I'll try once again to be a Palm Pilot person. This may end up like the last time, but persistence is the key to anything. It just turns out to be so much easier to scrawl things on a notepad and stick them in your pocket than to carry a bulky metal box in your pocket (though the V is so much smaller than the III).

So much to do... I also need to start breaking the photo album into smaller chunks because only a few friends/relatives have high speed access. It's way too easy now to just shoot off a hundred pictures; but that could take an hour or so just to load the thumbnails.

Oh and have a bit of patience whilst the overall site is revamped. I've got a lot of things to try before I settle on an overall layout. And the technology doesn't yet exist to pull off the layout I really want. But we'll see...

Sigh... I've gotten too used to reliable electronic stuff, even though I know better. I've got somebody coming over to do a recording session tomorrow night and I started setting up the mixer. Damn electronic reverb unit died hard on me. Horrible 60 hz hum. Worked fine a couple weeks ago. It's very difficult to record good vocal tracks without some ambience; which this box provides. I even summoned up my past life skills as a machine wizard and started troubleshooting the components. Obviously power supply related. I'm pretty certain of the culprit, but finding a replacement within 24 hours (and having time to solder it in) isn't likely; and I got rid of most of my extra low-voltage supplies a few years back. Looks like a trip to the music store for a new box. On the positive side, it has some nice rack-mount ears that I can put to work elsewhere; and it has provided exceptional service during its fourteen year lifetime. Time to retire it and start counting black boxes in dog years, mayfly years if you're talking computer stuff.

The new guitar (Gibson Vee) is sweet. Damn. Guitars, just like people; all have a distinctive personality. That's why some of us have more than one - in my case a dozen or more. Most are one-trick-ponies. I've got my heavy metal guitar, the 60's rocker, the 80's "LA" guitar, the folk acoustic and the Delta blues - among others. This one is indescribable as it can pull out sounds none of the others can, and crosses over to handle a wide variety of music from the last fifty years with agility. It'll do Les (Paul), Chuck (Berry), Jimi (Hendrix), Eddie (Van Halen), and Joe (Satriani) - without effort. Now I just have to teach it to do me... though it appears to be a fast learner - (or maybe it's the other way around).

In case you aren't completely informed re: my message a few days back about Microsoft and licensing - I'll give you a strong hint. Read the software license fully of anything you download or install on your computer from here on out. When's the last time you read a EULA (End user License Agreement) in its entirety? I know, most of us just click 'Accept' and that's the end of it. But you have no idea what the lawyers can do, and lawyers are in charge now. I can easily create a legally binding software license which requires you to have sex with me every day for the rest of your life. Or if you're a guy (sorry, but I won't enforce the former), charge you a license fee of $10,000 a month. This is all completely legal, as you have to click "Accept" and that makes it legally binding according to current copyright/licensing laws. Read them thoroughly or you'll be having sex with or sending checks to somebody in the very near future. Yes, I know it's dry boring legalese, but that's what these folks are counting on - that your eyes will glaze over and you'll click the button without realizing what you're in for.

Updates: Kitchen and yard.
Kitchen is still awaiting countertops, and those should arrive this week. At that point, plumbing the sink and it's done. The yard won't be done anytime soon. The last couple of weekends I was away - which provides a convenient excuse to take a break, but this is no longer looking like an all-summer project. It could drag on until next year easily. Oh, there's a party when the kitchen is finished. Don't have the date today, but keep it in mind. It will likely take place in the next 3-4 weeks.