It weeps for joy. For the first time in eight months, I picked it up, cradled it under my arm and heard the sweet sound of it being tuned. It's really amazing how therapeutic it can be.
Tuning is akin to aligning the pieces of the universe. If you've ever seen Bobby McFerrin "play" an audience or if you've ever felt a piece of music that seems to resonate with you, you have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. There are certain tones and combinations of tones that are reflected in the human psyche and/or soul. We can tell when they are out of focus, out of tune. And it jars us.
When we return them to their comfortable state, the harmonic resonance sounds perfect. It's literally music to our ears. Music can soothe the savage beast.
And I have felt like a savage beast for the past few months. My darker instincts have risen to the surface, clouding my mind and locking my creativity away. My social presence has been limited, both online and off as I've struggled with this. Monday nights with the MCS have been an outlet, but not enough of one. The single Thursday night that I've sung with Jess helped immeasurably, but only for the moment.
The guitar, though, is a mistress that is always there.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Once upon a time-sensitive advertisement
I write for a living.
That's pretty darn cool, in my book. It's marketing writing, so it's not always exciting, but it is always a challenge. And the idea that I'm influencing people's opinions is pretty cool.
Not to toot my own horn, I'm more talented than I let on. And I'm beginning to feel the constraint of writing for other purposes than my own. I don't mind, but is there something I can contribute outside of this blog, a few ads a week, some datasheets and sell sheets?
If I'm going to write for me, what shall I write about? Is there a story that hasn't been told yet?
That's pretty darn cool, in my book. It's marketing writing, so it's not always exciting, but it is always a challenge. And the idea that I'm influencing people's opinions is pretty cool.
Not to toot my own horn, I'm more talented than I let on. And I'm beginning to feel the constraint of writing for other purposes than my own. I don't mind, but is there something I can contribute outside of this blog, a few ads a week, some datasheets and sell sheets?
If I'm going to write for me, what shall I write about? Is there a story that hasn't been told yet?
Monday, August 4, 2008
Got faith? Sox darned.
First it was this:
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/08/manny-ramirez-w.html
Why is ESPN taking such an active role in supporting the Dodgers? Or, rather, criticizing the Red Sox? Of course, I responded to the blog entry with my suggestion for a response. Perhaps it's a giant sign that sits in out on the bay.
But then I read this:
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=441649
And my faith in logical analysis was restored. So, the lineup isn't as feared (though Bay is no slouch...I like to think of him a wild card, in the sense that he fills whatever hole in our hand is needed).
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/08/manny-ramirez-w.html
Why is ESPN taking such an active role in supporting the Dodgers? Or, rather, criticizing the Red Sox? Of course, I responded to the blog entry with my suggestion for a response. Perhaps it's a giant sign that sits in out on the bay.
But then I read this:
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=441649
And my faith in logical analysis was restored. So, the lineup isn't as feared (though Bay is no slouch...I like to think of him a wild card, in the sense that he fills whatever hole in our hand is needed).
Friday, July 25, 2008
Laughing at himself...
This morning, I watched the news and listened to NPR. I just caught the tail end of a fluff story on ABC about John McCain at cancer forum hosted by Lance Armstrong. And then, as part of a larger political piece, I heard excerpts from that event.
Let me go back for a moment and preface all of this: I may be liberal, but I'm not completely sold on Obama. I like his message, I like him, and I'm eager to hear more concrete plans from him (this also applied to McCain).
These excerpts I heard, they don't make me nervous, but they don't make me like McCain or establish the personal connection I need to have with him. When he speaks, he trails off, as if he's not totally convinced of what he's saying. I never feel like he's completing a thought. My impression is that the only promise he's not afraid of making is that we have WIN in Iraq (totally different story, when did it become about winning? I understand the "Mission Accomplished" thing, but when did it become a competition? Is that just because U.S. citizens are perceived by their government to need to see things in such black and white terms?).
The thing that makes me most uncomfortable is this: He laughed at his own jokes before anyone else laughed. I know, this sounds petty, but it speaks a lot to his personality today.
In 2000, I switched from being an independent to being Republican so that I could vote for McCain in the New Hampshire primary. The man running then was a confident, seasoned maverick. He could cross party lines with ease as he spoke to the genuine concerns of the U.S. middle class. In many ways, the campaign he ran then, the message he had, reminds me of Obama's now.
But today, the laughing thing says a lot about a loss of confidence. Over the past eight years, McCain was changed. He's moved more to the political conservative side while trying to keep his hand in with moderates. It hasn't worked, I don't think. A lot of people look at his changes in stance as selling out. Where is the the McCain of 2000?
