The Bass Geek

The weekend was full of quality overtime spent finishing some writing projects, and it’s probably a good thing that they’re done now. My wife gave me an Xbox 360 for my birthday (wisely withholding games until the weekend was done), and now I can see GTA IV and the Orange Box (my first two selections) eating up the formerly productive home time.

For a good long time, there wasn’t a modern console in our general living area - there’s an old Genesis moldering in the closet, and I occasionally fire up a PS1 to remember the good old days of the Pittsburgh Steelers under Kordell Stewart (such magical times - the mental equivalent of suffering a Theismann injury), but I know what kind of time drain I face when I’m around these things. I can probably justify it a bit as research into video game music, but that’s a hollow reason. It’s just time to accept a bunch of wasted time.

I wonder if my wife know she may never be able to use the big TV again?

Most reasonable people shy away from blogging about their day jobs, and I’m going to go ahead and stick by that rule.

Hypothetically speaking, though - if you’ve been busted for illegal filesharing, please at least acknowledge what you’ve been doing and have a well-reasoned and thought-out argument for doing so.  I can respect your logical viewpoints on the matter, even if I disagree with them.  A blank stare and stammering protestations will earn you nothing.  Especially if you’re asking for my help.

Enough. I’m linking to a photo from the Hamer Guitars website of a lovely 12-string bass. I got to hear the sound of it played solo on a documentary a couple of days ago, and it reminded me of all that is good and right in the world.

Part of the wonderful challenge of putting together a tech book is that the playing field is always changing - programs update, new versions come out, etcetera.  It can be a bit difficult to manage.

Now multiply that by the five versions of Vista I have to account for my current project, and all the fun should become clear.  I’m writing using Vista Ultimate, which includes the whole shebang, and I’m trying to take into consideration all the features and such people might not see.  Joy.

Also, the new IMN podcast is up.  Download it here or listen at the site.

If you want to listen to the radio interview I did for http://wsradio.com, check out this link.

I tried to sound intelligent.

Trying to cram rehearsals and writing into the same day after the normal grind may be a bit too much.  I’m having visions of explaining the basic operations of Vista running through my dreams, and that’s probably not healthy.  I’m hearing sections of King Crimson’s “Red” album substituted in for the Fripp-composed Vista sound effects.  That’s definitely not healthy.

Also, “South Park” was right this evening.  A shutdown or reboot of computing devices can help clear up scads of issues.  Learn that now and save yourself some time.

The new IMN podcast is up - download directly or listen at the site.