.' The woods were really the grounds of Haverford College, which had trees of many species all through its square-mile campus, just two blocks from my house.

I didn't realize how much I missed Davy, until I saw the news story last night which included some clips from way back then, as they stirred some soul-memory long forgotten. That was a time of clear right versus clear wrong. Things were fresh, probably due to my age and the innocence of inexperience. And simpler. I remember that right always won.

Last night they showed Fess Parker - Davy - and also later, Daniel - at 85. He had done real well. Bought land and had an award winning winery on 2200 acres. Even at that age he looked like a real man and a guy who'd treat you right.

He starred in Old Yeller, the first movie I cried at. Didn't expect to, either. Just LOST it.

Whatever reality is, when I looked at Davy, or Fess, I saw a purity (real or imagined) which is long gone in the days of Tiger, Jesse James, John Edwards, partisanship, Enron, Madoff, steroided athletes.

Rest in Peace, King Of The Wild Frontier.

Who would quailfy as a Real Man today?

SXSW

This is a BIG deal - SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST - coming to town in various incarnations - Film, Interactive, Music. The city will be full of gigs (last year over 1000 bands showed up from all over the world!) and parties. Celebs say this town is a cool place to be - that the folks don't rush to get an autograph or picture. That's a good thing. Likely true.

From SXSW.com: "The music event has grown from 700 registrants in 1987 to nearly 12,000 registrants. As Austin has grown and diversified, film companies and high-tech companies have played a major role in the Austin and the Texas economies. In 1994, SXSW added a film and interactive component to accommodate these growth industries. SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive events attract approximately 17,000 registrants to Austin every March.

SXSW's original goal was to create an event that would act as a tool for creative people and the companies they work with to develop their careers, to bring together people from a wide area to meet and share ideas. That continues to be the goal today whether it is music, film or the internet. And Austin continues to be the perfect location."

The Goody Bag thing:



One of the neat things about Austin is the shared pride people have ABOUT Austin - sure, some oldtimers complain about what was lost while the city expanded, but the cool vibe is still here.

A friend who was recently on a job interview in Dallas commented about how much more cosmopolitan Dallas is, compared to Austin. So true.

Austin is friendly, accepting, and music-centric.

For us, the perfect choice!