Wednesday, February 23, 2005
The Beginning of the End
Brookings is getting its first Starbucks. Reminds me of a poster put out by the Wales Tourist Board featuring a picture of Cardiff Castle and captioned "Castles 641; Starbucks 6."
Monday, February 21, 2005
Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge
I played in a dodgeball tournament on Friday. It wasn't as fun as it sounds. It would have helped if our team (the Purple Cobras, naturally) weren't the worst of the field, and if I weren't the worst player on our team. Also, if a few of the other teams hadn't taken it a little too seriously and engaged in a little lax self-refereeing. But it was a little fun.
I needed a little help with one of the five Ds of dodgeball in particular: duck. I took two balls full in the face. One of them actually knocked me over. If only somebody had videotaped it.
We did manage to win a single game in pool play, but we lost in the first round of the bracket.
Next time we're going to be the Average Josephs.
I needed a little help with one of the five Ds of dodgeball in particular: duck. I took two balls full in the face. One of them actually knocked me over. If only somebody had videotaped it.
We did manage to win a single game in pool play, but we lost in the first round of the bracket.
Next time we're going to be the Average Josephs.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
GarageBand 2
I just couldn't wait any longer, and plunked down my hard-earned 79 bucks for iLife '05, mainly for GarageBand 2. It is too much fun. After doodling around a number of times using mainly an M-Audio USB keyboard and some of the supplied loops, I finally ransacked the house to find my old microphone and headphones. It was time to find out if Bobby McFerrin is a thousand times better than me, or merely a hundred.
Well, the first try sounded terrible. Not just my voice; I expected that. The recording sounded like an old 78 that had been used as a Frisbee for several summers at the dog park. I fiddled around with the levels for a bit, with no improvement. Hmm. My mic can't be THAT bad. I ended up cranking the noise gate so high, it dropped some of the quieter bits of the vocal. This is a problem for a singer like me with such an expressive dynamic range (yeah, right...).
I unplugged the headphones, intending to fire up iTunes while I Googled for some advice. Uh-oh! Feedback! Better switch the mic off. Huh? The feedback didn't stop. Oh -- forgot to switch the audio input. It had been using that little pinhole mic on the display of the iMac -- no wonder it sounded terrible. I had expected it to switch inputs automatically when I plugged in the mic, like it does for output when I plug in phones.
Anyway, headphones back on, and back into GarageBand. I kept the lousy vocals I'd already recorded, and prepared to add some backing vocals. A little "test, test, one, two," and another head-scratcher. I cranked the level up to 11, and still the meter barely blipped. Oh well. Here goes. As I recorded, the editor window showed a flat line -- nothing. I finished up, played it back, and couldn't hear a thing. I played back just that one track, and I could hear it, but only just.
Back to the OSX audio preferences. This time, I actually took the time to read what was on the screen. Of course! It's a line-level input, not mic-level. I wouldn't have guessed that.
I'll just have to get one of these gizmos, or something, except that I'm all out of USB ports. I had hoped to avoid getting a USB hub. I see the G5 iMacs have three USB ports, the same as the G4 had. Were I the product manager at Apple, I'd push for about eight. Well, at least five.
I also thought about hooking up my old Portastudio, which would solve the mic level problem, but it's just to big. It's an old 424mkII, and more "studio" than "porta" vis-a-vis our small, cluttered office.
Well, the first try sounded terrible. Not just my voice; I expected that. The recording sounded like an old 78 that had been used as a Frisbee for several summers at the dog park. I fiddled around with the levels for a bit, with no improvement. Hmm. My mic can't be THAT bad. I ended up cranking the noise gate so high, it dropped some of the quieter bits of the vocal. This is a problem for a singer like me with such an expressive dynamic range (yeah, right...).
I unplugged the headphones, intending to fire up iTunes while I Googled for some advice. Uh-oh! Feedback! Better switch the mic off. Huh? The feedback didn't stop. Oh -- forgot to switch the audio input. It had been using that little pinhole mic on the display of the iMac -- no wonder it sounded terrible. I had expected it to switch inputs automatically when I plugged in the mic, like it does for output when I plug in phones.
Anyway, headphones back on, and back into GarageBand. I kept the lousy vocals I'd already recorded, and prepared to add some backing vocals. A little "test, test, one, two," and another head-scratcher. I cranked the level up to 11, and still the meter barely blipped. Oh well. Here goes. As I recorded, the editor window showed a flat line -- nothing. I finished up, played it back, and couldn't hear a thing. I played back just that one track, and I could hear it, but only just.
Back to the OSX audio preferences. This time, I actually took the time to read what was on the screen. Of course! It's a line-level input, not mic-level. I wouldn't have guessed that.
I'll just have to get one of these gizmos, or something, except that I'm all out of USB ports. I had hoped to avoid getting a USB hub. I see the G5 iMacs have three USB ports, the same as the G4 had. Were I the product manager at Apple, I'd push for about eight. Well, at least five.
I also thought about hooking up my old Portastudio, which would solve the mic level problem, but it's just to big. It's an old 424mkII, and more "studio" than "porta" vis-a-vis our small, cluttered office.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Monday, November 22, 2004
Smooth Talker
Yesterday I talked briefly with a woman I hadn't seen since about 1981. I was reminded of an incident that I believe happened in December 1979.
A close friend of mine, let's call him "Ernest", had a big crush on that same woman, "Ethel." Ernest and I were sophomores in high school; she was a freshman. He'd asked her out a number of times, but she declined. Ernest hadn't given up, though, and wanted to give Ethel a Christmas card. Not content to mail it, he chose a high school basketball game to give it to her in person. He waited until the game was over, as everyone was streaming out of the gym. I happened to be walking along nearby, and overheard him trying to get her attention. Did he call out her name? No. Tap her on the shoulder? No. Those would have been reasonable choices. But we're talking about awkward teenagers here.
He said "Hey Stupid!"
It got her attention.
A close friend of mine, let's call him "Ernest", had a big crush on that same woman, "Ethel." Ernest and I were sophomores in high school; she was a freshman. He'd asked her out a number of times, but she declined. Ernest hadn't given up, though, and wanted to give Ethel a Christmas card. Not content to mail it, he chose a high school basketball game to give it to her in person. He waited until the game was over, as everyone was streaming out of the gym. I happened to be walking along nearby, and overheard him trying to get her attention. Did he call out her name? No. Tap her on the shoulder? No. Those would have been reasonable choices. But we're talking about awkward teenagers here.
He said "Hey Stupid!"
It got her attention.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
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