I've never been one for 'queen and country' kinds of feelings. For as far back as I can remember I didn't say the pledge of allegiance when I was in school or anywhere else since then that it might have come up. Sure I stand up, and keep silent out of respect, but that's about it. I've never sought to own the flag of my country, or any other symbols that one displays to show their patriotism. All in all I haven't had much good to say about the country I was born to. Are there worse places to be, certainly... but not once in my 34 years do I ever recall thinking that I was proud to be a citizen of the US.
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 for the first time in my life, I can honestly say that I am proud of the country I call home. That day saw a lot of setbacks. A great many people had their personal liberties destroyed due to hate and fear because after hundreds of years of a government that sought to separate church and state we can't seem to keep from passing faith-based laws.
Even though more states within our union have put another nail in the coffin of personal freedoms. I still feel pride. Not because we as a people elected a man who has held to his path from the day he started his campaign, not because my home state broke from the tradition of being a predominately Republican state, and not even that dispute my distract siding with McCain it did so by only 1,622 votes (just about 1%). I am proud because just 145 years after the first steps were taken to end slavery we have elected into the highest office in our land a man that were he to have been alive in this country those 145 years ago would likely have been thought of as only property. I am proud because 43 years after President Johnson signed an act that made it illegal to block black people from voting, a man who would not have been allowed to vote was himself voted in as the commander-in-chief of our armed forces. I am proud because on that day, that 4th day of November, 2008 we as a majority did not vote in a 'black man', or a 'religious man', we voted in a man... regardless of race, religion, or creed, we came together and voted in a man with whom we now rest our hopes and dreams. The dreams of one day seeing these United States of America become the great land it has always thought itself to be.
He can't do it alone but then he didn't get where he is now alone. We all must become the change we want to see, the change we need to see in this land and in this world. We've already shown that we as a people in the US want this change to happen. Senator Obama, become President-Elect Obama, could not be where he is now if we didn't. Now, more than ever before, we need to be a single people with a single goal. That goal is to make this country a great one and one all of its people can live in as equals no matter who they pray to, if they pray at all, or who they say I love you to, if they find themselves lucky enough to have someone whom to say it to, and no matter how far they've come in life because we all have so much farther to go.
I am proud of you America... I am proud of us all.
You will be assimilated, and you'll like it
O'kay, so that new toy comment from my last post... I bought a new computer. I thought about it and decided that it was time that I untethered myself from my desk. So I am now the owner of a new MacBook. I thought about getting the Pro for the firewire port, but I have an iMac and a Windows PC with firewire, so it's not like I don't have access to systems with that support. I opted for the lower of the new aluminum models. The cost/price balance just put me there. Extra RAM can be added later, as can the HD swapped out. I don't really care all that much about a backlit keyboard, so why spend the extra money for things I don't need? Right?
Anyway, since buying it I've been let out of work early most days and have been taking my new gear to a deli near work with free wifi and chilling out with a nice sandwich. Also, I transcode video pretty frequently and things that were taking 5 to 8 hours on my G4 iMac are taking an hour or so on the new system using the exact same software. Speed (as my employer likes to say in their commercials) is beautiful.
I was stressing out a little over how to manage my calendars and address book between my two machines, as I don't want to make either one my primary system. I also don't want to spend the rather exorbitant cost for a .Mac (or MobileMe as they call it now) account just so my information is the same across both computers. Well turns out that I don't have to worry at all, I just have to be a little more diligent about syncing my phone... to both computers. Problem solved.
Speaking of phones, a few months back I became the owner of an iPhone 3G. I know, I know, just sinking deeper into the Cult of Apple; paying homage to my leader, The Great and Powerful Steve. hehe. What can I say, I like their hardware and their software. I'm not so much a fan of their business practices but I am all about choosing the lesser of the two evils, or how many other evils there might happen to be to chose from.
No, I haven't jailbroken the phone... may, may not. Not sure. Other than tethering the thing I haven't really come across anything just yet that I might want to do with the phone that I can't get an app from the official app store to do. We will see.
In regards to my iPhone, I picked up a Griffin AirCurve the other day from their website. They were offering free shipping, and from Griffin's Facebook page there was a discount code to take 25% off, so it was only $14.99 USD, and I got it in less than 48 hours. yay! It's a stand for the iPhone that channels the sound from the built-in speaker through a waveguide which increases the volume about 10dB without any electronics. Works really well. I use my phone as my alarm clock. With the iPhone, my choices have been low volume and right next to my bed or high volume across the room. With low volume next to the bed, it was really easy to turn off the alarm before I was actually awake. With high volume, there was the risk of damaging the speaker. Now that isn't a problem.
Now I called it a stand and not a dock because by itself it isn't a dock. There is a path through the center which you can feed a charging cable to make it into a dock, which I have. The nice bit about that is that you can just pick the thing up and take it where ever you might need wide audience sound without any extra power but the option to power up is there with the use of pretty much any USB iPhone charging cable you might be able to find. Obviously, Griffin's fits best but the Apple one works pretty well, too. Belikn's seems to be patterned after Griffin's so I'm assuming that would work just as well.
Lastly Netflix just announced that they are opening beta testing of Watch Instantly via Microsoft Silverlight. The nice bit about this is that means that Mac users with Intel based systems can now use it. I just recently became a Netflix user and with my new Mac, this is a good thing. I tested it tonight by watching episode 1 season 1 of MI:5. I've caught bits of that show over time and always wanted to see the whole thing. Now I can. Season 1 and 2 are available until December 1st, so watch quickly if you're interested. I would like to be able to watch these things directly on my TV but no go just yet. The current iteration of the Silverlight player has a lot of obvious image tearing, even in low action scenes. It's beta, we'll see.
In less than 6 hours the polls open in my district, I'm not going THAT early but I will be there. If you're in the US, and you haven't already voted absentee, I beg you to get out today and do it. Do I care who you vote for? Sure, I would prefer that you voted along with me but more than that I would prefer that you vote. This country is too screwed up to just sit back and let other people continue to make the decisions.
That is all, you may return to your irregularly scheduled lives, already in progress.
Anyway, since buying it I've been let out of work early most days and have been taking my new gear to a deli near work with free wifi and chilling out with a nice sandwich. Also, I transcode video pretty frequently and things that were taking 5 to 8 hours on my G4 iMac are taking an hour or so on the new system using the exact same software. Speed (as my employer likes to say in their commercials) is beautiful.
I was stressing out a little over how to manage my calendars and address book between my two machines, as I don't want to make either one my primary system. I also don't want to spend the rather exorbitant cost for a .Mac (or MobileMe as they call it now) account just so my information is the same across both computers. Well turns out that I don't have to worry at all, I just have to be a little more diligent about syncing my phone... to both computers. Problem solved.
Speaking of phones, a few months back I became the owner of an iPhone 3G. I know, I know, just sinking deeper into the Cult of Apple; paying homage to my leader, The Great and Powerful Steve. hehe. What can I say, I like their hardware and their software. I'm not so much a fan of their business practices but I am all about choosing the lesser of the two evils, or how many other evils there might happen to be to chose from.
No, I haven't jailbroken the phone... may, may not. Not sure. Other than tethering the thing I haven't really come across anything just yet that I might want to do with the phone that I can't get an app from the official app store to do. We will see.
In regards to my iPhone, I picked up a Griffin AirCurve the other day from their website. They were offering free shipping, and from Griffin's Facebook page there was a discount code to take 25% off, so it was only $14.99 USD, and I got it in less than 48 hours. yay! It's a stand for the iPhone that channels the sound from the built-in speaker through a waveguide which increases the volume about 10dB without any electronics. Works really well. I use my phone as my alarm clock. With the iPhone, my choices have been low volume and right next to my bed or high volume across the room. With low volume next to the bed, it was really easy to turn off the alarm before I was actually awake. With high volume, there was the risk of damaging the speaker. Now that isn't a problem.
Now I called it a stand and not a dock because by itself it isn't a dock. There is a path through the center which you can feed a charging cable to make it into a dock, which I have. The nice bit about that is that you can just pick the thing up and take it where ever you might need wide audience sound without any extra power but the option to power up is there with the use of pretty much any USB iPhone charging cable you might be able to find. Obviously, Griffin's fits best but the Apple one works pretty well, too. Belikn's seems to be patterned after Griffin's so I'm assuming that would work just as well.
