I think the last time I did this meme was back in 2004. I don’t make it a tradition to fill it out every year, and I don’t intend to start now. I’m just putting up filler while I go on my forced vacation.
Yearly Archives: 2006
Forced vacation
Since the evening of Christmas Eve, the pinky and ring fingers on my left hand have been numb. I went to the doctor on Friday to find out why. Looks like there’s a pinched never somewhere near my funny bone, and at some point, the numbness should go away.
But in an effort not to excaberate the numbness, I’ve been staying away from posting to my sites or working in the studio. In short, I’ve been forced on vacation from all my side projects. If I am sitting in front of my computer, it’s to browse around, which means overusing my right hand with the mouse — not a great alternative.
So I’m going to post a few items today and spend the rest of the weekend either cleaning or watching TV. I think there’s an SVU marathon on USA today …
It doesn’t taste like chicken?
Since I have never questioned my homosexuality, I have never had to ponder this taste. I was, however, conned into licking a 9V battery when I was in fourth grade, and that experience is forever etched into my mind. Is that what it really tastes like?
The arm of James Brown stretches long
Even though my intent was to rip off Enigma, what I ended up doing was ripping off James Brown. So in tribute to the departed Godfather of Soul, here’s my contribution to the plethora of songs that sampled "Funky Drummer".
I am going to DIE
Given my ambivalence toward human contact and these findings by British researchers, I am going to DIE.
No, not really.
I just won’t have a sharper sense of smell, a lower risk of heart disease, reduced depression, pain relief, fewer colds, better bladder control, better teeth and a happy prostate.
Get ’em while they’re here
It’s great that PHP programmers will be in high demand in 2007, but employers had better catch them fast before they all switch over to Ruby.
Dueling instincts
I’m not sure how I ever became both lazy and particular.
For a guy who loves efficiency, I really do make things difficult for myself. Rather than let Movable Type handle all the details of publishing my sites, I instead code my interface to the database backend. When Musicwhore.org was more of a monstrosity, I could justify the extended code.
These days, I’m just set in my ways. I don’t want a bunch of static files sitting on my web space. I should know better — serving up static files is much more merciful on the processor than forcing it query a database and build content on the fly.
So in trying to make things simpler, I’ve made them more complex.
What I learned, part the second: What’s in the envelope?
I spent yesterday remixing "Hear the Wind Sing".
After receiving the Kawai K4 I bought on eBay, I went back to this song to fix some of the issues I left hanging after I reached a "stopping point". That must have been more than a year ago.
My big impetus was to use a sound not included in the factory preset system exclusive files made available on the Kawai support web site. It was this weird, voice-type patch that I loved. I managed to find it on a mailing list.
I’ll make it simple for you
If you’re remotely thinking about buying something for me this Christmas, let it be this convenient item. Every little bit toward some monitor speakers, a Shure SM58 microphone, newer headphones or Ableton Live helps.
What I learned, part the first: Am I not developer?
If you want to call me a "web developer" or a "computer programmer" or anything along those lines, I won’t argue. It’s how I’ve earned a paycheck for the past six years (give or take a year.)
But I don’t claim an entitlement to that label.
My development skills were learned on the job, and there are big gaps in my knowledge that a trained engineer or programmer fills at the outset. I didn’t even know the way I build my sites actually has a name.
So 2006 comes to a close, and what do I know that I didn’t know before? Let me list the ways: