We’re Gettin’ the Band Back Together! November 27, 2010
Posted by mashthekeys in music, tech.1 comment so far
Oh man.
A number of years ago, probably almost ten at this point, some friends and I started a “band.” Well, not so much an actual band, but for those of you who actually know us, we recorded off-key “songs” (using the term VERY loosely here) and random sounds with a cheap USB microphone, and sometimes would actually bother to “mix” multiple layers, often using the default Windows sound recorder. With a heap of pride and little taste, we’d often listen to our tracks at parties and steak nights with our pals and have a good laugh. Really, half the fun was making the album art and turning everyday objects into “instruments” (again, another loosely used term).
A few years later we decided to all pick up instruments and try again. We even took on a new name to symbolize our efforts and what we hoped might actually come from it. This time, all of us had real instruments, but none of us were very good, and we’d often spend an entire night playing thee same song over and over again. A combination of college, the real world and relationships would keep us from really putting a lot of effort in, and instead left us with a lot of near misses. At one point we got good enough to maybe play 5 or 6 songs together, intending to do a love show for our friends, but we really just never got the opportunity. Equipment would come and go, and every six months or so a couple of us would get a chance to jam or whatnot, but the drive just wasn’t there.
This time, I think we’re looking at making it work. For real. Like, for realsies for real. Over the years, despite being apart and not actually playing together, all of us did improve on our respective instruments (I myself have now been playing bass for just over seven years). Recently, two of us have had chances to play together, and the third has been taking lessons, and really–the result is pretty astounding.
We also got a big “gift” in that one is living in a house with a full studio in it, which gave us the chance to record a few early tracks, and more than anything, prove to ourselves that it’s possible to pull this off. I think more than anything, our slight “maturing” and willingness to take the music a bit more seriously, without losing out sense of humor has really helped the drive. Once you hear what you’re capable of, it gives a lot more drive to actually pick up the instrument and explore and experiment with it, and to push the boundaries of your talents.
We’re hoping to record a short “album” over the winter, which I’ll probably share here then.
Kinder Eggs (or how I didn’t choke to death on one) October 27, 2010
Posted by mashthekeys in food, ranting, travel.1 comment so far
Kinder Surprise Eggs are delicious, and basically found in every country but this one. Why is that? Because they’re illegal.
Kinder eggs are these delightful hollow chocolate eggs from Germany with a delightful milk chocolate outer shell with a smooth white chocolate lining. The kicker, of course, is the small plastic pod contained inside which has a collectable toy inside. I can’t seem to make heads or tails of what the collections of toys are (this egg two-pack had a small crocodile, and some sort of robot pencil topper. A lot of fun at any rate! But also, this is the reason Kinder eggs are banned in the United States; apparently American children are too dumb to not swallow the toy inside.
I grab one or two of these every year when on an excursion to America’s Hat, and have picked them up from time to time while travelling abroad as well. The chocolate is decent (maybe even mediocre), but it’s the experience and the wonder of finding the toy inside that makes it a blast.
Technologically Speaking, I’m ‘That Guy’ October 18, 2010
Posted by mashthekeys in geeky, tech, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
There’s no backpedaling on this one: back in early 2010 when the iPad was announced and subsequently released, I trashed on it. Hardcore. I saw no value in it, saw it as underpowered, under-tooled, and ultimately I thought it would be a flop.
So then, of course, sometime in late August I bought one. Fortunately it came with some tools to help me insert my foot directly in my mouth.
I mean, I’ll readily admit, I was curious. And I’ll also admit that the iPad does have some shortcomings, and I do think there are some people who think much higher of it (iDiety?) than it really is. That said, I really like the device, and I’ve outlined a few of my thoughts about it below:
-The iPad is NOT a computer replacement: I won’t even pretend this is close to true–I know it’s not at all a replacement for a real computer. While it is true that I did dump my netbook in favor of the iPad, it was more about replacing the tasks than the device–my netbook was only used on-the-go to check emails, surf the web (do people still use that phrase?) and play a couple games. The iPad can’t do much of what my computer can.
-The iPad is sorta useless without iOS 4.2: Maybe useless is a bit harsh, but certainly it’s nowhere near as good. I mean this one. iOS 4.2 will hit the masses sometime in November, we’re told, and boy is it needed. I’m running iOS 4.2 Beta 3 on mine right now, and the difference is staggering. The ability to multitask alone is a huge improvement (that said, webOS‘s application of multitasking is far superior). Without multitasking the iPad feels big and fancy, but severely hindered by your ability to only do 1 thing at a time. Being able to sort apps into folders is a nice touch too, and really reduces clutter.