Lastly Netflix just announced that they are opening beta testing of Watch Instantly via Microsoft Silverlight. The nice bit about this is that means that Mac users with Intel based systems can now use it. I just recently became a Netflix user and with my new Mac, this is a good thing. I tested it tonight by watching episode 1 season 1 of MI:5. I've caught bits of that show over time and always wanted to see the whole thing. Now I can. Season 1 and 2 are available until December 1st, so watch quickly if you're interested. I would like to be able to watch these things directly on my TV but no go just yet. The current iteration of the Silverlight player has a lot of obvious image tearing, even in low action scenes. It's beta, we'll see.
In less than 6 hours the polls open in my district, I'm not going THAT early but I will be there. If you're in the US, and you haven't already voted absentee, I beg you to get out today and do it. Do I care who you vote for? Sure, I would prefer that you voted along with me but more than that I would prefer that you vote. This country is too screwed up to just sit back and let other people continue to make the decisions.
That is all, you may return to your irregularly scheduled lives, already in progress.
The change we need, the view I didn't have
So I went to the Obama rally in Norfolk, VA tonight. Those of you that follow me on Twitter prolly got tired of seeing my comments. It wasn't bad, a little shorter than I was expecting, but then I've never been to a rally before so what do I know?
He's a decent speaker, needs to either wear a lavaliere or remember to only talk when facing the microphones. Still, a decent speaker. Some people say that the photos and video of him speaking don't do him justice. I wouldn't know, I had to turn around and watch him on the screen at the back of the stadium because there was no line of sight to the stage from where I could get to.
Oh well, still it was interesting to see the people that showed up. The variety of people. All ages, nationalities, and by their dress economic groups too. I saw people in obvious hand-me-down coats, to well-tailored suits standing in the back with me. Was also interesting to see the detractors that showed up. The barkers along the side of the road as I walked from my car to the stadium. They weren't politically motivated McCain supporters like I thought they might be. They were members of the 'Religious Reich'. The fear-mongering, Bible-thumping, 'if you don't believe like I believe then you can't be a good person' types. They held up signs like "Follow Jesus/Fear God". Never understood why I should want to fear the force that supposedly created me and allowed 'their son' to die so that I who had not even been born yet could be forgiven of sins I had not even committed yet. That's another post altogether, though.
I can't say it was fun but then I can't say it wasn't. It was interesting, it was cold, and above all it was me doing something I don't usually do. It's a thing I'm trying. Not the new me but the me I never knew.
Play time now... new toys... more on that later.
He's a decent speaker, needs to either wear a lavaliere or remember to only talk when facing the microphones. Still, a decent speaker. Some people say that the photos and video of him speaking don't do him justice. I wouldn't know, I had to turn around and watch him on the screen at the back of the stadium because there was no line of sight to the stage from where I could get to.
Oh well, still it was interesting to see the people that showed up. The variety of people. All ages, nationalities, and by their dress economic groups too. I saw people in obvious hand-me-down coats, to well-tailored suits standing in the back with me. Was also interesting to see the detractors that showed up. The barkers along the side of the road as I walked from my car to the stadium. They weren't politically motivated McCain supporters like I thought they might be. They were members of the 'Religious Reich'. The fear-mongering, Bible-thumping, 'if you don't believe like I believe then you can't be a good person' types. They held up signs like "Follow Jesus/Fear God". Never understood why I should want to fear the force that supposedly created me and allowed 'their son' to die so that I who had not even been born yet could be forgiven of sins I had not even committed yet. That's another post altogether, though.
I can't say it was fun but then I can't say it wasn't. It was interesting, it was cold, and above all it was me doing something I don't usually do. It's a thing I'm trying. Not the new me but the me I never knew.
Play time now... new toys... more on that later.
Pardon me while I have a geeky *squee* moment
O'kay this is a rare moment for me. I don't go 'fanboy' over anything and I certainly am not the kind to be phased by 'star power'.
