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A New Addition To The Gear Family

I know a guy that knows a guy that runs a place that buys stuff from a supplier that I know, and well, I was able to get a killer deal on a sweet piece of equipment I've had my eyes on for a while: a Nord Electro 2.

The first instrument I ever played was a piano, and while I never became proficient at it, I still love to play — but an acoustic piano is just so loud when you want to sit for a couple of hours and just goof around, attempting to write out — or work out — song parts. For the last few months, I've been tinkering with software keys, and while they play their limited part, they just aren't the same as a legit keyboard. Throw into the mix the new band (The Lillian Pearl), and that we may do some songs that could stand to have a nice Rhodes or Wurly in the background, and the Nord Electro 2 is the keyboard all other emulators wish they were.

I snagged the 61-key model, and I can't express how stoked I am to get this red monster! It sounds incredible, and the videos of it being played next to a B3 and a Mk1 Rhodes are ridiculously in the Nord's favor. Of course, nothing will ever have the same sound and soul as the original — but the Nord is the best of the best, and it'll be sweet to have those classic sounds at my fingertips. And, of course, the Nord also has some of the best piano emulation tones on the market — and I mean these samples sound like the full-size, big-mambajamba Grands. It's right next to scary how "real" the Nord's sounds are.

So now I wait for it to arrive — but it will be well worth the wait!

Posted at 10:09pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ireland, Anyone?

The Irish in my blood has always made me want to visit Ireland, and now I'm really beginning to take a serious look at going over there. I don't know what this potential trip will blossom into as far as who all will go (the whole family, if I have any say), but I know we aren't going to "Old World" it as far as accommodations. For the initial time being, I'm looking as staying in the County Wicklow area.

As for itinerary, the main thing I would love to do would be to soak in the countryside, the hills, the old homes, architecture, etc., etc. Nothing crazy-touristy — just a nice, calm, scenic vacation full of relaxation and enjoying that part of the world.

So — I need your help! If you have any vacation tips, ideas, or hints, let me know! You all know my email (or you get to me via my Contact page), or you can leave a message in the comments. If you've been to Ireland, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas for a relaxing vacation!

Posted at 7:30pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

I’m One Of Them Now, or, Eating Crow

For years I've mocked a certain people group, poking fun at their particular lifestyle and the way they looked in public. I am writing this to admit that I am now one of those people, and I'm not ashamed to admit it — though I will qualify this change in a moment. Before that though, I'm sure you're wondering who I am talking about...

Bluetooth Headset Wearers.

I know, I know — but when I saw the new Jawbone Prime from Aliph, I couldn't resist. It was so small, so unobtrusive, so not-in-your-face. And, after having spent so much time on the road, I began to understand how much better it was to not deal with holding a phone while driving (though not talking at all is the most safe way to drive).

So I ordered one. The Coffee Talk color. And I love it.

I'm still tweaking the earbud so that I get the right fit, so that's a pain — but it works perfectly. The NoiseAssassin is truly amazing, and you have to hear it to believe it. My first test was to sit in my office, blaring music through my speakers so loud you couldn't have a conversation, then call my wife while she was in our bedroom. With the NoiseAssassin off, she couldn't hear me at all — but with it on, it was like nothing but my voice on the line. Being a proud Jeep owner, this is nice while hauling down the highway.

So there you have it. I've come clean, and I'm happily eating crow. As for what qualifiers I would use, I will say that I still poke fun at people you see parading around the mall, around town, etc., as though they're trying to show off their "hands-free coolness." If used as a means to talk hands-free in a legit situation, then go for it — and I won't mock you.

Posted at 7:32pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well I wasn’t Expecting THAT…

What a crazy weeks it's been! First, some somewhat bad and irritating news...

A couple of years ago, I got an ingrown nail on my right toe (I know, that's gross — but I have to tell you that so I can tell the whole story). I did what most people do, and I tried to manage it, in hopes it would go away. It didn't, so I ended up going to a podiatrist to have him fix it. By this time, it was really bad, and he had to do some major "excavation" get things right. Boom. Done. It healed up okay, and I went about my business. After it finally healed-up pretty much 100%, I started running, and after a while, I noticed that spot was acting up again — this time sort of callousing. I went back to the Doc, and he said it looked like a callous — probably a hold-over from the major work he had to do previously. So we went through the process of getting the callous smaller.

Fast-forward and Life happens. I quit the weekly visits after a few months, and everything looked okay — so I started running again. Bad idea. It started acting up again, then even more Life happened — so I was unable to go see him again for a long time. When I did get back, he said I needed to have the area biopsied to make sure what we're dealing with, so that's what I did.

The result? It seems I have a benign granular cell tumor on my toe. What? Yep: a freakin' tumor. Thank God it's benign, but still. This tumor is normally seen on the tongue, so it's a wonder why I have it on the opposite side of my body. It's also easy to remove — if it's not on your toe. It seems the little monster has been growing for quite some time, and there's a good chance that I got the ingrown nail 2 years ago because of the tumor — but there was no reason to suspect such a thing back then. So now, if you look at your toe from the tip to the first joint, my little tumorous buddy has taken over about 60% to 75% of the flesh. To remove it will be close to amputating this joint, and due to the location, there's a very slim chance any kind of grafting will take and maintain. Nice.

I now wait 2 weeks for the biopsy work to heal-up, and then I'll be off to see a specialist to see what we should do next. There's a chance it could just decide to stop growing — but who knows how long it will stay dormant. There's a chance it could grow and try to take over more of my foot than just my toe. There's a chance I'll need to have the whole first joint partially or wholly removed. And there's a chance the Lord could step in and heal this little guy. We'll see.

