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Coming Soon…

Just a quick note to say I haven't forgotten about the place — I've just been crazy-busy. With that said, I have interesting and exciting and scary and unfortunate news to share soon, so keep your eyes peeled...

Posted at 7:12pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thursday, With Randomness

There's been so much going on lately, I haven't had much time to post anything. Such is life, no? Where to start...

I had to deal with One Of Those People today — the ones that can't seem to get their computer to work. Ugh. In all the decades of my life that I've been using computers, why am I the only human that never has any problems? Am I Midas or something? Anyway, this guy comes into my office and walks all the way around to the side of my desk — he doesn't stay at the front where the dadgum chairs are. This is his first 2 strikes at once, and he's lucky I didn't get up and draw-out the boundary lines using the tiles on the floor. He then tells me he can't "get his computer to work plugged in to our ethernet." Oh boy, here we go. I go upstairs and into the office he's using, and he has everything plugged in correctly. I sit down, and as I launch Internet Explorer, he says he doesn't know "if he has internet or not." Well dadgum, it seems he does. I visit Apple.com and it loads just fine. I step back and ask him to do whatever he was doing that didn't work, and it works. Of course it does! There was never anything wrong!

For those of you that don't know what it's like for us IT Guys to deal with you, let me point out the frustrations from this incident...

• First off, his computer "works." If it's on, it's working. We know "what you mean" — but any way you slice it, your computer works.
• You don't plug into "ethernet." Ethernet is NOT a place, it's a bundle of cable. It's a THING, not a location. You plug into a NETWORK.
• You can't have or not have "The Internet" — it's around regardless of whether or not your system can connect to it.
• If it works when I try it — and it works without me doing ANYTHING to make it work — it worked to begin with — you just jumped the gun and freaked-out. Be as patient as I am when I deal with you, and you won't have to have PC-related hissy-fits all the time.
• You don't need to hover over me while I fix whatever you screwed-up. IF there's actually something to fix, you won't understand what I did to fix it anyway, so go take a smoke break or kick rocks.
• Don't tell me all the errors you think you remember reading, trying your best to string together a sentence full of words you don't know or understand. I'll ask you if I need any info from you, because 99% of the time, you'll waste minutes of my life telling me things that are a) wrong, and b) have no bearing on anything I'm going to do.
• Don't ask me what I did to "fix it," because again: you won't understand, anyway. AND, if I'm in a mood, I'll really tell you what I did just to make you feel like a dolt, showcasing your inadequacies.
• Under no circumstances should you exhale any of your breath anywhere close to my face. PERSONAL SPACE. Get some, and leave mine be.
• Your best bet for success is to simply show us where your system is, try and fumble-out what you think is wrong, then LEAVE. You will be summoned upon the repair's completion.

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We have a family tradition where all the kids make an ornament to go on a special little tree at my parents' house, and while I'm incredibly late getting ours done, I'm pretty excited about finishing it. I can't image why it wouldn't pan-out, and if it works as intended, it'll be pretty dadgum cool. Here's a teaser pic of me testing out some LED/resistor combos on my breadboard:

I'll be powering it with two 2032 cell batteries (seen in the upper left), and it'll sport a mini-toggle on/off switch. It's not hard to guess what it'll end up being, but it will still be sweet to build!

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I'm going to be a bachelor all weekend, so that'll be cool and boring. =/

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Our new 52-inch LCD TV (a Samsung LN52A850) will be delivered Saturday, but I can't use it until Christmas — or until our new entertainment center thing gets delivered. I totally can't wait for this monster to arrive!

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We have to get our Kenya shots ASAP. Typhoid just isn't something I want to experience.

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It snowed last night, which was cool. It was all gone in no time — but it was beautiful while it lasted. Any bets on whether or not it'll be 80° on Christmas?

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If you would abstain from 10 medium cups of coffee at Buc-ees every month, you could provide medical, education, and supervision needs for a poor Kenyan child. That's $1.25 per day. Do you really not have $1.25 per day to give? BrightPoint for Children.

Posted at 11:47am CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cicada Portraiture

I sure have been short on words the last several posts, and this one will be no different — merely a pic of a cicada I found yesterday. Click to view large, or see him on my Flickr page.

Posted at 4:06pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Gold Tone GT-750 Banjitar Demo 2

Here's another quick demo I recorded of my Gold Tone GT-750 Banjitar. I love the natural reverb this thing has, and how you get that nice thump when you palm mute. Could this be my new favorite instrument to play...?

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/Banjitarv2.mp3

Posted at 1:12pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gold Tone GT-750 Banjitar Demo

Here's a quick demo I recorded of my new Gold Tone GT-750 Banjitar. This slightly melancholy tune shows how you can use rhythm chording and picking on this instrument and not sound a "hick" and "banjoey."

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/GT-750.mp3

Posted at 12:00am CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Getting Closer…

Posted at 7:17pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Cynical About Starbucks (RED)

This may tick-off some people, but let's look at the math regarding Starbuck's "Starbucks Goes (RED)" campaign for a second. The deal is that they'll give $0.05 from every purchase of one of their 3 select drinks to the Global Fund to help people in Africa.

Let's say 1,000,000 people participate. That would generate $50,000 for Africa. Not bad, I guess.

HOWEVER, let's say the select beverages cost only $3 each. If all the participants donated that $3 directly to the fund, THREE MILLION DOLLARS could be given. Even if the special beverages only cost $1 each, that would still be TWENTY TIMES more than the $0.05 Starbucks will give on your behalf.

OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS could be raised by simply donating outright.

And there you have it. This is a great way to start off the Holidays and a great way to get a little pick-me-up from doing good. But, if people would just think through the red tape (no pun intended), we could all do SO SO SO much more.

So go to Starbucks and get your drink — but take out another $3 bucks and send it in. Get 3 of your friends to do the same. If enough people do this, Africa could truly be changed.

Posted at 9:17am CDT | Permalink | Comments (5)

Happy Turkey Day

Posted at 12:39pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)