Now, we have an McCain who's confidence has been cut from under him. It makes me feel as though he still has the same principles and ideas that he had then, but now he feels the need to bow to pressures to support ideas he doesn't believe in or place high priority on.
And now, we have someone who laughs at his own jokes.
Let me go back for a moment and preface all of this: I may be liberal, but I'm not completely sold on Obama. I like his message, I like him, and I'm eager to hear more concrete plans from him (this also applied to McCain).
These excerpts I heard, they don't make me nervous, but they don't make me like McCain or establish the personal connection I need to have with him. When he speaks, he trails off, as if he's not totally convinced of what he's saying. I never feel like he's completing a thought. My impression is that the only promise he's not afraid of making is that we have WIN in Iraq (totally different story, when did it become about winning? I understand the "Mission Accomplished" thing, but when did it become a competition? Is that just because U.S. citizens are perceived by their government to need to see things in such black and white terms?).
The thing that makes me most uncomfortable is this: He laughed at his own jokes before anyone else laughed. I know, this sounds petty, but it speaks a lot to his personality today.
In 2000, I switched from being an independent to being Republican so that I could vote for McCain in the New Hampshire primary. The man running then was a confident, seasoned maverick. He could cross party lines with ease as he spoke to the genuine concerns of the U.S. middle class. In many ways, the campaign he ran then, the message he had, reminds me of Obama's now.
But today, the laughing thing says a lot about a loss of confidence. Over the past eight years, McCain was changed. He's moved more to the political conservative side while trying to keep his hand in with moderates. It hasn't worked, I don't think. A lot of people look at his changes in stance as selling out. Where is the the McCain of 2000?
Now, we have an McCain who's confidence has been cut from under him. It makes me feel as though he still has the same principles and ideas that he had then, but now he feels the need to bow to pressures to support ideas he doesn't believe in or place high priority on.
And now, we have someone who laughs at his own jokes.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Auto industry lessons from the HD DVD vs blu-ray war
We're desperate for new technology in our automobiles. We (even the SUV lovers) want more efficient technology, alternative fuels, and affordable vehicles. Where are these machines of the future? Where's my flying car?
I have no doubt that car manufacturers want to develop new tech. That industry is suffering, GM believes that the era of the SUV is over. Even high efficiency car sales are slowing as people struggle to justify making payments on such expensive cars and still have to pay for gas.
Listening to NPR last night, the discussion had turned to GM and Ford's ventures into all-electric cars. While a noble move (GM should have continued with the EV1 project from the 90s), the production cars are still predicted to be in the $30-40k price range. This puts these cars out of the price range for a large portion of the population. Heck, the Prius starts at $21,500 according to Toyota's Web site; that's still out of my budget. I will pay less over the life of my car by buying used and somewhat efficient instead.
So, why the delay and why the high price? Manufacturers will need to spend a ton of money to develop the new tech, and they don't know what to invest in! Do they make the current engines more efficient? What about hybrids, diesel hybrids, biodiesel hybrids, or natural gas? Ethanol or fuel cells? Where should they begin?
Like anyone else, they want to invest in the winning technology. Look at HD DVD and blu-ray DVD technology. HD DVD was the first to the gate, prices weren't bad. A lot of money was invested in developing it and marketing it. Looked like a winner too, with the backing of companies and a fresh market share. blu-ray, on the other hand, was delayed, was considerable more expensive, had mostly Sony backing, but was a more advanced technology. A safe bet would have been HD DVD.
Now HD DVD is dead as a format and blu-ray is gaining ground on "traditional" DVD sales.
Who would you have the car manufacturers put all of their chips with? Financially and ecologically, there's a lot more at stake here.
I wish someone would come up with a Mr. Fusion.
I have no doubt that car manufacturers want to develop new tech. That industry is suffering, GM believes that the era of the SUV is over. Even high efficiency car sales are slowing as people struggle to justify making payments on such expensive cars and still have to pay for gas.
Listening to NPR last night, the discussion had turned to GM and Ford's ventures into all-electric cars. While a noble move (GM should have continued with the EV1 project from the 90s), the production cars are still predicted to be in the $30-40k price range. This puts these cars out of the price range for a large portion of the population. Heck, the Prius starts at $21,500 according to Toyota's Web site; that's still out of my budget. I will pay less over the life of my car by buying used and somewhat efficient instead.
So, why the delay and why the high price? Manufacturers will need to spend a ton of money to develop the new tech, and they don't know what to invest in! Do they make the current engines more efficient? What about hybrids, diesel hybrids, biodiesel hybrids, or natural gas? Ethanol or fuel cells? Where should they begin?