I've been making light of it, seeing as how it's just so hard to get upset over a big toe — but then I'm reminded that we're talking about a freaking tumor growing on a digit, and that tumor could spread, and that tumor could quite literally lead to me having to have part of my body amputated. Now, I'll take a toe amputation over a leg or an arm any day — but that only makes the idea of dealing with all this crap marginally better.

Ugh. Thank you, God, that it's not cancer, though.

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It's official! The band we're starting (I mentioned in a previous post) is alive and kicking! We are The Lillian Pearl, and you can check us out here: http://www.thelillianpearl.com/ or on Facebook.

We're hoping to have our first show sometime in September, so stay tuned!

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For the Mac Geeks that visit, I've been doing some massive tinkering with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and it's wonderful. We always joke about the next build being "snappier" than the previous, but this time it's legit. The responsiveness of the interface, Finder, etc., is greatly improved over 10.5.x — on my Dual 3.2GHz Quad Core Intel, at least. The interface tweaks are welcome additions, too. I'm actually under an NDA now, so I can't say too much — sorry!

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That's the main news happening down here on my little corner of the Texas Coast...

Posted at 9:43am CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Random Stuff

Tomorrow is the first official practice of a new band me and some buddies put together — and we're all pretty stoked. Our main hurdle will be dealing with everyone's schedules, but once we get into it, I have a feeling we'll all push that little extra to make things click.

We haven't totally nailed-down our name yet, but that will happen soon.

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Speaking of our band, I pretty much have all the main gear ready to go (as noted in the post a few weeks ago). Since taking that pic, I have added a 4U rack containing a dual compressor and my wireless in-ear system — and there'll be enough room to get in-ear systems for the rest for the guys, should they choose to use them. I'll be picking up speakers and subs bit by bit, and when it's all said and done, I'll have a really sweet rack o' gear for us to use.

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My brother and his wife just had a baby yesterday, and she's just a perfect little girl. They'll be at the hospital for a while, but things are just great — and now I'm a 6-time Uncle. =)

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I'm really picky about the cases I use for my iPhone and iPods, and I've always been a fan of the ones made by InCase. However, after a year or so, the outer finish on my iPhone Slider Case began to wear off down to the shiny under-surface. InCase has, however, rectified this by releasing a new lineup: the Bamboo Slider.

Not only does the semi-rough texture feel great, it looks awesome, and it's TOUGH. Check them out!

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We're thinking about doing a pretty massive backyard overhaul, adding a big, screened enclosure — complete with fire pit, if possible (you know, since it's so cold down here). It will mainly serve as a spot for a barbecue pit, as well as a cigar patio, so the idea of doing it is pretty appealing. It'll require the removal of a massive pear tree, which I don't like — but we'll see.

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That's it for now — time to clean the garage door...

Posted at 10:35am CDT | Permalink | Comments (6)

iPhone MMS Getting Closer…

iPhone OS 3.1 Beta was just released, and for those of you that are jonesing for MMS support, the 3.1 beta is giving hints. When you go into Messages, you'll see a small camera icon next to the text field. Upon tapping this icon, you are taken to a dialog where you can either take a photo, or choose an existing photo to add to your message.

You also have the option to send images from within Photos as MMS:

Posted at 10:41pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

What’s Up?

Another long post drought — sorry about that. So what's new...

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My wife and I are taking a ceramics class, and it's really fun and really frustrating! Getting the clay centered on the wheel is so dadgum hard, I can't begin to explain it — but everyone says that one day it'll just click and centering will happen with little effort. We'll see.

I think I like the ceramics so much because there's just something cool about taking a lump of clay and fashioning anything you want out it. Do I need some espresso cups? Slap down some clay and make one or two! Need a couple of custom cereal bowls? Not a problem. We're still only a couple weeks in, so we haven't gotten to glazing — but that will be really cool.

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We took a family vacation last week, spending several days in Coronado, California. It was absolutely GORGEOUS. It would be a great place to live, for sure. I've never too much of a beach fan, but that's because I hadn't ever actually sat out on a patio and let the sounds of the ocean hit me. It was just mesmerizing to sit out, enjoy the view and sounds, and soak in the sun and weather.

Now we're back in Texas, and while I love it here — I hate the heat. Ugh.

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I'm on a quest to lose weight, and I'm getting closer and closer to my goal of 215. I started at 234 (holy crap), and I'm now hovering around 221. I'm pretty happy with myself — especially since I managed to not lose weight while on vacation. I'll tell you, if you want to drop pounds and get some wicked cardio, go get an elliptical machine — the butt kicking is well worth it.

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D'oh! Ace of Cakes is on — gotta go!

Posted at 7:20pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Brawn

I'm 99% done amassing the hardware (the brawn) for my PA system, and here's what I have so far in all it's portable, potent, glory:

It includes the following, from top to bottom:

• Furman M-8Lx power strip/conditioner/light rack
• dbx 231 31-band Graphic Equalizer
• dbx 234XL Crossover
• Crown XLS 802 amp for mains
• Crown XLS 802 amp for subs

All that's left for this rack are the two grills to cover (while allowing ventilation) the open spaces you see. Nice! I'm also working on a smaller effects rack that will hold one compressor (for now), as well as mount the wireless in-ear systems that will be needed. I'll have 4U for rack space, so I'll plenty of room for whatever.

Posted at 7:30am CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)