And today was another especially productive day. Much more than usual in fact. Especially later in the evening while [...]]]>

As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
Ps.103:15-17

And today was another especially productive day. Much more than usual in fact. Especially later in the evening while on my knees doing dirt work around the home. There is something about digging and getting through to the deeper soft dirt that gets you feeling connected to earth. And that short time brought sweat and strain. It brought a sense of healing as if it were an apology for being away too often. I wanted to stay longer and it was certain that I just don’t love people enough.

On a schedule, I got cleaned up and set out to my music area to learn this as a chorus and rhythm. Made it through where the resonance and music off these walls got the better of me.

‘Alive’. Atrium.

Then to cycle through scales, modes and key transitions, this was queued up and played through over and again.

‘Dead’. Fools For Rowan.

There I was strumming away too loud again having just finished the next session among several. I look over where she’s sitting and she’s holding up the paper with a score of 9 on it. Laughing, I’m thinking she’s [...]]]> Miri comes to my music area and brings with her plain white paper sheets with color markers.

There I was strumming away too loud again having just finished the next session among several. I look over where she’s sitting and she’s holding up the paper with a score of 9 on it. Laughing, I’m thinking she’s way too generous. The third practice session in, it’s a score of 7 she holds up without saying a word and I’m thinking ‘Harsh!’ So I’m guessing that means the more I play the worse it gets. And I’m okay with that, but it’s fun.

Here’s the next recording of the same track. Rhythm and solo with better timing and control. These sessions are played in drop-d tuning with 4-tracks of recording. Here is a PDF of the sheet music of the song: Break

This is the next pass at ‘Break’ with it cleaned up a lot. It isn’t polished with a few notes off, but it is far better than a few days ago. It certainly passes muster for live playing.

Break. Three Days Grace.

No stop, start, stop, start but to see what happens. [...]]]> Here is a semi-impromptu mash-up ‘practice’ jam. Without really knowing a shred of the song, went head to see if I could get the feel of it and improvise. Picked up the guitar, launched Cubase, set a few levels and then it was, ready set go.

No stop, start, stop, start but to see what happens. So this is what playing and learning self-taught music feels and sounds like.

Take 1 – Just a play through with not carrying one wit about accuracy. Just feel and wing it. To see if it sticks. Tempo pushed too much. Scrubbed & deleted.

Break. Three Days Grace.

Take 2 – Zero sense of the solo notes and timing/sync way off. Scrubbed & deleted.

Break. Three Days Grace.

Ah, but today, more reckless and inappropriate, thought I would pick up my instrument, press play, hit [...]]]> Yesterday spent some time slogging through an attempt at recording the next song I thought I’d try out. But it wasn’t meant to be. All attempts at playing and recording just wasn’t a viable proposition with 5-hours of sleep.

Ah, but today, more reckless and inappropriate, thought I would pick up my instrument, press play, hit record and export the mix to post. So, all in all the software is getting easier to use and I’m becoming less self-conscious about being recorded. All in good fun.

Wonder what’s next.

Here’s the recorded audio (Quicktime Plug-In Needed).

10-Years. Wasteland.

There are unexpected tests in that little black [...]]]> Still working my way through not.a.fan both in written text and by audio at 1.25x speed. It’s easy reading and well written but the message has such weight it’s going to take a couple-few passes. Skip forward, rewind rewind. Shuttle back. Repeat. Pause, turn it up, play again.

There are unexpected tests in that little black book that have me carefully going through it slowly.

Fan or Follower?

The tests:

(1.) For what do you sacrifice your money?
“For where your money is, there your heart will be also.”

(2.) When you’re hurt, where do you go for comfort?
“So when is the last time you experienced some of the pain and suffering of this life? A job was lost, a relationship ended, the test results weren’t what you hoped. When you experienced the pain, where did you turn? The answer to that question reveals your heart’s true devotion.”

(3.) What disappoints or frustrates the most?
“When we feel overwhelmed with disappointment it often reveals something that has become too important.” “…if you find that you are excessively disappointed or over-frustrated it’s an indication of what might be competing for affection that is to be Christ’s alone.”

(4.) What is it that really gets you excited?
“Like the things that disappoints us, the things that excite us can also point to something or someone that is in competition to Jesus. Could it be sports, decorating, music, work, or your appearance? All these things are fine and good, but they have the potential to become the type of mistress that is robbing God of your whole heart.”