-The iPad is pretty awesome on the go. I certainly appreciate its size and weight. Super portable but doesn’t feel flimsy. Put it in a portfolio style case and it’s great for hauling around in the work environment. Again, by acknowledging that it’s not really a computer, it’s able to really shed weight and stay sleek. I also find the screen to be right-sized. Small enough to maintain portability, big enough to actually read/watch things on. I’m taking my first real far-away-from-home trip since owning it soon, and it’ll be interesting to see how I fare.
-Above all, the iPad is a media consumption device. Yea, you can write emails and blog posts and novels on it, but realistically it is a superb device for reading documents and websites and watching movies on. Document creation, however, is a challenge. Pages, for example, is an excellent word processing application, but to do best you need a keyboard….and that somewhat defeats the purpose of carrying a tablet anyway.
One of the more interesting things about owning and using an iPad is that you slowly begin to realize that, it’s really hard to get the iPad without using one for a while. I totally understand this because this is where I came from: I saw it as a giant iPod Touch with little applicable real-world function. I enjoy and like my iPad now, but I trip over myself when trying to explain to others why I think it’s so great.
Oh, also, I’m a big nerd with an insatiable appetite for gadgets. On a related note, I have a new camera now (hence the pictures above), but more on that later.
Summer Music Part I: Old is New September 5, 2010
Posted by mashthekeys in Uncategorized.Tags: geeky, music, photos, tech
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Musically, this has been an excellent summer for me so far.
I’ve been able to re-discover some old favorites though beginning a vinyl collection, and have also been exposed to some extremely excellent new music by some bands I like.
It’s occurred to me earlier in the summer while sweating away in my temporary office that I’ve long been in love with the idea of owning a turntable and some vinyl, but that I’d never gotten around to doing a damn thing about it. Well, I finally got one. I decided I’d take a more experimental stance (knowing that, like many others, sometimes my interest in a a hobby is fleeting at best), so I stayed cheap. The only things I wanted in one were built-in speakers, some degree of portability, and the ability to pipe it out via USB (in order to potentially make mp3s of the LPs I buy). Fortunately, Thinkgeek had exactly what I wanted and for way cheap (cheaper than I could find comparable units elsewhere), and it had a bit of style in its simplicity. The collecting has gone reasonably well, and I’ve found LPs I’ve wanted in various shops in Burlington and Portland, and have only ventured to the Internet for ones that would be a little harder to find in the stores. For the most part, I’d prefer to rummage through boxes at stores, since I think there’s a certain magic to stumbling into that one LP you’re holding out for or albums that you might not otherwise even know you want.
I suppose at some point I’ll follow this post up with a Part II regarding what I’ve actually been listening to this summer.
Summertime! June 1, 2010
Posted by mashthekeys in Uncategorized.Tags: adventures, aviation, beer, blogging, summer
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Ahoy!
So, as you’ll note, my last post was about “oh my god, blogging is so great, I’m going to do this every day,” and then my blog sat idle. For 99 days. I’m pretty intent on changing that now.
Thankfully, the Summer not only provides me more free time, but it also provides me with more adventures which I can document here with pictures and words. I’d expect to see music and concert notes, blurbs about tasty eats, and various sightings in random places in the northeast. And hopefully beyond.
What have I been up to since February? Well, March gave me an awesome week in Chicago where I had good times, ate too much amazing (and exceptionally bad for oneself) food, and got some chances to geek-out. Oh, I also did some conference going for work. I suppose that was the actual intent of the trip. April brought me to Seattle for 5 days where myself and two friends checked out Hops and Props, a giant craft brewing fest with about 45 northwestern breweries represented inside the Museum of Flight. Truly a near-religious experience for a lover of aviation and craft brews.
Since then I’ve been working through the busy season at my job winding down, and getting ready for the summer ahead. I’ve gotten the kayak out once, which was nice, and look forward to much more of that.
Un-retiring the ole blog February 22, 2010
Posted by mashthekeys in Uncategorized.Tags: blog, hello, webos
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It seems like it’s a semi-annual thing that I re-ignite and then subsequently kill-off my personal blog. Well, perhaps kill-off isn’t the most appropriate term. It’s more like it slowly peters out as I lose interest in keeping up, largely because I sometimes have a hard time trying to find things that I’m interested in writing about (that someone, somewhere out there) might find vaguely interesting to read. That, or I don’t find this an appropriate venue to write more personal or mundane things (you can find my twitter account for that).
One thing that’ll definitely provide some rejuvenation is an app I came across for webOS (Palm Pre, Pixi) called Poster, which is, quite frankly, an amazing posting and post management tool for WordPress. It’s cheap, too.
Speaking of WordPress, obviously the blog itself has seen some infrastructure changes–I’ve moved it to WordPress from Tumblr in hopes of getting a more robust management system. WordPress is so widely used that it plays nice with a lot of software and applications. So, that said, my hopes is that the new motivation and tools available to me will allow me to keep up with it!
Onward!
