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Note: In general, I use my blog as an archive of the
tidbits that appear on my front page. Occasionally, I'll write
directly to the blog about non-music topics.

Blog Archive
2010
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December
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by George Ziemann
2010
August 27, 2010 -- For
the last two months, my primary activities have been music production
and software programming. Not one single person I know seems to have
much of a clue about either one, which makes me feel intellectually
isolated. I'm actually kind of used to this, but this week, it's bugging
me.
August 26, 2010 -- Moved
half of this page into the archives because I had something to write
and the page was getting long. Then I came back to write. Even though
I remember the topic, I don't remember the point I was going to make.
I hate it when that happens.
August 4, 2010 -- Have
received several comments about the story of my trip. This one, from
a good friend, struck me.
"YOU seem to be able to keep on the your correct chosen moral
path without undue compromise.
"Some folks (like myself) are just going to look up to you and your exploits."
I've made a lot of compromises. I just don't write about them.
For several years now, I've been on a "tell the truth, all the
time" jag.
It works, but sometimes you have to hold back the truth, especially
in consideration of others. And I've been busy trying to change the world,
but hadn't been willing to step up and change my own because it has
conflicted
with the needs of others.
In the end, however, when you sacrifice your
own inner needs, and don't feed them properly, you will starve yourself
spiritually. That's a
mistake and I'm just learning how to get past it.
While I certainly
hope someone (and the more someones the better) takes some inspiration
from what I write, don't look up to me. Sure,
I want
people to like me, I want to entertain and inspire them, and I
feel my writing talent is a gift, but I'm no better than anyone else.
Nothing to look up to.
I'm right there in the shit with you, my
friend. I'm wading through the same pile of garbage as you are.
The
greatest realization I've come to lately, ever since I really opened
myself up to "everything happens for a reason" and began taking
personal responsibility for my own individual empowerment, is that there
are more of "us" than
I ever realized, all trying to find an answer to this madness.
When you start looking, you'll begin to see them everywhere. We are
drawn to each other.
We all need each other to make the world a better
place. July
30, 2010 -- In
case you managed to miss (or avoid) it, I'm still writing the story
of my cross-country trip in
June. Been spending a lot of time at Facebook lately, especially in
the last few
days, in an effort to bring all my new contacts there over to this
site. A lot of family members on my FB friends list that I'm trying
to convert to becoming part of my audience. Also hunting down a lot
of high school friends.
From the beginning of June until just a day or two ago, I've been living
every day in the moment. At first, I didn't have much choice, but it's
been working very well for me, so I'm just going with it.
All of this reconnecting has made me stop and think, especially in the
last day or so. Haven't been giving the future much thought because the
immediate present had enough obstacles to conquer on its own. But things
have slowed down a little and the tomorrows have suddenly come to the
forefront of my mind.
In additon to the music and writing, I do software programming. It makes
me constantly ask, "What if...?" We all do it to a degree. It's what
makes you check the spare tire before taking a trip, or make sure there's
an extra set of strings in the guitar case. But programming makes me
take it a couple of steps further, trying to anticipate the way humans
will interact with the software, make what they'll naturally want to
do easy, and trying to put a couple of roadblocks up for what they're
likely to do wrong.
So I tend to overanalyze things a little. In software, I lay down the
framework for dealing with potential expansion of functions and data
growth that may never get used, but insure against having to come back
and rip everything out to go to the next level.
When I play music, most of the "what if" questions come during the writing
and production stages but, every once in a while, a wild notion might
strike me onstage, like making a segue to another song that the rest
of the band isn't expecting. If the answer to "what if?" is too risky,
I'll hold back. Sometimes, though, I just know that everyone will immediately
catch on, so I'll go for it. But I have to ask the question first. What
if...?
I'm 55 and starting my life over again. For two months now, I've been
letting "everything happens for a reason" be my guiding principle. Now
I'm finally coming to the point where I wish I had a better grasp of
what the reason is.
I find myself asking "What if...?" about things that there is no way
to determine the outcome to. The unmistakable inner voice that's been
pointing the way and giving me a daily briefing has suddenly
fallen silent.
But at least I know what to do. It sounds silly, maybe even slightly
insane, but if I plug in my headphones and put iTunes on shuffle, the
answers will be there. They always are. Before Clear Channel, the radio
used to work that way, too.
A couple of hours
later -- Man, that works every
fucking time. Always freaks me out a little when it happens, but
after so many years, I should be used to by now.
After Bon Jovi, Joe Cocker, Elvis Costello and Alice Cooper checked
in and had their say, today's answer came in the form of an instrumental,
actually. The questions I was asking didn't need real
words to be answered,
just
thought
triggers. Keith Emerson is top gun in my book, so it's only fitting that
"The Three Fates" reminded me what I was supposed to be doing.
Upgrade Hell
July 25, 2010 -- I
just had to move to OSX. Didn't really want to, was
perfectly happy with my old beige G3 (manufactured July, 1998), but
I'm working on a software project that demanded OSX.
Once I started using OSX, I liked it. Runs faster,
jumps higher, all that shit. Moved everything over except ProTools,
my music recording and editing software. Today, after seeing that there
was actually an OSX version that still supported my old interface (DIGI001),
I decided to take the plunge and bring ProTools along, too. Figured
that, at the very least, I could run the old version of ProTools in
the Classic environment if I had to.
Opened up the G3. Evidently it's been several years since I popped the
cover because the thing was so loaded with dust that I'm surprised it
was still working properly. Used a hair dryer to blow it out, then dusted
it out and took the hair dryer to it again, just to make sure I got the
majority of it out.
Took out the PCI card for the DIGI001 interface and the G3's internal
hard drive and moved them to my new (used & refurbished) G4. Fired it
up. Everything was looking good. Downloaded the ProTools upgrade.
Unfortunately, it turns out that my interface was only supported to
Mac OSX 10.3. It doesn't run under OSX 10.4, which is what came installed
on the G4.
Ended up having to put everything back in the G3. I guess I'm going
to have to open it up and dust it off more often. It's going to have
to be my recording studio a little longer.
The Joy of Satellite Internet
July 11, 2010 -- Since
I'm now in a tiny town just north of Mexico, internet access posed
a small problem when I was trying to get it started -- the only
choice is satellite because no one has wired broadband here.
I'm not going to mention who my provider is, but
I really miss Cox Cable after only 10 days. Satellite service costs
twice as much. If you download too much, your service slows down. I've
got a Mac laptop with OSX and an old G3 that I use for most of my work.
The G3 runs OS9, which isn't supported by the satellite company and
runs dog-slow on a good day. On Cox, it screamed on the Internet. I
was getting upload speeds of a half-megabyte per second.
Today, we're getting the first real monsoon-type
rain of the season. The satellite doesn't work in the rain. Can't even
send or check e-mail. I'll have to wait until it stops raining just
to upload this page.
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Quotes
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly
just fine."
-- shewfig (slashdot)
"Money is counterproductive;
it prevents happiness to come."
-- Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder, on why he is giving
all of his money away
"If we knew what it was we were doing,
it would not be called research, would it?"
-- Albert Einstein
WTF? Quotes
"We had no domestic attacks under
Bush. We've had one under Obama."
-- Rudy Giuliani
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