Like anyone else, they want to invest in the winning technology. Look at HD DVD and blu-ray DVD technology. HD DVD was the first to the gate, prices weren't bad. A lot of money was invested in developing it and marketing it. Looked like a winner too, with the backing of companies and a fresh market share. blu-ray, on the other hand, was delayed, was considerable more expensive, had mostly Sony backing, but was a more advanced technology. A safe bet would have been HD DVD.
Now HD DVD is dead as a format and blu-ray is gaining ground on "traditional" DVD sales.
Who would you have the car manufacturers put all of their chips with? Financially and ecologically, there's a lot more at stake here.
I wish someone would come up with a Mr. Fusion.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Missing out
My wife and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We were one of "those" couples. You know, the ones that got married on 07/07/07. My dad picked the date. He's a numbers guy, and thought of it way before we did.
While we were out to dinner to celebrate, Sam asked me if I thought I had missed out on anything by being with her, by marrying her. Which spurred a long, and very good, conversation. We've never been ones who have had to work too hard at our relationship, and rarely talk about it. But when we do, well, it's a good thing.
That said, this wasn't a fair question. Every choice we make immediately precludes a different path (I'll discuss infinite, multiple parallel realities some other time). Of course I missed out on other opportunities. How could I not have? There are other women who I could have had a connection with, other jobs that I could have stayed with or taken, other places I could have moved to. But I didn't. And I'm happy.
A better question is, do I regret missing other opportunities? And the answer is no. If I weren't so happy, the answer would be different.
While we were out to dinner to celebrate, Sam asked me if I thought I had missed out on anything by being with her, by marrying her. Which spurred a long, and very good, conversation. We've never been ones who have had to work too hard at our relationship, and rarely talk about it. But when we do, well, it's a good thing.
That said, this wasn't a fair question. Every choice we make immediately precludes a different path (I'll discuss infinite, multiple parallel realities some other time). Of course I missed out on other opportunities. How could I not have? There are other women who I could have had a connection with, other jobs that I could have stayed with or taken, other places I could have moved to. But I didn't. And I'm happy.
A better question is, do I regret missing other opportunities? And the answer is no. If I weren't so happy, the answer would be different.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Location, location, location?
I guess the first part of planning a wedding is the date, but that's another story, one much easier. The location was harder. The only advice I can give is this: get married where you want, family will complain no matter what. Whether you make them fly to Colorado or drive 20 minutes, someone isn't going to be happy.
You might as well be. After all, it's your wedding day.
I can't stress that enough. It's YOUR wedding day. Not your mother-in-law's, not your best man's, not Uncle-Louie-from-Cincinnati's. YOURS.
So, when my wife and I started to plan our wedding, we spent a lot of time going back and forth about where to have it. I wanted to try to make it more convenient for my family, and have it somewhere in Massachusetts (we're in New Hampshire, my family is in Rhode Island). It would certainly be somewhat less convenient for her family, but I was trying to achieve balance.
Her family bitched. They understood, but they bitched. It turned out to be a moot point; we couldn't find a place that we both liked and could afford.
But there was a winery that meant a lot to both of us. I was one of its first customers, she loved their wine and liked the owner (she works there now, helping run wedding). And, as weddings go, they were fairly priced.
So what that her family would have to drive almost an hour? For my family, it was going to be nearly three, and the elderly members of my family are certainly not better off than hers. It was where we wanted it, where we would be most comfortable, where we could have the ceremony and reception that we wanted.
The complaints? All from her family. My family just wanted to know when they could eat.
You might as well be. After all, it's your wedding day.
I can't stress that enough. It's YOUR wedding day. Not your mother-in-law's, not your best man's, not Uncle-Louie-from-Cincinnati's. YOURS.
So, when my wife and I started to plan our wedding, we spent a lot of time going back and forth about where to have it. I wanted to try to make it more convenient for my family, and have it somewhere in Massachusetts (we're in New Hampshire, my family is in Rhode Island). It would certainly be somewhat less convenient for her family, but I was trying to achieve balance.
Her family bitched. They understood, but they bitched. It turned out to be a moot point; we couldn't find a place that we both liked and could afford.
But there was a winery that meant a lot to both of us. I was one of its first customers, she loved their wine and liked the owner (she works there now, helping run wedding). And, as weddings go, they were fairly priced.
So what that her family would have to drive almost an hour? For my family, it was going to be nearly three, and the elderly members of my family are certainly not better off than hers. It was where we wanted it, where we would be most comfortable, where we could have the ceremony and reception that we wanted.
The complaints? All from her family. My family just wanted to know when they could eat.
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