I've met and hung out with the members of Sister Machine Gun and Gravity Kills in the same night after they did a show at that same club. Very cool but never once did I achieve squee. Tonight that has changed.
I got notified that my twitter account is now being followed by Cali Lewis of geekbrief.tv and I achieved squee. I am a dork, I know. I am o'kay with this. :)
I've met and hung out with the members of Sister Machine Gun and Gravity Kills in the same night after they did a show at that same club. Very cool but never once did I achieve squee. Tonight that has changed.
I got notified that my twitter account is now being followed by Cali Lewis of geekbrief.tv and I achieved squee. I am a dork, I know. I am o'kay with this. :)
Unplanned days off are nifty...
This post contains a slight spoiler for Eagle Eye - you have been warned.
So my day starts off a little earlier than usual with a call from one of the supervisors at work to advise me that the time off I'd put in for today was approved last minute. This was nice not only in that I didn't want to go in any way, as I would have had to sit through a meeting that I already sat through on Tuesday when I was there for overtime, but nice that he called to tell me so that I wouldn't drive all the way out there for no reason.
So I get up and decide to do something with the day. A few text messages, phone calls, and failed attempts later I end up just a few minutes away from work at the home of someone I work with, the same person that invited me to the evening of Rock Band about a month ago. Then from there, we go to see the movie Eagle Eye. Not a bad film really. Shia LaBeouf really is turning out to be a decent 'incidental action hero'. The storyline is revisiting the same one that The Terminator series of movies is based on "what happens if we let our technology think for us...what happens if we don't". Hope that wasn't too much of a spoiler.
Much talking was done, much fun was had, or at least I had fun... I shouldn't speak for my companion for the day as they might see it differently and aren't here to rebut my statement.
So after that, I wandered off to the local Best Buy and did what one is supposed to do at Best Buy when one has no money, play video games. They had a drum kit connected to a console running Rock Band, so I got some time on the sticks... actually a lot better at it than on the guitar but then my coordination has always been better when performing similar tasks with both hands. The more I play the game the more I seriously think about getting it. I really do enjoy it and it wouldn't hurt to do something that requires me to tax my coordination from time to time; might improve it a little. Besides maybe if I limber my fingers up again I can get back to trying to teach myself to play a real guitar.
Bedtime now... dreaming of being awoken tomorrow with the same phone call; what to do if that happens? Who knows?
So my day starts off a little earlier than usual with a call from one of the supervisors at work to advise me that the time off I'd put in for today was approved last minute. This was nice not only in that I didn't want to go in any way, as I would have had to sit through a meeting that I already sat through on Tuesday when I was there for overtime, but nice that he called to tell me so that I wouldn't drive all the way out there for no reason.
So I get up and decide to do something with the day. A few text messages, phone calls, and failed attempts later I end up just a few minutes away from work at the home of someone I work with, the same person that invited me to the evening of Rock Band about a month ago. Then from there, we go to see the movie Eagle Eye. Not a bad film really. Shia LaBeouf really is turning out to be a decent 'incidental action hero'. The storyline is revisiting the same one that The Terminator series of movies is based on "what happens if we let our technology think for us...what happens if we don't". Hope that wasn't too much of a spoiler.
Much talking was done, much fun was had, or at least I had fun... I shouldn't speak for my companion for the day as they might see it differently and aren't here to rebut my statement.
So after that, I wandered off to the local Best Buy and did what one is supposed to do at Best Buy when one has no money, play video games. They had a drum kit connected to a console running Rock Band, so I got some time on the sticks... actually a lot better at it than on the guitar but then my coordination has always been better when performing similar tasks with both hands. The more I play the game the more I seriously think about getting it. I really do enjoy it and it wouldn't hurt to do something that requires me to tax my coordination from time to time; might improve it a little. Besides maybe if I limber my fingers up again I can get back to trying to teach myself to play a real guitar.
Bedtime now... dreaming of being awoken tomorrow with the same phone call; what to do if that happens? Who knows?
