Look ma, no wires

I picked up a wireless router for home this week. My idea was to put a wireless network card into J's computer so that she could access the internet from her own computer instead of using mine at the same time that I want to use mine, and that we would therefore have one less topic to argue over. A side effect of having a wireless router in the house would be that I could access email and internet from my LifeDrive device using its built-in WiFi feature.

Although I did manage to get the wireless hooked up and configured so that I could access the internet from my own PC and from my LifeDrive, I have not yet been able to get it working from J's computer. Kind of ironic, since that was the original purpose of setting up a wireless network at home.

However, I can now send and receive email when I'm in the washroom - this has got to be the hallmark of technological sophistication.

Mixing The Great Escape

I had a session at the studio last week, working on the instrumental version of The Great Escape. We recovered the tracks from the digital audio tapes (ADATs) of my original recording, which was around February 2001. Back then we were still using ADAT but since then we have switched over to non-linear editing. That's a fancy way of saying we do it on a computer. After importing the tracks from tape we built up some percussion tracks and then added a a few guitar tracks that follow the melody.

I had another session today - we mixed the tracks we recorded last week along with the tracks from the original recording. It occurred to me that with all the tracks we've recorded, we could do an alternate mix that would emphasize different combinations of the guitar tracks. That will take another session though.

I like the way the mix sounds now - I think it's an interesting sonic landscape. I'll want to get it mastered before I'm ready to submit it to GarageBand.com. Mastering will involve harmonically balancing the frequencies, and will also cause the song to have the same apparent volume and mix when played on different types of audio systems. Mastering will take another session too, but I think it will be worth it.

So it looks like I'll need another session or two before I'm ready to post this song.

Reading at the Feast of Good Cheer

Every so often, some friends of mine throw a get-together that we call Feast of Good Cheer. It's an evening of good friends and good food. Originally we started off having these events once a month but the frequency has fallen off a bit as our lives have demanded some adjustments from us.

We had a Feast this past weekend. I took advantage of this event to present a reading of selected scenes from Mission: Dawn to my friends. I read some of my favourite character scenes - scenes about the relationship between Arjay and Linda, and scenes about interactions and reactions to the new ship's doctor.

I was a bit nervous because this was my first time reading this material in front of an audience. It was well received though. I received some nice comments about it - particularly that they liked the dialogue, and that it was easy to listen to. I felt encouraged by the comments I received.

Bonanza

I remember when I was a boy, my dad used to watch a television series called Bonanza. I don't remember any of the episodes - I just remember the distinctive theme song and the famous burning map - but I wasn't otherwise too interested in the show.

Last year it occurred to get my dad a Bonanza DVD set for Christmas. I thought it might spark some nostalgia with him. He didn't take to watching the DVD's though - it's too newfangled for him and he doesn't take to new technology very well.

This year when I was doing some Christmas shopping with J, I saw a couple more volumes of Bonanza DVD's, so this time I picked up a set for myself. I've watched a few episodes with J and I must say I'm becoming hooked on the series. I enjoy the writing and the characters.

The special effects look dated - not that there are a lot of special effects in this show. The gunshots look totally fake and hokey by today's standards. A death scene consists of the sound effect of a gunshot followed by a scene of the victim clutching his chest and falling to the ground. Despite the fact that it looks really hokey I find it a refreshing variation from all the explicit blood and gore that we see in modern day shows.

I wasn't too interested in the show when I was a boy but I'm hooked on it now.

Holding back vs taking action

My Palm-less days are over. I finally picked up a new Palm device, the LifeDrive. The technology I was used to in my old Palm m500 handheld has been updated so I'll have to get used to a new way of doing things.

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Over the years I've had various people who know me say to me that I tend to hold back. I think even one of the reviews I got for Yesterday Seems So Far Away on GarageBand.com said a similar thing. It must be true - I've got some creative projects I'd like to undertake and complete but I'm just not doing anything with them.

Last weekend I decided to write a list of the creative projects where I'm holding back from implementing them. I ended up with a list of eleven items, and that includes doing the instrumental version of The Great Escape.

Having an idea is one thing but acting on it is another. So I've taken some action - I have found the ADATs - digital audio tapes - on which I recorded the original version of The Great Escape, and I've booked a studio session for the 20th to work on the new version.

Appreciation exercise

J and I did an exercise last night about what we appreciate about each other. It was a really great exercise; it felt like it reconnected us with our positive feelings for each other in a time when we have been dealing with quite a bit of emotional crap.

Some of the things I appreciate about J:

• She is somebody I can have fun with
• I appreciate that she initiated this appreciation exercise
• I appreciate her generosity of spirit
• We dance well together
• She is putting some effort into trying to find me a discount on a LifeDrive device through her corporate account
• I appreciate when we take time out to watch a movie or TV together
• She inspires me to take better care of things, (I can be rough with them and they wear out or break down faster)
• Her tidiness and organization
• I appreciate that we have adopted a cat together and have given him a good home
• She is doing an excellent job managing one of my rental properties
• I appreciate having her and her mom as an audience for when I make my home movies
• I appreciate that she likes listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Some of the things J appreciates about me:

• My willingness to have her mother live with us
• Being a good uncle; I enjoy her nieces and nephews
• She appreciates me taking her out for dinners
• She appreciates me sharing housework
• She appreciates me driving her around
• She appreciates my support in her projects - like home renovations
• She appreciates me taking her on vacations/holidays
• She appreciates my help in mowing the lawn
• She appreciates my help in shovelling the snow
• She appreciates that I am into technology, like computers, digital photos, movie maker
• She appreciates that I pick up her mother when she is not able to
• She appreciates that her mother can also count on me
• She appreciates that I am faithful
• She appreciates that I am honest
• She appreciates that I take care of her and love her