This is application territory to do something lasting or permanent about it.

An Excerpt.

“These religious types were the fans that Jesus seems to have the most trouble with. Fans who will walk into a restaurant and bow their heads to pray before a meal just in case someone is watching. Fans who won’t go to R-rated movies at the theater, but have a number of them saved on their DVR at home. Fans who may feed the hungry and help the needy, and then they make sure they work it into every conversation for the next two weeks. Fans who make sure people see them put in their offering at church, but they haven’t considered reaching out to their neighbor who lost a job and can’t pay the bills. Fans who like seeing other people fail because in their minds it makes them look better. Fans whose primary concern in raising their children is what other people think. Fans who are reading this and assuming I’m describing someone else. Fans who have worn the mask for so long they have fooled even themselves.”

not a fan. Ch5. pg 73.

White knuckled it all the way through to get the thing on its feet and going. Pushed it to completion in [...]]]> Today was especially productive with the Sequoia Mountain Rescue site. I’ve pushed around billions of pixels on this workstation today. Only saw three system crashes merely from moving too fast and with all the somersaults.

White knuckled it all the way through to get the thing on its feet and going. Pushed it to completion in terms of structure, layout, format, menus, domain, platform compatibility, bug resolution and all that. Didn’t come up for air the whole way and feat accomplished. Next up is incremental content, content, and more content.

Site looks great on my Galaxy Note.

The first installation [...]]]> Well, these iPhone days are officially over. For some little while now it has been completely useless because the entire front screen was completely shattered. So to reconstitute some semblance of an attempt to get back on the grid, I’ve moved from iOS to Android. With the full leap to the Galaxy Note.

The first installation was my book reader and Audible application. With ‘not a fan’ promptly installed. Thereafter, the ESV.org app, Harvest app, WordPress, plus a bunch of finance applications. The migration continues and shall continue until saturation. I’m being very careful with the social applications because of how invasive they are. There’s a lot going on within the code about ‘permissions’ and one has to be careful about what is and isn’t enabled. There should always be a distant separation between personal life and professional life.

This is a hybrid phone and tablet. Probably the best personal palm size computer in use today at least from a technology perspective.

Explore the Noteworthy Project to learn more: http://noteworthyproject.com. iPhone has served me well for years and for that I’m grateful. However, this change is well suited for bloggers, Kindle readers, and folks who are driven to remain productive and get the most of their time.

This guitar work is my spontaneous and improvised playing, so there are lots of mistakes, plus level and [...]]]> With a wild hair and little time, I’ve endeavored to set up this Cubase 6.5 DAW installation with a short recording. What fell out the other end is this MP3 audio file that is sure to bring future embarrassment.

This guitar work is my spontaneous and improvised playing, so there are lots of mistakes, plus level and tonality problems. The signal processing is wrong, too. The point is to get familiar with the recording software and the numerous settings to bring this all together. It’s especially useful to hear where there are necessary improvements. I have very little sense of what I’m doing, but it feels good.

This is obviously going to be somewhat painful with the errors, but need the marker to see progress happen over time. It took about 15 minutes to get the recording together with about 15 minutes in all to learn the song. Yeah, this is a ham-fisted hack job, but the point is made to explore the possibilities. To see where it goes.

- Devotion time with Daily Bread 15min - Reading (not a fan) & Prayer; 25% through. 15min - Called Mom to check [...]]]> Productive and well organized day. Mostly because time segments are set aside before hand to know how tasks line up. This is typical about what my daily planner looks like, but the actual tasks can vary.

- Devotion time with Daily Bread 15min
- Reading (not a fan) & Prayer; 25% through. 15min
- Called Mom to check on her surgery recovery 30min
- Shoveling & Yard Dirtwork 30min
- Down Time at the Jericho Site 15min
- Cardio w/ Pack 30min
- Guitar Practice 30min
- Family Time 30min
- Extra Sleep Time 30min
- Weekend Planning, Mountains 15min
- Admin Work (mail, email, budget) 10min
- This journal entry 10min

And it still feels like I’m not getting the best return on available time. Several tasks were not checked off only to spill over to the next day. They don’t come off the list until completed while daily disciplines remain intact. I’m not rushed, progress just doesn’t feel efficient enough.