Friend the Preventor

It’s time to go to work, but a certain cat thinks it’s time to meditate.

Bwahahaha!

I can blog from my phone!

Two Oh One Two, HIKE!

It’s already the last Friday in January, and this is my first post of the year. Happy New Year, blog readers! Obviously I’ve completely lost any semblance of habit of writing here. Good. It’s more random that way.

It’s not that I am avoiding the internet. Far from it. I’m on the internet more than ever. My phone and Kindle Fire tablet keep me connected to the tubes pretty much all the time that I’m not sitting at a computer. Emails are nearly as instant as text messages. I’m sure this is the case for more and more of you all out there. Smartphones are taking over the internet and everybody’s brains!

As the social networks become more insistant, with mandatory “features” and constant herding of behavior, my mind has wandered fondly back to the days when blogs were king. I’ve even started fiddling with my old ~fletk page (http://efn.org/~fletk), and will perhaps grow it into something interesting again.

The constant real-time social-network “sharing” and Facebook’s new Timeline promising to help you “tell your story” better–IT’S ALL FOR GROOMING US INTO BEING BETTER PRODUCTS to sell to the advertisers and personal data collectors and marketers. Worth remembering even as we grow used to the fun and useful features of social networks.

LaunchPad plays ESAP HQ on Jan. 14!

LaunchPad at Wandering Goat, November 12

Bandcamp!

I just got out of the habit

I’m an irresponsible blog owner, I know. But heck, aren’t we all, most of us anyway?

I just got out of the habit, back around the Country Fair. Well this week the County Fair happens. I was so excited last year when they had Joan Jett!  Nobody like that this year.

LaunchPad swarmed for the first time in lightyears yesterday. I’m so grateful for this band! They are family to me. When we play, magic always happens. And once again the magic included Mrs. Random’s exquisite multi-course dinner spread.

I am exploring graphics and animation programs. Open source ones like Blender and GIMP. These are professional quality free open-source applications. I’ve been watching tutorial videos and reading FAQs, HOWTOs, textbooks and manuals. I ordered a graphics tablet. Inspiring these explorations is my electronic music collaboration with Stardust. We’ve decided to pursue a project involving animation intended to be accompanied by improvised electronic music.

I love discovering new awesome bands. Lately using Pandora combined with Spotify to locate likely favorites.

Very deep and potential-laden

Country Fair happened, sandwiched between two trips to the east side of the mountains. Acknowledging the fun, but very glad to be back home with nothing planned out of town for a while. I am immersing myself in my music gadgets this week. There’s a fair bit of creative build-up bordering on musical frustration at not having enough time and focus to put into making awesome sounds. Am correcting that at every opportunity now. My recently acquired Korg MicroSampler is a very deep and potential-laden instrument, and will require a lot of quality time interacting with it.

Speaking of music, FRANTIC will play at the David P. Miller benefit show at Art of Glass this coming Friday, July 29. Come over around 6 or 7. There are other performers, too, and lots of art to be had. Bring your wallet and checkbook.

So I did

I’m drinking again. Two weeks off was good, but I really REALLY wanted to make Manhattans on Sunday. So I did.
Also, last week, I surprised myself and got a Kindle. I also got that battery pack/charger pictured a couple posts ago, and it’s working like a charm. Will be very handy out at the Fair! And, contrary to what I expected, once I got a unit for myself and started using it, I realize now that the Kindle is the bee’s knees–more so when combined with Calibre, the free software that lets you convert between most formats, AND which, with some cool plug-ins, lets you strip DRM from Kindle books and turn them into regular ol’ MOBIs (pardon my ebook geekiness). I only lament that my free time for reading has been rather limited lately. What am I reading? Right now: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, Wireless by Charles Stross, Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski, and Listening Through The Noise by Joanna Demers. I finished Robopocalypse and panned it in my Goodreads review.

Fitting & Thinking

it’s been a while since I took a vacation from alcohol, but I find myself a week into one right now. The main motivator is wanting to fit into my pants and tshirts better, not keep expanding my girth. Another motivator is my brain. It gets really foggy and uninteresting after 2 or 3 drinks. Not that getting drunk isn’t fun! But I needed to break up the habit once again. A result is that I’m not as likely to be staring into space by 8pm. I’m more likely to be deep into a book or trying to figure out something on the computer, something that involves neurons firing–not marinating.  I’ve also got more energy in general. Here’s to evening intelligence and fitting into clothes… cheers!

Specs and reviews

After re-reading the specs and reading several reviews, especially this one, I decided I don’t want the new Nook Simple Touch. It’s essentially a Kindle 3 without the physical keyboard, and with a touch screen.

I’ve tried Mrs. R’s Kindle several times, but I like reading on my phone and iPod  Touch much better. I AM keeping my eye on the tablet scene, though. And I’m expecting some very cool devices in the next few months.

Here’s a gadget that I’m more inclined to get very soon. It’s a backup battery pack for charging small electronic devices like phones and mp3 players and e-readers and GPS units.
This one should be able to recharge my phone 6-10 times before needing a recharge itself. I’m thinking it would be great to have out at the Fair, since competition is fierce for the very few electrical outlets available. And both as staff members and campers,  many of us have come to rely upon cell phones to communicate over the large OCF site.

Our old sightless kitty likes to go outside (video)

Mixtape

DOWNLOAD/STREAM
LINK TO MP3

87 minutes

1. MGMT – It’s Working (4:06)
2. Robots in Disguise – She’s a Colour Scientist (2:54)
3. Rihanna – Don’t Stop The Music (4:12)
4. The Nudge – Contact (3:42)
5. Team Dresch – She’s Crushing My Mind (1:43)
6. David Bowie – Without You (3:09)
7. Adam Lambert – Fever (3:26)
8. The Thermals – Not Like Any Other Feeling (3:34)
9. Santogold – Say Aha (3:35)
10. Yeasayer – One (5:25)
11. Black Grape – Shake Well Before Opening (5:40)
12. Lords of Acid – Marijuana In Your Brain (3:56)
13. Devo – Fresh (2:59)
14. The Ting Tings – We Walk (4:05)
15. Dog Faced Hermans – Catbrain Walk (5:37)
16. The Rolling Stones – Can You Hear the Music (5:31)
17. Butchies – Shooting Star (Thunderwolf Mix) (2:39)
18. The Primitives – Earth Thing (4:21)
19. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away (3:24)
20. Kraftwerk – Computer Love (6:36)
21. Science Heroes – Monogamy (2:14)
22. The Epoxies – We’re So Small (2:43)
23. We Wrote The Book On Connectors – Gonna Eat Some Cake Tonight (2:30)

The light and warmth yesterday evening. We ate dinner outside. This is what I saw when I paused from eating and turned to the right. I love our patio and backyard in warm weather.

Should I get a Nook?