Clicky Clicky
For the last few weeks, I have been dealing with my mouse misbehaving. I would try to only click once, it felt that was not enough and would double click about 30% of the time. So today I decided to replace it. Got a new Mighty Mouse (yes, I do think about the cartoon every time I hear the name). I could have gotten a cheaper mouse with a scroll wheel but that wouldn't have been as much fun as having a mouse named after a rodent superhero on my desk, now would it? *grin*
While I was out today (well it was actually the reason I went out) I looked around for a MIDI controller keyboard with a USB interface. Who knew it would be next to impossible to find one. The only one I found that wasn't in the $400+ dollar range was a rather clumsy and it had mini keys. So I had to order one. So in about a week (I'm not going to pay for express shipping) I'll have a nifty new CME M-Key and I can then get back to my remixing. Well, I can get farther anyway. I tried to use the onscreen keyboard and I tried using key mapping but it just wasn't working out. I also have the feeling that I'm going to soon be feeling the limits of my somewhat outdated machine. I'll get by well enough for now, though.
Now, now it is bedtime. For some reason that I don't understand I agreed to overtime tomorrow, in the morning no less, helping out a class of new hires that just hit the floor. I think they're video agents, which means they're going to need all the help they can get. For a company whose core product is video, our training for video troubleshooting to the people that take the calls leaves a lot to be desired.
While I was out today (well it was actually the reason I went out) I looked around for a MIDI controller keyboard with a USB interface. Who knew it would be next to impossible to find one. The only one I found that wasn't in the $400+ dollar range was a rather clumsy and it had mini keys. So I had to order one. So in about a week (I'm not going to pay for express shipping) I'll have a nifty new CME M-Key and I can then get back to my remixing. Well, I can get farther anyway. I tried to use the onscreen keyboard and I tried using key mapping but it just wasn't working out. I also have the feeling that I'm going to soon be feeling the limits of my somewhat outdated machine. I'll get by well enough for now, though.
Now, now it is bedtime. For some reason that I don't understand I agreed to overtime tomorrow, in the morning no less, helping out a class of new hires that just hit the floor. I think they're video agents, which means they're going to need all the help they can get. For a company whose core product is video, our training for video troubleshooting to the people that take the calls leaves a lot to be desired.
Standing on the throats of giants
So I've been spending a lot of my free time at home listening to the gems at Nine Inch Nails' remix site. Why? Well aside from the fact that there is some really amazing stuff there (occasionally the remixes are better than the original), I've been playing around with the idea of remixing the song Survivalism and so I've been looking for inspiration.
I have a working title and I've started cutting up the vocals from the multi-track files for the song, which are available from the remix site but also from the DVD that comes with Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (yes I just typed that out). My plan will probably require that I create some of my own vocals as well as some keyboard work, so I'm in the market for either a MIDI/USB interface or an inexpensive USB MIDI controller. Given my space constraints in my little corner of the world, the controller would be easier to work with but the interface would likely be a lot cheaper as I already have a fairly nice keyboard with MIDI ports. It doesn't have a pitch binder, but I can do that in software after laying down the track.
For now I'm still in the planning stages. Listening to the samples over and again, as well as to others versions of the song to see what works well and what doesn't. I haven't done anything like this since back in the heyday of MOD and S3M tracking and my experience with GarageBand is just a few steps short of none... this should be interesting and I hope in the end turn out well enough to post back to the remix site.
I have a working title and I've started cutting up the vocals from the multi-track files for the song, which are available from the remix site but also from the DVD that comes with Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (yes I just typed that out). My plan will probably require that I create some of my own vocals as well as some keyboard work, so I'm in the market for either a MIDI/USB interface or an inexpensive USB MIDI controller. Given my space constraints in my little corner of the world, the controller would be easier to work with but the interface would likely be a lot cheaper as I already have a fairly nice keyboard with MIDI ports. It doesn't have a pitch binder, but I can do that in software after laying down the track.
For now I'm still in the planning stages. Listening to the samples over and again, as well as to others versions of the song to see what works well and what doesn't. I haven't done anything like this since back in the heyday of MOD and S3M tracking and my experience with GarageBand is just a few steps short of none... this should be interesting and I hope in the end turn out well enough to post back to the remix site.
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